Sources of distinctiveness: position,difference and separateness in the identities of Anglican parish priests

We investigated the implications of three sources of distinctiveness—position, difference and separateness—for identity and subjective well‐being in a survey of 149 Anglican parish priests. Distinctiveness was examined within parish and clergy comparative contexts. Each source contributed substantially and uniquely to ratings of the distinctiveness associated with identity elements in each context. Parish‐context position was emphasised within identity and was positive for affect, while parish‐context separateness was negative for affect. Distinctiveness in the clergy context was not emphasised within identity and was unrelated to affect. This shows that distinctiveness is not a unitary construct: extending existing theories (Breakwell, 1993 ; Brewer, 1991 ; Triandis, 1995 ), we argue that different forms of distinctiveness will have different implications for identity and well‐being according to culture and context. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Commitment to “Safer” Sex as a Predictor of Condom Use Among 16-20-Year-Olds1

The AIDS risk reduction model (ARRM) is explored in the context of a prospective study of adolescent condom use. This three-stage model characterizes the social and psychological facilitation of change in attitudes and sexual behaviors related to HIV transmission. The social and behavioral consequences of AIDS for 63 adolescents (aged 16-20 years), from an urban part of North West London, were mapped over a one-year period. Indices were created according to the proposed model which reflect (a) labelling of a high risk behavior as problematic (e.g., unprotected sexual intercourse) (b) commitment to change (e.g., desiring and valuing “safe” sex), and (c) seeking and enacting appropriate solutions (e.g., use of condoms). Nested regression analysis enabled the inter-relationship between significant social and psychological predictors (Time 1) and behavior (Time 2) to be traced. Overall the model accounted for 30% of the variance in condom use. Contemporaneous behavior was also modeled to identify baseline social and psychological predictors. Twenty-seven percent of the variance in condom use is explained. The social and psychological patterning of the indices is compared with that evidenced for prospective behavior. It appears that social representations which embody normative and value considerations underlie commitment to safer sex (at a general level) and override intentions (at a specific level) in the explanation of prospective behavior. The methodological and theoretical implications of this are identified and discussed.     

Receptive vocabulary and semantic knowledge in children with SLI and children with Down syndrome

Receptive vocabulary and associated semantic knowledge were compared within and between groups of children with specific language impairment (SLI), children with Down syndrome (DS), and typically developing children. To overcome the potential confounding effects of speech or language difficulties on verbal tests of semantic knowledge, a novel task was devised based on picture-based semantic association tests used to assess adult patients with semantic dementia. Receptive vocabulary, measured by word-picture matching, of children with SLI was weak relative to chronological age and to nonverbal mental age but their semantic knowledge, probed across the same lexical items, did not differ significantly from that of vocabulary-matched typically developing children. By contrast, although receptive vocabulary of children with DS was a relative strength compared to nonverbal cognitive abilities (p < .0001), DS was associated with a significant deficit in semantic knowledge (p < .0001) indicative of dissociation between word-picture matching vocabulary and depth of semantic knowledge. Overall, these data challenge the integrity of semantic-conceptual development in DS and imply that contemporary theories of semantic cognition should also seek to incorporate evidence from atypical conceptual development.     

A comparison of different investigative interviewing techniques in generating differential recall enhancement and detecting deception

This study compared the Stepwise Interview, Cognitive Interview, and Reality Interview in detecting deception with inmates. The dependent measures were the amount of unique details provided during the free narrative and mnemonics and the number of words provided during the free narrative and mnemonics of each interview. The Stepwise Interview generated 58.3% accuracy, the Cognitive Interview generated 70.0% accuracy, and the Reality Interview generated 93.3% accuracy. The different tasks of these interviews increased the differences between honest and deceptive statements and therefore, increased the accuracy in detection of deception. Differential recall enhancement is used to explain the findings.     

Perceptual learning with a sodium depletion procedure

Rats in a state of salt need prefer a flavor that has previously been paired with saline (Experiment 1). In Experiments 2 and 3, rats exposed to 2 saline concentrations, presented either concurrently or on separate trials, and each paired with a different flavor, showed a preference for the flavor that had been associated with the stronger saline. This effect was substantial, however, only in those rats that had experienced the concurrent exposure schedule. This effect cannot be attributed to a difference in the strength of within-compound associations produced by the 2 preexposure schedules (Experiment 4). It is suggested that concurrent preexposure can engage a learning process that enhances the discriminability of the preexposed stimuli.     

Self‐Reported Beliefs About Verbal Cues Correlate with Deception‐Detection Performance

In this study, we investigated whether people who hold more correct beliefs about verbal cues to deception are also better lie detectors. We investigated police officers and undergraduates' beliefs about (i) cues to deception via an open‐ended question and (ii) 17 specific verbal cues, after which participants were asked to judge the truthfulness of eight video fragments. Results showed that undergraduates and police officers still hold wrongful beliefs about nonverbal cues, but have better insight into verbal cues. Moreover, a better insight in verbal cues was related to an increased accuracy for identifying truthful statements, showing that verbal cues do drive credibility judgments to some extent.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stereotypical behavioural cues — but not their order — influence credibility judgements

To what extent stereotypical deceptive behaviours such as gaze aversion and fidgeting actually influence people's credibility judgements remain largely unknown. In this study, we directly manipulated the presence/absence of such behaviours to investigate this. Participants were shown four truthful videos in which we manipulated the presence of stereotypical cues and asked them to judge how credible the person in each video is. Moreover, research consistently shows that decision making is influenced by various cognitive biases. One example is the primacy effect, which implies that people form an opinion early in the decision process. Information acquired early will have the largest influence on how subsequent information will be interpreted. To investigate a possible primacy effect, we also manipulated whether these cues were present towards the beginning or the end of the video (i.e. the timing of the manipulation). In line with our expectations, the presence of stereotypical cues significantly lowered the observed credibility, showing that the presence of these cues indeed influences credibility judgements. The timing of the cues had no effect.     

Using an Example Statement Increases Information but Does Not Increase Accuracy of CBCA,RM, and SCAN

Verbal credibility assessment methods are frequently used in the criminal justice system to investigate the truthfulness of statements. Three of these methods are Criteria Based Content Analysis (CBCA), Reality Monitoring (RM), and Scientific Content Analysis (SCAN). The aim of this study is twofold. First, we investigated the diagnostic accuracy of CBCA, RM, and especially SCAN. Second, we tested whether giving the interviewee an example of a detailed statement can enhance the diagnostic accuracy of these verbal credibility methods. To test the latter, two groups of participants were requested to write down one true and one fabricated statement about a negative event. Prior to this request, one group received a detailed example statement, whereas the other group received no additional information. Results showed that CBCA and RM scores differed between true and fabricated statements, whereas SCAN scores did not. Giving a detailed example statement did not lead to better discrimination between truth tellers and liars for any of the methods but did lead to the participants producing significantly longer statements. The implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contextual Bias in Verbal Credibility Assessment: Criteria‐Based Content Analysis,Reality Monitoring and Scientific Content Analysis

Verbal credibility assessment encompasses several methods used to evaluate the credibility of statements by examining their content. In two experiments, we tested to what extent these methods are sensitive to contextual bias. Four statements were presented, although their context was manipulated by confronting raters with extra‐domain information that either enhanced or diminished the credibility of the statements. In Experiment 1, 32 police officers analysed the statements using scientific content analysis. In Experiment 2, 128 undergraduates analysed the statements using criteria derived from criteria‐based content analysis, reality monitoring or scientific content analysis. Results showed that all three methods were equally vulnerable to contextual bias. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developing an understanding of the literature relating to the moral development of people with intellectual disabilities

Recent reviews of moral development theory (Gibbs, Basinger, Grime, & Snarey, 2007) demonstrate that revisionist theoretical perspectives have cross cultural validity, but moral development in relation to people with intellectual disabilities (IDs) has not been considered within this literature. A structured review of the published literature relating to children, adolescents and adults with IDs, and moral development was carried out. Twenty studies meeting the inclusion criteria were found. The review indicated that people with IDs may not progress through the developmental stages of moral reasoning as quickly as typically developing peers, or reach the more advanced stages. This difference from non-disabled peers tends to disappear if groups are matched on some measure of cognitive ability. However, the studies are fraught with methodological problems and there is a need for further research, given the theoretical developments within the area of moral development, including the evidence of a relationship between moral development and anti-social behaviour amongst typically developing children and adolescents.