Achieving ego integrity: Personality development in late midlife

Using data from two longitudinal studies of educated white women, we explored precursors and correlates of ego integrity versus despair, which is the last developmental stage in Erikson’s theory of adult development. The women comprising Study 1 graduated from Smith College in 1964 (N = 42); the women comprising Study 2 graduated from Radcliffe College also in 1964 (N = 50). In both studies, hierarchical regressions indicated that women who had resolved their regrets at age 53 achieved higher levels of ego integrity at age 62, and those who had resolved their regrets at age 62 also had higher concurrent levels of ego integrity. Further, in study 2, generativity at age 53 was found to predict ego integrity at age 62.     

Performance of the CJDATS Co-Occurring Disorders Screening Instruments (CODSIs) among minority offenders

Previous research has shown the performance of the CJDATS Co-Occurring Disorders Screening Instruments (CODSI-MD and SMD)--six- and three-item instruments to screen for any mental disorder (CODSI-MD) and for severe mental disorders (CODSI-SMD), respectively--to be comparable or superior to other, longer instruments. This study tested the stability of the performance of the CODSI-MD and SMD across three racial/ethnic groups of offenders entering prison substance abuse treatment programs (n = 353), consisting of 96 African American, 120 Latino, and 137 White admissions. The Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) was used to obtain DSM-IV Axis I and II diagnoses; a lifetime SCID diagnosis of a mental disorder or a severe mental disorder was the criterion against which the CODSI-MD and SMD were validated. Results showed no statistical differences in sensitivity or specificity for either the CODSI-MD or SMD across the African American, Latino, and White prisoner groups. The value of the CODSI-MD and SMD as brief screens for mental disorders among offenders with diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds is discussed.     

Associations between social capital and health status in an Australian population

This study investigated the association between social capital and health related quality of life in a sample of Australian adults. Information was collected from a sample of adults in Queensland, Australia relating to health status, health related quality of life and related social determinants of health by computer-assisted-telephone-interview survey. Significant associations were observed between social capital and physical health when adjusting for selected demographic measures. No significant association was observed between social capital and mental health. The research produced equivocal results regarding the associations between social capital and the selected measures of health-related quality of life. Evidence is presented in support of the association between social capital and physical health status, whereas no associations were observed between mental health status and social capital. The role and relationship between health and social capital remains elusive. More work is required to clearly support social capital's role in physical and mental health and well-being.     

Identifying topic sentencehood

Four experiments were conducted to assess two models of topic sentencehood identification: the derived model and the free model. According to the derived model, topic sentences are identified in the context of the paragraph and in terms of how well each sentence in the paragraph captures the paragraph's theme. In contrast, according to the free model, topic sentences can be identified on the basis of sentential features without reference to other sentences in the paragraph (i.e., without context). The results of the experiments suggest that human raters can identify topic sentences both with and without the context of the other sentences in the paragraph. Another goal of this study was to develop computational measures that approximated each of these models. When computational versions were assessed, the results for the free model were promising; however, the derived model results were poor. These results collectively imply that humans' identification of topic sentences in context may rely more heavily on sentential features than on the relationships between sentences in a paragraph.     

Defusing epistemic relativism

This paper explores the question of whether there is an interesting form of specifically epistemic relativism available, a position which can lend support to claims of a broadly relativistic nature but which is not committed to relativism about truth. It is argued that the most plausible rendering of such a view turns out not to be the radical thesis that it is often represented as being.     

Selective tuning of the right inferior frontal gyrus during target detection

In the human brain, a network of frontal and parietal regions is commonly recruited during tasks that demand the deliberate, focused control of thought and action. Previously, using a simple target detection task, we reported striking differences in the selectivity of the BOLD response in anatomically distinct subregions of this network. In particular, it was observed that the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) followed a tightly tuned function, selectively responding only to the current target object. Here, we examine this functional specialization further, using adapted versions of our original task. Our results demonstrate that the response of the right IFG to targets is a strong and replicable phenomenon. It occurs under increased attentional load, when targets and distractors are equally frequent, and when controlling for inhibitory processes. These findings support the hypothesis that the right IFG responds selectively to those items that are of the most relevance to the currently intended task schema.     

Midlife women's generativity and authoritarianism: marriage, motherhood, and 10 years of aging

Generativity and authoritarianism assessed at age 52 were correlated with criterion variables assessed at age 62 in a sample of well-educated women (N = 81). Results indicated that generativity predicted positive personality characteristics, satisfaction with marriage and motherhood, and successful aging. By contrast, although authoritarianism is linked in the literature to endorsing traditional gender roles, authoritarianism was uncorrelated in the current study with happiness about marriage and was negatively related to perceptions of motherhood. Furthermore, authoritarianism was correlated with neuroticism later in life. These data suggest that midlife authoritarianism may be problematic as women transition from their 50s to their 60s. Midlife generativity, in contrast, seems to offer one path to life satisfaction.     

Introduction

I introduce the topic of this special issue of Synthese, and give an overview of the articles collected here.     

Of Mice and Men: Natural Kinds of Emotions in the Mammalian Brain? A Response to Panksepp and Izard

ABSTRACT— For almost 5 decades, the scientific study of emotion has been guided by the assumption that categories such as anger, sadness, and fear cut nature at its joints. Barrett (2006a) provided a comprehensive review of the empirical evidence from the study of emotion in humans and concluded that this assumption has outlived its usefulness. Panksepp and Izard have written lengthy papers (published in this issue) containing complementary but largely nonoverlapping criticisms of Barrett (2006a) . In our response, we address three of their concerns. First, we discuss the value of correlational versus experimental studies for evaluating the natural-kind model of emotion and refute the claim that the evidence offered in Barrett (2006a) was merely correlational. Second, we take up the issue of whether or not there is evidence for "coherently organized neural circuits" for natural kinds of emotions in the mammalian brain and counter the claim that Barrett (2006a) ignored crucial evidence for existence of discrete emotions as natural kinds. Third, we address Panksepp and Izard's misconceptions of an alternative view, the conceptual act model of emotion, that was briefly discussed in Barrett (2006a) . Finally, we end the article with some thoughts on how to move the scientific study of emotion beyond the debate over whether or not emotions are natural kinds.     

Roles of Boredom and Life Goals in Juvenile Delinquency1

The relationship between possible selves and boredom in juvenile delinquency was examined in 418 high school students. The construct Possible Selves refers to the representation of the self that each person would like to become, could become, and is afraid of becoming. Participants who acknowledged high levels of delinquent behaviors reported more negative possible selves, a higher tendency to experience boredom, and fewer positive possible selves than did adolescents who engaged in lower levels of delinquent behaviors. Also, the number of negative possible selves, the number of positive possible selves, boredom proneness, and gender accounted for 32% of the variance in juvenile delinquency. Overall, the results provide evidence that boredom and a negative view of one's future play a significant role in adolescent delinquent behavior.