Reflections on peer review practices in committees selecting laureates for prestigious awards and prizes: Some relevant and irrelevant criteria

An important function in all scholarly and academic activities is the participation in the peer review system. One aspect of this peer review evaluation is service on committees judging candidates for important awards, prizes and fellowships. Some reflective observations on this process are made in which a number of factors determining the final choice are identified. It is pointed out that the decisions of such committees are based not only on relevant and objective criteria but are also influenced by a number of irrelevant criteria; caution must be exercised to minimize the effect of the latter factors in order to maintain the highest ethical standards in the selection process. The ranking practices of awards committees, national academies and learned societies are briefly reviewed by pointing out some ethical pitfalls, anecdotal incidents, and the ways to avoid the tarnishing of the selection process. Dr. Vijh is a physical chemist whose research interests include interfacial electrochemistry and the chemical physics of solid surface s.     

优秀幼儿教师与幼专学生性格特征的比较研究

采用Ｙ—Ｇ性格测验问卷,对优秀幼儿园教师和幼师高专学生共１５６人,进行了心理测评,展开了优秀幼儿园教师与幼师高专学生性格特征的比较研究。结果表明：幼儿教师的性格类型与其职业成就相关;Ｙ—Ｇ性格测验的Ｄ型性格类型为幼儿教师的理想性格类型;幼师高专学生与优秀幼儿园教师的性格特征间存在显著差异。整个测评研究结果,为幼师高专学校招生选拨及培养学生的工作提供心理学依据。     

General estimators for the reliability of qualitative data

We study a proportional reduction in loss (PRL) measure for the reliability of categorical data and consider the general case in which each ofN judges assigns a subject to one ofK categories. This measure has been shown to be equivalent to a measure proposed by Perreault and Leigh for a special case when there are two equally competent judges, and the correct category has a uniform prior distribution. We consider a general framework where the correct category is assumed to have an arbitrary prior distribution, and where classification probabilities vary by correct category, judge, and category of classification. In this setting, we consider PRL reliability measures based on two estimators of the correct category—the empirical Bayes estimator and an estimator based on the judges' consensus choice. We also discuss four important special cases of the general model and study several types of lower bounds for PRL reliability.Bruce Cooil is Associate Professor of Statistics, and Roland T. Rust is Professor and area head for Marketing, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University. The authors thank three anonymous reviewers and an Associate Editor for their helpful comments and suggestions. This work was supported in part by the Dean's Fund for Faculty Research of the Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University.     

Psychological science in the public arena: Three cases of dubious influence

Psychological science has a great deal to contribute to social welfare in all societies, because the world's most pressing social problems are behavioral in nature—violence, hunger, drug abuse, environmental pollution, low worker productivity, poor educational outcomes, and so forth. Thus, psychological research can inform public policies to improve approaches to these important social problems. The relationship of psychological science to public policy is often troubled, however, by misunderstandings about the role of science in the policy making process. Many scientists fear that their research results will be "misused" by others whose values differ from those of scientists. Thus, psychologists are reluctant to publish research results that can be used to support policies contrary to their own values and hesitate to ask research questions that can generate politically incorrect results. In this article, I argue that psychological science has a primary responsibility to ask dangerous questions and to report results honestly, without fear of their use; that research is not translated directly into public policies; and that psychological science should not be perverted either by fear of political consequences or by compromising truth in a quest for power. Three research examples are given to illustrate the different faces of temptation to pervert psychological science in a misguided hope that scientists' own values will be reflected in public policies.     

Cerebral asymmetry in autonomic conditioning to facial expressions: Sex differences

In the present experiment, sex differences in hemispheric asymmetry during classical conditioning to emotional stimuli are reported. 125 subjects (62 females and 63 males) were shown a slide of a happy face in the right (or left) visual half field (VHF), and simultaneously a slide of an angry face in the left (or right) VHF. Eight groups were formed by the combination of male and female subjects; left and right VHF positions of the angry/happy faces; and the administration/omission of the shock unconditioned stimulus (UCS). Dependent measures were skin conductance responses recorded from both hands. The results during extinction showed a significant larger SCR magnitude to the shock compared to the no-shock groups only for the female subjects. CS position during conditioning was also important in revealing differential responding to either the happy or angry faces. A right hemisphere effect was found for the angry face CS for both the male and female subjects, however with a greater difference for the females.     

Children's perception of melodies: the role of contour, frequency, and rate of presentation

Children 4 to 6 years of age were exposed to repetitions of a six-tone melody, then tested for their detection of transformations that either preserved or changed the contour of the standard melody. Discrimination performance was examined as a function of contour condition, magnitude of contour change, rate of presentation, and the presence of novel frequencies. Performance was superior for transformations that changed contour compared to those that did not, for greater changes in contour, and for faster presentation rates. Melodies transformed by a reordering of component tones were no less discriminable than those transformed by the addition of novel frequencies.     

无边界职涯背景下的离职:重回决策者中心

离职曾被视作组织中的"问题"而受到学术界的重视。传统离职研究更关注通过改变员工的态度来减少离职,进而降低离职对组织产生的负面影响,具有鲜明的组织立场。然而离职的本质是员工个体的决策。无边界职业生涯背景下,面对更加多样化的生涯选择,员工在离职决策中的主体性更加凸显,离职研究需要重回决策者中心,重新聚焦决策者:(1)以决策者为中心探讨离职影响因素;(2)探讨决策者制定离职决策的内在过程;(3)关注员工离职的实际行为及后果。     

Reshaping Couple Configurations that Get in the Way of Relationship Repair and Healing

In the context of relationship trauma, partners' reactive patterns of engagement can disrupt and derail attempts at relationship correction and healing. A circumplex typology of couple patterns of engagement in relational trauma context is defined in terms of partners' underlying views of self in relation to other (VSIRO). VSIRO is conceptualized along a continuum anchored at opposite poles by inflated (self-aggrandizing) versus collapsed (self-abnegating) VSIRO, with a balanced (egalitarian) VSIRO, characterized by accountability and forbearance, as the target position. The circumplex model delineates four problematic couple configurations—a dejected couple, a taker–enabler couple, an ultimate fighting couple, and a debtor–collector couple. Where problematic engagement occurs, therapists need to reshape couple engagement toward the balanced, egalitarian position prior to relational trauma work. Clinical vignettes depict these couples and springboard an analysis of unique needs and interventions associated with each couple configuration. Reshaping couple patterns of engagement using a circumplex model of couple configurations is an essential prerequisite to effective and ethical relational trauma work.