What is a latent variable?

Jayden Mckay

Jayden Mckay

Answered question

2022-04-07

What is a latent variable?

Answer & Explanation

Madalynn Acosta

Madalynn Acosta

Beginner2022-04-08Added 15 answers

Explanation:
Consider the following sentence: “Einstein would not have beenable to come up with his had he not possessed such anextraordinary intelligence.” What does this sentence express? Itrelates observable behavior (Einstein’s writing ) to anunobservable attribute (his extraordinary intelligence), and it doesso by assigning to the unobservable attribute a causal role inbringing about Einstein’s behavior. In psychology, there are manyconstructs that play this type of role in theories of human behavior;examples are constructs like extraversion, spatial ability, selfefficacy,and attitudes. Such variables are usually referred to aslatent variables. It is common to investigate the structure andeffect of unobservables like intelligence through the analysis ofinterindividual differences data by statistically relating covariationbetween observed variables to latent variables. This is done, forexample, in the widely used factor model. The idea is that although the fit of a latent variable model to the data may not prove the existence of causally operating latent variables, the model does formulate this as a hypothesis; consequently, the fit of such models can be adduced as evidence supporting this hypothesis. Finally, it is often suggested that the type of causal relation tested in latentvariable modeling is similar to the relation between Einstein’sintelligence and behavior in the above example; that is, the latentvariable exerts influence at the level of the individual.
Given the intuitive appeal of explaining a wide range of behaviorsby invoking a limited number of latent variables, it is not surprising that latent variables analysis has become a popular technique in post behaviorist psychology. The conceptual frameworkof latent variables analysis, however, is older than cognitivepsychology and originates with the work of Spearman (1904), whodeveloped factor analytic models for continuous variables in thecontext of intelligence testing. The basic statistical idea of latentvariables analysis is simple. If a latent variable underlies a numberof observed variables, then conditionalizing on that latent variablewill render the observed variables statistically independent. This isknown as the principle of local independence. The problem oflatent variables analysis is to find a set of latent variables thatsatisfies this condition for a given set of observed variables.
Blaine Stein

Blaine Stein

Beginner2022-04-09Added 1 answers

Latent variables are variables that are not directly observed but are rather inferred, through a mathematical model, from other variables that are observed.

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