Probabilistic Disjoint Principal Component Analysis

One of the most relevant problems in principal component analysis and factor analysis is the interpretation of the components/factors. In this paper, disjoint principal component analysis model is extended in a maximum-likelihood framework to allow for inference on the model parameters. A coordinate ascent algorithm is proposed to estimate the model parameters. The performance of the methodology is evaluated on simulated and real data sets.     

幸福悖论及其最新解释

横断研究认为收入和幸福感正相关; 长时时间序列(通常指10年及以上)研究认为二者无关, 这种矛盾的结论即构成了幸福悖论。传统上解释幸福悖论主要从理论着手, 如定点理论、适应理论、相对效用理论等。近年来, 学者们开始从“忽略变量”的角度解释, 文章分别介绍了收入不平等、受教育水平、社会资本、个人主义–集体主义、婚姻状态五种忽略变量。忽略变量对幸福感的消极效应抵消了收入对幸福感的积极效应, 导致了幸福悖论现象的发生。     

Bohr as a Phenomenological Realist

There is confusion among scholars of Bohr as to whether he should be categorized as an instrumentalist (see Faye 1991) or a realist (see Folse 1985). I argue that Bohr is a realist, and that the confusion is due to the fact that he holds a very special view of realism, which did not coincide with the philosophers’ views. His approach was sometimes labelled instrumentalist and other times realist, because he was an instrumentalist on the theoretical level, but a realist on the level of models. Such a realist position is what I call phenomenological realism. In this paper, and by taking Bohr’s debate with Einstein as a paradigm, I try to prove that Bohr was such a realist.

Can infants be "taught" to attend to a new physical variable in an event category? The case of height in covering events

As they observe or produce events, infants identify variables that help them predict outcomes in each category of events. How do infants identify a new variable? An explanation-based learning (EBL) account suggests three essential steps: (1) observing contrastive outcomes relevant to the variable; (2) discovering the conditions associated with these outcomes; and (3) generating an explanation for the condition-outcome regularity discovered. In Experiments 1-3, 9-month-old infants watched events designed to "teach" them the variable height in covering events. After watching these events, designed in accord with the EBL account, the infants detected a height violation in a covering event, three months earlier than they ordinarily would have. In Experiments 4-6, the "teaching" events were modified to remove one of the EBL steps, and the infants no longer detected the height violation. The present findings thus support the EBL account and help specify the processes by which infants acquire their physical knowledge.     

Testing for selectivity in the dependence of random variables on external factors

Random variables A and B, whose joint distribution depends on factors (x,y), are selectively influenced by x and y, respectively, if A and B can be represented as functions of, respectively, (x,S_A,C) and (y,S_B,C), where S_A,S_B,C are stochastically independent and do not depend on (x,y). Selective influence implies selective dependence of marginal distributions on the respective factors: thus no parameter of A may depend on y. But parameters characterizing stochastic interdependence of A and B, such as their mixed moments, are generally functions of both x and y. We derive two simple necessary conditions for selective dependence of (A,B) on (x,y), which can be used to conduct a potential infinity of selectiveness tests. One condition is that, for any factor values x,x^′ and y,y^′,

s_xy≤s_xy^′+s_x^′y^′+s_x^′y,     

时间压力、创造性激励与初中作文关系研究

实验操纵了时间压力、创造性激励2个变量,考察它们对初中作文创造性指标和作文成绩的影响,发现变量能对初中作文的创造性指标产生明显作用,但不影响作文成绩。初中作文的评价体系似乎缺乏对作文创造性的反映。     

The Relationship Between Volunteers' Work Behaviors and Background and Preparation Variables

Increasingly, a large number of individuals provide volunteer services. Demographic information known about these individuals is also increasing. Although recent efforts have attempted to examine more closely the relationships between demographic and background variables and subsequent volunteer motivation and retention, few have studied how these variables impact actual work performed by volunteers. This study provides a model for how volunteers' demographic and background variables may be related to volunteers' perceptions of the frequency and importance of their work behaviors. Although it is possible that motivation also may be related to work behaviors, this study provides information ultimately leading to a more complete picture of the potential impact of demographic and background variables on work behaviors.     

情绪代理变量对投资者决策的影响

情绪代理变量是指影响投资者对市场判断的非经济变量,主要包括天气、人体生物钟、月运周期、信念、社会事件、资本形象等。与蝴蝶效应类似,其影响在现实中往往被忽略了,但研究表明它们却会使股票市场出现巨大的波动。文章总结了两类情绪代理变量（“错误归因”情绪变量和“启发式”情绪变量）对投资者决策产生影响的研究,这些研究结果可以使投资者从认识自己的情绪中获益,也可为我国决策层和监管层制定出合理的政策提供依据     

Transfer of avoidance responding to a sensory preconditioned cue: Evidence for the role of S-S and R-S knowledge in avoidance learning

In avoidance learning studies, a warning signal (Sd) is directly paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) unless a particular response is performed. Research by Augustson and Dougher (1997) demonstrated that not only warning signals but also stimuli that are indirectly paired with the aversive event are capable of affecting the avoidance response. In the present study, we extended these results by incorporating a sensory preconditioning paradigm in an avoidance learning procedure. Sensory preconditioning training influenced the selection of avoidance responses in the presence of warning signals that were never paired directly with the aversive events. Moreover, results suggest that the selection of the avoidance responses was based on an integration of knowledge about the relation between the Sd and the US (S-S knowledge) and knowledge about the relation between the avoidance response and the US (R-S knowledge). As the expectancy-based theory of Lovibond (2006) is the only theory of avoidance that incorporates both knowledge structures, the results provide unique support for this theory.     

What Carries a Mediation Process? Configural Analysis of Mediation

Mediation is a process that links a predictor and a criterion via a mediator variable. Mediation can be full or partial. This well-established definition operates at the level of variables even if they are categorical. In this article, two new approaches to the analysis of mediation are proposed. Both of these approaches focus on the analysis of categorical variables. The first involves mediation analysis at the level of configurations instead of variables. Thus, mediation can be incorporated into the arsenal of methods of analysis for person-oriented research. Second, it is proposed that Configural Frequency Analysis (CFA) can be used for both exploration and confirmation of mediation relationships among categorical variables. The implications of using CFA are first that mediation hypotheses can be tested at the level of individual configurations instead of variables. Second, this approach leaves the door open for different types of mediation processes to exist within the same set. Using a data example, it is illustrated that aggregate-level analysis can overlook mediation processes that operate at the level of individual configurations.