Quantifying Idiodynamics: A Process Approach to Personality Psychology

Rosenzweig's (1950) concept of idiodynamics is presented, and the importance of time in applied idiodynamics is stressed. Time-series analyses are proposed as one method for realizing the potential of idiodynamics for understanding and modeling individual lives. Building on this, and incorporating Cattell's (1966) notion of the data box, a process approach to personality research is proposed. This approach begins with idiodynamic analyses at the level of individual lives in an effort to identify patterns or themes, then proceeds to examine individual differences in the patterns or themes so identified. Examples of applying this process approach to personality questions are provided. These include identification of cycles in daily moods, assessing the link between each individual's moods and the events in his/her daily life, and the relation between repressive coping style and the experience of and memory for affect-charged life events. Conclusions emphasize how this approach can retain the appeal of the dynamic while maintaining the precision and rule-governed discourse afforded by quantification.     

蛋白质化学与分子生物学携手前进

蛋白质化学的发展历经了几次重大的转变,分析仪器的商品化使蛋白质从实验室走向市场;一级结构信息促进了多肽的合成与改造;分子生物学技术的成熟使人们从设计改造功能蛋白转向设计基因,并尝试进行基因治疗和ＤＮＡ免疫。这些转变,使蛋白质化学技术与分子生物学技术成为人们手中的工具,为人们研究生命拓宽了思路。     

Pigeons' choices in situations of diminishing returns: fixed- versus progressive-ratio schedules.

In two different discrete-trial procedures, pigeons were faced with choices between fixed-ratio and progressive-ratio schedules. The latter schedules entail diminishing returns, a feature analogous to foraging situations in the wild. In the first condition (no reset), subjects chose between a progressive-ratio schedule that increased in increments of 20 throughout a session and a fixed-ratio schedule that was constant across blocks of sessions. The size of the fixed ratio was varied parametrically through an ascending and then a descending series. In the reset condition, the same fixed-ratio values were used, but each selection (and completion) of the fixed ratio reset the progressive-ratio schedule back to its minimal value. In the no-reset procedure, the pigeons tended to cease selecting the progressive ratio when it equaled or slightly exceeded the fixed-ratio value, whereas in reset, they chose the fixed ratio well in advance of that equality point. These results indicate sensitivity to molar as well as to molecular reinforcement rates, and those molar relationships are similar to predictions based on the marginal value theorem of optimal foraging theory (e.g., Charnov, 1976). However, although previous results with monkeys (Hineline & Sodetz, 1987) appeared to minimize responses per reinforcement, the present results corresponded more closely to predictions based on sums-of-reciprocals of distance from point of choice to each of the next four reinforcers. Results obtained by Hodos and Trumbule (1967) with chimpanzees in a similar procedure were intermediate between these two relationships. Variability of choices, as well as median choice points, differed between the reset and no-reset conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

ROC analyses in eyewitness identification research

There has been a recent surge of interest in analyzing the results of eyewitness identification experiments using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves. Proponents of this approach have argued not only that ROC analyses are useful but that more traditional approaches are deficient and should not be used. Three arguments might be made for why researchers would prefer ROC approaches over other techniques. The first is that ROC analyses can provide an index of underlying memory discriminability. The second is that ROC analyses provide useful information about the practical utility of identification procedures. The third is that ROC analyses are useful for testing theory. In this article, I critically examine each of these arguments and conclude that recent claims that ROC methods provide the only justifiable method of comparing identification procedures are overstated.     

Deformation twinning-mediated pseudoelasticity in metal–graphene nanolayered membrane

In this study, we investigated the deformation behaviour of metal–graphene nanolayered composites for five face-centred cubic metals under compression using molecular dynamics simulations. It was found that by increasing the thickness of the individual metal layers, the composite strength increased, while the deformation mechanism changed from buckling to deformation twining in Cu, Au and Ag, which was absent in the monolithic form of those metals of the same orientation and size. The deformation twinning was found to be enabled by the graphene layer, which introduced pseudoelasticity and shape memory effects in the nanolayered membrane with more than 15% recoverable compressive strain.     

Good Enough for an Affair. Self‐Enhancement of Attractiveness,Interest in Potential Mates and Popularity as a Mate

Using data from the Berlin Speed Dating Study, we tested rival hypotheses concerning the effects of self‐enhancement of attractiveness on dating outcomes. Three hundred eighty‐two participants took part in one of the 17 speed‐dating sessions. After each speed‐dating interaction, participants indicated how interesting they found the respective person as a long‐term and short‐term partner. Using social relations analyses, we computed perceiver effects (being more or less choosy) and target effects (being rated as more or less interesting) of long‐term and short‐term partner ratings. Self‐enhancement was operationalized as the discrepancy between self‐rated attractiveness and four components of actual attractiveness (observer‐rated facial and vocal attractiveness, height and body mass index). Results indicated that self‐enhancers were less choosy with respect to their interest for short‐term partners, which was especially true for men, but more choosy with respect to long‐term partners. With regard to popularity as a mate, potential partners indicated that they found self‐enhancers more interesting as short‐term partners but not as long‐term partners. As self‐enhancement is a key component of narcissism, these results are consistent with findings that narcissists perceive many sexual affairs as an achievement, while preferring selected ‘trophy’ long‐term partners, and narcissists have a charming appeal for short‐term, but not lasting, social relationships. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Optimizing Expression of the Common Human Genome for Child Development

Molecular biology has moved the gene-environment issue in behavior genetics to how and when expression of the human genome is triggered and maintained. How does environment influence gene expression? How many genes are expressed in producing a given behavior? The genome is a data bank and does not automatically create a working brain. The body and brain grow well when (a) endocrine hormones initiate and promote the expression of genes, (b) nutrition is sufficient to sustain the production of proteins, and (c) stress does not suppress gene expression. The growth of brain synapses also requires appropriate neural stimulation. To study gene expression, it is essential to view the complex biology of the cell from a system context that includes the entire genome plus the biological and psychological environments. Optimizing geneexpression for child growth can be achieved by a balance of medicine, nutrition, and appropriate physical, educational, and psychological environments.     

Adventitious control by the location of comparison stimuli in conditional discriminations.

In a conditional discrimination procedure, samples appeared in a center key, and comparisons appeared in two of four outer keys. The location of comparison keys varied from trial to trial. Separate learning curves for each of the six possible pairs of comparison keys were plotted in a signal-detection space, revealing different patterns of progress on each pair. Also, when learned conditional discriminations were disrupted, pairs of keys differed in their patterns of disruption. Varying the location of comparison stimuli among six different pairs of keys had not eliminated key position as a controlling aspect of the stimuli. The variations simply increased the number of stimulus compounds--key position and experimental stimuli--that the subject learned. Plotting conditional-discrimination learning curves in a signal-detection space reveals relations among hits, false alarms, accuracy, and comparison preference that help to define a subject's progress.     

THE BEHAVIORAL THEORY OF TIMING: TRANSITION ANALYSES

Gibbon and Church (1990, 1992) have recently confirmed an important, parameter-free prediction of the behavioral theory of timing (Killeen & Fetterman, 1988): The times of exiting from a bout of activity are positively correlated with the times of entrance to it. The correlations were slightly less than predicted, however, and the correlations between the start of an activity and the time spent engaged in that activity were negative, rather than zero. We adapted their serial model as an augmented (one-parameter) version of the behavioral theory, positing a lag between the receipt of a pulse from the pacemaker and transition into the next class of responses. The augmented version of the behavioral theory further improved the correspondence between the theory and the correlational data reported by Gibbon and Church. It also accounts for previously unpublished data from our laboratory derived from a new timing technique, the “peak choice” procedure. We show that the measured variance of movement times from one key to another closely approximates the estimated variance of transition times recovered from fits of the augmented model to the data. Such correspondence both attests to the correct identification of this source of variance and suggests ways to remove it, both from behavior and from our models of behavior.