ITEM GENERATION PROCEDURES AND BACKGROUND DATA SCALES: IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSTRUCT AND CRITERION-RELATED VALIDITY

Background data measures are one of the best predictors of job performance. Nonetheless, questions have been raised about their content and construct validity. The present effort describes a set of procedures for developing construct and content valid background data items. Data gathered in seven field studies and six laboratory studies are presented bearing on the reliability and validity of the measures constructed using these item generation procedures. Findings in these studies indicate that construct-based item generation procedures yield reliable scales evidencing both content and construct validity. Furthermore, these scales are capable of predicting performance in a variety of settings. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings for the development and validation of background data measures are discussed.     

Effects of cocaine on briefly signaled versus completely signaled delays to reinforcement.

Key pecking by 4 pigeons was maintained by a multiple schedule consisting of two variable-interval 60-s schedules wherein each food presentation followed a nonresetting 27-s delay that was either briefly signaled at its outset or completely signaled. Brief-signal duration was adjusted so that response rates maintained by the briefly and completely signaled delays of reinforcement were similar. In general, acute administration of small to intermediate doses (0.3 to 3.0 mg/kg) of cocaine produced either small increases in response rates in both components or no change, and larger doses (5.6 to 13.0 mg/kg) decreased response rates. Chronic (i.e., daily) cocaine administration (10.0 mg/kg) resulted in tolerance to the rate-decreasing effects in both components. Cocaine's effects were generally similar whether delays were completely or briefly signaled. Discontinuation of cocaine administration and subsequent removal of the delay signals also had similar effects in both components of the multiple schedule. Taken together, these results are consistent with the view that the two types of delay signals were equally effective in maintaining responding during the variable-interval schedules.     

Some uniqueness results for PARAFAC2

Whereas the unique axes properties of PARAFAC1 have been examined extensively, little is known about uniqueness properties for the PARAFAC2 model for covariance matrices. This paper is concerned with uniqueness in the rank two case of PARAFAC2. For this case, Harshman and Lundy have recently shown, subject to mild assumptions, that PARAFAC2 is unique when five (covariance) matrices are analyzed. In the present paper, this result is sharpened. PARAFAC2 is shown to be usually unique with four matrices. With three matrices it is not unique unless a certain additional assumption is introduced. If, for instance, the diagonal matrices of weights are constrained to be non-negative, three matrices are enough to have uniqueness in the rank two case of PARAFAC2. The authors are obliged to Richard Harshman for stimulating this research, and to the Associate Editor and reviewers for suggesting major improvements in the presentation.     

Expressing a Good Will: Kant on the Motive of Duty

If any action is to be morally good it is not enough that it should conform to the moral law-it must also be done for the sake of the moral law: where this is not so, the conformity is only too contingent and precarious, since the nonmoral ground at work will now and then produce actions which accord with the law, but very often actions which transgress it.     

Partial matching in the Moses illusion: Response bias not sensitivity

Previous research has demonstrated that people have enormous difficulty in detecting distortions in such questions as, “How many animals of each kind did Moses take in the Ark?” Reder and Kusbit (1991) argued that the locus of the effect must be the existence of a partial-match process. Other research has suggested that this partial-match process operates at the word level and that, with adequate focus on the relevant word, the Moses illusion is greatly diminished. The present experimental results argue that those conclusions were based on a shift in response criterion with no concomitant change in ability to detect distortions. Furthermore, the data suggest that the matching process operates below the word level, at the level of distinctive features.     

Objectively reliable subjective probabilities

Subjective Bayesians typically find the following objection difficult to answer: some joint probability measures lead to intuitively irrational inductive behavior, even in the long run. Yet well-motivated ways to restrict the set of reasonable prior joint measures have not been forthcoming. In this paper I propose a way to restrict the set of prior joint probability measures in particular inductive settings. My proposal is the following: where there exists some successful inductive method for getting to the truth in some situation, we ought to employ a (joint) probability measure that is inductively successful in that situation, if such a measure exists. In order to do show that the restriction is possible to meet in a broad class of cases, I prove a Bayesian Completeness Theorem, which says that for any solvable inductive problem of a certain broad type, there exist probability measures that a Bayesian could use to solve the problem. I then briefly compare the merits of my proposal with two other well-known proposals for constraining the class of admissible subjective probability measures, the leave the door ajar condition and the maximize entropy condition.The author owes special thanks to Kevin Kelly, for a number of helpful ideas for the proof of the Bayesian Completeness Theorem, as well as other aspects of the paper. Thanks also to Clark Glymour for some helpful suggestions for improvement of an earlier draft. Part of the work leading to this paper was funded by a Summer Research Grant from the University Research Institute of the University of Texas at Austin.     

Agency and obligation

The purpose of this paper is to explore a new deontic operator for representing what an agent ought to do; the operator is cast against the background of a modal treatment of action developed by Nuel Belnap and Michael Perloff, which itself relies on Arthur Prior's indeterministic tense logic. The analysis developed here of what an agent ought to do is based on a dominance ordering adapted from the decision theoretic study of choice under uncertainty to the present account of action. It is shown that this analysis gives rise to a normal deontic operator, and that the result is superior to an analysis that identifies what an agent ought to do with what it ought to be that the agent does.     

The Revised Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS-R): Factor Structure, Reliability, and Criterion Validity

The Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS) is a popular research and clinical tool for obtaining parental reports of childhood behavior problems. The present study introduces a revised CPRS (CPRS-R) which has norms derived from a large, representative sample of North American children, uses confirmatory factor analysis to develop a definitive factor structure, and has an updated item content to reflect recent knowledge and developments concerning childhood behavior problems. Exploratory and confirmatory factor-analytic results revealed a seven-factor model including the following factors: Cognitive Problems, Oppositional, Hyperactivity-Impulsivity, Anxious-Shy, Perfectionism, Social Problems, and Psychosomatic. The psychometric properties of the revised scale appear adequate as demonstrated by good internal reliability coefficients, high test-retest reliability, and effective discriminatory power. Advantages of the CPRS-R include a corresponding factor structure with the Conners' Teacher Rating Scale—Revised and comprehensive symptom coverage for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related disorders. Factor congruence with the original CPRS as well as similarities with other parent rating scales are discussed.