In life, people commonly face repeated decisions under risk or uncertainty. While normative economic models assume that people tend to make choices that maximize their expected utility, suboptimal behavior - in particular, probability matching - is frequently observed in research on repeated decisions. Probability matching is the tendency to match prediction probabilities of each outcome with the observed outcome probabilities in a random binary prediction task. For example, when people are faced with making with a sequence of predictions, such as repeatedly predicting the outcome of rolling a die with four sides colored green and two sides colored red, most people allocate about two-thirds of their predictions to green, and one-third to red. The optimal strategy, referred to as maximizing, would be to choose the outcome with the higher probability in every trial in the prediction task. Various causes for probability matching have been proposed during the past several decades. Here it is proposed that implicit adoption of a perfect prediction goal by decision makers might tend to elicit probability matching behavior. Thus, one factor that might affect the prevalence of probability matching behavior (investigated in Studies 1 and 2) is the type of performance goal. The manipulation in Study 1 contrasted single-trial prediction with prediction of four-trial sequences, which it is hypothesized might create an implicit perfect prediction goal for the sequence. In Study 2, three levels of goal were explicitly manipulated for each sequence: a perfect prediction goal, an 80% correct goal, and a 60% correct goal. In both studies it was predicted that more matching behavior would be observed for those who have a goal of perfect prediction than those who have a more reasonable (lower) goal. The results of both studies, conducted in an online worker marketplace, supported the goal-level hypothesis. The second factor proposed to affect the prevalence of probability matching is the type of conceptual schema describing the events to be predicted: independent events or complementary events. Study 3 investigated the effects of schema type and abstraction level of context on matching or maximizing behavior. Three abstraction levels of stories were included: abstract, concrete random devices, and real-world stories. The main hypothesis was that when the two options to be predicted are independent events, less matching and more maximizing behavior should be observed. Data from Study 3 supported the hypothesis that independent events tend to elicit more maximizing behavior. No effects of abstraction level were observed.

This study compared two major research strategies which have been used to classify assaultive criminal offenders as overcontrolled: (1) MMPI Overcontrolled-Hostility (O-H) scale scores and case history information; and, (2) statistical cluster analyses of MMPI profiles. The two procedures have been presumed to be assessing the same construct (i.e., overcontrolled hostility), although the reliability of the two procedures had not been assessed. A central question was whether subjects would be similarly classified as overcontrolled (OC) by both methods. / The subjects were 128 violent mentally disordered male offenders. Case history and O-H score, alone and together, and cluster analysis of MMPI clinical scales (non K-corrected) were used to classify subjects. The study tested six hypotheses aimed at determining whether an identifiable Controlled cluster would emerge, whether there was agreement or convergence between clinical classification as Overcontrolled and cluster analytic classification as Controlled, and whether there was a predicted association between O-H scores and Controlled cluster membership. These hypotheses were also tested using the revised and re-standardized MMPI-2 and the modified O-H scale, which were estimated from MMPI responses. / The hypotheses were supported using both the MMPI and the estimated MMPI-2. It was suggested that the two classification methods were similar but not identical in terms of the classification decisions they yielded and that the Controlled cluster is composed of both normal and Overcontrolled persons whereas the group classified based on O-H and case history as Overcontrolled is more homogeneous. Implications for assessment, treatment, and future research were discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-08, Section: B, page: 4485. / Major Professor: Edwin I. Megargee. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (March 2, 2006) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (honors)--Georgia State University, 2006. / 1 electronic text (34 p. : ill., forms) : digital, PDF file. Title from title screen. Sarah L. Cook, Timothy Renick, committee members. Description based on contents viewed Mar. 27, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 28-29).

Saskatchewan-based pre-service and in-service teachers knowledge of ADHD was assessed and data was collected to accumulate psychometric evidence for the modified K-ADHD (Jerome, Gordon, & Hustler, 1994) scale. Using results from a questionnaire administered to pre-service (n = 100) and in-service (n = 66) teachers, the current study did find a significant difference on the K-ADHD (Jerome et al., 1994) scale between groups. Divergent and convergent validity evidence was found for the K-ADHD (Jerome et al., 1994) for both groups. However, reliability estimates were questionable between in-service (á = .66) and pre-service (á = .82) teachers, possibly due to asymmetric outlier contamination. The evidence found for the K-ADHD (Jerome et al., 1994) scale suggests problems with the psychometrics of the instrument. Future implications and research are discussed.

In this thesis, helping behavior is defined as extra role behaviors that an employee performs voluntarily and contributes to organizational effectiveness such as improved productivity and co-worker performance (Organ, 1988). People who help others at work tend to experience increased job satisfaction, increased organizational commitment and decreased intentions to leave the job. Taking into consideration the benefits of helping outcomes to both employees and organizations, I developed six scales that measure helping using a multi-stage item-development procedure. Based on a theoretical model distinguishing emotional- and instrumental helping, a multidimensional measure could not be developed. In this study, however, empirical support was found for two helping scales and criteria of interest. Future directions and implications of this study are discussed.

Saskatchewan-based pre-service and in-service teachers knowledge of ADHD was assessed and data was collected to accumulate psychometric evidence for the modified K-ADHD (Jerome, Gordon, & Hustler, 1994) scale. Using results from a questionnaire administered to pre-service (n = 100) and in-service (n = 66) teachers, the current study did find a significant difference on the K-ADHD (Jerome et al., 1994) scale between groups. Divergent and convergent validity evidence was found for the K-ADHD (Jerome et al., 1994) for both groups. However, reliability estimates were questionable between in-service (á = .66) and pre-service (á = .82) teachers, possibly due to asymmetric outlier contamination. The evidence found for the K-ADHD (Jerome et al., 1994) scale suggests problems with the psychometrics of the instrument. Future implications and research are discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-89). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (PhD (Teaching and Training Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-89). Also available on the Internet.