Prosocial rule breaking,ingroups and social norms: Parental decision-making about COVID-19 rule breaking in the UK

The British public generally adhered to COVID-19-related restrictions, but as the pandemic drew on, it became challenging for some populations. Parents with young children were identified as a vulnerable group. We collected rich, mixed-methods survey data from 99 UK-based parents (91 mothers) of children under 12, who described their lockdown transgressions. Household mixing was the most prevalent broken rule. Template analysis found that rule breaking was driven by ‘ingroup-level’ prosocial motivations to protect the mental and social health of family and loved ones, and that parents were ‘engaged’ decision-makers who underwent careful deliberation when deciding to break rules, making trade-offs, bending rules, mitigating risks, reaching consensus, and reacting to perceived rule injustices. Cumulative link models found that the perceived reasonableness of rule violations was predicted by social norms. Rules were broken by parents not for antisocial reasons, but for ‘ingroup-level’ prosocial reasons, linked to supporting loved ones.     

Temporal distance and veracity effects on the level of detail in statements about intentions

Construal level theory states that future events that are nearer in the future and events that are more likely to happen have lower construal levels, and therefore have less detail, than events that are further away and/or less likely to happen. Consistent with this theory, the number of details in a statement can be a moderately good cue to deception. If veracity and temporal distance both affect detail, detail may only be a good cue to deception about events that occur at certain temporal distances. This paper describes a study on whether temporal distance and veracity affect detail levels in statements about intentions. The results suggest that temporal distance and veracity do not affect detail levels in this dataset. Intentions that were completed also did not differ from uncompleted intentions. Overall, the study found no support for the hypothesised effects of temporal distance and veracity on level of detail.     

Claudia Card's Atrocity Paradigm

This paper deals with Claudia Card's important contributions to a theory of evil that steps out from traditional models of thinking about this problem (theodicies, metaphysical theories, etc.). Instead, our author seeks to explore important elements from other theorists (such as Kant and Nietzsche) in order to build up her ideas of what she calls the “atrocity paradigm.” This critical essay focuses mainly in the spaces where Card's conclusions need to rethink the limits and constraints of her theory.     

Social Support and Postpartum Depression Revisited: The Traditional Female Role as Moderator among Mexican Women

Women who lack social support tend to have a higher risk of postpartum depression. The present study examined the traditional female role, understood here as the adoption of passive and submissive traits specific to Mexican women, as another risk factor for postpartum depressive symptomatology that interacts with social support. Using two waves of data from a longitudinal study of 210 adult Mexican women (20–44 years-old, M _age = 29.50 years, SD = 6.34), we found that lacking social support during the third trimester of their pregnancy was associated with greater depressive symptoms at 6 months in the postpartum, although this relationship depended on the level of endorsement of the traditional female role during pregnancy. Lower social support during pregnancy predicted greater postpartum depressive symptoms for women with higher endorsement of the traditional female role, even when accounting for prenatal depressive symptoms. These results suggest that Mexican women’s experience of social support may depend on their individual adherence to gender roles. Understanding the association between women’s traditional roles and social support in the risk for postpartum depression can improve prevention and educational programs for women at risk.     

The Free Harmony of the Faculties and the Primacy of Imagination in Kant's Aesthetic Judgment

This essay argues that, contrary to the prevailing view according to which reflection in Kant's aesthetic judgment is interpreted as ‘the logical actus of the understanding’, we should pay closer attention to Kant's own formulation of aesthetic reflection as ‘an action of the power of imagination’. Put differently, I contend in this essay that the rule that governs and orders the manifold in aesthetic judgment is imagination's own achievement, the achievement of the productive synthesis of the ‘fictive power’ (Dichtungsvermögen), entirely independent of the understanding. While this view does not entail that the faculty of the understanding is not necessary in aesthetic reflection, a stronger emphasis on the role of imagination in aesthetic reflection allows us to realize that its schematizing and interpretive activity, while consistent with, goes well beyond the discursive demands of the understanding insofar as it intimates the supersensible ground of freedom that manifests itself as ‘the feeling of life’. Therefore, I show in this essay that the imagination's unique interpretive power has a special role in completing Kant's critical system by facilitating the connection of the sensible to the supersensible, which further helps us appreciate imagination's practical as opposed to merely cognitive significance.     

Not all gifts are good: The potential practical costs of motivated gifts

People rely on support from others to accomplish mundane and momentous tasks. When asking for assistance, is it beneficial to incentivize a helper by offering a motivated gift (i.e., a gift with the hope of getting support in return)? Six studies (N > 2,500) examine the frequency and potential costs of motivated gifts. In Study 1, a third of Americans indicated that they had given a motivated gift at least once, while nearly two‐thirds believed they had received one. In Studies 2a–d, most participants who imagined receiving a motivated gift before a favor request reported lower willingness to help and anticipated satisfaction from helping than participants who imagined simply being asked for a favor. Finally, Study 3 replicates these findings with actual help provided among friends in a laboratory setting. Findings suggest that motivated gifts are relatively common but may sometimes undermine the assistance that people hope to receive.     

When Are Clients Ready to Terminate?

Termination of psychotherapy has received less attention in the research literature than other aspects of the treatment process. This paper presents a structured framework emphasizing observable markers to indicate when termination with a client is appropriate during cognitive behavioral treatment. The 7 criteria that indicate when a client is ready for termination are: (a) decrease in symptoms as assessed by sound measures; (b) decrease in symptoms that is stable and maintained for 8 weeks; (c) decrease in functional impairment; (d) evidence that the decrease in symptoms is not a spontaneous remission, such as lower symptoms associated with the use of new skills; (e) usage of the new skills, particularly at times or on themes of former vulnerability; (f) sense of pride regarding the new skills, in contrast to initial doubt regarding whether the techniques would work; and (g) carryover of decrease in symptoms to other areas. A case report and discussion regarding the clinical application of the framework is presented.     

Computerized adaptive testing: the capitalization on chance problem

This paper describes several simulation studies that examine the effects of capitalization on chance in the selection of items and the ability estimation in CAT, employing the 3-parameter logistic model. In order to generate different estimation errors for the item parameters, the calibration sample size was manipulated (N = 500, 1000 and 2000 subjects) as was the ratio of item bank size to test length (banks of 197 and 788 items, test lengths of 20 and 40 items), both in a CAT and in a random test. Results show that capitalization on chance is particularly serious in CAT, as revealed by the large positive bias found in the small sample calibration conditions. For broad ranges of theta, the overestimation of the precision (asymptotic Se) reaches levels of 40%, something that does not occur with the RMSE (theta). The problem is greater as the item bank size to test length ratio increases. Potential solutions were tested in a second study, where two exposure control methods were incorporated into the item selection algorithm. Some alternative solutions are discussed.     

Designing Selection Systems for Medicine: The importance of balancing predictive and political validity in high‐stakes selection contexts

Selection into medical education and training is a high‐stakes process. A key unanswered issue is the effectiveness of measuring noncognitive predictors via both low‐fidelity and high‐fidelity selection approaches in this high‐stakes context. We review studies investigating the effectiveness of multiple selection instruments in terms of predictive validity, incremental validity, and applicant reactions in both entry‐level and advanced‐level medical selection. Our results show that the situational judgment test (SJT) is the best single predictor of performance, operationalized in multiple ways. In addition, the low‐fidelity SJT has incremental predictive power over cognitively oriented tests, and high‐fidelity assessment center (AC) exercises add incremental validity over the low‐fidelity (and less costly) selection methods. Concerning applicant reactions, results show that overall, the selection system is positively received. However, the method with the highest predictive validity – the SJT – received comparatively lower face validity ratings which may present a ‘justice dilemma’ for employers. Furthermore, various other stakeholders have a political interest in the selection methods used (e.g., government, the regulators and trade unions).