Modal Stability and Warrant

Keith DeRose believes that it is a strength of his contextualist analysis that it explains why the recently much-discussed skeptical Argument from Ignorance (AI) is so persuasive. Not only that, however; DeRose also believes that he is able to explain the underlying dynamics of AI by utilizing solely the epistemological and linguistic resources contained within his contextualist analysis. DeRose believes, in other words, that his contextualist analysis functions as a genuinely self-contained explanation of skepticism. But does it? In this paper I argue that DeRose’s analysis does not function as a self-contained explanation of skepticism since, as it turns out, DeRose’s analysis is simply irrelevant to the main concerns of the skeptic. To the extent that DeRose’s analysis is irrelevant in this way, I conclude that such an analysis cannot be considered a satisfactory treatment of AI.     

The predictive validity of the Zung Index of Potential Suicide

Examined the predictive validity of the Zung Index of Potential Suicide. Subjects hospitalized for a suicide attempt were followed up 6 months later. In agreement with earlier studies, the IPS clinical scale was related to suicidal ideation and prior attempting at the time of admission. However, it was not related to further suicidal behavior or ideation at the 6-month followup. It is concluded that the scale lacks predictive validity and its use for assigning suicidal risk is not justified.     

Sexual behaviour,condom use and prediction in attenders at sexually transmitted disease clinics—implications for counselling

A cohort of 260 clinic attenders completed an inventory to examine sexual behaviour, condom use and appraisal and to determine whether situational factors in their last sexual encounters were predictive of condom use. Response to health education compaigns promoting condoms in the light of HIV were also examined. It was found that risk exposure was consistently high. A subsample induldged in anal intercourse, which was unprotected in over two-thirds of instances. Condom uptake was varied Difficulties with condoms were widespread and fell into physical and psychological categories. The only predictor of condom use was the desire for unprotected sex. This data seems to indicate that sex is not a drive out of conscious control, but that individuals weigh up costs and benefits which may be marginally influenced by some situational variables such as alcohol. This has profound implications for counselling which can be aimed at addressing the misconceptions and beliefs that some individuals hold. Such misconceptions may result in risky behaviour which may potentially expose them to HIV. Such understanding is an important prerequisite for effective interventions. Differences between responses for heterosexual and homosexual men and women were examined.     

Mood variability and the intensity of depressive states

Little is known about the relationship between the variability of moods and the tendency to experience depressed mood. The moods of twenty-five student subjects were measured over a period of some 30 days using scales assessing positive affect and negative affect. An index of mood variability was computed. This was correlated with two measures of average level of depression. The results showed a strong correlation between variability of moods and level of depression. High levels of mood variability accompanied high levels of depressive state in this nonclinical sample.     

An Examination of the Psychometric Properties of Holland's (1985) Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI), Using a British Sample

This study examines the psychometric properties of Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) using a diverse UK sample. Whilst an item analysis appears to be satisfactory, the factor analysis reveals seven, rather than the hypothesized six factors. A number of gender and cultural differences were found in the inventory; the bases for these are discussed and suggestions for improving the inventory items for a UK population are offered.     

Negative priming is not task bound: A consistent pattern across naming and categorization tasks

When a word that was a to-be-ignored flanker on an initial prime trial becomes the target on the subsequent probe trial, responding to that word on the probe trial is slowed, a phenomenon callednegative priming. Virtually all prior studies have required subjects to perform the same task on both the prime and the probe trials. Thus, the extent to which negative priming is task bound is uncertain. We manipulated task factorially on the prime and probe trials, resulting in four groups: name-name, name-categorize, categorize-name, and categorize-categorize. The results showed equivalent negative priming of about 22 msec both within and between tasks for identical words, but no negative priming for semantically related words from the same category. These findings suggest (1) that negative priming for identical words can readily cross task types; and (2) that semantic negative priming does not occur for words, at least when categorical relatedness alone determines the semantic relation.