Rate, probability and matching: comments on "The identities hidden in the matching laws, and their uses" by David Thorne

David Thorne's (2010) article, "The identities hidden in the matching laws, and their uses" performs a valuable service in pointing out alternative expressions of matching. However, some identities tend to obscure rather than illuminate empirical relationships. Three such problematic instances are discussed: interresponse time as a function of interval and ratio schedule parameters; probability equality as implying rate matching; the apparent simplicity of probabilistic functions, as opposed to response rate functions, of reinforcement rate.     

Reliability of 16 balance tests in individuals with Down syndrome

To assess test-retest reliability scores on 16 balance tests of 21 individuals with Down syndrome whose ages ranged from 5 to 31 yr., participants performed a standing test on firm and soft surfaces with the eyes open and closed, the balance subset of the Bruininks-Oseretsky test, full turn, timed-up-and-go test, forward reach, and sit-to-stand. Each participant completed all 16 tests twice in one day and then again on a subsequent day for a total of 4 sessions. The interclass reliability correlation coefficients (ICC) value for each measure of balance varied considerably by age and sex. Based on having an ICC > .50, only 3 tests were reliable in young males and young females, whereas 5 tests could reliably be used in adult females and 9 tests could reliably be used in adult males. The results of this study raise suspicions as to the reliability of tests commonly used to assess balance and differences in reliability due to age and sex. Results of balance tests should be interpreted with caution in males and females with Down syndrome across the age span.     

Financial stress, attitudes toward money, and scores on a Dream Inventory

During stock market losses in 2009 and high unemployment, ratings on the KJP Dream Inventory were correlated with factors of the Money Attitude Scale and items on the Contemporary Financial Stress Inventory for 71 graduate students in Counseling Psychology and Education. Correlations were significant for Retention on the Money Attitude Scale with Dissociative Avoidance (-.31), Dreams of falling (.26), Risk-taking in dreams (.24), and Dreaming of being chased (.28). Also, ratings for the Money Attitude Scale of Distrust correlated with Discontentedness in dreams (.33) and Dreams of being chased (.26), Repetitive trauma (.33), Nightmares (.30), and Recurring nightmares (.35). Concern about retention in graduate school due to finances correlated with recalled frequencies of nightmares (.27) and dreams of flying (.25).     

Paradoxical Results and Item Bundles

Hooker, Finkelman, and Schwartzman (Psychometrika, 2009, in press) defined a paradoxical result as the attainment of a higher test score by changing answers from correct to incorrect and demonstrated that such results are unavoidable for maximum likelihood estimates in multidimensional item response theory. The potential for these results to occur leads to the undesirable possibility of a subject’s best answer being detrimental to them. This paper considers the existence of paradoxical results in tests composed of item bundles when compensatory models are used. We demonstrate that paradoxical results can occur when bundle effects are modeled as nuisance parameters for each subject. However, when these nuisance parameters are modeled as random effects, or used in a Bayesian analysis, it is possible to design tests comprised of many short bundles that avoid paradoxical results and we provide an algorithm for doing so. We also examine alternative models for handling dependence between item bundles and show that using fixed dependency effects is always guaranteed to avoid paradoxical results.     

TWINNING, INORGANIC REPLACEMENT, AND THE ORGANISM VIEW

In explicating his version of the Organism View, Eric Olson argues that you begin to exist only after twinning is no longer possible and that you cannot survive a process of inorganic replacement. Assuming the correctness of the Organism View, but pace Olson, I argue in this paper that the Organism View does not require that you believe either proposition. The claim I shall make about twinning helps to advance a debate that currently divides defenders of the Organism View, while the claim I shall make about inorganic replacement will help to put the Organism View on a par with its rival views by allowing it to accommodate a plausible intuition that its rivals can accommodate, namely, the intuition that you can survive a process of inorganic replacement. Both claims, I shall also argue, are important for those who are interested in the identity condition of a human organism, even if they do not hold the view that you are essentially an organism.     

The incidence of false memories in native and non-native speakers

The current study consisted of four experiments that utilised a novel approach to investigating false memories. Each of the experiments in the current study investigated individuals with varying experience with different languages. Experiment 1 tested participants in both their native and secondary languages as well as monolingual English speakers, while Experiment 2 assessed native Spanish speakers using both English and Spanish associative lists. Experiment 3 examined the illusory memories in monolingual Spanish speakers in both English and Spanish, while Experiment 4 investigated false memories in monolingual English speakers in both English and Spanish. Results indicated that memory for list items and critical lures was greatest when the lists were presented in the participants' primary language. Results can be explained by either activation-based or fuzzy-trace theories.     

Assessing the Relationship Between Youth Sport Participation Settings and Creativity in Adulthood

This article presents an assessment of the relative influences of time spent participating in organized sports and informal sports during childhood with respect to the development of general creativity. In this study, 99 upper-division undergraduate and graduate students completed a comprehensive childhood leisure activities questionnaire and the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults. According to the results of the joint generalized least-squares regression analysis, hours spent in organized sport settings was negatively related to creativity as an adult; time spent in unstructured sport settings was found to be positively related to adult creativity. The findings also point to the importance of balancing participation across organized and unstructured settings. The most creative individuals in the sample were those who spent roughly half of their sport participation time in each setting, as opposed to individuals with below-average creativity, who spent upwards of 3/4 of their sport participation time in organized settings. Therefore, fostering creative development through sport may not require a dramatic reorientation from current youth sport development models, but only a shift toward a more balanced distribution of time spent playing in both organized and unstructured settings. Future experiments are needed to test this relationship.     

Athletic Identity and Conformity to Masculine Norms Among College Football Players

Sport represent an influential institution of masculinity socialization that impacts the psychosocial development of many men in American society. In order to examine this dynamic, we investigated conformity to masculine norms among 523 college football players. Results indicated that participants’ conformity to traditional masculine norms was influenced by year in school, on-field position played, and athletic identity. Results of this interdisciplinary endeavor between the fields of sport psychology and the psychological study of men and masculinity can assist sport psychologists in designing interventions to help football players better understand messages of masculinity conveyed within the unique socialization context of football.     

Sport-Type Differences in Alcohol Use Among Intercollegiate Athletes

Prior research has found that (a) intercollegiate athletes are especially “at-risk” for excessive alcohol consumption (e.g., Nelson & Wechsler, 2001 Nelson, T. F. and Wechsler, H. 2001. Alcohol and college athletes. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 33: 43–47. [INFOTRIEVE][CSA][CROSSREF][Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), and (b) sport-type differences exist among college athletes in terms of yearly drinking prevalence rates (National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2001 National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2001. NCAA study of substance use habits of college student-athletes, Indianapolis, IN: Author.  [Google Scholar]). No studies, however, have examined sport-type differences on more specific measures of alcohol consumption (e.g., drinks per week), or examined potential mediators of the relationship between sport type and alcohol consumption. In the present study, data were analyzed on 298 intercollegiate athletes from two different universities. Resuls indicated significant sport type differences on alcohol consumption variables, with athletes from the sports of swimming and diving reporting the highest levels of alcohol consumption. Results provided partial support for the role of positively reinforcing drinking motives in mediating the sport type–alcohol consumption relationship. Findings are discussed in light of prior research in the area of college student–athlete alcohol consumption.