An axiomatic formulation and generalization of successive intervals scaling

A formal set of axioms is presented for the method of successive intervals, and directly testable consequences of the scaling assumptions are derived. Then by a systematic modification of basic axioms the scaling model is generalized to non-normal stimulus distributions of both specified and unspecified form.     

Type A as a Moderator of Stressors and Job Complexity: A Comparison of Achievement Strivings and Impatience-Irritability

This study examined two components (achievement strivings and impatience-irritability) of the Type A Behavior Pattern as moderators of job stressors and job complexity on health and job satisfaction. It was predicted that achievement strivings would moderate the impact of job stressors and impatience-irritability would impact responses to job complexity. Data from 525 employed adults provided mixed support for the moderator hypotheses. Relations between job stressors and both health and job satisfaction were strongest among employees reporting high levels of achievement strivings. Impatience-irritability had no moderating effect. For job complexity, only one moderator effect was found. Mental demands were positively related to job satisfaction among those reporting low levels of impatience-irritability. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Observation of high and low passive ankle flexibility in stair descent

Able-bodied people from the two extremes of the distribution of passive dorsiflexion exhibit biomechanical differences when descending stairs. Whether physical therapists could judge accurately the amount of ankle flexibility from observation of stair descent was examined with physical therapists (20 neurological 20 cardiothoracic) and 20 students. Subjects were 18 able-bodied men with high or low passive dorsiflexion. Raters viewed videotaped subjects descending stairs at normal playback speed and in slow motion and rated ankle flexibility on a 20-point scale. 'Flexible' or 'inflexible' subjects were classified correctly better than chance, but accuracy of rating flexibility was relatively poor. Both experience and slow motion playback improved accuracy. Physical therapists can detect extremes of normal flexibility in the ankle, based solely on observation of stair descent, and experienced therapists are better at this task than less experienced ones. Using slow motion videotape enhanced observational analysis.     

Consumer Racial Discrimination in Tipping: A Replication and Extension

This study examined the effects of server race, customer race, and their interaction on restaurant tips while statistically controlling for customers' perceptions of service quality and other variables. The findings indicate that consumers of both races discriminated against Black service providers by tipping them less than White service providers. Furthermore, this server race effect on tipping was moderated by perceived service quality and dining party size. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Particularly noteworthy is the possibility that the server race effect on tipping represents an adverse impact against Black servers that makes the use of tipping to compensate employees a violation of employment discrimination law in the United States.     

Temperament Pathways to Childhood Disruptive Behavior and Adolescent Substance Abuse: Testing a Cascade Model

Temperament traits may increase risk for developmental psychopathology like Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and disruptive behaviors during childhood, as well as predisposing to substance abuse during adolescence. In the current study, a cascade model of trait pathways to adolescent substance abuse was examined. Component hypotheses were that (a) maladaptive traits would increase risk for inattention/hyperactivity, (b) inattention/hyperactivity would increase risk for disruptive behaviors, and (c) disruptive behaviors would lead to adolescent substance abuse. Participants were 674 children (486 boys) from 321 families in an ongoing, longitudinal high risk study that began when children were 3 years old. Temperament traits assessed were reactive control, resiliency, and negative emotionality, using examiner ratings on the California Q-Sort. Parent, teacher, and self ratings of inattention/hyperactivity, disruptive behaviors, and substance abuse were also obtained. Low levels of childhood reactive control, but not resiliency or negative emotionality, were associated with adolescent substance abuse, mediated by disruptive behaviors. Using a cascade model, family risk for substance abuse was partially mediated by reactive control, inattention/hyperactivity, and disruptive behavior. Some, but not all, temperament traits in childhood were related to adolescent substance abuse; these effects were mediated via inattentive/hyperactive and disruptive behaviors. This work was supported by NIAAA grant R01-AA12217 to Robert Zucker and Joel Nigg, NIAAA grant R37-AA07065 to Robert Zucker and Hiram Fitzgerald, and NIMH grant R01-MH59105 to Joel Nigg. Martel was supported by 1 F31 MH075533-01A2. The authors thank the participants and Susan Refior, the long term MLS Field Director, whose steadfast commitment and support have made this study possible.     

Money can’t buy love: Asymmetric beliefs about gift price and feelings of appreciation

Across three studies, we identify an asymmetry between gift-givers’ and gift-recipients’ beliefs about the link between gift price and feelings of appreciation. Gift-givers expected a positive correlation between how much they spent on a gift and the extent to which gift-recipients would appreciate the gift because gift-givers assume that more expensive gifts convey a higher level of thoughtfulness. Gift-recipients, in contrast, reported no such association between gift price and their actual feelings of appreciation. This effect occurred regardless of whether the individual’s role and the magnitude of the gift were manipulated or measured in the field. Taken together, these findings cast doubt on whether gift-givers can draw on their personal experience as gift-recipients in order to identify meaningful gifts for others.     

Empirical evidence and the knowledge-that/knowledge-how distinction

In this article I have two primary goals. First, I present two recent views on the distinction between knowledge-that and knowledge-how (Stanley and Williamson, The Journal of Philosophy 98(8):411–444, 2001; Hetherington, Epistemology futures, 2006). I contend that neither of these provides conclusive arguments against the distinction. Second, I discuss studies from neuroscience and experimental psychology that relate to this distinction. Having examined these studies, I then defend a third view that explains certain relevant data from these studies by positing the double dissociation of knowledge-that and knowledge-how and that is also able to do explanatory work elsewhere.     

The correlates of conflict: disagreement is not necessarily detrimental.

In this study, the authors examined whether concurrent associations between adolescent outcomes and disagreements with mothers, fathers, and best friends vary as a function of perceived relationship quality. Participants were 469 11- to 18-year-old youths from a culturally diverse community. Negative qualities of parent-adolescent and friend relationships were linked to adjustment problems (aggression, anxiety and depression, delinquency, and withdrawal). Positive qualities of parent-adolescent relationships were linked to school grades and adjustment problems. Nonlinear associations between conflict and adolescent outcomes were moderated by negative qualities of relationships such that increases in conflict from low to moderate levels were linked to (a) higher school grades for adolescents in better but not poorer quality relationships and (b) greater delinquency and withdrawal for adolescents in poorer but not better quality relationships.