Postidentification feedback affects subsequent eyewitness identification performance

Eyewitnesses sometimes view more than one lineup during an investigation. We investigated the effects of postidentification feedback following one lineup on responses to a second lineup. Witnesses (N=621) viewed a mock crime and, later, attempted to identify the culprit from an initial (target-absent) lineup and a second (target-present or target-absent) lineup. Prior to viewing the second lineup, some witnesses received accurate feedback stating that the initial lineup did not contain the culprit. A compound-decision, signal detection approach allowed the effects of feedback on identification responses to be described in terms of differences in discriminability and response bias. For witnesses who made an incorrect foil identification from the initial lineup, feedback (vs. no feedback) was associated with poorer discriminability on the second test. For witnesses who correctly rejected the initial lineup, feedback (vs. no feedback) was associated with greater discriminability on the second test. Only witnesses who received feedback after an initial correct rejection performed at a level comparable with a single-lineup control group, suggesting that an initial identification test can impair, but not enhance, performance on a second test involving the same culprit. From a theoretical perspective, the results are consistent with the idea that the way people use memorial information when making memory decisions is flexible. Analyses of preidentification confidence ratings, obtained in a follow-up study (N=133), suggested that the effects of feedback on identification performance may have operated via differences in witnesses' metacognitive beliefs.     

Competence in Coping with Future-Related Stress in Adolescents from France,Italy, Great Britain,and Germany

The present study investigated how European adolescents cope with perceived future-related stress. Altogether 3,154 adolescents (mean age of 15 years) from four countries (n = 1,071 Italians, n = 1,433 Germans, n = 308 French, and n = 341 British) participated in the study. They completed the Problem Questionnaire, which assesses future-related stress, and the CASQ, which assesses how three coping styles (active coping, internal coping, and withdrawal) are used to deal with future-related stress. German and British adolescents showed low levels of stress, whereas French and Italian adolescents had high levels. All adolescents anticipated future-related problems but did not portray their futures negatively. In addition, they dealt with future-related stress actively and showed high levels of coping competence. Adolescents used active coping strategies most frequently, followed by thinking about possible solutions. Dysfunctional coping strategies (e.g., withdrawal) were used much less often. The effects of age, gender, and family variables on stress perception and coping style were negligible. Overall, our findings highlight the tenets of positive psychology by revealing that adolescents are concerned about their futures and that they show high agency in dealing with future-related problems. Further, the findings are relevant for positive youth development programs, especially those which endorse positive orientation to the future and coping competence.     

Confucian Political Philosophy for Non-Confucians

Contemporary proponents of Confucian political philosophy often ignore the fact that any sizeable future Confucian political order will have to accommodate many “non-Confucians.” The guiding question of this paper is therefore the following: how could a Confucian political philosophy, if it can at all, adequately take into account a plurality of comprehensive worldviews? I first turn to John Rawls and his account of these terms and of reasonable pluralism more generally. I then examine some particularly relevant developments and criticism of Rawls’ account. Finally, I offer a discussion of some recent proposals for a Confucian political philosophy, and examine to what extent each recognizes the fact of pluralism, sees it as a challenge, and deals with it in a persuasive manner. The paper concludes with a depiction of two major stumbling blocks that might stand firmly in the way of such a pluralism-accommodating political Confucianism.     

Dewey and Rawls on Education

In this paper I compare the roles that the explicit and implicit educational theories of John Dewey and John Rawls play in their political works to show that Rawls’s approach is skeletal and inappropriate for defenders of democracy. I also uphold Dewey’s belief that education is valuable in itself, not only derivatively, contra Rawls. Next, I address worries for any educational theory concerning problems of distributive justice. Finally, I defend Dewey’s commitment to democracy as a consequence of the demands of productive public inquiry and education.

Effects of the premenstrual syndrome on facial expressions of sadness

This study examined the relationship between PMS and emotion-related electromyographic facial activity at different phases of the menstrual cycle. Twenty-four women of reproductive age (12 with PMS, 12 controls) participated in two EMG sessions (T1 and T2) in which they were shown photographic images that can elicit various emotions (IAPS stimuli). T1 took place in the follicular phase, T2 in the luteal phase. The activity of the musculus depressor anguli oris ("depressor", expression of sadness) was measured. Depressor activity was compared to activity of musculus orbicularis oculi ("orbicularis"; expression of joy). ANOVA yielded a significant increase of the activity of the depressor at T2 in the PMS group. The PMS group showed more frequent depressor activity during the luteal than the follicular phase. Orbicularis activity did not change from T1 to T2. Conclusions: The PMS group experienced various visual stimuli in a more depressed way during the luteal phase.     

Dimensionality of rosenberg’s self-esteem scale among normal-technical stream students in Singapore

Dimensionality of the widely used Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) was investigated in a sample of 153 seventh-grade Asian students from Singapore. Confirmatory factor analyses performed on the scores of the RSES revealed two factors (positive and negative self-esteem) as hypothesized. Both factors were empirically related to different external variables. Results from multiple regression analyses indicated that positive self-esteem significantly predicted students’ mastery goal orientation and academic self-efficacy scores while negative self-esteem significantly predicted students’ disruptive behavior. These findings provide some preliminary support that the two factors could possibly be measuring substantively distinct dimensions, thus calling into question the unidimensionalty of the RSES in an Asian school-based sample. This study was supported by a grant from Center for Research in Pedagogy and Practice, National Institute of Education (CRP 26/04 RA) to Rebecca P. Ang.     

Paraconsistent Metatheory: New Proofs with Old Tools

Journal of Philosophical Logic - This paper is a step toward showing what is achievable using non-classical metatheory—particularly, a substructural paraconsistent framework. What standard...     

Two faces of Thanatos: Broken flowers (2005) and Ai no corrida (1976)1

Since Freud formulated the death instinct concept, it has received widely diverse interpretations. Even Freud advanced two versions. The concomitant analyses of two films, Ai no corrida (1976) [ In the realm of the senses (1977)] and Broken flowers (2005) evince Thanatos's two faces: the cold death of decathexis of an object, in the case of Don (in Broken flowers) and the hot death of the subject‐object fusion in Sada's case ( Ai no corrida). In our analysis, we elaborate two possible vicissitudes of the death instinct: in Broken flowers, the main character finds an ‘analyst’ and is cured. In Ai no corrida, the protagonist meets a complementary object and goes mad.