INCREASING TREATMENT ACCEPTABILITY THROUGH VIDEO

The effects of a video vignette on the treatment acceptability ratings of four behavioral interventions were evaluated. Two interventions involved positive reinforcement (DRO and DRI) and two negative consequences (contingent physical restraint and contingent electric shock). Seventy-four undergraduate psychology students were randomly assigned into two groups. The experimental group (n=36) viewed a video vignette of a self-abusive individual whereas the control group (n=38) did not. Acceptability ratings prior to the video showed no differences between the experimental and control groups. The post video ratings indicated significant acceptability increases for physical restraint for the experimental group. There also was a significant group by testing effect because the means for the experimental group rose whereas the control group's means were stable. These results replicated and extended Foxx, McHenry and Bremer (in press) who showed that treatment acceptability is alterable through video.     

Perceived slant: a dissociation between perception and action

Perceived slant is grossly overestimated, such that 5 degrees hills look to be about 20 degrees. However, overestimation is found only in visual and verbal measures of apparent slant; action measures are accurate. This dissociation is consistent with several lines of research that suggest that there exist two perceptual processes, one for visually guided actions and another for explicit awareness. However, studies in other contexts have shown that analogous effects can be the result of differences in the task demands associated with the responses themselves as opposed to the processes underlying the responses. Two experiments are reported in which these alternatives were tested. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that two perceptual processes underlie the dissociation between explicit awareness and visuomotor assessments of perceived slant.     

How much does number matter to a monkey (Macaca mulatta)?

Although many animal species can represent numerical values, little is known about how salient number is relative to other object properties for nonhuman animals. In one hypothesis, researchers propose that animals represent number only as a last resort, when no other properties differentiate stimuli. An alternative hypothesis is that animals automatically, spontaneously, and routinely represent the numerical attributes of their environments. The authors compared the influence of number versus that of shape, color, and surface area on rhesus monkeys' (Macaca mulatta) decisions by testing them on a matching task with more than one correct answer: a numerical match and a nonnumerical (color, surface area, or shape) match. The authors also tested whether previous laboratory experience with numerical discrimination influenced a monkey's propensity to represent number. Contrary to the last-resort hypothesis, all monkeys based their decisions on numerical value when the numerical ratio was favorable.     

In times of uncertainty: predicting the survival of long-distance relationships

The authors examined the degree to which ratings of negative affectivity (NA) and relational security predicted the breakup of long-distance and same-city dating relationships. Couples completed initial surveys and were contacted 1 year later about the status of their relationship. In the initial surveys, both partners completed NA and relational security assessments. Overall, both the NA and relational security of men and women predicted stability. However, as predicted, structural equation modeling revealed a gender difference in the interaction between NA and long-distance status. The presence of high NA in men was associated with breakup for long-distance but not same-city couples. High NA in women was not differentially associated with relational stability on the basis of long-distance status. The authors discuss the psychological basis of this gender difference.     

Extraversion and neuroticism in team sport participants, individual sport participants, and nonparticipants

Scores on Extraversion and on Neuroticism as measured by the Eysenck Personality Inventory were compared for 90 undergraduate team sport participants, individual sport participants, and nonparticipants (43 men, 47 women, M age = 20.3 yr.). From past research and Eysenck's biological theory of personality, it was hypothesized that sport participants would score higher on Extraversion and lower on Neuroticism than nonparticipants, and that team participants would score higher on Extraversion and perhaps higher on Neuroticism than individual sport participants. By comparing scores for students in first year and final year, it was also investigated whether pre-existing personality differences drew people to sport (the gravitational hypothesis) or whether personality changed as a function of sport participation (the developmental hypothesis). The main findings were that team participants scored higher on Extraversion than both individual sport participants and nonparticipants, and that test scores did not change over time, supporting the gravitational hypothesis for Extraversion.     

With Hope and Imagination: Imaginative Moral Decision-Making in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Although the role of imagination in moral reasoning is often neglected, recent literature, mostly of pragmatist signature, points to imagination as one of its central elements. In this article we develop some of their arguments by looking at the moral role of imagination in practice, in particular the practice of neonatal intensive care. Drawing on empirical research, we analyze a decision-making process in various stages: delivery, staff meeting, and reflection afterwards. We show how imagination aids medical practitioners demarcating moral categories, tuning their actions, and exploring long-range consequences of decisions. We argue that imagination helps to bring about at least four kinds of integration in the moral decision-making process: personal integration by creating a moral self-image in moments of reflection; social integration by aiding the conciliation of the diverging perspectives of the people involved; temporal integration by facilitating the parties to transcend the present moment and connect past, present, and future; and epistemological integration by helping to combine the various forms of knowledge and experience needed to make moral decisions. Furthermore, we argue that the role of imagination in these moral decision-processes is limited in several significant ways. Rather than being a solution itself, it is merely an aid and cannot replace the decision itself. Finally, there are also limits to the practical relevance of this theoretical reflection. In the end, it is up to care professionals as reflective practitioners to re-imagine the practice of intensive care and make the right decisions with hope and imagination.

Assessment Criteria Indicative of Deception (ACID): an integrated system of investigative interviewing and detecting deception

This study describes the assimilation and validation of Assessment Criteria Indicative of Deception (ACID). ACID is derived from investigative interviewing, Criteria‐Based Content Analysis, Reality Monitoring, and interpersonal deception. Each component has been previously published. Thirty‐eight university undergraduates entered a professor's office and either stole an exam or replaced an exam that had been stolen previously. They were interviewed 1 week later with the Reality Interview, which is deliberately challenging and aims to enhance the detection of deception. Half responded honestly and completely; half distorted their responses to avoid incrimination. Incentives were provided. Honest responses were longer, more detailed, and contained more admissions of potential mistakes. Most importantly, honest respondents benefited from attempts to enhance recall, whereas these same attempts caused deceptive respondents to provide shorter, more repetitive statements. This is a promising technique; 33 of 38 cases were classified accurately. Discussion includes characteristics of deception, process of deception during an investigative interview, hypothetical interview strategies to facilitate the detection of deception, strengths and weaknesses of the study, and areas for future research. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.