A Behavior Analytically Modified Implicit Association Test for Measuring Sexual Categorization of Children

The Psychological Record - The current study assessed the sexual categorization of children among a random sample of adults from the general population. Twenty-seven males and 27 females (N = 54)...     

A reply to Cling’s “The epistemic regress problem”

Andrew Cling presents a new version of the epistemic regress problem, and argues that intuitionist foundationalism, social contextualism, holistic coherentism, and infinitism fail to solve it. Cling??s discussion is quite instructive, and deserving of careful consideration. But, I argue, Cling??s discussion is not in all respects decisive. I argue that Cling??s dilemma argument against holistic coherentism fails.     

Determining the number of factors to retain in an exploratory factor analysis using comparison data of known factorial structure

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is used routinely in the development and validation of assessment instruments. One of the most significant challenges when one is performing EFA is determining how many factors to retain. Parallel analysis (PA) is an effective stopping rule that compares the eigenvalues of randomly generated data with those for the actual data. PA takes into account sampling error, and at present it is widely considered the best available method. We introduce a variant of PA that goes even further by reproducing the observed correlation matrix rather than generating random data. Comparison data (CD) with known factorial structure are first generated using 1 factor, and then the number of factors is increased until the reproduction of the observed eigenvalues fails to improve significantly. We evaluated the performance of PA, CD with known factorial structure, and 7 other techniques in a simulation study spanning a wide range of challenging data conditions. In terms of accuracy and robustness across data conditions, the CD technique outperformed all other methods, including a nontrivial superiority to PA. We provide program code to implement the CD technique, which requires no more specialized knowledge or skills than performing PA.     

The 9th annual INDUS-EM 2013 Emergency Medicine Summit, “Principles,Practices, and Patients,” a level one international meeting,Kerala University of Health Sciences and Jubilee Mission Medical College and Research Institute,Thrissur, Kerala,India, October 23–27, 2013

INDUS-EM is India’s only level one conference imparting and exchanging quality knowledge in acute care. Specifically, in general and specialized emergency care and training in trauma, burns, cardiac, stroke, environmental and disaster medicine. It provides a series of exchanges regarding academic development and implementation of training tools related to developing future academic faculty and residents in Emergency Medicine in India. The INDUS-EM leadership and board of directors invited scholars from multiple institutions to participate in this advanced educational symposium that was held in Thrissur, Kerala in October 2013.     

Genetic Information,Non-Discrimination,and Privacy Protections in Genetic Counseling Practice

The passage of the Genetic Information Non Discrimination Act (GINA) was hailed as a pivotal achievement that was expected to calm the fears of both patients and research participants about the potential misuse of genetic information. However, 6 years later, patient and provider awareness of legal protections at both the federal and state level remains discouragingly low, thereby, limiting their potential effectiveness. The increasing demand for genetic testing will expand the number of individuals and families who could benefit from obtaining accurate information about the privacy and anti-discriminatory protections that GINA and other laws extend. In this paper we describe legal protections that are applicable to individuals seeking genetic counseling, review the literature on patient and provider fears of genetic discrimination and examine their awareness and understandings of existing laws, and summarize how genetic counselors currently discuss genetic discrimination. We then present three genetic counseling cases to illustrate issues of genetic discrimination and provide relevant information on applicable legal protections. Genetic counselors have an unprecedented opportunity, as well as the professional responsibility, to disseminate accurate knowledge about existing legal protections to their patients. They can strengthen their effectiveness in this role by achieving a greater knowledge of current protections including being able to identify specific steps that can help protect genetic information.     

Affect Intensity Contributes to Perfectionistic Self-presentation in Adolescents Beyond Perfectionism

Perfectionistic self-presentation in adolescents is associated with psychological maladjustment and distress. Yet, no study so far has investigated what personality characteristics contribute to perfectionistic self-presentation in adolescence. Using a cross-sectional correlational design with 119 adolescents aged 11–16 years, this study investigated how perfectionism (self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism) and affect intensity (positive affectivity, negative intensity, and negative reactivity) predicted individual differences in three modes of perfectionistic self-presentation: perfectionistic self-promotion, nondisplay of imperfection, and nondisclosure of imperfection. Results showed a unique prediction pattern for all three modes of perfectionistic self-presentation. Moreover, affect intensity contributed to perfectionistic self-presentation beyond perfectionism in two of the three modes. Perfectionistic self-promotion was predicted by high self-oriented perfectionism, high socially prescribed perfectionism, high positive affectivity, and low negative reactivity. In contrast, nondisplay of imperfection was predicted by high self-oriented perfectionism, high negative reactivity, and low positive affectivity. Nondisclosure of perfectionism was predicted by high socially prescribed perfectionism only. The findings suggest that affect intensity is a personality characteristic contributing to perfectionistic self-presentation in adolescence beyond perfectionism.     

Derived stimulus--response and stimulus--stimulus relations in children and adults: assessing training order effects

Preschool children and adults received training on three sets of successive discriminations: (1) A1-R1,A2-R2, (2) B1-R1,B2-R2, and (3) A1-R3,A2-R4. Then they received tests assessing derived stimulus-response relations (B1-R3, B2-R4) and stimulus-stimulus relations (e.g., A1-B1, A2-B2). Four training protocols were used. The protocols differed with regard to the order in which the sets were trained: Many-To-One (1-2-3), One-To-Many-1 (1-3-2), One-To-Many-2 (3-1-2), and One-To-One (3-2-1 or 2-3-1). The adults displayed class-consistent B-R and A-B performances over all conditions. The children displayed class consistent B-R performances more often in Many-To-One and One-To-Many than in One-To-One. Their A-B performances were highly consistent with the trained A-R and tested B-R performances. Present findings are consistent with the stimulus equivalence account rather than with the mediated response account.     

The Behavior of Organisms?

The Psychological Record - The term & #x2018;organism & #x2018; enjoys a revered place within the vocabulary of behavior analysis, most notably perhaps within the title of...