An elicitation method for multiple linear regression models

This paper describes a method of quantifying subjective opinion about a normal linear regression model. Opinion about the regression coefficients and experimental error is elicited and modeled by a multivariate probability distribution (a Bayesian conjugate prior distribution). The distribution model is richly parameterized and various assessment tasks are used to estimate its parameters. These tasks include the revision of opinion in the light of hypothetical data, the assessment of credible intervals, and a task commonly performed in cue-weighting experiments. A new assessment task is also introduced. In addition, implementation of the method in an interactive computer program is described and the method is illustrated with a practical example.     

Décalage in infants' knowledge about occlusion and containment events: Converging evidence from action tasks

In the present research, 6-month-old infants consistently searched for a tall toy behind a tall as opposed to a short occluder. However, when the same toy was hidden inside a tall or a short container, only older, 7.5-month-old infants searched for the tall toy inside the tall container. These and control results (1) confirm previous violation-of-expectation (VOE) findings of a décalage in infants' reasoning about height information in occlusion and containment events; (2) cast doubt on the suggestion that VOE tasks overestimate infants' cognitive abilities; and (3) support recent proposals that infants use their physical knowledge to guide their actions when task demands do not overwhelm their limited processing resources.     

Distress Tolerance and Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy: A New Role for Behavioral Analogue Tasks

Rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) is a widely utilized treatment approach for many mental disorders, but it has been “relatively neglected in the professional scientific literature” (Ellis 2003b). This neglect has been attributed in part to a lack of solid REBT outcome studies, which in turn stems from the difficulty of measuring constructs of interest in REBT, such as irrational beliefs, via self-report measures. In light of these concerns, the current paper aims to identify the potential utility of behavioral analogue laboratory tasks for advancing the understanding of mechanisms in REBT, as well as treatment outcome using this therapeutic approach. Specifically, we focus on the utilization of behavioral measures of distress tolerance and their application to the key REBT construct of frustration intolerance. In identifying the parallels across distress tolerance and frustration intolerance, we consider how the incorporation of distress tolerance tasks into REBT research can be useful in evaluating the role of frustration intolerance in the initiation, maintenance, and treatment of disordered behavior across a broad range of clinical disorders.

Memory span and general intelligence: A latent-variable approach

There are several studies showing that working memory and intelligence are strongly related. However, working memory tasks require simultaneous processing and storage, so the causes of their relationship with intelligence are currently a matter of discussion. The present study examined the simultaneous relationships among short-term memory (STM), working memory (WM), and general intelligence (g). Two hundred and eight participants performed six verbal, quantitative, and spatial STM tasks, six verbal, quantitative, and spatial WM tasks, and eight tests measuring fluid, crystallized, spatial, and quantitative intelligence. Especial care is taken to avoid misrepresenting the relations among the constructs being studied because of specific task variance. Structural equation modelling (SEM) results revealed that (a) WM and g are (almost) isomorphic constructs, (b) the isomorphism vanishes when the storage component of WM is partialed out, and (c) STM and WM (with its storage component partialed out) predict g.     

Inspection time and the relationship among elementary cognitive tasks, general intelligence, and specific cognitive abilities

The relationship between inspection time (IT) and paper-and-pencil tests of cognitive ability is well documented. However, the extent to which IT relates to cognitive ability through general intelligence or through group factors such as performance has not been fully addressed. Another unresolved issue is whether IT relates to psychometric intelligence independent from other elementary cognitive tasks. The current study examined these issues in a sample of 6–13-year-old twins drawn from the Western Reserve Twin Project (WRTP) (n=568 participants). Analyses suggest that IT and other elementary tasks predict general intelligence. IT also predicts Performance ability while other elementary tasks do not. Furthermore, IT contributes variance to cognitive ability independent from other elementary tasks. These suggest that multiple indices of elementary cognitive ability are necessary to fully understand their relationship with complex psychometric measures.     

Supervisors’ relational transparency moderates effects among employees’ illegitimate tasks and job dissatisfaction: a four-wave panel study

Despite repeated calls for the inclusion of leadership in research on illegitimate tasks, little is known about what supervisors can actually do to mitigate negative effects of illegitimate tasks. We propose transparent leadership behavior as an effective means that buffers detrimental effects of illegitimate tasks. We further propose reciprocal effects between illegitimate tasks and job dissatisfaction. Based on a short panel study with four surveys across four consecutive weeks, data of 347 employees were analyzed using multiple group structural equation models. For the two facets of illegitimate tasks, results were more consistent for unnecessary than for unreasonable tasks. We found main and moderating effects in both the normal causal and the reversed causal direction for unnecessary tasks, with more consistent main effects in the reversed direction and stronger moderating effects in the normal direction: Job dissatisfaction rather led to unnecessary tasks than vice versa; while high transparency particularly buffered the effects of unnecessary tasks on job dissatisfaction. Thus, by means of transparent leadership behavior, supervisors are able to effectively intervene in the vicious circle between illegitimate tasks and employees’ job dissatisfaction and thereby benefit working conditions for leaders and followers alike.