Nominal scale agreement among observers

Experiments are considered where each of a sample of subjects is assigned to one of C categories separately by each of a fixed or varying group of observers. Building on earlier publications, general procedures are proposed to analyze agreements and disagreements among observers. In the case of a varying group of observers, it is shown that it is not necessary to demand a constant number of observers per subject. In the case of a fixed group of observers, the problem of missing data is considered.The procedures are illustrated within the context of two clinical diagnosis examples. In the first example it is investigated which categories are relatively hard to distinguish from one another; a new theorem is applied that shows a useful property of the statistic kappa. In the second example it is investigated if a subgroup of observers can be found with a significantly higher degree of interobserver agreement.The author gratefully acknowledges the valuable suggestions by W. Molenaar, R. van Strik, R. Popping and the referees.     

Paired associate learning of action verbs with visual-or motor-imaginal encoding instructions

Summary It is suggested that visual-imaginal encoding of actions, i.e., imagining seeing somebody else performing a described action, should be distinguished from motor-imaginal encoding, i.e., imagining how one performs the action oneself. While both kinds of encoding should provide good item-specific information, only visual-imaginal encoding should also lead to good relational encoding of word pairs. In three experiments in which subjects had to learn verb pairs, we obtained supporting data for this assumption. Although CR performance was equal to FR performance under visual-imaginal encoding, under motorimaginal encoding CR performance was worse than FR performance. In principle, this finding parallels results obtained with imagined noun pairs and with performed verb pairs.The research reported here was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to J. Engelkamp and Hubert D. Zimmer. The paper was prepared during a stay of these authors at the Centre d'Études de Psychologie Cognitive, enabled by a grant of PROCOPE 311 pro     

Behavioural evidence for sex differences in the overlap between subtraction and multiplication

The present study aims to identify factors that may influence the dissociability of number magnitude processing and arithmetic fact retrieval at the behavioural level. To that end, we assessed both subtraction and multiplication performance in a within-subject approach and evaluated the interdependence of unit-decade integration measures on the one hand as well as sex differences in the interdependence of performance measures on the other hand. We found that subtraction items requiring borrowing (e.g. 53–29 = 24, 3 < 9) are more error prone than subtraction items not requiring borrowing (e.g. 59–23 = 34, 9 > 3), thereby demonstrating a borrowing effect, which has been suggested as a measure of unit-decade integration in subtraction. Furthermore, we observed that multiplication items with decade-consistent distractors (e.g. 6 × 4 = 28 instead of 24) are more error prone that multiplication items with decade-inconsistent distractors (e.g. 6 × 4 = 30 instead of 24), thereby demonstrating a decade-consistency effect, which has been suggested as a measure of unit-decade integration in simple multiplication. However, the borrowing effect in subtraction was not correlated with the effect of decade consistency in simple multiplication in either men or women. This indicates that unit-decade integration arises from different systems in subtraction and multiplication. Nevertheless, men outperformed women not only in subtraction, but also in multiplication. Furthermore, subtraction and multiplication performance on correct solution probes were correlated in women, but unrelated in men. Thus, the view of differential systems for number magnitude processing and arithmetic fact retrieval may not be universal across sexes.     

A test of the generalizability of a recently suggested conceptual model for assessment center ratings

The present study replicated and extended research concerning a recently suggested conceptual model of the underlying factors of dimension ratings in assessment centers (ACs) proposed by Hoffman, Melchers, Blair, Kleinmann, and Ladd that includes broad dimension factors, exercise factors, and a general performance factor. We evaluated the criterion-related validity of these different components and expanded their nomological network. Results showed that all components (i.e., broad dimensions, exercises, general performance) were significant predictors of training performance. Furthermore, broad dimensions showed incremental validity beyond exercises and general performance. Finally, relationships between the AC factors and individual difference constructs (e.g., Big Five, core self-evaluations, positive and negative affectivity) supported the construct-related validity of broad dimensions and provided further insights in the nature of the different AC components.     

Subjectivity in Descartes and Kant

Kant's response to Cartesian scepticism is often characterized in the following way. Whereas Descartes drives a wedge between subjective experience and objective reality, Kant argues that there could be no such thing as experience at all if reality were not itself structured in just the way our thought about it is structured. This picture of Kant's response to Descartes portrays him as succeeding, where Descartes fails, in arguing directly from the nature of experience to the nature of reality; as subscribing, therefore, to Descartes' view that one is immediately aware only of one's own mental states, but as seeing a way out of the subjective predicament. I maintain that this picture is deeply flawed. Kant's transcendental argument is in fact a thoroughgoing critique of Descartes' subjectivism, and destroys the Cartesian barrier to recognizing that our awareness of reality is unmediated and direct.     

Les habiletés et régulations motrices au cours de l'escalade et de la descente d'un escalier hélicoïdal chez des enfants de 17 à 27 mois

Nous rapportons dans cet article des données nouvelles sur les comportements d'escalade et de descente d'un escalier hélicoïdal par 12 enfants, dans un local spécialement aménagé. Âgés entre 17 et 21 mois au début de la recherche, ils ont été répartis en deux groupes: pour l'un, la première marche était triangulaire; pour l'autre, quadrangulaire. Les měmes enfants ont été étudiés entre 23 et 27 mois dans les měmes conditions et selon le měme protocole, mais avec une inversion de la configuration de la première marche. On observe que: (1) dès la classe d'âges de 17 à 21 mois, les enfants des deux groupes privilégient le pied droit pour attaquer la première marche, avec le plus souvent alternance des deux pieds sans diminution du pas et sans arrět; (2) la configuration de la première marche joue un rôle significatif dans la fréquence de choix du pied d'attaque en début d'escalade et en fin de descente; (3) les comportements en fin d'escalade et en début de descente apparaissent influencés par la configuration du sommet de l'escalier et par la configuration de la première marche d'escalade; (4) entre 23 et 27 mois, l'influence des facteurs de développement est particulièrement nette en début d'escalade et en fin de descente; (5) les comportements en fin d'escalade et en début de descente apparaissent influencés par une combinaison de facteurs de développement, de la configuration du sommet de l'escalier, des expériences individuelles au début de l'escalade et des expériences individuelles au cours de la première partie de l'étude.     

The given-new structure of cleft sentences and their influence on picture viewing

Summary In three experiments the influence of the given-new structure of cleft sentences on picture viewing was examined. Subjects heard cleft sentences and subsequently inspected pictures depicting the agent and the patient of the action mentioned in the sentence. Each sentence-picture pair was preceded by an adequate context sentence and a context picture. It was demonstrated that the delineation of the agent or of the patient in the sentence was looked at longer when it was marked as new information in the sentence that described the picture than when it was marked as old information. We interpret these findings to mean that the new information of a cleft sentence sets up a focus of attention in the cognitive structure and that this prolongs the time spent in the inspection of a delineation of the focal concept.     

Imaginal Dialogues in the Self:Theory and Method

ABSTRACT The story a person tells about his or her life is viewed as a polyphonic novel. This metaphor implies that the self is multivoiced; that is, there is no single "I" as an agent of self-organization but several, relatively independent "I" positions that complement and contradict each other in dialogical relationships. From this perspective the role ofimaginal figures in the organization of the self is analyzed. A theory and method are presented allowing us to study both the content and the organization of multivoiced self-narratives. The method is illustrated with two idiographic studies, where people tell their life story not only from the perspective of the familiar "I" but also from the perspective of an imaginal figure with whom they have had a long-lasting relationship. Finally, it is argued that the metaphor of a polyphonic novel is particularly useful because it allows us to decentralize the Western concept of the self.     

The personal meaning of symbols: A method of investigation

In light of the inherent significance of symbols and their nevertheless manifold variety of meanings, we present a method for investigation. In the theory behind this method, the person is viewed as an organized process of self-reflection, always oriented from a particular point in time and space toward the past, present, and future. As this orientation varies, different valuations emerge, with avaluation being a unit of meaning seen by the person as particularly relevant in his or her own life. A distinction is made between symbolic valuations, which usually have a pictorial character (for example, I am impressed by the roots of a tree), and ordinary valuations, which typically have a conceptual character (for example, I have a strong bond with my family). These types of experiences are combined and organized in a system of valuations, from where the symbol receives its personal meaning. We present a method of self-investigation for studying the interrelation between the valuation of symbols and the valuation of daily life, the affective properties of these valuations, their motivational implications, and their long-term development. We illustrate the proposed methodology with the case study of a woman who incorporated the tree as a symbol of purification into her valuation system and show how this allowed her to reintegrate certain negative experiences out of her past in her actual self.The authors thank Wim van Gilst for writing the computer program, Roos Bos for placing all the data of the case study at their disposal, and Lee Ann Weeks for her detailed editorial comments.