THE FUTILITY OF UTILITY ANALYSIS

In a study involving 143 experienced managers, utility analysis was found to influence managerial decision making, but not in the way intended by advocates of this technique. Utility analysis reduced the support of managers for implementing a valid selection procedure, even though the analysis indicated that the net benefits from the new procedure were substantial. In light of these findings, industrial/organizational psychologists are advised to reconsider their assumptions regarding the information managers use when managers make human resource policy decisions.     

LO! THE STIMULUS SPEAKS: THE INSIDER'S VIEW ON WHYTE AND LATHAM'S "THE FUTILITY OF UTILITY ANALYSIS"

The Whyte and Latham (1996) study presents results showing that presentation of a positive utility analysis reduced support for implementing a valid selection procedure, even though the merits of utility analysis were described by an "expert." In this paper, the aforementioned expert responds to the Whyte and Latham study and its conclusions. He contends that their experimental study actually tested a persuasional hypothesis, not the informational one put forward by the authors. In otherwords, the effect of the presentation of utility information as the independent variable, and its advocacy by the expert, was perceived by subjects as an attempt to persuade managers to invest in a personnel intervention rather than as a neutral message intended to inform them of the merits of the intervention. Consequently, Whyte and Latham's conclusions about the "futility of utility analysis" will most likely generalize to a situation where personnel psychologists are trying to sell an intervention such as a selection program to a client, but not necessarily to a situation where the psychologist is perceived to use utility analysis in an arms length relationship to assist in making investment decisions. The Whyte and Latham findings represent a real and substantial effect that has important implications for psychologists using utility analysis, but more research is required to establish the boundary conditions around it.     

THE EFFECTS OF VARIABILITY AND RISK IN SELECTION UTILITY ANALYSIS: AN EMPIRICAL COMPARISON

To date, utility analysis research has derived point estimates of the expected utility value for human resource management programs or interventions. Utility estimates are usually quite large, but they fail to reflect the size and shape of the utility distribution. The present study investigated utility estimate variability for the selection utility of using the Programmer Aptitude Test to select computer programmers in a medium-sized computer manufacturing organization. Utility calculations incorporated financial/economic factors as well as employee flows over time. The distributions for each utility parameter were empirically estimated, and these distribution estimates were combined through a Monte Carlo analysis to yield a distribution of total utility values. Monte Carlo results were compared to three other risk assessment approaches: (1) sensitivity analysis, (2) break-even analysis, and (3) algebraic derivation of the distribution. Results suggest that the distribution information provided by the Monte Carlo analysis more completely described the variability and riskiness associated with the expected utility value. Future research suggested by these findings is discussed.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT AND ECONOMIC UTILITY OF CORPORATE-WIDE TRAINING

This study describes a 4 year effort to investigate the effect and utility of managerial and sales/technical training. The effort relied upon quasi-experimental designs to investigate the effect of training programs, meta-analysis to summarize the effect of different types of training, and utility analysis to estimate the economic impact of training. The utilized multi-attribute utility analysis model, based on Raju, Burke, and Normand's 1990 (RBN) model, was modified and approved by the senior management of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company; it included a measure of criterion deficiency and corrected for differences due to alternative methods of calculating effect sizes (e.g., repeated measures ANOVA vs. ANCOVA). Results of 18 training program evaluations (range of N = 10 to 216), which were conducted in one company on the basis of supervisor, subordinate, or peer ratings, are reported. Great variation existed between the effectiveness of the programs (range of d = -.09 to 1.11), and managerial training was found to have less effect (d = .31) and utility (mean ROI = 45%) than sales/technical training (d = .64, mean ROI = 418%). In addition, the use of a 2-point performance scale in application of the RBN utility model as well as the role of management pre-approval of utility analysis are investigated.     

LIFE RECEDES WHEN EXCHANGE FAILS: CLINICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AMONG TURKISH PATIENTS

This paper presents a multidimensional analysis of a young Turkish ill woman. The psychological interpretation is based on clinical data and on projective techniques, i.e., the Thematic Apperception Test and the Rorschach Test. The psychological interpretation is combined with a semantic interpretation of the symbolic cultural processes. This anthropological approach concentrates on the temporal and spatial aspects of the culturally established symbolic congruence between the subject's bodily acts and her socio-cultural environment (in particular the subject's family and their discourse).     

SINGLE-ATTRIBUTE UTILITY ANALYSIS MAY BE FUTILE,BUT THIS CAN’T BE THE END OF THE STORY: CAUSAL CHAIN ANALYSIS AS AN ALTERNATIVE

Research on providing single-attribute utility analysis has shown moderate or even negative effects on the acceptance of selection and training tests by human resource decision makers. In this study, we contrasted the perceived utility of single-attribute utility analysis with causal chain analysis as an alternative way of conducting utility analysis. Causal chain analysis focuses on measuring the linkages between HRM interventions and organizational outcomes mediated by employee attitudes and customer perceptions. We compared 144 managers' reactions to both methods of utility analysis concerning the variables understandability, information quality, perceived usefulness, user information satisfaction, and intention to use. Causal chain analysis yielded higher results than single-attribute analysis for these variables, and a compound measure of these constructs supported this finding. This indicates that causal chain analysis is a valuable alternative method of communicating the utility of HRM interventions.     

ASSESSING THE UTILITY OF A DEMAND ASSESSMENT FOR FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

We evaluated the utility of an assessment for identifying tasks for the functional analysis demand condition with 4 individuals who had been diagnosed with autism. During the demand assessment, a therapist presented a variety of tasks, and observers measured problem behavior and compliance to identify demands associated with low levels of compliance or high levels of problem behavior (low‐probability demands) and demands associated with high levels of compliance or low levels of problem behavior (high‐probability demands). Results showed that clearer functional analysis outcomes were obtained for 3 of the 4 participants when low‐probability rather than high‐probability demands were used.     

THE PACE OF LIFE: REVISITED

Ambulation is one routine aspect of the pace of life. In Western societies at least, human ambulation varies in a linear fashion with the size of the local population. This relation can be described adequately by the formula, Velocity = 0.86 log Population + 0.05. Ergonomical, cognitive, social, and economic explanations for this result are examined, and hypotheses for further cross-cultural investigation of urban-rural differences in pace of life are proposed.     

FUTILITY AND THE VARIETIES OF MEDICAL JUDGMENT

Pellegrino has argued that end-of-life decisions should be based upon the physician's assessment of the effectiveness of the treatment and the patient's assessment of its benefits and burdens. This would seem to imply that conditions for medical futility could be met either if there were a judgment of ineffectiveness, or if the patient were in a state in which he or she were incapable of a subjective judgment of the benefits and burdens of the treatment. I argue that a theory of futility according to Pellegrino would deny that latter but would permit some cases of the former. I call this the “circumspect” view. I show that Pellegrino would adopt the circumspect view because he would see the medical futility debate in the context of a system of medical ethics based firmly upon a philosophy of medicine. The circumspect view is challenged by those who would deny that one can distinguish objective from subjective medical judgments. I defend the circumspect view on the basis of a previously neglected aspect of the philosophy of medicine -- an examination of varieties of medical judgment. I then offer some practical applications of this theory in clinical practice.     

ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL VARIABLES WHEN AN INITIAL FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS INDICATES AUTOMATIC REINFORCEMENT AS THE MAINTAINING VARIABLE FOR SELF‐INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR

Self‐injurious behavior (SIB) that occurs at high rates across all conditions of a functional analysis can suggest automatic or multiple functions. In the current study, we conducted a functional analysis for 1 individual with SIB. Results indicated that SIB was, at least in part, maintained by automatic reinforcement. Further analyses using protective equipment (i.e., a helmet with face shield) revealed an attention function for the SIB.     

THE NATURAL GOD: A GOD EVEN AN ATHEIST CAN BELIEVE IN

Abstract. In this paper, I attempt to dissolve the theism/atheism boundary. In the first part, I consider last things, according to mainstream science. In the second part, I define the Natural God as the Force of Nature—evolving, unifying, maximizing—and consider Its relation to last things. Finally, I discuss our knowledge of the Natural God and Its relevance to our personal lives. I argue that we can know the Natural God through scientific reason combined with global intuition, and that this knowledge, from the perspective of last things, may help us achieve universal love, ethical action, and personal salvation.     

THE FUNCTIONS OF SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR: AN EXPERIMENTAL-EPIDEMIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Data are summarized from 152 single-subject analyses of the reinforcing functions of self-injurious behavior (SIB). Individuals with developmental disabilities referred for assessment and/or treatment over an 11-year period were exposed to a series of conditions in which the effects of antecedent and consequent events on SIB were examined systematically by way of multielement, reversal, or combined designs. Data were collected during approximately 4,000 experimental sessions (1,000 hr), with the length of assessment for individuals ranging from 8 to 66 sessions (M = 26.2) conducted over 2 to 16.5 hr (M = 6.5). Differential or uniformly high responding was observed in 145 (95.4%) of the cases. Social-negative reinforcement (escape from task demands or other sources of aversive stimulation) accounted for 58 cases, which was the largest proportion of the sample (38.1%). Social-positive reinforcement (either attention or access to food or materials) accounted for 40 (26.3%) of the cases, automatic (sensory) reinforcement accounted for 39 (25.7%), and multiple controlling variables accounted for 8 (5.3%). Seven sets of data (4.6%) showed either cyclical or inconsistent patterns of responding that were uninterpretable. Overall results indicated that functional analysis methodologies are extremely effective in identifying the environmental determinants of SIB on an individual basis and, subsequently, in guiding the process of treatment selection. Furthermore, an accumulation of assessment data from such analyses across a large number of individuals provides perhaps the most rigorous approach to an epidemiological study of behavioral function.     

AN ANALYSIS OF THE REINFORCING PROPERTIES OF HAND MOUTHING

Hand mouthing often has been described as a stereotypic response that is maintained by non-social (automatic) reinforcement; however, data supporting this conclusion can be found in relatively few studies. This series of studies presents an experimental analysis of conditions associated with the maintenance of hand mouthing. In Experiment 1, a functional analysis was conducted for 12 individuals who engaged in chronic hand mouthing to determine whether the behavior is usually maintained independent of social contingencies. Results obtained for 10 subjects were consistent with an automatic reinforcement hypothesis; the remaining 2 subjects' hand mouthing was maintained by social-positive reinforcement. Based on these results, Experiment 2 was designed to identify the specific reinforcing properties of hand mouthing. Each of 4 subjects was provided with a toy that substituted for hand mouthing, and preference for a specific topography of toy manipulation (hand-toy contact or mouth-toy contact) was measured. Results indicated that hand stimulation was the predominant reinforcer for all subjects. Experiment 3 provided an extension of Experiment 2 in that the same responses were measured across a variety of toys presented to each of 5 subjects. Results again indicated that hand stimulation was the predominant reinforcer for all subjects. Implications of these results are discussed with relevance to treatment.     

试析现代西方心理学的文化转向

西方心理学正在展现出对文化影响日渐增加的关注。这种文化转向既有科学哲学和历史的原因,也受到世界范围内心理学本土化运动的影响。文化转向的主要表现是：(1)对心理学自然科学模式的反思与诘难;(2)多元文化心理学的兴起;(3)跨文化心理学面临的批评及其转变;(4)认知心理学、发展心理学和健康心理学等分支领域对文化影响的关注。作者认为,文化的转向对于西方心理学的发展具有积极的意义。     

微山湖区儿童智力状况分析

本文依据环境与儿童智力发展关系的理论对微山湖区船、陆两地生活的2318名5～16岁儿童少年进行了智力状况调查。并对其中298名儿童进行了较详细的影响因素调查,发现生长、生活在陆地儿童的智商明显高于生长、生活在船上的儿童,又一次证实了生活环境对儿童智力发展有直接影响.