A Longitudinal Study of the Effectiveness of Business Ethics Education: Establishing the Baseline

This paper is the first phase of a longitudinal study of the class of 2014 on the effectiveness of ethics education at a business university. This phase of the project establishes the baseline attributes of incoming college freshmen with a pretest of the students’ ethical proclivity as measured by Defining Issues Test (DIT-2) scores. The relationship between the students’ ethical reasoning and their behavior in experimental stock trading sessions is then examined. In the trading simulations, randomly selected students were provided with the option of receiving privileged insider information about the final payoff of several stocks. The students could either accept or reject such information, with acceptance considered illegal insider trading. The results of the pretest indicate that moral reasoning as measured by the DIT-2 is related to insider trading behavior, with students with higher DIT-2 scores being less likely to accept insider information. The paper also presents demographic differences across DIT-2 scores and trading behavior as a foundation for the longitudinal examination of changes in students’ moral cognition characteristics and behavior during their undergraduate career.     

Performance During a 3-Hour Simulated Sentry Duty Task Under Varied Work Rates and Secondary Task Demands

The performance of 14 soldiers was evaluated during 3 hr of simulated sentry duty when (a) the primary work rate was varied and (b) participants were required to intermittently perform a simple secondary task. Performance measurements included latency to detect a target, number of correct target detections, correct friend versus foe identification, targets hit, and latency to respond to the presentation of a continuous tone (secondary task). Activity monitors measured motor activity during study participation. During higher work rate sessions, participants responded to the appearance of a target more quickly, discriminated friend from foe more accurately, and hit more foe targets. The addition of a simple auditory task to the primary task did not affect performance on any of the sentry duty measures. These findings demonstrated that moderate increases in task engagement, or work rate, improved most performance metrics on a long duration (3-hr), militarily relevant vigilance task.     

Executive Cognitive Function as a Correlate and Predictor of Child Food Intake and Physical Activity

Investigated were relations among executive cognitive function (ECF), food intake, and physical activity in 184, fourth grade children. It was hypothesized that self-reported ECF proficiency would predict greater self-reported fruit/vegetable intake and physical activity, but less “snack food” intake. Structural models demonstrated that ECF was significantly correlated with less concurrent snack food intake and greater concurrent fruit/vegetable intake, but not physical activity. Baseline ECF also significantly predicted greater fruit/vegetable intake and physical activity four months later, but not snack food intake. One implication is to promote ECF as a correlate and predictor of food intake and physical activity in children by providing opportunities for youth to practice newly developing ECF capacities.     

Persönlichkeitsdiagnostik im DSM-5

The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) was published in May 2013 and features (in Section III) a new model for the diagnosis of personality disorders. The aim of this paper is to introduce this model to a broader German-speaking readership. The article begins by explaining why a new model seems necessary. Secondly, the different components of the new DSM-5 model are presented, the theoretical and empirical background is explained and it is shown how the model works using a clinical case example. Thirdly, several advantages of the new model as compared to the DSM-IV diagnostic categories (which will be retained in DSM-5 Section II) are discussed. Finally, the article highlights some open questions and problems that require further conceptual and empirical research.     

Identifying the Basis for the Word Frequency Effect in Recognition Memory

Abstract

Recent theories of recognition memory have identified two bases on which recognition-memory judgments may be made: recollection, which involves retrieval of contextual information from an earlier episode of stimulus presentation; and familiarity, which is distinguished by a general sense of familiarity in the absence of recollection. Four experiments were conducted to test whether the word frequency effect (WFE) in recognition memory (superior performance with low- in comparison with high-frequency targets) results from recollection-based processes, familiarity-based processes, or both. In two of the experiments, superior memory for aspects of the study context was found for low-frequency in comparison with high-frequency words, suggesting frequency-related differences in recollection. The other two experiments used Jacoby's (1991) inclusion/exclusion paradigm to provide estimates of the contribution of recollection and familiarity to recognition. In both experiments the data suggested that the WFE is primarily a recollection-based phenomenon. These findings suggest that the recognition memory WFE for old items results primarily from the effects of word frequency on recollection. The implications of these findings for theories of recognition memory are discussed.     

Family Environment in Inner-City African-American and Latino Parents/Caregivers: A Comparison of the Reliability of Instruments

Inner-city, African American and Latino youth are at higher risk for the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Interventions usually focus on changing physical activity and dietary behaviors, yet family environment has the potential to influence response to these interventions. We aimed to identify instruments that could reliably be used to assess the family environment of children from high-risk populations. Selected indices from four instruments were used; the Family Environment Scale (FES), the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales IV (FACES IV), the Self-report Family Inventory (SFI), and the Family Assessment Device (FAD). Out of 15 indices evaluated, 9 were reliable in both ethnicities including FES cohesion, conflict and organization, SFI emotional expressiveness, conflict and family health/competence, FACES IV family communication and family satisfaction, and FAD general functioning. Perceived family environment characteristics did not differ significantly for inner-city African American and Hispanic families.     

Psychoanalysis as I Have Known It: 1949–2013

This is a personal account of my own voyage of discovery in psychoanalysis, as I have known it over a 64-year period from 1949 to 2013. The happenings described, and my take on them at the time, are as I today remember them, and I think they are true to the facts. I am not as confident about all the dates, though I made a library effort to confirm whenever I had doubts.     

The development of metacognitive ability in adolescence

Introspection, or metacognition, is the capacity to reflect on our own thoughts and behaviours. Here, we investigated how one specific metacognitive ability (the relationship between task performance and confidence) develops in adolescence, a period of life associated with the emergence of self-concept and enhanced self-awareness. We employed a task that dissociates objective performance on a visual task from metacognitive ability in a group of 56 participants aged between 11 and 41 years. Metacognitive ability improved significantly with age during adolescence, was highest in late adolescence and plateaued going into adulthood. Our results suggest that awareness of one’s own perceptual decisions shows a prolonged developmental trajectory during adolescence.     

Community Counselling in African Contexts

This article explores community counselling as a form of professional practice for psychologists, with a particular focus on practices that are relevant in African contexts. The discussion identifies and discusses various models of practice identified in community psychology, including an ecological perspective, a public health and community mental health framework, interventions that focus on promoting a sense of community, indigenous approaches to community counselling and a critical or social action framework. Examples relating to each of these models of practice are drawn from various African settings, providing practitioners with some insights into how theory can be operationalised into practices that are relevant to African contexts. The article concludes with a discussion on community research, with a particular focus on ethical considerations relevant to a community approach in African contexts. The latter discussion emphasises the importance of working with the community as partners, and suggests the possibility of developing a Code of Ethics aimed specifically at guiding community counselling practice in African contexts.     

Death Anxiety Among University Students in Northern Ireland and Canada

Male and female university students in Northern Ireland (n = 315) and Canada (n = 255) completed Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS). Results of a discriminant function analysis indicated that Canadian students showed more concern about being afraid to die and thoughts of death, while students from the North of Ireland were more concerned about getting cancer, the shortness of life, and the viewing of a corpse. However, total DAS scores failed to show significance between group differences (p >.10). Correlations between DAS and MAS total scores were r =.34 for Northern Ireland and r =.31 for Canadian students.