Does God Cheat at Dice? Divine Action and Quantum Possibilities

The recent debates concerning divine action in the context of quantum mechanics are examined with particular reference to the work of William Pollard, Robert J. Russell, Thomas Tracy, Nancey Murphy, and Keith Ward. The concept of a quantum mechanical "event" is elucidated and shown to be at the center of this debate. An attempt is made to clarify the claims made by the protagonists of quantum mechanical divine action by considering the measurement process of quantum mechanics in detail. Four possibilities for divine influence on quantum mechanics are identified and the theological and scientific implications of each discussed. The conclusion reached is that quantum mechanics is not easily reconciled with the doctrine of divine action.     

Measuring Adherence to Medical Treatments in Childhood Chronic Illness: Considering Multiple Methods and Sources of Information

Adherence to medical treatment is a significant problem for children and adolescents with chronic conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, and cystic fibrosis. The consequences of nonadherence can be serious, contributing to increased symptoms, unnecessary hospitalizations, and declines in physical functioning. The quality of data obtained from clinical trials can also be affected by poor adherence, leading to erroneous conclusions concerning the efficacy of drug treatments and the dosages that are needed to achieve those effects. Adherence problems in both clinical research and practice also lead to substantially higher health care costs. In order to further our understanding of the barriers that lead to poor adherence and identify strategies that are effective in addressing them, we need to develop reliable and valid measures of adherence behaviors. Using cystic fibrosis as a model of a serious, chronic disease that requires a difficult and time-consuming medical regimen, three different types of adherence measures are considered: self-report questionnaires, daily diary reports, and electronic monitors. The specific advantages and disadvantages of each type of measurement are reviewed, and specific recommendations are made for future research.     

A multi-criterion experimental comparison of three multi-attribute weight measurement methods

The research compared three major multi-attribute weight measurement methods using multiple criteria: theoretical validity, predictive performance, and perceived performance. Major findings include (1) all three methods are theoretically valid using the EAM (Equal Weight Averaging Model) as the standard of comparison, (2) EAM outperforms SMART (Simple Multi-Attribute Rating Technique) and SMART outperforms AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) in terms of predictive performance, (3) in terms of perceived performance, EAM is considered more difficult and less preferred than AHP, but has equal trustworthiness. The research has demonstrated how self-estimation methods for multi-attribute analysis can be verified and improved theoretically and empirically by using weights and values from the EAM model as a theoretical validity standard. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using a supervised machine learning algorithm for detecting faking good in a personality self‐report

We developed a supervised machine learning classifier to identify faking good by analyzing item response patterns of a Big Five personality self‐report. We used a between‐subject design, dividing participants (N = 548) into two groups and manipulated their faking behavior via instructions given prior to administering the self‐report. We implemented a simple classifier based on the Lie scale's cutoff score and several machine learning models fitted either to the personality scale scores or to the items response patterns. Results shown that the best machine learning classifier—based on the XGBoost algorithm and fitted to the item responses—was better at detecting faked profiles than the Lie scale classifier.     

Numerical and verbal decision analysis: comparison on practical cases

Numerical decision analysis (NDA), derived from statistical decision theory, is very well known. Verbal decision analysis (VDA), oriented towards so‐called unstructured problems, where the qualitative and uncertain factors dominate, is a newer direction in decision theory and practice. Verbal and numerical decision analyses (DAs) have been compared in an experimental setting, with groups of students. This paper presents the results of a comparison in the context of live practical tasks. Both approaches were attempted on two comparable choices, facing both Russian and US government agencies, involving a choice between oil and gas transportation options. The resulting methodological insights are generalized into a systematic comparison of the strong and weak features of each approach. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

情绪测量方法的新进展

当代情绪理论认为情绪反应包括生理唤醒、行为反应、面部行为或姿势、以及主观体验等成分。随着时代进步和科技发展,对其的测量也日趋细化,主要包括自我报告法、自主神经系统测量、惊跳反应测量、脑测量及行为测量等方法。大量情绪研究的证据表明,情绪反应的测量多是通过情绪维度（如效价、唤醒度）和基本情绪状态（如,悲伤、恐惧、愤怒）两种方式组织起来的,不同的情绪测量方法对不同的组织方式敏感。未来的情绪测量的标准是多元的,其测量方法的确立是以特定的情绪问题为基础的。     

Development and Validation of the Personal Values Dictionary: A Theory-Driven Tool for Investigating References to Basic Human Values in Text

Estimating psychological constructs from natural language has the potential to expand the reach and applicability of personality science. Research on the Big Five has produced methods to reliably assess personality traits from text, but the development of comparable tools for personal values is still in the early stages. Based on the Schwartz theory of basic human values, we developed a dictionary for the automatic assessment of references to personal values in text. To refine and validate the dictionary, we used Facebook updates, blog posts, essays, and book chapters authored by over 180 000 individuals. The results show high reliability for the dictionary and a pattern of correlations between the value types in line with the circumplex structure. We found small to moderate (r_s = .1–.4) but consistent correlations between dictionary scores and self-reported scores for 7 out of 10 values. Correlations between the dictionary scores and age, gender, and political orientation of the author and scores for other established dictionaries mostly followed theoretical predictions. The Personal Values Dictionary can be used to assess references to value orientations in textual data, such as tweets, blog posts, or status updates, and will stimulate further research in methods to assess human basic values from text.     

Examining the cross‐cultural validity of the positive affect and negative affect schedule between an Asian (Singaporean) sample and a Western (American) sample

The positive affect and negative affect schedule (PANAS) is a popular measure of positive (PA) and negative affectivity (NA). Developed and validated in Western contexts, the 20‐item scale has been frequently administered on respondents from Asian countries with the assumption of cross‐cultural measurement invariance. We examine this assumption via a rigorous multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, which allows us to assess between‐group differences in both strength of scale item‐to‐latent factor relationship (metric invariance test) and mean of each scale item (scalar invariance test), on a large sample of 1,065 respondents recruited from Singapore (Asian sample) and the United States (Western sample). We found that two items assessing PA (“excited” and “proud”) and three items assessing NA (“guilty,” “hostile,” and “ashamed”) exhibited metric noninvariance whereas 11 of the remaining metric invariant items exhibited scalar noninvariance, suggesting that the PA and NA constructs differ from what the PANAS is expected to measure for Asian respondents. Our findings serve as a cautionary note to researchers who intend to administer the PANAS in future studies as well as to researchers interpreting the results of past studies involving respondents from Asian countries.     

Political participation and basic values in Europe: Replication and extension of Vecchione et al. (2015)

Vecchione et al. (Br J Psychol, 106 , 2015, 84) demonstrated the effects of four higher-order values on political participation across 20 European countries. In their Study 1, they found that political participation was related to three higher-order basic values and that these associations were stronger in more democratic countries. The present study attempted a replication using a more rigorous modelling approach. Multilevel structural equation models with latent variables for both participation and basic values replicated the main effects of Self-Transcendence and Conservation values but demonstrated negative effects of Openness values (vs. positive in the original study) and positive effects of Self-Enhancement values (vs. ambiguous or insignificant in the original study), while cross-level interactions indicated weaker effects of values in more democratic countries (vs. the opposite in the original study). These discrepancies appeared mostly due to the original study’s implicit assumption that basic values’ measurement errors were zero. The new results indicated a counter-intuitive similarity of effects of supposedly opposite values. Self-Transcendence–Self-Enhancement is suggested to be a politically motivating value dimension, whereas Openness to Change–Conservation is a dimension that discourages political participation regardless of the preferred extreme.     

Accounting for individual differences in speed in the discretized signed residual time model

With advances in computerized tests, it has become commonplace to register not just the accuracy of the responses provided to the items, but also the response time. The idea that for each response both response accuracy and response time are indicative of ability has explicitly been incorporated in the signed residual time (SRT) model (Maris & van der Maas, 2012, Psychometrika, 77, 615–633), which assumes that fast correct responses are indicative of a higher level of ability than slow correct responses. While the SRT model allows one to gain more information about ability than is possible based on considering only response accuracy, measurement may be confounded if persons show differences in their response speed that cannot be explained by ability, for example due to differences in response caution. In this paper we propose an adapted version of the SRT model that makes it possible to model person differences in overall speed, while maintaining the idea of the SRT model that the speed at which individual responses are given may be indicative of ability. We propose a two-dimensional SRT model that considers dichotomized response time, which allows one to model differences between fast and slow responses. The model includes both an ability and a speed parameter, and allows one to correct the estimates of ability for possible differences in overall speed. The performance of the model is evaluated through simulation, and the relevance of including the speed parameter is studied in the context of an empirical example from formative educational assessment.