2 Taxonomy is always a contentious issue because the world does not come to us in neat little packages (S. Personality has been conceptualized from a variety of theoretical perspectives, and at various levels of Each of these levels has made unique contributions to our understanding of individual differences in behavior and experience. However, the number of personality traits, and scales designed to measure them, escalated without an end in sight (Goldberg, 1971). Researchers, as well as practitioners in the field of personality assessment, were faced with a bewildering array of personality scales from which to choose, with little guidance and no overall rationale at hand. What made matters worse was that scales with the same name often measure concepts that are not the same, and scales with different names often measure concepts that are quite similar. Although diversity and scientific pluralism are useful, the systematic accumulation of findings and the communication among researchers became difficult amidst the Babel of concepts and scales. Many personality researchers had hoped that they might devise the structure that would transform the Babel into a community speaking a common language. However, such an integration was not to be achieved by any one researcher or by any one theoretical perspective. As Allport once put it, " each assessor has his own pet units and uses a pet battery of diagnostic devices " (1958, p. 258). What personality psychology needed was a descriptive model, or taxonomy, of its subject matter. One of the central goals of scientific taxonomies is the definition of overarching domains within which large numbers of specific instances can be understood in a simplified way. Thus, in personality psychology, a taxonomy would permit researchers to study specified domains of personality characteristics, rather than examining separately the thousands of particular attributes that make human beings individual and unique. Moreover, a generally accepted taxonomy would greatly facilitate the accumulation and communication of empirical findings by offering a standard vocabulary, or nomenclature. After decades of research, the field is approaching consensus on a general taxonomy of personality traits, the " Big Five " personality dimensions. These dimensions do not represent a particular theoretical perspective but were derived from analyses of the natural-language terms people use to describe themselves 3 and others. Rather than replacing all previous systems, the Big Five taxonomy serves an integrative function because it can represent the various and diverse systems of personality …

The Big Five Trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives.

This personal historical article traces the development of the Big-Five factor structure, whose growing acceptance by personality researchers has profoundly influenced the scientific study of individual differences. The roots of this taxonomy lie in the lexical hypothesis and the insights of Sir Francis Galton, the prescience of L. L. Thurstone, the legacy of Raymond B. Cattell, and the seminal analyses of Tupes and Christal. Paradoxically, the present popularity of this model owes much to its many critics, each of whom tried to replace it, but failed. In reaction, there have been a number of attempts to assimilate other models into the five-factor structure. Lately, some practical implications of the emerging consensus can be seen in such contexts as personnel selection and classification.

/pdf/the-structure-of-phenotypic-personality-traits-2a2319vija.pdf

The Structure of Phenotypic Personality Traits

Pedagosko i psiholosko testiranje i procjenjivanje spadaju među najvažnije doprinose znanosti o ponasanju nasem drustvu i pružaju temeljna i znacajna poboljsanja u odnosu na ranije postupke. Iako se ne može ustvrditi da su svi testovi dovoljno usavrseni niti da su sva testiranja razborita i korisna, postoji velika kolicina informacija koje ukazuju na ucinkovitost kvalitetnih instrumenata u onim situacijama u kojima je njihovo koristenje potkrijepljeno validacijskim podacima. Pravilna upotreba testova može dovesti do boljih odluka o pojedincima i programima nego sto bi to bio slucaj bez njihovog koristenja, a također i ukazati na put za siri i pravedniji pristup obrazovanju i zaposljavanju. Međutim, losa upotreba testova može dovesti do zamjetne stete nanesene ispitanicima i drugim sudionicima u procesu donosenja odluka na temelju testovnih podataka. Cilj Standarda je promoviranje kvalitetne i eticne upotrebe testova te uspostavljanje osnovice za ocjenu kvalitete postupaka testiranja. Svrha objavljivanja Standarda je uspostavljanje kriterija za evaluaciju testova, provedbe testiranja i posljedica upotrebe testova. Iako bi evaluacija prikladnosti testa ili njegove primjene trebala ovisiti prvenstveno o strucnim misljenjima, Standardi pružaju okvir koji osigurava obuhvacanje svih relevantnih pitanja. Bilo bi poželjno da svi autori, sponzori, nakladnici i korisnici profesionalnih testova usvoje Standarde te da poticu druge da ih također prihvate.

Standards for educational and psychological testing

On robust estimation of the location parameter

Measurement and control of response bias.

The latent class model for two-way two-mode data can easily be extended to the case of three-way three-mode data as a tool to cluster the elements of one mode on the basis of two other modes simultaneously. However, as the number of manifest variables is typically very large in this type of analysis, the number of conditional probabilities rapidly increases with the number of latent classes, which may lead to an overparameter-ized model. To solve this problem, we introduce a class of constrained latent class models in which the conditional probabilities are a nonlinear function of basic parameters that pertain to each of the two modes. The models can be regarded as a probabilistic extension of related deterministic models or as a generalization of related probabilistic models. For parameter estimation, an EM algorithm can be used to locate the posterior mode, and a Gibbs sampling algorithm can be used to compute a sample of the posterior distribution. Furthermore, model selection criteria and measures to check the fit of the model are discussed. Finally the models are applied to study the types of reactions that occur when one is angry at a person in a certain situation.

Constrained Latent Class Analysis of Three-Way Three-Mode Data

Probability Matrix Decomposition models may be used to model observed binary associations between two sets of elements. More specifically, to explain observed associations between two elements, it is assumed that B latent Bernoulli variables are realized for each element and that these variables are subsequently mapped into an observed data point according to a prespecified deterministic rule. In this paper, we present a fully Bayesian analysis for the PMD model making use of the Gibbs sampler. This approach is shown to yield three distinct advantages: (a) in addition to posterior mean estimates it yields (1 — α)% posterior intervals for the parameters, (b) it allows for an investigation of hypothesized indeterminacies in the model's parameters and for the visualization of the best possible reduction of the posterior distribution in a low-dimensional space, and (c) it allows for a broad range of goodness-of-fit tests, making use of the technique of posterior predictive checks. To illustrate the approach, ...

/pdf/bayesian-inference-with-probability-matrix-decomposition-4ik3ngd07q.pdf

Bayesian inference with probability matrix decomposition models

The identification of differential item functioning (DIF) is often performed by means of statistical approaches that consider the raw scores as proxies for the ability trait level. One of the most popular approaches, the Mantel–Haenszel (MH) method, belongs to this category. However, replacing the ability level by the simple raw score is a source of potential Type I error inflation, not only in the presence of DIF but also when DIF is absent and in the presence of impact. The purpose of this article is to present an alternative statistical inference approach based on the same measure of DIF but such that the Type I error inflation is prevented. The key notion is that for DIF items, the measure has an outlying value that can be identified as such with inference tools from robust statistics. Although we use the MH log odds ratio as a statistic, the inference is different. A simulation study is performed to compare the robust statistical inference with the classical inference method, both based on the MH sta...

A robust outlier approach to prevent type I error inflation in Differential Item Functioning

A robust outlier approach to prevent Type I error inflation in DIF

The first issue of the Journal of Intelligence is devoted to a discussion based on the following two questions: 1. What are the most important scientific issues in the domain of human intelligence? 2. What are the most promising new ideas and approaches in the study of human intelligence? [...]

/pdf/intelligence-where-to-look-where-to-go-5fvhtrza4o.pdf

Paul De Boeck

Papers

Constrained Latent Class Analysis of Three-Way Three-Mode Data

Bayesian inference with probability matrix decomposition models

A robust outlier approach to prevent type I error inflation in Differential Item Functioning

A robust outlier approach to prevent Type I error inflation in DIF

Intelligence, Where to Look, Where to Go?