Response error and processing biases in confidence judgment

Previous studies showed that random error can explain overconfidence effects typically observed in the literature. One of these studies concluded that, after accounting for random error effects in the data, there is little support for cognitive‐processing biases in confidence elicitation. In this paper, we investigate more closely the random error explanation for overconfidence. We generated data from four models of confidence and then estimated the magnitude of random error in the data. Our results show that, in addition to the true magnitude of random error specified in the simulations, the error estimates are influenced by important cognitive‐processing biases in the confidence elicitation process. We found that random error in the response process can account for the degree of overconfidence found in calibration studies, even when that overconfidence is actually caused by other factors. Thus, the error models say little about whether cognitive biases are present in the confidence elicitation process. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Taxonomy of Part-Whole Relations

A taxonomy of part-whole or meronymic relations is developed to explain the ordinary English-speaker's use of the term “part of” and its cognates. The resulting classification yields six types of meronymic relations: 1. component-integral object (pedal-bike), 2. member-collection (ship-fleet), 3. portion-mass (slice-pie), 4. stuff-object (steel-car), 5. feature-activity (paying-shopping), and 6. place-area (Everglades-Florida). Meronymic relations ore further distinguished from other inclusion relations, such as spatial inclusion, and class inclusion, and from several other semantic relations: attribution, attachment, and ownership. This taxonomy is then used to explain cases of apparent intransitivity in merological syllogisms, and standard form syllogisms whose premises express different inclusion relations. The data suggest that intransitivities arise due to equivocations between different types of semantic relations. These results are then explained by means of the relation element theory which accounts for the character and behavior of semantic relations in terms of more primitive relational elements. The inferential phenomena observed are then explained by means of a single principle of element matching.     

The effect of social support on prenatal care.

This article examines the effects of social support on the receipt of adequate prenatal care. A study was conducted to test the hypotheses that social support helps women overcome obstacles to obtaining such care, and that social support has greater effects on women facing the most obstacles. Survey data were gathered for more than 90% of the women who gave birth in Oklahoma hospitals during specific periods in the summer of 1986. The authors found only weak support for the first hypothesis, and for the second hypothesis found only support that must be qualified according to the measure of social support. Strong evidence indicates, however, that difficulty in paying for prenatal care, personal inconveniences, and unwanted pregnancies are obstacles to obtaining such care. The findings account for some of the frequently observed demographic differences associated with receipt of adequate prenatal care, although such differences persisted even after the obstacles were considered. The authors present implications for policy makers seeking to improve women's receipt of adequate prenatal care.     

Ret in the college classroom

Thirty-five undergraduates participated in an outcome study which compared the results of enrollment in an RET seminar with enrollment in a seminar on another psychotherapy topic, Humanistic Psychology, and two seminars which lacked a psychotherapeutic orientation: Social Development and Extra Sensory Perception. RET instruction failed to decrease irrationality significantly. However, students who received RET instruction had significantly higher perceived self-efficacy than did those in the two nontherapy oriented seminars. There was a significant, inverse relationship between academic achievement (grade point average) and irrational beliefs about need for comfort, need for approval, awfulizing, and low frustration tolerance. Perceived self-efficacy was significantly and positively associated with high academic achievement. Superior students were significantly less likely than their peers to awfulize or exhibit low frustration tolerance; the poorest students were the least likely group to perceive themselves as effective. The implications of these findings for educators and counselors were addressed.A fellow in Rational-Emotive Therapy, Naomi McCormick, Ph.D. is a professor and William Tooke, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at the State University of New York-Plattsburgh. An earlier version of this article was presented at the World Congress on Mental Health Counseling: A 35th Anniversary Celebration of Rational-Emotive Therapy, Keystone, Colorado: June 13–16, 1990. The authors are grateful to H. Morlock for his methodological insights and thank G. Brannigan, N. Smith, and P. Jarvis for assisting in data collection. Special thanks go to H. Rock for providing information on students from the college's Office of Institutional Research.     

The acquisition of bimanual coordination is mediated by anisotropic coupling between the hands

The present study was designed to test two predictions from the coupled oscillator model of multifrequency coordination. First, it was predicted that multifrequency tasks that match the inherent manual asymmetry (i.e., the preferred hand assigned to the faster tempo) would be easier to learn than tasks that do not match the inherent dynamics (i.e., the non-preferred hand assigned to the faster tempo). Second, in the latter case acquisition of the multifrequency coordination would involve a reorganisation of the coupling dynamics such that the faster hand would exert a greater influence on the slower hand than vice versa. Sixteen right-handed volunteers received extensive training on a 2:1 coordination pattern involving a bimanual forearm pronation-supination task. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: 1L:2R in which the preferred right hand performed the higher frequency, or 2L:1R in which the non-preferred left hand performed the higher frequency. The dynamic stability of the patterns was assessed by the ability of participants to maintain the coordination pattern as movement frequency was increased. Changes in the directional coupling between the hands was assessed by transition pathways and lead-lag relationship evident in a 1:1 anti-phase frequency-scaled coordination task performed prior to and following three practice sessions of the 2:1 task. The predicted differential stability between the multifrequency patterns was evident in the initial acquisition sessions but by the end of training the two patterns evidenced equivalent stability. Unexpectedly, for both groups the fast hand displayed greater variability in amplitude and movement frequency than the slow hand perhaps reflecting anchoring afforded to the slow hand by synchronising movement endpoints with the auditory pacing metronome. Analysis of pre- to post-training changes to the coupling dynamics in the 1:1 anti-phase task support the hypothesis that acquisition of the 2L:1R pattern involved reorganisation of the inherent dynamics.     

The rhetoric of experimental social psychology, 1930-1960: from caution to enthusiasm

Between 1930 and 1960, experimentation became the premier form of knowledge generation in social psychology. In journals, texts, and handbooks, experiment was now conceived as the active manipulation of an independent variable, and the sole method for the discovery of "causes." Understanding this change requires further investigation of the fine-grained discursive strategies used to promote experimentation during the 1930s and 1940s. In this paper we use discourse analysis to contrast the cautious rhetoric used by Gardner Murphy and Lois Murphy and the more enthusiastic, unhedged arguments for experimentation employed by Kurt Lewin. We argue that analysis of changes in discourse justifying experimentation can illuminate the processes by which methodological consensus was constructed.     

Talker variability and recognition memory: instance-specific and voice-specific effects

The author investigated voice context effects in recognition memory for words spoken by multiple talkers by comparing performance when studied words were repeated with same, different, or new voices at test. Hits and false alarms increased when words were tested with studied voices compared with unstudied voices. Discrimination increased only when the exact same voice was used. A trend toward conservatism in response bias was observed when test words switched to increasingly unfamiliar voices. Taken together, the overall findings suggest that the voice-specific attributes of individual talkers are preserved in long-term memory. Implications for the role of instance-specific matching and voice-specific familiarity processes and the nature of spoken-word representation are discussed.     

Bimanual coordination dynamics in poststroke hemiparetics

Poststroke hemiparetic individuals (n = 9) and a control group (n = 9) completed a frequency-scaled circle-drawing task in unimanual and bimanual conditions. Measures of intralimb spatial and temporal task accuracy and interlimb coordination parameters were analyzed. Significant reductions in task performance were seen in both limbs of the patients and controls with the introduction of bimanual movement. Spatial performance parameters suggested that the 2 groups focused on different hands during bimanual conditions. In the controls, interlimb coordination variables indicated predictable hand dominance effects, whereas in the patient group, dominance was influenced by the side of impairment and prior handedness of the individual. Therefore, in this particular bimanual task, performance improvements in the hemiplegic side could not be elicited. Intrinsic coupling asymmetries between the hands can be altered by unilateral motor deficits.     

The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale,a brief version: psychometric data

As a measure of mathematics anxiety, the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) has been a major scale used for research and clinical studies since 1972. Despite the usefulness of the original scale, researchers have sought a shorter version of the scale partly to reduce the administration time of the original 98-item scale. This study created a shorter version of the MARS and provides reliability and validity information for the new version. The Cronbach alpha of .96 indicated high internal consistency, while the test-retest reliability for the MARS 30-item was .90 (p<.001). The validity data confirm that the MARS 30-item test is comparable to the original MARS 98-item scale.