ASSESSMENT OF THE RELATIVE EFFECTS OF ATTENTION AND ESCAPE ON NONCOMPLIANCE

The current study presents a method for assessing the relative effects of attention and escape on noncompliance in preschoolers. Attention and escape conditions were alternated in a multielement design, and a contingency reversal procedure, in which one test condition served as a control for the other, was used to demonstrate control. For all 3 participants, noncompliance was maintained, at least in part, by social attention. Functional analyses of noncompliance such as the one described here may be valuable for developing function‐based treatments.     

A Case Series of Family-Based Therapy for Weight Restoration in Young Adults with Anorexia Nervosa

This case series aims to examine the preliminary efficacy, acceptability and feasibility of Family-Based Treatment to promote weight restoration in young adults with anorexia nervosa. Four young adults with sub/threshold anorexia nervosa were provided 11–20 sessions of Family-Based Treatment for young adults with pre-, post- and follow-up assessments. At post- and follow-up, 3/4 participants were in the normal weight range, 3/4 were in the non-clinical range on the Eating Disorders Examination and reported being not/mildly depressed. At post-treatment, 2/4 were in the good psychosocial functioning range and by follow-up, 3/4 were in this range. These results suggest that Family-Based Treatment for young adults with anorexia nervosa is a promising treatment.     

Life Satisfaction and Self-Assessed Health Among Adolescents in Hong Kong

Self-assessed health in four items of the Health Related Quality of Life Scale, overall health, physical health, mental health, and activity limitation, and perceived life satisfaction in six domains of the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, overall life, family life, friendships, school experience, myself, and where I live were examined among 4,502 Chinese adolescent secondary school students in Hong Kong. Relative to the US adolescents in Youth Risk Behavior Survey the Hong Kong adolescents had very low levels of self-assessed health and life satisfaction. Among the different domains, family and school life were associated with the lowest satisfaction level. There were strong male advantages in self-assessed health and migrant disadvantages in life satisfaction. Age was negatively related to both health and life satisfaction. Two-parent family was a positive factor for adolescents’ quality of life but economic well-being was not a relevant factor.     

Complex Governance to Cope with Global Environmental Risk: An Assessment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

In this article, a framework is suggested to deal with the analysis of global environmental risk governance. Climate Change is taken as a particular form of contemporary environmental risk, and mobilised to refine and characterize some salient aspects of new governance challenges. A governance framework is elaborated along three basic features: (1) a close relationship with science, (2) an in-built reflexivity, and (3) forms of governmentality. The UNFCCC-centered system is then assessed according to this three-tier framework. While the two-first requisites are largely met, the analysis of governmentality points to some institutional weak spots.     

Auditory temporal cues can modulate visual representational momentum

In representational momentum (RM), the final position of a moving target is mislocalized in the direction of motion. Here, the effect of a concurrent sound on visual RM was demonstrated. A visual stimulus moved horizontally and disappeared at unpredictable positions. A complex tone without any motion cues was presented continuously from the beginning of the visual motion. As compared with a silent condition, the RM magnitude increased when the sound lasted longer than and decreased when it did not last as long as the visual motion. However, the RM was unchanged when a brief complex tone was presented before or after the target disappeared (Experiment 2) or when the onset of the long-lasting sound was not synchronized with that of the visual motion (Experiments 3 and 4). These findings suggest that visual motion representation can be modulated by a sound if the visual motion information is firmly associated with the auditory information.     

Body image dissatisfaction among adolescent schoolgirls in Jordan

The present study has investigated the occurrence of body image dissatisfaction among adolescent schoolgirls in Amman, Jordan, and the risk factors that are known to predispose it including individual, familial and social variables. A sample of 326 adolescent girls aged 10–16 years was recruited from public and private schools in Amman. Participants completed a socio-demographic data sheet, eating attitude test, and body shape questionnaire. Approximately, 21.2% of participants displayed body image dissatisfaction in which physical changes associated with puberty and exhibiting negative eating attitudes were associated with this dissatisfaction. Additionally, mass media messages, as well as peers and family pressures towards thinness were associated with participants’ preoccupation with their body image. In conclusion, negative body image perception was observed in the present sample. Therefore, well-controlled prospective studies and development of intervention programs on body image among adolescent girls in Jordan are needed.     

The Novelty of Nano and the Regulatory Challenge of Newness

A great deal has been made of the question of whether nano-materials provide a unique set of ethical challenges. Equally important is the question of whether they provide a unique set of regulatory challenges. In the last 18 months, the US Environmental Protection Agency has begun the process of trying to meet the regulatory challenge of nano using the Toxic Substances Control Act (1976)(TSCA). In this central piece of legislation, ‘newness’ is a critical concept. Current EPA policy, we argue, does not adequately (or ethically) deal with the novelty of nano. This paper is an exploration of how to do a better job of accounting for nanomaterials as ‘new.’ We explore three alternative ways that nanomaterials might be made to fall under the TSCA regulatory umbrella. Since nanomaterials are of interest precisely because of the exciting new properties that emerge at the nano-scale, each of these three alternatives must meet what we call the ‘novelty condition’ and avoid what we call the ‘central paradox’ of existing regulatory policy. Failure to meet either of these conditions is a moral failure. We examine both the strengths and weaknesses of each alternative in order to illuminate the conceptual, practical, and moral challenges of novelty.     

Imagerie visuelle et rappel moteur d'enchaînements : effet du bilinguisme français vs créole

The two experiments reported in the present paper concern (i) the differential imagery value of French and Creole and (ii) the influence of language on the recall of sequences of patterned movements in a bilingual population. Creole words were obtained a higher imagery value than French words, certainly because Creole is an oral and vernacular language. Motor recall scores were better when the sequence was presented in Creole compared to French. The generation of visual images by Creole would facilitate the memorization and recall of new sequences of movements. The effect of language on imagery value of words and motor recall among bilingual French-Creole subjects was discussed in terms of nature of information encoding in each language.     

How We Conceptualize Our Attitudes Matters: The Effects of Valence Framing on the Resistance of Political Attitudes

Three studies tested the valence-framing effect: that merely conceptualizing one's preferences as opposing something will make that preference more resistant to persuasion than will thinking about the same preference in terms of supporting something . In Study 1, participants who were led to conceptualize their political preferences as being against a candidate were more resistant to a counterattitudinal message than were participants who were led to conceptualize the same preference as being in favor of the other candidate. Study 2 showed that this effect was not due to a priming process, while Study 3 provided evidence for the effect's generalizability.