Ethical objectivity: The test of time

According to many, evolutionary accounts of ethics undermine the prospects of its objective foundation. By contrast, this paper argues that such evolutionary accounts discredit only the absolutist construal of moral truths as timeless but supports other conceptions of objectivity as tested by time. Insofar as Kantian constructivism addresses the problem of ethical objectivity from the standpoint of temporal rational agents, it is not vulnerable to debunking arguments based on evolutionary explanations. In fact, recent work on evolutionary accounts of reasoning and inferences not only coheres with but it also reinforces the constructivist conception of practical reason as a problem‐solving cooperative device apt to temporal and interdependent rational agents.     

Risk Area Residents’ Perceptions and Adoption of Seismic Hazard Adjustments1

Residents of 2 geographical regions—one with a high seismic hazard and the other with a moderate seismic hazard—rated 16 hazard adjustments on 7 attributes and reported their adoption intention and actual adoption of those adjustments. There were only small and generally nonsignificant differences between the 2 locations in adjustments’ attribute ratings, adoption intention, and actual adjustment, but there were significant differences among adjustments on all of these measures. Perceptions of hazard‐related adjustment attributes were correlated significantly with adoption intention and actual adjustment, but perceptions of resource‐related attributes were not.     

COR V2: Teaching observational research with multimedia courseware

Courseware for Observational Research (COR Version 2) is an interactive multimedia program designed to teach the foundation of the scientific method: systematic observation. COR uses digital video with interactive coding to teach basic concepts, such as creating precise operational definitions; using frequency, interval, and duration coding; developing sampling strategies; and analyzing and interpreting data. Through lessons, a case study, and laboratory exercises, it gradually scaffolds students from teacher-directed learning into self-directed learning. The newest addition to COR is a case study in which students work collaboratively, using their own observations to make recommendations about a child’s disruptive behavior in an after-school program. Evaluations of the lessons showed that classes using COR received better grades on their field observations than did those using methods that are more traditional. Students’ confidence and knowledge increased as they moved through each section of the program.     

Rehabilitation of executive deficits in closed head injury and anterior communicating artery aneurysm patients

This paper reports a study that was aimed to rehabilitate executive functions in closed head injury (CHI) and anterior communicating artery (ACoA) aneurysm patients. The groups tested comprised 10 CHI patients, 9 ACoA aneurysm patients and 19 controls. We employed a dual-task paradigm that is known to tap the ability to co-ordinate two actions. The treatment consisted of five experimental sessions, in which the dual-task paradigm was used. In the CHI study, the dual-task cost was measured before the treatment (assessment), immediately after the treatment (retest), and 3 months after the treatment (follow-up). In the ACoA aneurysm study, the dual-task cost was also assessed 12 months after the treatment. A significant reduction of the dual-task cost from assessment to retest was found. This reduction remained stable in the follow-up sessions. The results are discussed with reference to the absence of spontaneous recovery of this specific executive function and to the possibility that the beneficial effect of the treatment generalises to other executive functions and/or daily living activities. Received: 31 March 1999 / Accepted: 23 July 1999     

Social communication about unpalatable foods in tamarins (Saguinus oedipus)

Many monkeys show social facilitation in sampling novel, palatable foods but not in avoiding unpalatable foods. Cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) socially learned to avoid a preferred food when it was made unpalatable but showed no aversion toward a food not made unpalatable. Only 33% sampled unpalatable tuna, and few sampled it again. In 3 of 8 groups, the socially induced aversion was long lasting, at least 15 weeks after food was made palatable again. Potential cues include facial reactions of disgust, alarm-call vocalizations, and reduction in food-associated calls. Behavioral coordination in cooperative infant care, communication about food, and well-established social relationships may explain social avoidance of unpalatable foods in tamarins and the absence of social avoidance in less cooperative species.     

A test of the effect of reverse speech on priming

J. R. Vokey and J. D. Read (1985) indicated that listeners cannot consciously recognize backward messages but that some information can be obtained from reversed speech. If reverse speech has a powerful influence on language processing, as D. J. Oates (1991) has claimed, then one should be able to measure a reliable priming effect from reversed messages. Sixty undergraduate students listened to short messages presented either backward or forward. Immediately after listening to each message, they responded in a lexical decision task to a visually presented word that had either been present or had not been present in the preceding message. No priming effect was found for backward messages, although there was significant priming for forward messages. The results are not consistent with an effect of reverse speech on word processing.     

Discriminative validity of the general behavior inventory using youth report

The present study investigated the ability of the General Behavior Inventory (GBI) to discriminate between diagnostic groups using youth self-report. One hundred and ninety-seven youths ages 10–17 years presenting at a midwestern urban outpatient clinic specializing in mood disorders completed the GBI as part of the intake process. Diagnoses were determined by a structured clinical interview (K-SADS) administered by either a child and adolescent psychiatrist or a research assistant trained to a high level of interrater reliability ( > .85). Games–Howell post hoc tests showed that the diagnostic groups significantly differed on the GBI's 2 subscales, Depression and Hypomanic–Biphasic. Logistic regression demonstrated that the scales discriminated between bipolar and disruptive behavior disorders, unipolar and bipolar depression, and mood and disruptive behavior disorders or no diagnosis. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves further indicated the good diagnostic efficiency of the scales. Results indicate that the GBI's subscales might aid in making traditionally difficult differential diagnoses, such as between bipolar disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and between unipolar and bipolar depression.     

Adolescent loneliness assessment

The aim of the present work was to develop a loneliness scale for adolescents in order to assess their perceptions of the quality of their relationships with parents and peers. The scale was administered to 1,233 Argentine secondary school students, aged 13-16 years. Factor analyses (principal axes, oblimin solution) were conducted. Four factors were obtained, which accounted for 43.13% of the variance: Peer Rejection, Family Deficits and Parent Rejection, Personal Inadequacy, and Significant Separation. The internal consistency assessed through Cronbach's alpha was satisfactory. We believe that this proposal, which aims at evaluating the different processes that cause and are caused by a feeling of loneliness, allows for an integral approach to the issue.     

Testosterone as a social inhibitor: two case studies of the effect of testosterone treatment on language

This study aimed to correlate testosterone levels with natural written language in 2 people undergoing testosterone therapy. Two participants, a man receiving treatment for loss of upper-body strength and a female-to-male transgendered individual, supplied records of injections over 1-2 years along with e-mails or journal entries as writing samples. Results showed that higher testosterone levels correlated with reduced use of words related to social connections. Language relating to anger, sexuality, and achievement was unrelated to testosterone levels. It appears that testosterone steers attention away from social connections but not necessarily toward concerns with aggression or sexual activity.