Spinoza and the Feeling of Freedom

We seem to have a direct experience of our freedom when we act. Many philosophers take this feeling of freedom as evidence that we possess libertarian free will. Spinoza denies that we have free will of any sort, although he admits that we nonetheless feel free. Commentators often attribute to him what I call the ‘Negative Account’ of the feeling: it results from the fact that we are conscious of our actions but ignorant of their causes. I argue that the Negative Account is flawed. The feeling of freedom also depends on a vacillation of the mind. When the mind forms too many incompatible associations, it vacillates between them. When we act, the mind vacillates back and forth between the kinds of actions that we associate with our present mental state. We then mistake this subjective vacillation for an objective feature of ourselves—namely, the power to do otherwise.     

The use of picture prompts and prompt delay to teach receptive labeling

The current study extended research on picture prompts by using them with a progressive prompt delay to teach receptive labeling of pictures to 2 teenagers with autism. The procedure differed from prior research because the auditory stimulus was not presented or was presented only once during the picture‐prompt condition. The results indicated that the combination of picture prompts and prompt delay was effective, although 1 participant required a procedural modification.     

Predicting preferences for sex acts: Which traits matter most, and why?

Several dispositional traits have been examined in mating contexts by evolutionary psychologists. Such traits include life history strategy, sociosexuality, and the Big Five. Recently, scholars have examined the validity and predictive utility of mating intelligence, a new construct designed to capture the cognitive processes that underlie mating psychology. The current research employed a battery of dispositional traits that include all these constructs in an effort to predict preferences for different kinds of sex acts. Sexual acts vary wildly, and the ability to predict this variability may well hold an important key to underlying sexual strategies. A sample of 607 young adults (144 males and 463 females) completed measures of each of these traits as well as a measure of preference for specific sex acts (along with providing information on their sexual orientation). The traits predicted variability in preference for sex acts - with mating intelligence being the most predictive (for instance, mating intelligence was positively related to preference for vaginal intercourse across the sexes). Sex differences emerged (e.g., males show a stronger preference for anal sex than do females). Discussion focuses on (a) sex differences in preference for sex acts along with (b) why the trait variables predicted preferences in sex acts.     

Assessing hopelessness in terminally ill cancer patients: development of the Hopelessness Assessment in Illness Questionnaire

Hopelessness has become an increasingly important construct in palliative care research, yet concerns exist regarding the utility of existing measures when applied to patients with a terminal illness. This article describes a series of studies focused on the exploration, development, and analysis of a measure of hopelessness specifically intended for use with terminally ill cancer patients. The 1st stage of measure development involved interviews with 13 palliative care experts and 30 terminally ill patients. Qualitative analysis of the patient interviews culminated in the development of a set of potential questionnaire items. In the 2nd study phase, we evaluated these preliminary items with a sample of 314 participants, using item response theory and classical test theory to identify optimal items and response format. These analyses generated an 8-item measure that we tested in a final study phase, using a 3rd sample (n = 228) to assess reliability and concurrent validity. These analyses demonstrated strong support for the Hopelessness Assessment in Illness Questionnaire providing greater explanatory power than existing measures of hopelessness and found little evidence that this assessment was confounded by illness-related variables (e.g., prognosis). In summary, these 3 studies suggest that this brief measure of hopelessness is particularly useful for palliative care settings. Further research is needed to assess the applicability of the measure to other populations and contexts.     

Breast and Ovarian Cancer: The Forgotten Paternal Contribution

Five to 10% of all cases of breast and ovarian cancer are attributed to a heritable genetic predisposition. Transmission of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations is equally likely through maternal or paternal lineage; however, fewer referrals to cancer genetics clinics appear to be made for a paternal, than maternal, family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer. To examine this potential bias, a retrospective review of 315 patient and family charts was conducted by one familial cancer clinic in Toronto, Canada. Referral letters, risk estimates, and family histories were analyzed to identify significant differences between patients referred with maternal and paternal family histories. It was determined that patients are approximately five times more likely to be referred with a maternal family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer as compared to those with a paternal family history (p = <.0001). Individuals with a paternal family history were found to have a different, and higher, pattern of risk estimates (p = .00064). No significant difference was seen between the type of referrals sent by general practitioners, oncologists, and gynecologists. Recommendations to increase the awareness of paternal family history in assessing cancer risk are provided.     

The distinctiveness of hardiness, positive emotionality, and negative emotionality in National Guard soldiers

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to investigate the distinctiveness of hardiness (using the Short Hardiness Scale; Bartone, 1995) from the broader personality traits of negative emotionality and positive emotionality (NEM and PEM; assessed with items from the MMPI-2 PSY-5 scales); in a sample of 981 Army National Guard soldiers. Exploratory factor analyses demonstrated that hardiness items loaded on a separate factor from PEM and NEM items, and confirmatory factor analysis suggested that hardiness is not simply a sub-facet of either PEM or NEM. However, subsequent regression analyses found that hardiness did not predict symptoms of PTSD or depression beyond the effects of PEM and NEM among combat exposed soldiers.     

In defense of the mirror thesis

In this journal, Luke Russell defends a sophisticated dispositional account of evil personhood according to which a person is evil just in case she is strongly and highly fixedly disposed to perform evil actions in conditions that favour her autonomy. While I am generally sympathetic with this account, I argue that Russell wrongly dismisses the mirror thesis—roughly, the thesis that evil people are the mirror images of the morally best sort of persons—which I have defended elsewhere. Russell’s rejection of the mirror thesis depends upon an independently implausible account of moral sainthood, one that is implausible for reasons that Russell himself suggests in another context. Indeed, an account of moral sainthood that parallels Russell’s account of evil personhood is plausible for the same reasons that his account of evil personhood is, and that suggests that Russell himself is actually committed to the mirror thesis.     

Does attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have a dimensional latent structure? A taxometric analysis

An understanding of the latent structure of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is essential for developing causal models of this disorder. Although some researchers have presumed that ADHD is dimensional and others have assumed that it is taxonic, there has been relatively little research directly examining the latent structure of ADHD. The authors conducted a set of taxometric analyses using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (ns between 667 and 1,078). The results revealed a dimensional latent structure across a variety of different analyses and sets of indicators for inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and ADHD. Furthermore, analyses of correlations with associated features indicated that dimensional models demonstrated stronger validity coefficients with these criterion measures than dichotomous models. These findings jibe with recent research on the genetic basis of ADHD and with contemporary models of ADHD.