Identifying reading strategies using latent semantic analysis: Comparing semantic benchmarks

We explored methods of using latent semantic analysis (LSA) to identify reading strategies in students’ self-explanations that are collected as part of a Web-based reading trainer. In this study, college students self-explained scientific texts, one sentence at a time. LSA was used to measure the similarity between the self-explanations andsemantic benchmarks (groups of words and sentences that together represent reading strategies). Three types of semantic benchmarks were compared: content words, exemplars, and strategies. Discriminant analyses were used to classify global and specific reading strategies using the LSA cosines. All benchmarks contributed to the classification of general reading strategies, but the exemplars did the best in distinguishing subtle semantic differences between reading strategies. Pragmatic and theoretical concerns of using LSA are discussed.     

The use of the Ego Impairment Index across the schizophrenia spectrum

The goal of this study was to assess perceptual and thought disturbance, as indexed by the Ego Impairment Index (EII; Perry & Viglione, 1991), a Rorschach-derived measure, across the schizophrenia spectrum. We hypothesized that there would be an increase in EII scores (indicating increased disturbance) across the spectrum from nonpatients to severely disturbed, hospitalized schizophrenia patients. Normal comparison participants (n = 66), students with elevated scores on either the Perceptual Aberration/Magical Ideation or the Physical Anhedonia Scales (n = 24), first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients (n = 36), participants diagnosed with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV]; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) schizotypal personality disorder (n = 36), outpatient schizophrenia participants (n = 33), and hospitalized schizophrenia patients (n = 56) were studied. As hypothesized, we found increased EII scores in all of the schizophrenia spectrum groups when compared against normal comparison participants. Furthermore, the EII was significantly different between the schizophrenia patients and the other schizophrenia spectrum groups. These findings support the use of the EII as a sensitive measure of perceptual and thought disturbance across the schizophrenia spectrum that yields specific information regarding the type of thinking problems that occur within schizophrenia spectrum subgroups.     

Establishing an ethical climate in support of research integrity: Efforts and activities of the American Sociological Association

The article provides an overview of the recent efforts and activities of the American Sociological Association (ASA) to keep its Code of Ethics visible and relevant to its membership. The development process and challenges associated with the most recent revision of the ASA's code are reviewed, the current education and support activities are described, and other strategies for taking a proactive and leadership role in establishing an ethical climate are proposed. In conclusion, while the ASA has made significant progress in this area, it recognizes that a lot of work remains.     

Personality and leadership: a qualitative and quantitative review

This article provides a qualitative review of the trait perspective in leadership research, followed by a meta-analysis. The authors used the five-factor model as an organizing framework and meta-analyzed 222 correlations from 73 samples. Overall, the correlations with leadership were Neuroticism = -.24, Extraversion = .31, Openness to Experience = .24, Agreeableness = .08, and Conscientiousness = .28. Results indicated that the relations of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Conscientiousness with leadership generalized in that more than 90% of the individual correlations were greater than 0. Extraversion was the most consistent correlate of leadership across study settings and leadership criteria (leader emergence and leadership effectiveness). Overall, the five-factor model had a multiple correlation of .48 with leadership, indicating strong support for the leader trait perspective when traits are organized according to the five-factor model.     

Set ambiguity: A key determinant of reliability and validity in the picture story exercise

The picture story exercise (PSE), in which participants write imaginative stories in response to motivationally-arousing images, is the most commonly-used tool for the assessment of implicit motives. Despite decades of research into the qualities of effective individual picture cues, much less is known about the desirable properties of overall picture sets. The present research highlights a previously undocumented methodological consideration—set ambiguity—which has important implications for the reliability and validity of the PSE. In a four-part study of 74 undergraduates, motive scores derived from an ambiguous picture set comprising cues that vary in motivational focus displayed greater test–retest reliability, convergent validity, and predictive validity than those derived from an unambiguous picture set. Researchers are therefore advised to consider set ambiguity when selecting images for use in PSE research.     

Our Theories,Our Selves: Commentary on Paper by Ruth Gruenthal

Ruth Gruenthal invites us to explore the dynamics embedded in disengagement. She suggests that this very concept is an oxymoron; by virtue of the fact that the patient is in treatment she is, in fact, engaged. Gruenthal focuses on disengagement's self-sustaining function, noting that it represents an attempt to regulate emotional distance while still retaining a connection to the other. Recognizing how difficult work with withdrawn patients can be, Gruenthal suggests that theory can actually shift the analyst's negative countertransference response. Implicitly she challenges the relational assumption that active engagement around the analyst's subjectivity always lies at the center of therapeutic process. I offer my own take on the dynamics at the heart of Gruenthal's treatment of Helen, proposing that neither disengagement nor containment can be accounted for by the patient or analyst alone. I explore how theory helps us manage our subjectivity while also embodying it.