A year of unprecedented progress in Down syndrome basic research

The years 2006 and 2007 saw the publication of three new and different approaches to prevention or amelioration of Down syndrome effects on the brain and cognition. We describe the animal model systems that were critical to this progress, review these independent breakthrough studies, and discuss the implications for therapeutic approaches suggested by each.     

Anger, disgust, and presumption of harm as reactions to taboo-breaking behaviors

Three experiments investigated the relationship between the presumption of harm in harmfree violations of creatural norms (taboos) and the moral emotions of anger and disgust. In Experiment 1, participants made a presumption of harm to others from taboo violations, even in conditions described as harmless and not involving other people; this presumption was predicted by anger and not disgust. Experiment 2 manipulated taboo violation and included a cognitive load task to clarify the post hoc nature of presumption of harm. Experiment 3 was similar but more accurately measured presumed harm. In Experiments 2 and 3, only without load was symbolic harm presumed, indicating its post hoc function to justify moral anger, which was not affected by load. In general, manipulations of harmfulness to others predicted moral anger better than moral disgust, whereas manipulations of taboo predicted disgust better. The presumption of harm was found on measures of symbolic rather than actual harm when a choice existed. These studies clarify understanding of the relationship between emotions and their justification when people consider victimless, offensive acts.     

Below the Age of Consent: Influences on Moral and Legal Judgments of Adult–Adolescent Sexual Relationships1

Sexual age‐of‐consent violations involving adult–adolescent relationships (AARs) are sometimes viewed with ambivalence by the media and are infrequently prosecuted. Two studies conducted in Britain (where the age of consent is 16) examined influences on disapproval of minimally presented AARs between a 14‐year‐old and a 30‐year‐old. In Study 1, AARs involving an older man were seen as more harmful and objectionable than those involving an older woman. A second study on a jury‐eligible adult population replicated Study 1's gender effects, and also found a difference between legal knowledge and personal belief that the older person had committed a crime. Gender effects in both studies were mediated by perceived harm and emotions.     

The big picture: Writing psychology into the history of the human sciences

The grand narratives which once gave order and readability to histories, of science and of the human sciences are widely rejected in current historiography, and historians focus on detailed studies of scientific knowledge and activity in particular contexts. How, then, are synthetic general histories, accessible to the non-specialist, to be written? This paper, designed as an open-ended discussion, reflects on the business of writing about psychology in a general history of the human sciences. It considers three large topics: reflexivity, and the situation in the human sciences where “man” is both subject and object; the boundary-less identity of the human sciences and hence the need to express values in delimiting the content of the field; and the long-standing debate about what sort of “science” is appropriate for knowledge of human beings. The conclusion turns to “the quest” as a narrative form. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Regulating the Private Relations of Adults with Mental Disabilities: Old Laws,New Policies,Hollow Hopes

Recent legislative reforms have aimed to help people with mental disabilities pursue more “normal” lives. Yet, current laws regulating the mentally disableds' private relations continue to disenable them. Social scientists have asserted that people with mental disabilities vary widely in their individual competencies. Yet, laws tend to forgo an individualized approach to the mentally disabled in favor of broad restrictions on their rights to engage in sexual, marital, and parental relationships. Reviews of cases also show that when they challenge these restrictions, the mentally disabled tend to be required to demonstrate a higher level of morality and functioning than non-disabled. Reforming these restrictive legal rules requires an unlikely, but possible, concordance between social science and the law.     

The intention interference effect and aging: similar magnitude of effects for young and old adults

In young adults, intentions have been shown to be more accessible (e.g. faster reaction times and higher accuracy) compared to other sorts of to‐be‐remembered information, a result termed an ‘intention superiority effect’ (Goschke & Kuhl, 1993 ). In the current study, we assessed whether older adults also demonstrate this superiority of intention‐related material and we used a new interference paradigm to examine performance. On each trial, participants performed a Stroop‐like colour‐naming task on a short series of words, including words related to an intention that they encoded at the beginning of the trial. In Experiment 1, results revealed an ‘intention interference effect’ for both young and older adults in which performance was slower for words belonging to an intention that participants intended to carry out versus an intention that did not have to be executed. In Experiment 2, we tested the effect that completing an intention had on the representation of intentions. For both groups, completing an intention led to a decrease in interference in Stroop task performance. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Against faith schools: a philosophical argument for children’s rights

In spite of the fact that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights grants parents the right to an education in conformity with their own religious convictions, this paper argues that parents should have no such rights. It also tries to demonstrate that religious and cultural minorities have no rights to establish faith schools and that it is a child’s right in trust, to autonomous well‐being, which trumps any such claims. Faith schools, it is argued, represent a real and serious threat to children’s autonomy, especially their emotional autonomy. As such, they are incompatible with the aims of education required by a liberal democracy.