Deferring to Others about One's Own Mind

Pessimists about moral testimony hold that there is something suboptimal about forming moral beliefs by deferring to another. This paper motivates an analogous claim about self‐knowledge of the reason‐responsive attitudes. When it comes to your own mind, it seems important to know things “from the inside”, in the first‐personal way, rather than putting your trust in another. After motivating pessimism, the paper offers an explanation of its truth. First‐person knowledge is distinctive because it involves knowing a state of mind and finding it intelligible from one's point of view. It concludes by considering the value of this form of self‐understanding.     

Open-Trial Pilot of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

In this pilot study, the effectiveness and feasibility of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) for decreasing disruptive behavior was evaluated in 17 young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). PCIT is a behaviorally based play therapy which targets the parent-child relationship through live coaching of play interactions and the implementation of consistent discipline techniques. Following an average of 19 sessions, disruptive behavior as measured by multiple indices significantly decreased. Congruently, parents increased positive parental following skills and decreased negative parental leading skills across the course of treatment. In addition, parents reported increased levels of child functional communication and prosocial behavior. High levels of parent acceptability of the intervention were also noted. Effect sizes were medium to large across measured dependent variables, including parent report and behavioral observations. Implications for the clinical use of PCIT within an ASD population and future research with controlled outcome studies are discussed.     

Behaving Optimistically: How the (Un)Desirability of an Outcome Can Bias People's Preparations for It

Past research on the desirability bias and on bracing for bad news has focused on the potential influence of outcome desirability on people's stated expectations. The present studies examined its influence on behavior—that is, what is done in anticipation of, or preparation for, an uncertain outcome. In five studies, the desirability of possible outcomes for an event, which was uncertain and uncontrollable by the participant, was manipulated, and preparation behavior was measured. Study 1 used a hypothetical‐events paradigm. Studies 2 and 3 involved a computer activity in which behavior was tracked on a trial‐by‐trial basis. In Studies 4 and 5, the uncertain event was the ending of a videotaped basketball game. Rather than exhibiting bracing or a reluctance to tempt fate, participants tended to behave in a manner consistent with an optimistic desirability bias. In a subset of studies, predictions and likelihood judgments were also solicited; the differential effects of outcome desirability on these measures are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The White–Coat Effect: Physician Attire and Perceived Authority, Friendliness, and Attractiveness

Although previous studies have evaluated the effects of attire on doctor–patient interaction, the common assumption of a tradeoff between perceptions of medical authority/ status versus trustworthiness/openness has not been established. Thirty–eight male and 40 female participants rated their perceptions of same– and opposite–gender models who all were identified as doctors, but who were wearing different attire. The results indicate that authority and trust are not opposing factors and that a white coat and formal attire are clearly superior to casual attire. Additionally, perceptions of attractiveness of same– and opposite–gender doctors were rated, finding gender differences in perceptions different from, but theoretically similar to, prior findings. For females rating male models, perceptions of authority and attractiveness appear to be related.