Motivational pathways underlying the onset and maintenance of viewing child pornography on the Internet

The staggering rate at which incidents of child pornography (CP) are increasing highlights the need for proactive approaches to this problem. Improving the efficacy and accessibility of interventions designed for individuals who view CP provides one means of addressing this growing concern. This article explores the self-identified motivations underlying the onset and maintenance of viewing Internet-based CP among a sample of 20 men receiving treatment for this behavior. Our findings suggest two primary motivational pathways, namely a desire to achieve sexual gratification and/or an attempt to avoid emotional pain. We propose a behavioral facilitation process, initiated by extensive exposure to Internet pornography, to explain the use of CP in men without a sexual interest in children. We also discuss factors that appeared to facilitate the maintenance of this behavior. Our findings indicate that social skills deficits, maladaptive coping strategies, and a lack of sexual education require further investigation regarding their role in promoting or precluding desistance from viewing CP.     

When should "riskier" subjects be excluded from research participation?

The exclusion of potential subjects based on increased risks is a common practice in human subjects research. However, there are no guidelines to ensure that this practice is conducted in a systematic and fair way. This gap in the literature and regulation is addressed by a specific account of a "condition on inclusion risks" (CIR), a condition under which potential subjects should be excluded from research on the basis of increased risks. This account provides a general framework for assessing standard exclusions as well as more controversial ones such as the exclusion of pregnant women and women of childbearing potential from certain types of research.     

Vigilance and the reinforcing properties of shock

There have been some observations to indicate that waiting for a shock is stressful, that the coining of an anticipated shock can serve as a tension reliever, and that failure to obtain an anticipated shock is more stressful than being shocked. Based on these observations, the following hypotheses were tested. If it is true that failure to receive shock is more stressful than the shock itself, it should be possible to train an animal to bring on a shock that had failed to come when anticipated. If a period of anticipating shock is stressful, and shock serves as a reliever of the stress, it should be possible to train an animal to perform a response instrumental to bringing on the shock sooner. Results indicated that shock does seem to serve as a reliever, that waiting for shock is stressful, but that failure to receive an anticipated shock under these circumstances is not more stressful than the shock itself. In addition, it was found that subjects learned to produce shock instrumentally if the shock was inevitable and could thus be brought about sooner. Results were inconclusive, though generally negative, on the issue of whether S’s would produce an avoidable shock that had failed to come when anticipated.     

The impact of event vividness,event severity,and prior paranormal belief on attributions towards a depicted remarkable coincidence experience: Two studies examining the misattribution hypothesis

Two studies examine the impact event vividness, event severity, and prior paranormal belief has on causal attributions for a depicted remarkable coincidence experience. In Study 1, respondents (n = 179) read a hypothetical vignette in which a fictional character accurately predicts a plane crash 1 day before it occurs. The crash was described in either vivid or pallid terms with the final outcome being either severe (fatal) or non‐severe (non‐fatal). Respondents completed 29 causal attribution items, one attribution confidence item, nine scenario perception items, a popular paranormal belief scale, and a standard demographics questionnaire. Principal axis factoring reduced the 29 attribution items to four attribution factors which were then subjected to a 2 (event vividness) × 2 (event severity) × 2 (paranormal belief) MANCOVA controlling for respondent gender. As expected, paranormal believers attributed the accurate crash prediction less to coincidence and more to both paranormal and transcendental knowing than did paranormal sceptics. Furthermore, paranormal (psychokinesis) believers deemed the prediction more reflective of paranormal knowing to both (1) a vivid/non‐fatal and (2) a pallid/fatal crash depiction. Vividness, severity, and paranormal belief types had no impact on attribution confidence. In Study 2, respondents (also n = 179) generated data that were a moderately good fit to the previous factor structure and replicated several differences across attributional pairings albeit for paranormal non‐believers only. Corresponding effects for event severity and paranormal belief were not replicated. Findings are discussed in terms of their support for the paranormal misattribution hypothesis and the impact of availability biases in the form of both vividness and severity effects. Methodological issues and future research ideas are also discussed.     

Internet Recruitment and Selection: Kissing Frogs to find Princes

The Internet has already had a dramatic impact on the way in which recruitment and selection are carried out in North America, and the impact is increasingly being felt in terms of changes in practice in Europe and Asia-Pacific. The paper presents a picture of the current development of the Internet as a medium in general and as a recruitment and selection medium in particular. The new medium has enabled the widespread adoption of computer-based assessment and it is predicted that it will replace paper as the default medium before very long. A range of issues are raised and discussed. These include security, confidentiality, authentication, control of assessment conditions, control over practice and equality of access. It is argued that as the second generation of users takes over from the first generation, so inequality of skill and access are becoming less and less of an issue. Finally, some potential areas of abuse of the system are noted and a call is made for the development of international standards to protect the rights and interests of test providers, test users and test takers.     

Online Testing: Mode of Administration and the Stability of OPQ 32i Scores

This study explores the equivalence of web‐based administration with no local supervision and traditional paper‐and‐pencil supervised versions of OPQ32i (the ipsative format version of the Occupational Personality Questionnaire). Samples of data were collected from a range of client projects and matched in terms of industry sector, assessment purpose (selection or development) and candidate category (graduate or managerial/professional). The analysis indicates that lack of local supervision in high‐stakes situations has little if any impact on scale scores. At worst, some scales appear to show shifts of less than quarter of an SD, with most scales showing little change, if any. Analyses in terms of the Big Five show differences of less than .2 of an SD. Scale reliabilities and scale covariances appear to be unaffected by the differences between the supervised and unsupervised administration conditions.     

Assessment in Organisations

Cet article aborde les pratiques actuelles et les tendances émergentes de l’évaluation dans les organisations. Une attention particulière est accordée a l’évaluation en vue du recrutement et de la selection, là où l’apparition de la méta‐analyse a fondamentalement changé la conception que l’on pouvait avoir des tests psychologiques et autres techniques de sélection. On analyse aussi l’impact d’Internet sur les pratiques de sélection. En ce qui concerne l’évaluation post‐embauche, l’obligation pour les organisations d’assumer des changements rapides est raportée à l’importance de la modélisation des compétences. Quelques points‐clés de l’évaluation post‐embauche sont passés en revue (leadership, feedback à 360°). Des perspectives pour la nouvelles recherches sont esquissées; il s’agit de créer des théories et des modèles plus pertinents, mais aussi de progresser dans les études de validitéà partir les données existantes. Finalement, on s’aperçoit que l’essentiel de la littérature actuelle s’appuie sur des recherches réalisées aux Etats‐Unis, un peu au Royaume Uni ou dans d’autres pays d’Europe. Beaucoup de ces recherches sont limitées dans leurs possibilités d’application en ce sens qu’elles ont été men?es sur de grandes organisations. On insiste sur le manque de travaux interculturels et sur la nécessité de s’intéresser à l’ensemble des organisations de travail (des grandes aux petites, des enterprises locales aux multinationals, aux secteurs public et privé). The article considers current practice and merging trends in assessment in organisations. Particular attention is paid to assessment for recruitment and selection, where the use of meta‐analysis techniques has radically changed the way in which psychological tests and other selection techniques are viewed. The impact of the Internet on selection practice is also discussed. For post‐hire assessment, the impact of the need for organisations to undergo rapid change is considered in relation to the importance of competency modelling. Some key areas (leadership, 360‐degree feedback) of post‐hire assessment are reviewed. Issues for future research are outlined. These include the need for better theory and models, together with the need to move ahead of a reliance on old data sets. Finally, it is noted that much of the current literature is based on research in the United States (with some from the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe). Much of the research is also limited in applicability in that it is based on large organisations. The need for more cross‐cultural studies and the need to cover the full range of work organisations (large to small; local to global; private to public sector) is emphasised.