Factor analysis by minimizing residuals (minres)

This paper is addressed to the classical problem of estimating factor loadings under the condition that the sum of squares of off-diagonal residuals be minimized. Communalities consistent with this criterion are produced as a by-product. The experimental work included several alternative algorithms before a highly efficient method was developed. The final procedure is illustrated with a numerical example. Some relationships of minres to principal-factor analysis and maximum-likelihood factor estimates are discussed, and several unresolved problems are pointed out.The authors wish to thank the Factor Analysis Work Group (supported, in part, by ONR) for valuable criticisms and suggestions made in the course of a discussion of the present work in April, 1965.     

Disruption of proofreading by irrelevant speech: Effects of attention,arousal or memory?

A series of five experiments examined the effects of irrelevant speech on proofreading and memory. Four of the experiments used a proofreading task and showed that the deleterious effects of irrelevant speech: (1) depend on the speech being meaningful, (2) are only present when the burden on short-term memory is low and (3) are manifested in a lower detection rate for non-contextual as opposed to contextual errors. Neither the spatial location of the speech (either in terms of spatial dispersion of sources or spatial movement of a single source) nor the intensity of the speech (in a range bounded by 50 dB(A) and 70 dB(A)) had any effect on proofreading. Late selection models of attention are favoured by the results in preference to models having arousal, short-term memory or early selection in attention as their basis. A final experiment showed serial recall for visual lists to be impaired by the presence of any speech-like sound (including reversed speech and speech in an unfamiliar language) which suggests a set of phenomena qualitatively different from those associated with proofreading. Throughout the article the practical consequences of the findings are emphasized.     

Reducing adverse reaction to stress in the workplace. Psychology's expanding role

This section draws attention to occupational stress and suggests ways in which psychologists can apply their knowledge of research methods and treatment to this issue. In this article, the past and present role of psychologists in occupational stress is examined and ways in which psychologists might play a more central role are proposed. Although industrial/organizational and health psychology are most obviously applicable to the study of workplace wellness, more focused attention and wider application of knowledge from other subspecialities are also examined. The need for increased attention to work and family; race, class, and gender; and training and public policy issues are also discussed.     

Efficacy of behavioral management and patient education on vascular access cleansing compliance in hemodialysis patients

Compared four treatment conditions to test their ability to enhance compliance with vascular access cleansing (VAC) procedures in a group of 56 hemodialysis patients. The conditions were patient education, behavioral management with monetary incentive, patient education/behavioral management, and attention control. Behavioral observers rated VAC behavior at pretreatment, posttreatment 1-month follow-up, and 1-year follow-up. Knowledge of VAC procedures was also assessed via a questionnaire at pretreatment and posttreatment. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures multivariate analyses of variance. Results indicated that the patients in the education/behavioral, behavioral, and education groups gave significantly more correct answers on our VAC knowledge questionnaires at posttreatment than did patients in the attention control group. Further, patients in the education/behavioral and behavioral groups completed significantly more VAC steps at posttreatment and 1-month follow-up than did patients in the education group and in the attention control group. Differences were not maintained at 1-year follow-up, although more than 50% of the patients were lost to follow-up. Implications of the present findings for behavioral and educational interventions are discussed.     

Sex roles and friendship patterns

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among sex, sex role orientation, and friendship. Based on the Bem Sex Role Inventory, 164 participants were categorized as either androgynous (17 males; 29 females), traditional (36 males; 39 females), or undifferentiated (26 males; 17 females) in their sex role orientation. Participants reported the number of close male and female friends, and responded to several questionnaires: interpersonal trust of male and female friends, communal and exchange orientations, affective and activity attributes associated with male and female friends, loneliness, and friendship satisfaction. Results indicate that close friends tended to be same sex, even though females had more close friends overall than did the males. Androgyny was related to characteristics that enhance the development and maintenance of close friendships, such as a communal orientation and positive conceptions of friends, while the undifferentiated orientation was related to less relationship enhancing orientations and a less rewarding interpersonal milieu. The study confirms that sex and sex role orientation are important factors in both quantitative and qualitative aspects of friendship during young adulthood.Portions of this paper were presented at the annual convention of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Houston, Texas, April 13, 1989. We appreciate the extensive help of an anonymous reviewer on earlier versions of this paper.     

Perceived Overqualification, Emotional Support, and Health

In the present study, we examined the effects of perceived overqualification on health and the moderating effect of emotional support. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses found 2 indicators of perceived overqualification: "mismatch" and "no-grow." Perceived mismatch had a significant negative effect on health but perceived no-grow did not. The main effect revealed that the greater the perceived emotional support, the greater the health. The significant interaction of perceived emotional support and mismatch, and perceived emotional support and no-grow on health indicates that the negative effects of overqualification on health was greater for those perceiving low emotional support than for those perceiving high emotional support. The significance of social support in illuminating the relationship between perceived overqualification and health are discussed.     

Personality and charismatic experience among adult christians

A sample of 368 committed Christian adults completed the Index of Charismatic Experience together with the short form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The data demonstrate that, according to the MBTI typology, Christians who prefer “thinking” are likely to score higher on the Index of Charismatic Experience than Christians who prefer “feeling”. According to the Eysenckian dimensional model of personality, the charismatic experience is associated with stable extraversion.     

Unification,Reduction, and Non-Ideal Explanations

Kitcher's unification theory of explanation seems to suggest that only the most reductive accounts can legitimately be termed explanatory. This is not what we find in actual scientific practice. In this paper, I attempt to reconcile these ideas. I claim that Kitcher's theory picks out ideal explanations, but that our term explanation is used to cover other accounts that have a certain relationship with the ideal accounts. At times, versions and portions of ideal explanations can also be considered explanatory.