Psychometric examination and normative data for the narcissistic personality inventory 29 item version

The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) is commonly used in empirical studies of narcissism. Few population-based studies have been published. Our aim was to do a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the NPI 29 item version with a four-factor structure, in two population-based samples and in a patient sample, and present normative population-based data. The NPI-29 was filled in by 324 respondents from the Norwegian population, 231 from the Swedish population and 167 Norwegian psychiatric patients. The four-factor structure of the NPI-29 with Leadership/Power, Exhibitionism/Self-admiration, Superiority/Arrogance and Uniqueness/Entitlement was reproduced in these samples. The CFA models showed good fit indices in all samples. Mean scores on the NPI-29 and four subscales hardly differed between the samples. For the NPI-29 total score and factors, few significant differences were observed. CFA of the samples supported the factor structure of the NPI-29 formerly identified by principal component analysis of the Swedish population sample.     

Effects of stimulus presentation order during auditory–visual conditional discrimination training for children with autism spectrum disorder

Children with autism spectrum disorder are typically taught conditional discriminations using a match‐to‐sample arrangement. Consideration should be given to the temporal order in which antecedent stimuli (the sample and comparison stimuli) are presented during match‐to‐sample trials, as various arrangements have been used in the extant literature. The purpose of the current study was to compare the effects of four stimulus presentation orders on the acquisition of auditory–visual conditional discriminations. The study included participants from a clinically relevant population (three children with autism spectrum disorder), employed clinically relevant teaching procedures, and included two presentation formats not included in previous comparison evaluations (simultaneous and sample‐first with re‐presentation conditions). Results were found to be learner‐specific; that is, a different stimulus presentation format was most efficient for each participant. We provide suggestions to evaluate stimulus control topographies and enhance experimental control in match‐to‐sample arrangements.     

Acquisition and generative responding following print‐to‐braille construction response training with sighted learners

Previous researchers have taught sighted adults to match braille sample stimuli to print comparisons in a matching‐to‐sample (MTS) format and assessed the emergence of other braille repertoires, such as transcribing and reading braille following this training. Although participants learned to match to sample with braille, they displayed limited emergence of other braille repertoires. Lack of generative responding may have resulted from participants' over‐selective attending to components of compound braille characters during instruction. We taught undergraduates to construct braille characters given a print sample, which required attending to each individual braille symbol, and assessed generative braille responding. Participants met mastery of 378 braille construction responses and demonstrated modestly improved responding compared with previous research.     

A model for predicting behavioural sleep problems in a random sample of Australian pre‐schoolers

Behavioural sleep problems (childhood insomnias) can cause distress for both parents and children. This paper reports a model describing predictors of high sleep problem scores in a representative population‐based random sample survey of non‐Aboriginal singleton children born in 1995 and 1996 (1085 girls and 1129 boys) in Western Australia. Longitudinal repeated data were collected up to age 4 years by caregiver report. Children's sleep rhythmicity levels in their first year, as well as conflicted and lax parenting in their second year, predicted higher scores on the sleep problem scale from the Child Behaviour Checklist/2–3 in the children's third year. Higher scores on the sleep problem scale in the children's third year predicted higher scores on the aggressive behaviour subscale of the Child Behaviour Checklist/4–16. The results support a model in which sleep problems mediated the relationship between parental conflict and aggressive behaviour, even when controlling for maternal depression, which has been associated with children's aggressive behaviour. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Use of a differential observing response to expand restricted stimulus control

This study extends previous work on the use of differential observing responses (DOR) to remediate atypically restricted stimulus control. A participant with autism had high matching-to-sample accuracy scores with printed words that had no letters in common (e.g., cat, lid, bug) but poor accuracy with words that had two letters in common (e.g., cat, can, car). In the DOR intervention, she matched the distinguishing letters of the overlapping words (e.g., t, n, r) immediately prior to matching the whole words. Accuracy scores improved, and accuracy remained high when DOR requirements were withdrawn.     

In Spite of Indeterminacy Many Common Factor Score Estimates Yield an Identical Reproduced Covariance Matrix

It was investigated whether commonly used factor score estimates lead to the same reproduced covariance matrix of observed variables. This was achieved by means of Schönemann and Steiger’s (1976) regression component analysis, since it is possible to compute the reproduced covariance matrices of the regression components corresponding to different factor score estimates. It was shown that Thurstone’s, Ledermann’s, Bartlett’s, Anderson-Rubin’s, McDonald’s, Krijnen, Wansbeek, and Ten Berge’s, as well as Takeuchi, Yanai, and Mukherjee’s score estimates reproduce the same covariance matrix. In contrast, Harman’s ideal variables score estimates lead to a different reproduced covariance matrix.     

闪光滞后效应的机制：时间错觉与空间错觉

闪光滞后效应（flash—lag effect,FLE）是指在与某运动物体相同的位置上呈现的闪光（flash）知觉上滞后于该运动物体的视错觉。本文简要介绍了有关闪光滞后效应机制的理论模型。笔者认为,目前各种理论的争议可归结为时间错觉假说与空间错觉假说之争,并在此基础上就今后进一步研究的方向提出了建议。     

Pooling data versus averaging model fits for some prototypical multinomial processing tree models

For a study with multinomial data where there are n_g individuals and with each person having n_r test trials, the question arises as to how to fit the parameters of a multinomial processing tree (MPT) model. Should each parameter be estimated for each individual and then averaged to obtain a group estimate, or should the frequencies in the multinomial categories be pooled so that the model is fit once for the entire group? This basic question is explored with a series of Monte Carlo simulations for some prototypical MPT models. There is a general finding of a pooling advantage for the case where there is a single experimental condition. Also when there are different experimental conditions, there is reduced bias for detecting condition differences for a method based on the pooled data. Although the focus of the paper is on multinomial models, a general theorem is advanced that establishes a basic condition that determines whether there is or is not a difference between the averaging of individual estimates and the estimate based on the pooled data.     

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence in a Clinical Sample of Men: The Mediating Roles of Adult Attachment and Anger Management

This study examined the association between men’s experience of childhood sexual abuse and later perpetration of intimate partner violence, considering the roles of attachment insecurity and poor anger regulation. The sample was 302 Canadian men undergoing counseling for relationship difficulties or aggression. They completed questionnaires assessing childhood sexual abuse, the two dimensions of attachment insecurity (anxiety and avoidance), anger regulation processes, physical and psychological aggression, and social desirability bias. Path analyses showed that men who experienced childhood sexual abuse scored higher on attachment anxiety, which in turn was associated with aggressive behaviors directly and through four anger-related variables (trait anger, anger-in, anger-out, and low anger control). Attachment-related avoidance predicted psychological aggression, but not physical aggression, through men’s trait anger and anger-in.