Systematic Withdrawal

Although AGM theory contraction (Alchourrón et al., 1985; Alchourrón and Makinson, 1985) occupies a central position in the literature on belief change, there is one aspect about it that has created a fair amount of controversy. It involves the inclusion of the postulate known as Recovery. As a result, a number of alternatives to AGM theory contraction have been proposed that do not always satisfy the Recovery postulate (Levi, 1991, 1998; Hansson and Olsson, 1995; Fermé, 1998; Fermé and Rodriguez, 1998; Rott and Pagnucco, 1999). In this paper we present a new addition, systematic withdrawal, to the family of withdrawal operations, as they have become known. We define systematic withdrawal semantically, in terms of a set of preorders, and show that it can be characterised by a set of postulates. In a comparison of withdrawal operations we show that AGM contraction, systematic withdrawal and the severe withdrawal of Rott and Pagnucco (1999) are intimately connected by virtue of their definition in terms of sets of preorders. In a future paper it will be shown that this connection can be extended to include the epistemic entrenchment orderings of Gärdenfors (1988) and Gärdenfors and Makinson (1988) and the refined entrenchment orderings of Meyer et al. (2000).     

Smiling and self‐presentation of men and women for job photographs

The present research studied the factors that influence the smiling behaviour of men and women. We assumed that men and women who actively engage in self‐presentation use smiling as a strategy to take advantage of the expectations of others in order to realize their own goals. In the research situation, the participants imagined that they wanted to obtain a certain part‐time job. We expected that gender‐role expectations, the gender‐typing and status of the job in question, and the importance of social contacts for carrying out the job would influence the extent to which men and women would smile for a photo to be sent with a job application. The results partly support this expectation: men and women smiled more in response to a low‐status job than to a high‐status job; women smiled more in response to a job in which social contacts are important than to a job in which social contacts are unimportant; and women smiled more than men in response to a feminine low‐status job in which social contacts are important. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The efficacy of a short version of a cognitive-behavioral treatment followed by booster sessions for binge eating disorder

This waitlist-controlled study evaluated the efficacy of a short version of a group CBT for BED followed by booster sessions after the active treatment phase. Thirty-six females with BED were randomly assigned to CBT (eight weekly sessions during active treatment plus five booster sessions during follow-up) or a waitlist condition. At the end of the active treatment, binge eating was significantly reduced relative to waitlist. Furthermore, at 12-month follow-up short-term CBT produced significant improvements in binge eating symptoms relative to baseline. Findings suggest that the short-term CBT followed by booster sessions may provide a valuable treatment option for patients with BED.     

Secondary student motivation orientations and standards‐based achievement outcomes

Background Individual student characteristics such as competence motivation, achievement values, and goal orientations have been related in meaningful ways to task attainment. The standards‐based National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) was developed in New Zealand with the intention of strengthening connections between student learning behaviours and achievement outcomes. Aim This study investigates interrelationships between self‐reported motivation orientations and achievement outcomes on the NCEA, a standards‐based, criterion‐referenced assessment system for senior secondary students. Sample Participants were 3,569 Year 11–Year 13 students at 20 nationally representative secondary schools in New Zealand. Method Survey data were factor analysed followed by regression analyses to examine relationships across demographic factors, self‐report survey results, and NCEA achievement outcomes. Results Several theoretically meaningful self‐reported motivation orientations were strongly related to actual achievement including doing my best (high achievement) and doing just enough (low achievement). These dimensions varied by gender, ethnicity, and school zone decile. Conclusions These findings illustrate how particular design features of a standards‐based assessment system relate to student attitudes and achievement. They also highlight the need for longitudinal research to investigate patterns over time as well as the possible impact of interventions to alter motivation and/or academic task performance.     

Law enforcement preferences for PTSD treatment and crisis management alternatives

Evidence-based treatments (EBT) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remain underutilized. Analog research, however, indicates that patients may be more amenable to receiving EBT for PTSD than utilization rates suggest. This study sought to extend previous studies by investigating PTSD treatment preferences among law enforcement individuals (i.e., active duty officers, cadets, criminal justice students). We asked 379 participants, with varying trauma histories, to read a police traumatic event and imagine they had developed PTSD. Participants rated the credibility of six treatment options which they might encounter in a treatment setting, and chose their most and least preferred treatments. Next, they evaluated a widely used debriefing intervention aimed at preventing PTSD. Almost 90% of participants chose exposure or Cognitive Processing Therapy as their first or second most preferred treatment, and they rated these interventions as significantly more credible than the other four treatment options. The sample showed ambivalence regarding the perceived efficacy of debriefing but found the rationale credible. This study supports previous analog research indicating that patients may be more interested in EBT than indicated by utilization rates, and suggests that law enforcement departments should consider offering EBT to officers who develop PTSD.     

Motivation of men and women in mathematics and language

Based on the multiple goal perspective it is argued that mastery and performance goals contribute to different motivational variables-mastery goals to self-efficacy and performance goals to social comparison-that contribute through affect to achievement. The first aim of this study was to determine whether this model is applicable irrespective of sex and subject. The expected relationships occurred for female students studying Dutch and mathematics, and for male students studying Dutch. The second aim was to test a model in which the perceived gender appropriateness of the subject affects the pursued achievement goal. We expected that subjects perceived as gender-appropriate--Dutch for female and mathematics for male students--would result in strong relationships between mastery goals, self-efficacy, affect, and achievement, and that less gender-appropriate subjects--mathematics for women and Dutch for men--would result in strong relationships between performance goals, social comparison, affect, and achievement. Several of the expected relationships occurred for female and males students studying Dutch and mathematics. Furthermore, female students obtained higher course grades in Dutch than male students, while male students studying mathematics scored higher on self-efficacy and affect than female students.     

Juries,Gender, and Assault Weapons1

Firearms appearance can have psychological import in legal proceedings by keying aggressive ideations, impacting sentencing and gender‐based attributions. We presented mock jurors with a homeowner's defensive gun use. Reasonable arguments were for shooting or not in the scenario by the defendant. The firearm varied in type. Assault rifle use led to harsher legal outcomes than did other firearms. A female defendant was at more risk than a male. In the last experiment, a police shooting scenario was tested. In that case, the male officer was at more risk than the female officer when wielding the assault rifle. Weapons and gender interactions were, for the most part, congruent with social cognitive theories of attribution and weapons priming of aggressive ideation.     

Determining the environment: a modal logic for closed interaction

The aim of the work is to provide a language to reason about Closed Interactions, i.e. all those situations in which the outcomes of an interaction can be determined by the agents themselves and in which the environment cannot interfere with they are able to determine. We will see that two different interpretations can be given of this restriction, both stemming from Pauly Representation Theorem. We will identify such restrictions and axiomatize their logic. We will apply the formal tools to reason about games and their regulation.