Understanding the Windsor Report. Two Leaders in the American Church Speak Across the Divide – Ian T. Douglas and Paul F.M. Zahl

Book reviewed:
Understanding the Windsor Report. Two Leaders in the American Church Speak Across the Divide , Ian T. Douglas and Paul F.M. Zahl, Church Publishing 2005 (0-89869-487-6), viii + 184 pp., pb $20.00     

‘Mutual Obligation’ and ‘New Deal’: Illegitimate and Unjustified?

It is now commonplace for governments in Western countries to require the unemployed to work in exchange for their unemployment benefits. In this article I raise some serious doubts about the most promising and philosophically interesting defence of this argument, which relies on the ‘principle of reciprocity’. I argue that it is seriously unclear whether the obligations imposed on welfare claimants by ‘workfare’ schemes are legitimate and justified according to the principle of reciprocity. I do this by reconstructing the arguments for the obligations of the unemployed put forward in both the United Kingdom and Australia.     

Getting the ethics right regarding research in the emergency setting: lessons from the PolyHeme study

Research in emergency settings (RES) has become a major public issue with urgent policy implications. Significant attention has focused recently on RES in response to the trial of PolyHeme, a synthetic blood substitute, in trauma victims in hemorrhagic shock. Unfortunately, the discussion of the PolyHeme trial in the popular and scholarly press leaves important questions unanswered. This paper articulates three important lessons from the PolyHeme trial that have significant policy implications. First, the RES regulations should be re-visited, particularly the requirement that existing treatments be unproven or unsatisfactory in order for research to be acceptable without consent. Second, further conceptual and empirical scholarship is needed to accomplish the goal of effectively involving communities. Third, a more subtle analysis is needed regarding how to balance the needs of maintaining public trust and protecting confidential trade information in the context of RES.     

A Qualitative Study of Recovering and Nonrecovering Substance Abuse Counselors' Belief Systems

This study investigated recovering and nonrecovering substance abuse counselors' beliefs about the etiology and treatment of substance abuse disorders. Qualitative methods were used to investigate these variables. Analysis of the data revealed several key findings with implications for future research.     

Between orientalism and normalization: cross-cultural lessons from Japan for a critical history of psychology

Cross-cultural research performs a vital role within the confirmation of psychological "truths." Its differentiations work simultaneously to establish their general applicability and the superiority of Anglo-U.S. ways of living and relating. Taking three examples of how "Japan" figures within English language psychological accounts (i.e., group/individual, shame/guilt societies, and attachment styles), I indicate how the apparent stability of these truths suppressed the violent history of their generation. Moreover, I suggest how resisting the assimilation of cultural specificity into a discourse of mere variation can challenge the hegemony of Anglo-U.S. psychology and reframe the vexed question of specificity versus universality.     

Neural correlates of mapping from phonology to orthography in children performing an auditory spelling task

Age-related differences (9- to 15-year-olds) in the neural correlates of mapping from phonology to orthography were examined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were asked to determine if two spoken words had the same spelling for the rime (corresponding letters after the first consonant or consonant cluster). Some of the word pairs had conflicting orthography and phonology (e.g. jazz-has, pint-mint) whereas other pairs had non-conflicting information (e.g. press-list, gate-hate) (see Table 1). There were age-related increases in activation for lexical processing (across conflicting and non-conflicting conditions) in left inferior parietal lobule, suggesting that older children have a more elaborated system for mapping between phonology and orthography that includes connections at different grain sizes (e.g. phonemes, onset-rimes, syllables). In addition, we found that the conflicting conditions had lower accuracy, slower reaction time and greater activation in left inferior frontal gyrus as compared to non-conflicting conditions. Higher accuracy was also correlated with greater activation in left inferior frontal gyrus for the most difficult conflicting condition (e.g. jazz-has). The finding of both a conflict effect and a correlation with accuracy in left inferior frontal gyrus suggests that this region may be involved in resolving the conflict between orthographic and phonological representations.     

Typical intellectual engagement,Big Five personality traits,approaches to learning and cognitive ability predictors of academic performance

Background Both ability (measured by power tests) and non‐ability (measured by preference tests) individual difference measures predict academic school outcomes. These include fluid as well as crystalized intelligence, personality traits, and learning styles. This paper examines the incremental validity of five psychometric tests and the sex and age of pupils to predict their General Certificate in Secondary Education (GCSE) test results. Aims The aim was to determine how much variance ability and non‐ability tests can account for in predicting specific GCSE exam scores. Sample The sample comprised 212 British schoolchildren. Of these, 123 were females. Their mean age was 15.8 years (SD 0.98 years). Method Pupils completed three self‐report tests: the Neuroticism–Extroversion–Openness‐Five‐Factor Inventory (NEO‐FFI) which measures the ‘Big Five’ personality traits, ( Costa & McCrae, 1992 ); the Typical Intellectual Engagement Scale ( Goff & Ackerman, 1992 ) and a measure of learning style, the Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ; Biggs, 1987 ). They also completed two ability tests: the Wonderlic Personnel Test ( Wonderlic, 1992 ) a short measure of general intelligence and the General Knowledge Test ( Irving, Cammock, & Lynn, 2001 ) a measure of crystallized intelligence. Six months later they took their (10th grade) GCSE exams comprising four ‘core’ compulsory exams as well as a number of specific elective subjects. Results Correlational analysis suggested that intelligence was the best predictors of school results. Preference test measures accounted for relatively little variance. Regressions indicated that over 50% of the variance in school exams for English (Literature and Language) and Maths and Science combined could be accounted for by these individual difference factors. Conclusions Data from less than an hour's worth of testing pupils could predict school exam results 6 months later. These tests could, therefore, be used to reliably inform important decisions about how pupils are taught.     

Virtual Virgins and Vamps: The Effects of Exposure to Female Characters’ Sexualized Appearance and Gaze in an Immersive Virtual Environment

This experiment exposed a sample of U.S. undergraduates (43 men, 40 women) to suggestively or conservatively clad virtual females who exhibited either responsive, high eye gaze or nonresponsive, low gaze in an immersive virtual environment. Outside the virtual world, men and women who encountered a highly stereotypical character—a suggestively clad, high gaze agent (“vamp”) or conservatively clad, low gaze character (“virgin”)—demonstrated more sexism and greater rape myth acceptance than participants who saw a suggestively clad nonresponsive or conservatively clad, responsive character. Results suggest that gender-stereotypical virtual females enhance negative attitudes toward women, whereas those that violate expectations and break stereotypes do not.     

Screening for drugs in oral fluid: Illicit drug use and drug driving in a sample of urban and regional Queensland motorists

Police services in a number of Australian states and overseas jurisdictions have begun to implement or consider random road-side drug testing of drivers. This paper outlines research conducted to provide an estimate of the extent of drug driving in a sample of Queensland drivers in regional, rural and metropolitan areas. Oral fluid samples were collected from 2657 Queensland motorists and screened for illicit substances including cannabis (delta 9 tetrahydrocannibinol [THC]), amphetamines, ecstasy, and cocaine. Overall, 3.8% of the sample (n = 101) screened positive for at least one illicit substance, although multiple drugs were identified in a sample of 23 respondents. The most common drugs detected in oral fluid were ecstasy (n = 53), and cannabis (n = 46) followed by amphetamines (n = 23). A key finding was that cannabis was confirmed as the most common self-reported drug combined with driving and that individuals who tested positive to any drug through oral fluid analysis were also more likely to report the highest frequency of drug driving. Furthermore, a comparison between drug vs. drink driving detection rates for one region of the study, revealed a higher detection rate for drug driving (3.8%) vs. drink driving (0.8%). This research provides evidence that drug driving is relatively prevalent on Queensland roads, and may in fact be more common than drink driving. This paper will further outline the study findings’ and present possible directions for future drug driving research.