Why Do Eyewitnesses Make So Many Mistakes?

Previous research on eyewitness identification has demonstrated high rates of error. Subjects have frequently identified innocent targets as the "criminal" they had seen earlier (false identifications) or had falsely claimed that the criminal was not in the line-up (misses). The present study examines whether identification error rates are inflated by pressures in the typical experimental situation to "make a guess" regardless of one's confidence in the accuracy of the response. It was found that providing an explicit option for subjects to respond "don't know" significantly decreased false identifications and misses with no cost to the proportion of correct identifications. The addition of written and verbal instructions emphasizing the acceptability of the "don't know" option produced a marginally significant further decline in identification errors, again without cost to correct identifications. The discussion considered implications of the present results for experimental and actual police line-up procedures.     

Why So Many Questions? Measurement Issues and the Attitudinal Self-Control Scale

The Grasmick et al. (1993) scale is one of the most frequently used measures in criminology. Regardless of how commonly the scale is used, questions remain about its dimensionality and the nature of forming a composite measure from its 24 individual components. This study examines whether a composite measure is the most effective method for using the scale with a series of analyses using different approaches to combining—or not combining—these measures. Based on data from a sample of over 1,500 college students, the results indicate that a single-factor composite of the 24 items is the least effective approach in predicting crime/deviance. These results, instead, suggest using the individual components separately, multiple factors, or a composite measure made from just three of the original items lead to significant improvements over the one-factor solution.     

Why So Low?

Empirical evidence indicates that women philosophers tend to submit their work to journals substantially less often than their male colleagues. This paper points out that this difference in submission behavior comes with other specific aspects of women philosophers’ behavior, such as a tendency to be reluctant to participate in discussions, to be willing to do work low in prestige, and to specialize in certain research topics, and it argues that these differences can be understood as indirect effects of social biases: namely, effects on the working behavior of members of targeted social groups. Recent findings from philosophy journals’ book review sections and from other academic disciplines known to suffer from gender problems, especially from STEM disciplines, lend additional weight to this hypothesis.     

Are Residential and Workplace Concentration Correlated for Immigrants? Evidence for Sweden

In immigrant-receiving countries, immigrants are often concentrated in residential neighbourhoods with high concentrations of immigrants. In addition, they are concentrated in workplaces with high concentrations of immigrants. Many researchers have assumed that these are two sides of the same coin, so that policy affecting residential segregation could be expected to influence workplace segregation. Using Swedish register data for 2007, we directly assess whether immigrants who live in residential neighbourhoods concentrated with immigrants also work in firms concentrated with immigrants. We find that there is very little correlation between residential and workplace segregation, suggesting that policy could profitably target both types of segregation separately.     

How Do Organizations and Social Policies ‘Acculturate’ to Immigrants? Accommodating Skilled Immigrants in Canada

While the idea of acculturation (Berry 1997) was originally proposed as the mutual change of both parties (e.g., immigrants and the host society), the change processes of host societies are neglected in research. A grounded theory study explored the efforts of human service organizations to 'acculturate' to an increasingly diverse immigrant population, through interviews conducted with service providers serving Mainland Chinese immigrants. Acculturation efforts of human service organizations (mezzo-level acculturation) were often needs-driven and affected by the political will and resultant funding programs (macro-level forces). Even with limitations, human service organizations commonly focused on hiring Mainland Chinese immigrants to reflect the changing demographics of their clientele and creating new programs to meet the language and cultural backgrounds of the clients. To contextualize these organizational efforts, an analysis of how policy changes (macro-level acculturation) interact with organizational practice is presented. Finally, the meaning of acculturation for the host society is discussed.     

Immigrants’ Transnational Entrepreneurial Activities: the Case of Ghanaian Immigrants in Canada

Immigrant entrepreneurship comes in two forms: domestic and transnational entrepreneurship. Domestic immigrant entrepreneurs depend on the host society for business success while transnational immigrant entrepreneurs depend on the contacts and partners in their countries of origin and other countries. In recent years, immigrants’ entrepreneurial activity has moved from the domestic to the transnational level because of the simultaneous business activities that such entrepreneurs conduct between their home and host countries. Transnational entrepreneurship has become one of the pathways that immigrants use to settle and integrate into the host society’s labor market, and at the same time contribute to their countries of origin. From this perspective, this paper explores the causes, nature, and practices of transnational entrepreneurial activities of Ghanaian immigrants in Canada. Using in-depth interviews and focus groups, the study finds that transnational entrepreneurship has become an essential strategy among Ghanaian immigrant entrepreneurs due to the large and growing number of immigrant communities and demand for ethnic products and services that are not produced in Canada. The study also finds that transnational entrepreneurship has become an avenue for immigrants to connect and create ties with Ghana and contribute to its economic development.     

How Many Americans Attend Worship Each Week? An Alternative Approach to Measurement

Opinion polls indicate that over 40 percent of Americans attend worship services each week. However, attendance counts in several North American counties and Roman Catholic dioceses suggest that worship attendance may be much lower. In this article a new measurement strategy is used to estimate total weekly worship attendance. First, using a variety of resources we develop an estimate of the total number of religious congregations in the United States by religious family. Contrary to many published sources, the total number of congregations is estimated at just over 330,000. Second, using known population values and sample-based attendance counts we develop estimates of average weekly worship attendance for religious congregations by religious family. The resulting totals suggest that fewer than 22 percent of Americans attend worship services each week. This lower level of attendance provides further evidence that Americans tend to overreport worship participation and are less religiously active than the polls show.     

Why do women underperform under stereotype threat? Evidence for the role of negative thinking

This study investigated the role of negative thinking as a potential mediator of performance deficits under stereotype threat. After being assigned to a stereotype-threat or a no-threat condition, 60 female participants were asked to complete a difficult math task. Using the thought-listing technique, women under stereotype threat reported a higher number of negative thoughts specifically related to the test and to mathematics compared with women in the no-threat condition. Moreover, women under stereotype threat also showed a sharp decrease in performance that (a) was most pronounced in the second half of the test and (b) was mediated by the increase in negative thinking.     

Do Consequentialists Have One Thought Too Many?

In this paper I defend consequentialism against the objection that consequentialists are alienated from their personal relationships through having inappropriate motivational states. This objection is one interpretation of Williams' claim that consequentialists will have "one thought too many". Consequentialists should cultivate dispositions to act from their concern for others. I argue that having such a disposition is consistent with a belief in consequentialism and constitutes an appropriate attitude to personal relationships. If the consequentialist has stable beliefs that friendship is justifiable in consequentialist terms, that friendship requires acting from concern for others, and furthermore if the consequentialist finds that she is concerned for others, then she will be able to form a disposition which involves acting from her concern for others without having one thought too many.     

What Do You Do with Misleading Evidence?

Gilbert Harman has presented an argument to the effect that if S knows that p then S knows that any evidence for not- p is misleading. Therefore S is warranted in being dogmatic about anything he happens to know. I explain, and reject, Sorensen's attempt to solve the paradox via Jackson's theory of conditionals. S is not in a position to disregard evidence even when he knows it to be misleading.     

Why Do Certain States of Affairs Call Out for Explanation? A Critique of Two Horwichian Accounts

Philosophia - Motivated by examples, many philosophers believe that there is a significant distinction between states of affairs that are striking and therefore call for explanation and states of...     

Can Children with Autism Recover? If So, How?

Although Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are generally assumed to be lifelong, we review evidence that between 3% and 25% of children reportedly lose their ASD diagnosis and enter the normal range of cognitive, adaptive and social skills. Predictors of recovery include relatively high intelligence, receptive language, verbal and motor imitation, and motor development, but not overall symptom severity. Earlier age of diagnosis and treatment, and a diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified are also favorable signs. The presence of seizures, mental retardation and genetic syndromes are unfavorable signs, whereas head growth does not predict outcome. Controlled studies that report the most recovery came about after the use of behavioral techniques. Residual vulnerabilities affect higher-order communication and attention. Tics, depression and phobias are frequent residual co-morbidities after recovery. Possible mechanisms of recovery include: normalizing input by forcing attention outward or enriching the environment; promoting the reinforcement value of social stimuli; preventing interfering behaviors; mass practice of weak skills; reducing stress and stabilizing arousal. Improving nutrition and sleep quality is non-specifically beneficial.     

Why Do People Use Facebook?

The social networking site, Facebook, has gained an enormous amount of popularity. In this article, we review the literature on the factors contributing to Facebook use. We propose a model suggesting that Facebook use is motivated by two primary needs: (1) the need to belong and (2) the need for self-presentation. Demographic and cultural factors contribute to the need to belong, whereas neuroticism, narcissism, shyness, self-esteem and self-worth contribute to the need for self-presentation. Areas for future research are discussed.