Hazard function effects on promoting self-control in variable interval time-based interventions in rats

The present experiments investigated properties of time-based interventions used to increase self-control. Rats received impulsive-choice assessments before and after interventions that consisted of different distributions of delays to reinforcement. In Experiment 1, rats received an intervention with an increasing hazard function where delays were more evenly distributed, a decreasing hazard function where delays were mostly short, or a constant hazard function where delays were exponentially distributed. Surprisingly, rats that received the decreasing hazard function made the most self-controlled choices. Response rates during intervention trials showed that rats anticipated reinforcement based on the shape of the distributions they received. In Experiment 2, rats received an intervention with a decreasing hazard function with a steep slope or a shallow slope. Both time-based interventions increased self-control and produced similar response-rate patterns, indicating that the slope of the decreasing hazard function may not play a strong role in intervention efficacy. While this research aligns with previous literature showing that time-based interventions improved self-control, exposure to short delays produced the biggest improvements. Ultimately, exposure to short delays may increase the subjective value of the larger–later choice while occasional long delays may promote the ability to wait, which may have important implications for translational applications.     

No bare particulars

There are predicates and subjects. It is thus tempting to think that there are properties on the one hand, and things that have them on the other. I have no quarrel with this thought; it is a fine place to begin a theory of properties and property-having. But in this paper, I argue that one such theory—bare particularism—is false. I pose a dilemma. Either bare particulars instantiate the properties of their host substances or they do not. If they do not, then bare particularism is both unmotivated and false. If they do, then the view faces a problematic—and, I shall argue, false—crowding consequence.     

Religion and the Limits of Liberalism

This is the editors' preface to a special issue of Philosophia on 'Religion and Limits of Liberalism'. It begins by noting the challenges which the 'return' of religions to liberal democracies poses to the liberal commitment to respect citizens’ freedom and equality. Then, with particular reference to Rawls' theory of liberal politics, it situates the papers in relation to three different senses of liberal ‘respect’ that are challenged by contemporary religions – one understood in terms of the justification of political power, another as tolerance of diversity, and the third in terms of freedom from interference.     

Deviant ERP response to spoken non-words among adolescents exposed to cocaine in utero

Concern for the impact of prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) on human language development is based on observations of impaired performance on assessments of language skills in these children relative to non-exposed children. We investigated the effects of PCE on speech processing ability using event-related potentials (ERPs) among a sample of adolescents followed prospectively since birth. This study presents findings regarding cortical functioning in 107 prenatally cocaine-exposed (PCE) and 46 non-drug-exposed (NDE) 13-year-old adolescents.PCE and NDE groups differed in processing of auditorily presented non-words at very early sensory/phonemic processing components (N1/P2), in somewhat higher-level phonological processing components (N2), and in late high-level linguistic/memory components (P600).These findings suggest that children with PCE have atypical neural responses to spoken language stimuli during low-level phonological processing and at a later stage of processing of spoken stimuli.     

Pacemaker deactivation: withdrawal of support or active ending of life?

In spite of ethical analyses assimilating the palliative deactivation of pacemakers to commonly accepted withdrawings of life-sustaining therapy, many clinicians remain ethically uncomfortable with pacemaker deactivation at the end of life. Various reasons have been posited for this discomfort. Some cardiologists have suggested that reluctance to deactivate pacemakers may stem from a sense that the pacemaker has become part of the patient??s ??self.?? The authors suggest that Daniel Sulmasy is correct to contend that any such identification of the pacemaker is misguided. The authors argue that clinicians uncomfortable with pacemaker deactivation are nevertheless correct to see it as incompatible with the traditional medical ethics of withdrawal of support. Traditional medical ethics is presently taken by many to sanction pacemaker deactivation when such deactivation honors the patient??s right to refuse treatment. The authors suggest that the right to refuse treatment applies to treatments involving ongoing physician agency. This right cannot underwrite patient demands that physicians reverse the effects of treatments previously administered, in which ongoing physician agency is no longer implicated. The permanently indwelling pacemaker is best seen as such a treatment. As such, its deactivation in the pacemaker-dependent patient is best seen not as withdrawal of support but as active ending of life. That being the case, clinicians adhering to the usual ethical analysis of withdrawal of support are correct to be uncomfortable with pacemaker deactivation at the end of life.     

Social Justice at the Microlevel: Working With Clients' Prejudices

Social justice is considered the 5th force in counseling and has largely been aimed toward advocating for oppressed individuals and groups by creating change in the societal structures that maintain oppression. However, there is a lack of information for counselors who work with clients who oppress others. This article addresses assessment, conceptualization, and ethical considerations when White clients express racial prejudices in counseling and how it aligns with the goals of social justice. La justicia social está considerada como la 5ª fuerza en la consejería y ha sido dirigida hacia la defensoría de individuos y grupos oprimidos, creando cambios en las estructuras sociales que mantienen la opresión. Sin embargo, hay una carencia de información para consejeros que trabajan con clientes que oprimen a otros. Este artículo trata de la evaluación, conceptualización y consideraciones éticas cuando clientes de raza blanca expresan prejuicios raciales durante la consejería y cómo esto se alinea con los objetivos de la justicia social.     

Analysing the Good Will: Kant's Argument in the First Section of the Groundwork

This article contends that the first section of Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals provides a sophisticated and valid argument, and that commentators are therefore mistaken in dismissing this section as flawed. In particular, the article undertakes to show that in this section Kant argues from a conception of the goodness of a good will to two distinctive features of moral goodness, and from these features to his ‘formula of universal law’. The article reveals the sophistication and validity of this argument by considering it in the light of a number of criticisms that are commonly levelled at the section. In conclusion, the article proposes that this interpretation of the section also has significant implications for the understanding of Kant's method, his formulas and his basic conception of the ‘moral’.     

Unrecognized Posttraumatic Stress Disorder as a Treatment Barrier for a Gang-Involved Juvenile Offender

This study examines the case of GH, an 18-year-old Latino male participating in an employment-based delinquency intervention for gang-affiliated youth. Although postintervention measures revealed that GH showed gains on key outcomes (i.e., delinquency, employment), he experienced sporadic treatment setbacks (e.g., work absenteeism, fighting) that disrupted his progress. A comprehensive psychological assessment suggested that his aggressive, illegal behavior and difficulty maintaining employment could have been influenced by previously undiagnosed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Excerpts from counseling sessions illustrated how reactive aggression, hypervigilance, sleep disruptions, and emotional numbing could have interfered with treatment gains and ultimately contributed to GH's re-arrest. Implications for early, accurate identification of PTSD in delinquency interventions for gang youth are discussed.     

A Controlled Comparison of Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing and Progressive Counting

Ten therapists who were already trained and experienced in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) received training in progressive counting (PC), a newer trauma resolution method. Nineteen volunteers with single-incident trauma or loss were assigned to a therapist and then randomized to treatment condition; 15 completed treatment to termination criteria or until the 4th session. Participants in both conditions experienced significant reductions in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, memory-related distress, and presenting problems at one week posttreatment, and maintained at 12-week follow-up, with no significant differences in outcomes, treatment efficiency, or dropout rate. The preliminary findings of this pilot study suggest that PC is an efficient, well-tolerated, and effective trauma treatment that is relatively easy for therapists to master.