Modeling Statistical Insensitivity: Sources of Suboptimal Behavior

Children acquiring languages with noun classes (grammatical gender) have ample statistical information available that characterizes the distribution of nouns into these classes, but their use of this information to classify novel nouns differs from the predictions made by an optimal Bayesian classifier. We use rational analysis to investigate the hypothesis that children are classifying nouns optimally with respect to a distribution that does not match the surface distribution of statistical features in their input. We propose three ways in which children's apparent statistical insensitivity might arise, and find that all three provide ways to account for the difference between children's behavior and the optimal classifier. A fourth model combines two of these proposals and finds that children's insensitivity is best modeled as a bias to ignore certain features during classification, rather than an inability to encode those features during learning. These results provide insight into children's developing knowledge of noun classes and highlight the complex ways in which statistical information from the input interacts with children's learning processes.     

The role of animacy in spatial transformations

We present evidence that different mental spatial transformations are used to reason about three different types of items representing a spectrum of animacy: human bodies, nonhuman animals, and inanimate objects. Participants made two different judgments about rotated figures: handedness judgments (“Is this the left or right side?”) and matching judgments (“Are these figures the same?”). Perspective-taking strategies were most prevalent when participants made handedness judgments about human bodies and animals. In contrast, participants generally did not imagine changes in perspective to perform matching judgments. Such results suggest that high-level information about semantic categories, including information about a thing’s animacy, can influence how spatial representations are transformed when performing online problem solving. Supplemental materials for this article may be downloaded from http://mc.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.     

Category label and response location shifts in category learning

The category shift literature suggests that rule-based classification, an important form of explicit learning, is mediated by two separate learned associations: a stimulus-to-label association that associates stimuli and category labels, and a label-to-response association that associates category labels and responses. Three experiments investigate whether information–integration classification, an important form of implicit learning, is also mediated by two separate learned associations. Participants were trained on a rule-based or an information–integration categorization task and then the association between stimulus and category label, or between category label and response location was altered. For rule-based categories, and in line with previous research, breaking the association between stimulus and category label caused more interference than breaking the association between category label and response location. However, no differences in recovery rate emerged. For information–integration categories, breaking the association between stimulus and category label caused more interference and led to greater recovery than breaking the association between category label and response location. These results provide evidence that information–integration category learning is mediated by separate stimulus-to-label and label-to-response associations. Implications for the neurobiological basis of these two learned associations are discussed.     

Socializing Undergraduates to the MFT Field

In this article we outline the facilitation of a marriage and family therapy (MFT) course that introduces undergraduates to MFT theory, research, and professional development. We also examine students’ reports on the influence of the course relative to their development of graduate training aspirations and desired pursuit of MFT as a potential career. Additionally, students offered reflections about what most inspired their learning and attention towards MFT as a potential profession. Results indicate that the course aided students in career path discernment, preparation for MFT graduate program entrance, and socialization to develop future professional relationships with MFTs.     

Self–Observer Rating Discrepancies of Managers in Asia: A study of derailment characteristics and behaviors in Southern and Confucian Asia

Antecedents to self–observer rating discrepancies in multisource instruments have been established at the individual and organizational level. However, research examining cultural antecedents is limited, which is particularly relevant as multisource instruments gain popularity around the world. We investigated multisource ratings of 860 Asian managers from the regions of Southern Asia (n=261) and Confucian Asia (n=599) and analyzed cultural differences in self–observer rating discrepancies. Multivariate regression procedures revealed that the self–observer rating discrepancy was wider for managers from Southern Asia as compared with Confucian Asia. The reason for the discrepancy was driven by managers' self‐ratings being different across cultures than by observer ratings from managers' bosses, direct reports, or peers; the predictor is related to self‐ratings not observer ratings, producing differential self–observer ratings due to self‐ratings. We discuss cultural differences in self‐ and observer ratings within Asia and provide implications for the practice of multisource assessments.     

Not self-focused attention but negative beliefs affect poor social performance in social anxiety: An investigation of pathways in the social anxiety-social rejection relationship

Patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) not only fear negative evaluation but are indeed less likeable than people without SAD. Previous research shows social performance to mediate this social anxiety-social rejection relationship. This study studied two pathways hypothesized to lead to poor social performance in social anxiety: increased self-focused attention and negative beliefs. State social anxiety was experimentally manipulated in high and low-blushing-fearful individuals by letting half of the participants believe that they blushed intensely during a 5 min getting-acquainted interaction with two confederates. Participants rated their state social anxiety, self-focused attention, and level of negative beliefs. Two confederates and two video-observers rated subsequently likeability (i.e., social rejection) and social performance of the participants. In both groups, the social anxiety-social rejection relationship was present. Although state social anxiety was related to heightened self-focused attention and negative beliefs, only negative beliefs were associated with relatively poor social performance. In contrast to current SAD models, self-focused attention did not play a key-role in poor social performance but seemed to function as a by-product of state social anxiety. Beliefs of being negatively evaluated seem to elicit changes in behavioral repertoire resulting in a poor social performance and subsequent rejection.     

PROBLEM BEHAVIOR DURING PREFERENCE ASSESSMENTS: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS AND PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Preferences of 2 children with developmental disabilities, whose functional analyses indicated that their problem behavior was maintained by access to tangible items, were assessed using three formats (i.e., paired stimulus [PS], multiple‐stimulus without replacement [MSWO], and free operant [FO]). The experimenter administered each format five times and compared levels of problem behavior across formats in a multielement design. Both participants exhibited problem behavior in PS and MSWO formats but not in the FO format. Results are discussed in terms of recommendations for practitioners.     

An evaluation of the value of choice-making opportunities in single-operant arrangements: simple fixed- and progressive-ratio schedules

The current study compared the effects of choice and no-choice reinforcement conditions on the task responding of 3 children with autism across 2 single-operant paradigm reinforcer assessments. The first assessment employed simple fixed-ratio (FR) schedules; the second used progressive-ratio (PR) schedules. The latter assessment identified the differential strength of choice-making conditions in promoting task responding relative to no-choice conditions for 2 participants; no differential findings were obtained during the FR assessment.     

Relationship Between Job Characteristics and Attitudes: A Study of Temporary Employees

We examine the relationship between job characteristics and employee attitudes in the context of temporary employees who are assigned to work at the client organizations but are formally employed by a temporary agency. Based on the rationale provided by social exchange and social identity theories, we hypothesized that job characteristics would be related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention in regard to both the client organization and the temporary agency. Results based on data collected from a large temporary agency supported all hypothesized relationships in regard to the client organization, and most hypothesized relationships in regard to the temporary agency. We discuss implications of these findings for research and the practice of managing temporary employee attitudes.