A Direct Method for Obtaining Approximate Standard Error and Confidence Interval of Maximal Reliability for Composites With Congeneric Measures

Unlike a substantial part of reliability literature in the past, this article is concerned with weighted combinations of a given set of congeneric measures with uncorrelated errors. The relationship between maximal coefficient alpha and maximal reliability for such composites is initially dealt with, and it is shown that the former is a lower bound of the latter. A direct method for obtaining approximate standard error and confidence interval for maximal reliability is then outlined. The procedure is based on a second-order Taylor series approximation and is readily and widely applicable in empirical research via use of covariance structure modeling. The described method is illustrated with a numerical example.     

自我效能感与普通话测试的相关研究

通过研究自我效能感对普通话水平测试的影响,为普通话测试提供心理学依据。结果表明：自我效能感与普通话测试成绩呈显著的正相关,有较好的预测;被测试者年龄与自我效能感总分无显著相关;不同性别被测试者自我效能感存在显著的性别差异,女性自我效能感显著高于男性自我效能感。     

China's Marriage Law: A Model for Family Responsibilities and Relationships

China's Marriage Law of 1981 is presented with a brief commentary. The law encompasses the responsibilities of spouses, parents, children, grandparents, and siblings to one another. The new law is contrasted with the 1950 Marriage Law, which prohibited such feudal practices of former times as arranged marriages and child betrothals. The 1981 law is concerned with equality and the lawful needs of women, children, and the aged. Family planning is encouraged. Divorce is made easier to obtain. Adoptees and stepchildren are provided for. The law provides a legislative model for personal relationships.     

Neuropsychological performance in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome: relation to pain and anxiety

Previous studies have revealed the presence of cognitive impairment in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). However, they have not determined the possible influence of the diverse clinical variables in these disturbances. The first aim of the current study is to compare the cognitive function of 81 patients with FMS and 35 healthy controls by means of a neuropsychological battery. The second aim is to determine the influence of anxiety and pain in the cognitive impairment of patients with FMS. The results of our study show that patients with FMS display a significantly lower cognitive performance and a significantly higher anxiety level than the healthy controls in all the parameters assessed. The neuropsychological performance in patients with FMS is associated with pain, and this relation was independent of the anxiety level. The relationship between cognitive performance and anxiety level was also significant. Therefore, we conclude that cognitive performance is primarily affected by pain. The level of anxiety explains part of the variability in neuropsychological tests that is not explained by pain.     

Scale validity evaluation with congeneric measures in hierarchical designs

A procedure for validity estimation of multi-component measuring instruments in hierarchical designs is outlined. The method is developed within the framework of the popular latent variable modelling methodology. The approach is readily applicable for examining interrelationship indices between composite sum scores and criterion variables in two-level studies. The procedure is also useful for obtaining estimates and confidence intervals of criterion validity coefficients during the process of scale construction and development with hierarchical data. The method is illustrated with an empirical example.     

Considerations for a Psychology of Experience: Heinz Werner's Contribution

It is proposed that three themes in Heinz Werner's psychology provide directions for a contemporary psychology of experience. The first theme is the nature of developing mind. Werner's view of the mind as incorporating nonlogical modes of thought is contrasted with the hyper-rational views that dominate contemporary psychology. The second theme is Werner's model of the gradual differentiation and integration of spheres of experience. The model can be elaborated with minimal universalist assumptions, thus providing ways of conceptualizing cultural and individual differences as well as changes within a person's life. The third theme is the theory of symbolization that Werner developed in collaboration with Bernard Kaplan. Integrating the theory of symbolization with the spheres of experience model, it is seen how internal and external acts of symbolization enter into the formation and internal differentiation of spheres.     

Examining change in maximal reliability for multiple‐component measuring instruments

A method for examining change in maximal reliability for pre‐specified sets of congeneric measures when developing a multi‐component instrument is outlined. The approach is applicable for purposes of estimation and testing of gain or loss in the maximal reliability coefficient as a consequence of adding or dropping one or more measures from a homogeneous composite with uncorrelated errors, as well as when one is concerned with optimal component choice for highest increase or correspondingly smallest drop in maximal reliability. The method is compared with a procedure for ascertaining change in unweighted sum score reliability, and implications for instrument construction and revision are discussed. The approach is illustrated with a numerical example.     

浅谈影像诊断思维特征

人类的科学思维方式是一个多层次、多形态、多要素的系统。对每一种事物的认识过程都有特定的思维方式。疾病的诊断是一个主观反映客观的认识过程,反映客观的真实程度愈高,诊断的正确性愈高,而客观真实性的再现,在相当程度上取决于人的主观意识,人的主观意识又通过人的思维活动来实现。所以,人的思维在疾病的诊断中占有重要意义。而医学影像诊断思维又有其特点,即以形象思维为先导,以逻辑思维来归结,又有非逻辑思维闪现,如直觉、灵感、经验思维。只有各种思维形式有机的交叉运用,才能得出最接近真实的诊断结论。     

Unscrambling the B-Picture: Counselling Consultancy and Strategic Management

Some reflections are presented on the author's experience as a management counsellor and how he works with people in organisations. The basic assumption is that the critical unit is the individual and that working with organisations means working with people firstly as individuals alone and secondly as individuals in groups of one sort or another. Each individual experiences an organisation differently and these individual perceptions drive behaviours in organisations. The idea that the best modes of working are through psychologically close team with common perceptions and values is questioned. The author's preference is to counsel people individually and then help them to relate collectively at levels which are mutually tolerable. The optimum performance of individuals within an organisation is when they have learned to accommodate their needs in a mutually agreeable organisational culture.     

Object scrambling in Dutch Broca's aphasia

This study focuses on the production of sentences in which objects have been moved without a change in the order of the thematic roles. In Dutch, the basic word order is subject-adverb-object-verb. The object can be moved over the adverb; this is called object scrambling. The difference between the two word orders is pragmatic in nature: in the basic word order the focus is on the object, in the scrambled order, the focus is on the adverb. The aim of the present study is to evaluate if production of constructions with moved objects is impaired in Broca's aphasia and if so, whether that is for syntactic or pragmatic reasons. The results show that for individuals with Broca's aphasia, sentences with the scrambled word order are more difficult to produce than sentences with the basic word order, even if the scrambled order results in a pragmatically more acceptable sentence. This falsifies several theories of production in Broca's aphasia and shows an interesting parallel to the performance on comprehension tasks.     

Working with families of adults with anorexia nervosa

The aim of this paper is to describe working with the carers (families) of adults with anorexia nervosa (AN), which is different from working with families of younger adolescents. The main difference is in the area of rights and responsibilities of both parties. Moreover, as AN in adults is often a chronic condition, the treatment goal may not focus on recovery, but instead on improvement in quality of life. Thus the spectrum of nature and degree of parental involvement in the treatment of adults with AN is much broader than in children and adolescents. Our framework for intervention is based on a clear model of carer distress, from which targets for intervention follow. The paper outlines some of the core components of this work.     

Church‐Based Social Relationships and Change in Self‐Esteem Over Time

This study has two goals. The first goal is to see if church‐based social relationships are associated with change in self‐esteem. Emotional support from fellow church members and having a close personal relationship with God serve as measures of church‐based social ties. The second goal is to see whether emotional support from fellow church members is more strongly associated with self‐esteem than emotional support from secular social network members. The data come from an ongoing nationwide survey of older adults. The findings reveal that having a close personal relationship with God is associated with a stronger sense of self‐esteem at the baseline and follow‐up interviews. In contrast, emotional support from fellow church members was not associated with self‐esteem at either point in time. However, emotional support from secular social network members is related to self‐esteem at the baseline but not the follow‐up interview.     

Thai Buddhism and well-being: an application of stress process theory

The purpose of this study was to explore how Buddhism is associated with well-being among Thai Buddhists via an application of stress process theory. Survey data were collected in 2012 from 314 Thai citizens and analysed with structural equation modelling to assess how the association between socio-economic status (SES) and well-being is mediated by stressors and resources, in particular, religious resources. The results reveal that low SES is associated with greater financial hardship and household crowding and lower sense of control, which in turn are associated with worse well-being. Furthermore, income is associated with happiness via belief in Dharma control, whereas education is associated with unhappiness via its negative association with public religiosity. Lastly, the positive influence of religious beliefs on well-being is contingent upon having a relatively high sense of control, whereas the positive influence of religious behaviours is contingent upon having a relatively low sense of control.     

从矛盾辩证法到和谐辩证法 --辩证法的历史变迁

本文构建社会主义和谐社会的最新提法为契机,系统地考察了自黑格尔以来辩证法在马克思主义视域中的历史变迁,提出了与和谐社会相适应的和谐辩证法的新概念。和谐辩证法是对矛盾辩证法的继承和发展,是时代精神和建设中国特色社会主义实践的深厚的思想积淀,承认对立面的肯定因素、实现对立面的结合和双赢等是和谐辩证法的基本内涵。     

Is the Best Practices Movement Consistent With the Values of the Counseling Profession? A Critical Analysis of Best Practices Ideology

The counseling profession has increasingly embraced a medicalized vision of counseling processes. The latest manifestation of this vision is the best practices (BP) movement. This movement is critically examined to determine if it is consistent with the traditional values of the counseling profession. The author concludes that BP ideology is inconsistent with the value the counseling profession has traditionally placed on the counseling relationship and diversity.     

No Time, No Wholes: A Temporal and Causal-Oriented Approach to the Ontology of Wholes

What distinguishes a whole from an arbitrary sum of elements? I suggest a temporal and causal oriented approach. I defend two connected claims. The former is that existence is, by every means, coextensive with being the cause of a causal process. The latter is that a whole is the cause of a causal process with a joint effect. Thus, a whole is something that takes place in time. The approach endorses an unambiguous version of Restricted Composition that suits most commonsensical intuitions about wholes.     

The horizontal-vertical illusion in photographs of concrete scenes with and without depth information

On the basis of the hypothesis of misapplied constancy scaling, the perception of an abstract horizontal-vertical illusion figure embedded in photographs of natural scenes with depth cues is investigated. The effect is compared with that of a figure on photographs containing no depth information and with a figure on a neutral surface. It is shown that the magnitude of the illusion in the perspective scenes is greater than in the other two conditions. The results are considered compatible with a constancy theory of the illusion. Finally, the evidence for misapplied constancy scaling in the horizontal-vertical illusion in relation to a retinal theory is discussed.     

A prey chamber for the experimental analysis of raptor hunting

A chamber is described for use with raptorial birds and live prey. The chamber is equipped with visual and physical access doors and is designed to be operated in conjunction with an instrumented perch and electromechanical programming equipment. The search, detection, pursuit, and capture components of a hunting episode are separable with this system; participation by the raptor in each component can be controlled and measured.