Category learning from equivalence constraints

Information for category learning may be provided as positive or negative equivalence constraints (PEC/NEC)—indicating that some exemplars belong to the same or different categories. To investigate categorization strategies, we studied category learning from each type of constraint separately, using a simple rule-based task. We found that participants use PECs differently than NECs, even when these provide the same amount of information. With informative PECs, categorization was rapid, reasonably accurate and uniform across participants. With informative NECs, performance was rapid and highly accurate for only some participants. When given directions, all participants reached high-performance levels with NECs, but the use of PECs remained unchanged. These results suggest that people may use PECs intuitively, but not perfectly. In contrast, using informative NECs enables a potentially more accurate categorization strategy, but a less natural, one which many participants initially fail to implement—even in this simplified setting.

Validation of the NEO Personality Inventory and the five-factor model. Can findings from exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis be reconciled?

The aims of the study were (i) to analyse a Norwegian version of the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI), using both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA); (ii) to compare the results of the two factor analytic strategies, both within the present study and across different studies; and (iii) to discuss possible causes of discrepant findings (across factor-analytic methods and across samples). The sample comprised 961 subjects representative of the non-institutionalized Norwegian adult population. Using an EFA strategy, very high coefficients of factor comparability (r=0.93–0.99) across sexes were found. None of the five main domains turned out to be as homogeneous as suggested by the original five-factor model, but most of the deviations from the assumed simple structure were comparable to results from recent American studies. However, none of the revised EFA-based models were supported using CFA methods. Moreover, a large number of modifications were necessary to obtain a model with acceptable fit. It is argued that these discrepant findings can be accounted for, at least in part, by (i) consequences of different model acceptance criteria in the EFA and CFA tradition, (ii) the inherent logical–semantical structure of the NEO-PI, and (iii) consequences of selection effects (factorial invariance problem). © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impaired auditory attention skills following middle-ear infections.

The present study investigated auditory attention skills in a sample of children with non-chronic otitis media with effusion (OME). Twenty children with repeated episodes of OME but not found in the need for myringotomy and insertion of ventilating tubes were compared to 20 control children with no known episodes of OME based on parental reports and medical records. Mean age during assessment was 9 years, and none of the children showed signs of impaired language functions and with normal general cognitive abilities. They were assessed with dichotic listening CV-syllables (DLCV-108) free recall and directed attention tasks. The control children showed the expected right ear advantage during free recall and the directed right condition, and demonstrated a shift toward a left ear advantage during the directed left. The children with a history of OME showed a predominant right ear advantage across all three tasks. Although some change in ear accuracy occurred across tasks, impaired auditory attention skills were found following a history of middle ear infections. These results replicate those reported earlier from a sample of children with persistent otitis media with effusion, and suggest that treatment with ventilating tubes does not appear to make any difference in the development of auditory attention skills, whereas occurrence of OME must be considered when testing auditory attentional skills as a part of a neuropsychological assessment.     

How long does it last? Prior victimization from workplace bullying moderates the relationship between daily exposure to negative acts and subsequent depressed mood

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationships between daily exposure to negative acts and depressed mood on the same day and on the days following the exposure, and to test the hypothesis that these relationships would be stronger among those who have recently gone through a process of victimization from workplace bullying. The sample comprised 110 naval cadets participating in two different eleven-week tall ship voyages from Northern Europe to North America. Victimization from workplace bullying the last six months was measured one day prior to the voyages. Exposure to negative acts and depressed mood was measured daily during the first 33 consecutive days of the voyages. The results of multilevel modelling indicated that exposure to negative acts was related to higher levels of depressed mood on the same day as the exposure among all cadets, regardless of victimization status. However, exposure to negative acts predicted higher levels of depressed mood one and two days following the exposure among victims only. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Social and personal predictors of test anxiety among Norwegian secondary and postsecondary students

Social Psychology of Education - This study examined predictors of test anxiety in a sample of 2528 Norwegian upper-secondary and postsecondary students by means of structural equation modeling....     

Indexicals: what they are essential for

Abstract

Cappelen and Dever have recently defended the view that indexicals are not essential: They do not signify anything philosophically deep and we do not need indexicals for any important philosophical work. This paper contests their view from the point of view of an account of intentional agency. It argues that we need indexicals essentially when accounting for what it is do something intentionally and, as a consequence, intentional action, and defends a view of intentional action as a possible conclusion of practical reasoning where the indexical is essential for the content of such a conclusion.     

The moderating effect of perceived organizational support on the relationships between organizational justice and objective measures of cardiovascular health

This paper builds on a recent meta-analytic review on the relationships between organizational justice and health. Specifically, we examine the moderating role of perceived organizational support (POS) on the relationships between organizational justice and three objective cardiovascular health measures, namely, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure, among a population of 290 public construction workers. The interaction between justice and POS was statistically significant using procedural justice, demonstrating that procedural justice is associated with improvements in the three health outcomes only when POS is relatively high. In other words, higher levels of both procedural justice and POS were needed for reduced heart rate and reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure. However, the interaction between distributive justice and POS did not significantly relate to the health outcomes. This study makes a contribution to the field by focusing the effects of psychosocial workplace variables on measures of cardiovascular health, and demonstrating an important boundary condition of the relationships between procedural justice and cardiovascular risk factors.     

The Lutheran Confessions in Western Europe: Past and Future

Abstract: The idea of a church uniting confession began with the Lutherans in the late 1520s; and with translations of the Augsburg Confession (AC) it spread throughout Europe with the advance of the Reformation. As European culture slips further toward postmodern relativism, the absolute nature of divine claims reflected in confessions will seem odd and unwelcome. Christians must take up the challenge of developing a hermeneutic for interpreting the confessions so that the Truth of God can be respected.