Care-oriented moral reasoning and prosocial behavior: A question of gender or sex role orientation

Sex Roles - The possibility that sex role orientation was a better predictor of care-oriented moral development than gender for both men and women was investigated in this study. Also, the...     

Specifying factors in radiation risk perception

This is a study of risk perception and a test of a model of perceived risk. A scale measuring fear was factor analyzed and the resulting five fear factors were related to a large number of risk dimensions, both personal and general. Fear was only rather weakly related to perceived risk. Furthermore, perceived risk of two ionizing radiation hazards (nuclear power, X-rays) were investigated in more detail. These risk ratings were modelled on the basis of attitude, risk sensitivity, specific perceived risk of radiation, trust and an extended version of the traditional Psychometric Model, enhanced by the introduction of a factor of Tampering with Nature. It was found that risk perception could be well explained with this approach and the importance of Tampering with Nature, as well as specific perceived risk, were stressed.     

Eye Movements Indicate the Temporal Organisation of Information Processing in Graph Comprehension

Hierarchical graphs (e.g. file system browsers and preference trees) represent objects (e.g. files and folders) as graph nodes and relations between them (e.g. sub‐folder relations) as lines. We investigated the temporal organisation of two processes that are necessary for comprehending such graphs—search for the graph nodes and reasoning about their relation. We tracked eye movements to change graphs while participants interpreted them. In Experiment 1, we masked the graph at a time when search processes had finished but reasoning was hypothetically ongoing. We observed a dramatic deterioration in comprehension compared with unmasked graphs. In Experiment 2, we changed the relation between critical graph nodes after search for them had finished, unbeknownst to participants. Participants mostly based their response on the graph as presented after the change. These results suggest that comprehension processes are organised in a sequential manner, an observation that can potentially be applied to the interactive presentation of graphs. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An n-dimensional Weber Law and the Corresponding Fechner Law

Weber's law of 1834, DeltaS/S=c for the just noticeable difference (jnd), can be written as S+DeltaS=kS, k=1+c. It follows that the stimulus decrement required to elicit one jnd of sensation is S-DeltaS*=k(-1)S. If generalized for two stimulus dimensions and two corresponding response dimensions, Weber's law would have to state such equations for all directions of change in the plane. A two-dimensional Weber law with exactly these properties is realized by [S(x)+DeltaS(x)(straight theta), S(y)+DeltaS(y)(straight theta)]=[k(sin(straight theta))S(x), k(cos(straight theta))S(y)] which determines the stimulus coordinates for all stimuli just noticeably different from the stimulus (S(x), S(y)) in all directions 0R(2)) is [x, y]mapsto[log(k)(x), log(k)(y)]. The solution is generalized to arbitrarily many dimensions by substituting the sin and cos in the generalized Weber law by the standard coordinates of a unit vector. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

Evaluation of inpatient dialectical-behavioral therapy for borderline personality disorder--a prospective study

Dialectical-Behavioral Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder (DBT) developed by M. Linehan is specifically designed for the outpatient treatment of chronically suicidal patients with borderline personality disorder. Research on DBT therapy, its course and its results has focused to date on treatments in an outpatient setting. Hypothesizing that the course of therapy could be accelerated and improved by an inpatient setting at the beginning of outpatient DBT, we developed a treatment program of inpatient therapy for this patient group according to the guidelines of DBT. It consists of a three-month inpatient treatment prior to long-term outpatient therapy. In this pilot study 24 female patients were compared at admission to the hospital, and at one month after discharge with respect to psychopathology and frequency of self-injuries. Significant improvements in ratings of depression, dissociation, anxiety and global stress were found. A highly significant decrease in the number of parasuicidal acts was also reported. Analysis of the average effect sizes shows a strong effect which prompts the development of a randomized controlled design.     

Assessing the empirical validity of the "take-the-best" heuristic as a model of human probabilistic inference

The boundedly rational 'Take-The-Best" heuristic (TTB) was proposed by G. Gigerenzer, U. Hoffrage, and H. Kleinb?lting (1991) as a model of fast and frugal probabilistic inferences. Although the simple lexicographic rule proved to be successful in computer simulations, direct empirical demonstrations of its adequacy as a psychological model are lacking because of several methodical problems. In 4 experiments with a total of 210 participants, this question was addressed. Whereas Experiment 1 showed that TTB is not valid as a universal hypothesis about probabilistic inferences, up to 28% of participants in Experiment 2 and 53% of participants in Experiment 3 were classified as TTB users. Experiment 4 revealed that investment costs for information seem to be a relevant factor leading participants to switch to a noncompensatory TTB strategy. The observed individual differences in strategy use imply the recommendation of an idiographic approach to decision-making research.     

Pharmacotherapy of paraphilias in the next millennium

Paraphilias are psychiatric disorders of abnormal sexual behavior whose prevalence has markedly increased during the last decade. Treatment modalities currently used fall into three categories: surgical castration, psychotherapy, and pharmacotherapy. The pharmacological interventions consist of antiandrogens that either completely reduce testosterone secretion and/or antagonize the action of testosterone at the level of the receptor, and psychotropic drugs, namely antidepressants. Cyproterone and medroxyprogesterone acetates are the two antiandrogens more commonly used. They are only effective in relatively high doses, but have a substantial number of severe side effects which has considerably limited their use. Psychotropic drugs may be effective solely in men with a definite obsessive-compulsive disorder component. Because of the erratic results and lack of permanent eradication of the paraphilic manifestations their use in paraphilias is highly controversial. Long-acting gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist analogues are the most potent antiandrogens, and selectively abolish testosterone secretion in a totally reversible fashion. They are administered parenterally once every 1 to 3 months, and have the fewest side effects. Long-acting GnRH analogues, together with psychotherapy, are highly effective in controlling selected paraphilias (pedophilia, exhibitionism, and voyeurism), and are the most promising mode of therapy in the next millennium. There is an urgent need for good methodological research; carefully designed double-blind controlled studies with a large number of subjects in order to validate or not the use of the various pharmacotherapies.