The person response function as a tool in person-fit research

Item responses that do not fit an item response theory (IRT) model may cause the latent trait value to be inaccurately estimated. In the past two decades several statistics have been proposed that can be used to identify nonfitting item score patterns. These statistics all yieldscalar values. Here, the use of the person response function (PRF) for identifying nonfitting item score patterns was investigated. The PRF is afunction and can be used for diagnostic purposes. First, the PRF is defined in a class of IRT models that imply an invariant item ordering. Second, a person-fit method proposed by Trabin & Weiss (1983) is reformulated in a nonparametric IRT context assuming invariant item ordering, and statistical theory proposed by Rosenbaum (1987a) is adapted to test locally whether a PRF is nonincreasing. Third, a simulation study was conducted to compare the use of the PRF with the person-fit statistic ZU3. It is concluded that the PRF can be used as a diagnostic tool in person-fit research.The authors are grateful to Coen A. Bernaards for preparing the figures used in this article, and to Wilco H.M. Emons for checking the calculations.     

Focused attention reduces the effect of lateral interference in multi-element arrays

Lateral interference of nearby irrelevant flankers may be reduced when attention is already focused at a relevant position. This hypothesis was tested in three experiments with multi-element arrays consisting of one target and several neutral flankers with reaction time (RT) and proportion of errors (PE) as dependent variables. The arrays were preceded by peripheral cues that varied in size to induce different levels of focused attention. In a first experiment, the eccentricity effect was shown to be affected by attention, but no support was found for a reduction of lateral interference in the case of focused attention. However, these results may be due to an attentional bias for central elements. Two additional experiments were performed in which target-flanker distance was manipulated. RTs and PEs showed that the effect of target-flanker distance was smaller when the precise target position was indicated by a peripheral precue. Thus, focused attention seems to reduce the effect of lateral interference. These results can be explained most easily by a model in which attention already affects early perceptual processing. Received: 11 January 2000 / Accepted: 3 December 2000     

A comparison of acceptance- and control-based strategies for coping with food cravings: an analog study

The present study utilized an analog paradigm to investigate the effectiveness of two strategies for coping with food cravings, which was theorized to be critical to the maintenance of weight loss. Ninety-eight undergraduate students were given transparent boxes of chocolate Hershey's Kisses and instructed to keep the chocolates with them, but not to eat them, for 48 h. Before receiving the Kisses, participants were randomized to receive either (a) no intervention, (b) instruction in control-based coping strategies such as distraction and cognitive restructuring, or (c) instruction in acceptance-based strategies such as experiential acceptance and defusion techniques. Measures included the Power of Food Scale (PFS; a measure of psychological sensitivity to the food environment), self-report ratings of chocolate cravings and surreptitiously recorded chocolate consumption. Results suggested that the effect of the intervention depended on baseline PFS levels, such that acceptance-based strategies were associated with better outcomes (cravings, consumption) among those reporting the highest susceptibility to the presence of food, but greater cravings among those who scored lowest on the PFS. It was observed that craving self-report measures predicted chocolate consumption, and baseline PFS levels predicted both cravings and consumption. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for weight loss maintenance strategies.     

The nonconscious cessation of goal pursuit: when goals and negative affect are coactivated

Extending on the recent investigation into the implicit affective processes underlying motivation and decision making, 5 studies examined the role of negative affect in moderating goal priming effects. Specifically, experimental effects on measures that typify motivational qualities of goal systems, such as keeping a goal at a heightened level of mental accessibility and exerting effort to work for a goal and experiencing desire to attain the goal, showed that the motivation and resultant operation of social goals cease when these goals are primed in temporal proximity of negatively valenced information. These goal cessation effects resulting from the mere coactivation of a goal and negative affect are discussed against the background of present research on nonconscious goal pursuit and the role of accessibility and desirability in the regulation of automatic goal-directed behavior.     

“As soon as the bat met the ball,I knew it was gone”: Outcome prediction,hindsight bias,and the representation and control of action in expert and novice baseball players

A virtual-reality batting task compared novice and expert baseball players’ ability to predict the outcomes of their swings as well as the susceptibility of these outcome predictions to hindsight bias-a measure of strength and resistance to distortion of memory for predicted action outcomes. During each swing the simulation stopped when the bat met the ball. Batters marked where on the field they thought the ball would land. Correct feedback was then displayed, after which batters attempted to remark the location they had indicated prior to feedback. Expert batters were more accurate than less-skilled individuals in the initial marking and showed less hindsight bias in the postfeedback marking. Furthermore, experts’ number of hits in the previous block of trials was positively correlated with prediction accuracy and negatively correlated with hindsight bias. The reverse was true for novices. Thus the ability to predict the outcome of one’s performance before such information is available in the environment is not only based on one’s overall skill level, but how one is performing at a given moment.     

Further validation of the Maudsley Marital Questionnaire (MMQ)

This study examined the Factor structure and internal consistency of the Dutch version of the Maudsley Marital Questionnaire (MMQ) for a sample of 787 respondents in Belgium. Principal components analysis, followed by varimax orthogonal rotation, identified the expected three factors (M - Marital, S - Sexual, GL - General Life), which jointly explained 53% of the variance. The Cronbach alpha for MMQ - M (.90) and MMQ - S (.80) were of high value while for MMQ - GL (.66) was lower. The MMQ scales were found significantly correlated with each other: M - S, .60; M - GL, .46 and S - GL, .33.     

On what god would do

Many debates in the philosophy of religion, particularly arguments for and against the existence of God, depend on a claim or set of claims about what God—qua sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good being—would do, either directly or indirectly, in particular cases or in general. Accordingly, before these debates can be resolved we must first settle the more fundamental issue of whether we can know, or at least have justified belief about, what God would do. In this paper, I lay out the possible positions on the issue of whether we can know what God would do, positions I refer to as Broad Skeptical Theism, Broad Epistemic Theism, and Narrow Skeptical Theism. I then examine the implications of each of these views and argue that each presents serious problems for theism.     

Take it or leave it for something better? Responses to fair offers in ultimatum bargaining

We investigated if responders accept a 50–50 split in a modified version of the ultimatum game, in which rejection yields a higher payoff (€7) than accepting the equal offer (€5). Therefore, the decision to accept the 50–50 split in this modified ultimatum game cannot be perceived as a self-interest act, as opposed to the standard game, in which acceptance may reflect resignation in the knowledge that the equal split is the best one can expect. A substantial proportion of responders accepts the equal split in this modified game (Study 1), which clearly establishes egalitarian preferences. Further studies show that the willingness to accept is not an artifact of indifference towards the extra payoff (Study 2), but reflects true concerns for proposers’ outcomes (Study 3).