Age rationing and the just distribution of health care: is there a duty to die?

The author analyzes the argument that a policy involving distributive justice in the allocation of scarce health care resources, based on the strategy of rational self interest maximation under a veil of ignorance (Rawls/Daniels), would result in an age rationing system of voluntary, socially encouraged, direct termination of the lives of the elderly rather than their medical abandonment. She maintains that such a policy would be a fair response only in a situation of substantial scarcity of resources that cannot be relieved without introducing greater injustices. Battin suggests that some of the current pressure on resources could be reduced by pruning waste and the expenses attributable to paternalistic imposition of treatment and to the practice of defensive medicine. She also advocates reconsideration of societal priorities assigned to various social goods.     

Goal Characteristics and Satisfaction: Personal Goals as Mediators of Situational Effects on Task Satisfaction1

This study modeled the process underlying the experience of satisfaction by examining the interrelationships among the task situation, intention characteristics, and satisfaction. The central proposition of the model was that the effect of the situation on satisfaction is fully mediated by the nature and status of one's own intentions that result from that context. The proposed model, in which the task situation indirectly determines satisfaction only through intention characteristics, was compared to a model in which the situation both directly and indirectly determines satisfaction and to a model which contained no intention characteristics. The intention characteristics assessed in this study included their number, valence, value, commitment, probability, and perceived attainment. Two aspects of the task situation were examined: task enrichment and assigned performance goals. A total of 192 subjects were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions according to goal (no goal vs. assigned goal) and task type (enriched vs. unenriched). Intentions and their characteristics were assessed before the task period, and satisfaction with the task was measured afterward. The results provided support for a model in which the task situation and intention characteristics have independent effects on satisfaction.     

Advanced computing in psychology

In 1984, the National Science Foundation began a large initiative to provide the scientific community with access to Class VI computers. With the support of the NSF Program on Memory and Cognitive Processes, the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences invited a group of scientists to a workshop that considered the advanced computational needs of several areas of psychological, behavioral, and cognitive sciences. This paper presents a summary of the conference deliberations.     

WONDER AND UNDERSTANDING

Abstract. Wonder is a root of the religious experience, and the desire to understand drives science. If wonder and understanding are fundamentally opposed, religion and science will be also. But only if wonder is limited to the contemplation of magic or mysteries is religion in principle opposed to science. The aim of science is to explain how something is possible. Understanding how something is possible need not destroy our wonder at it. Recent scientific theories of the human mind—albeit based in computer technology—increase our wonder at its richness and power.     

The effects of sex-role traits on three aspects of psychological well-being in a sample of middle-aged women

The research assessed the effects of sex-role attributes on the mental health of a middle-class sample of 97 middle-aged women. Participants completed the PRF-Andro and questionnaires measuring three aspects of psychological well-being. More feminine women reported a greater degree of symptom distress (p<.05); more masculine women reported higher self-esteem and a greater sense of mastery (ps<.01). However, differences in (a) home versus work involvement and (b) reactions to the empty nest implied that androgynous and masculine women derived their sense of mastery from different social roles. The importance of examining role commitments and satisfactions in understanding the relationships between sex roles and mental health among different age groups of adult women is discussed.     

Parents' gender-stereotyped perceptions of Newborns: The Eye of the Beholder revisited

Sex Roles - This study sought to update and extend J. Z. Rubin, F. J. Provenzano, and Z. Luria's [(1974) “The Eye of the Beholder: Parents' Views on Sex of Newborns,” American...     

Detecting the malingering of cognitive deficits: An update

There has recently been a dramatic increase of empirical studies that investigate methods for detecting malingering of cognitive deficits. The present review focuses on a comparison of simulated and suspected malingerers in the malingering literature, and critiques the numerous approaches to the detection of malingering. The approaches that are reviewed include detection of floor effects, discrepancies of information, response bias, neuropsychological tests and batteries, symptom validity testing, and anomalous performance on memory tests. The latter approach has only recently been proposed by researchers and may show the most promise.     

Assessment and DSM-IV Diagnosis of Personality Disorders: A Primer for Counselors

The DSM-IV categorizes 10 personality disorders, long-term patterns of personality traits that result in impairment of social and occupational functioning. The author details steps in the recognition and diagnosis of personality disorders, with emphasis on using the DSM-IV diagnostic framework.     

Establishing a SCiP list for year-round discussion: Keeping the information ball rolling

Many academic and other professional institutions are expanding their communicative range and inclusiveness in discussion by establishing Internet-based computer conferencing systems. This paper will discuss characteristics of a SCiP discussion list that could serve the needs of SCiP members, including the possibility of virtual conference sessions in 1995, a year-round discussion group, and a system for recruitment of new members.     

Substituting new details for old? Effects of delaying postevent information on infant memory

How that which we remember is selectively distorted by new information was studied in 3-monthold infants who learned to move a particular crib mobile by operant foot kicking. Infants who were passively exposed to a novel mobile 1, 2, or 3 days later subsequently treated the novel mobile as if they had actually been trained with it. Also, after the longest exposure delay, they no longer recognized the original mobile. Likewise, when the novel mobile was exposed after the longest delay, it could prime the forgotten training memory in a reactivation paradigm, but the original mobile no longer could. These data reveal that what we remember about an event is selectively distorted by what we encounter later. Moreover, the later in the retention interval we encounter new postevent information, the greater is its impact on retention.