Rivals without a cause? Relative performance feedback creates destructive competition despite aligned incentives

Whether people compete or cooperate with each other has consequences for their own performance and that of organizations. To explain why people compete or cooperate, previous research has focused on two main factors: situational outcome structures and personality types. Here, we propose that—above and beyond these two factors—situational cues, such as the format in which people receive feedback, strongly affect whether they act competitively, cooperatively, or individualistically. Results of a laboratory experiment support our theorizing: After receiving ranking feedback, both students and experienced managers treated group situations with cooperative outcome structures as competitive and were in consequence willing to forgo guaranteed financial gains to pursue a—financially irrelevant—better rank. Conversely, in dilemma situations, feedback based on the joint group outcome led to more cooperation than ranking feedback. Our study contributes to research on competition, cooperation, interdependence theory, forced ranking, and the design of information environments.     

Forced classification: A simple application of a quantification method

This study formulates a property of a quantification method, the principle of equivalent partitioning (PEP). When the PEP is used together with Guttman's principle of internal consistency (PIC) in a simple way, the combination offers an interesting way of analyzing categorical data in terms of the variate(s) chosen by the investigator, a type of canonical analysis. The study discusses applications of the technique to multiple-choice, rank-order, and paired comparison data.This study was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grant No. A7942). Comments on the earlier drafts from anonymous reviewers and the editor were much appreciated.     

Youth Testimony at the Opening Prayer of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches

This is the text of the youth testimony at the opening prayer of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches on 31 August 2022.     

A PRELIMINARY COMPARISON OF REINFORCER ASSESSMENT METHODS FOR CHILDREN WITH ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

We evaluated the relative treatment utility of a verbal forced-choice questionnaire, child nomination, and direct observation for identifying the most potent reinforcers for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Results demonstrated that all three methods were more likely to disagree than to agree, that a forced-choice format may enhance verbal reinforcer assessment, and that further development and evaluation of verbal reinforcer-assessment methods are needed.     

From ABLE to TAPAS: A New Generation of Personality Tests to Support Military Selection and Classification Decisions

This article discusses 3 modern forced-choice personality tests developed for the U.S Armed Services to provide resistance to faking and other forms of response distortion: the Assessment of Individual Motivation, the Navy Computerized Adaptive Personality Scales, and the Tailored Adaptive Personality Assessment System. These tests represent the transition from Likert to forced-choice formats and from static to computerized adaptive item selection to meet the challenges of large-scale, high-stakes testing environments. For each test, we briefly describe the personality constructs that are assessed, the response format and scoring methods, and selected ongoing research and development efforts. We also highlight the potential of these tests for personnel selection, classification, and diagnostic screening purposes.     

Effects of positive and negative delusional ideation on memory

We investigated the relationship between levels of delusional ideation (whether positive or negative delusions) and the activation and distortion of memory by using pairs of positive and negative adjectives describing personality traits where those adjectives had similar meanings. We presented one of each pair of adjectives in the learning phase. Immediately after the learning phase in Experiment 1, we asked whether each adjective had been presented. Participants with high (positive or negative) delusional ideation were more likely to indicate that they had learned adjectives that they had not actually learned. This finding suggested that non-learned positive (or negative) adjectives that were associated with learned negative (or positive) adjectives were more likely to be activated in participants prone to positive (or negative) delusional ideation. However, in Experiment 2, two forced-choice tests were conducted immediately after the learning phase. In this context, participants, regardless of their proneness to delusional ideation, could almost always correctly distinguish what had and had not been presented, suggesting that the activation of learned items was still stronger than that for non-learned items in the immediate test. As time passed, the proportion of false alarms for positive or negative adjectives was higher in the two forced-choice tests among those with high proneness to (positive or negative) delusional ideation, suggesting that participants with delusional ideation were increasingly likely to depend on internal conditions for retrieval over time. Nous avons examiné la relation entre les niveaux d'idéation illusoire (qu'elle soit positive ou négative) et l'activation et la distorsion de la mémoire, en utilisant des paires d'adjectifs positifs et négatifs à significations similaires décrivant des traits de personnalité. Nous avons présenté un membre de chaque paire d'adjectifs lors d'une phase d'apprentissage. Dans une première expérience, immédiatement après la phase d'apprentissage, nous avons demandé si chaque adjectif avait été présenté. Les participants ayant un niveau d'idéation illusoire (positive ou négative) élevé étaient plus susceptibles d'indiquer qu'ils avaient appris les adjectifs qu'ils n'avaient pas appris. Ce résultat suggérait que les adjectifs positifs (ou négatifs) non appris qui étaient associés à des adjectifs négatifs (ou positifs) appris étaient plus susceptibles d'être activés chez les participants portés à l'idéation illusoire positive (ou négative). Dans une deuxième expérience, deux tests à choix forcés ont été menés immédiatement après la phase d'apprentissage. Dans ce contexte, les participants, indépendamment de leur tendance à l'idéation illusoire, pouvaient presque toujours distinguer correctement ce qui avait été présenté de ce qui n'avait pas été présenté, suggérant que l'activation des items appris était encore plus forte que celle des items non appris dans le test immédiat. Avec le temps, la proportion de fausses alarmes pour les adjectifs positifs ou négatifs était plus élevée dans les deux tests à choix forcés chez les participants portés à l'idéation illusoire (positive ou négative), ce qui suggère que les participants avec idéation illusoire étaient de plus en plus susceptibles de dépendre de leurs conditions internes lors du rappel à mesure que le temps passait. En este estudio se investigó la relación entre los niveles de ideación delusional (tanto delusiones positivas como negativas) y la activación y distorsión de la memoria a través del uso de pares de adjetivos positivos y negativos que describen rasgos de personalidad. Estos pares de adjetivos tenían significados similares. En la fase de aprendizaje se presentó un miembro de cada par de adjetivos. Inmediatamente después de la fase de aprendizaje se realizó el primer experimento, en el cual se preguntó al participanten si es que se le habían presentado cada uno de los adjetivos. Los participantes con elevada ideación delusiva (positiva o negativa) reportaran con una mayor probabilidad haber aprendido adjetivos que en realidad no se les había presentado. Este hallazgo sugiere que adjetivos positivos (o negativos) no aprendidos que estaban asociados con adjetivos negativos (o positivos) aprendidos, tenían una mayor probabilidad de ser activados en participantes propensos a una ideación delusiva positiva (o negativa). En el segundo experimento se llevaron a cabo inmediatamente después de la fase de aprendizaje dos pruebas de decisión forzada. En este contexto se pudo observar que los participantes a pesar de su tendencia hacia una ideación delusional, lograron distinguir en la mayoría de los casos correctamente entre los adjetivos que les fueron presentado y lo que no. Esto sugiere que la activación de los items aprendidos fue mucho más intensa que la de los items no aprendidos en el test. Sin embargo se pudo observar en los participantes de las dos pruebas de decisión forzada que con el paso del tiempo el porcentaje de falso reconocimiento de adjetivos positivos y negativos fue más elevado entre aquellas personas con una alta tendencia hacia una ideación delusional (positiva o negativa). Esto sugiere que en participantes con ideación delusional el reconocimiento de información a lo largo del tiempo probablemente es muy dependiente de condiciones internas.     

Losing a training analyst for ethical violations: A candidate's perspective

The author presents her experience as the analysand of a training analyst who was investigated and expelled for ethical violations with another patient, including sexual-boundary violations, during her analytic training. While boundary violations by training analysts are not uncommon, the particular trauma experienced by 'bystanders' such as candidates and supervisees is not discussed in the literature, nor the response of institutes to the educational problems that are generated. The author illustrates the complications for candidates that arise from the dual roles of training analyst as educator and analyst when he or she faces investigation or censure, including isolation and secrecy, which promote various splits in the candidate, analytic dyad and group, as well as loyalty conflicts. The discussion covers three phases of the author's experience as a candidate-analysand, namely the period encompassing the institute's ethics investigation, the announcement of findings to her and to the institute as a group, and the ensuing individual and group dynamics generated by her analyst's expulsion from the institute and revocation of his medical license. Theoretical perspectives are utilized to understand the group regression, including contamination and contagion fears, which occurred in the wake of the training analyst's expulsion, and the impact of these processes on the candidate, including the pressure to function as a 'container' for projections of the group. Implications and recommendations for candidates and institutes are made for dealing helpfully with trainees who are affected by the process of dealing with a training analyst's ethical violations. Short-term and longer-term outcomes of the experience are considered.     

Pigeons' preference for free choice: number of keys versus key area.

In concurrent-chains schedules, pigeons prefer terminal links that provide two keys correlated with reinforcers (free choice) over those that provide only one key (forced choice), terminal-link reinforcement rates being equal. With same-size keys, free choice provides a larger area available for pecking. Preferences were examined using terminal links that differed in key number only (one or two) or key size only (small and medium or medium and large), or that equated the area of the two free-choice keys with that of the forced-choice key. Medium (standard) keys were typically preferred to small keys, but indifference was typically obtained between medium and large keys. The size preference usually overrode free-choice preference with one medium key pitted against two small keys, but free-choice preference was reliably observed with one large key pitted against two medium keys. In other words, preferences were a joint function of key number and key area, implying that free-choice preference is not reducible to preference for larger key areas. Free-choice preference requires separate keys rather than larger areas; the relevant behavioral units are the discriminated operants correlated with each terminal-link key rather than classes defined by topographical features such as area or perimeter.     

The relationships between family functioning and attachment orientations to post-traumatic stress symptoms among young adults who were evacuated from Gaza Strip settlements as adolescents

Background and Objectives: This study examined post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among young adults that were evicted from their residences in Gaza settlements (“Gush Katif”) as adolescents and actively participated in the resistance events. Furthermore, we examined the moderating role of exposure to forced relocation on the association between attachment orientations and family functioning and PTSD symptoms. Design: We conducted a correlative, cross-sectional study in 2013. Methods: Participants were Israeli evicted residents (ER group; N = 102), comparison groups of evicted nonresidents (ENR group; N = 27), and nonevicted nonresidents (NENR group; N = 53). All participants completed a battery of self-reported questionnaires. Results: The ER group reported a higher number of PTSD symptoms as compared to the comparison groups. However, ER participants did not differ from ENR and NENR participants in their perception of family functioning. Importantly, the group (ER vs. NENR) moderated the association between attachment-anxiety and PTSD symptoms and between family adaptability and PTSD symptoms. Conclusions: Nine years after the forced relocation from Gaza settlements, young adults that were evicted from their residences as adolescents suffer from PTSD symptoms that are more related to the relocation itself than the stress entailed in the resistance events.