HOW WELL DO JURORS REASON?

Significant individual variation IS observed m how people reason as jurors At the saUsficing end of a continuum we identify, the juror draws on evi-dence selectively to construct a single story of what happened, with no acknowledgment of discrepant evidence or alternative possibilities A contrasting theory-evidence coordination mode of processing entails construction of multiple theories (story-verdict constellations)that are evaluated against the evidence and against alternatives Individual differences Influence task outcome, the satisficing mode being associated with more extreme verdict choices and very high certainty     

Prenatal cortisol, prematurity and low birthweight

Three hundred depressed pregnant women were recruited at approximately 20 weeks gestation. They were then divided by a median split into high and low urinary cortisol level groups. The high cortisol group had higher CES-D depression scores and higher inhibition (BIS) scores prenatally. Their fetuses had smaller head circumference, abdominal circumference, biparietal diameter and fetal weight. The high cortisol group neonates were shorter gestational age and lower birthweight and they had lower Brazelton habituation and higher Brazelton reflex scores. Discriminant function analyses suggested that cortisol levels more accurately classified short gestation and low birthweight groups than CES-D depression scores.     

Effects of stress and sex on acquisition and consolidation of human fear conditioning

We examined the relationship between stress hormone (cortisol) release and acquisition and consolidation of conditioned fear learning in healthy adults. Participants underwent acquisition of differential fear conditioning, and consolidation was assessed in a 24-h delayed extinction test. The acquisition phase was immediately followed by an 11-min psychosocial stress period (arithmetic test combined with a public speech). Salivary cortisol was sampled at various time points before and after acquisition and retention of fear conditioning. Results showed two effects of endogenous cortisol. Post-acquisition cortisol correlated with fear acquisition in male but not female participants. In addition, post-acquisition cortisol correlated with consolidation of fear but only in those participants with high cortisol levels. We conclude that in the short term, a robust and sexually dimorphic relationship exists between fear learning and stress hormone levels. For those participants whose fear learning is accompanied by high stress hormone levels, a long-term relationship exists between cortisol release and memory consolidation. These short-term and long-term effects may relate to the differential involvement of mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptor subtypes, respectively. The findings have implications for understanding the role of stress, sex, and hormones in different stages of fear learning and memory.     

Schedule thinning following communication training: using competing stimuli to enhance tolerance to decrements in reinforcer density

Functional communication training (FCT) is a widely used treatment for individuals with developmental disabilities who exhibit severe behavior problems. One inherent challenge of employing FCT as a treatment in the community is that reinforcement for appropriate communication cannot always be immediate or even possible in some circumstances. Of the few studies that have incorporated some form of schedule thinning for communication, most have reported disruption of communication or increases in problem behavior when the schedule of reinforcement is thinned. In the current study, we compared FCT with extinction to FCT with extinction and access to competing stimuli. After conducting a functional analysis, a competing stimulus assessment was performed to identify stimuli that produce reinforcement that ostensibly competes with reinforcement that maintains problem behavior. It was hypothesized that FCT with competing stimuli would result in more stable reductions in problem behavior during schedule thinning, which would ultimately result in quicker achievement of the treatment goal (low levels of problem behavior under the terminal reinforcement schedule for communication) than FCT without competing stimuli. Results confirmed this hypothesis.     

EFFECTS OF EVIDENCE ON ATTITUDES:

Abstract— A 1979 study by Lord, Ross, and Lepper has been widely cited as showing that examination of mixed evidence on a topic leads to polarization of altitudes The polarization phenomenon, we suggest, in fact encompasses two distinct change patterns—a shift from an initially moderate to a more extreme position (regarded here as genuine polarization) and a shift from an initially neutral to a moderate position (which might better be termed "articulating a position") The findings reported here indicate that genuine polarization is a real but infrequent outcome of exposure to mixed evidence In addition, we offer data in support of the view that the effective component of such interventions is simply cognitive engagement, rather than exposure to new evidence.     

MICROGENETIC STUDY OF CHANGE:

The microgenetic method has been advocated by developmentalists as a promising tool in the study of change. Despite convergence of findings across investigators and diverse domains, however, several fundamental questions need to be answered (a). Is the potential for change specific to periods of developmental transition? (b). Is change domain-general or domain-specific? (c). Why and how does change occur? Answers to these questions bear on the extent to which microgeneiic study of change can be interpreted as providing insight into the natural change process.     

Das Ende der ‘Evolution wider Willen’?, I

Ohne ZusammenfassungThe remainder of this article, along with the bibliographical data and documentation, will appear in the next issue ofStudies in Soviet Thought.