Tolerance in a rigorous science

Scientists often evaluate other people's theories by the same standards they apply to their own work; it is as though scientists may believe that these criteria are independent of their own personal priorities and standards. As a result of this probably implicit belief, they sometimes may make less useful judgments than they otherwise might if they were able and willing to evaluate a specific theory at least partly in terms of the standards appropriate to that theory. Journal editors can play an especially constructive role in managing this diversity of standards and opinion.     

Probability-of-coverage tolerance intervals for the beta binomial

True score tolerance intervals, which are designed to cover a chosen proportion of the conditional distribution of true scores given an observed score, are suggested as alternatives to true score confidence intervals. Using large sample theory, a tolerance interval estimator for the beta binomial is derived. An example indicates that with moderate sample sizes, tolerance intervals with high probability of coverage will not be much wider than when the two beta true score parameters are known.The author acknowledges valuable comments from Richard Sawyer.Most work was completed while the author was at the American College Testing Program.     

Contrast effects in multiple fixed-interval reinforcement schedules

Pigeons were exposed to a multiple fixed-interval one-minute fixed-interval three-minute schedule of reinforcement following training on either a multiple fixed-interval one-minute fixed-interval one-minute schedule or a multiple fixed-interval three-minute fixed-interval three-minute schedule. For all birds, large negative local contrast effects developed during the first of four three-minute intervals in a component; response rate was depressed and postreinforcement pause lengthened in this interval. Positive local contrast effects were evident during the first of 12 one-minute intervals in a component for five of six birds; at asymptote, the pause was very short and response rate slightly elevated during this interval. Overall positive contrast was generally transient and varied considerably across subjects, while overall negative contrast effects, if they occurred, appeared only after a large number of sessions.     

The effects of interval duration on temporal tracking and alternation learning

On cyclic-interval reinforcement schedules, animals typically show a postreinforcement pause that is a function of the immediately preceding time interval (temporal tracking). Animals, however, do not track single-alternation schedules-when two different intervals are presented in strict alternation on successive trials. In this experiment, pigeons were first trained with a cyclic schedule consisting of alternating blocks of 12 short intervals (5 s or 30 s) and 12 long intervals (180 s), followed by three different single-alternation interval schedules: (a) 30 s and 180 s, (b) 5 s and 180 s, and (c) 5 s and 30 s. Pigeons tracked both schedules with alternating blocks of 12 intervals. With the single-alternation schedules, when the short interval duration was 5 s, regardless of the duration of the longer interval, pigeons learned the alternation pattern, and their pause anticipated the upcoming interval. When the shorter interval was 30 s, even when the ratio of short to long intervals was kept at 6:1, pigeons did not initially show anticipatory pausing-a violation of the principle of timescale invariance.     

Changes in religious attitudes and behaviors of Euro-Turk students with theology education

This paper studied a new dimension of international students, who are citizens of another country but came back to Turkey for religious education where their parents or grandparents are citizens. Did a five-year religious education process based on the main sources of Islam lead to a change in these students' religious attitudes and behaviors, and if yes to what extent did these changes occur? A panel survey is conducted on these students in pre-education and post-education periods to answer this question. Without ignoring the effect of the social environment outside of education on religious attitudes, we found that students exhibit a more tolerant, nonstrict attitude toward both their coreligionists and those who have negative attitudes toward their religion. Additionally, in parallel with the deepening of religious knowledge, a questioning and critical perspective was formed with a decrease in superstitions. We found that the attitude change in female students was generally higher than that of male students.     

Beliefs, Persons and Practices: Beyond Tolerance

The central thesis of this paper is that, for most issues of multiculturalism, regarding them as a problem of tolerance puts us on the wrong track because there are certain biases inherent in the principle of tolerance. These biases – individualism, combined with a focus on religion and a focus on beliefs rather than on persons or practices – can be regarded as distinctly Protestant. Extending the scope of tolerance may seem a solution but if we really want to counter these biases, the principle of tolerance becomes so general that it loses any distinctive meaning. Therefore, we should accept the limited scope of tolerance and its biases. The principle of tolerance can still be useful for some problems where there is a clear and direct link to political or religious beliefs. Moreover, it should be cherished as a more general attitude or practice in Dutch society. For most problems of multiculturalism, however, we should appeal to broader theoretical frameworks that do justice to persons and practices.     

On the sampling interpretation of confidence intervals and hypothesis tests in the context of conditional maximum likelihood estimation

In the context ofconditional maximum likelihood (CML) estimation, confidence intervals can be interpreted in three different ways, depending on the sampling distribution under which these confidence intervals contain the true parameter value with a certain probability. These sampling distributions are (a) the distribution of the data given theincidental parameters, (b) the marginal distribution of the data (i.e., with the incidental parameters integrated out), and (c) the conditional distribution of the data given the sufficient statistics for the incidental parameters. Results on the asymptotic distribution of CML estimates under sampling scheme (c) can be used to construct asymptotic confidence intervals using only the CML estimates. This is not possible for the results on the asymptotic distribution under sampling schemes (a) and (b). However, it is shown that theconditional asymptotic confidence intervals are also valid under the other two sampling schemes. I am indebted to Theo Eggen, Norman Verhelst and one of Psychometrika's reviewers for their helpful comments.     

Cocaine and food deprivation: effects on food-reinforced fixed-ratio performance in pigeons.

Key pecking by 6 pigeons was maintained by a fixed-ratio 30 schedule of food presentation while body weights were 80% of free-feeding weights. Acute administration of cocaine (0.3 to 13.0 mg/kg, i.m.) dose-dependently decreased response rates. Dose-effect curves were shifted to the right when 3 of the 6 pigeons were maintained at 70% of free-feeding weights and were shifted to the left when the other 3 pigeons were maintained at 90% of free-feeding weights. Then a dose of cocaine that initially decreased response rates by more than 95% of control rates was administered before each daily session. Comparable degrees of tolerance to these rate-decreasing effects developed in the two groups. The rate at which responding recovered was relatively rapid for pigeons in the 70% free-feeding-weight group and was slower for 2 of the 3 pigeons in the 90% free-feeding-weight group. When body weights were then increased from 70% to 80% or were decreased from 90% to 80% of free-feeding weight, performance was disrupted initially only for pigeons whose weight went from 70% to 80% of free feeding. In the present experiment the degree of deprivation may have indirectly influenced the degree of tolerance that developed to cocaine's response rate-decreasing effects because it directly influenced the dose chosen to be administered chronically. The degree of deprivation appeared to have a more direct influence on the rate at which tolerance developed.     

Fake feedback on pain tolerance impacts proactive versus reactive control strategies

It is well-known that beliefs about one’s own ability to execute a task influence task performance. Here, we tested the hypothesis that beliefs about a specific self-control capacity, namely pain tolerance, modulate basic cognitive control processes. Participants received fake comparative social feedback that their ability to tolerate painful stimulations was either very poor or outstanding after which they performed an unrelated go/no-go task. Participants receiving low-tolerance feedback, relative to high-tolerance feedback, were less successful at inhibiting their responses and more influenced by previous trial conditions, as indicated by an increased slowdown following errors and more failed inhibitions following go-trials. These observations demonstrate a shift from a more proactive to a more reactive control mode. This study shows that providing feedback about one’s own capacity to control impulsive reactions to painful stimulations directly influences low-level cognitive control dynamics.