"None of the above" as a correct and incorrect alternative on a multiple-choice test: implications for the testing effect

Both positive and negative testing effects have been demonstrated with a variety of materials and paradigms (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006b). The present series of experiments replicate and extend the research of Roediger and Marsh (2005) with the addition of a "none-of-the-above" response option. Participants (n=32 in both experiments) read a set of passages, took an initial multiple-choice test, completed a filler task, and then completed a final cued-recall test (Experiment 1) or multiple-choice test (Experiment 2). Questions were manipulated on the initial multiple-choice test by adding a "none-of-the-above" response alternative (choice "E") that was incorrect ("E" Incorrect) or correct ("E" Correct). The results from both experiments demonstrated that the positive testing effect was negated when the "none-of-the-above" alternative was the correct response on the initial multiple-choice test, but was still present when the "none-of-the-above" alternative was an incorrect response.     

Evidence of Predictive and Incremental Validity of Personality Factors,Vocal Attractiveness and the Situational Interview

This study evaluates the impact of the situational interview, personality measures, vocal attractiveness, and interactions between personality and vocal attractiveness on job performance. In a concurrent validity study with 154 customer service employees, a structured, situational interview was conducted and three of the Big Five personality factors (agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion) are measured with two different frames‐of‐reference: at‐work and typical. Among the results are the validity of the situational interview and at‐work personality measures is established; vocal attractiveness correlates with both interview ratings and job performance; and finally, agreeableness and conscientiousness are found to vary in a pattern related to levels of vocal attractiveness such that both personality factors predict performance more strongly for people with more attractive voices.     

Ratings of Test Fairness by Human Resource Professionals

The authors provide a methodology for capturing policies for rating test fairness. Guided by the test fairness models that appeared in the psychological literature of the 1970s, test fairness evaluations are modeled as a function of a test's validity coefficient, the mean test score difference between the majority group and the minority group, and the test score adjustment for the minority group. Fifty‐seven participants with graduate education in human resource management rated fairness for 20 stimuli. Preference modeling was used to estimate each participant's fairness policy. Results showed that the variation in fairness ratings attributable to differences in ratings policies among participants (40.4%) was almost equal to the variation explained by attribute main effects, demonstrating that test fairness is a controversial issue even among a homogeneous set of participants. The authors discuss the implications of this type of research may have for public policy and the use of group‐based test score adjustments.     

Assessing clients in their natural environments with electronic diaries: rationale, benefits, limitations, and barriers

Increasingly, mobile technologies are used to gather diary data in basic research and clinical studies. This article considers issues relevant to the integration of electronic diary (ED) methods in clinical assessment. EDs can be used to gather rich information regarding clients' day-to-day experiences, aiding diagnosis, treatment planning, treatment implementation, and treatment evaluation. The authors review the benefits of using diary methods in addition to retrospective assessments, and they review studies assessing whether EDs yield higher quality data than conventional, less expensive paper-pencil diaries. Practical considerations--including what platforms can be used to implement EDs, what features they should have, and considerations in designing diary protocols for sampling different types of clinical phenomena--are described. The authors briefly illustrate with examples some ways in which ED data could be summarized for clinical use. Finally, the authors consider barriers to clinical adoption of EDs. EDs are likely to become increasingly popular tools in routine clinical assessment as clinicians become more familiar with the logic of diary designs; as software packages evolve to meet the needs of clinicians; and as mobile technologies become ubiquitous, robust, and inexpensive.     

Teacher implementation of precorrection and praise statements in Head Start classrooms as a component of a program-wide system of positive behavior support

Although research has clearly supported the use of school-wide positive behavior support (PBS) in elementary school settings, data-based research has not been conducted to support program-wide PBS in early childhood settings. The purpose of this study was to specifically support teachers’ use of universal features of program-wide PBS and to determine whether increases in the use of positive teacher behaviors, including precorrection and praise, were functionally related to decreases in students’ problem behavior. Using a multiple baseline design, three teachers were introduced to an intervention to increase their use of precorrections and specific behavioral praise statements. A relationship was established between the three teachers’ use of key features of program-wide PBS and the reduction of students’ problem behavior in a small group setting. However, findings should be viewed as tentative and future research should explore the relative influence of each of the intervention components on preschool students’ behavior.     

A signal detection analysis of the recognition heuristic

The recognition heuristic uses a recognition decision to make an inference about an unknown variable in the world. Theories of recognition memory typically use a signal detection framework to predict this binary recognition decision. In this article, I integrate the recognition heuristic with signal detection theory to formally investigate how judges use their recognition memory to make inferences. The analysis reveals that false alarms and misses systematically influence the performance of the recognition heuristic. Furthermore, judges should adjust their recognition response criterion according to their experience with the environment to exploit the structure of information in it. Finally, the less-is-more effect is found to depend on the distribution of cue knowledge and judges’ sensitivity to the difference between experienced and novel items. Theoretical implications of this bridge between the recognition heuristic and models of recognition memory are discussed.     

“Just another pretty face”: A multidimensional scaling approach to face attractiveness and variability

Findings on both attractiveness and memory for faces suggest that people should perceive more similarity among attractive than among unattractive faces. A multidimensional scaling approach was used to test this hypothesis in two studies. In Study 1, we derived a psychological face space from similarity ratings of attractive and unattractive Caucasian female faces. In Study 2, we derived a face space for attractive and unattractive male faces of Caucasians and non-Caucasians. Both studies confirm that attractive faces are indeed more tightly clustered than unattractive faces in people’s psychological face spaces. These studies provide direct and original support for theoretical assumptions previously made in the face space and face memory literatures.     

Development and validation of a Response Bias Scale (RBS) for the MMPI-2

This study describes the development of a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) scale designed to detect negative response bias in forensic neuropsychological or disability assessment settings. The Response Bias Scale (RBS) consists of 28 MMPI-2 items that discriminated between persons who passed or failed the Word Memory Test (WMT), Computerized Assessment of Response Bias (CARB), and/or Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) in a sample of 1,212 nonhead-injury disability claimants. Incremental validity of the RBS was evaluated by comparing its ability to detect poor performance on four separate symptom validity tests with that of the F and F(P) scales and the Fake Bad Scale (FBS). The RBS consistently outperformed F, F(P), and FBS. Study results suggest that the RBS may be a useful addition to existing MMPI-2 validity scales and indices in detecting symptom complaints predominantly associated with cognitive response bias and overreporting in forensic neuropsychological and disability assessment settings.     

Interval recording for duration events: a re‐evaluation

In two experiments, events that were recorded using continuous duration recording (CDR) were rescored using 10‐s partial interval (PIR), 10‐s momentary time sampling (MTS) and 20‐s MTS. Results of Experiment 1 showed that data paths generated by each interval method produced conclusions about functional control that were similar to those based on CDR when using reversal designs; however, for multielement designs, 10‐s PIR was prone to showing differentiation between data paths that was not evident with CDR. Results of Experiment 2 showed that both 10‐s and 20‐s MTS yielded data paths on behavior–behavior relations (e.g., covarying responses) that were consistent with CDR whereas 10‐s PIR produced some behavior–behavior patterns that were not. In both experiments, 10‐s MTS generated data paths that were nearly identical to the respective CDR data paths. The implications of these findings for researchers and clinicians are briefly discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Child and parent predictors of perceptions of parent--child relationship quality

OBJECTIVE/METHOD: Predictors of perceptions of parent-child relationship quality were examined for 175 children with ADHD, 119 comparison children, and parents of these children, drawn from the follow-up phase of the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD. RESULTS/CONCLUSION: Children with ADHD perceived their mothers and fathers as more power assertive than comparison children. Children higher on depressive symptomatology also perceived their mothers and fathers as less warm and more power assertive. Mothers perceived themselves as more power assertive and fathers perceived themselves as less warm if they were higher on depressive symptomatology themselves or had children with ADHD or higher levels of depressive symptomatology. Several interactions indicated that the association between child factors and parental perceptions of warmth and power assertion often depended on parental depressive symptomatology. The findings resolve a previous contradiction in the literature regarding the relationship between child depressive symptoms and parental perceptions of parent-child relationship quality.