Reversing arrows in the classic tri-variate X-M-Y mediation models as a test to check whether one mediation model is superior to another is inadmissible. Presenting evidence that one trivariate mediation model yields a significant indirect effect, whereas one with some reversed arrows does not, is not proof or even evidence that one model should be preferred. In fact, the significance of the in...

Researchers often conduct mediation analysis in order to indirectly assess the effect of a proposed cause on some outcome through a proposed mediator. The utility of mediation analysis stems from its ability to go beyond the merely descriptive to a more functional understanding of the relationships among variables. A necessary component of mediation is a statistically and practically significan...

SUSY breaking and its mediation are among the most important problems of supersymmetric generalizations of the standard model. The idea of gravity-mediated SUSY breaking, proposed in 1982 by Arnowitt, Chamseddine and Nath, and independently by Barbieri, Ferrara and Savoy, fits naturally into superstring theory, where it can be realized at both classical as well as quantum levels. This talk is d...

As a part of a larger-scale research, the present study aimed to use the main tenets of sociocultural perspective; namely, mediation, internalization, zone of proximal development, and the activity theory, to analyze the novice and expert teachers’ professional development through personal practical theorizing as an awareness raising technique. Furthermore, the study attempted to identify the c...

Motivation toward physical exercise (MPE) and trait self-control (TSC) were identified as key predictors of subjective wellbeing (SWB). However, there has not been any research designed to examine the mediating role of TSC in the relationship between MPE and SWB. The present study utilizes self-determination theory, control-process theory of self-regulation, and theory of multiple pathways of T...

This paper reviews concepts, principles, and tools that have led to a coherent mathematical theory that unifies the graphical, structural, and potential outcome approaches to causal inference. The theory provides solutions to a number of pending problems in causal analysis, including questions of confounding control, policy analysis, mediation, missing data, and the integration of data from div...

Research has consistently shown that males play violent video games more frequently than females, but factors underlying this gender gap have not been examined to date. The present approach examines the assumption that males play violent video games more, because they anticipate more enjoyment and less guilt from engaging in virtual violence than females. This may be because males are less empa...