So far in this course we have dealt entirely with the evolution of characters that are controlled by simple Mendelian inheritance at a single locus. There are notes on the course website about gametic disequilibrium and how allele frequencies change at two loci simultaneously, but we didn’t discuss them. In every example we’ve considered we’ve imagined that we could understand something about evolution by examining the evolution of a single gene. That’s the domain of classical population genetics. For the next few weeks we’re going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach we’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery. If you know a little about the history of evolutionary biology, you may know that after the rediscovery of Mendel’s work in 1900 there was a heated debate between the “biometricians” (e.g., Galton and Pearson) and the “Mendelians” (e.g., de Vries, Correns, Bateson, and Morgan). Biometricians asserted that the really important variation in evolution didn’t follow Mendelian rules. Height, weight, skin color, and similar traits seemed to

Human biochemical genetics

Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review.

Daniel Kahneman received the Nobel Prize in economics sciences in 2002, December 8, Stockholm, Sweden. This article is the edited version of his Nobel Prize lecture. The author comes back to the problems he has studied with the late Amos Tversky and to debates conducting for several decades already. The statement is based on worked out together with Shane Federik the quirkiness of human judgment. Language: ru

Maps of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economics

The author reviews research showing that repetitive thought (RT) can have constructive or unconstructive consequences. The main unconstructive consequences of RT are (a) depression, (b) anxiety, and (c) difficulties in physical health. The main constructive consequences of RT are (a) recovery from upsetting and traumatic events, (b) adaptive preparation and anticipatory planning, (c) recovery from depression, and (d) uptake of health-promoting behaviors. Several potential principles accounting for these distinct consequences of RT are identified within this review: (a) the valence of thought content, (b) the intrapersonal and situational context in which RT occurs, and (c) the level of construal (abstract vs. concrete processing) adopted during RT. Of the existing models of RT, it is proposed that an elaborated version of the control theory account provides the best theoretical framework to account for its distinct

/pdf/constructive-and-unconstructive-repetitive-thought-1cx5otpxi0.pdf

Constructive and Unconstructive Repetitive Thought.

The objective of the present study was to construct and validate a short-form version of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS). Two Dutch samples were used to construct and cross-validate the factorial structure of a 12-item Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form (SCS–SF). The SCS-SF was then validated in a third, English sample. The SCS–SF demonstrated adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.86 in all samples) and a near-perfect correlation with the long form SCS (r ≥ 0.97 all samples). Confirmatory factor analysis on the SCS–SF supported the same six-factor structure as found in the long form, as well as a single higher-order factor of self-compassion. The SCS–SF thus represents a reliable and valid alternative to the long-form SCS, especially when looking at overall self-compassion scores. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Key Practitioner Message:

• The 12-item Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form (SCS–SF) in Dutch and English offers an economical alternative to the long Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) to measure self-compassion. Although the original long form of the SCS is reduced to half, the SCS–SF is reliable and has the same factorial structure as the original scale.

http://depts.washington.edu/uwcssc/sites/default/files/hw00/d40/uwcssc/sites/default/files/Self-Compassion%20Scale.pdf

Construction and factorial validation of a short form of the Self-Compassion Scale.

Social Problem Solving: Theory and Assessment.

Optimism and pessimism as partially independent constructs: relationship to positive and negative affectivity and psychological well-being

Restricted (confirmatory) and unrestricted (exploratory) factor analyses were used to investigate the factor structure of the Social Problem-Solving Inventory (SPSI; D'Zurilla & Nezu, 1990). The SPSI is based on a theoretical model consisting of two general components (problem orientation and problem-solving skills) which are further divided into seven primary subcomponents (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of problem orientation and four specific problem-solving skills). Thus, both a two-factor model and a hierarchical model with seven first-order factors and two second-order factors were tested. The results provided only modest support for the two-factor model, and the hierarchical model failed to show substantial improvement over this model. Further analyses using exploratory as well as confirmatory methods found that an alternative five-factor model was best for the SPSI in the sense of goodness of fit, parsimony, and cross-validation. The implications of these results for social problem-solving theory and assessment are discussed.

A factor-analytic study of the Social Problem-Solving Inventory: An integration of theory and data

Weighted least-squares confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor-analytic procedures were used to assess the dimensionality of three self-report instruments designed to measure optimism and pessimism: the Life Orientation Test (LOT), the Hopelessness Scale (HS), and the Optimism and Pessimism Scale (OPS) The LOT was found to be bidimensional, the HS unidimensional, and the OPS multidimensional The HS was interpreted as measuring a unipolar pessimism dimension Factor analyses performed on an item subset from the OPS that fit the definition of optimism and pessimism as generalized outcome expectancies also supported the two-dimensional model of optimism and pessimism Differential correlations between separate optimism and pessimism indices and a measure of psychological stress provided partial further support for a two-dimensional model of optimism and pessimism

Assessing the dimensionality of optimism and pessimism using a multimeasure approach

We introduce a family of goodness-of-fit statistics for testing composite null hypotheses in multidimensional contingency tables. These statistics are quadratic forms in marginal residuals up to order r. They are asymptotically chi-square under the null hypothesis when parameters are estimated using any asymptotically normal consistent estimator. For a widely used item response model, when r is small and multidimensional tables are sparse, the proposed statistics have accurate empirical Type I errors, unlike Pearson’s X2. For this model in nonsparse situations, the proposed statistics are also more powerful than X2. In addition, the proposed statistics are asymptotically chi-square when applied to subtables, and can be used for a piecewise goodness-of-fit assessment to determine the source of misfit in poorly fitting models.

/pdf/limited-information-goodness-of-fit-testing-in-2htv8s0239.pdf

Albert Maydeu-Olivares

Papers

Social Problem Solving: Theory and Assessment.

Optimism and pessimism as partially independent constructs: relationship to positive and negative affectivity and psychological well-being

A factor-analytic study of the Social Problem-Solving Inventory: An integration of theory and data

Assessing the dimensionality of optimism and pessimism using a multimeasure approach

Limited Information Goodness-of-fit Testing in Multidimensional Contingency Tables