Two scales for measuring patients' perceptions for coercion during mental hospital admission

Legal and extra-legal coercion are pervasive in mental hospital admission and there are sharp disputes about its appropriate role. This article presents two scales for measuring psychiatric patients' perceptions of coercion during hospital admission and reports data on these scales' internal consistency. We measure patients' perceptions of coercion by asking questions, in either an interview or questionnaire format, about their experience of lack of control, choice, influence, and freedom in hospital admission. Patients' responses to questions about their perceptions of coercion were highly internally consistent. The internal consistency of the scale was robust with respect to variation in site, instrument format, patient population, and interview procedure. Correspondence analysis was used to construct two numerical scales of perceived coercion.     

‘Liars are less detailed’ …So what? Comparing two recall instructions to detect deception within-subject

Most deception research provides between-subject results (e.g., liars give on average less detailed accounts), which might be of limited value for professionals evaluating credibility on an individual basis. This study examines the optimal instructions of a within-subject multiple recalls strategy to detect deception. A total of 110 participants, divided into a Lie and Truth group, were randomly placed into four interview conditions: two Basic report-everything instructions (1), a Basic recall followed by an Open depth instruction (2), a Basic recall followed by the Verifiability Approach and Information Protocol (3), and two recalls with the Verifiability Approach and Information Protocol (4). All recalls were coded for total details and verifiable details. Group (lie and truth) × Recall (first and second) was only significant in condition 3, with truth tellers providing more verifiable details in the second recall than the first. A simple within-subject decision rule was derived, allowing a 76.9% discrimination rate. Professionals can optimally evaluate credibility using two recalls (Basic recall followed by Verifiability Approach and Information Protocol) and observing the evolution of verifiable details.     

Moral Identity Predicts Adherence to COVID-19 Mitigation Procedures Depending on Political Ideology: A Comparison Between the USA and New Zealand

Reducing the spread of infectious viruses (e.g., COVID-19) can depend on societal compliance with effective mitigations. Identifying factors that influence adherence can inform public policy. In many cases, public health messaging has become highly moralized, focusing on the need to act for the greater good. In such contexts, a person's moral identity may influence behavior and serve to increase compliance through different mechanisms: if a person sees compliance as the right thing to do (internalization) and/or if a person perceives compliance as something others will notice as the right thing to do (symbolization). We argue that in societies that are more politically polarized, people's political ideology may interact with their moral identity to predict compliance. We hypothesized that where polarization is high (e.g., USA), moral identity should positively predict compliance for liberals to a greater extent than for conservatives. However, this effect would not occur where polarization is low (e.g., New Zealand). Moral identity, political ideology, and support for three different COVID-19 mitigation measures were assessed in both nations (N = 1,980). Results show that while moral identity can influence compliance, the political context of the nation must also be taken into account.     

Forming Composites of Cognitive Ability and Alternative Measures to Predict Job Performance and Reduce Adverse Impact: Corrected Estimates and Realistic Expectations

Although there has been empirical attention paid to the criterion‐related validity of predictor composites, there has been much less attention paid to the standardized ethnic group differences associated with these composites. One important area of inquiry in predictor composite research is the influence of adding predictors to a test of general mental ability. The limited empirical literature on this practice is mixed, but the prevailing expectation is that there is likely to be higher validity and less adverse impact. Unfortunately, much of the previous work is limited by the presence of inaccurate validity and standardized ethnic group difference values. In this analysis we formed meta‐analytic matrices to more accurately estimate the validity and standardized ethnic group differences of several composites that combine a measure of cognitive ability with measures of conscientiousness, a structured interview, or biodata. While results were somewhat complex, we found that adding alternative predictors does not result in a situation in which validity automatically goes up and adverse impact potential automatically goes down. In fact, the reductions in adverse impact (if any) from adding “non‐cognitive” predictors were more modest than much of the literature suggests.     

Perceptions of Credibility for a Memory Report of a Single Versus Repeated Event

Summary: When a person experiences an event that has multiple similar instances (i.e., a repeated event), memories for details that change across instances are challenging to recall. We expected that third parties would perceive memory reports of instances of repeated events as less credible than they would unique (i.e., single) events. Undergraduates participated in a single or repeated event, during which critical details were presented. Participants were asked to recall the session 2 days later, and memory reports were video recorded. New participants then viewed one video and evaluated the credibility of the speaker's memory report. Overall, repeated‐event reports were seen as less credible than were single‐event reports, despite the reports being equally accurate. Although credibility research in the context of repeated events has focused exclusively on child populations, a range of applications exists for adults (e.g., criminal and industrial eyewitnesses, and asylum seekers); we discussed our findings in these areas.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Pilot Study of Transformational Leadership and College Counseling Outcomes

This pilot study explores the relationship between perceived transformational leadership skills of college counselors and outcomes in counseling. College students receiving counseling (n = 46) were given a revised version of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), the Working Alliance Inventory, Short Form (WAI-S), and the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS-34). Results yielded significant relationships between improvement in areas of client functioning and subscales measuring aspects of transformational leadership in counselors as perceived by clients. In addition to significant correlations between alliance and subscales of the MLQ, there were strong negative relationships between social anxiety and management by exception (active); academic distress and idealized influence (behavior); and alcohol use and management by exception (passive).     

Name that percussive tune: Associative memory and amplitude envelope†

A series of experiments demonstrated novel effects of amplitude envelope on associative memory, with tones exhibiting naturally decaying amplitude envelopes (e.g., those made by two wine glasses clinking) better associated with target objects than amplitude-invariant tones. In Experiment 1 participants learned associations between household objects and 4-note tone sequences constructed of spectrally matched pure tones with either “flat” or “percussive” amplitude envelopes. Those hearing percussive tones correctly recalled significantly more sequence–object associations. Experiment 2 demonstrated that participants hearing percussive tones learned the associations more quickly. Experiment 3 used “reverse percussive” tones (percussive tones played backwards) to test whether differences in overall energy might account for this effect, finding they did not lead to the same level of performance as percussive tones. Experiment 4 varied the envelope at encoding and retrieval to determine which stage of the task was most affected by the envelope manipulation. Participants hearing percussive tones at both encoding and retrieval performed significantly better than the other three groups (i.e., flat at encoding/percussive at retrieval, etc.). We conclude that amplitude envelope plays an important role in learning and memory, a finding with relevance to psychological research on audition and associative memory, as well as practical relevance for improving human–computer interface design.     

Effects of trait anger and anger expression style on competitive attack responses in a wartime prisoner’s dilemma game

We assessed the role of trait anger and anger expression style on competitive/aggressive decision making and responding. In a 100‐trial iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma (IPD), with instructions to simulate wartime interactions, competition/aggression was defined as “attacking the opponent,” and “waiting for troop reinforcements” was the noncompetitive alternative response. Prior to play, 92 university student players completed the State‐Trait Anger Expression Inventory. They were then paired to play the IPD against partners of similar or dissimilar trait anger levels. At postplay, the State Anger scale was readministered. Results showed significant preplay to postplay increases in state anger, with greater increases shown by high trait anger players. Thus, high trait anger players were especially subject to arousal. Players in the high trait anger group made more competitive/attack responses, and they were more likely to do so when paired with a high trait anger partner. As a result of the high level of competitive/aggressive play, both groups ended with a negative troop count. Trait anger as a general personality temperament was predictive of state anger, competitive/attack responses, and the number of trials before a retaliation was made. The expressive style of anger‐control was also related to manner of play. Trait anger had strong direct and indirect effects through anger control on the number of competitive attack responses. It was concluded that trait anger, especially trait anger/temperament, and anger control difficulties may be toxic personality factors in decision making and competitive behavior. Aggr. Behav. 28:117–125, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Recovering Early Modern Women Writers

Feminist work in the history of philosophy has been going on for several decades. Some scholars have focused on the ways philosophical concepts are themselves gendered. Others have recovered women writers who were well known in their own time but forgotten in ours, while still others have firmly placed into a philosophical context the works of women writers long celebrated within other disciplines in the humanities. The recovery of women writers has challenged the myth that there are no women in the history of philosophy, but it has not eradicated it. What, we may ask, is impeding our progress? This paper argues that so often we treat early modern women philosophers’ texts in ways that are different from, or inconsistent with, the explicit commitments of the analytic tradition, and in so doing, we may be triggering our audiences to reject these women as philosophers, and their texts as philosophical. Moreover, this is the case despite our intention to achieve precisely the opposite effect.