Trust and trustworthiness in a sequential bargaining game

We use a two‐person extensive form bargaining game to explore individuals' trusting and reciprocal behavior and how those relate to their scores on a trust survey. In keeping with prior research, we find that the ‘self‐interested’ outcome is rejected by a majority of individuals. People who score high on the trust survey are both trusting and are also trustworthy, in that they reciprocate others' trust. But people with low‐trust scores often exhibit trust but are not trustworthy. These ‘inconsistent trusters’ seem to be interested in exploiting the trust and trustworthiness of others in increasing their own payoff. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Drivers' knowledge, attitudes, and behavior: a cross-sectional study

A cross-sectional survey was conducted by random duster sampling in the city of Tehran. Knowledge of the drivers was assessed with 6 questions about national traffic laws. Attitude was assessed on a 7-item scale of drivers' perceptions. Behavior was observed by a police officer on 13 areas of assessment. Correlations were low among these three scores. Drivers with advanced education had higher scores on behavior. Knowledge, attitude, and behavior of these drivers did not seem associated.     

Activation and integration of motor components in a short-term priming paradigm

The aim of the present research was to study the processes involved in knowledge emergence. In a short-term priming paradigm, participants had to categorize pictures of objects as either "kitchen objects" or "do-it-yourself tools". The primes and targets represented objects belonging to either the same semantic category or different categories (object category similarity), and their use involved gestures that were either similar or very different (gesture similarity). The condition with a SOA of 100ms revealed additive effects of motor similarity and object category similarity, whereas another condition with a SOA of 300ms showed an interaction between motor and category similarity. These results were interpreted in terms of the activation and integration processes involved in the emergence of mental representations.     

A note on monotone likelihood ratio of the total score variable in unidimensional item response theory

This note provides a direct, elementary proof of the fundamental result on monotone likelihood ratio of the total score variable in unidimensional item response theory (IRT). This result is very important for practical measurement in IRT, because it justifies the use of the total score variable to order participants on the latent trait. The proof relies on a basic inequality for elementary symmetric functions which is proved by means of few purely algebraic, straightforward transformations. In particular, flaws in a proof of this result by Huynh [(1994) . A new proof for monotone likelihood ratio for the sum of independent Bernoulli random variables. Psychometrika, 59, 77–79] are pointed out and corrected, and a natural generalization of the fundamental result to non‐linear (quasi‐ordered) latent trait spaces is presented. This may be useful for multidimensional IRT or knowledge space theory, in which the latent ‘ability’ spaces are partially ordered with respect to, for instance, coordinate‐wise vector‐ordering or set‐inclusion, respectively.     

A qualitative investigation of Muslim and Christian women's views of religion and feminism in their lives

This qualitative investigation explored a relatively understudied aspect of cultural diversity: feminism and religion in the lives of religiously diverse women. More specifically, structured interviews were used to investigate views of religion, women's issues, gender roles, culture, and feminism for a small group of Muslim and Christian women living in the United States. The data were analyzed using consensual qualitative research methods (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997). Findings indicated a complex relationship between feminism, gender roles, culture, and religion for these women with the majority of the Muslim women reporting that their religion supports feminist principles and identifying themselves as feminist. Christian women were less willing to endorse the feminist label. Implications for multicultural feminist practice are discussed.     

The use of behavioral skills training to improve staff performance of discrete trial training

Well‐trained staff are a prerequisite for successful implementation of treatment plans when working in human service contexts. The high rate of turnover makes the use of efficient and effective staff training all the more important. Previous research has used behavioral skills training to train teachers in correct implementation of discrete trial training of children with autism. They showed that a brief 10‐min procedure could effectively train staff and result in improved performance. The current study elaborated on previous work by using participants without prior exposure to the method, including treatment integrity data and testing for maintenance 1 month after training ended. The mean percentage of correct teaching responses for the three participants increased from 70%, 58%, and 66% during baseline to 97%, 96%, and 99%, respectively, following training. Results indicated that the training package was effective and the results were maintained 30 days later.     

Towards a humanistic approach to the Quran: new direction in contemporary Islamic thought

Historically, Muslim orthodoxy has regarded the Quran as God’s Word dictated to Muhammad through the mediation of the Angel Gabriel, and has thus maintained the corresponding argument that the Prophet played no role in shaping the content of the Quranic revelations. This paper discusses a project of what I shall refer to as ‘reforming theology’ within contemporary Islamic scholarship which stands in contrast to the dominant orthodox view of revelation and the nature of the Quran. In particular, the paper examines how several contemporary Muslim scholars, namely Fazlur Rahman (from Pakistan), Abdolkarim Soroush and Muhammad Mujtahed Shabestari (from Iran) and Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (from Egypt), challenge the widely accepted idea about the Quran being the literal Word of God. The paper argues that the project of these scholars represents a radically new direction in Islamic theology because of its strong emphasis on the human side of the Quran. It also shows that the implications of these scholars’ re-examination of traditional theories of revelation are not only limited to theological matters, or specifically the communicative relationship between God and His Prophet, but also have a number of consequences for the practice of exegesis.     

Some Reflections on William Lane Craig’s Critique of Islam

William Lane Craig has recently formulated a set of arguments that aim to undermine the rationality of Islamic theism. This paper will consider seven arguments that Craig deploys against Muslim belief. The seven arguments can be summarised as follows: (1) the Quran makes an egregious historical error by denying the crucifixion of Jesus; (2) the Quran contains legendary stories about Jesus; (3) the Quran is mistaken about the self‐understanding of Jesus; (4) the Quran misunderstands the Trinity; (5) the Islamic concept of God is morally deficient; (6) the Islamic concept of God is less plausible than a Trinitarian concept of God; and (7) the Muslim doctrine of salvation compromises God’s holiness and proves to be unattainable. I contend that Craig’s arguments, when examined closely, do not undermine the rationality of Islamic theism.     

The effects of acute stress and pubertal development on metabolic hormones in the rat

A dramatic change in stress responsiveness occurs during pubertal development such that stress-induced corticosterone secretion in prepubertal animals takes 45-60 min longer to return to baseline compared to adults. Though corticosterone is known to influence energy mobilization, it is presently unknown whether stressors affect other hormones important in energy utilization and metabolism differentially in animals before and after pubertal development. Therefore, we exposed prepubertal (28 days of age) and adult (77 days of age) male rats to a single 30 min session of restraint stress in either the light or dark phase of the animals' light-dark (LD) cycle and measured plasma glucose, insulin and thyroid hormones (thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3)). We found similar stress-induced increases in plasma glucose levels in prepubertal and adult animals in the LD phase of the LD cycle. We also found that prepubertal animals have lower circulating insulin and total and free T4 levels, but higher total and free T3 levels compared to adults in both the light and dark phases (LD). Interestingly, insulin and thyroid hormone levels were unaffected by acute stress at either age or time of day. These data indicate that, despite prepubertal animals showing an extended glucocorticoid stress response after a single acute exposure to stress, glucose levels are similarly affected by acute stress in prepubertal and adult animals. Furthermore, though stage of development significantly affects the levels of peripheral metabolic hormones such as insulin, T4 and T3, acute stress does not appreciably influence their secretion before or after puberty.     

Determinants of effective coping with cultural transition among expatriate children and adolescents

The present study examined the influence of family and parental work factors, personality, and attachment on the intercultural adjustment of expatriate children and adolescents (N=104). Children from families high in cohesion exhibited higher levels of adjustment than children from low cohesive families. Expatriate work satisfaction was significantly related to children's adjustment. Emotional Stability appeared as an independent predictor of adjustment. Attachment dominated as the strongest predictor of adjustment, whereby an ambivalent attachment style was negatively related to adjustment. Interestingly, personality and attachment moderated the influence of family- and work-related factors on adjustment, whereby the beneficial effects of a healthy family and work situation were particularly found among children high on the intercultural traits and high in secure attachment.