THE NEW UNIFORM GUIDELINES ON EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES IN THE CONTEXT OF UNIVERSITY PERSONNEL DECISIONS

The new Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures are considered in a context of university employment decisions. The use of student evaluations as valid criteria for faculty personnel decisions such as hiring, retention, tenure, promotion, or salary increases is examined. Standards of validity contained in the Guidelines are probably not being met with regard to most student rating forms currently used. Recommendations are made regarding use of student and administrators' ratings as criteria for personnel decisions. The need for studies on contaminating sources of variance in ratings is emphasized.     

Selective attention and relevance-irrelevance in recall

Abstract.— Recall of relevant and irrelevant items was examined under different types of set, where selection was procured either by a figural or a cognitive attribute of the items. Letters and digits were differentiated by their colour or position (S-set), or by their mutual class (R-set). Recall of irrelevant items proved consistently poorer with selection based on S-set than on R-set. the effect beeing enhanced, the greater the number of items involved. Response latency increased with number of items, being greatest under R-set. The differentiation between relevant and irrelevant categories thus appeared more effective with selection procured by figural attributes, which suggests different levels of information processing of these categories under the two types of set.     

The importance of contextual elements in taste-aversion learning

The effect of exteroceptive contextual cues, presented during the conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US) intervals, upon the later development of conditioned saccharin aversions was studied in two experiments. It was found that the presence of the contextual cues during the CS + US and CS intervals resulted in a greater degree of saccharin aversion; the presence of these cues during the US interval was relatively less important. These findings are discussed in terms of conditioning models and retrieval models derived from animal learning and human information-processing data.     

Is there an optimal factor structure of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale in patients with first‐episode psychosis?

The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) is the most widely used scale to assess a variety of symptoms in patients with schizophrenia and other psychoses. The factor structure of the PANSS has been examined with confirmatory factor analyses in several studies, but not in a well‐defined first‐episode psychosis sample. The aim of this paper is to examine the statistical fit of five different PANSS models in a first‐episode, non‐affective psychosis sample. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed on PANSS data (n = 588). A main criterion for best fit was defined as the Expected Cross Validation Index (ECVI). No tested model revealed an optimally satisfactory model fit index. The Wallwork/Fortgang five‐factor model demonstrated the most optimal psychometric properties. The corresponding subscales of all evaluated five‐factor models were strongly intercorrelated. The Wallwork/Fortgang five‐factor model was found to be statistically and clinically ideal among patients with first‐episode psychosis. Therefore, we recommend this model in forthcoming studies among patients with first‐episode psychosis. However, to prevent the loss of clinically valuable information on an item level, we do not recommend removing any items from the original form. Our study also implies that the specific choice of model will not have a substantial effect on outcome results in studies on the course and outcome in first‐episode psychosis.     

Gender differences on the Five to Fifteen questionnaire in a non‐referred sample with inattention and hyperactivity‐impulsivity and a clinic‐referred sample with hyperkinetic disorder

Lambek, R., Trillingsgaard, A., Kadesjö, B., Damm, D. & Thomsen, P. H. (2010). Gender differences on the Five to Fifteen questionnaire in a non‐referred sample with inattention and hyperactivity‐impulsivity and a clinic‐referred sample with hyperkinetic disorder. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 51, 540–447. The aim of the present study was to examine gender differences in children with inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity on the Five to Fifteen (FTF) parent questionnaire. First, non‐referred girls (n = 43) and boys (n = 51) with problems of attention and hyperactivity‐impulsivity and then clinic‐referred girls (n = 35) and boys (n = 66) with hyperkinetic disorder (HKD) were compared on the FTF. Results suggested that non‐referred boys were more hyperactive‐impulsive than non‐referred girls, whereas clinic‐referred boys and girl with HKD were more similar than dissimilar on the FTF questionnaire. Secondly, it was examined whether the application of gender mixed norms versus gender specific norms would result in varying proportions of clinic‐referred children with HKD being identified as impaired on the subdomains of the FTF questionnaire. Based on results it was concluded that the use of a gender mixed normative sample may lead to overestimation of impairment in boys with HKD, but the type of sample applied to define impairment on the FTF should depend on the purpose for applying the questionnaire.     

A randomized study of the impact of a sensitizing intervention on the child‐rearing attitudes of parents of low birth weight preterm infants

Nordhov, S. M., Kaaresen, P. I., Rønning, J. A., Ulvund, S. E. & Dahl, L. B. (2010). A randomized study of the impact of a sensitizing intervention on the child‐rearing attitudes of parents of low birth weight preterm infants. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 385–391. The background for this study was that nurturant child‐rearing attitudes are associated with positive development in low birth weight (LBW) infants. The objective was to study child‐rearing attitudes and early intervention (EI) in parents of LBW infants from 12–36 months corrected age. LBW infants (BW < 2000 g) were randomized to an intervention (IG) or a control group (CG). The EI consisted of seven in‐hospital sessions prior to discharge, then four home visits. A Child Rearing Practices Report was administered at 12 (mothers only), 24 and 36 months. A total of 146 infants were randomized. The mean BW in IG was 1396 (SD 429) g and 1381 (436) g in CG. The mean GA was 30.2 (3.1) weeks in IG and 29.9 (3.5) weeks in CG. Mothers in IG reported significantly more nurturant child‐rearing attitudes at 12 and 24 months. There was a significant change in restrictive and nurturant attitudes over time. It was concluded that EI may lead to more nurturant child‐rearing attitudes in mothers of preterms.     

The AMQ: A Four‐Factor Inventory of Absentmindedness and Memory

The Absentmindedness and Memory Questionnaire (AMQ) is a new self‐rating scale designed to evaluate everyday memory problems related to absentmindedness. It includes 24 items and is based on studies of different samples (N= 623). Its test‐retest reliability is high and it has consistently shown similar factor structure. The AMQ thus measures four weakly correlated factors: Absentmindedness, Persons, Locations and Codes/Addresses. Factor analysis further indicates that Absentmindedness may include two subfactors: momentary attention deficit and prospective forgetfulness or impaired agenda memory. Gender differences were found in Persons (Female+) and Locations (Male+) but not in Absentmindedness or Codes/Addresses. The current version of AMQ has seven interindividually comparable response alternatives for each item in the questionnaire. This makes it useful as a measure of subjective absentmindedness or forgetfulness as well as a complementary measure of subjective memory for persons, locations, and codes/addresses/stories, especially at follow‐up examinations.