Cross-domain Repetition Priming in Person Recognition

Three experiments examining repetition priming of personal names are reported. In each experiment, faces are used as prime stimuli and people's names as the test stimuli. Experiment 1 fails to demonstrate priming from faces to names when the same task-a familiar/ unfamiliar judgement-is made in prime and test phases. Experiment 2 shows that priming is observed when the same semantic judgement (British/ American) is made in prime and test phases. Experiment 3 shows that priming is observed when different semantic judgements (dead/ alive, British/ American) are made at prime and test phase. These results suggest that transfer appropriate processing cannot provide the sole account of repetition priming in person recognition. Instead, the results are interpreted in terms of a structural account of priming, embedded within an interactive activation and competition model of person recognition.     

An Examination of Violence Risk Communication in Practice Using a Structured Professional Judgment Framework

The increased use of violence risk assessment tools in professional practice has sparked the development of best-practice guidelines for communicating about violence risk. The present study examined 166 pre-sentence reports, authored by clinicians and probation officers, to determine the extent to which they are consistent with those guidelines. We examined the frequency with which reports contained information about five topics: the presence of risk factors; the relevance of risk factors; scenarios of future violence; recommended management strategies; and summary risk judgments. Analyses revealed that the topics addressed most frequently in reports were the presence of risk factors and recommended management strategies, but none of the five topics was addressed consistently, completely, or clearly in reports. This was especially the case for probation reports. The findings highlight the need to improve practice through better implementation of guidelines for risk communication. Also needed is research on the extent to which information in risk communications is comprehended, accepted, and used by various stakeholder groups. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluations of moral and conventional intergroup transgressions

To investigate children's understanding of intergroup transgressions, children (3–8 years, N = 84) evaluated moral and conventional transgressions that occurred among members of the same gender group (ingroup) or members of different gender groups (outgroup). All participants judged moral transgressions to be more wrong than conventional transgressions. However, when asked to make a judgment after being told an authority figure did not see the transgression, younger participants still judged that moral violations were less acceptable than conventional transgressions, but judged both moral and conventional transgressions with an outgroup victim as more acceptable than the corresponding transgressions with an ingroup victim. Older children did not demonstrate the same ingroup bias; rather they focused only on the domain of the transgressions. The results demonstrate the impact intergroup information has on children's evaluations about both moral and conventional transgressions.     

Salad = success and fries = failure? Conceptualizing and assessing self‐control outcome measures in food decision‐making research

Researchers studying decisions about food utilize a wide variety of measures to assess self‐control outcomes in experimental studies. However, it is often unclear whether or not the chosen dependent variables truly implicate self‐regulatory mechanisms in decision making. In the present research, we provide a conceptual framework for evaluating self‐control outcome measures, concentrating specifically on the domain of food and eating self‐control decisions. We propose and empirically examine the essential characteristics [i.e., (i) recognized as self‐control relevant by study population, (ii) related to individual differences in self‐control, and (iii) recognized as self‐control relevant by individual] of good self‐control outcome measures and provide specific methodological recommendations (including the “rank‐then‐choose” method) for capturing exhibited self‐control in the domain of food decision making. Our conceptual developments and recommendations seek to enhance the consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness of food‐related decision research. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Religious Conversion in a Psychotic Individual

The authors describe the case of a man who appeared to have psychotic symptoms, including self-injurious behavior, but who understood his own experience as a religious conversion. The symptoms, clinical course, and treatment response are described with reference to the works of Kurt Schneider and William James. Empirical studies of the attitudes of psychiatrists, psychiatric patients, and clergypersons about the relationship between religious belief and psychiatric illness are described, and various theoretical models used to understand this relationship are articulated.