The impact of death qualification, belief in a just world, legal authoritarianism, and locus of control on venirepersons' evaluations of aggravating and mitigating circumstances in capital trials

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of death qualification, belief in a just world (BJW), legal authoritarianism (RLAQ), and locus of control (LOC) on venirepersons' evaluations of aggravating and mitigating circumstances in capital trials. 212 venirepersons from the 12th Judicial Circuit in Bradenton, FL, completed a booklet that contained the following: one question that measured their attitudes toward the death penalty; one question that categorized their death-qualification status; the BJW, LOC, and RLAQ scales; a summary of the guilt and penalty phases of a capital case; a 26-item measure that required participants to evaluate aggravators, nonstatutory mitigators, and statutory mitigators on a 6-point Likert scale; sentence preference; and standard demographic questions. Results indicated that death-qualified venirepersons were more likely to demonstrate higher endorsements of aggravating factors and lower endorsements of both nonstatutory and statutory mitigating factors. Death-qualified participants were also more likely to have a high belief in a just world, espouse legal authoritarian beliefs, and exhibit an internal locus of control. Findings also suggested that venirepersons with a low belief in a just world and an external locus of control demonstrated higher endorsements of statutory mitigators. Participants with legal authoritarian beliefs revealed higher endorsements of aggravators and lower endorsements of nonstatutory mitigators. Legal implications and applications are discussed.     

Job characteristics and college performance and attitudes: a model of work-school conflict and facilitation

The processes linking job characteristics to school performance and satisfaction in a sample of 253 full-time college students were examined from 2 role theory perspectives, 1 of which emphasized resource scarcity and the other resource expansion. Model tests using structural equation modeling showed that 2 resource-enriching job characteristics, job-school congruence and job control, were positively related to work-school facilitation (WSF). Two resource-depleting job characteristics, job demands and work hours, were positively related to work-school conflict (WSC), and job control was negatively related to WSC. In turn, WSF was positively related to school performance and satisfaction, and WSC was negatively related to school performance. Both WSF and WSC mediated the relationship between the job characteristics and school outcomes. There was no evidence of interactive effects between enriching and depleting job characteristics on interrole processes.     

On Today's Two‐Worlds Interpretation: Knowledge and True Belief in Plato

This paper presents arguments against two crucial elements of recent versions of the Two‐Worlds interpretation of Plato. I argue first that in addition to knowledge of the forms, Plato allows beliefs about them as well. Then I argue that Plato sees knowledge as a state in which the subject is conscious of information about the forms. Thus, the infallibility of knowledge must be understood in a way that is consistent with its being informational. Finally, I argue that my conclusions about knowledge do not preclude the possibility that cognition of forms has a direct, nonrepresentational aspect.     

Non-lateralised deficits of drawing production in hemispatial neglect

Spatially lateralised deficits that typically define the hemispatial neglect syndrome have been shown to co-occur with other non-lateralised deficits of attention, memory, and drawing. However even a simple graphic task involves multiple planning components, including the specification of drawing start position and drawing direction. In order to investigate the influence of these factors in neglect we presented patients with a circle-copying task, and specified the drawing start point. The ability to draw from the instructed location was strongly related to tests that measure constructional abilities, but not related to start point laterality. In contrast, the direction in which patients drew the circle was affected by start point laterality: patients with neglect were less likely to draw in a typical direction when the cue was on the affected side of space and this was strongly related to severity of the neglect. Patients with neglect consistently produced circles that were smaller than the model; however, the scaling was not affected by the laterality of the start point, nor was the proportion of drawings correctly started at the cue. These findings demonstrate the complex relationship between neglect and even the simplest test for the syndrome.     

Does severity predict distress? The relationship between subjective and objective measures of appearance and psychological adjustment,during treatment for facial lipoatrophy

The intuitive or lay belief that the severity of a disfiguring condition predicts psychological distress is not demonstrated in clinical practice, nor in research studies. This within group study used standardised measures repeated at six month intervals, to investigate the relationship between subjective and objective measures of appearance and psychological adjustment in 51 patients undergoing treatment for facial lipoatrophy using a synthetic filler, Newfill^®. Results demonstrate a dissociation between objective and subjective measures with only subjective assessment predicting psychological outcomes. It is recommended that Moss's (2005) hypothesis of discrete group membership (normal/not normal) should be adapted to include an internal standard for comparison, and that all evaluations of treatment modifying disfigurement should include a standardised subjective measure of appearance.     

Neurocognitive outcomes in children with chronic kidney disease: Current findings and contemporary endeavors

Given the rise in chronic kidney disease (CKD) in both children and adults, CKD has recently been targeted as a public health priority. Childhood onset kidney disease is generally a noncurable and progressive condition that leads to kidney failure by early adulthood. Fortunately, improved identification of kidney problems allows for early intervention, which is thought to slow progression toward end-stage renal disease. In addition, medical interventions for pediatric end-stage renal disease have also improved, allowing children to take advantage of lifesaving renal replacement treatments such as dialysis and kidney transplantation. In spite of improvements in identification and treatment, CKD causes both direct and indirect insults to a variety of organ systems. This paper reviews recently published studies pertaining to the neurocognitive and psychosocial impact of CKD on children of various ages and at various stages of kidney failure. Specific attention is focused on summarizing peer reviewed research that describes associations between kidney functioning and cognitive functioning, language acquisition, visual spatial abilities, memory, and executive functioning. In addition, peer reviewed research describing psychosocial outcomes associated with CKD related to academic achievement, social-behavioral functioning, and quality of life are summarized. The authors also identified disease-specific factors that likely mediate neurocognitive outcomes (e.g., anemia, hypertension, cardiovascular) and endorse the importance of continued interdisciplinary research collaborations that will provide a better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for improved neurocognitive functioning after transplantation. The authors conclude this review by describing a multicenter, prospective, longitudinal, National Institutes of Health funded study that is currently examining the developmental outcomes of children with mild to moderate CKD. The authors speculate that the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children Prospective Cohort Study (CKiD) findings will provide additional evidence-based guidance for clinicians and researchers working with children and adolescents with deteriorating kidney function to improve medical and developmental outcomes.     

The Assessment of Preterm Infants' Behavior (APIB): furthering the understanding and measurement of neurodevelopmental competence in preterm and full-term infants

The Assessment of Preterm Infants' Behavior (APIB) is a newborn neurobehavioral assessment appropriate for preterm, at risk, and full-term newborns, from birth to 1 month after expected due date. The APIB is based in ethological-evolutionary thought and focuses on the assessment of mutually interacting behavioral subsystems in simultaneous interaction with the environment. The subsystems of functioning assessed include the autonomic (respiration, digestion, color), motor (tone, movement, postures), state organization (range, robustness, transition patterns), attention (robustness, transitions), and self-regulation (effort, success) systems as well as the degree of facilitation required to support reorganization and subsystem balance. The environment is represented by a sequence of distal, proximal, tactile, and vestibular challenges, derived from the BNBAS. The APIB conceptualizes infant competence as the degree of differentiation of subsystem function and degree of modulation of subsystem balance at any stage in infant development. Infants are understood as actively seeking their next differentiation, while counting on good enough environments to assure progressing developmental competence. In the case of interference such as premature birth, the mismatch of expectation and actual experience causes misalignment, which may become developmentally costly. The assessment is a finely tuned dialogue between examiner and infant, which requires training, skill and self-knowledge. The APIB has well established inter-rater-reliability, concurrent and construct validity, and is clinically relevant for behavioral intervention and individually appropriate and supportive care.     

How to launch a national Internet-based panel study quickly: lessons from studying how American are coping with the tragedy of September 11, 2001?

This article reports on the planning, development, and implementation of a large national Internet-based panel study of how Americans are coping with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The study was designed to determine predictors and correlates of risk and resilience, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. In order to acquire timely and meaningful data, we developed/adapted an extensive set of measures, obtained human subjects approval, and posted a research Web site just 17 days after the attacks. This article describes the major hurdles we confronted and the guidelines we recommend regarding these topics, including the methodological trade-offs inherent in Internet-based research, information technology requirements and tribulations, human subjects issues, selection of measures and securing permission for their use, and the challenges of participant recruitment. We also discuss issues that we did not anticipate, including the survey intervention. We focus not on findings, but on the concrete procedural, administrative, technical, and scientific challenges we encountered and the solutions we devised under considerable time and resource pressures.     

A limit on retrieval-induced forgetting

Retrieving some members of a memory set impairs later recall of semantically related but not unrelated members (M. C. Anderson, R. A. Bjork, & E. L. Bjork, 1994; M. C. Anderson & B. A. Spellman, 1995). The authors investigated whether this retrieval-induced forgetting effect would generalize to testing procedures other than category-cued recall. Although the authors demonstrated a retrieval-induced forgetting effect using a category-cued recall task, they failed to show retrieval-induced forgetting on several different memory tests that used item-specific cues, including a category-plus-stem-cued recall test, a category-plus-fragment-cued recall test, a fragment-cued recall test, and a fragment completion task.     

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Religious Motivation and the Marital Relationship

Research suggests a strong positive relationship between religiosity and marital satisfaction. Neglected, however, are differences in satisfaction based on nominal religious motivation. The influence of religiosity on marital satisfaction was examined for 74 couples. Results indicate the higher the husband's intrinsic religiosity, the higher the satisfaction for both partners. Wives' satisfaction increased as they became more extrinsically motivated. Differences in religiosity significantly decreased satisfaction for husbands. Findings are discussed from the perspective of gender-based interaction patterns, gender demographics of religious devotion and activity, and power dynamics. We recommend therapists understand these findings and integrate them into the clinical dialogue.