Social and ecological validity: Conceptional and methodological issues in infant research

1998 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 247
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Infant Research

scholarly journals Simplicity and validity in infant research

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan F. Kominsky ◽  
Kelsey Lucca ◽  
Ashley J Thomas ◽  
Michael C. Frank ◽  
Kiley Hamlin
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Developmental Research ◽  
Infant Cognition ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Infant Research ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Measurement Validity

Infancy researchers have often drawn rich conclusions about early capacities to understand abstract concepts like "causality" or "prosociality" from infants' responses to highly simplified and artificial stimuli, leading to questions about the validity of studies utilizing these methods. Indeed, do these stimuli effectively illustrate abstract concepts to infant participants? And if they do, why not assess infants’ cognitive capacities using ecologically valid stimuli of the sort that infants encounter in their everyday lives? Here, using examples from infant cognitive and social developmental research, we make explicit the underlying logic of using simplified stimuli in studies with infant populations by discussing the tradeoff infancy researchers are forced to make between measurement validity and ecological validity. Though we agree that concerns about the validity of simplified stimuli that emerge from this trade-off are founded, we argue that results from these studies should not be dismissed purely on ecological grounds. Rather, we present guidelines for productively challenging the validity of infant research in ways that further our understanding of infant cognition.

scholarly journals (No) competition between deverbal nouns and nominalized infinitives in Spanish

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-283
Author(s):  
Barbara Schirakowski
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Argument Realization ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Corpus Data

This paper explores the distribution of deverbal nouns and nominalized infinitives that are built on transitive verbs and occur in eventive interpretations. The study is empirically oriented and based on an acceptability judgment experiment in which argument realization and interpretational possibilities are manipulated as the independent variables. The results show that deverbal nouns prefer but are not limited to realizing the lower argument of the base, whereas nominalized infinitives are mostly restricted to realizing the higher argument. Furthermore, deverbal nouns turn out to be insensitive with regard to the distinction between episodic and generic event readings, while nominalized infinitives are shown to be specialized on generic interpretations. Deverbal nouns and nominalized infinitives are, thus, mostly neither paradigmatically interchangeable nor complementarily distributed as nominalized infinitives reach the same degree of acceptability as deverbal nouns only under very narrow conditions. With regard to the ecological validity of the experimental approach, a comparison to corpus data indicates that high frequency clearly correlates with acceptability, but that the same does not hold for low frequency and unacceptability, that is forms that are not (sufficiently) attested in the corpus do not necessarily receive low ratings within the judgment task. The study, thus, also addresses a number of methodological issues in the study of event nominals.

Some Methodological Issues in Neuroethics: The Case of Responsibility and Psychopathy

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 681-693
Author(s):  
Luca Malatesti ◽  
John McMillan
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
The Other ◽  
Legal Responsibility ◽  
Brain Anatomy ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Moral Understanding ◽  
Controlled Conditions ◽  
Psychological Capacities

AbstractThere are some distinct methodological challenges, and possible pitfalls, for neuroethics when it evaluates neuroscientific results and links them to issues such as moral or legal responsibility. Some problems emerge in determining the requirements for responsibility. We will show how philosophical proposals in this area need to interact with legal doctrine and practice. Problems can occur when inferring normative implications from neuroscientific results. Other problems arise when it is not recognized that data about brain anatomy or physiology are relevant to the ascription of responsibility only when they are significantly correlated with the psychological capacities contemplated by the legal formulations of responsibility. We will demonstrate this by considering two significant cases concerning psychopathy. Some paradigms that aim at measuring higher-order capacities, such as moral understanding, have limited validity. More robust paradigms for the study of learning in restricted controlled conditions, on the other hand, have limited ecological validity across individuals and context to be of any use for the law.

The Vase on the Mantelpiece: The Golden Section in Context

1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir J. KonečNi
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Golden Section ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Traditional Methods ◽  
General Preference ◽  
Technical Details ◽  
Section Production

The golden section (GS) was investigated in three experiments ( N = 91, 87, and 73 psychology students, respectively), using both traditional methods (line bi-section, production of rectangles), and novel stimuli (contours and cutouts of vases constructed by the GS and non-GS principles) and tasks (the placement of “vases” on an imaginary and a laboratory, purpose-built, mantelpiece). In five different tasks, which varied considerably in technical details, there was absolutely no evidence for the significance of the GS, nor was there a general preference for the GS vases. Instead, the search for balance seemed to motivate the subjects' mantelpiece placement choices, guided by the area (“weight”), rather than the shape, of the vases. In addition, the results cast serious doubt on the generalizability of conclusions based on the research on rectangles to real-world aesthetic objects and choices. Other substantive and methodological issues, especially with regard to the future research on the GS, and to ecological validity, were discussed.

Neuropsychology in the Real World

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 233-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Peper ◽  
Simone N. Loeffler
Keyword(s):  
Neuropsychological Assessment ◽  
Real World ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Traditional Assessment ◽  
Life Data ◽  
Real Life Data ◽  
Assessment And Treatment

Current ambulatory technologies are highly relevant for neuropsychological assessment and treatment as they provide a gateway to real life data. Ambulatory assessment of cognitive complaints, skills and emotional states in natural contexts provides information that has a greater ecological validity than traditional assessment approaches. This issue presents an overview of current technological and methodological innovations, opportunities, problems and limitations of these methods designed for the context-sensitive measurement of cognitive, emotional and behavioral function. The usefulness of selected ambulatory approaches is demonstrated and their relevance for an ecologically valid neuropsychology is highlighted.

Assessment of health related issues in individuals’, couples’, and families’ daily life

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 146-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meinrad Perrez ◽  
Michael Reicherts ◽  
Yves Hänggi ◽  
Andrea B. Horn ◽  
Gisela Michel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Lower Variability

Abstract. Most research in health psychology is based on retrospective self reports, which are distorted by recall biases and have low ecological validity. To overcome such limitations we developed computer assisted diary approaches to assess health related behaviours in individuals’, couples’ and families’ daily life. The event- and time-sampling-based instruments serve to assess appraisals of the current situation, feelings of physical discomfort, current emotional states, conflict and emotion regulation in daily life. They have proved sufficient reliability and validity in the context of individual, couple and family research with respect to issues like emotion regulation and health. As examples: Regarding symptom reporting curvilinear pattern of frequencies over the day could be identified by parents and adolescents; or psychological well-being is associated with lower variability in basic affect dimensions. In addition, we report on preventive studies to improve parental skills and enhance their empathic competences towards their baby, and towards their partner.

Narratives and Goals

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 303-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon M. Laham ◽  
Yoshihisa Kashima
Keyword(s):  
High Achievement ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Behavioral Task ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Goal Priming ◽  
Behavioral Assimilation ◽  
Construct Accessibility

Goals are a central feature of narratives, and, thus, narratives may be particularly potent means of goal priming. Two studies examined two features of goal priming (postdelay behavioral assimilation and postfulfillment accessibility) that have been theorized to distinguish goal from semantic construct priming. Across the studies, participants were primed with high achievement, either in a narrative or nonnarrative context and then completed either a behavioral task, followed by a measure of construct accessibility, or a behavioral task after a delay. Indicative of goal priming, narrative-primed participants showed greater postdelay behavioral assimilation and less postfulfillment accessibility than those exposed to the nonnarrative prime. The implications of goal priming from narratives are discussed in relation to both theoretical and methodological issues.

Effects of Psychotherapy on Brain Activation Patterns in Anxiety Disorders

2016 ◽  
Vol 224 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Straube
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Neuronal Plasticity ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
New Learning ◽  
Analytical Strategies ◽  
Sample Characteristics

Abstract. Psychotherapy is an effective treatment for most mental disorders, including anxiety disorders. Successful psychotherapy implies new learning experiences and therefore neural alterations. With the increasing availability of functional neuroimaging methods, it has become possible to investigate psychotherapeutically induced neuronal plasticity across the whole brain in controlled studies. However, the detectable effects strongly depend on neuroscientific methods, experimental paradigms, analytical strategies, and sample characteristics. This article summarizes the state of the art, discusses current theoretical and methodological issues, and suggests future directions of the research on the neurobiology of psychotherapy in anxiety disorders.

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