Normative and Descriptive Analyses of Simpson's Paradox in Decision Making

Suppose that you are evaluating two delivery companies. Your investigation shows that Company B has a better on-time rate for small packages and also for large packages. Despite Company B's performance, however, Company A has a better overall on-time rate. This situation exemplifies Simpson's Paradox, in which the judged relationship between two variables (e.g., company and performance) differs depending on whether that relationship is viewed within subcategories of a third variable (e.g., package size) or in the aggregate. A normative analysis is presented arguing that the reasonableness of using the third variable depends upon the sample size as well as the separation between and variability within categories. To test subjects' abilities to behave appropriately in Simpson's Paradox situations, we examined responses to variations in these factors in five studies. Results showed that subjects had little or no sensitivity to differing stimulus set sizes. Also, subjects were sensitive to relationship strength and the variability within and between groups, and in nonnormative ways. Subjects' judgment behavior is related to a broader perspective concerning selection among multiple available levels of analysis based on a consideration of argument strength.     

Groupes fratries comme dispositifs d’accompagnement des frères et sœurs d’enfants porteurs de handicap et/ou maladie : une revue de la littérature

This paper is aiming to a literature review on support groups for siblings of children with disability or illness. It is in line with the work of Dayan, Picon, Scelles and Bouteyre (2006), with an inventory of publications in English and French published between 2006 and 2020. Given the increase in studies targeting autism spectrum disorders (ASD), a focus is proposed on groups conducted in this specific context. After describing the diversity of the sibling groups’ methodological/theoretical frameworks and approaches, their functioning and objectives, a comparative analysis of the benefits they provide is carried out according to whether they concern any type of disability/disease or focus on ASDs. The limitations of these studies are analyzed and perspectives for future work are outlined.     

Outcomes of a practical approach for improving conversation skills in adults with autism

Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have deficits in conversation skills that can interfere with the development of personal and professional relationships. Further research is needed on efficient interventions for targeting conversation skills in adults with ASD and for evaluating the social validity of the outcomes. In this study, 2 practitioners implemented a 4‐week training program for 5 adults with ASD that combined individualized computer‐based instruction (CBI) and practice with peers to promote the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of conversation skills. Training was associated with improvements in 12 of 13 skills across participants. These findings, along with peer ratings of the participants' conversation skills, suggest that this model is a promising, socially valid approach for improving conversation skills in adults with ASD.     

Lessons worth repeating: Sidman's Tactics of Scientific Research

Murray Sidman's (1960) Tactics of Scientific Research: Evaluating Experimental Data in Psychology just celebrated its sixtieth anniversary. It is without doubt one of the most influential books in the history of Behavior Analysis. This review outlines the rationales for, and details of, methods for the investigation of the behavior of individual subjects that Sidman presented. Many of his observations and recommendations are as timely as ever, maybe even more so, given the “reproducibility crisis” and one of its major origins.     

A retrospective 60-year review of Murray Sidman's Tactics of Scientific Research and some of its influence on behavior analysis

Murray Sidman's book, Tactics of Scientific Research: Evaluating Experimental Data in Psychology, published in 1960, has been called the bible of the experimental analysis of behavior and has been a major influence on basic as well as applied research in behavior analysis. The contents of the early reviews of the book are summarized and the commemoration in The Behavior Analyst at the 30^th anniversary of the book is reviewed along with Sidman's comments on updates that he would have made if he were to revise or supplement the book. Included are some later remarks by Sidman regarding specific issues in Tactics. Continuous rates of citations are displayed and show the sustained relevance of the book, and selected themes from the book are discussed. Finally, experiences from using Tactics in lab courses and in graduate-level courses on scientific method are recapitulated, including questions raised by students, and Sidman's answers to those questions. Tactics is a true classic in behavior analysis.     

个体采纳与群体采纳：决策过程中的两类建议采纳行为

决策者借助外界的建议通常能够获得更好的决策结果, 但是个体和群体对待建议的态度和行为却不尽相同。基于已有研究, 阐述了个体和群体在建议采纳过程中的特点并分析了造成二者差异的因素, 主要包括二者在面对决策任务和外界建议时的不同表现。此外, 根据群体动力理论, 未来研究可以从群体的动力源因素(凝聚力, 驱动力, 耗散力)来解释和预测群体的建议采纳及其与个体建议采纳的差异, 以期为不同决策情景下决策人员的合理安排和配置提供参考。     

THE WICKED PROBLEM OF OUR FAILING SOCIAL COMPACT

The United States is an outlier among nations in its failure to adopt robust climate policy. The underlying cause is not unique to the climate issue. Climate, like growing national debt, embodies a trade‐off between individual consumption now versus investment yielding long‐term societal gain. Over human history, social norms favoring one over the other wax and wane with the pervasiveness of transcendental values as embodied in personal virtue, social connectedness, spirituality, and religious faith. Over the past few decades, many indicators show that American social norms and extended cooperation have weakened. Given entrenched political corruption and continuing institutional failure to address multiple long‐term societal challenges, individuals are called upon personally to practice and to enforce pro‐social norms and to advance high‐leverage systemic changes, some identified in this article, which will allow extended cooperation to once again flourish.     

The buffering role of in‐group identification and intergroup contact on the association between perceived discrimination and mental health

Previous research has shown that disadvantaged group members cope with the negative effects of perceived discrimination (PD) on mental health using various mechanisms. We examined the potential protective role of two processes—in‐group identification and intergroup contact—on the association between PD and mental health (anxiety and depression) among physically disabled adults (N = 269, M_age = 39.13, SD = 13.80). Intergroup contact, but not in‐group identification, had a buffering role on the association between PD and both depression and anxiety. However, this effect was further moderated by in‐group identification such that high levels of intergroup contact had a protective role against PD, only when in‐group identification was low. Findings highlight the importance of evaluating various social–psychological processes interactively in creating a resilient outlook among disadvantaged groups.