Evaluating correlations in studies of personality and behavior: Beyond the number of significant findings to be expected by chance

When large numbers of statistical tests are computed, such as in broad investigations of personality and behavior, the number of significant findings required before the total can be confidently considered beyond chance is typically unknown. Employing modern software, specially written code, and new procedures, the present article uses three sets of personality data to demonstrate how approximate randomization tests can evaluate (a) the number of significant correlations between a single variable and a large number of other variables, (b) the number of significant correlations between two large sets of variables, and (c) the average size of a large number of effects. Randomization tests can free researchers to fully explore large data sets and potentially have even wider applicability.     

The mineness of experience

In this paper I discuss the nature of the “I” (or “self”) and whether it is presupposed by the very existence of conscious experiences (as that which “has” them) or whether it is, instead, in some way constituted by them. I argue for the former view and try to show that the very nature of experience implies a non-constituted synchronic and diachronic transcendence of the experiencing “I” with regard to its experiences, an “I” which defies any objective characterization. Finally I suggest that the self, though irreducible to inter-experiential relations, is not a “separately existing entity”, but should be conceived of as a dimension, namely the dimension of first-personal manifestation of the experiences.

Computer simulations as experiments

Whereas computer simulations involve no direct physical interaction between the machine they are run on and the physical systems they are used to investigate, they are often used as experiments and yield data about these systems. It is commonly argued that they do so because they are implemented on physical machines. We claim that physicality is not necessary for their representational and predictive capacities and that the explanation of why computer simulations generate desired information about their target system is only to be found in the detailed analysis of their semantic levels. We provide such an analysis and we determine the actual consequences of physical implementation for simulations. A. Barberousse, S. Franceschelli and C. Imbert have contributed equally to this work.     

A reanalysis of the personal/impersonal distinction in moral psychology research

Greene and colleagues [Greene, J., Sommerville, B. R., Nystrom, L. E., Darley, J. M., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). An fMRI investigation of emotional engagement in moral judgment. Science, 293, 2105-2108.] have revealed an apparent distinction in folk psychology between ‘up close and personal’ and ‘impersonal’ moral dilemmas. Reasoning about these types of dilemmas is purportedly supported by partially dissociable neural systems. However, further investigation of the data supporting this hypothesis indicated that only a small number of stimuli used by Greene et al. are driving the effect originally found. Implications of the apparent distinction initially reported and of other research in the domain of moral psychology are discussed.     

Spanish adaptation of the Personal Meaning Profile-Brief: Meaning in life,psychological well-being,and distress

Background/ObjectiveThis study aimed to adapt the Personal Meaning Profile-Brief (PMP-B) to the Spanish-speaking population and investigate its psychometric properties. The PMP-B is a 21-item instrument that assesses meaning in life through seven sources: relationship, intimacy, achievement, self-acceptance, self-transcendence, fair treatment, and religion.MethodParticipants were 546 Spanish adults comprised of a community sample (n = 171) and university students (n = 375). The PMP-B, the Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-Being, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale were administrated.ResultsThe PMP-B showed a bifactor structure with one general factor and seven subfactors. Measurement invariance was found across age, gender, and samples. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were generally good. Older people showed higher PMP-B scores than younger people. The PMP-B scores, especially relational sources of meaning, were positively associated with psychological well-being and negatively related to psychological distress, mainly to depression.ConclusionsThe validity evidence gathered in this study supports the reliable use of the PMP-B to measure meaning in life. The PMP-B can be a noteworthy contribution to the meaning-centered research.     

Surrendering personal control to automation: Appalling or appealing?

There has been a growing interest in Autonomous Vehicle (AV) technology worldwide over the last decade. Nevertheless, various studies have noted some potential socio-psychological challenges to AV use and ownership. These challenges can be mitigated by designing AV that accounts for users’ personalities, such as their perceived control and power. The complex relationship between personal control and automation, two concepts that intuitively sound contradictory to each other, is less explored. In this study, two dimensions of personal control, the desire for control and the driver locus of control, were hypothesized to influence the attitude toward AV. The relationships were moderated by power distance, a cultural factor related to one’s sense of control. The hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach via the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) software. As many as 457 respondents from two sample groups, Hungarian and Indonesian drivers were gathered via an online questionnaire and compared. The results reveal that 1) the higher the desire for control, the more negative the attitude toward AV 2) the higher the external driver locus of control, the more positive the attitude toward AV 3) the more positive the attitude toward AV, the higher the intention to use AV and 4) power distance moderates the relationship between the desire for control and the attitude toward AV, such that the negative effect of the desire for control is strengthened in high power distance orientation. This study also provides theoretical contributions and managerial implications, especially to AV designers.     

Dynamics properties of knowledge acquisition

Repeated counteraction of current knowledge and reality observation generates new knowledge and can be viewed as a dynamic process. When observed objects are not results of human activity, the dynamics results in acquisition of new knowledge, usually as a refinement of the existing one. Otherwise, adjustment between incomplete knowledge and reality can be a result of intentional modification of objects in question, as it happens in design of any artifact. In this case convergence of the process is questionable, for example, it may imply the end of the technical progress. In worst case scenario, the same computable criteria used simultaneously to modify objects and evaluate the result quality causing drift from an established goal and devaluation of acquired knowledge.     

Fuzzy computation of teaching performance based on data envelopment analysis method

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a system analysis method. It is suitable for evaluating the relative efficiency of Decision Making Units (DMU) with multiple input and output indicators, which is subject to no dimensional form of data and does not need to set the parameters. Subordinate colleges are an integral part of a university, and the university’s comprehensive competitiveness can be improved only when each college reaches the optimal state of teaching performance. From the perspective of faculty structure, this paper constructs the evaluation system for the teaching performance of subordinate colleges. In the evaluation system, there are two fuzzy variables, employment quality and quality of enrollment of graduates, so the fuzzy DEA method is adopted. The introduction of fuzzy theory can well solve the problem of fuzzy numbers in input or output. The commonly used fuzzy numbers include triangular fuzzy numbers and trapezoid fuzzy numbers. The triangular one is used in this paper. The research results will help the university strengthen the understanding of subordinate colleges, which is of practical significance to improve the university’s comprehensive competitiveness.