Modifying law enforcement training simulators for use in basic research

Several approaches to using simulation as a method for teaching good judgment in the use of firearms by law enforcement officers and military personnel were investigated for their potential applications to research: the GAMMA Live Fire Video Training System, the FireArms Training Systems Simulator (FATS), and the Judgment Under Stress Training (JUST) simulator. Each instrument uses real-time, computer-controlled, life-sized projected video images of scenarios that may or may not present a threat, and handguns that fire real or simulated ammunition. The subjects respond to a sequence of “shoot/no-shoot” judgment scenarios resulting in data on judgment, reaction time, and accuracy. The JUST simulator was found to be more easily modifiable in capturing data on performance at microanalytic levels. Although true interactive simulations are not feasible with this system, this was not seen as a hindrance to its usefulness for research.     

Perspectives on supervision in cognitive therapy

Supervision is often a neglected clinical area. Frequently, supervisors view supervision as an epiphenomenon of clinical work rather than a central feature. This article emphasizes the importance of supervision in cognitive therapy. Teaching novice professionals to skillfully apply cognitive conceptualizations and interventions is a challenging and difficult task. It is argued that fostering a learning alliance in supervision forms the basis for acquisition of pivotal cognitive therapy competencies. Various impediments to productive learning alliances are discussed and ways to obviate these obstacles are suggested. Further, issues related to technical interventions, relationship processes, and case conceptualizations are discussed. Finally, ways to augment trainees' skills in these fundamental areas are delineated. He is also Co-director of the Pre-Doctoral Psychology Residency Training Program.     

Who Delivers Justice? Source Perceptions of Procedural Fairness1

Tyler and Bies (1990) argue that how leaders enact and apply formal procedures can affect perceptions of procedural fairness as much as the formal procedures themselves. This study examined directly the extent to which workers see either formal policies and procedures or their supervisors as the source most responsible for the procedural fairness they receive in their performance evaluations. Group differences in these source perceptions between exempt and nonexempt workers were also explored. Results indicate that workers attribute the responsibility for procedural fairness jointly and independently to both their organization's formal policies and procedures and to their supervisors. Results at the group level of analysis indicate that nonexempt workers perceive formal policies and procedures to be more responsible for procedural fairness than do exempt workers. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Political Psychology of Evil

Fifty-eight subjects were interviewed about their concepts of evil. They include students, retirees, white collar workers, and 18 prison inmates. Many defined evil not as a moral category but as an experience of impending doom. This definition reflects and affects how many subjects experience evil as an ethical problem, leading them to "privatize" evil—experiencing it in terms of their own terror. Many have considerable difficulty connecting this experience with issues of morality and goodness. An education about evil must respectfully confront this private dimension. The same conclusion applies to how we study evil on a larger scale, such as the Holocaust. This is revealed by subjects' responses, some quite troubling, to questions about the Nazis.     

Extended Gergonne Syllogisms

Syllogisms with or without negative terms are studied by using Gergonnes ideas. Soundness, completeness, and decidability results are given.     

Why Adoptees Search: An Existential Treatment Perspective

This article frames the adult adoptee's search for his or her biological roots in an existential treatment perspective. This context offers depth of understanding of the adoptee's dilemma while allowing the counselor an expanded foundation from which to understand an adopted client's desire for personal historical information. An existential view of adoption allows the counselor to view the adoptee's struggle as a variation on the nearly universal human concerns of death, isolation, meaninglessness, being, anxiety, and freedom. Treatment approaches are suggested and discussed.     

Reproducing gender in public places: Adults' attention to toddlers in three public locales

Adults of different sex interact differently with toddlers. In home and laboratory, fathers/adult males are the primary agents of sex typing and mothers/adult females are the primary caretakers, especially in the managerial aspects of child care. Little is known about the public display of childcare. Observations were made of 1588 adults (794 males and 794 females) and 1122 toddlers at: 1) a zoo, 2) an amusement park featuring rides, and 3) a theme park based on nursery rhymes. The subjects were family parties of one adult male, one adult female and one or more toddler(s). Adult males were more likely to carry toddlers and adult females were more likely to push empty strollers. Location differences were minor, as were differences in the way male and female adults interacted with toddlers of different sex. There was a toddler-of-like-sex preference in parent-toddler interaction.We wish to acknowledge the help of Michelle Dwyre, Leanne Dimungo, Tod Nirk, Bonnie Mackenzie, Sean Benedict, Keith Booth, and Lisa Dole in data collection. We are especially grateful to the staff of the Sacramento Zoo (Maria Baker, Director; Fred LaRue, former Curator of mammals; Cheryl Winn, former Education Curator and Laurie Neville and Leslie Field, Primate Department) for their encouragement. This research was supported in part by a University of California Faculty Research grant.     

Modeling,praising, and collaborating: Effects of adult behavior on children of the same sex and opposite sex

The study assessed children's responsiveness to adults of both sexes as a function of the adults behavior. Paris of male and female adults administered games to 96 children. Each child was assigned to either the modeling, praise, or collaboration condition. Depending on the condition, each adult, in turn, (a) modeled selection of a specific set of play materials, (b) praised the child for playing with the materials, or (c) collaborated with the child while they played together with the materials. Results showed a greater responsiveness to the same-sex adult in the collaboration condition and to the cross-sex adult in the praise condition, as measured by the time spent playing with the materials previously associated with each adult and by comments to each adult. In the modeling condition, there was a nonsignificant same-sex effect for children's actual responsiveness, but a significant same-sex effect for self-reported responsiveness. Sex-typing scores, which were independently assessed, were related to same-sex responsiveness in the collaboration condition only. Different, and perhaps complementary, influences of same-sex and cross-sex adults on children's sex-typed preferences are considered.     

The effect of sufficiency and necessity on perceptions of control and responsibility

Discrepancies in perceptions of control and responsibility have been depicted as paradoxical because both types of perceptions are presumed to reflect perceptions of causality. The paradox may, in part, reflect a failure to distinguish between two dimensions of an actor's causality: sufficiency and necessity. Sufficiency of an actor is defined as the ability of the actor to bring about or prevent an outcome. Necessity of an actor is defined as the inverse of the sufficiency of other actors. In the studies described here, the sufficiency and necessity of an actor is varied, and subjects are asked to rate the actor's control and responsibility. The findings from Studies 1 and 2 support the prediction that variations in sufficiency have a greater effect on perceptions of control than on perceptions of responsibility; the findings from Study 2 support the prediction that variations in necessity have a greater effect on perceptions of responsibility than on perceptions of control. Studies 3 and 4 further demonstrate the occurrence of the paradox, and support the general conclusion that the effect of sufficiency relative to the effect of necessity is greater for perceptions of control than for perceptions of responsibility. The tendency of sufficiency to have a greater effect on males than on females, and the tendency of necessity to have a greater effect on females than on males, are linked to findings from previous research.