Abortion and victimisability

ABSTRACT This paper begins with a review of major difficulties with both extreme conservative and extreme liberal views on foetal moral status and the morality of abortion. There follows an outline and defence of a moderate position on abortion which is centred in an account of emergent foetal victimisability in being killed. Lastly, various perplexities about this view are explored, particularly the question whether, once victimisable at all, the victimisability of a foetus should reasonably be thought to increase proportionately with further biological development.     

Consistency in attitude and behavior of women with a liberated attitude toward the rights and roles of women

The study was designed to determine the extent of consistency of attitude and behavior of women with liberated attitudes toward their rights and roles, and to identify determinants of inconsistency between attitude and behavior. The Attitude Towards Women Scale, Rotter's locus of control scale, the Ego-Strength Scale, the Self-Esteem Scale, the Liberated Behavior Questionnaire, and the Attitude of Family and Friends Questionnaire were administered to 242 women. Women with more liberated attitudes tended to act more liberated. Also, women with liberated attitudes tended to act more liberated if their close friends were liberated and if they themselves were more aware of leaders in the women's liberation movement. The personality measures did not relate to the tendency to act liberated.     

The approximation of a group stimulus space by averaging responses to selected subsets of the stimuli

This paper presents a simple random procedure for selecting subsets of stimulus pairs for presentation to subjects. The resulting set of ratings from the group of subjects allows the construction of a group (average) space through the use of the computer program TORSCA-9 or equivalent programs. The procedure is applied to both real and simulated data. It is found that subjects need only make between 20% and 50% of the usual judgements to reconstruct a reasonably accurate group space.     

COMPARING THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE:

Abstract— Recent research suggests that dynamic spatial reasoning tasks show more robust gender differences than static spatial reasoning tasks. These differences have implications for selection procedures based on aptitude test scores. Two experiments were therefore designed to examine the locus of such gender differences. In Experiment 1, 82 males and 82 females performed two separate tasks: judging the relative velocity of moving objects and judging their relative distances from target destinations. Significant gender differences occurred only for relative velocity judgments and were partially related to prior experience. A second experiment therefore tested the effects of practice and feedback on performance judging relative velocity. Male and female performance differences were again found, and performance improved equally as a result of feedback. Consistent with contemporary views of aptitude and assessment, the data suggest that equitable assessment of dynamic spatial abilities requires a determination of experiential history and learning rates as well as absolute performance levels.     

An emergency situation simulator for examining time-pressured decision making

Between deliberate planning efforts and reactionary decision making lies a realm of time-pressured decision making. A number of real-world occupations deal with this realm on a regular basis, including air traffic controllers and emergency service dispatchers. To study this type of decision making, an emergency situation simulator has been developed, which recreates the stressful environment of the emergency service dispatcher by generating realistic hypothetical emergency situations.     

Perceived trauma: its etiology and treatment

Female adolescents in treatment for emotional disturbances are often diagnosed as suffering from borderline personality disorder. The usual treatment plan for such a diagnosis is based upon limit setting and boundary reinforcement. When this fails to produce results, the diagnosis comes into question. The present paper investigated 85 female adolescents who were being treated for problems associated with differentiation and emancipation in an inpatient setting. A treatment variation was introduced which suggested that these females were more likely to be suffering from a variety of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). When their ritualistic behavioral repetitions were addressed by cognitive behavioral approaches, the behavior decreased. The struggle with boundary issues and references to the historical context of misery and deprivation became less frequent when the focus shifted to current behavior. Two groups emerged through the analysis of data. No difference in behavior or response to treatment could be established, but one group lacked a specific troubling experience which is essential for a diagnosis of PTSD. Maladaptive social behavior (e.g., splitting and projection) were accepted as confounding factors associated with cognitive style rather than "borderline" symptoms. With the new approach, recidivism decreased 14% and the number of outbursts diminished 10% to 12%. The altered treatment approach confirmed the hypothesis that these adolescents were experiencing the effects of trauma (actual or perceived) rather than some disabling personality disorder.     

家庭抗逆力理论在风险应对领域的应用：演变、价值及挑战

家庭抗逆力理论是近年来风险应对研究领域中被引最高的理论之一。该理论的提出源自McCubbin等人对军人家庭应对战争危机的观察与思考,得益于早期学者对家庭压力和家庭系统理论的探究。经数次修订后,该理论经历了由静态特征到动态变化的发展过程,形成了一个具有较广泛内涵与外延的理论体系。其早期应用集中于创伤修复、家庭压力应对等主题,之后涉及复原力等更丰富的研究议题,已成为临床干预工作的实践导引和COVID-19大流行以来国家和社会、家庭和个体层面“危机事件—适应能力”关系的重要解释机制。其应用面临来自元理论研究、方法学及跨文化与社会变迁观点的挑战。未来研究应明晰概念与整合模型、使用混合方法与制定评估指标体系、强化家庭抗逆力理论的本土化研究与构建中国特色家庭抗逆力理论体系。