The life of p: “Just significant” results are on the rise

Null hypothesis significance testing uses the seemingly arbitrary probability of .05 as a means of objectively determining whether a tested effect is reliable. Within recent psychological articles, research has found an overrepresentation of p values around this cut-off. The present study examined whether this overrepresentation is a product of recent pressure to publish or whether it has existed throughout psychological research. Articles published in 1965 and 2005 from two prominent psychology journals were examined. Like previous research, the frequency of p values at and just below .05 was greater than expected compared to p frequencies in other ranges. While this overrepresentation was found for values published in both 1965 and 2005, it was much greater in 2005. Additionally, p values close to but over .05 were more likely to be rounded down to, or incorrectly reported as, significant in 2005 than in 1965. Modern statistical software and an increased pressure to publish may explain this pattern. The problem may be alleviated by reduced reliance on p values and increased reporting of confidence intervals and effect sizes.     

Memory,Quasi-memory,and Pseudo-quasi-memory

Bishop Butler objected to Locke's theory of personal identity on the grounds that memory presupposes personal identity. Most of those sympathetic with Locke's account have accepted Butler's criticism, and have sought to devise a theory of personal identity in the spirit of Locke's that avoids Butler's circularity objection. John McDowell has argued that even the more recent accounts of personal identity are vulnerable to the kind of objection Butler raised against Locke's own account. I criticize McDowell's stance, drawing on a distinction introduced by Annalisa Coliva between two types of immunity to error through misidentification.     

反馈干预对学习判断的影响

将反馈干预作为外部线索引入元记忆研究,采用重复学习任务,在第一轮次学习-测验之后插入反馈干预,用两个实验分别考查任务反馈和能力反馈两种形式下的反馈效价对第二轮次即时学习判断的影响.结果表明：①在学习过程中,学习者会进行自我监测;②在任务反馈形式下,反馈信息与自我监测信息冲突,导致反馈干预对元认知监测和认知过程没有影响;③在能力反馈形式下,反馈信息与自我监测信息的冲突消失,结果消极反馈影响了元认知监测.由此得出结论：只有在不与自我监测信息冲突的情况下,反馈干预才对学习判断产生影响.此外,在有反馈干预的情况下,两个实验中都出现了显著的练习伴随低估效应.     

“You Cannot Serve God and Mammon”: Economic Relations and Human Flourishing in Luke

Abstract : Economics is essentially a matter of value, and capitalism is a system of value creation in which the individual is valued at the expense of the community and the cosmos. In contrast to this, Luke tells the story of Jesus as a vision of salvation that is covenantal and communal, encompassing every dimension of life, including the economic. God and mammon represent two antithetical wellsprings of value and desire that orient intentions and actions in different directions. Mammon represents the realm of self‐justification, self‐reliance, self‐aggrandizement, and in our own disenchanted world the “buffered” and disengaged self, while God represents the domain of human flourishing characterized by interdependence and sharing.     

Cross‐cultural evidence of value structures and priorities in childhood

We broaden the developmental focus of the theory of universals in basic human values (Schwartz, 1992, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology) by presenting supportive evidence on children's values from six countries: Germany, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, the United States, and New Zealand. 3,088 7–11‐year‐old children completed the Picture‐Based Value Survey for Children (PBVS‐C, Döring et al., 2010, J. Pers. Assess., 92, 439). Grade 5 children also completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ, Schwartz, 2003, A proposal for measuring value orientations across nations. Chapter 7 in the Questionnaire Development Package of the European Social Survey). Findings reveal that the broad value structures, sex differences in value priorities and pan‐cultural value hierarchies typical of adults have already taken form at this early age. We discuss the conceptual implications of these findings for the new field of children's basic values by embedding them in the recent developmental literature.     

Meanings Turkish people perceive in everyday occupations: Factor structure of Turkish OVal‐pd

Occupational value with predefined items scale is an originally 26‐item Swedish tool used to assess values people find in their everyday doings. The present study validated this scale on a Turkish sample and described the values that Turks perceived in their daily doings. The participants included a convenience sample of 446 adults with mean age 26 (SD = 7.3). Initial item analysis followed by principal component analysis (Promax) and internal reliability analyses of the components were conducted. Statistics yielded a 19‐item solution distributed across four factors. The Cronbach's alpha was .86, indicating good reliability. Confirming the earlier applications of the scale in the European and the American samples, factors related to recuperation, goal direction and social interaction emerged. Additionally, there appeared another occupational value subfactor, conservation, which did not show up in the Swedish and the American data analyses.     

The Role of Semantic Clustering in Optimal Memory Foraging

Recent studies of semantic memory have investigated two theories of optimal search adopted from the animal foraging literature: Lévy flights and marginal value theorem. Each theory makes different simplifying assumptions and addresses different findings in search behaviors. In this study, an experiment is conducted to test whether clustering in semantic memory may play a role in evidence for both theories. Labeled magnets and a whiteboard were used to elicit spatial representations of semantic knowledge about animals. Category recall sequences from a separate experiment were used to trace search paths over the spatial representations of animal knowledge. Results showed that spatial distances between animal names arranged on the whiteboard were correlated with inter‐response intervals (IRIs) during category recall, and distributions of both dependent measures approximated inverse power laws associated with Lévy flights. In addition, IRIs were relatively shorter when paths first entered animal clusters, and longer when they exited clusters, which is consistent with marginal value theorem. In conclusion, area‐restricted searches over clustered semantic spaces may account for two different patterns of results interpreted as supporting two different theories of optimal memory foraging.     

The Role of Racial Discrimination in the Economic Value of Education Among Urban,Low-Income Latina/o Youth: Ethnic Identity and Gender as Moderators

The present study used resilience theory to explore relationships among perceived racial discrimination, ethnic identity, gender, and economic value of education (EVE) among urban, low‐income, Latina/o youth. It was expected that racial discrimination would predict poorer perceptions of the EVE among Latina/o adolescents. Ethnic identity was hypothesized to buffer the negative effect of racial discrimination on Latina/o students’ EVE. The participants in this study were 396 urban, low‐income Latina/o high school students from a large, Midwestern city who completed surveys in both 9th‐ and 10th‐grade. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships among racial discrimination, ethnic identity, and EVE. Results supported a protective model of resilience. Specifically, ethnic identity served as a protective factor by buffering the negative effect of perceived racial discrimination on EVE for male participants. The present study is the first to examine ethnic identity as a buffer of racial discrimination on EVE among Latina/o high school students. Future directions and implications are discussed.     

Fighting ability influences mate value in late adolescent men

Several studies have demonstrated the relationship between handgrip strength (HGS) and fighting ability in men, which is a relevant trait for intrasexual competition to increase the probability of obtaining a mate. However, few studies have determined a relationship between fighting ability and men’s self-perceived capacity to find, attract and retain a mate. This capacity is a complex compound of several traits that evolutionary psychology has called mate value. In the present study, in a population of late adolescent men from Chile (M ± SD = 16.94 ± .89 years), we explored the relationship between fighting ability, estimated by both HGS and a self-perceived fighting ability questionnaire, and mate value, assessed with a self-perceived mate value components questionnaire. The results show a strong influence of fighting ability on mate value. This influence affects the subscales of “views from the opposite sex”, “sociality” and “relationship history”. However, we did not find an effect on the subscales of “wealth”, “parenting” or “fear to failure”. The relationship between mate value and fighting ability indicates that fighting ability is a relevant component in understanding men’s reproductive behaviour, including intrasexual competition and intersexual selection. This effect was observed in adolescents, who have less mating experience than adults.