A new maneuver against the epistemic relativist

Epistemic relativists often appeal to an epistemic incommensurability thesis. One notable example is the position advanced by Wittgenstein in On certainty (1969). However, Ian Hacking’s radical denial of the possibility of objective epistemic reasons for belief poses, we suggest, an even more forceful challenge to mainstream meta-epistemology. Our central objective will be to develop a novel strategy for defusing Hacking’s line of argument. Specifically, we show that the epistemic incommensurability thesis can be resisted even if we grant the very insights that lead Hacking to claim that epistemic reasons are always relative to a style of reasoning. Surprisingly, the key to defusing the argument is to be found in recent mainstream work on the epistemic state of objectual understanding.     

Middle Response Scale Options are Inappropriate for Ideal Point Scales

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical rationale for the inappropriateness of middle response options on the response scales offered on ideal point scales, and to provide empirical support for this argument to assist ideal point scale development.

Design/Methodology/Approach

The same ideal point scale was administered in three quasi-experimental groups varying only in the response scale offered: the three groups received either a four-, five-, or six-option response scale. An ideal point Item Response Theory model, the Generalized Graded Unfolding Model (GGUM), was fit to the response data, and model-data fit was compared across conditions.

Findings

Responses from the four- and six-option conditions were fit well by the GGUM, but responses from the five-option condition were not fit well.

Implications

Despite the scale being constructed to follow the tenets of ideal point responding, the GGUM was unable to provide a reasonable probabilistic account of responding when the response scale contained a middle option. The authors find support for the argument that an odd-numbered response scale does not match the principles of ideal point responding, and can actually result in misspecifying the underlying response process.

Originality/Value

Although a growing body of research has suggested that attitude and personality measurement is best conceptualized under the assumptions of ideal point responding, little practical advice has been given to researchers or practitioners regarding scale creation. This was the first study to theoretically and empirically assess the response scale on ideal point scales, and offer guidance for constructing ideal point scales.     

Null Results in Assessing Survey Score Comparability: Illustrating Measurement Invariance Using Item Response Theory

In using organizational surveys for decision-making, it is essential to consider measurement equivalence/invariance (ME/I), which addresses the questions of whether score differences are attributable to differences in the latent variable we intend to measure, or attributable to confounding differences in measurement properties. Due to the tendency for null results to remain unpublished, most articles have focused on findings of, and reasons for violations of ME/I. On the other hand, little is available to practitioners and researchers concerning situations where ME/I can be expected to uphold. This is especially disconcerting due to the fact that the null is the desired result in such analyses, and allows for unfettered observed-score comparisons. This special issue presents a unique opportunity to provide such a discussion using real-world examples from an organizational culture survey. In doing so we hope to clear up confusion surrounding the concept of ME/I, when it can be expected, and how it relates to actual differences in scores. First, we review the basic tenets and past findings focusing on ME/I, and discuss the item response theory differential item functioning framework used here. Next, we show ME/I being upheld using organizational survey data wherein violations of ME/I would reasonably not be expected (i.e., the null hypothesis was predicted and supported), and simulate the consequences of ignoring ME/I. Finally, we suggest a set of conditions wherein ME/I is likely to be upheld.     

Honey,Sweetie, Dear: Terms of Endearment Communicate,Reflect, and Reinforce Sexism Toward Adult Women

Four studies demonstrated how terms of endearment (ToE; e.g., “honey,” “dear”) communicate, reflect, and reinforce sexism toward adult women outside of close relationships. Study 1 participants reported more negative reactions to ToE as their endorsement of benevolent sexism decreased, and older women reacted more negatively than men and younger women. In Study 2, an interviewer either used or did not use ToE when interviewing women from upper-level business classes. ToE use caused women relatively low in benevolent sexism to feel less positive, warm, and competent, whereas women higher in benevolent sexism were unaffected by the use of ToE. Shifting focus to ToE users, Study 3 participants read about a day in the life of a man protagonist (Tim) who did or did not use ToE. Participants inferred that Tim more strongly endorsed sexist attitudes and hierarchy-enforcing ideologies if he used ToE than if he did not. Finally, Study 4 showed that the more participants self-reported using ToE, the more they endorsed several of these sexist attitudes and ideologies. Altogether, this research demonstrates the deleterious effects of seemingly harmless language and extends knowledge about everyday sexism through language.

     

From Partnership to Liberation

Although there were more women present at the 4th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) at Uppsala in 1968 than at previous assemblies, they still formed less than 10 percent of the voting delegates. There was thus a large discrepancy between the WCC's theological statements on the cooperation of women and men and the various power structures found in the WCC and its member churches. Nevertheless, Uppsala marked a significant turning point for women in the WCC. The expansion of the WCC, the commitment to restructuring, and the emergence of new leadership all contributed to the beginning at Uppsala of a new era in the ecumenical movement, leading to a shift in discourse from cooperation to liberation, and a new awareness of women's universal struggle for liberation from all forms of discrimination and oppression.     

Adrian Stokes and the portrait of Melanie Klein

This paper focuses on the offer by the art writer Adrian Stokes to commission and pay for a portrait of the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein by the artist William Coldstream. It details some of the precursors of this offer in Stokes's preceding involvement first with Klein and then with Coldstream; her response to this offer; and its outcome and aftermath in Stokes's subsequent writing about Klein and Coldstream.     

Effective responder communication,perceived responder legitimacy,and group identification predict public cooperation and compliance in a mass decontamination visualization experiment

This article describes a visualization experiment that tests hypotheses based on the social identity approach about effectiveness of communication strategies during mass decontamination. Specifically, the mediating role of social identity processes between effective responder communication and relevant outcome variables (e.g., public compliance), is examined. After visualizing that they had been involved in a hypothetical incident involving decontamination, participants (N = 129) received one of three different communication strategies: (1) health‐focused information about decontamination, sufficient practical information; (2) no health‐focused information, sufficient practical information; and (3) no health‐focused information, low practical information. The communication strategy perceived as most effective included health‐focused information and practical information; this resulted in the highest levels of expected compliance, mediated by social identity variables. Implications for management of mass decontamination are discussed.     

Greater Intermanual Transfer in the Elderly Suggests Age-Related Bilateral Motor Cortex Activation Is Compensatory

ABSTRACT. Hemispheric lateralization of movement control diminishes with age; whether this is compensatory or maladaptive is debated. The authors hypothesized that if compensatory, bilateral activation would lead to greater intermanual transfer in older subjects learning tasks that activate the cortex unilaterally in young adults. They studied 10 young and 14 older subjects, learning a unimanual visuomotor task comprising a feedforward phase, where there is unilateral cortical activation in young adults, and a feedback phase, which activates the cortex bilaterally in both age groups. Increased intermanual transfer was demonstrated in older subjects during feedforward learning, with no difference between groups during feedback learning. This finding is consistent with bilateral cortical activation being compensatory to maintain performance despite declining computational efficiency in neural networks.