S-Curves Psychological Research and Statistics

Students in many fields learn that relationships between variables may be described as a simple one-to-one correspondence or linear. We often see tables of correlations in journal articles and presentations. Unless otherwise stated, the correlations appear to assume a linear relationship exists. As one variable increases so does the other or as one variable increases, the other declines.

But we also learn that some relationships are nonlinear such as the forgetting curve (remember Ebbinghaus) or the learning curve depicted as an S-shape.

The classic learning curve illustrates the relationship between learning and experience and is often presented as an S-curve. At first, progress is slow—the curve of learning rises a little. Then, with experience, learning rises rapidly up to a point when it seems to level off at a person’s level of proficiency. This curve has many names such as progress curve, startup curve, and experience curve.

However, we should follow the data rather than assume a learning curve is applicable. Perhaps there is no relationship or another curve is a better fit.

A curve I drew in Excel

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Personal Self-Concept Questionnaire (PSQ)

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Mathematics Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Questionnaire (MSEAQ)

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Spiritual Bypass Scale (SBS-13)

Assessment name: Spiritual Bypass Scale-13 (SBS-13) Scale overview: To assess the observed spiritual bypassing phenomenon, Fox et al. (2017) developed the 13 item Spiritual Bypass Scale . Authors: Fox, Cashwell, and Picciotto [ Read more about Spiritual Bypassing in Psychotherapy] Response Type: The 13 items are rated on a four-point scale of agreement. Scale items Data analyses from two ethnically diverse US adult samples supported two factors (Psychological Avoidance, PA; Spiritualizing, SP). PA example: When I am in pain, I believe God will deliver me from it SP example: When someone I know is in trouble, I believe it is because they have done something wrong spiritually. Psychometric properties Cronbach’salphas: Total scale = .85, PA = .82; Sp = .75. The total SBS score was associated with the ASPIRES subscales except for connectedness. PA was associated with depression and SP with stress and anxiety (DASS-21). The over...

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