A stochastic multidimensional unfolding approach for representing phased decision outcomes

This paper presents a stochastic multidimensional unfolding (MDU) procedure to spatially represent individual differences in phased or sequential decision processes. The specific application or scenario to be discussed involves the area of consumer psychology where consumers form judgments sequentially in their awareness, consideration, and choice set compositions in a phased or sequential manner as more information about the alternative brands in a designated product/service class are collected. A brief review of the consumer psychology literature on these nested congnitive sets as stages in phased decision making is provided. The technical details of the proposed model, maximum likelihood estimation framework, and algorithm are then discussed. A small scale Monte Carlo analysis is presented to demonstrate estimation proficiency and the appropriateness of the proposed model selection heuristic. An application of the methodology to capture awareness, consideration, and choice sets in graduate school applicants is presented. Finally, directions for future research and other potential applications are given.     

Crowding effects of density and personal space requirements among older people: the impact of self-control and social support

The authors examined the effects of self-control and social support among a representative sample of 300 older people, 150 in high-density and 150 in low-density households in India. The Self-Control Schedule (M. Rosenbaum, 1980), the Comfortable Interpersonal Distance Test (M. Duke & S. Nowicki, 1972), the Social Support Questionnaire, and the Judgement of Environmental Quality Scale (I. G. Sarason, H. M. Levine, R. B. Basham, & B. R. Sarason, 1983) were the measures. A 2 x 2 x 2 (Density x Social Support x Self-Control) analysis of variance for perceptions of home environment and personal space requirements revealed that the Self-Control x Social Support interaction moderated the crowding effects of density: The participants in high-density households evaluated their home environments more positively and reduced their personal space requirements.     

The role of sequence order in determining view canonicality for novel wire-frame objects

Objects are best recognized from so-called “canonical” views. The characteristics of canonical views of arbitrary objects have been qualitatively described using a variety of different criteria, but little is known regarding how these views might be acquired during object learning. We address this issue, in part, by examining the role of object motion in the selection of preferred views of novel objects. Specifically, we adopt a modeling approach to investigate whether or not the sequence of views seen during initial exposure to an object contributes to observers’ preferences for particular images in the sequence. In two experiments, we exposed observers to short sequences depicting rigidly rotating novel objects and subsequently collected subjective ratings of view canonicality (Experiment 1) and recall rates for individual views (Experiment 2). Given these two operational definitions of view canonicality, we attempted to fit both sets of behavioral data with a computational model incorporating 3-D shape information (object foreshortening), as well as information relevant to the temporal order of views presented during training (the rate of change for object foreshortening). Both sets of ratings were reasonably well predicted using only 3-D shape; the inclusion of terms that capture sequence order improved model performance significantly.     

Multimethod Probes of Allocentrism and Idiocentrism

Collectivism and individualism are cultural syndromes that have some common cores. Allocentrism and idiocentrism are constructs at the individual level that correspond to collectivism and individualism respectively at the cultural level. In two studies, the first with American (from Illinois) and the second with Japanese subjects, we examined the best way to measure these common cores. We also present the recommended items in two appendices, and provide information about the reliability and convergent validity of the items in these appendices. Finally, we tested the hypothesis that women will be more allocentric than men. We obtained only directional support in the US but fairly good support of this hypothesis in Japan.     

Selective Literature Review and Selective Data Analyses: Implications for the (Re)Analysis of Public Access Research Data

This article addresses concerns raised by Pashler et al. (2016/this issue) about the effect size and data of Study 3 of Chatterjee et al. (2013). The analysis of the original data of Study 3, corrected for coding errors, shows that cash priming is associated with cost-related words (Cohen’s d = 0.49) and effect sizes of all three studies are within the range reported in the relevant literature. While this article underscores the importance of public access to research data to strengthen research enterprise, it alerts researchers that the use of selective literature and partial analysis can lead to misleading inferences.     

Vulnerability of facial attractiveness perception to early and multi-year visual deprivation

Judgments of facial attractiveness invariably accompany our perception of faces. Even neonates appear to be capable of making such judgments in a manner consistent with adults. This suggests that the processes supporting facial attractiveness require little, if any, visual experience to manifest. Here we investigate the resilience of these processes to several years of early-onset visual deprivation. Specifically, we study whether congenitally blind children treated several years after birth possess the ability to rate facial attractiveness in a manner congruent to normally sighted individuals. The data reveal significant individual variability in the way each newly sighted child perceives attractiveness. This is in marked contrast to data from normally sighted controls who exhibit strong across-subject agreement in facial attractiveness ratings. This variability may be attributable, in part, to atypical facial encoding strategies used by the newly sighted children. Overall, our results suggest that the development of facial attractiveness perception is likely to be vulnerable to early visual deprivation, pointing to the existence of a possible sensitive period early in the developmental trajectory.