The effects of dimensional naming upon children’s performance in a modified optional shift problem

In a modified optional shift paradigm, shift and test tasks were administered concurrently to 120 second-grade children. Ss required, during shift learning, to verbalize the values of the previously relevant dimension showed an increase in reversal responding in the test task, whereas those required to verbalize the values of the previously irrelevant dimension showed an increase in nonreversal responding. The results are in good agreement with predictions made from an extension of Hull-Spence discrimination learning theory.     

Pain relief, acceleration of death, and criminal law

This paper considers whether a physician is criminally liable for administering a dose of painkillers that hastens a patient's death. The common wisdom is that a version of the doctrine of double effect legally protects the physician. That is, a physician is supposedly acting lawfully so long as the physician's primary purpose is to relieve suffering. This paper suggests that the criminal liability issue is more complex than that. Physician culpability can be based on recklessness, and recklessness hinges on whether a physician has taken an unjustifiable risk of hastening death. The authors identify three conditions of justifiability. Their analysis helps to explain the distinction between euthanasia, which is legally banned, and the use of risky analgesics, which is permitted in limited circumstances.     

Goal relevance and the affective experience of daily life: Ruling out situational explanations

The importance of goals to affect in daily life has begun to be established in research that shows, across the events of daily life, an association between the content of the goal an individual is working on and her or his affect while working on the goal (Cantor, Norem et al., 1991; Emmons, 1991). However, these studies have not considered that situational, interpersonal, and temporal contexts might explain this association because contexts may be responsible both for variation in the goals an individual is working on and for the affect an individual is experiencing. To firmly establish the importance of goals to affect, such third-variable explanations must be ruled out (West & Hepworth, 1991). In a 2-week experience-sampling study, we showed that goal relevance can vary while contexts are held constant, and that this variation remains associated with variation in affect while the context is held constant, thus ruling out context as an explanation of these associations. Additionally, the importance of a goal to an individual was related to this variation in goal pursuit within each context. It is discussed how contexts and goals interact to influence affective experience in daily life.The Coping with College study was an intensive semester-long study of college students' adjustment to college. This work was supported in part by grant BNS #87-18467 (Cantor & Norem) from the National Science Foundation and a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship (Fleeson). Part of the work was completed while the first author was a graduate student at the University of Michigan. We would like to thank Randy Larsen, Hazel Markus, Joan Girgus, Rose Pacini, Eric Stone, Sabrina Zirkel, Bob Harlow, Michele Acker, Susan Jenkins, Steve Peck, Ursula Staudinger and Tim Ketelaar, for their comments on this line of work. We extend warm and grateful thanks to Carol Cook-Flannagan for her help in analysis and interpretation.     

Prototypicality and personality: Effects on free recall and personality impressions

An experiment was performed to test the hypothesis that it is easier to process information about characters who fit well with and are, therefore, “prototypical” of shared beliefs about various personality types. Character prototypicality was manipulated in a free recall and personality impression paradigm through variations in the consistency of a character's identification with preexisting beliefs about two personality-type categories—extraversion and introversion. Subjects also were given information about each character that varied in degree of abstraction from traits to concrete behavior. As predicted, both the amount and nature of the information correctly recalled were significantly affected by the consistency of the character's identification with extraversion or with introversion. Character consistency also significantly affected the amount of material written in the personality impressions and the tendency to qualify the generality of the impressions. The results support a model in which incoming data about personality are coded, structured, elaborated, and remembered according to the quality of their match with preexisting beliefs about various personality types.     

Child pornography offenses are a valid diagnostic indicator of pedophilia

This study investigated whether being charged with a child pornography offense is a valid diagnostic indicator of pedophilia, as represented by an index of phallometrically assessed sexual arousal to children. The sample of 685 male patients was referred between 1995 and 2004 for a sexological assessment of their sexual interests and behavior. As a group, child pornography offenders showed greater sexual arousal to children than to adults and differed from groups of sex offenders against children, sex offenders against adults, and general sexology patients. The results suggest child pornography offending is a stronger diagnostic indicator of pedophilia than is sexually offending against child victims. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.     

Structure of preschool phonological sensitivity: overlapping sensitivity to rhyme,words, syllables,and phonemes

Phonological sensitivity is an important causal variable in reading acquisition; however, there is controversy concerning its nature. One view holds that sensitivity to various linguistic units reflects independent abilities, whereas another holds sensitivity to these units reflects one ability. We examined relations among sensitivity to words, syllables, rhymes, and phonemes in 149 older preschool children (4- and 5-year-olds) and 109 younger preschool children (2- and 3-year-olds) who completed eight measures of phonological sensitivity and measures of print knowledge. Confirmatory factor analyses of all combinations of word, syllable, rhyme, and phoneme factors found that a one-factor model best explained the data from both groups of children (CFIs >.98). Only variance common to all phonological sensitivity skills was related to print knowledge and rudimentary decoding. Findings support a developmental conceptualization of phonological sensitivity.     

Pedophilia,Height, and the Magnitude of the Association: A Research Note

Physical height is a manifestation of in utero and childhood conditions, and pedophilic individuals have generally been reported to be of lesser height. Jung, Klaver, and Pham (2014), however, report findings that fail to support an association between pedophilia and height. In the present note, we examine the methodology and findings of Jung et al. To estimate the magnitude of the pedophilia–height association, we conducted a meta-analysis of the published literature and found a significant effect size. Our findings suggest pedophiles may experience conditions during in utero and childhood development that are capable of influencing their physical development.