Use of factor mixture modeling to capture Spearman's law of diminishing returns

Spearman's law of diminishing returns (SLODR) posits that at higher levels of general cognitive ability the general factor (g) performs less well in explaining individual differences in cognitive test performance. Research has generally supported SLODR, but previous research has required the a priori division of respondents into separate ability or IQ groups. The present study sought to obviate this limitation through the use of factor mixture modeling to investigate SLODR in the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (KABC-II). A second-order confirmatory factor model was modeled as a within-class factor structure. The fit and parameter estimates of several models with varying number of classes and factorial invariance restrictions were compared. Given SLODR, a predictable pattern of findings should emerge when factor mixture modeling is applied. Our results were consistent with these SLODR-based predictions, most notably the g factor variance was less in higher g mean classes. Use of factor mixture modeling was found to provide support for SLODR while improving the model used to investigate SLODR.     

The distinction between intuition and guessing in the SRT task generation: A reply to Norman and Price

We (Fu, Dienes, & Fu, 2010) investigated the extent to which people could generate sequences of responses based on knowledge acquired from the Serial Reaction Time task, depending on whether it felt subjectively like the response was based on pure guessing, intuition, conscious rules or memories. Norman and Price (2010) argued that in the context of our task, intuition responses were the same as guessing responses. In reply, we argue that not only do subjects apparently claim to be experiencing different phenomenologies when saying intuition versus guess, but also intuition and guess responses are associated with different behaviors. We found that people could control the knowledge when generating responses felt to be based on intuition but not those felt to be pure guessing. We present further evidence here that triplets associated with intuition but not guessing were also processed fluently.     

Time-course of 5-HT6 receptor mRNA expression during memory consolidation and amnesia

Growing evidence indicates that antagonists of the 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) receptor₆ (5-HT₆) improve memory and reverse amnesia although the mechanisms involved are poorly understood. Hence, in this paper RT-PCR was used to evaluate changes in mRNA expression of 5-HT₆ receptor in trained and untrained rats treated with the 5-HT₆ receptor antagonist SB-399885 and amnesic drugs scopolamine or dizocilpine. Changes in mRNA expression of 5-HT₆ receptor were investigated at different times in prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and striatum. Data indicated that memory in the Pavlovian/instrumental autoshaping task was a progressive process associated to reduced mRNA expression of 5-HT₆ receptor in the three structures examined. SB-399885 improved long-term memory at 48 h, while the muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine or the non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist dizocilpine impaired it at 24 h. Autoshaping training and treatment with SB-399885 increased 5-HT₆ receptor mRNA expression in (maximum increase) prefrontal cortex and striatum, 24 or 48 h. The scopolamine-induced amnesia suppressed 5-HT₆ receptor mRNA expression while the dizocilpine-induced amnesia did not modify 5-HT₆ receptor mRNA expression. SB-399885 and scopolamine or dizocilpine were able to reestablish memory and 5-HT₆ receptor mRNA expression. These data confirmed previous memory evidence and of more interest is the observation that training, SB-399885 and amnesic drugs modulated 5-HT₆ receptor mRNA expression in prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and striatum. Further investigation in different memory tasks, times and amnesia models together with more complex control groups might provide further clues.     

Factorial and Diagnostic Validity of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) in Croatian Primary Health Care

The aim of this study was to examine the factorial and diagnostic validity of the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II) in Croatian primary health care. Data were collected using a medical outpatient sample (N = 314). Reliability measured by internal consistency proved to be high. While the Velicer MAP Test showed that extraction of only one factor is satisfactory, confirmatory factor analysis indicated the best fit for a 3-factor structure model consisting of cognitive, affective and somatic dimensions. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis demonstrated the BDI-II to have a satisfactory diagnostic validity in differentiating between healthy and depressed individuals in this setting. The area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity were high with an optimal cut-off score of 15/16. The implications of these findings are discussed regarding the use of the BDI-II as a screening instrument in primary health care settings.     

Personal and Environmental Factors Predict Participation of Children With and Without Mild Developmental Disabilities

Enhancing participation in age-related activities is a key goal in the education and rehabilitation of children with diverse disabilities. The aim of this study was to explore a multidimensional and ecological model of participation for young children. Seventy eight children with mild developmental disabilities (MDD, such as motor and visual-motor difficulties), and 110 children without disabilities, between the ages 4 and 6 years old, participated in the study together with their parents. Data were collected using standardized assessments for child capacities and newly developed questionnaires for child participation and for human and physical environmental factors. Associations were found between personal and environmental factors and the participation dimensions amongst young children, thus supporting the validity of the proposed model of participation. Moreover, the study results outline different pathways for the participation of children with and without MDD. Child factors (e.g. process skills) were found to be crucial predictors of participation particularly for children with MDD, whereas human environmental factor (e.g. maternal self-efficacy beliefs) was associated with higher participation scores especially for children without disabilities. These findings may facilitate the development of effective intervention programs which focus on environmental factors as well as on child factors.     

Selling the War? System‐Justifying Effects of Commercial Advertising on Civilian Casualty Tolerance

In times of war, news media coverage of the plight of civilian casualties plays a critical role in shaping attitudes regarding war's human costs. We proposed that these attitudes may also be surreptitiously influenced by the commercial advertisements that often accompany this coverage. Specifically, we hypothesized that when newspaper articles pertaining to civilian victims of war are flanked by luxury ads, conservatives, relative to liberals, will subsequently exhibit less concern for these victims. This proposition was based on the notion that commercial ads, particularly those promoting luxury items, make salient the gap between the “haves” and the “have‐nots” and thereby, at least implicitly, threaten the legitimacy of the current socioeconomic system. Drawing upon system justification theory, we posited that this threat would lead individuals with stronger system‐justification tendencies (conservatives), relative to those more open to challenging the current system (liberals), to show greater tolerance for civilian war casualties in order to defend the system's integrity. Evidence consistent with this hypothesis was found in a quasi‐experimental study (n = 329).     

Legal Risk in Selection: An Analysis of Processes and Tools

Purpose

This paper reviews a decade of employment litigation to illuminate the most legally dangerous selection devices and employment practices.

Design/Methodology/Approach

A sample (n = 312) of court cases drawn from 10 years of Bloomberg BNA case briefs was analyzed to determine which selection tools (e.g., biographical information blank, interview, cognitive ability test, and psychomotor test) and which selection processes (e.g., violations of the four-fifths rule, administrative inconsistencies, lack of documentation, failure to provide accommodations) are most at risk for litigation for unfair employment practices.

Findings

Results demonstrate that while some selection tools do attract legal scrutiny, dangerous hiring practices such as favoritism against protected classes and improper human resource documentation put employers at far greater risk of suit. When considering cases settled outside of court and those that continued to trial, the data reveal that employers lose employment discrimination cases at a rate nearing 90 % and suffer an average payout of over $1.5 million per case.

Implications

Just as legal challenges once drove the search for selection tools free of adverse impact, the current legal landscape demonstrates the necessity of fair and consistent selection processes. This paper provides evidence of common mistakes in implementing selection systems—mistakes that lead to costly legal battles.

Originality/Value

This paper reduces cumbersome legal records into useful evidence of trends in recent employment law cases. Selection system designers and organizations who implement them will benefit from avoiding the risky hiring practices presented in this paper.     

The law of large numbers in children's diversity-based reasoning

Adults increase the certainty of their inductive inferences by observing more diverse instances. However, most young children fail to do so. The present study tested the hypothesis that children's sensitivity to instance diversity is determined by three variables: ability to discriminate among instances (Discrimination); an intuition that large numbers of instances increase the strength of conclusion (Monotonicity); ability to detect subcategories and evaluate numerical differences between the subcategories, or Extraction. A total of 219 Chinese children aged 6 to 11 were tested for sensitivity to diversity by means of Discrimination, Monotonicity, and Extraction. The results indicated that children at all ages were able to discriminate instances and attend to set size. However, only 9- and 11-year-olds demonstrated Extraction and sensitivity to diversity. Furthermore, among all children diversity scores increased linearly with the level of Extraction. These results suggest that the law of large numbers plays a role in children's diversity-based reasoning.