Estimation of parameters in a truncated trivariate normal distribution

This paper gives maximum-likelihood estimators for certain parameters in a truncated trivariate normal distribution when the values of the other parameters are known. The estimators are functions of a random sample. Approximate variances and covariances of the estimators, when the sample size is large, are also given. The type of truncation considered is merely restriction of the range of one of the variates, whose true mean and variance are assumed to be known. Two cases of such restriction are treated: (a) ( x < + ); (b) (- <x '), where and ' are arbitrary cutoff points which are assumed to be known. A precise statement of the estimation problem is given in Section 1. Section 2 contains preliminary calculations. The estimators appear in Section 3. The asymptotic variances and covariances of the estimators are given in Section 4. The estimators and their asymptotic variances and covariances can be easily specialized to be suitable for the case of a certain truncated bivariate normal distribution (Sections 3 and 4).     

The effect of culture and self‐construals on predispositions toward verbal communication

This study tested the effects of culture and self‐construals (i.e., independence and interdependence) on predispositions toward verbal communication. For the purpose of this study, we focused on two main areas of verbal communication predispositions: (a) communication apprehension and (b) argumentativeness. In our path model, we expected that culture‐level individualism increases one's construal of self as independent, which, in turn, leads to a higher degree of argumentativeness and a lower level of communication apprehension. We also expected that culture‐level individualism decreases one's construal of self as interdependent, which, in turn, leads to a lower degree of argumentativeness and a higher level of communication apprehension. Data to test the model were drawn from undergraduates (N=539) studying in Korea, Hawaii, and mainland U.S. The data were partially consistent with the theoretical predictions made. The implications of the results for theory and practice are discussed.