Cross‐validation of cultural tightness and looseness measures

The goal of the present study was to cross‐validate two measures of cultural tightness and looseness, CTL: one used in a comparison within the United States, and the other used in a cross‐country comparison. The former was based mainly on aggregation of state laws on controversial issues and religiosity and the latter on assessment of homogeneity in moral values among representative samples across countries. To cross‐validate these two measures, both were recomputed at the US divisional level. Despite the differences in their methods of computation, the two measures of CTL correlated highly with each other, r = .92, and with theoretical variables of interest. Further, when the two measures of CTL were used simultaneously to predict theoretical variables of interest, neither remained significant suggesting that they were substitutable with each other. Convergence of results with measures computed via maximally different methods increases the confidence in the validity of these two CTL measures.     

Measuring Customer Service Orientation: An Examination of the Validity of the Customer Service Profile

The construct of customer service is taking on an ever increasing level of importance in today's global economy. Organizations need a way to identify those individuals who have the demeanor to effectively serve the public. The present study discusses the development and validation of a personality-based instrument which organizations can use to select high-quality service providers. Multiple converging sources of validity are discussed. Specifically, the authors collected validity evidence using customer related (vs. supervisor) ratings, an area relatively neglected in the service literature. Evidence suggests that customer ratings are viable and an important criterion for use in the validation of customer service instruments. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of both workplace intervention and future research.     

A Process Perspective and Multicriteria Approach in Decision-Aiding Contexts

This paper illustrates the underlying structures and logic of a multicriteria modelling and validation process, using the case study of an intervention on behalf of a regional Government in Italy. The hospital service emergency department reorganization was investigated in interaction with the many actors involved in the implementations of a previous regional plan. The principal elements of the modelling were: (1) the representation and structuring of opinions, proposals and implementations of actors involved in the organizational change process and/or in the plan implementation process; (2) the identification and representation of situation types by the elaboration of multidimensional reference profiles in relationship to different interpretations of the emergency treatment; (3) the development of multidimensional models related to the different profiles and the formulation of hypotheses on the evolution of models in a constructive approach. Basic elements of an interactive procedure applied to the model validation process and to the development of a validated reference frame for organizational action are also presented.     

Data-driven Q-matrix validation using a residual-based statistic in cognitive diagnostic assessment

In a cognitive diagnostic assessment (CDA), attributes refer to fine-grained knowledge points or skills. The Q -matrix is a central component of CDA, which specifies the relationship between items and attributes. Oftentimes, attributes and Q -matrix are defined by subject-matter experts, and assumed to be appropriate without any misspecifications. However, this assumption does not always hold in real applications. To address this concern, this paper proposes a residual-based statistic for validating the Q -matrix. Its performance is evaluated in a simulation study and compared against that of an existing method proposed in Liu, Xu and Ying (2012, Applied Psychological Measurement, 36, 548). Simulation results indicate that the proposed method leads to a higher recovery rate of the Q -matrix and is computationally more efficient. The advantage in computational efficiency is particularly pronounced when the number of attributes measured by the test reaches five or more. Results also suggest that the two methods have different tendencies in estimating the attribute vector for each item. In cases where the methods fail to recover the correct Q -matrix, the method in Liu et al. (2012, Applied Psychological Measurement, 36, 548) tends to overestimate the number of attributes measured by the items, whereas our method does not show that bias.     

Countering Cultural Metaphors of Aging

SUMMARY

This article examines three clusters of metaphors or cultural images of aging which function to marginalize older adults: metaphors which focus on aging as physical decline, on aging as aesthetic distance from youth, and on aging as failure of productivity. It then sketches out two ways to counter the marginalizing power of these cultural images of aging, to shape new metaphors or images of aging within a community of meaning, and to help make new sense of growing old, namely the formation of face-to-face groups of older adults and the creation of rituals in worship which name publicly the realities and experiences of aging.     

Cognitive Consistency Theory in Social Psychology: A Paradigm Reconsidered

Abstract

From the 1950s onward, psychologists have generally assumed that people possess a general need for cognitive consistency, whose frustration by an inconsistency elicits negative affect. We offer a novel perspective on this issue by introducing the distinction between epistemic and motivational impact of consistent and inconsistent cognitions. The epistemic aspect is represented by the updated expectancy of the outcome addressed in such cognitions. The motivational aspect stems from value (desirability) of that outcome. We show that neither the outcome’s value nor its updated expectancy is systematically related to cognitive consistency or inconsistency. Consequently, we question consistency’s role in the driving of affective responses and the related presumption of a universal human need for cognitive consistency.     

Measuring Social Peer Rejection during Childhood: Development and Validation

This article defines the construct of social peer rejection and describes the development of the Social Peer Rejection Measure. Social peer rejection entails being rejected, excluded, ostracized, or criticized by one's peers; lack of active sympathy and active dislike on the part of one's peers; ignoring; preventing access to friends, playtime activities, toys, or important information; verbal aggression; commands; and blaming the rejected child. Evidence for the validity and reliability of the scale is presented. Results indicated strong content validity, construct validity, and criterion-referenced validity. Differences were found between females and males in terms of insult, accusation, and reported levels of physical attack.     

Ex cathedra : Teaching,transference and knowledge 1

This paper explores the ex cathedra effect in psychoanalysis. It starts with the impact of the analyst's chair (cathedra) on the ‘knowledge’ derived from the analytic exchange–in particular, the structural alignment between the analyst and the client, and the ex cathedra authority transferred to analytic interpretations. It is argued that this authority–and the compulsion to ‘know’ that underlies it–is inevitably subverted by the unconscious processes it attempts to capture (through knowledge), in particular by transference, whose embossed and hollowed out forms, and various contusive elaborations (the bezoaric, caddis, karaoke and medusa effects), vitiate the linearity and closure of a set cognitive system (knowledge). The paper then moves on to examine how this ex cathedra effect has impacted on teaching–the transferral of this knowledge in trainings, notably in universities, where psychoanalysis has become a ‘discipline’, and how transference effects have inevitably and variously subverted (some may say corrupted) the teaching process. In particular, it suggests that the academic validation of clinical trainings hides an ex cathedra dogmatism–a pretence of formal knowledge and critical assessment which forecloses creative engagement with the unconscious.     

Conceptualizing and Measuring Youth–Adult Partnership in Community Programs: A Cross National Study

Youth participation in program and community decision making is framed by scholars as an issue of social justice, a platform for positive youth development and effective citizenry, and a strategy for nation building. Recent literature reviews have consistently identified youth–adult partnership (Y–AP) as an effective type of youth participation across highly diverse contexts. These same reviews, however, note that indicators of Y–AP have not been conceptualized and validated for measurement purposes. The present study addresses this limitation by developing a brief measure of Y–AP that is explicitly grounded in current theory, research, and community practice. The measure was administered to youth in the United States, Malaysia, and Portugal (N = 610). Validation was assessed through factor analysis and tests of factorial, discriminant, and concurrent validity. Results confirmed the two predicted dimensions of the Y–AP measure: youth voice in decision making and supportive adult relationships. These two dimensions were also found to be distinct from other measures of program quality: safety and engagement. As predicted, they also significantly correlated with measures of agency and empowerment. It is concluded that the measure has the potential to support community efforts to maximize the quality of youth programs.