Testing unidimensionality in polytomous Rasch models

A fundamental assumption of most IRT models is that items measure the same unidimensional latent construct. For the polytomous Rasch model two ways of testing this assumption against specific multidimensional alternatives are discussed. One, a marginal approach assuming a multidimensional parametric latent variable distribution, and, two, a conditional approach with no distributional assumptions about the latent variable. The second approach generalizes the Martin-Löf test for the dichotomous Rasch model in two ways: to polytomous items and to a test against an alternative that may have more than two dimensions. A study on occupational health is used to motivate and illustrate the methods.The authors would like to thank Niels Keiding, Klaus Larsen and the anonymous reviewers for valuable comments to a previous version of this paper. This research was supported by a grant from the Danish Research Academy and by a general research grant from Quality Metric, Inc.     

The Ways of Humans: Modelling the Fundamentals of Psychology and Social Relations

The present paper comprises a set of theoretical suppositions concerning three major subjects: the fundamentals of psychology (psycho-logics), the fundamentals of sociology (socio-logics) and the relationship between psycho-logics and socio-logics. First, it is argued that intentionality is the founding unit of psychology. On the basis of this supposition, three phylogenetic steps: sense, mind, and consciousness are identified and modelled. Subsequently it is argued that sociology builds upon five and only five fundamental types of relations: competition, transference, coordination, dependence and control. It is stated that any sociological network is composed by sets of these relations. Finally it is argued that psychology and sociology form a complex micro macro system in which psychological processes give rise to sociological networks that in turn constrain psychological processes.     

The Self‐Evidencing Brain

An exciting theory in neuroscience is that the brain is an organ for prediction error minimization (PEM). This theory is rapidly gaining influence and is set to dominate the science of mind and brain in the years to come. PEM has extreme explanatory ambition, and profound philosophical implications. Here, I assume the theory, briefly explain it, and then I argue that PEM implies that the brain is essentially self‐evidencing. This means it is imperative to identify an evidentiary boundary between the brain and its environment. This boundary defines the mind‐world relation, opens the door to skepticism, and makes the mind transpire as more inferentially secluded and neurocentrically skull‐bound than many would nowadays think. Therefore, PEM somewhat deflates contemporary hypotheses that cognition is extended, embodied and enactive; however, it can nevertheless accommodate the kinds of cases that fuel these hypotheses.     

Unemployment, coping and psychological distress

This study addressed the role of coping sytle in anxiety and depression of unemployed people. Two-hundred thirty-three people checking in at unemployment services participated. They filled in Carver, Scheier and Weintraub's (1989) coping measure (COPE), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HAD), gave information as to age, duration of unemployment and their appraisal of their situation. Four secondary dimensions of COPE were used in data analyses. Multiple regression analyses were undertaken with anxiety/depression as dependent and the coping variables as independent variables, with background/appraisal variables entered first. Coping variables added to the prediction of anxiety and depression over and above background/appraisal variables. For women Focus on Emotion coping as well as Avoidance was related to higher anxiety/depression scores ( p <0.01), whereas Reappraisal was related to lower anxiety/depression ( p <0.05). For men only Avoidance was related to anxiety/depression ( p <0.01). More Avoidance co-occurred with higher levels of anxiety as well as depression. The results are discussed with respect to possible intervention.     

Book reviews

God, Reason, and Religions: new essays in the philosophy of religion. Eugene Thomas Long (Ed.), 1995. Dordrecht Kluwer Academic. 228 pp., hb. £67.50, ISBN 07 923333 810 3

Christians and Muslims: from double standards to mutual understanding. Hugh Goddard, 1995. London, Curzon Press. 200 pp., pb. £14.99, ISBN 0 7007 0364 0

Al‐Bayanat al‐Masihiyya al‐Islamiyya al‐Mushtaraka. Juliette Haddad (Ed.), 1995. Beirut, Dar al‐Mashriq. 207 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 2 7214 5005 0

Muslim Writers on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible, from Ibn Rabban to Ibn Hazm. Camilla Adang, 1996. Leiden, E. J. Brill. 321 pp., hb. NLG140, ISBN 90 04 10034 2

Abū Ya qūb al‐Sijistani: intellectual missionary. Paul E. Walker, 1996. London, I. B. Tauris. 132 pp., rib. £35, ISBN 1 85043 921 4

The Cambridge Survey of World Migration. Robin Cohen (Ed.), 1995. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 570 pp., hb. n.p. ISBN 0 521 44405 5

Musulmans en Europe occidentals bibliographic commentée. Muslims in Western Europe: an annotated bibliography. Felice Dassetto & Yves Conrad (Eds), 1996. Paris, Editions L'Harmattan. 202 pp., pb., n.p., ISBN 2 7384 4126 2

Muslim Politics. Dale F. Eickelman & James Piscatori, 1996. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press. 235 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 0 691 00870 1

Islam and the Myth of Confrontation: religion and politics in the Middle East. Fred Halliday, 1996. London, I. B. Tauris. 255 pp., £12.95, ISBN 1 85043 959 1

Nine Parts of Desire: the hidden world of Islamic women. Geraldine Brooks, 1995. New York, Doubleday. 255 pp. hb. £22.95, ISBN 0 385 47576 4

Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery. Bahaa’ Taher, 1996. Translated from the Arabic by Barbara Romaine. Berkeley, University of California Press. 124 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 0 520 20075 6

Dreams of Trespass: tales of a harem girlhood. Fatima Mernissi, 1994. Reading, MA, Addison‐Wesley. 242 pp. pb., ISBN 0 201 62649 7

Lettres et message d'Algérie. P. Claverie, 1996. Paris, Karthala. 222 pp., pb. 120FF, ISBN 2 86537 657 5

Islamic Resurgence and Islamization in Malaysia. S. Batumalai, 1996. Perak, Malaysia. 279 pp., pb. RM 25/‐, no ISBN

Christian‐Muslim Relations: a case study of Sarawak, East Malaysia. Theodore Gabriel, 1996. Aldershot, Avebury. xiv, 133 pp., n.p., ISBN 1 85972 325 X

Muslim Communities in the New Europe. Gerd Nonneman, T. Niblock & B. Sjajkowski (Eds), 1996. Reading, Ithaca Press. 356 pp., hb. £35.00, ISBN 0 86372 192 3

Al‐Mughtaribun: American law and the transformation of Muslim life in the United States. Kathleen M. Moore, 1995. Albany, State University of New York Press. 211 pp., pb. $16.95, ISBN 0 7914 2580 0

The Landscape of Belief: encountering the Holy Land in nineteenth‐century American art and culture. [The Princeton Series in Nineteenth‐Century Art, Culture, and Society]. John Davis, 1996. Princeton, Princeton University Press. 264 pp., hb. $65.00, ISBN 0 691 04373 6     

ANXIETY SENSITIVITY AND TRAIT-SYMPTOM MEASURES OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

The Icelandic version of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index was investigated in two studies of college students. A principal components analysis of ASI scores from both studies (N=718) yielded three components similar to what has been found previously: Psychological Concerns, Physical Concerns and Social Concerns. In the first study the relationship between the ASI and trait anxiety was investigated. It was analysed at the level of the total scales but also at the level of subscales of both instruments. Two subscales of the STAI, measuring respectively Anxiety-trait and Depression-trait, were used as well as the Psychological Concerns and Physical Concerns subscales of the ASI. In a second study the relationships between ASI and its subscales and two symptom measures of anxiety and depression were addressed. ASI was in both studies more strongly related to the anxiety than the depression scales. Also, in both studies the Physical Concerns subscale of the ASI was more strongly related to anxiety than to depression, whereas the Psychological Concerns subscale was equally related to anxiety and depression. Taken together the studies support the notion of different relationships between different aspects of anxiety sensitivity, and anxiety and depression as traits, cognitive symptoms and mood related symptoms.     

Irrationality as a Selfdefeating Calue-Orientation: A further study of the SVO-12 scale

The SVO-12 is based on an emotive approach to the assessment of irrationality. In order to test its reliability and validity the scale was administered to a group of students and a group of psychiatric patients. The statistical analyses gave acceptable reliability coefficients in both groups. Furthermore the scale differentiated significantly between patients and students, both totally and for men and women separately, thus supporting its validity according to RET-theory.and maintains a small private practice in Laksevåg, Bergen, Norway.