Measuring Proximity Among Affect Profiles in Hermans' Self-Confrontation Method

In the Self-Confrontation Method (SCM), proximity relations among affect profiles of valuations are traditionally represented by means of Pearson's correlation coefficient. In this article, we address a variety of technical and practical problems when using a correlational measure as a means fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of constructivist psychology 2009-06, Vol.22 (3), p.237-252
Main Authors: van Geel, Rolf, De Mey, Hubert
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:In the Self-Confrontation Method (SCM), proximity relations among affect profiles of valuations are traditionally represented by means of Pearson's correlation coefficient. In this article, we address a variety of technical and practical problems when using a correlational measure as a means for studying the structure of a person's valuation system. We consider the difference between shape and distance measures of proximity in the context of the SCM and present some numerical examples that illustrate the drawbacks of using correlation. We corroborate these theoretical exercises with an empirical study using real SCM data, and elaborate on the advantages of using a Euclidean distance measure as an alternative to correlation.
ISSN:1072-0537
1521-0650
DOI:10.1080/10720530902915150