How Prevalent is Contract Cheating and to What Extent are Students Repeat Offenders?

Contract cheating, or plagiarism via paid ghostwriting, is a significant academic ethical issue, especially as reliable methods for its prevention and detection in students’ assignments remain elusive. Contract cheating in academic assessment has been the subject of much recent debate and concern. Although some scandals have attracted substantial media attention, little is known about the likely prevalence of contract cheating by students for their university assignments. Although rates of contract cheating tend to be low, criminological theories suggest that people who employ ghostwriters for their assignments are likely to re-offend, and little is known about re-offence rates in this form of academic misconduct. We combined previously-collected datasets (N = 1378) and conducted additional, and previously-unreported, analyses on self-report measures of contract cheating prevalence. We found that few students (3.5%), on aggregate, ever engaged in contract cheating but this varied substantially among samples (from 0.3% to 7.9%). Of those who ever engaged in contract cheating, 62.5% did so more than once. The data also suggested that engagement in contract cheating is influenced by opportunity. These figures may help policy makers, and researchers who are creating contract cheating detection methods, to estimate base rates of contract cheating and the likelihood of re-offence.     

Discrimination between hopes and expectancies for nonvolitional outcomes: psychological phenomenon or artifact?

Despite the large literature concerning the impact of hope and expectancy on various outcomes (e.g., nonvolitional), less is known about the constructs of hope and expectancy themselves. In a recent study, Montgomery et al. (2003) demonstrated that hopes and expectancies are separate but related constructs; however, because both hopes and expectancies were measured within the same context, it is possible that these findings were simply a methodological artifact. Furthermore, it is unknown whether these data would generalize to other populations. Taking into account the importance of this distinction for both the expectancy and hope literatures, the present study sought to: (1) Determine if the distinction between hope and expectancy is a general and reliable phenomenon by using a culturally different sample (i.e., Romanian sample); and (2) Examine the robustness of this distinction by controlling for the context effect. One hundred-twenty five volunteers completed items in regard to 10 nonvolitional outcome scenarios in one of five measurement contexts. The results revealed that hope and expectancy were distinct constructs (p<0.0001), and that this distinction is both general and robust across contexts. Implications for theory and research are discussed.     

The therapeutic alliance in adolescent substance abuse treatment: a one-with-many analysis

Studies of the therapeutic alliance typically use a one-with-many (OWM) design in which each therapist (the one) treats multiple clients (the many). This study used Kenny, Kashy, and Cook's (2006) OWM method to examine the composition of the therapeutic alliance and to analyze the association between alliance and outcome in a sample of 398 adolescents treated for substance abuse by 14 therapists. Both the client and therapist alliance ratings yielded large relationship variances, with limited consensus among clients treated by the same therapist about the quality of the alliance. If a client reported an especially strong alliance with his or her therapist, the therapist was likely to also report an especially strong alliance with that client (dyadic reciprocity). The association between the components of the alliance and treatment outcome was complicated, with different levels of measurement and different components of the alliance (perceiver, partner, or relationship) derived from different informants (therapist or client) relating to different outcomes.     

The role of psychopathic personality disorder in violence risk assessments using the HCR-20

Antisocial and psychopathic traits are essential to evaluate when assessing risk for violence using the HCR-20. The role of the PCL-R on the HCR-20 was investigated using a series of meta-analytic tests. Across 34 samples in which both tools were rated, AUCs for violence were similar (～.69), and exclusion of the psychopathy item (H7) did not reduce the HCR-20's accuracy. Quantitative synthesis of results from multivariate analyses conducted in 7 raw datasets that used both tools demonstrated that the average probability of observing violence for every point increase on the HCR-20 (without H7), while controlling for the PCL-R, was 23%, whereas for the PCL-R it was -1%. The HCR-20 (without H7) added incremental validity to the PCL-R, whereas the converse was not true, and only the HCR-20 (without H7) possessed unique predictive validity. Results suggest the HCR-20's predictive validity was not negatively impacted by excluding the PCL-R. Areas for future study are discussed, including research on various ways to assess and incorporate into risk assessment personality traits related to violence.     

Moral Luck and Liability Lotteries

Adversaries of Moral Luck (AMLs) are at pains to explain why wrongdoers are liable to bear burdens (punishment, compensation etc.) which are related to the harm they cause, because the consequences of what we do are a matter of luck. One attempt to solve this problem suggests that wrongdoers who cause more harm are liable to bear a greater burden not because they are more blameworthy but rather because they get the short straw in a liability lottery (represented by the apparently indeterminate causal process). In this paper I argue that this attempt fails on several grounds. Apart from the fact that it is hard to see how the implementation of liability lotteries can be motivated and the fact that such scheme presupposes a political order (whereas the notion of liability does not seem to presuppose one), detaching liability from the outcomes of a culpable action undermines whichever justifications there were for imposing liability in the first place. Moreover, relying on the determination of the causal process as a good indication of the wrongdoer’s degree of culpability is mistaken, because the luck brought about through the causal process is not necessarily the only element involved in cases of harmful conduct which lies beyond the wrongdoers’ control.     

Parental conditional regard as a predictor of deficiencies in young children's capacities to respond to sad feelings

This study explored the relationship between parents' use of conditional regard (PCR, Assor, Roth, & Deci, 2004; Roth, 2008) to promote suppression of sad feelings and the following emotional skills in young children: (1) recognition of sadness in facial expressions, (2) awareness of sad feelings in oneself, and (3) empathic response to others' sad feelings. The study distinguished between two PCR components: conditional negative regard (similar to love withdrawal) and conditional positive regard. Emotion‐focused interviews were conducted with 102 children aged 5–6 years, and their parents completed questionnaires assessing parents' use of conditional regard. As expected, both PCR components correlated negatively with the emotional skills. Regression analyses showed that the seemingly benign practice of conditional positive regard had unique negative associations with the three emotional skills also when effects of negative PCR were controlled. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Feedback and driver situation awareness (SA): A comparison of SA measures and contexts

The dominant technological trajectory in vehicle design brings with it similarly dominant driver performance issues in regard to vehicle feedback and driver situational awareness (SA). Three experiments are reported in this paper that describe not only the effects on driver SA of manipulations of vehicle feedback but also illuminate issues concerned with SA measurement methods and contexts. The findings suggest that current trends in vehicle design may contribute little towards a driver’s SA and, in fact, may actually show a generalized trend towards decreasing it. The efficacy of verbal protocol and probe recall SA measurement techniques is noted in terms of observing this effect. On the other hand, a concerning dissociation occurred with findings from a self-report measure of SA. Drivers appear to show a concerning lack of self-awareness of their SA and, indeed, any shortfall in it.     

Cancer-related fatigue: a systematic and meta-analytic review of non-pharmacological therapies for cancer patients

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a significant clinical problem for more than 10 million adults diagnosed with cancer each year worldwide. No "gold standard" treatment presently exists for CRF. To provide a guide for future research to improve the treatment of CRF, the authors conducted the most comprehensive combined systematic and meta-analytic review of the literature to date on non-pharmacological (psychosocial and exercise) interventions to ameliorate CRF and associated symptoms (vigor/vitality) in adults with cancer, based on 119 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCT studies. Meta-analyses conducted on 57 RCTs indicated that exercise and psychological interventions provided reductions in CRF, with no significant differences between these 2 major types of interventions considered as a whole. Specifically, multimodal exercise and walking programs, restorative approaches, supportive-expressive, and cognitive-behavioral psychosocial interventions show promising potential for ameliorating CRF. The results also suggest that vigor and vitality are distinct phenomena from CRF with regard to responsiveness to intervention. With improved methodological approaches, further research in this area may soon provide clinicians with effective strategies for reducing CRF and enhancing the lives of millions of cancer patients and survivors.