An individual differences analysis of the self-teaching hypothesis

The self-teaching hypothesis suggests that children learn orthographic structure of words through the experience of phonologically recoding them. The current study is an individual differences analysis of the self-teaching hypothesis. A total of 40 children in Grades 2 and 3 (7-9 years of age) completed tests of phonological recoding, word identification, and orthographic knowledge. The relation of phonological recoding and word identification was significantly mediated by orthographic knowledge. Furthermore, two aspects of orthographic knowledge (perhaps word-specific and general orthographic knowledge) mediated different variance shared between phonological recoding and word identification. Results support an individual differences version of the self-teaching hypothesis and emphasize the importance of phonological recoding in the primary curriculum.     

An analysis of fidgeting and associated individual differences

Fidgeting was defined as engaging in manipulations of one's own body parts or other objects, such actions being peripheral or nonessential to central ongoing events or tasks Two studies employed preliminary fidgeting questionnaires of 70 and 106 items, respectively, tapping a wide range of habitual behaviors Item selection and factor analyses led to the development of a final, 40-item, individual difference measure of fidgeting tendency which is balanced for response bias and has an alpha reliability coefficient of 89 Convergent and construct validity were supported by positive correlations between the fidgeting tendency measure and measures of tendencies to engage in extraneous activities (consuming alcoholic drinks, cigarette smoking, eating, daydreaming, restlessness, insomnia) while preoccupied with certain situations and tasks These findings implied that fidgeting is an activity overflow and that it is more probable when the organism's physical activity is constrained by the central or focal act Fidgeting tendency also correlated positively with binge eating and with physical activity In two additional studies, questionnaire fidgeting tendency scores correlated positively with direct observations of fidgeting by subjects and with peer predictions Personality correlates of fidgeting tendency were well defined More fidgety persons were more unpleasant and more arousable (i e, more anxious or hostile) Fidgeting tendency did not correlate significantly with subject sex or with arousal-seeking tendency     

An individual differences analysis of interdimensional additivity in multidimensional scaling

Comparative judgments of the dissimilarity between schematic faces varying on 1, 4, 7, or 10 binary attributes were obtained under two instructional sets. Using the Tucker-Messick procedure, three subgroups of like-perceiving Ss were isolated and the nature of cue-utilization by each described. Perceptual independence of attributes was demonstrated both within and between instructional sets for Subgroups 1 and within instructional sets for Subgroup 2. The Subgroup 3 results indicated an interaction of the attributes. Data from the Shot cognitive elements test differentially characterized Subgroups 1 and 2, but did not uniquely characterize Ss requiring more complex models for the combination of attributes. The study illustrates the possible usefulness of an individual differences approach to the study of selective attention and information processing.     

An individual differences pure extinction process

A pure extinction process memory retrieval latency model is completely characterized by the number of items to be recalled n and the recall rate λ. In this paper λ is allowed to vary across the population of subjects. Results are given for arbitrary individual differences distributions on λ. When λ is distributed gamma the results are very simple and method of moment estimators are easily obtained. In addition the shape parameter of the gamma individual differences distribution turns out to be an index of the degree of heterogeneity of the recall parameter. The pure extinction process model is also appropriate for certain collection and detection tasks.     

An individual differences analysis of ability and strategy influences: age-related differences in associative learning

The relationships among abilities, strategies, and performance on an associative learning task were investigated for young (aged 17 to 34) and older adults (aged 60 to 82). Participants received extensive practice on a noun-pair task in which they could use a visual-scanning strategy or a memory-retrieval strategy. Older adults were more likely to use the scanning strategy. Age differences were reduced when comparisons were made only for participants using a retrieval strategy. Associative memory was predictive of learning on the task, and semantic memory access speed was predictive of practiced performance. Practiced performance on a memory-search task that also required associative learning was predictive of practiced noun-pair performance. Models of ability-performance relationships for skill acquisition are discussed.     

An analysis of individual differences in similarity judgments about complex random forms

A variation of the method of graded dichotomies was used to obtain judgments of interstimulus similarity for all pairings of 21 12-turn random shapes. Using the Tucker-Messick procedure, a six-dimensional spatial model, representing individual variation in performance on the task, was derived. Six “idealized individuals” (IIs) were isolated. A five-dimensional Euclidean spatial model was obtained for each II using the Shepard-Kruskal scaling technique. The resulting psychological dimensions of perceived form were related to two sets of physical measures on the forms: the factor space suggested by Brown and Owen and a set of more basic physical measures. These basic measures allowed interpretation of most of the psychological dimensions and revealed differences between IIs in patterns of cue utilization.     

An individual differences model for multidimensional scaling

A quantitative system is presented to permit the determination of separate multidimensional perceptual spaces for individuals having different viewpoints about stimulus interrelationships. The structure of individual differences in the perception of stimulus relationships is also determined to provide a framework for ascertaining the varieties of consistent individual viewpoints and their relationships with other variables.This research was supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health, United States Public Health Service, under Research Grants M-2878 and M-4186 to Educational Testing Service, in part by Educational Testing Service, and in part by the Office of Naval Research under Contract Nonr-1834(39) and the University of Illinois. The authors wish to thank Drs. Harold Gulliksen and Douglas N. Jackson for their helpful comments and Miss Henrietta Gallagher for supervising the computations. Portions of this paper were presented at the American Psychological Association meetings in Chicago, September 1960.This paper was written while Dr. Messick was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.     

An individual differences model for multiple regression

A model for multiple regression was developed which allows individual differences to emerge empirically. The model encompasses as special cases several of the previous attempts to improve psychological prediction by deviating from the usual linear multiple regression model. The model is tested with both artificial and real data. The results indicate that the model effectively reduces the variance of the error of prediction, and that the weights obtained are stable over different samples, and, to some extent, over different sets of predictors.This article is based upon a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctoral degree at the University of Illinois. The author thanks Professor Ledyard R Tucker who served as committee chairman and offered considerable support and assistance.     

Experimental analysis of individual differences and personality

In psychological studies individual differences that result in variability in data and thus mask the effects under investigation have been reduced or eliminated in two ways: (1) through the use of large numbers of subjects and statistical manipulations, or (2) through extensive and controlled studies of individual subjects. The latter, behavior-analytic, method is scientifically better because it permits identification of the variables that result in individual differences. This paper advocates the direct study of individual differences and personality rather than indirect study through experimental control procedures. Some data are presented showing that individual differences in response patterns have orderly characteristics. Extension of the experimental analysis of behavior to the study of individual differences and personality is likely to be important both scientifically and for the future growth of behavior analysis.     

Global precedence effects account for individual differences in both face and object recognition performance

There has been an increase in studies adopting an individual difference approach to examine visual cognition and in particular in studies trying to relate face recognition performance with measures of holistic processing (the face composite effect and the part-whole effect). In the present study we examine whether global precedence effects, measured by means of non-face stimuli in Navon’s paradigm, can also account for individual differences in face recognition and, if so, whether the effect is of similar magnitude for faces and objects. We find evidence that global precedence effects facilitate both face and object recognition, and to a similar extent. Our results suggest that both face and object recognition are characterized by a coarse-to-fine temporal dynamic, where global shape information is derived prior to local shape information, and that the efficiency of face and object recognition is related to the magnitude of the global precedence effect.     

An individual differences approach to the halo-accuracy paradox

In performance appraisal, the halo-accuracy paradox describes the surprising result that rater accuracy can be positively correlated with the halo rating error. Fisicaro (1988) provided an explanation for this unlikely relationship by proposing an inverse V function as the relationship between accuracy and invalid halo in which maximum accuracy is located at zero invalid halo. This paper develops the model by proposing that maximum accuracy does not have to be at zero invalid (Hypothesis 1). As the cognitive difficulty of a rating task increases, a negative monotonie relationship between maximum achievable accuracy and associated value of absolute invalid halo is specified (Hypothesis 2). The hypotheses were tested in two different experimental situations. Results from both studies supported Hypothesis 1 but, whilst a distinct pattern between accuracy and absolute invalid halo was noted, only a weak version of Hypothesis 2 could be supported. The evidence from this paper demonstrates that the halo-accuracy paradox is not an artefact as some recent reviewers have proposed (Balzer & Sulsky, 1992; Murphy & Balzer, 1989; Murphy & Cleveland, 1991).     

Understanding prism adaptation: An individual differences approach

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - Adaptation of college students to wedge prisms was studied in terminal exposure and continuous exposure conditions. The adaptation experience was...     

An autoregressive growth model for longitudinal item analysis

A first-order autoregressive growth model is proposed for longitudinal binary item analysis where responses to the same items are conditionally dependent across time given the latent traits. Specifically, the item response probability for a given item at a given time depends on the latent trait as well as the response to the same item at the previous time, or the lagged response. An initial conditions problem arises because there is no lagged response at the initial time period. We handle this problem by adapting solutions proposed for dynamic models in panel data econometrics. Asymptotic and finite sample power for the autoregressive parameters are investigated. The consequences of ignoring local dependence and the initial conditions problem are also examined for data simulated from a first-order autoregressive growth model. The proposed methods are applied to longitudinal data on Korean students’ self-esteem.     

Working memory and reasoning: An individual differences perspective

This article reports three experiments that investigated the relationship between working memory capacity and syllogistic and five-term series spatial inference. A series of complex and simple verbal and spatial working memory measures were employed. Correlational analyses showed that verbal and spatial working memory span tasks consistently predicted syllogistic and spatial reasoning performance. A confirmatory factor analysis showed that three factors best accounted for the data—a verbal, a spatial, and a general factor. Syllogistic reasoning performance loaded all three factors, whilst spatial reasoning loaded only the general factor. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of reasoning theories and contemporary accounts of the structure of working memory.     

An analysis of individual differences in generalization between receptive and productive language in retarded children

Retarded subjects were taught generative pluralization rules concurrently in both the receptive and productive modalities of language. Receptive training established correct pointing to either one or a pair of objects, in response to a spoken singular or plural label of the object(s); productive training established correct spoken labels of one or a pair of objects presented visually. However, these pluralization rules were established in each modality only for a specific class of plurals: those ending in -s for one modality, those ending in -es for the other modality. This training was successful in establishing generative, or rule-governed behaviors, such that untrained examples of singulars and plurals were usually responded to correctly. Nevertheless, despite this concurrent, generative behavior, probes revealed little generalization between modalities: three of four subjects did not generalize clearly from receptive training with one class of plurals to correct productive use of that class, nor did they generalize from productive training of the other class of plurals to correct receptive response to that class. The fourth subject, however, did show strong generalization of both these types. It was concluded that automatic generalization between receptive and productive language is not necessarily an inevitable result of language training in such subjects, and therefore may require explicit, if temporary, programming, such as by direct reinforcement.     

An item factor analysis and item response theory-based revision of the Everyday Discrimination Scale

The Everyday Discrimination Scale (EDS), a widely used measure of daily perceived discrimination, is purported to be unidimensional, to function well among African Americans, and to have adequate construct validity. Two separate studies and data sources were used to examine and cross-validate the psychometric properties of the EDS. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted on a sample of African American law students (N = 589), providing strong evidence of local dependence, or nuisance multidimensionality within the EDS. In Study 2, a separate nationally representative community sample (N = 3,527) was used to model the identified local dependence in an item factor analysis (i.e., bifactor model). Next, item response theory (IRT) calibrations were conducted to obtain item parameters. A five-item, revised-EDS was then tested for gender differential item functioning (in an IRT framework). Based on these analyses, a summed score to IRT-scaled score translation table is provided for the revised-EDS. Our results indicate that the revised-EDS is unidimensional, with minimal differential item functioning, and retains predictive validity consistent with the original scale.