Experimental evaluation of matching via a commercially available basketball video game

Many recent nonlaboratory-based quantitative analyses of behavior have relied on archival competitive sporting data. However, the ratio-based reinforcement schedules in most athletic competitions and the correlational nature of archival data analyses raise concern over the contributions of such findings to the behavior analytic literature. The current experiment evaluated whether matching in a human operant paradigm would approximate matching observed in nonlaboratory-based sports data. To this end, we used in-game attributes to parametrically manipulate 2- and 3-point shooting in a commercially available basketball video game. The behavior of 6 of 9 participants conformed to the generalized matching equation. These results suggest matching in sporting contexts may be a product of restricted nonindependent concurrent random-ratio schedules. Implications of this experiment, including those in applied behavior analysis and potential influence on gamification, are discussed.     

The influence of biased exposure to forgone outcomes

After making decisions, we often get feedback concerning forgone outcomes (what would have happened had we chosen differently). Yet, many times, our exposure to such feedback is systematically biased. For example, your friends are more likely to tell you about a party you missed if it was fun than if it was boring. Despite its prevalence, the effects of biased exposure to forgone outcomes on future choice have not been directly studied. In three studies (five experiments) using a simplified learning task, we study the basic influence of biased exposure to forgone outcomes in the extreme case in which decision makers can easily infer the missing information such that the biased exposure carries almost no informational value. The results in all studies suggest that nevertheless, the biased exposure to forgone outcomes affected choice. Exposure to forgone outcomes only when they were better than the obtained outcomes (Only-Better-Forgone) increased selections of the forgone option compared with exposure to forgone outcomes only when they were worse than the obtained outcome (Only-Worse-Forgone). Moreover, relative to an unbiased exposure to all forgone outcomes, the effect of exposure to Only-Worse-Forgone was larger than the effect of exposure to Only-Better-Forgone feedback. However, these effects were not universal: In environments that include rare negative events (“disasters”), biased exposure to forgone outcomes had very little effect. We raise potential explanations and further discuss implications for marketing and risk awareness.     

Maximizing data quality and shortening survey time: Three-form planned missing data survey design

Simulation studies have shown the three-form planned missing data design efficiently collects high quality data while reducing participant burden. This methodology is rarely used in sport and exercise psychology. Therefore, we conducted a re-sampling study with existing sport and exercise psychology survey data to test how three-form planned missing data survey design implemented with different item distribution approaches effect constructs’ internal measurement structure and validity. Results supported the efficacy of the three-form planned missing data survey design for cross-sectional data collection. Sample sizes of at least 300 (i.e., 100 per form) are recommended for having unbiased parameter estimates. It is also recommended items be distributed across survey forms to have representation of each facet of a construct on every form, and that a select few of these items be included across all survey forms. Further guidelines for three-form surveys based upon the results of this resampling study are provided.     

团队工作重塑的形成与影响机制

团队工作重塑是影响团队有效性的关键性因素。基于工作设计理论和团队运作模型, 提出了一个关于团队工作重塑的前因后果的理论模型, 旨在建立团队工作重塑的逻辑关系网络。首先, 对团队工作重塑的概念和内涵进行分析, 并探讨测量工具的维度。接着从多层分析视角, 考察领导行为、工作特征、团队人格构成、人力资源管理系统对团队工作重塑的影响, 以及团队主动性动机状态中介作用。最后分析团队工作重塑对团队有效性的作用机制。     

The Use of Multitrait–Multimethod Data for Detecting Nonlinear Relationships: The Case of Psychological Climate and Job Satisfaction

Previous monomethod research has found mixed support for nonlinear effects between certain job characteristics (e.g., job autonomy, job complexity) and outcome variables (e.g., job performance). We hypothesized that these weak nonlinear findings may be due to the prevalence of monomethod research that can lead to a lack of complete measurement and/or introduce common methods variance, either of which may mask the true shape of relationships. Using hierarchical regression analyses and a multitrait–multimethod (MTMM) research design, we found strikingly different results between monomethod and MTMM data when considering the relationships between three psychological climate variables and job satisfaction. While the monomethod results mirrored earlier inconclusive findings, the MTMM data indicated that nonlinear equations explained significantly more of the relationship between all three climate dimensions and job satisfaction. These results suggest that the use of MTMM data allows one to more effectively test for nonlinear effects. Furthermore, these nonlinear results suggest that the format of employee questionnaires should probably change from asking how much an employee has of certain constructs to asking does the employee want more or less of these constructs.     

Prosodic disambiguation of syntactic structure: for the speaker or for the addressee?

Evidence has been mixed on whether speakers spontaneously and reliably produce prosodic cues that resolve syntactic ambiguities. And when speakers do produce such cues, it is unclear whether they do so "for" their addressees (the audience design hypothesis) or "for" themselves, as a by-product of planning and articulating utterances. Three experiments addressed these issues. In Experiments 1 and 3, speakers followed pictorial guides to spontaneously instruct addressees to move objects. Critical instructions (e.g., "Put the dog in the basket on the star") were syntactically ambiguous, and the referential situation supported either one or both interpretations. Speakers reliably produced disambiguating cues to syntactic ambiguity whether the situation was ambiguous or not. However, Experiment 2 suggested that most speakers were not yet aware of whether the situation was ambiguous by the time they began to speak, and so adapting to addressees' particular needs may not have been feasible in Experiment 1. Experiment 3 examined individual speakers' awareness of situational ambiguity and the extent to which they signaled structure, with or without addressees present. Speakers tended to produce prosodic cues to syntactic boundaries regardless of their addressees' needs in particular situations. Such cues did prove helpful to addressees, who correctly interpreted speakers' instructions virtually all the time. In fact, even when speakers produced syntactically ambiguous utterances in situations that supported both interpretations, eye-tracking data showed that 40% of the time addressees did not even consider the non-intended objects. We discuss the standards needed for a convincing test of the audience design hypothesis.     

Translating Toulmin Diagrams: Theory Neutrality in Argument Representation

The Toulmin diagram layout is very familiar and widely used, particularly in the teaching of critical thinking skills. The conventional box-and-arrow diagram is equally familiar and widespread. Translation between the two throws up a number of interesting challenges. Some of these challenges (such as the relationship between Toulmin warrants and their counterparts in traditional diagrams) represent slightly different ways of looking at old and deep theoretical questions. Others (such as how to allow Toulmin diagrams to be recursive) are diagrammatic versions of questions that have already been addressed in artificial intelligence models of argument. But there are further questions (such as the relationships between refutations, rebuttals and undercutters, and the roles of multiple warrants) that are posed as a specific result of examining the diagram inter-translation problem. These three classes of problems are discussed. To the first class are addressed solutions based on engineering pragmatism; to the second class, are addressed solutions drawn from the appropriate literature; and to the third class, fuller exploration is offered justifying the approaches taken in developing solutions that offer both pragmatic utility and theoretical interest. Finally, these solutions are explored briefly in the context of the Araucaria system, showing the ways in which analysts can tackle arguments either using one diagrammatic style or another, or even a combination of the two.     

Successive reversal of concurrent discriminations by macaques (Macaca mulatta): proactive interference effects

Rhesus monkeys received concurrent within-session training on eight, two-choice object pairs and then underwent successive reversals of these problems. Initially, reversals required about six times more training than acquisition with no improvement over seven successive reversals. Surprisingly, performance on these eight problems was unimpaired if they were embedded in different eight-problem tasks, thereby indicating a release from proactive interference. When the original eight problems again underwent successive reversal, no improvement was seen over seven reversals, although there was significantly less error-per-reversal than in the initial test. Subsequently, monkeys appeared to be developing a learning set for successive reversal because performance on successive reversal of eight novel problems was not different from that seen with the old familiar task. Set acquisition was confirmed when proficient reversal was eventually achieved on both old and new concurrent tasks. Thus, concurrent reversal set did develop, but it required arduous training to overcome proactive interference effects on memory. The ubiquitous influence of measurement context on organization of monkey memory was noted.     

Senior capstone design and ethics: A bridge to the professional world

A senior level capstone design experience has been developed and offered with a particular emphasis on many of the professional issues raised in Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) Engineering Criterion IV. The course has sought to develop student awareness of the ethical foundation of the engineering profession, the global and societal framework within which engineers practice, and the environmental impact on engineering. The capstone design course also focused upon improving the technical communications skills of the graduating senior class with both extensive instruction in writing and multiple workshops dealing with the art of making an effective oral presentation. The effectiveness of the design course was assessed using Kirkpatrick’s model for evaluating training programs. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the “Ethics and Social Responsibility in Engineering and Technology” meeting, New Orleans, 2003.     

Validity of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) in screening for eating disorders in community samples

In order to examine the concurrent and criterion validity of the questionnaire version of the Eating Disorders Examination (EDE-Q), self-report and interview formats were administered to a community sample of women aged 18-45 (n = 208). Correlations between EDE-Q and EDE subscales ranged from 0.68 for Eating Concern to 0.78 for Shape Concern. Scores on the EDE-Q were significantly higher than those of the EDE for all subscales, with the mean difference ranging from 0.25 for Restraint to 0.85 for Shape Concern. Frequency of both objective bulimic episodes (OBEs) and subjective bulimic episodes (SBEs) was significantly correlated between measures. Chance-corrected agreement between EDE-Q and EDE ratings of the presence of OBEs was fair, while that for SBEs was poor. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, based on a sample of 13 cases, indicated that a score of 2.3 on the global scale of the EDE-Q in conjunction with the occurrence of any OBEs and/or use of exercise as a means of weight control, yielded optimal validity coefficients (sensitivity = 0.83, specificity = 0.96, positive predictive value = 0.56). A stepwise discriminant function analysis yielded eight EDE-Q items which best distinguished cases from non-cases, including frequency of OBEs, use of exercise as a means of weight control, use of self-induced vomiting, use of laxatives and guilt about eating. The EDE-Q has good concurrent validity and acceptable criterion validity. The measure appears well-suited to use in prospective epidemiological studies.