A sequential exploratory diagnostic model using a Pólya-gamma data augmentation strategy

Cognitive diagnostic models provide a framework for classifying individuals into latent proficiency classes, also known as attribute profiles. Recent research has examined the implementation of a Pólya-gamma data augmentation strategy binary response model using logistic item response functions within a Bayesian Gibbs sampling procedure. In this paper, we propose a sequential exploratory diagnostic model for ordinal response data using a logit-link parameterization at the category level and extend the Pólya-gamma data augmentation strategy to ordinal response processes. A Gibbs sampling procedure is presented for efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation methods. We provide results from a Monte Carlo study for model performance and present an application of the model.     

Social representation of aggression as an explanation of gender differences: A preliminary study

Academic theories of aggression can be dichotomized as expressive (in which aggression results from a failure of self control) or instrumental (in which aggression represents the exercise of control over others). We propose that the two sexes hold a parallel distinction in their social representations of aggression; women subscribe to an expressive model, men to an instrumental model. A 20-item questionnaire was generated by systematic comparison of the two theories with respect to their differential predictions concerning perceived social value, proximate causes, relevant emotions and congnitions, form, aim, social facilitators, and reputational aspects of aggression. Factor analysis indicated a first factor of expressive-instrumental aggression on which all items had significant loadings. A significant correlation (.46) was found between gender and questionnaire score confirming the hypothesis. The notion of gender-specific social representations is discussed in terms of its ability to coherently interpret patterns of differences in aggression found in experimental and observational studies.     

Implicit Learning in a Simple Cued Reaction-Time Task

Implicit learning tasks usually involve the learning of complex rules. While this does reduce the likelihood of subjects becoming aware of the relationship to be learned, it also raises the possibility of explaining improved performance in terms of explicit processes. The current experiments are an attempt to develop a task which shows evidence of implicit learning, but which involves the learning of a very simple rule and so avoids these alternative explanations. In two experiments, we exposed subjects to learning trials in which a target letter (or shape) was immediately preceded by a cue letter (or shape) in otherwise random nine-letter (or 15-shape) sequences. In a test phase, subjects responded more quickly to cued than uncued targets if the learning phase had involved reliable cue–target pairings, but not following random control pairings. This was true of subjects who were classified as aware and those classified as unaware of the cue–target relationship.     

Self-Efficacy and Causal Attributions: Direct and Reciprocal Links

This study examines Bandura's (1986, 1997a) propositions that self-efficacy provides information from which causal attributions are made and that causal attributions, in turn, influence formation of subsequent self-efficacy expectations. We developed a conceptual rationale for and empirically tested 2 sets of hypotheses pertaining to direct and reciprocal links between self-efficacy and causal attributions. Effects of causal attributions and subsequently formed self-efficacy on subsequent task performance were also investigated. Results support the existence of direct and reciprocal links between self-efficacy and causal attributions. We found interactive effects between self-efficacy and performance feedback on causal attributions, and a mediating effect of causal attributions on the formation of subsequent self-efficacy beliefs. Causal attributions and subsequent self-efficacy also significantly predicted subsequent performance.     

Support for the Death Penalty: A Gender-Specific Model

Research on the public's level of death penalty support (DPS) has neglected gender-specific models. While most previous work has shown that women have lower DPS than men, it is not clear whether traditional models of DPS will work for a sample restricted to women. The greater intolerance of the death penalty among women may overshadow or reduce the impact of traditional predictors of DPS among women. The present paper performs the first systematic gender-specific analysis of DPS. It uses national data from the 1990 General Social Survey. Measures of three variable sets were employed: symbolic orientations (e.g., political conservatism, authoritarianism); crime salience (e.g., victimization, fear); and demographic controls. The results of a stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that political conservatism has a direct effect on the DPS of both men and women. For women only, authoritarianism also had a direct effect on DPS. Further analysis showed that for women, six variables exert an indirect effect on DPS through political conservatism and five through authoritarianism. Only three indirect effects were found for men. However, none of the 16 variables analyzed had a significant gendered effect. Indicators of traditional models of DPS were found to work as well for women as they did for men.     

Why People Turn to Religion: A Motivational Analysis

The Reiss Profile of Fundamental Goals and Motivational Sensitivities, a standardized psychological measure that assesses 15 fundamental desires, was administered to college students (n= 214) and to mental retardation service providers (n = 344), total N = 558, who rated themselves as “very,”“somewhat,” and “not” religious. How religious a person rated himself, call dereligiosity, was associated with high desire scores for honor and family, and with low desire scores for vengeanceand independence. The investigation provided evidence that the desire for dependence on God is unrelated to any desire for psychological weakness (submission to another person or political leader.)     

Reconstructing the Sacred: Evolving Conceptualizations of Religious Faith in Psychoanalytic Theory and Practice

Freud's original understanding of religion was categorically depreciative, and tended to portray religious faith in exclusively western and patriarchal terms (S. Freud, 1913/1989, 1927/1989). More recently, many of Freud's assertions about religion have been questioned. The psychoanalytic contributions of W. D. Fairbairn (1954), and D. W. Winnicott (1971) as well as the work of feminist scholars (N. Chodorow, 1974, 1989; C. Gilligan, 1993) and multicultural theorists (A. Roland, 1996) have profoundly shaken the metapsychological substructure upon which Freud rested his critique of spiritual faith. This paper describes how a gradual historical evolution has occurred in psychoanalytic theory, so that the work of such theorists as A. M. Rizutto (1979), M. H. Spero (1992), and H. Kohut (1984, 1985) now delineates the adaptive and creative place that religious experience can have in human development and psychological life.