The Claim for Moral Maturity, Consistency, and Integrity Among Objecting Israeli Soldiers

The paper presents two groups of objecting Israeli reserve soldiers who chose to resolve their dilemmas with the morally controversial war in Lebanon (1982–1985) in line with two different morally preferred actions. These soldiers either refused to join their unit on its assigned mission in Lebanon and paid the price of court martial and imprisonment, or chose to continue their military service but made extra sacrifices to preserve their moral principles on the battlefield, as well as voiced their objection via a protest group. The relationship between the objectors' hypothetical and actual moral knowledge is discussed.     

Evaluation of factor analytic research procedures by means of simulated correlation matrices

In order to study the effectiveness of factor analytic methods, a procedure was developed for computing simulated correlation matrices which are more similar to real data correlation matrices than are those matrices computed from the factor analysis structural model. In the present investigation, three methods of factor extraction were studied as applied to 54 simulated correlation matrices which varied in proportion of variance derived from a major factor domain, number of factors in the major domain, and closeness of the simulation procedure to the factor analysis structural model. While the factor extraction methods differed little from one another in quality of results for matrices more dissimilar to the factor analytic model, major differences in quality of results were associated with fewer factors in the major domain, higher proportion of variance from the major domain, and closeness of the simulation procedure to the factor analysis structural model.The research was jointly supported by the University of Illinois and the office of Naval Research under contracts Nonr 1834(39) and N00014-67-A-0305-0003.     

Toward a Sustainable Society: Waste Minimization Through Environmentally Conscious Consuming1

The experiment was an educational intervention that promoted and described an ongoing environmental tagging program located in a chain of three local grocery stores. Model Community, a nonprofit community organization, originated the environmental product tagging program that was present throughout the experimental educational intervention and was also responsible for sponsoring educational efforts in the local elementary schools and in the media. Over the period of a year, the experimental intervention was expected to stimulate self-reported environmentally conscious consuming above the level generated by the tagging program alone and above the levels reported by shoppers who did not shop at the experimental stores. Environmentally conscious consuming or precycling implies buying products packaged in recyclable materials, buying least waste packaged (bulk or minimally packaged) products, and buying “safer earth” (nontoxic or alternatives to harsh chemicals) products. Contrary to expectations, there was no significant interaction effect of year (preintervention vs. postintervention) and group (experimental store vs. control group) on self-reported environmentally friendly consuming, implying that the experimental educational intervention did not have an effect. An investigation of the significant main effect of shopping at the environmentally tagged stores showed a significant positive effect on purchasing less toxic products, knowledge about Model Community, and awareness of the environmental tagging program. An examination of more aggressive educational campaigns in future studies is warranted because of more overall positive (although not significant) environmental shopping behaviors reported in 1990, when there was an active education program for Model Community, than in 1991, when the program ceased.     

Academic Ethics: a Pilot Study on the Attitudes of Finnish Students

This research details a pilot study of Finnish college students and their views on the academic ethics (cheating). Finland is an unexamined population on this issue. In the current project, we surveyed students (n = 119) in the spring of 2014. We found unethical behavior is common on projects but less common on exams. We also found students are unwilling to report wrongdoing by other students. We examined differences between students’ attitudes on cheating based on several demographic factors, including gender, age and major. We conclude by discussing the implications for further research in this area.     

How prioritized is self-prioritization during stimulus processing?

Recent research has suggested that self-relevance automatically enhances stimulus processing (i.e., the self-prioritization effect). Notably, information associated with one’s self elicits faster responses than comparable material associated with other targets (e.g., friend, stranger). Challenging the assertion that self-prioritization is an obligatory process, here we hypothesized that self-relevance only facilitates performance when task sets draw attention to previously formed target-object associations. The results of two experiments were consistent with this viewpoint. Compared with arbitrary objects owned by a friend, those owned by the self were classified more rapidly when participants were required to report either the owner or identity of the items (i.e., semantic task set). In contrast, self-relevance failed to facilitate performance when participants judged the orientation of the stimuli (i.e., perceptual task set). These findings demonstrate the conditional automaticity of self-prioritization during stimulus processing.     

Coordinating between Graphs and Science Concepts: Density and Buoyancy

Graphs illustrating complex scientific relationships require students to integrate multiple concepts and visual features into a coherent understanding. We investigate ways to support students in integrating their understanding of density concepts through a graph that is linked to a simulation depicting the relationship between mass, volume, and density. We randomly assigned 325 8^th-grade students to 1 of 2 graphing activities. In the analyze condition, students plotted a set of data points selected to help clarify the relationship between mass, volume, and buoyancy, and then interacted with a guided simulation to improve their plotting accuracy. In the generate condition, students chose their own data points, and then interacted with a guided simulation to test and revise their choices. We found that, although analyze participants were more likely to construct accurate graphs, generate participants were more likely to develop a coherent understanding of density and buoyancy. Analyses of process data and interviews suggest that generate participants grappled with the mass-volume ratio by deliberately testing points and identifying patterns as they updated their understanding of science concepts. In contrast, analyze participants displayed less deliberate exploration of the graph space. We discuss how activities that integrate graph interpretation and concept refinement can deepen science learning.