Source monitoring reduces the suggestibility of preschool children

The relation between source monitoring and suggestibility was examined among preschool children. Thirty-two 3- to 5-year-olds were simultaneously presented with a brief story in two different modalities, as a silent video vignette and a spoken narrative. Each modality presented unique information about the story, but the information in the two versions was mutually compatible. The children were then asked a series of questions, including questions about the source (modality) of story details, and leading questions about story details (to assess suggestibility). Performance on the source-monitoring questions was highly correlated with the ability to resist suggestion. In addition, children who were asked source-monitoring questions prior to leading questioning were less susceptible to suggestion than were those who were asked the leading questions first. This study provides evidence that source monitoring can play a causal role in reducing the suggestibility of preschool children.     

Factor analysis and scale revision

This article reviews methodological issues that arise in the application of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to scale revision and refinement. The authors begin by discussing how the appropriate use of EFA in scale revision is influenced by both the hierarchical nature of psychological constructs and the motivations underlying the revision. Then they specifically address (a) important issues that arise prior to data collection (e.g., selecting an appropriate sample), (b) technical aspects of factor analysis (e.g., determining the number of factors to retain), and (c) procedures used to evaluate the outcome of the scale revision (e.g., determining whether the new measure functions equivalently for different populations).     

Using IRT to separate measurement bias from true group differences on homogeneous and heterogeneous scales: an illustration with the MMPI

The authors present a didactic illustration of how item response theory (IRT) can be used to separate measurement bias from true group differences on homogeneous and heterogeneous scales. Several bias detection methods are illustrated with 12 unidimensional Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) factor scales (Waller, 1999) and the 13 multidimensional MMPI validity and clinical scales. The article begins with a brief review of MMPI bias research and nontechnical reviews of the 2-parameter logistic model (2-PLM) and several IRT-based methods for bias detection. A goal of this article is to demonstrate that homogeneous and heterogeneous scales that are composed of biased items do not necessarily yield biased test scores. To that end, the authors perform differential item- and test-functioning analyses on the MMPI factor, validity, and clinical scales using data from 511 Blacks and 1,277 Whites from the California Youth Authority.     

How many IRT parameters does it take to model psychopathology items?

The authors compared the fit of the 2- and 3-parameter logistic models (2PLM; 3PLM) on 15 unidimensional factor scales derived from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--Adolescent item pool. Log-likelihood chi-square deviance tests indicated that a 3PLM provided an improved fit. However, residual statistics indicated that the difference in fit between the 2 models was negligible. An unexpected finding was that from 10% to 30% of the items had substantial lower asymptote parameters (c > or = .10) when the scales were scored in the pathology or nonpathology directions. The authors argue that the large lower asymptote parameters are attributable to item-content ambiguity possibly caused by item-level multidimensionality. These findings suggest that the direction of scoring can critically affect an item response theory analysis.     

Demographic, health, cognitive, and sensory variables as predictors of mortality in very old adults

Cognitive and sensorimotor predictors of mortality were examined in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing, controlling for demographic and health variables. A stratified random sample of 1,947 males and females aged 70 and older were interviewed, and 1,500 were assessed on measures of health, memory. verbal ability, processing speed, vision, hearing, and grip strength in 1992 and 1994. Analyses of incident rate ratios for mortality over 4- and 6-year periods were conducted using Cox hierarchical regression analyses. Results showed that poor performance on nearly all cognitive variables was associated with mortality, but many of these effects were explained by measures of self-rated health and disease. Significant decline in hearing and cognitive performance also predicted mortality as did incomplete data at Wave 1. Results suggest that poor cognitive performance and cognitive decline in very old adults reflect both biological aging and disease processes.     

An Introduction to Kristof’s Theorem for Solving Least-Square Optimization Problems Without Calculus

Kristof’s Theorem (Kristof, 1970 Kristof, W. (1970). A theorem on the trace of certain matrix products and some applications. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 7(3), 515–530. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-2496(70)90037-4[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) describes a matrix trace inequality that can be used to solve a wide-class of least-square optimization problems without calculus. Considering its generality, it is surprising that Kristof’s Theorem is rarely used in statistics and psychometric applications. The underutilization of this method likely stems, in part, from the mathematical complexity of Kristof’s (1964 Kristof, W. (1964). Die beste orthogonale Transformation zur gegenseitigen Uberfiihrung zweier Faktorenmatrizen. Diagnostica, 10, 87–90. [Google Scholar], 1970 Kristof, W. (1970). A theorem on the trace of certain matrix products and some applications. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 7(3), 515–530. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-2496(70)90037-4[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) writings. In this article, I describe the underlying logic of Kristof’s Theorem in simple terms by reviewing four key mathematical ideas that are used in the theorem’s proof. I then show how Kristof’s Theorem can be used to provide novel derivations to two cognate models from statistics and psychometrics. This tutorial includes a glossary of technical terms and an online supplement with R (R Core Team, 2017 R Core Team (2017). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Retrieved from https://www.R-project.org/ [Google Scholar]) code to perform the calculations described in the text.     

The marketing of industrial real estate: application of Taguchi loss functions

The marketing of industrial real estate is a resource‐consuming endeavour for all parties involved consisting of many objectives that, in many cases, may be in conflict with one another. One method of minimizing resource requirements, especially time, while increasing the probability of a successful match is to select properties for presentation that maximizes buyer utility. Zionts (1992) indicated one area for future research in multiple criteria decision‐making (MCDM) is in the development of ‘Eclectic Approaches’ using old ideas in a new way to help develop MCDM approaches. In this paper Taguchi loss functions, a procedure commonly used in quality control, is proposed as a tool that can be used by industrial real estate professionals to more efficiently determine the property that most closely matches the buyer's needs. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Landmarks as beacons and associative cues: Their role in route learning

Relatively little is known about how people use the landmarks in their environment to learn routes. Landmarks are commonly regarded as associative cues--stimuli that enable recall of directional responses that lead closer to the navigator's goal. We contrast the function of landmark as associative cue with that of a beacon-a landmark near enough to a goal that moving toward it leads the navigator closer to his or her goal. In five experiments, participants learned a route through a simple desktop virtual environment. In the first three experiments, routes were learned better when their landmarks served as beacons than as associative cues. Two additional experiments showed that the acquired route knowledge depends on the function that landmarks serve during learning. Beacon-based route knowledge is less enduring and relatively less likely to involve knowledge of directions in the environment than is the route knowledge formed from landmarks that serve as associative cues.