scholarly journals Temporary prey storage along swarm columns of army ants: an adaptive strategy for successful raiding?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilario Povoas de Lima ◽  
Serafino Teseo ◽  
Raquel Leite Castro de Lima ◽  
Ronara de Souza Ferreira Chaline ◽  
Nicolas Gerard Chaline
Keyword(s):  
Social Insects ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Adaptive Strategy ◽  
Army Ants ◽  
Single Item ◽  
Collection Rate ◽  
The Past ◽  
Army Ant ◽  
Adaptive Value ◽  
Multiple Item

While pillaging brood of other social insects, Eciton army ants often accumulate prey in piles (or caches) along their foraging trails. Descriptions scattered throughout the past 100 years link this behavior to foraging-related migration. However, no empirical work has yet investigated its adaptive value. Here we asked whether caches facilitate prey flow from foraging fronts to temporary nests (or bivouacs) in the hook-jawed army ant, Eciton hamatum. We counted workers arriving at caches with prey from foraging fronts and departing caches towards the bivouac, quantifying their prey loads. While more workers carrying single-item prey loads arrived at rather than left caches towards the bivouac, ants carrying multiple-item prey loads arrived at and departed at the same rate. This probably resulted from raiders depositing prey in safe locations and rapidly returning to the foraging front, while other workers safely transported prey to the bivouac in multiple-item loads. This cache-mediated traffic partitioning probably allows maximizing the prey collection rate, and may be a counter-adaptation to the strategies prey colonies deploy to defend their brood from army ants.

scholarly journals If Mathematical Psychology Did Not Exist We Might Need to Invent It: A Comment on Theory Building in Psychology

2021 ◽  
pp. 174569162097476
Author(s):  
Danielle J. Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Work ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Statistical Problem ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Mathematical Formalism ◽  
Mathematical Psychology ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Subject

It is commonplace, when discussing the subject of psychological theory, to write articles from the assumption that psychology differs from the physical sciences in that we have no theories that would support cumulative, incremental science. In this brief article I discuss one counterexample: Shepard’s law of generalization and the various Bayesian extensions that it inspired over the past 3 decades. Using Shepard’s law as a running example, I argue that psychological theory building is not a statistical problem, mathematical formalism is beneficial to theory, measurement and theory have a complex relationship, rewriting old theory can yield new insights, and theory growth can drive empirical work. Although I generally suggest that the tools of mathematical psychology are valuable to psychological theorists, I also comment on some limitations to this approach.

scholarly journals Recent Studies on Common Ownership, Firm Behavior, and Market Outcomes

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-38
Author(s):  
Martin C. Schmalz
Keyword(s):  
Firm Behavior ◽  
Fast Rate ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Estimation Methods ◽  
Reduced Form ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Competitive Effects ◽  
The Past ◽  
Common Ownership ◽  
Meaningful Research

The literature on competitive effects of common ownership has grown at a fast rate in the past two years. Anticompetitive effects have been confirmed with alternative reduced-form and structural estimation methods, in different industries, geographies, and jurisdictions. Multiple independent studies have disproven early critiques of the literature. Other papers document the heterogeneity of common ownership effects on competition across markets and industries. Important advances were made on the study of the economic mechanisms and governance channels that implement anti-competitive incentives. New theory refines the interpretation of existing empirical work. Access to high-quality ownership and product-market data remains a bottleneck for meaningful research in the area.

scholarly journals How to use C-OAR-SE to design optimal standard measures

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (11) ◽  
pp. 1924-1941 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Rossiter
Keyword(s):  
Future Research ◽  
Alternative Measure ◽  
Single Item ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multiple Item ◽  
Measure Design ◽  
Alternative Measures ◽  
Accepted Practice ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Convergent Validation

Purpose This paper aims to extend Rossiter’s C-OAR-SE method of measure design (IJRM, 2002, p. 19, p. 4, pp. 305-335; EJM, 2011, p. 45, p. 11, p. 12, pp. 1561-1588) by proposing five distinct construct models for designing optimally content-valid multiple-item and single-item measures. Design/methodology/approach The paper begins by dismissing convergent validation, the core procedure in Nunnally’s (1978) and Churchill’s (1979) psychometric method of measure design which allows alternative measures of the same construct. The method of dismissal is the mathematical demonstration that an alternative measure, no matter how highly its scores converge with those from the original measure, will inevitably produce different findings. The only solution to this knowledge-threatening problem is to agree on an optimal measure of each of our major constructs and to use only that measure in all future research, as is standard practice in the physical sciences. The paper concludes by proposing an extension of Rossiter’s C-OAR-SE method to design optimal standard measures of judgment constructs, the most prevalent type of construct in marketing. Findings The findings are, first, the mathematical dismissal of the accepted practice of convergent validation of alternative measures of the same construct, which paves the way for, second, the proposal of five new C-OAR-SE-based construct models for designing optimal standard measures of judgment constructs, three of which require a multiple-item measure and two of which a single-item measure. Practical implications The common practice of accepting alternative measures of the same construct causes major problems for the social sciences: when different measures are used, it becomes impossible, except by remote chance, to replicate findings; meta-analyses become meaningless because the findings are averaged over different measures; and empirical generalizations cannot be trusted when measures are changed. These problems mean that we cannot continue to accept alternative measures of the constructs and that, for each construct, an optimal standard measure must be found. Originality/value The ideas in this paper, which have untold value for the future of marketing as a legitimate science, are unique to Rossiter’s C-OAR-SE method of measure design.

Using Fan Passion to Predict Attendance, Media Consumption, and Social Media Behaviors

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirk Wakefield
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
National Football League ◽  
Social Identification ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Single Item ◽  
Consumption Behavior ◽  
Sport Consumption ◽  
Multiple Item ◽  
Measurement Practices ◽  
Radio News

Passion drives sport consumption, but we lack valid relevant measures of passion. The results of two studies provide evidence of a reliable and valid multiple-item passion scale that may be used in the study of sports-related consumption behavior. In Study 1 a multi-item fan passion scale was compared with established social identification fan classification scales to provide evidence of discriminant and predictive validity. Because the passion scale outperformed other relevant fan classification measures, in Study 2 the fan passion scale was compared with current single-item measurement practices employed by National Football League and Major League Baseball teams, and some academics, to classify fans. Findings confirmed the veracity of the multi-item passion measure over categorical and interval fan avidity measures used by leagues and syndicated research providers. Taken together, the studies validate an accurate measure of fan passion that may be used to segment and predict fan behaviors, including consumption of traditional media (television, radio, news, and the team’s website) and consumption of the team’s official social media outlets.

scholarly journals Covariation between personalities and individual differences in coping with stress: Converging evidence and hypotheses

2010 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 728-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Carere ◽  
Doretta Caramaschi ◽  
Tim W. Fawcett
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Stress Physiology ◽  
Behavioural Ecology ◽  
Coping With Stress ◽  
The Past ◽  
Adaptive Value ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Working Hypotheses

Abstract In the past decade there has been a profusion of studies highlighting covariation between individual differences in stress physiology and behavioural profiles, here called personalities. Such individual differences in ways of coping with stress are relevant both in biomedicine, since different personalities may experience a different stress and disease vulnerability, and in behavioural ecology, since their adaptive value and evolutionary maintenance are the subject of debate. However, the precise way in which individual stress differences and personalities are linked is unclear. Here we provide an updated overview of this covariation across different species and taxa, consider its functional significance and present working hypotheses for how behavioural and physiological responses to stress might be causally linked, affecting life-history traits such as dispersal and life-span.

Single-Item vs Multiple-Item Measures of Stage of Change in Compliance with Prescribed Medications

2004 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher L. Cook ◽  
Matthew Perri
Keyword(s):  
Health Behaviors ◽  
Stages Of Change ◽  
Transtheoretical Model ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Stage Of Change ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Single Item ◽  
Multiple Item ◽  
Change Measure

The Stage of Change construct from the Transtheoretical Model of behavioral change has been widely utilized in the assessment of various health behaviors. The majority of these tests measure the Stage of Change construct using the single-item, multiple-choice format. This study validated the use of a single-item measure in measuring readiness to comply with taking a prescribed medication. A sample of 161 subjects tested the multiple-item Stage of Change measure, then a refined multiple-item survey was tested with 59 subjects. With the latter survey, discriminating subjects at the differing stages of change dimensions was difficult. A correlation of .91 was found for stage classifications between ratings on the single-item and multiple-item scales. The use of the single-item measure seems reasonable when assessing stage of change in compliance with prescribed medication.

Single-Item Versus Multiple-Item Measurement Scales: An Empirical Comparison

1998 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 898-915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald G. Gardner ◽  
L. L. Cummings ◽  
Randall B. Dunham ◽  
Jon L. Pierce
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Comparison ◽  
Measurement Scales ◽  
Single Item ◽  
Multiple Item
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document