Score blending: How scale response grouping biases perceived standing

Numerical values—from test scores to credit scores—inform us of our relative standing and can shape our decisions. The values are usually presented in a continuous format (which places scores on a single line) or a grouped format (which separates scores into several score groups). We investigate whether and how the presentation format affects one's perception of their standing in a distribution and subsequent decision making. We show that when values are grouped, individuals merge the values within each group, a phenomenon we term score blending, which leads to an underweighting of intragroup score shifts and an overweighting of intergroup score shifts. Across six studies (N = 2,108) and a variety of paradigms (e.g., test taking and financial decision making), we observe robust effects of score blending, even when score groups are explicitly described as meaningless and generated randomly. The effect persists when the score is merely recalled without the scale present and can bias key decision parameters with behavioral consequences.     

Mere presence of distractors: Another determining factor for the attentional blink1

Abstract: When two visual targets are presented in rapid succession, perception of the second target is deteriorated if the temporal lag between the two targets is short (0–300 ms). This ‘attentional blink’ (AB) phenomenon has been believed to occur only when the second target is followed by a backward mask or when there is a task switching between two targets. The present study revealed another determining factor for the occurrence of the AB, the presence or absence of a distractor stream. Five experiments examined the effect of possible confounding factors in the extant literature and suggested that the mere presence of a distractor stream affects the processing of targets even when the observers tried to ignore them, resulting in a processing delay. This effect is discussed in a model of AB deficit in terms of decay of the second target's representation.     

Lay rationalism and inconsistency between predicted experience and decision

Decision‐makers are sometimes depicted as impulsive and overly influenced by ‘hot’, affective factors. The present research suggests that decision‐makers may be too ‘cold’ and overly focus on rationalistic attributes, such as economic values, quantitative specifications, and functions. In support of this proposition, we find a systematic inconsistency between predicted experience and decision. That is, people are more likely to favor a rationalistically‐superior option when they make a decision than when they predict experience. We discuss how this work contributes to research on predicted and decision utilities; we also discuss when decision‐makers overweight hot factors and when they overweight cold factors. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Representante-representativo,représentant-représentation,ideational representative: Which one is a Freudian concept? On the translation of Vorstellungsrepräsentanz in Spanish,French and English1

The Freudian expression Vorstellungsrepräsentanz ( Freud, 1915b, 1915c ), which is rendered in the Standard Edition as ideational representative, is commonly translated in Spanish as representante-representativo and in French as représentant-représentation, among other renderings. An interdisciplinary conceptual inquiry, which applies linguistic semantics to the evaluation of the available Spanish and French renderings, concludes that this compound expression should be translated in these languages as representante ideativo and représentant idéatif, respectively, renderings which happen to correspond to Strachey’s translation into English in the SE. In contrast to most Spanish and French translations, this proposal conforms to the semantic principle of compositionality. On the one hand, it provides a suitable translation of the two parts of the compound. Thus it renders Vorstellung as idea, with the classical meaning of image or mental representation, which can be traced back to Hume’s empiricist philosophy, and it renders Repräsentanz as representative, with the meaning of delegate. On the other hand, its linguistic form preserves the attributive meaning relationship which exists between both concepts in the original German expression. Against the background of these semantic considerations, a theoretical question concerning Freudian metapsychology is discussed: the drive has a psychic representative, but is there a (mental) representation of the drive?     

双任务协调、任务呈现方式影响成人算术策略执行:估算证据

前人研究显示中央执行影响算术策略的执行。双任务协调作为中央执行的执行功能之一,是否会影响个体的策略执行?采用选择\无选法与改进的心理不应期范式,探讨随机/固定呈现方式下,双任务协调对算术策略执行的影响。结果表明:双任务协调影响策略执行,双反应策略执行效能显著差于单反应;任务呈现方式影响策略执行,固定方式优于随机方式;任务呈现序列影响策略执行反应时,数字先呈现的估算策略执行效能显著差于图形先呈现。总之,双任务协调、任务呈现方式影响算术策略执行,固定方式引起更明显的双任务协调代价。     

Response to the Comments by Larichev,Korhonen and Vargas on ‘Power Relations and Group Aggregation in the Multiplicative AHP and SMART’

We are pleased to continue the open discussion in this journal and we hope that it will contribute to the clarification of the main issues. Aggregation by geometric means has been accepted as a technically sound procedure. The critical comments now seem to concentrate on the establishment of the Multiplicative AHP, the publication of a method for weighted voting before empirical verification, and the significance of negotiations in decision making. Several numerical examples illustrate the arithmetic-mean and geometric-mean calculations, and the legitimacy of rank reversal is revisited. We discuss the issues in the same order here. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Multi-Crit. Decis. Anal. 6 : 171–174 (1997) No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 5. No. of References: 9.     

Assessing competencies of trainee sport psychologists: An examination of the ‘structured case presentation’ assessment method

ObjectivesThere is virtually no literature on how to assess competencies of applied sport psychologists. We assessed casework of applied sport psychology students and compared written case report assessment (WCRA) with structured case presentation assessment (SCPA) on reliability and acceptability (e.g., validity, transparency, feedback function and preference of methods, as perceived by students and assessors).DesignA quantitative, comparative study of two assessment methods.MethodParticipants were 11 students, nine supervisors and three exam committee members. A number of 18 cases were evaluated with both WCRA by the supervisor and SCPA by two exam committee members. Ten of these cases were also evaluated with WCRA by exam committee members. Interrater reliability measures were calculated and compared for the different assessment methods. Participants' perception of the validity, transparency, and feedback function of the methods, and the preferences for assessment methods were surveyed with a brief questionnaire.ResultsSCPA by the exam committee resulted in higher interrater reliability than WCRA by supervisor and exam committee. The feedback function of SCPA seemed superior to WCRA by either supervisor or exam committee. For assessment by the exam committee, the perceived validity and transparency of SCPA seemed higher than of WCRA. Students and exam committee had the highest preference for SCPA by supervisor and exam committee.ConclusionsOverall it can be concluded that, for assessment by the exam committee, structured case presentations provided a more reliable and acceptable method of assessment than written case reports only.