A study of antecedents of organizational commitment

Various theories of organizational behaviors suggest that there should be significant relationships between the work-related variables and commitment to an organization. This study shows that, for a sample of 203 Japanese industrial workers, four components (attachment, internalization, normative, and continuance) of organizational commitment are predicted by organizational climate, supervisory behavior, organizational tenure, and role clarity. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Popular psychological tests and self-fulfilling prophecy: An experiment of Japanese female undergraduate students

The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not the feedback of the results of popular psychological tests influences human behavior, and to compare the strength of any influence with that of academic psychological tests. We conducted an experiment in which 64 female Japanese subjects took a popular or academic psychological test, and then interacted with a stranger. The subjects who took each test received bogus feedback implying that they were extroverted or introverted. The results showed that subjects who received the extroversion feedback were more interactive with a stranger than those who received the introversion feedback, irrespective of whether they had taken the popular or academic test. This suggests that the feedback of popular psychological tests, like that of academic tests, can influence human behavior and create a self-fulfilling prophecy. The results also showed that those subjects who took the popular psychological tests reported higher psychological well-being than those who took the academic tests.     

Stepwise variable selection in factor analysis

It is very important to choose appropriate variables to be analyzed in multivariate analysis when there are many observed variables such as those in a questionnaire. What is actually done in scale construction with factor analysis is nothing but variable selection.In this paper, we take several goodness-of-fit statistics as measures of variable selection and develop backward elimination and forward selection procedures in exploratory factor analysis. Once factor analysis is done for a certain numberp of observed variables (thep-variable model is labeled the current model), simple formulas for predicted fit measures such as chi-square, GFI, CFI, IFI and RMSEA, developed in the field of the structural equation modeling, are provided for all models obtained by adding an external variable (so that the number of variables isp + 1) and for those by deleting an internal variable (so that the number isp – 1), provided that the number of factors is held constant.A programSEFA (Stepwise variable selection in Exploratory Factor Analysis) is developed to actually obtain a list of the fit measures for all such models. The list is very useful in determining which variable should be dropped from the current model to improve the fit of the current model. It is also useful in finding a suitable variable that may be added to the current model. A model with more appropriate variables makes more stable inference in general.The criteria traditionally often used for variable selection is magnitude of communalities. This criteria gives a different choice of variables and does not improve fit of the model in most cases.The URL of the programSEFA is http://koko15.hus.osaka-u.ac.jp/~harada/factor/stepwise/.     

Exploring What Is Encoded in Distributional Word Vectors: A Neurobiologically Motivated Analysis

The pervasive use of distributional semantic models or word embeddings for both cognitive modeling and practical application is because of their remarkable ability to represent the meanings of words. However, relatively little effort has been made to explore what types of information are encoded in distributional word vectors. Knowing the internal knowledge embedded in word vectors is important for cognitive modeling using distributional semantic models. Therefore, in this paper, we attempt to identify the knowledge encoded in word vectors by conducting a computational experiment using Binder et al.'s (2016) featural conceptual representations based on neurobiologically motivated attributes. In an experiment, these conceptual vectors are predicted from text-based word vectors using a neural network and linear transformation, and prediction performance is compared among various types of information. The analysis demonstrates that abstract information is generally predicted more accurately by word vectors than perceptual and spatiotemporal information, and specifically, the prediction accuracy of cognitive and social information is higher. Emotional information is also found to be successfully predicted for abstract words. These results indicate that language can be a major source of knowledge about abstract attributes, and they support the recent view that emphasizes the importance of language for abstract concepts. Furthermore, we show that word vectors can capture some types of perceptual and spatiotemporal information about concrete concepts and some relevant word categories. This suggests that language statistics can encode more perceptual knowledge than often expected.     

Preliminary study of reminiscence therapy on depression and self-esteem in cancer patients

The present study investigated use of life review, a form of reminiscence, on the depression and self-esteem in cancer patients. 15 cancer patients in the experimental group participated in individual reminiscence therapy. 21 patients in the comparison group received no therapy. All patients were measured on both depression and self-esteem scales during two testing periods. Analysis showed mean depression scores of the cancer patients decreased and mean self-esteem increased significandy after the life-review therapy sessions, while the scores of the comparison group did not change. Furthermore, patients' psychological states were improved, and they thought their problems had been addressed. These results suggest reminiscence therapy can be useful for cancer patients.     

Understanding of the relationship between seeing and knowing by tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)

The ability of four tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) to recognize the causal connection between seeing and knowing was investigated. The subjects were trained to follow a suggestion about the location of hidden food provided by a trainer who knew where the food was (the knower) in preference to a trainer who did not (the guesser). The experimenter baited one of three opaque containers behind a cardboard screen so that the subjects could not see which of the containers hid the reward. In experiment 1, the knower appeared first in front of the apparatus and looked into each container; next, the guesser appeared but did not look into any containers. Then the knower touched the correct cup while the guesser touched one of the three randomly. The capuchin monkeys gradually learned to reach toward the cup that the knower suggested. In experiment 2, the subjects adapted to a novel variant of the task, in which the guesser touched but did not look into any of the containers. In experiment 3, the monkeys adapted again when the knower and the guesser appeared in a random order. These results suggest that capuchin monkeys can learn to recognize the relationship between seeing and knowing. Accepted after revision: 10 September 2001 Electronic Publication     

Beyond monoamines: glutamatergic function in mood disorders

The monoamine theory has implicated abnormalities in serotonin and norepinephrine in the pathophysiology of major depression and bipolar illness and contributed greatly to our understanding of mood disorders and their treatment. Nevertheless, some limitations of this model still exist that require researchers and clinicians to seek further explanation and develop novel interventions that reach beyond the confines of the monoaminergic systems. Recent studies have provided strong evidence that glutamate and other amino acid neurotransmitters are involved in the pathophysiology and treatment of mood disorders. Studies employing in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy have revealed altered cortical glutamate levels in depressed subjects. Consistent with a model of excessive glutamate-induced excitation in mood disorders, several antiglutamatergic agents, such as riluzole and lamotrigine, have demonstrated potential antidepressant efficacy. Glial cell abnormalities commonly associated with mood disorders may at least partly account for the impairment in glutamate action since glial cells play a primary role in synaptic glutamate removal. A hypothetical model of altered glutamatergic function in mood disorders is proposed in conjunction with potential antidepressant mechanisms of antiglutamatergic agents. Further studies elucidating the role of the glutamatergic system in the pathophysiology of mood and anxiety disorders and studies exploring the efficacy and mechanism of action of antiglutamatergic agents in these disorders, are likely to provide new targets for the development of novel antidepressant agents.     

The Harshness Objection is Not (too) Harsh for Luck Egalitarianism

Philosophia - The harshness objection is the most important challenge to luck egalitarianism. Very recently, Andreas Albertsen and Lasse Nielsen provided a scrupulous analysis of the harshness...     

Ab initio pseudopotential studies on an Al Σ = 9 grain boundary: Effects of Na and Ca impurities

The electronic properties of an Al = 9 tilt grain boundary with segregated Na and Ca impurity atoms have been calculated by a first-principles pseudopotential method. The results show that the boundary expands and the charge density decreases significantly over the whole boundary by the segregation of Na and Ca, and there are no stronger bonds than those associated with metallic bonding in the boundary even with the impurities. It is concluded that the embrittlement promotion mechanism by Na or Ca segregation in the Al boundaries is one kind of 'decohesion model'.     

Differential outcomes of skill training,group counseling,and individual cognitive therapy for persons with acquired visual impairment

As part of the Living Skills Training Program, group counseling and individual cognitive therapy were implemented to decrease psychological distress for adults with acquired visual impairment. This quasi‐experimental design study compared the outcomes of a 6‐month skill training program combined with a group counseling program (n = 37), with (n = 9) or without (n = 10) individual cognitive therapy, and with a control group (n = 42). The outcome measures were the Profile of Mood States and the Nottingham Adjustment Scale Japanese Version. The results showed that participants with low psychological distress decreased anxiety and increased acceptance of disability, even when they did not participate in group counseling. However, among the participants with high distress, they did not show any improvement without group counseling or individual therapy. The participants with high distress who engaged in group counseling showed an improving trend in attitudes toward others. Moreover, the participants who chose to engage in individual therapy in addition to group counseling showed decreased tension‐anxiety, depression, and fatigue, and significantly improved acceptance of disability. These results suggest that group counseling, combined with individual cognitive therapy, can be an effective part of rehabilitation treatment for clients who have high psychological distress.