Children’s awareness and understanding of dangers at home

This study concerns children’s awareness and understanding of dangers at home. Children aged five to seven years responded to photographs depicting child models exposed to a range of dangers which may be encountered at home—involving the road, a cooker (stove), a knife, electricity, fire, medicine and climbing. Generally, the children were found to be well aware of the dangers in all the circumstances, with small age effects noted for the road, medicine, climbing, cooker and knife situations. Understanding of the consequences of exposure to danger varied across situations and a tendency to underestimate the seriousness of the potential harm was noted. This research was conducted while the author was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Psychology, University of Leeds and was supported by a University of Leeds Senate Research Grant to Professor A.J. Chapman.     

Learned helplessness, attribution theory, and the nature of cognitions: A critical evaluation

Seligman’s learned helplessness model of depression has received a great deal of attention in the literature during recent years. The model claims that depressives typically invoke internal, stable, and global causal explanations for negative life events. An examination of the experimental evidence suggests that the model does not enjoy unequivocal empirical support. Differences between depressed and nondepressed individuals in terms of their cognitions are found to be both smaller and less consistent than hypothesized, and the causal role ascribed to depressive attributional style is questioned. It is suggested that these inconsistencies arise because of the nature of the experimental work carried out and the failure to examine attributions in ecologically sound environments. Having already turned to attribution theory in order to resolve earlier inconsistencies, it is argued that the model could further benefit from an examination of that part of attribution theory concerned with the circular nature of causal explanation. This review arose from the empirical work of the Leeds Family Research Centre. Department of Psychology, University of Leeds, and in particular has benefited considerably from discussions with Peter Stratton, Dorothy Heard, Helga Hanks, and Chris Brewin.     

Religion and Forgiveness from a Hong Kong Chinese Perspective

This study investigated the relationship between religion and forgiveness in a sample of Hong Kong Chinese teachers (n=230) and students (n=714). Findings indicated some influence from Chinese cultural values in the conceptualization of forgiveness. Religious affiliation was the strongest predictor of concepts of forgiveness, whereas religious practice predicted attitudes toward “forgivingness” and the practice of forgiveness. No significant difference in forgiveness between believers and non-believers in real life situations was reported. Implications for future research on forgiveness are discussed.We wish to acknowledge the University of Hong Kong Committee on Research and Conference Grants for funding our research. Portions of this paper were presented at the 3rd Annual Mid-Year Research Conference on Religion and Spirituality sponsored by Division 36 of the American Psychological Association and the Department of Pastoral Counseling at Loyola College in Maryland April 1–2, 2005.     

Friend or foe: A brief examination of the ethics of corporate sponsored research at universities

In his paper entitled “Ethics and the Funding of Research and Development at Universities”¹ Spier examines some of the potential problems of the relationship between 1) corporate sponsors of research and 2) the universities (and faculty) that receive that funding. Citing “He who pays the piper, calls the tune,” Spier suggests that a better way of funding research would be to “set up a dedicated publicly sponsored research establishment” with the stated goal of achieving particular technical or engineering objectives. (Spier cited the successful Animal Virus Research of the UK as an example). Spier states that researchers at these establishments are “not subjected to the triple requirement to teach, research and administer as are university members, so they do not have to face the same ethical challenges of the academics.” This paper will examine the stated dangers of public/corporate research partnerships and whether the proposed alternative shares equally troubling ethical issues.     

Prevalence and situational causes of stereotyped behaviors in blind infants and preschoolers

Parents of 85 blind children aged from 10 months to the 6th year of life were asked regarding the frequency, duration and typical situations of the occurrence of various stereotypic behavors in their children. The Bielefeld Parents' Questionnaire for Blind and Sighted Infants and Preschoolers was used as the instrument of measurement. All of the children displayed at least one stereotypic behavior; most displayed several stereotypic behaviors according to the parents' reports. Eye poking and body rocking dominated within the prevalence hierarchy. Four typical situations could be identified in which stereotypic behaviors were shown: monotony, arousal, demand, and during feeding or eating. The results suggested that repetitive hand and finger movements, stereotypic manipulation of objects, and making a face(s) mainly occur within arousal situations whereas eye poking, whimpering, and sucking thumbs or fingers especially are linked to monotony.This research was carried out within a research program on early intervention and family care for blind infants and preschoolers. This program is part of the Special Research Unit on Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence (Sonderforschungsbereich No. 227) at the University of Bielefeld funded by the German Research Association (DFG). The authors would like to thank Gail Weingart and Jonathan Harrow (University of Bielefeld) for translating this paper from German.     

Alternative approaches to factorial invariance

Special cases of the factor analysis model are developed for four selection situations. Methods are suggested whereby parameters in each case can be estimated using a maximum likelihood procedure recently developed by Jöreskog. Also, a numerical illustration is presented for each case.This research was supported by a grant from the University Research Council, Vanderbilt University.     

Can drug patents be morally justified?

This paper offers a few elements of an answer to the question to what extent drug patents can be morally justified. Justifications based on natural rights, distributive justice and utilitarian arguments are discussed and criticized. The author recognizes the potential of the patents to benefit society but argues that the system is currently evolving in the wrong direction, particularly in the field of drugs. More than a third of the world’s population has no access to essential drugs. The working of the patent system is an important determinant of access to drugs. This paper argues that drug patents are not easily justified and that the ‘architecture’ of the patent system should be rethought in view of its mission of benefiting society. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an international conference, “The Ethics of Intellectual Property Rights and Patents,” held in Warsaw, Poland on 23–24 April, 2004. The author is a part-time Senior Research Fellow of the Fund for Scientific Research, Department of Philosophy and Moral Science, Ghent University (Belgium) and a part-time Professor, Department of General Economics, University of Antwerp (Belgium).     

The use of the placebo effect in clinical medicine — ethical blunder or ethical imperative?

The current debate in medical ethics on placebos focuses mainly on their use in health research. Whereas this is certainly an important topic the discussion tends to overlook another longstanding but nevertheless highly relevant question, namely if and how the placebo effect should be employed in clinical practice. This paper describes the way the placebo effect is perceived in modern medicine and offers some historical reflections on how these perceptions have developed; discusses elements of a definition of the placebo effect; and suggests some conditions under which making use of the therapeutic potential of the placebo effect can be ethically acceptable, if not warranted. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an international conference, “Placebo: Its Action and Place in Health Research Today,” held in Warsaw, Poland on 12–13 April, 2003. Nikola Biller-Andorno, MD, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Goettingen, Germany. Dr. Biller-Andorno also serves as an ethicist for the World Health Organization (WHO). This paper does not necessarily reflect the views of the World Health Organization.     

The professional engineer: Virtues and learning

The ethical codes of the professional engineering bodies identify the responsibilities of the engineer. Of equal importance to the codes are the virtues which enable the engineer to fulfil these responsibilities. After briefly reviewing such virtues this paper argues that the systematic learning of virtues is possible in a formal way through learner centred learning. Central to this learning experience is the development of integrity which focuses the other major virtues and enables reflection upon them. A review of undergraduate courses suggests how this can be achieved. Rev’d. Dr. Simon Robinson is a lecturer in the Centre for Business and Professional Ethics at the University of Leeds.     

Perceptions,emotions, and behavioral decisions in conflicts that escalate to violence

The present study tests the notion that cost-benefit considerations guide individuals’ emotional and behavioral responses when confronting an aggressive male stranger. Data was derived from hypothetical situations, with varying levels of opponent dangerousness and aggression severity, presented to 212 male and female students. Results indicate that the less dangerous the opponent and/or the more severe his aggression, the more intense are the respondents’ expected emotions of anger and fear and the higher the intended severity of respondents’ counter-aggression. While the expected emotional experience for female participants is more intense than for males, the intended behavioral counter-aggression is more severe for male participants than for females. Finally, an association between emotional experience and behavioral response was found only among males and it was mediated by opponent levels of dangerousness and aggression severity. Findings support the cost-benefit notion and emphasize the importance of studying aggression from an event perspective. Zeev Winstok, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Studies, University of Haifa, and a Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Society, University of Haifa, Israel.