The Greatest Priority for Genetic Counseling: Effectively Meeting Our Clients’ Needs 2014 NSGC Natalie Weissberger Paul National Achievement Award

Receipt of the 2014 Natalie Weissberger Paul (NWP) National Achievement Award was a highlight of my career. Thank you to all who nominated me for this prestigious NSGC recognition. I am humbled to join past NWP award winners many of whom are admired mentors, treasured colleagues and friends. I would like to express what a privilege it is to honor Natalie Weissberger Paul for whom this award is named. Twenty-nine years ago I co-edited a volume of the Birth Defects Original Article Series with Natalie summarizing a conference co-funded by the March of Dimes and NSGC (Biesecker et al., 1987). Natalie demonstrated her devotion to children with special needs through her work at the March of Dimes. As such I believe she would concur with the focus of my remarks on the partners in our work: our clients.     

Self‐regulation principles underlying risk perception and decision making within the context of genomic testing

Advances in theory and research on self‐regulation and decision‐making processes have yielded important insights into how cognitive, emotional, and social processes shape risk perceptions and risk‐related decisions. We examine how self‐regulation theory can be applied to inform our understanding of decision‐making processes within the context of genomic testing, a clinical arena in which individuals face complex risk information and potentially life‐altering decisions. After presenting key principles of self‐regulation, we present a genomic testing case example to illustrate how principles related to risk representations, approach and avoidance motivations, emotion regulation, defensive responses, temporal construals, and capacities such as numeric abilities can shape decisions and psychological responses during the genomic testing process. We conclude with implications for using self‐regulation theory to advance science within genomic testing and opportunities for how this research can inform further developments in self‐regulation theory.     

Mechanisms for enhancing the credibility of an adviser: prepayment and aligned incentives

We tested the effectiveness of prepayment for advice and aligned incentives as mechanisms for enhancing trust in unfamiliar advisers in decision‐making under uncertainty. Participants were low‐income Zimbabweans who played two rounds of the Monty Hall three‐door game. In round 1, participants who purchased advice were significantly more likely to follow advice for how to win the game than were participants who received free advice. In round 2, the apparent effectiveness of advisers' suggestions in round 1 moderated participants' propensity to follow advice. If the round 1 advice appeared wrong, the credibility enhancing benefits of prepayment diminished. If the advice appeared right, the benefits of prepayment maintained. Hypotheses with regard to the benefits of aligned incentives received only weak support. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Affirming the consequent

The thesis of this paper is that an argument's possessing the form of affirming the consequent does not suffice to make its premises at all favorably relevant to its conclusion. In support of this thesis I assume two premises and argue for a third. My two assumptions are these: (1) that an argument's possessing the form of affirming the consequent does not suffice to make its conclusion certain relative to its premises (this is widely, if not universally, acknowledged by writers on logic), and (2) premises are favorably relevant to a conclusion only if it is certain or probable relative to them (I argued for this in an earlier paper). The premise I argue for in this paper is that an argument's possessing the form of affirming the consequent does not suffice to make its conclusion probable relative to its premises. To establish this third premise, I first refute a defense of the contrary position (namely, that an argument's possessing the form of affirming the consequent suffices to make its conclusion probable relative to its premises), then offer counterexamples to that position, and finally demonstrate the failure of several attempts to save it.An earlier draft of this paper was read at the meeting of the Association for Informal Logic and Critical Thinking at the meeting of the American Philosophical Association in Portland on March 27, 1992. I am indebted to Terry Parsons, John Woods, and this journal's anonymous referees for their comments.     

An analysis of interference in recognition memory

A stimulus-sampling model of recognition memory is presented that predicts both proactive and retroactive interference. To test the predictions of the model, a recognition memory experiment was carried out using a standard proactive-retroactive design with a forced-choice task. Both accuracy and latency were measured. The data showed, as predicted, equal proactive and retroactive effects on accuracy, providing solid support for the model. The interference effects are interpreted in terms of the model as arising from an increase in indirect marking, the marking of shared stimulus elements in words other than the study word. The model has two parameters representing the rate of indirect marking for high-frequency and low-frequency words and two parameters reflecting the efficiency of direct marking. The latency results completely paralleled the accuracy findings, showing proactive and retroactive effects. A possible extension of the model to handle latencies is considered.     

Misspecification in Latent Change Score Models: Consequences for Parameter Estimation,Model Evaluation,and Predicting Change

Latent change score models (LCS) are conceptually powerful tools for analyzing longitudinal data (McArdle & Hamagami, 2001). However, applications of these models typically include constraints on key parameters over time. Although practically useful, strict invariance over time in these parameters is unlikely in real data. This study investigates the robustness of LCS when invariance over time is incorrectly imposed on key change-related parameters. Monte Carlo simulation methods were used to explore the impact of misspecification on parameter estimation, predicted trajectories of change, and model fit in the dual change score model, the foundational LCS. When constraints were incorrectly applied, several parameters, most notably the slope (i.e., constant change) factor mean and autoproportion coefficient, were severely and consistently biased, as were regression paths to the slope factor when external predictors of change were included. Standard fit indices indicated that the misspecified models fit well, partly because mean level trajectories over time were accurately captured. Loosening constraint improved the accuracy of parameter estimates, but estimates were more unstable, and models frequently failed to converge. Results suggest that potentially common sources of misspecification in LCS can produce distorted impressions of developmental processes, and that identifying and rectifying the situation is a challenge.     

Examining Interindividual Differences in Cyclicity of Pleasant and Unpleasant Affects Using Spectral Analysis and Item Response Modeling

Weekly cycles in emotion were examined by combining item response modeling and spectral analysis approaches in an analysis of 179 college students' reports of daily emotions experienced over 7 weeks. We addressed the measurement of emotion using an item response model. Spectral analysis and multilevel sinusoidal models were used to identify interindividual differences in intraindividual cyclic change. Simulations and incomplete data designs were used to examine how well this combination of analysis techniques might work when applied to other practical data problems. Empirically, we found systematic individual differences in the extent to which individuals' emotions follow a weekly cycle, and in how such cycles are exhibited. Weekly cycles accounted for very little variance in day to day emotions at the individual level. Analytically, we illustrate how measurement, change, and interindividual difference models from different traditions may be combined in a practical manner to describe some of the complexities of human behavior. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by grant T32 AG20500 from the National Institute on Aging in the preparation of this article. Special thanks to those at the Institute for Developmental and Health Research Methodology at the University of Virginia and to Paul De Boeck and the reviewers for helpful comments on earlier versions of this work.     

Implications of human genome research: Impact on graduate education in genetic counseling

A conference of genetic counseling and clinical nurse specialist graduate program directors was hosted by the National Society of Genetic Counselors and funded by the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Program of the National Center for Human Genome Research in June 1992. One aspect of the conference addressed implications of the Human Genome Initiative for graduate education in genetic counseling. Within this paper, the topics of human variation and diversity, genetic discrimination, issues in non-directiveness, and genetic screening and policy development are reviewed and recommendations made for graduate curricula development and enhancement. In addition, suggestions are included for practicing genetic counselors.