External analysis with three-mode principal component models

Through external analysis of two-mode data one attempts to map the elements of one mode (e.g., attributes) as vectors in a fixed space of the elements of the other mode (e.g., stimuli). This type of analysis is extended to three-mode data, for instance, when the ratings are made by more individuals. It is described how alternating least squares algorithms for three-mode principal component analysis (PCA) are adapted to enable external analysis, and it is demonstrated that these techniques are useful for exploring differences in the individuals' mappings of the attribute vectors in the fixed stimulus space. Conditions are described under which individual differences may be ignored. External three-mode PCA is illustrated with data from a person perception experiment, designed after two studies by Rosenberg and his associates whose results were used as external information.We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Piet Brouwer in implementing the external analysis options in the TUCKALS programs.     

Monitoring and self-repair in speech

Making a self-repair in speech typically proceeds in three phases. The first phase involves the monitoring of one's own speech and the interruption of the flow of speech when trouble is detected. From an analysis of 959 spontaneous self-repairs it appears that interrupting follows detection promptly, with the exception that correct words tend to be completed. Another finding is that detection of trouble improves towards the end of constituents. The second phase is characterized by hesitation, pausing, but especially the use of so-called editing terms. Which editing term is used depends on the nature of the speech trouble in a rather regular fashion: Speech errors induce other editing terms than words that are merely inappropriate, and trouble which is detected quickly by the speaker is preferably signalled by the use of ‘uh’. The third phase consists of making the repair proper. The linguistic well-formedness of a repair is not dependent on the speaker's respecting the integrity of constituents, but on the structural relation between original utterance and repair. A bi-conditional well-formedness rule links this relation to a corresponding relation between the conjuncts of a coordination. It is suggested that a similar relation holds also between question and answer. In all three cases the speaker respects certain structural commitments derived from an original utterance. It was finally shown that the editing term plus the first word of the repair proper almost always contain sufficient information for the listener to decide how the repair should be related to the original utterance. Speakers almost never produce misleading information in this respect.It is argued that speakers have little or no access to their speech production process; self-monitoring is probably based on parsing one's own inner or overt speech.     

Pupillary dilation as a measure of attention: a quantitative system analysis

It has long been known that the pupil dilates as a consequence of attentional effort. But the function that relates attentional input to pupillary output has never been the subject of quantitative analysis. We present a system analysis of the pupillary response to attentional input. Attentional input is modeled as a string ofattentional pulses. We show that the system is linear; the effects of input pulses on the pupillary response are additive. The impulse response has essentially a gamma distribution with two free parameters. These parameters are estimated; they are fairly constant over tasks and subjects. The paper presents a method of estimating the string of attentional input pulses, given some average pupillary output. The method involves the technique of deconvolution; it can be implemented with a public-domain software package, Pupil.     

A parental rearing style questionnaire for use with adolescents: Psychometric evaluation of the EMBU-A

The present study investigated whether the dimensional framework of the EMBU, a questionnaire assessing adults' retrospective perceptions of parental rearing styles, could be retrieved in an EMBU version that was adapted for adolescents, the EMBU-A. Based on a sample of 1153 healthy young adolescents (mean age 12.4 years), confirmatory factor analyses showed that the factors of Rejection, Emotional Warmth, Overprotection and Favouring Subject found in the new EMBU-A were closely related to the factors originally interpreted in adult ratings. Reliability and aspects of convergent and divergent validity of the new scale were encouraging. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Effects of hypothesis and assigned task on question selection strategies

Semin and Strack (1980) demonstrated that the findings obtained by Snyder and Swann (1978) with respect to an hypothesis-confirming strategy in social interaction were due to the assigned task, and not to a person's hypothesis. In our first experiment we replicated Semin and Strack's results. In a second experiment, employing a more effective manipulation of the subject's hypothesis, support was obtained for an effect of the hypothesis factor. It was concluded that both an assigned task effect and an hypothesis effect can be demonstrated in the laboratory and probably exist in reality.     

Agoraphobia and the hyperventilation syndrome

One of the causes of agoraphobic complaints is the fear of having an attack of physical complaints in public places. The Hyperventilation Syndrome (HVS) with its diverse symptoms seems to fit well in this model. Hyperventilation symptoms are threatening, because for most subjects they occur unexpectedly and without a clear reason. An investigation was made into how often the HVS and the agoraphobic syndrome appeared together and into the causal relationship between both syndromes. About 60% of the agoraphobic patients suffered from hyperventilation complaints and about 60% of the HVS patients were agoraphobic. Most patients mentioned the fear of having an attack as an important reason for their agoraphobic complaints, and this applied especially in the case of the HVS.     

Who should own the definition of personality?

The averaged judgment of knowledgeable others provides the best available point of reference both for the definition of personality structure in general and for assessing someone's personality in particular. Self-judgments, as in personality questionnaires, are intrinsically deficient because judgment errors cannot be averaged out. The recommended procedure for assessing someone's personality is to give a personality questionnaire, phrased in the third person singular, to those who know the target best. This set may or may not include the target person as a judge.     

CONFORMING BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY VARIABLES IN CONGOLESE STUDENTS1

Etude de la tendance au conformisme et de sa relation avec quelques traits de caractère chez des étudiants congolais. — Le but principal de cette étude était d'aboutir à une comparaison interculturelle de la tendance au conformisme se manifestant dans une situation de laboratoire. A L'aide d'une technique qui coïncide, à quelques modifications près, avec celle de Crutchfield, nous avons exposé 92 étudiants congolais de première année de L'Institut Facultaire de Psychologie et de Pédagogie à L'Université Lovanium (Kinshasa) à une pression sociale pendant L'exécution d'une tâche d'estimation de la longueur de lignes (stimuli de Asch). L'enregistrement des erreurs de perception d'un groupe contrôle de 38 étudiants permettait d'isoler L'influence du facteur expérimental. Les résultats obtenus sont sensiblement les mêmes que ceux qui ont été communiqués par Levy et par Gerard et Deutsch à L'occasion d'expériences sur des sujets américains d'âge et de niveau intellectuel comparables, dans des conditions expérimentales semblables. Nous avons fait intervenir dans notre comparaison le pourcentage de réponses fautives dues à L'introduction de la pression sociale, ainsi que la forme et L'étendue de variation de la distribution des erreurs. Posant la question de la relation possible entre la tendance au conformisme et certains traits de caractère, nous avons comparé un groupe de “conformistes” avec un groupe d' “indépendants” sur la base de leurs résultats au “Maudsley Personality Inventory” et de certains indices dérivés de leurs réponses au test de Rorschach, et nous avons pu conclure que: — 1. les conformistes supportent moins facilement une situation de “stress” que les indépendants; — 2. aucune différence significative n'apparaît entre les deux groupes en ce qui concerne le trait d'extraversion et le besoin d'approbation sociale; — 3. les indépendants sont caractérisés par un sens critique plus prononcé que les conformistes.     

Connecting the dots: Illusory pattern perception predicts belief in conspiracies and the supernatural

A common assumption is that belief in conspiracy theories and supernatural phenomena are grounded in illusory pattern perception. In the present research we systematically tested this assumption. Study 1 revealed that such irrational beliefs are related to perceiving patterns in randomly generated coin toss outcomes. In Study 2, pattern search instructions exerted an indirect effect on irrational beliefs through pattern perception. Study 3 revealed that perceiving patterns in chaotic but not in structured paintings predicted irrational beliefs. In Study 4, we found that agreement with texts supporting paranormal phenomena or conspiracy theories predicted pattern perception. In Study 5, we manipulated belief in a specific conspiracy theory. This manipulation influenced the extent to which people perceive patterns in world events, which in turn predicted unrelated irrational beliefs. We conclude that illusory pattern perception is a central cognitive mechanism accounting for conspiracy theories and supernatural beliefs.