A “hand-shaking” multiplexer for the IBM 1800

An instrument is described which is used to multiplex the “ready” and “external sync” lines of an IBM 1800’s data channel to 15 external devices. Used with the digital output registers of the computer, the device facilitates the interfacing of non-IBM peripheral devices to the 1800. The multiplexer can be used in any application in which a pair of lines needs to be shared among several devices.     

The competence of criminal defendants: A theoretical reformulation

“Competence” of criminal defendants is best viewed not as an open-textured single construct but rather as two related but separable constructs-a foundational concept of competence to assist counsel, and a contextualized concept of decisional competence. This approach has several advantages. First, it provides a useful explanatory framework for the settled features of existing law. Second, it helps to clarify the issues in areas where the law is unsettled or controversial, such as the circumstances under which incompetence bars adjudication and the abilities required for decisional competence. Third, it exposes the similarities between competencies in criminal defense and competencies in other legal contexts, and thereby helps to link what have been discrete literatures in both law and behavioral science. Fourth, because this approach is derived from a theoretical analysis of the purposes of the pertinent legal rules, it provides a framework for defining the “psycho-legal abilities” that are encompassed by each of the two competence constructs. In this respect, a relatively simple reconceptualization has surprisingly concrete implications for designing a program of empirical research and, eventually, for improving the scientific basis of competence assessments in criminal cases.     

Integrating consultation and program evaluation in school psychology

Consultation approaches to providing psychological services are widely used by school psychologists. Recently, the need for school psychologists to be proficient in educational program evaluation has been recognized. The present paper discusses how school psychologists can use their existing consultation skills as an approach to program evaluation. The integration of consultation skills with evaluation results in an approach to program evaluation that is particularly useful where program goals and objectives are broad and nonspecific (as in many educational innovations). Also, the consultation approach to evaluation is easier for school psychologists to blend with their other roles in schools than the assessment-oriented evaluator role of some evaluation models. The consultation approach to evaluation is illustrated using a federally sponsored training program for school teachers and administrators.     

Event-related brain potentials and subjective probability in a learning task

In a paired associate learning task, subjects responded to each presentation of a nonsense syllable by typing both a three-letter associate and a rating of their confidence that this response was correct or incorrect. Average event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by the subsequent presentation of the actual paired syllable varied with the interaction of confidence and trial outcome. A larger amplitude P300 was elicited by syllables that informed subjects that they were correct when they thought they were incorrect or that they were incorrect when they thought they were correct than by syllables that confirmed subjects expectations. That this average ERP result was indeed an effect on P300 amplitude, and not an artifact of single-trial variability in P30O latency, was confirmed with a trial-by-trial latency adjustment procedure. Consistent with findings from other tasks, P300 amplitude varied inversely with the subj ective probability of the ERP-eliciting events.     

Vocational Choices in College

Our society presses unreasonably on students to “know” what they want to do vocationally. The pressure is unreasonable, especially when applied to high school seniors and college freshmen, because most of them have not yet learned enough about themselves or about occupations to be able to make a first, satisfying choice. And especially they have not learned enough about the nature of their limitations in college-level work. As a result, many students commit themselves to vocational choices prematurely and then perceive the experience as a “failure.” Students should be encouraged to consider any early decision as tentative, a choice to be tested, confirmed, or disconfirmed. They should be relieved of pressure to “know” what they want to do, and helped to see their task as one of confirming or discovering what they want to do by way of a process of exploration, experimentation, and personal development that may go on through their lifetime.     

To lie or to mislead?

Philosophical Studies - The aim of this paper is to argue that lying differs from mere misleading in a way that can be morally relevant: liars commit themselves to something they believe to be...     

A-VOID—AN EXPLORATION OF DEFENCES AGAINST SENSING NOTHINGNESS

The author describes the potentially annihilating terror implicit in the experience of contact with the void—the 'domain of the non-existent' or nothingness, conceived as an immensely hostile object, terrifying space or a place of 'nameless dread'. All manifestations of existence are threatened by contact with the void, necessitating the deployment of a variety of defences. These various defences—universally employed to avoid contact with this domain—are then discussed. These include trying to search for a fixed sense of identity that can often propel people to seek refuge inside an object or state of mind, as described in Meltzer's 'claustrum' and Steiner's 'psychic retreat'. Other defences, including distraction and grandiosity, are also described. The author then goes on to discuss techniques for helping patients to tolerate contact with mental states engendered by the threat of potential contact with the void, in order to strengthen their capacity to feel and thus enlarge their repertoire of coping with anxiety in a non-reactive and thus growth-inducing manner. This involves discussion about psychoanalytically informed Buddhist understanding of these states and the nature of identity itself, as well as the correlation between these insights and those offered by Bion and other psychoanalytic writers.     

Dealing with Masochistic Behavior in Group Therapy from the Perspective of the Self

The self psychological understanding of masochism differs from traditional views in that it perceives masochistic behaviors as maladaptive attempts to experience vitalization, greater self-esteem and self-cohesiveness. Motivational systems theory may be especially useful in understanding the purposes served by masochistic behavior. Masochistic behavior in interpersonal relations is of particular importance to group therapy. Such behavior serves to maintain a relationship with the object as well as to gain selfobject experiences. Exhibitionism appears to be a prominent aspect of the behavior of individuals acting masochistically in group therapy. The group leader has the responsibility of establishing and maintaining an empathic atmosphere among the group members so that the individual engaging in self destructive behavior, as well as other members, can hear and understand their own and each other's subjective experiences.     

Money and distorted ethical judgments about research: ethical assessment of the TeGenero TGN1412 trial

The recent TeGenero phase I trial of a novel monoclonal antibody in healthy volunteers produced a drastic inflammatory reaction in participants receiving the experimental agent. Commentators on the ethics of the research have focused considerable attention on the role of financial considerations: the for-profit status of the biotechnology company and Contract Research Organization responsible respectively for sponsoring and conducting the trial and the amount of monetary compensation to participants. We argue that these financial considerations are largely irrelevant and distort ethical appraisal of this tragic research. Except for administering the antibody to all 6 participants nearly simultaneously, the trial appears to fulfill all of the critical ethical requirements for clinical research--social value, scientific validity, fair subject selection, favorable risk-benefit ratio, independent review, informed consent, and respect for enrolled participants.