Confidence Distribution for the Ability Parameter of the Rasch Model

Psychometrika - In this paper, we consider the Rasch model and suggest novel point estimators and confidence intervals for the ability parameter. They are based on a proposed confidence...     

Electrophysiological correlates of observational learning in children

Observational learning is an important mechanism for cognitive and social development. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying observational learning in children are not well understood. In this study, we used a probabilistic reward‐based observational learning paradigm to compare behavioral and electrophysiological markers of individual and observational reinforcement learning in 8‐ to 10‐year‐old children. Specifically, we manipulated the amount of observable information as well as children's similarity in age to the observed person (same‐aged child vs. adult) to examine the effects of similarity in age on the integration of observed information in children. We show that the feedback‐related negativity (FRN) during individual reinforcement learning reflects the valence of outcomes of own actions. Furthermore, we found that the feedback‐related negativity during observational reinforcement learning (oFRN) showed a similar distinction between outcome valences of observed actions. This suggests that the oFRN can serve as a measure of observational learning in middle childhood. Moreover, during observational learning children profited from the additional social information and imitated the choices of their own peers more than those of adults, indicating that children have a tendency to conform more with similar others (e.g. their own peers) compared to dissimilar others (adults). Taken together, our results show that children can benefit from integrating observable information and that oFRN may serve as a measure of observational learning in children.     

Alternative Approaches to Addressing Non-Normal Distributions in the Application of IRT Models to Personality Measures

It is generally assumed that the latent trait is normally distributed in the population when estimating logistic item response theory (IRT) model parameters. This assumption requires that the latent trait be fully continuous and the population homogenous (i.e., not a mixture). When this normality assumption is violated, models are misspecified, and item and person parameter estimates are inaccurate. When normality cannot be assumed, it might be appropriate to consider alternative modeling approaches: (a) a zero-inflated mixture, (b) a log-logistic, (c) a Ramsay curve, or (d) a heteroskedastic-skew model. The first 2 models were developed to address modeling problems associated with so-called quasi-continuous or unipolar constructs, which apply only to a subset of the population, or are meaningful at one end of the continuum only. The second 2 models were developed to address non-normal latent trait distributions and violations of homogeneity of error variance, respectively. To introduce these alternative IRT models and illustrate their strengths and weaknesses, we performed real data application comparing results to those from a graded response model. We review both statistical and theoretical challenges in applying these models and choosing among them. Future applications of these and other alternative models (e.g., unfolding, diffusion) are needed to advance understanding about model choice in particular situations.     

Two‐year‐old children preferentially transmit simple actions but not pedagogically demonstrated actions

Children are sensitive to both social and non‐social aspects of the learning environment. Among social cues, pedagogical communication has been shown to not only play a role in children's learning, but also in their own active transmission of knowledge. Vredenburgh, Kushnir and Casasola, Developmental Science, 2015, 18, 645 showed that 2‐year‐olds are more likely to demonstrate an action to a naive adult after learning it in a pedagogical than in a non‐pedagogical context. This finding was interpreted as evidence that pedagogically transmitted information has a special status as culturally relevant. Here we test the limits of this claim by setting it in contrast with an explanation in which the relevance of information is the outcome of multiple interacting social (e.g., pedagogical demonstration) and non‐social properties (e.g., action complexity). To test these competing hypotheses, we varied both pedagogical cues and action complexity in an information transmission paradigm with 2‐year‐old children. In Experiment 1, children preferentially transmitted simple non‐pedagogically demonstrated actions over pedagogically demonstrated more complex actions. In Experiment 2, when both actions were matched for complexity, we found no evidence of preferential transmission of pedagogically demonstrated actions. We discuss possible reasons for the discrepancy between our results and previous literature showing an effect of pedagogical cues on cultural transmission, and conclude that our results are compatible with the view that pedagogical and other cues interact, but incompatible with the theory of a privileged role for pedagogical cues.     

Latino College Student Adjustment: Does an Increased Presence Offset Minority‐Status and Acculturative Stresses?1

This study examined whether minority‐status stresses and acculturative stresses increase the risk of psychological maladjustment of Latino students at a university where Latinos constitute the largest ethnic group. Participants were 338 Latino (228 Mexican American, 110 Central American) college students who responded to a mailed survey. The results of 2 separate hierarchical regression analyses of psychological distress and well‐being, controlling for demographic (gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity). sociocultural (level of acculturation), college role (generic college stresses), and personal (academic self‐confidence) influences provided partial support for our hypothesis and demonstrated the incremental predictive validity of acculturative stresses, but not of minority‐status stresses. Results are discussed in terms of the variety of stresses that Latino college students are likely to experience.     

The role of offender experience and crimes in shaping accounts

The paper summarises the main findings obtained in a wide study on the construction of deviant actions' narratives. In this paper, we focused on two topics: both topics are crucial to suggest new directions in investigative psychology. Narratives provide investigative psychologists with new sets of tools to define criminal profiles, such as narrative profiling. This paper deals with a qualitative investigation undertaken by collecting narrative interviews. These interviews were conducted with 34 prisoners held in two penal institutes in Rome and their goal was to reveal the typical form of constructing accounts taken in a non-investigative context. The specific aim of the project was to show whether differences exist in the narrative accounts provided by perpetrators of crime considering two factors: the type of crime committed and the experience in the deviance arena, which are hypothesised to shape narrations. Interviews were analysed with particular reference to the ‘Evaluation model’ by W. Labov. Participants were divided into three groups on the basis of the type of experience in the deviant field (professionals, intermediates and amateurs) and into four groups according to the crime committed (homicide, robbery and theft, and crimes linked to drugs and fencing). The results show the significant existence of clear differences in the reconstruction of the crime committed compared to the experience of the protagonist. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.