Biblical Fidelity of Christian School Textbooks

A reasonable expectation of textbooks used in Christian schools is that they should regularly incorporate biblical content. It is also reasonable to expect the biblical content to be integrated—not segregated—to influence matters such as worldview, biblical relevance, character, and integrative skills. This expectation was tested via a representative sampling of 15 texts across a span of elementary, middle, and high school grades and representative content areas from eight Christian schools in the eastern Virginia region. Important findings include: close to half the texts used in the schools were from non-Christian publishers; textbooks from Christian publishers were predominantly from only two companies; the adequacy of textbook worldview scores is not in alignment with research showing major student deficiency in Christian worldviews; and approximately half of the scores for Christian textbooks were below the minimally acceptable level.     

Associations among relational values,support, health,and well‐being across the adult lifespan

Is the link between close relationships and health and well‐being static across the lifespan, or are the benefits most evident in older adulthood, when concerns about physical health are greater? In Study 1, a cross‐sectional survey of 271,053 adults, valuing friendships was related to better functioning, particularly among older adults, whereas valuing familial relationships exerted a static influence on health and well‐being across the lifespan. In Study 2, a longitudinal study of 7,481 older adults, only strain from friendships predicted more chronic illnesses over a 6‐year period; support from spouses, children, and friends predicted higher subjective well‐being over an 8‐year period.     

RATER SOURCE EFFECTS ARE ALIVE AND WELL AFTER ALL

Recent research has questioned the importance of rater perspective effects on multisource performance ratings (MSPRs). Although making a valuable contribution, we hypothesize that this research has obscured evidence for systematic rater source effects as a result of misspecified models of the structure of multisource performance ratings and inappropriate analytic methods. Accordingly, this study provides a reexamination of the impact of rater source on multisource performance ratings by presenting a set of confirmatory factor analyses of two large samples of multisource performance rating data in which source effects are modeled in the form of second-order factors. Hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis of both samples revealed that the structure of multisource performance ratings can be characterized by general performance, dimensional performance, idiosyncratic rater, and source factors, and that source factors explain (much) more variance in multisource performance ratings whereas general performance explains (much) less variance than was previously believed. These results reinforce the value of collecting performance data from raters occupying different organizational levels and have important implications for research and practice.     

TEAMS' FEMALE REPRESENTATION AND PERCEIVED POTENCY AS INPUTS TO TEAM OUTCOMES IN A PREDOMINANTLY MALE FIELD SETTING

We developed a team-level temporal model and tested it with data from 92 newly formed teams in a naturalistic military setting where females were a distinct minority in all teams. Contrary to what is posited by theory on customary perceptions of females' capabilities and gender-role congruence, a higher female proportion within teams did not adversely influence teams' early perceived potency, later social cohesion, or observers' assessments of teamwork. Consistent with theory regarding gender and abilities, however, a higher female proportion within teams contributed to better team problem solving but led to slightly worse team results on physically demanding tasks. In addition, teams' early perceived potency contributed positively to early task proficiency and later social cohesion. Furthermore, teams' social cohesion contributed positively to externally observed teamwork while controlling for task proficiency. We discuss implications of these findings for theory and practice.     

Multiple Realizability Intuitions and the Functionalist Conception of the Mind

A popular argument supporting functionalism has been what is commonly called the “multiple realizability” argument. One version of this argument uses thought experiments designed to show that minds could be composed of different types of material. This article offers a metaphilosophical analysis of this argument and shows that it fails to provide a strong case for functionalism. The multiple realizability argument is best understood as an inference‐to‐the‐best‐explanation argument, whereby a functionalist account of our mental concepts serves to explain our multiple realizability intuitions. I show that the argument is inadequate because alternative accounts of our mental concepts exist that provide equally plausible explanations for these intuitions. Moreover, in the case of our qualia concepts, a nonfunctionalist account explains several other intuitions that functionalism cannot explain. Thus, despite its popularity, the intuition‐based version of the multiple realizability argument is a poor reason for accepting functionalism.     

ISSUES AND STRATEGIES FOR REDUCING THE LENGTH OF SELF-REPORT SCALES

Greater understanding of the complex interrelationships among work-relevant constructs has increased the number of constructs on organizational surveys. Good psychometric practice also dictates the use of multiple items per construct. The net result has been longer surveys. Longer surveys take more time to complete, tend to have more missing data, and have higher refusal rates than short surveys. Arguably, then, techniques for reducing the length of scales while maintaining psychometric quality are worthwhile. Little guidance exists on how to reduce the length of a multi-item scale and we argue that the most common technique, maximizing internal consistency, is problematic and should be avoided. We present a set of item "quality indices" to help conceptualize the competing issues that influence item retention decisions. Statistical analysis of an example case using these indices suggested that there are 3 key aspects of item quality to consider when reducing a scale. We describe strategies that can assist scale developers in using these 3 aspects of item quality when making scale reduction decisions.