Effects on WAIS-III performance IQ (PIQ) and full scale IQ (FSIQ) when object assembly is substituted for each standard performance scale subtest

According to the WAIS-III Administration and Scoring Manual, Object Assembly (OA) may be substituted for any spoiled Performance subtest. This assertion has not been evaluated in a clinical sample. The present investigation reports differences that resulted in Performance IQ (PIQ) and Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) when OA replaced each of the Performance subtests. Participants were 47 referrals for neuropsychological assessment (age M = 45.98 years, SD = 9.82; education M = 13.82 years, SD = 2.78). Results indicated that OA may replace any Performance subtest without seriously altering the summary scores. Differences between the standard IQs and OA-based composites were < 2 points for PIQ and < 1 point for FSIQ. More than 90% of the OA-based composites fell within the 90% confidence limits of the corresponding IQ.     

Teachers' conceptions of assessment: validation of an abridged version

Psychometric characteristics of the abridged Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment-III are reported. Data are from a study of 525 New Zealand primary school teachers and from a second study of 692 Queensland primary school teachers. The abridged version of 27 statements using a positively packed response scale had good fit characteristics for primary teachers in both New Zealand (chi(311)2 = 841.02; RMSEA = .057; TLI = .87) and Queensland (chi(311)2 = 1492.61; RMSEA = .074; TLI = .80). While providing information of similar quality to that of the original the abridged version is more efficient than the full scale.     

When does the daily hazard rate for committing suicide stabilize in psychiatric outpatients?

To ascertain whether the daily hazard risk rate for committing suicide by psychiatric outpatients stabilizes over time, a parametric survival analysis was calculated for the 6891 outpatients who were followed by Brown, Beck, Steer, and Grisham. Approximately 3 1/4 years after a patient's initial evaluation, the daily hazard rate leveled off and dropped below the hazard rate that would occur if a constant (exponential) daily hazard rate were assumed. The cost-effectiveness of conducting follow-up studies to identify suicidal risk factors in psychiatric outpatients beyond three years was questioned.     

Extracurricular involvement among affluent youth: a scapegoat for "ubiquitous achievement pressures"?

It has been suggested that over-scheduling of upper-class youth might underlie the high distress and substance use documented among them. This assumption was tested by considering suburban 8th graders' involvement in different activities along with their perceptions of parental attitudes toward achievement. Results indicated negligible evidence for deleterious effects of high extracurricular involvement per se. Far more strongly implicated was perceived parent criticism for both girls and boys as well as the absence of after-school supervision. Low parent expectations connoted significant vulnerability especially for boys. The findings indicate that at least among early adolescents, converging scientific and media reports may have scapegoated extracurricular involvements, to some degree, as an index of ubiquitous achievement pressures in affluent communities.     

The path of visual attention

Visual cuing is one paradigm often used to study object- and space-based visual selective attention. A primary finding is that shifts of attention within an object can be accomplished faster than equidistant shifts between objects. The present study used a visual cuing paradigm to examine how an object's size (i.e., internal distance) and shape, influences object- and space-based visual selective attention. The first two experiments manipulated object size and compared attentional shift performance with objects where the within-object distance between cued and uncued target locations was either equal to the between-object distance (1:1 ratio condition) or three times the between-object distance (3:1 ratio condition). Within-object shifts took longer for the larger objects, but an advantage over between-object shifts was still evident. Influences associated with the shapes of the larger objects suggested by the results of the first two experiments were tested and rejected in Experiment 3. Overall, the results indicate that within-object shifts of attention become slower as the within-object distance increases, but nevertheless are still accomplished faster than between-object shifts.     

Proactive personality and the successful job search: a field investigation with college graduates

The current article tests a model of proactive personality and job search success with a sample of 180 graduating college students. Using structural equation modeling, the authors tested a theoretical model that specified the relations among proactive personality, job search self-efficacy, job search behaviors, job search effort, and job search outcomes. Job seekers were surveyed at 2 separate points in time, once 3-4 months prior to graduation and once 2-3 months following graduation. The results suggest that proactive personality (a) significantly influenced the success of college graduates' job search, (b) was partially mediated through job search self-efficacy and job search behavior, and (c) was independent of self-esteem and conscientiousness. The findings are discussed in terms of their general implications for understanding the nature of the process through which distal personality factors, such as proactive personality, affect the nature and success of an individual's job search.     

Dimensional versus categorical classification of mental disorders in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and beyond: comment on the special section

The value of including dimensional elements in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has been recognized for decades. Nevertheless, no proposals have been made for introducing dimensional classification in the diagnostic system in a valid and feasible manner. As an initial step in this endeavor, the authors suggest introducing dimensional severity ratings to the extant diagnostic categories and criteria sets. Although not without difficulties, this would begin to determine the feasibility of dimensional classification and would address some limitations of the purely categorical approach (e.g., failure to capture individual differences in disorder severity, and clinically significant features subsumed by other disorders or falling below conventional DSM thresholds). The utility of incorporating broader dimensions of temperament and personality in diagnostic systems beyond the fifth edition of the DSM is also discussed.     

Absolute identification by relative judgment

In unidimensional absolute identification tasks, participants identify stimuli that vary along a single dimension. Performance is surprisingly poor compared with discrimination of the same stimuli. Existing models assume that identification is achieved using long-term representations of absolute magnitudes. The authors propose an alternative relative judgment model (RJM) in which the elemental perceptual units are representations of the differences between current and previous stimuli. These differences are used, together with the previous feedback, to respond. Without using long-term representations of absolute magnitudes, the RJM accounts for (a) information transmission limits, (b) bowed serial position effects, and (c) sequential effects, where responses are biased toward immediately preceding stimuli but away from more distant stimuli (assimilation and contrast).     

Practice increases the efficiency of evidence accumulation in perceptual choice

Most models of choice response time base decisions on evidence accumulated over time. A fundamental distinction among these models concerns whether each piece of evidence is equally weighted (lossless accumulation) or unequally weighted (leaky accumulation). The authors tested a hypothesis derived from A. Heathcote and S. Brown's (2002) self-exciting expert competitor (SEEXC) model of skill acquisition: that evidence accumulation becomes less leaky with practice. The hypothesis was supported by observation that the effects of prime stimuli increased with practice. The authors used metacontrast masked primes, which could not be consciously discriminated by most participants, to avoid methodological problems associated with conscious strategy changes. The form of the law of practice in the data is also shown to be consistent with the SEEXC model.