Heuristische Grundlagen der Fallanalyse

Within the German police behavioural case analysis is considered to be a further development of profiling as established in the 1980s by the American FBI. In principle behavioural case analysis is a process of systematically and analytically researching criminal cases with the aim of generating supporting leads in the search for the unknown offender. It is predominantly characterized by a critical and comprehensive reflection of methodological and criminological background knowledge and its application to the specifics of a given case. As part of a continued process of quality management the fundamental principles of North American profiling were assessed. Aspects of the logic of reconstruction and hermeneutic processes were integrated and relevant criminological research was considered or carried out where required. Also, a set of heuristic meta-rules was established. In this way a methodologically and heuristically well-founded framework was created which reduces the conflicting effects of existing habits of interpretation to a minimum and enhances the critical and creative work with hypotheses.     

Erotomanie, pathologische Verliebtheit, kognitive Distorsionen: psychopathologische Übergänge beim Stalking

Stalking is a widespread phenomenon which can be caused by different motives and in rare cases can be considered as an expression of mental illness. Stalking can occur as a symptom of schizophrenia or erotomania. The criminal culpability of psychotic stalkers is diminished and appropriate treatment has to be administered. However, there are cases which are not clearly distinct from delusional disorders. Stalking may be driven by morbid infatuation which impairs cognitive and affective capability. As the boundaries between full criminal responsibility and diminished criminal responsibility according to German penal law are blurred, these cases require thorough forensic assessment.     

Differential recall of central and peripheral details of emotional slides is not a stable phenomenon

A number of studies have reported that central information of an emotional scene is well retained, whereas peripheral details of such a scene are poorly recalled. Experiment 1 tested the hypothesis that attentional narrowing is responsible for this phenomenon. In addition, an attempt was made to increase the ecological validity of the experiment by giving extensive self-relevant instructions. Results showed that, although an emotional slide elicited eye-movements consistent with attentional narrowing, the corresponding recall patterns were absent. Experiments 2 and 3 explored some of the variables that might be responsible for the latter result. Experiment 2, relying on the original design of Christianson and E.F. Loftus (1991), found enhanced recall of central information of an emotional scene. Experiment 3 systematically varied stimulus exposure and interstimulus interval durations. However, the results of this experiment were rather complex and did not fully support the predicted differential recall patterns. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed. It is suggested that other methods (e.g. increasing levels of emotion rather than involvement) may be more suitable for testing the attentional narrowing hypothesis of emotional memory.     

HRTEM observation of interfacial dislocations at faceted Al–Pb interfaces

Al–Pb ribbons containing 1?at.%?Pb have been produced by melt-spinning and subsequently investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. It is shown that the lattice mismatch of about 22% between the nanometre-sized Pb inclusions and the surrounding Al matrix is accommodated by a periodic array of misfit dislocations at the Al–Pb interface. The closing failures of Burgers circuits drawn around misfit dislocations on {111} and {100} facets identify the corresponding Burgers vectors as (a ₀/4)? 211 ? and (a ₀/2)? 110?, respectively. The Burgers vector of (a ₀/4)? 211? corresponds to the projected edge part of a 60° (a ₀/2)? 110? dislocation. The Pb inclusions themselves appear to be free of defects.     

The functions of moral philosophy

The conception of man as an economic animal is implied by the view that economic production is the determining “factor” or “sphere” of man or society. Against this conception can be put another, that of man as praxis. This takes account of man as a creative being, capable of realizing his freedom through his own activity. In this article the theory of the determining role of the “economic factor”, and the theory of factors in general have been examined. The economic interpretation of history, a variant of the theory of factors, has been acknowledged as partly true for the self‐alienated man and society, but the theory of factors in any variant has been found inadequate as a general theory of man, or society. The possibility of freedom cannot be reduced to the fact that the determining roles played by “factors”, vary, or to the hope that the economic “factor” can be subordinated to a “better” one. Man's freedom consists in his resolving the conflict of “factors”, and in realizing himself as an integral creative being, no longer split into independent and mutually opposed spheres.     

Morality,choice and inwardness

The present paper tries to analyse the way in which Judge William, in Sören Kierkegaard's work Either/Or, distinguishes between the aesthetic and the ethical way of life. Basically his distinctions seem to be that the ethicist is a seriously committed person (has inwardness) whereas the aestheticist is indifferent, and that the former accepts universal rules whereas the latter makes an exception for himself. — In order to come from the aesthetic to the ethical stage one must, according to Judge William, make a choice of oneself. We try to show that such a choice is only one among several factors implicit in his reasoning and that he does not at all consider it as a ‘leap’, but as based upon reasons, though his reasons are mostly of an aesthetic nature. Far from seeing the Judge as a champion of choice, we maintain that the book primarily contains a plea for a certain personality ideal. This probably has to do with the fact that he does not seem to be in doubt as to what one ought to do, only as to how to become a person who does what he ought to do. We shall also argue that a choice of oneself, as a matter of fact, is neither necessary nor sufficient in order to bring a person within the ethical stage, as described by the Judge. — A person who lives ethically does not, according to Judge William, necessarily act rightly, but his actions are either right or wrong, as opposed to the actions of the aestheticist which fall outside the domain of the ethical. In order to obtain a tenable distinction within his philosophy between ‘being within the ethical stage’ and ‘acting ethically rightly’ the first concept should be defined in terms of inwardness (serious commitment), the latter as inward conformity with certain universal rules. — This idea of inwardness, probably the most original and fruitful contribution of ‘Equilibrium’, seems to be based, however, like most of his ethical reasoning, on certain controversial assumptions about human nature.     

Brain potentials during language production in children and adults: An ERP study of the English past tense

The current study examines the neural correlates of 8-to-12-year-old children and adults producing inflected word forms, specifically regular vs. irregular past-tense forms in English, using a silent production paradigm. ERPs were time-locked to a visual cue for silent production of either a regular or irregular past-tense form or a 3rd person singular present tense form of a given verb (e.g., walked/sang vs. walks/sings). Subsequently, another visual stimulus cued participants for an overt vocalization of their response. ERP results for the adult group revealed a negativity 300–450 ms after the silent-production cue for regular compared to irregular past-tense forms. There was no difference in the present form condition. Children’s brain potentials revealed developmental changes, with the older children demonstrating more adult-like ERP responses than the younger ones. We interpret the observed ERP responses as reflecting combinatorial processing involved in regular (but not irregular) past-tense formation.     

Kriegskinder als Psychoanalytiker

A part of the research project made at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München about Childhood during World War II is reported here about the comments of psychoanalysts who were children at the time of World War II, about their life story, their individual development, their psychoanalytic socialization and their present professional practice. Special attention is paid to the question whether and how the war and National Socialism have influenced training analysis as it is represented in the memory of the former analysands, in which war and National Socialism represent a common experiential background both of analysands and training analysts.     

Gutachtenleitfaden

The article presents an operationalized and manualized approach for the assessment of the capability of performance. This manual has been conceptualized and tested empirically by a multicentric and interdisciplinary workgroup. It is basically oriented to the “International Classification of Functioning” (ICF; WHO), which is well accepted for assessing the course of chronic diseases and the consequences for the individual. It is especially widely applied in the context of rehabilitation. The different diagnostic levels of the manual and their operationalization are outlined. Furthermore, the first results concerning reliability, content validity, applicability and practicability are described and questions on the areas of application of the instrument are discussed.