The factor structure of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List-Revised (MAACL-R): Some statistical considerations

In response to Zuckerman's comments on my factor analyses of the MAACL-R, I focus on the statistical issues of the cutoff criterion for factor loadings and the evidence for the discriminant validity of the five-factor solution. Based upon the conclusions I draw in these two areas, I recommend that researchers either (a) use the two factor solution to the MAACL-R represented in the summary scores of Dysphoria and Positive Affect + Sensation Seeking or (b) include all MAACL-R scales in their studies and analyze their data to determine whether it is statistically appropriate to report results from a single scale (A, D, H, PA, or SS) rather than from the summary scores.     

Factor structure of the mobility inventory for agoraphobia: A validational study with australian samples of agoraphobic patients

This study examines the factor structure of the Mobility Inventory for Agoraphobia and attempts to validate the inventory, using an Australian sample of agoraphobic patients, by comparison with other scales. One hundred twentyfour panic disorder with agoraphobia patients were studied. Factor analysis showed that a two-factor solution was the most suitable both when subjects were accompanied (accompanied condition) and when alone (alone condition). Factor I represented public, crowded, or social situations including department stores, supermarkets, restaurants, theaters, and panics and social gatherings. Factor II reflected enclosed or riding situations such as elevators, parking garages, enclosed spaces, and riding in subways or airplanes. These two factors accounted for 46.6% and 44.3% of the variance on the accompanied condition and the alone condition, respectively. The Mobility Inventory was significantly correlated with the Agoraphobia factor of the Fear Questionnaire and the Social Avoidance and Distress scale. These results indicated that the Mobility Inventory is a valid instrument to measure agoraphobic behavior.     

Retour(s) sur “Mir Rose” ou comment analyser et représenter le texte argumentatif (écrit)?

The main purpose of this paper is to account for the varying analysis and formalisations of a same advertisement text, Mir Rose, by Jean Michel Adam. First, we draw the methodological frame of this psycholinguistic approach of composing and understanding-memorizing texts. We refer to the notions of prototypical textual schema, semantic macrostructure and superstructure. Then we point out the differences between argumentative text and argumentative discourse. Last, we try to explain why it has been possible for Adam to analyse and formalise the same text first as a narrative one and a few years later as an argumentative one. We suggest that his narrative approach is not specific and textual narrative means here temporal-causative sequence or problem solving, i.e., deeper and more general psychological devices than those involved in processing narrative text per se. From Toulmin and van Dijk approaches of argumentation, we propose our own analysis and formalisation of Mir Rose, the psychological validity or plausibility of which should be tested in experimental tasks of reading-memorising.

     

Argument as a formulation-decision-decision... sequence

Problems with regard to the analysis of argumentative partly discourse arise from definitorial disconformity. In this article, Informal argument is taken as the primary definition to study the basic structure of argument from a fragment of an Agatha Christie novel. Bilmes' account of the notions of Formulation (F) and Decision (D+/D-) are adapted to describe the relations of opposition which are displayed in informal argument. The minimal structure of argument is represented by the formula F/D-/D-, in which F is a speaker's personal composition of a fact, the first D- is the disconfirming uptake of it by another speaker and the second D- is the completing disconfirming uptake by the initial speaker. Some of the speaker's possibilities to initiate an argument by expressing a Formulation are explored, as well as the social and cultural norms which play a role in argument-initiation and the concepts of win and loss.     

驾驶员心理品质检测中的杆型人形图法

在汽车驾驶员心理品质检测研究中,我们根据数学中的多变量图分析方法,并汲取简笔画的优点,用19个人形图变量代表检测所得的17种心理品质数据,来具体、形象地再现每个驾驶员心理品质变量的整体关系。这对于检测结果的分类或进行系统化分析具有重要的实用意义。     

EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT OF MULTIPLY CONTROLLED SELF-INJURY

A functional analysis of the self-injurious behavior (SIB) of 3 adults with profound developmental disabilities showed that each engaged in SIB in more than one assessment condition. Such outcomes may result from a failure to isolate the variable maintaining SIB, or they may reflect multiple sources of control over SIB. In order to identify more clearly the determinants of SIB, each subject was exposed to a series of treatments appropriate to one or both of the apparent functions of SIB. These treatments, applied sequentially on baselines appropriate to each behavioral function, identified the maintaining variables for SIB through differential outcomes across baselines. Results indicated that the SIB of 2 subjects was multiply controlled, confirming the outcomes of the functional analysis. However, the SIB of the 3rd subject was eliminated using a treatment designed for a single function, suggesting spurious results of the original assessment. Alternative interpretations of undifferentiated assessment data are discussed, as are analysis and treatment issues related to multiply determined behavior disorders.     

FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING WITH AND WITHOUT EXTINCTION AND PUNISHMENT

Functional communication training has been reported to be a promising treatment for severe behavior problems. In this study, functional communication training alone and combined with extinction and/or punishment was evaluated for 4 clients with severe retardation, behavior problems, and communication deficits. The participants were inpatients on a hospital unit for treatment of severe behavior disorders. They received individualized interventions based on functional assessment that included reinforcement of a communication response with the same function as their destructive behavior. Results showed that for some patients, functional communication training was not sufficient to produce clinically significant reductions in destructive behavior, and the combination of training plus punishment produced the largest and most consistent reductions.     

A maximum likelihood method for latent class regression involving a censored dependent variable

The standard tobit or censored regression model is typically utilized for regression analysis when the dependent variable is censored. This model is generalized by developing a conditional mixture, maximum likelihood method for latent class censored regression. The proposed method simultaneously estimates separate regression functions and subject membership in K latent classes or groups given a censored dependent variable for a cross-section of subjects. Maximum likelihood estimates are obtained using an EM algorithm. The proposed method is illustrated via a consumer psychology application.     

Charting the process of change: A primer on survival analysis

Survival analysis is a powerful and useful technique for understanding qualitative change. This article provides a practical, nontechnical introduction to the use of survival analysis for social scientists. Important issues in using survival analysis are discussed, including research design, data preparation and management, and data analysis. Attendance data from a self-helf organization are used to illustrate common survival analysis tasks such as describing the overall survival and hazard functions, examining covariate effects, and modeling the form of the hazard function over time. An appendix that discusses the strengths and weaknesses of current survival analysis computer programs is included. Editor's note: Edward Seidman served as action editor for this article while serving as Associate Editor for Methodology.I thank William Davidson, Susan Englund, Bruce Rapkin, Kurt Ribisl, and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts. The example data presented here were collected with the support of an NIMH grant (MH37390) awarded to Julian Rappaport and Ed Seidman.