Civic community and violent behavior in Italy

The aim of this study was to examine to what extent community characteristics counterbalance propensities towards homicide and robbery. Data were obtained for each of the 95 Italian provinces on homicide rate and robbery rate from 1992 to 1995. Multiple regressions were used to predict these homicide and robbery rates from a measure of civic engagement (Civicness) assessed during the same period, and from other socioeconomic variables: unemployment, family break up, and geographical characteristics. The predictors explained 77% of the variance among the Italian provinces for robbery, and 61% of the variance for homicide. The predictive patterns were somewhat different for homicide and robbery, but in each case civicness interacted with territorial variables. In the case of homicide, civicness had a preventive impact only in the southern provinces. For robbery, the protective impact was limited to provinces which were urbanized and had large metropolitan areas.     

Invariance of the psychometric function for character recognition across the visual field

The psychometric function for recognition of singly presented digits as a function of digit contrast was measured at 2° steps across the horizontal meridian of the visual field, under monocular and binocular viewing conditions. A maximum-likelihood staircase procedure was used in a 10-alternative forcedchoice recognition paradigm to gather the data. Both the Weibull and the logistic psychometric functions provide excellent fits to the observed data. The slopes of these functions at their point of inflection ranged from 4.0 to 5.0 proportion-correct/log₁₀-unit contrast, for both monocular and binocular viewing and for all loci in the visual field. These slope values correspond to short-term measurements (around 30 trials, or 1 min) and do not include performance variations of longer duration; the latter are estimated to increase slope by a factor of about 1.5. A single psychometric function shape, centered around a threshold value, therefore describes recognition performance at all retinal loci and binocularity. An empirical comparison of slope results across the literature shows that the function’s slope is about twice that reported for a number of detection tasks. The comparison of recognition contrast thresholds, percentage correct values, and other performance measures across studies requires the knowledge of the psychometric function’s slope, and our results thus provide a firm basis for the study of low-contrast character recognition     

Aus dem briefwechsel wilhelm ackermanns

A selection from the correspondence of the logician Wilhelm Ackermann (1896–1962) is presented in this article. The most significant letters were exchanged with Bernays, Scholz and Lorenzen, from which extensive passages are transcribed. Some remarks from other letters, with quotations, are also included.     

Contributions of longitudinal research to a cognitive theory of adjustment to aging

In agreement with Costa and McCrae (1992), the principle of ‘multiple uses’ of longitudinal studies is stressed based on a comparative review of the history of the Berkeley longitudinal studies and their different uses, and of those of the Bonn Longitudinal Study on Aging (BOLSA). Of the many uses of BOLSA, its contribution to the testing of a cognitive theory of aging is discussed. A selection of the findings of BOLSA and other studies of the Bonn Department of Psychology and the Institute of Gerontology, University of Heidelberg, is reported. These findings support three postulates of this theory: ( 1 ) the perceived rather than the objective situation directs behaviour; (2) perceptions of situations are related to dominant concerns of the person; and (3) adjustment to aging is achieved when a balance between the cognitive and motivational systems of the person has been attained.     

Perceived stress,life events,dysfunctional attitudes,and depression in adolescent psychiatric inpatients

Hewitt, Flett, and Mosher (1992) examined the factor structure of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and its relation to depression in adult psychiatric patients. This study sought to replicate and extend their findings, using a sample of 203 adolescent psychiatric inpatients. All patients admitted to the adolescent unit in a psychiatric hospital over a 3-year period were administered the PSS, as well as measures of depression, life events, dysfunctional attitudes, and intellectual abilities. Consistent with Hewittet al., two factors were found in the PSS, reflecting perceived distress and perceived coping ability. Regression analyses indicated that, for males, both factors account for independent variance in depression, whereas for females, only the distress factor is related to depression. In addition, for both male and female, dysfunctional attitudes account for significant variance in depression in addition to PSS, but negative life events do not. None of the variables were related to intellectual abilities. Implications for clinical assessment and intervention are discussed.