Diagnostic Utility: Experimental Demonstrations and Replications of Powerful Question Effects in High‐Stakes Deception Detection

The concept of diagnostic utility was used to create questions that would differentially affect deception detection accuracy. Six deception detection studies show that subtle differences in questioning produced accuracy rates that were predictably, substantially, and reliably above and below chance. The first 3 detection studies demonstrate that diagnostically useful questioning can reliably achieve accuracy rates over 70% with student and experienced judges. The fourth and fifth experiments demonstrated negative diagnostic utility among federal investigators but not students. The final experiment crossed 3 sets of interview questions with experience. Strong question effects produced a swing in accuracy from 32 to 73%. A questioning by experience interaction was also obtained.     

Problem‐Focused Content in the Job Search: Two Tests of the Cognitive‐Emotional Theory of Esteem Support Messages

The Cognitive‐Emotional Theory of Esteem Support Messages posits that messages intended to enhance recipients' state self‐esteem focus on cognitions and/or behaviors. In the current studies, problem‐focused message content (i.e., content focused on enacting behavior to alleviate the esteem threat) was of particular interest. College students (Study 1, n= 227) applying for postgraduation jobs and unemployed, underemployed, and/or displaced workers recruited from a government one‐stop career center (Study 2, n = 292) rated esteem support messages varying in degree of focus on behaviors vs. cognitions relevant to the job search process. Messages focused on behavior were rated as less effective than those focusing on cognitions relevant to the esteem threat, although support for this result was stronger in Study 2.     

How Prevalent is Contract Cheating and to What Extent are Students Repeat Offenders?

Contract cheating, or plagiarism via paid ghostwriting, is a significant academic ethical issue, especially as reliable methods for its prevention and detection in students’ assignments remain elusive. Contract cheating in academic assessment has been the subject of much recent debate and concern. Although some scandals have attracted substantial media attention, little is known about the likely prevalence of contract cheating by students for their university assignments. Although rates of contract cheating tend to be low, criminological theories suggest that people who employ ghostwriters for their assignments are likely to re-offend, and little is known about re-offence rates in this form of academic misconduct. We combined previously-collected datasets (N = 1378) and conducted additional, and previously-unreported, analyses on self-report measures of contract cheating prevalence. We found that few students (3.5%), on aggregate, ever engaged in contract cheating but this varied substantially among samples (from 0.3% to 7.9%). Of those who ever engaged in contract cheating, 62.5% did so more than once. The data also suggested that engagement in contract cheating is influenced by opportunity. These figures may help policy makers, and researchers who are creating contract cheating detection methods, to estimate base rates of contract cheating and the likelihood of re-offence.     

Sensitivity to the acoustic correlates of lexical stress and their relationship to reading in skilled readers

The role of suprasegmental information in reading processes is a growing area of interest, and sensitivity to lexical stress has been shown to explain unique variance in reading development. However, less is known about its role in skilled reading. This study aimed to investigate the acoustic features of suprasegmental information using a same/different cross-modal matching task. Sixty-four adult participants completed standardized measures of reading accuracy, reading speed, and comprehension and performed an experimental task. The experimental task required the participants to identify whether non-speech acoustic sequences matched the characteristics of written words. The findings indicated differences in responses depending on where the lexical stress was required for the word. Moreover, evidence was found to support the view that amplitude information is part of the word knowledge retrieval process in skilled reading. The findings are discussed relative to models of reading and the role of lexical stress in lexical access.     

A sex difference in effect of prior experience on object-mediated problem-solving in gibbons

Understanding the functionally relevant properties of objects is likely facilitated by learning with a critical role for past experience. However, current evidence is conflicting regarding the effect of prior object exposure on acquisition of object manipulation skills. This may be due to the influence of life history variables on the capacity to benefit from such experience. This study assessed effect of task-relevant object exposure on object-mediated problem-solving in 22 gibbons using a raking-in task. Despite not using tools habitually, 14 gibbons spontaneously used a rake to obtain a reward. Having prior experience with the rake in an unrewarded context did not improve learning efficiency in males. However, females benefitted significantly from the opportunity to interact with the rake before testing, with reduced latencies to solution compared to those with no previous exposure. These results reflect potential sex differences in approach to novelty that moderate the possible benefits of prior experience. Due to their relatively high energetic requirements, reproductively active females may be highly motivated to explore potential resources; however, increased investment in developing offspring could make them more guarded in their investigations. Previous exposure that allows females to learn of an object’s neutrality can offset this cautious exploration.     

‘Tell us what we need to know to do this!’ Preparing a path to safe uncertainty in assignment writing on a family therapy foundation course

This article describes a single session aimed at helping participants on a family therapy foundation course to move from a position of anxiety and discomfort about completing a written assignment to a position of safe uncertainty. Evaluation from the perspectives of course participants, course facilitators and assignment markers has shown participants engaging more enthusiastically with the writing of the assignment and expressing less anxiety about the process.     

The Ambivalence of Promising Technology

Issues of responsibility in the world of nanotechnology are becoming explicit with the emergence of a discourse on ‘responsible development’ of nanoscience and nanotechnologies. Much of this discourse centres on the ambivalences of nanotechnology and of promising technology in general. Actors must find means of dealing with these ambivalences. Actors’ actions and responses to ambivalence are shaped by their position and context, along with strategic games they are involved in, together with other actors. A number of interviews were conducted with industrial actors with the aim of uncovering their ethical stances towards responsible development of nanotechnology. The data shows that standard repertoires of justification of nanotechnological development were used. Thus, the industrial actors fell back on their position and associated responsibilities. Such responses reinforce a division of moral labour in which industrial actors and scientists can focus on the progress of science and technology, while other actors, such as NGOs, are expected to take care of broader considerations, such as ethical and social issues.