Crime, criminals, and cures: medical model revisited

David Lykken's target article assesses the causes of crime and advocates a controversial 'cure'—parental licensure. Although Lykken gets many of the facts about criminals right, ultimately the disease metaphor breaks down. Crime requires three things—motivated offenders ('criminals'), suitable targets or victims, and the absence of capable guardians to prevent the act. Typical of medical model approaches, failure to consider the convergence in time and space of the three necessary elements for crime results in a misdiagnosis. In this invited commentary, I briefly note three reasons why Lykken's cure, along with the medical model in general, is unlikely to bear fruit.     

Commuters and marauders: an examination of the spatial behaviour of serial criminals

The demographic characteristics of serial offenders that distinguish between the commuter and the marauder offence styles were examined. Proposed by Canter and Larkin (1993) these two styles represent competing models of criminal spatial behaviour under which the home base plays a role in offence site selection. Data on serial burglars, arsonists and sex offenders were extracted from the criminal records maintained by the NSW Police Service. The offence style of each offender's crime series was identified in order to relate the offence style to the demographic variables, and to examine the offender's first and last offences in a series. A commuter offence style was more likely to be adopted by burglars and generally by adult males. A marauding offence style was apparent in sex offenders and metropolitan based offenders. There was a progression in the distance travelled to offend across all crime types, as the last offence was located further from the home base by comparison with the first. These findings serve to validate the conceptual distinction between commuter and marauder offence styles. Several implications for further research are addressed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How knowing and doing inform an autobiography: relations among preschoolers' theory of mind,narrative, and event memory skills

Research on the development of autobiographical memory in children has revealed the importance of two seemingly separate but related factors: Theory of mind, or the ability to know what another can and cannot know, and narrative skill, or the ability to tell a coherently structured story. The present research study with 22 preschoolers examined the extent to which each factor predicts two separate components of autobiographical memory ability: (1) the content of memory and (2) the structure of the memory narrative. As hypothesized, we found that theory of mind skills predicted the ‘how’ or structure of the children's fictional story narratives, whereas narrative skills predicted the ‘how much’ or content of the children's memory. Implications for the development of autobiographical memory are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Abortion,boxing and zionism: Politics and the APA

Political resolutions of the American Psychological Association (APA) are critically examined. A sampling of the political resolutions of the APA is provided. Two major issues are addressed: (1) under what conditions it is proper for the APA to make political resolutions; and (2) whether the process by which these resolutions are made is just and reasonable. Finally, we offer suggestions for a more tempered approach that emphasizes the explicit role of scientific data conditions it is proper for the APA to make political resolutions; and (2) whether the process by which these resolutions are made is just and reasonable. Finally, we offer suggestions for a more tempered approach that emphasizes the explicit role of scientific data.     

The APA Style Converter: a Web-based interface for converting articles to APA style for publication

The APA Style Converter is a Web-based tool with which authors may prepare their articles in APA style according to the APAPublication Manual (5th ed.). The Converter provides a user-friendly interface that allows authors to copy and paste text and upload figures through the Web, and it automatically converts all texts, references, and figures to a structured article in APA style. The output is saved in PDF or RTF format, ready for either electronic submission or hardcopy printing.     

Computers,Radiation, and Ethics

The reduction of the levels of the electromagnetic fields surrounding and emanating from computer screens is discussed in relation to ethical issues of risk reduction, in particular where the factual basis for the actions taken is nonconclusive. The technicaland scientific background is reviewed briefly. Some empirical approaches for determining risks, for example, the method of contingent valuations, are reviewed, and their ethical implications are discussed. When both the risk level and the determination of the certainty of the risk level is unknown, it is not considered responsible to further the work on reduction of the levels of the electromagnetic fields. The present state of knowledge does not seem to warrant further action regarding these fields. It is suggested that the focus of endeavors be directed toward otherconcems, in particular to image quality and the work situation.     

Freud's Leonardo: psychobiography and autobiography of genius.

In his creation of a psychobiography of one genius and the hidden autobiographic analysis of another, Freud exemplifies what he described in the study: "Kindly nature has given the artist the ability to express his most secret mental impulses, which are hidden even from himself, by means of the works that he creates" (p. 107).     

APA 2002 ethics, amphibology, and the release of psychological test records: a counterperspective to Erard

APA ethics have sought to uphold the practice of psychology and protect its invaluable contribution to psychological assessment, namely the development and validation of tests and other psychometric measures. Faced with formidable challenges from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) regulations, the 2002 revision of the American Psychological Association (APA) ethical standards abandoned its protective stance. It makes previously protected material (i.e., answers, notes about testing, other forms of raw data, scoring, and test items included on protocols with answers) almost completely accessible to clients and others. Without any professional protections, the worldwide dissemination of these materials via the Internet is virtually assured. In this article, I examine the confused language of Ethical Standard 9.04 (a) with its permissive language and concatenated use of the or conjunction. I evaluate the release of test materials in light of nonmaleficence as both an aspirational principle and an enforceable standard (3.04). Relying on official statements from APA and other prestigious organizations, I document the substantial harm to clients, the community, and the profession of psychology in eroding test security.     

Reconsolidation: a brief history, a retrieval view, and some recent issues

This review briefly traces some of the history of the phenomenon of what has come to be called "reconsolidation." The early findings of retrograde amnesia for an old but reactivated memory led to several interesting but largely behaviorally oriented studies. With only a few sporadic exceptions, research in the area languished until about 2000, when several articles caught the attention of the neuroscience community and led to a number of studies examining the phenomenon at several different levels of analysis. We consider several of the current issues generated by those studies, present a retrieval based model that may account for some findings, and indicate some possible new directions on this topic.     

Computers, education, and behavioral research: A significant interaction

This article reviews the use of computers in education and its relation to psychology. In addition to reviewing the role of behavioral research in the design and use of microcomputer based learning materials in the classroom, this review considers the insights which the use of such technology can offer into current perspectives on learning. The interaction between psychology and educational computing is one that will have benefits for both domains.     

Neuroticism, extraversion and meaning of life: A comparative study of criminals and non-criminals

This study attempts to examine possible connections between neuroticism, extraversion and the meaning of life. A population consisting of 446 subjects, 140 incarcerated criminals and 306 non-criminals, was examined. A negative correlation was found between the meaning of life and neuroticism. No connection was found between extraversion and the meaning of life. It was found that only in specific cases can criminal solutions be a substitute for the meaning of life.     

Spiritual pain: a brief overview and an initial response within the Christian tradition

The author notes that spiritual pain is widespread, both within individuals and society. Drawing on personal experiences and a literature survey, he offers an overview of current work on spiritual pain. As distinct from palliative caregivers, he suggests that spiritual pain can be noticed, but is difficult to define. Drawing on some of the Church's spiritual masters, the author offers a broad typology for spiritual pain, claiming that current methods for attending to spiritual pain are too complex to be useful. He therefore offers, and briefly explores, the image of retreat for attending to spiritual pain--compassionate hospitality, tempered by a form of "tough love" that enables the retreatAnt to embrace, welcome, and dialogue with pain. He suggests that essential features within such an image include an experience of support; a safe and sacred space, a sense of freedom; appropriate expressions of reassurance, and opportunities for forgiveness and reconciliation.     

The symptomatic psychosis of Friedrich Nietzsche, made evident by his last attempt at an autobiography

Nietzsche's autobiography gestates neither conflicts, nor life problems, nor matter suppressed from his subconscious, nor are the speech distortions of the schizophrenic patient to be found. In all, analysis allows with certainty the conclusion that is was written by a sick person suffering from a psycho-organic disorder of the kind Bonhoeffer referred to by the general term "symptomatic psychosis".     

On authenticity: the question of truth in construction and autobiography

Freud was occupied with the question of truth and its verification throughout his work. He looked to archaeology for an evidence model to support his ideas on reconstruction. He also referred to literature regarding truth in reconstruction, where he saw shifts between historical fact and invention, and detected such swings in his own case histories. In his late work Freud pondered over the impossibility of truth in reconstruction by juxtaposing truth with ‘probability’. Developments on the role of fantasy and myth in reconstruction and contemporary debates over objectivity have increasingly highlighted the question of ‘truth’ in psychoanalysis. I will argue that ‘authenticity’ is a helpful concept in furthering the discussion over truth in reconstruction. Authenticity denotes that which is genuine, trustworthy and emotionally accurate in a reconstruction, as observed within the immediacy of the analyst/patient interaction. As authenticity signifies genuineness in a contemporary context its origins are verifiable through the analyst’s own observations of the analytic process itself. Therefore, authenticity is about the likelihood and approximation of historical truth rather than its certainty. In that respect it links with Freud’s musings over ‘probability’. Developments on writing ‘truths’ in autobiography mirror those in reconstruction, and lend corroborative support from another source.