Judgements of Deontic Relevance in Reasoning: A Reply to Jackson and Griggs

Facilitation on abstract versions of the selection task can be produced by deontic content. Jackson and Griggs (1990) claimed that this finding depends on the presence of an explicit negative on the not-q card. We hypothesized that the removal of the explicit negative from this card made its deontic status ambiguous. Experiment 1 demonstrated that a not-q card presenting implicit negative is not selected, and most subjects select the only card that appears to be relevant from a deontic point of view (i.e. the p card). Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the presence of the explicit negative on the not-q card is not necessary for producing facilitation, provided that the form of this card makes it clear that the not-q individual is a potential violator. Experiment 4 showed that a high success rate can be obtained even with a not-q card presenting an implicit negative. The results are discussed in terms of the specificity of reasoning in the deontic domain.     

Bootstrap confidence intervals for principal covariates regression

Principal covariate regression (PCOVR) is a method for regressing a set of criterion variables with respect to a set of predictor variables when the latter are many in number and/or collinear. This is done by extracting a limited number of components that simultaneously synthesize the predictor variables and predict the criterion ones. So far, no procedure has been offered for estimating statistical uncertainties of the obtained PCOVR parameter estimates. The present paper shows how this goal can be achieved, conditionally on the model specification, by means of the bootstrap approach. Four strategies for estimating bootstrap confidence intervals are derived and their statistical behaviour in terms of coverage is assessed by means of a simulation experiment. Such strategies are distinguished by the use of the varimax and quartimin procedures and by the use of Procrustes rotations of bootstrap solutions towards the sample solution. In general, the four strategies showed appropriate statistical behaviour, with coverage tending to the desired level for increasing sample sizes. The main exception involved strategies based on the quartimin procedure in cases characterized by complex underlying structures of the components. The appropriateness of the statistical behaviour was higher when the proper number of components were extracted.     

Preferences for different questions when testing hypotheses in an abstract task: Positivity does play a role, asymmetry does not

Previous studies on hypothesis-testing behaviour have reported systematic preferences for posing positive questions (i.e., inquiries about features that are consistent with the truth of the hypothesis) and different types of asymmetric questions (i.e., questions where the hypothesis confirming and the hypothesis disconfirming responses have different evidential strength). Both tendencies can contribute - in some circumstances - to confirmation biases (i.e., the improper acceptance or maintenance of an incorrect hypothesis). The empirical support for asymmetric testing is, however, scarce and partly contradictory, and the relative strength of positive testing and asymmetric testing has not been empirically compared. In four studies where subjects were asked to select (Experiment 1) or evaluate (Experiments 2-4) questions for controlling an abstract hypothesis, we orthogonally balanced the positivity/negativity of questions by their symmetry/asymmetry (Experiments 1-3), or by the type of asymmetry (confirmatory vs disconfirmatory; Experiment 4). In all Experiments participants strongly preferred positive to negative questions. Their choices were on the other hand mostly unaffected by symmetry and asymmetry in general, or - more specifically - by different types of asymmetry. Other results indicated that participants were sensitive to the diagnosticity of the questions (Experiments 1-3), and that they preferred testing features with a high probability under the focal hypothesis (Experiment 4). In the discussion we argue that recourse to asymmetric testing - observed in some previous studies using more contextualized problems - probably depends on context-related motivations and prior knowledge. In abstract tasks, where that knowledge is not available, more simple strategies - such as positive testing - are prevalent.     

DS14 is more likely to measure depression rather than a personality disposition in patients with acute coronary syndrome

It has been suggested that Type D Personality is a risk factor for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and the DS14 has been developed for its assessment. However, some of the items on the DS14 seem to evaluate depressive symptoms rather than personality features. Therefore, the present study aims to verify whether an overlap exists between the constructs of Type D Personality and depression. Three‐hundred‐and‐four consecutive patients who were both presenting their first ACS and had no history of major depression completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the DS14 to assess Type D personality at baseline and have been re‐evaluated at 1, 2, 4, 6, 9 and 12‐month follow‐ups. Out of 304 subjects (80.6% males), 40 were diagnosed as depressed. An exploratory factor analysis of HADS and the DS14 in the second month revealed that four out of seven items on the depressive subscale of HADS (HADS‐D) and six out of seven items on the Negative Affectivity (NA) subscale of the DS14 segregated on the same factor. Results were verified by a Partial Confirmatory Factor Analysis performed at the twelfth month when most of the patients achieved complete remission from the depressive episode. Temporal stability was poor for NA and Type D Personality and these construct co‐vary with HADS‐D over time. Our data suggests that NA and depression are overlapping constructs, supporting the idea that the DS14 measures depressed features, rather than a personality disposition.     

Splittings in Subreducts of Hoops

Studia Logica - In this paper we extend to various classes of subreducts of hoops some results about splitting algebras. In particular we prove that every finite chain in the purely implicational...     

The Naturality of Natural Deduction (II): On Atomic Polymorphism and Generalized Propositional Connectives

Studia Logica - In a previous paper (of which this is a prosecution) we investigated the extraction of proof-theoretic properties of natural deduction derivations from their impredicative...