Using the Scenario Method to Analyze Cheating Behaviors

Using student self-reported cheating admissions and answers from a hypothetical cheating scenario, this paper analyzes the effects of individual and situational factors on potential cheating behavior. Results confirm several conclusions about student factors that are related to cheating. The probability of cheating is associated with younger students, lower GPAs, alcohol consumption, fraternity/sorority membership, and having cheated in high school. Student perceptions of the certainty and severity of punishment appear to have a negative and significant impact on the probability of cheating on in-class assignments. Students who report a belief that cheating is never acceptable appear to be significantly less likely to cheat in any circumstance. This study illustrates the context-dependent nature of academic dishonesty, and the associated difficulty in understanding the relationships between measurable factors and cheating behavior.     

Contents: Volume 29

This paper describes our experience in treating nearly 200 eating disordered patients ages eleven to thirty-five in five ongoing, open groups combining inpatients and outpatients. A limited outcome study of 121 patients who attended group regularly is presented. Guidelines are offered for group formation, referral to group, function of the therapists, group themes, and management of specific problems arising during the group. Our experience suggests broader applicability of group treatment for eating disorders than previously reported. The age and developmental level of the patient is a more important consideration in group placement than the nature or severity of their eating disorder. More vigorous and longer term follow-up studies are necessary to determine the lasting benefits of group psychotherapy for this patient population.     

Social Psychological Benefits of Gay Games Participation: A Social Identity Theory Explanation

Abstract

Research examining sexual orientation in sport settings has been limited in scope and lacked theoretical frameworks. To extend this body of research, the current study was framed within social identity theory and examined the impact of Gay Games participation on: (a) social identity, self-esteem, and collective esteem; and (b) expected subsequent social change activities following the Games. One hundred and twenty-five lesbian and bisexual athletes competing in Gay Games V participated in this investigation. The athletes completed a demographic profile and an open-ended questionnaire that asked about their Gay Games experience as well as expected social change activities after the Games. A content analysis of the responses revealed themes consistent with social identity theory. Specifically, these individuals identified the role of the Gay Games on social categorization, personal and social identity, and self and collective esteem. Additionally, these women revealed that following the Gay Games they felt more likely to work towards social change by becoming more out, educating others, and working through political channels.     

The Muddle of Anticipation

In J. J. Gibson's classic paper “The Problem of Temporal Order in Stimulation and Perception” (1966a Gibson, J. J. (1966a). The problem of temporal order in stimulation and perception. Journal of Psychology, 62, 141–149.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), he referred to the difficulties encountered when attempting a sharp distinction between memory and perception as “the muddle of memory.” Resolution of the muddle by J. J. Gibson proceeded by blurring the distinction itself. We develop the conjugate “muddle of anticipation” similarly by blurring the sharp distinction traditionally drawn between anticipation and perception. The subsequent redefinition of the problem is grounded in strong anticipation equated with anticipating synchronization—that which arises from a system itself via lawful regularities embedded in the system's ordinary mode of function. We identify the fit of strong anticipation's properties to J. J. Gibson's ecological approach and in so doing introduce the possibility of a potentially deep connection between them, namely, that the coordination of perception with surroundings (direct perception) is a special case of strong anticipation.     

Acute Stress,Depression, and Anxiety Symptoms Among English and Spanish Speaking Children with Recent Trauma Exposure

A growing literature suggests the clinical importance of acute stress disorder symptoms in youth following potentially traumatic events. A multisite sample of English and Spanish speaking children and adolescents (N = 479) between the ages of 8–17, along with their caregivers completed interviews and self-report questionnaires between 2 days and 1 month following the event. The results indicate that children with greater total acute stress symptoms reported greater depressive (r = .41, p < .01) and anxiety symptoms (r = .53, p < .01). Examining specific acute stress subscales, reexperiencing was correlated with anxiety (r = .47, p < .01) and arousal was correlated with depression (r = .50, p < .01) and anxiety (r = .55, p < .01). Age was inversely associated with total acute stress symptoms (r = ?.24, p < .01), reexperiencing (r = ?.17, p < .01), avoidance (r = ?.27, p < .01), and arousal (r = ?.19, p < .01) and gender was related to total anxiety symptoms (Spearman’s ρ = .17, p < .01). The current study supports the importance of screening acute stress symptoms and other mental health outcomes following a potentially traumatic event in children and adolescents. Early screening may enable clinicians to identify and acutely intervene to support children’s psychological and physical recovery.     

Using the Networked Fire Chief for Ego-Depletion Research: Measuring Dynamic Decision-Making Effort and Performance

This study replicated ego-depletion predictions from the self-control literature in a computer simulation task that requires ongoing decision-making in relation to constantly changing environmental information: the Network Fire Chief (NFC). Ego-depletion led to decreased self-regulatory effort, but not performance, on the NFC task. These effects were also buffered by task enjoyment so that individuals who enjoyed the dynamic decision-making task did not experience ego-depletion effects. These findings confirm that past ego-depletion effects on decision-making are not limited to static or isolated decision-making tasks and can be extended to dynamic, naturalistic decision-making processes more common to naturalistic settings. Furthermore, the NFC simulation provides a methodological mechanism for independently measuring effort and performance when studying ego-depletion.     

The functional‐cognitive framework as a tool for accelerating progress in cognitive neuroscience: On the benefits of bridging rather than reducing levels of analyses

The subject matter of neuroscience research is complex, and synthesising the wealth of data from this research to better understand mental processes is challenging. A useful strategy, therefore, may be to distinguish explicitly between the causal effects of the environment on behaviour (i.e. functional analyses) and the mental processes that mediate these effects (i.e. cognitive analyses). In this article, we describe how the functional‐cognitive (F‐C) framework can accelerate cognitive neuroscience and also advance a functional treatment of brain activity. We first highlight that cognitive neuroscience can particularly benefit from the F‐C approach by providing an alternative to the problematic practice of reducing cognitive constructs to behavioural and/or neural proxies. Next, we outline how functional (behaviour–environment) relations can serve as a bridge between cognitive and neural processes by restoring mental constructs to their original role as heuristic tools. Finally, we give some examples of how both cognitive neuroscience and traditional functional approaches can mutually benefit from the F‐C framework.