Egalitarianism and the Levelling Down Objection

In an important piece of work Derek Parfit distinguishes two different forms of egalitarianism, 'Deontic' and 'Telic' (Parfit 1995; see also Parfit 1997). He contrasts these with what he calls the Priority View, which is not strictly a form of egalitarianism at all, since it is not essentially concerned with how well off people are relative to each other. His main aim is to generate an adequate taxonomy of the positions available, but in the process he draws attention to some of the different problems they face. I shall argue that there are forms of egalitarianism overlooked by Parfit which avoid the problems encountered by Deontic and Telic Egalitarians.     

Clamped Corticosterone (B) Reveals the Effect of Endogenous B on Both Facilitated Responsivity to Acute Restraint and Metabolic Responses to Chronic Stress

To determine the effects of both corticosterone (B) and chronic stressors on acute ACTH responses to restraint, young male rats were exposed to streptozotocin-induced diabetes, cold (5-7 degreesC) or intracerebroventricular (icv) neuropeptide Y (NPY) for 5 d and then exposed to restraint within 2 h after lights on. Two groups of rats were studied: intact and adrenalectomized replaced with B pellets that maintained plasma B in the normal mean 24-h range of intact rats. In addition to ACTH and B responses to restraint on d 5, body weight, food intake, fat depots, glucose and other hormones were measured to determine the role of stress-induced elevations in B on energy balance. ACTH responses to restraint were normal in intact rats subjected to diabetes or cold. By contrast, there was no ACTH or B response to restraint in NPY-infused intact rats. All 3 groups of chronically stimulated adrenalectomized rats with clamped B had facilitated ACTH responses to restraint compared to their treatment controls. Overall food intake increased in all groups of stressed rats; however, augmented intake occurred only during the light in intact rats and equally in the light and dark in B-clamped rats. White adipose depot weights were decreased by both diabetes and cold and increased by NPY in intact rats; the decreases with cold and increases with NPY were both blunted and changes in fat stores were not significant in adrenalectomized, B-clamped rats. We conclude that: 1. diabetes- and cold-induced facilitation of restraint-induced afferent input to hypothalamic control of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is opposed in intact rats by the elevated feedback signal of B secretion; 2. NPY does not induce facilitation of afferent stress pathways; 3. chronic stimulation of the HPA axis induces acute hyperresponsiveness of hypothalamic neurons to restraint provided that the afferent input of this acute stimulus is not prevented by B feedback; 4. stimulus-induced elevations in B secretion result in day-time feeding; 5. insensitivity of both caloric efficiency and white fat stores to chronic stress in adrenalectomized, B-clamped rats results from loss of normally variable B levels.     

Family,peer, and neighborhood influences on academic achievement among African-American adolescents: One-year prospective effects

Using a 1-year prospective design, this study examined the influence of family status variables (family income, parental education, family structure), parenting variables (maternal support and restrictive control), peer support, and neighborhood risk on the school performance of 120 African American junior high school students. In addition to main effects of these variables, neighborhood risk was examined as a moderator of the effects of parenting and peer support. Family status variables were not predictive of adolescent school performance as indexed by self-reported grade point average. Maternal support at Time 1 was prospectively related to adolescent grades at Time 2. Neighborhood risk was related to lower grades, while peer support predicted better grades in the prospective analyses. Neighborhood risk also moderated the effects of maternal restrictive control and peer support on adolescent grades in prospective analyses. These findings highlight the importance of an ecological approach to the problem of academic underachievement within the African American community.     

A confirmatory factor analysis of the structure of schizotypy

Recent research into schizotypal traits has been concerned with the number and nature of these personality dimensions. Earlier exploratory factor analytic work using a wide variety of scales (the CSTQ) has generated a four-factor solution but other solutions have been provided by other investigators. This study uses confirmatory factor analysis on a large sample to compare several plausible models of the relationships between scales. These models include a two-factor model separating ‘positive’ from ‘negative’ schizotypal features, a three-factor model including features of cognitive disorganization, and the four-factor model generated previously by exploratory factor analysis. Results offer support for the four-factor solution as the only structure meeting multiple criteria for goodness of fit. The relevance of Eysenck's dimensions, and the P scale in particular, to the results is discussed. Attention is drawn to the possibility that the factors describe predispositions of risk of psychotic disorders beyond that of schizophrenia.     

Is there evidence for automatic processing of spatial and color attributes present in pictures and words?

The current experiment studies evidence for automatic processing of color and spatial dimensions present in matched pictures and words. Subjects studied four lists of either line drawings or matched words that varied in color (red or green) and position (left or right side), under one of four encoding conditions. Subjects were instructed to encode (1) only the item, (2) the item and its color, 13) the item and its position, or (4) the item and both color and position. All subjects participated in an unexpected final recognition task in which item recognition and recall for both attributes, regardless of original encoding instructions, we:re examined. Color memory appeared to be effortful for both pictures and words, as it was at chance level unless subjects were specifically instructed to encode the information. Position was most poorly recalled when subjects attended only to item information, but memory for this dimension was well above chance in all encoding conditions. The position of the line drawings was better recalled than the position of the words. The implications of these results for Hasher and Zacks’ (1979) model of automatic processes is discussed.     

The initial standardization of the adolescent behavioral classification project instrument

An instrument has been developed through the Adolescent Behavioral Classification Project for assessing an adolescent's problems and for establishing a taxonomy of behaviors and of persons. Standardization has initially consisted of collecting from many sources 482 statements of problem behaviors and 30 positive behaviors, which can be observed by nonprofessional as well as professional persons; administering these behavior statements to 156 institutional and 94 noninstitutional mental health center adolescents and 376 of their parents; carrying out principal components analyses on the behavioral items and 3 demographic items, followed by Varimax and Promax rotations. Twentyfive factors scored on 410 items resulted from these procedures. Internal consistency coefficients for the factors range from .47 to .86. Test-retest reliabilities on a sample of 10 youths ranged from .24 to .94, with an average r_tt of .71. Factor scores for different classes of respondents were fairly well correlated from one set to another. The different classes of respondents did not differ significantly from one another on caution items. Similarities are noted, by inspection, between these factors and those derived from the Children's Behavioral Classification Project and between those other authorities have set forth and the ABCPAcknowledgements are gratefully extended to the ABCP team: Dr. Robert P. Baker, Greg Bennett, Dr. Millard J. Bienvenu, Sr., Dr. Ronald F. Boudreaux, Robert L. Compton, MSW, Dr. Thomas E. Deiker, Dr. M. K. Distefano, Dr. James R. Gay, Charles Granger, Dr. Wayne A. Greenleaf, Allison Hulse, Cathy Knighton, James Moss, Dr. Ronald S. Pryer, Dr. Felicia Pryor, Dr. Edith Schulhofer, Mrs. Annie A. Smart, Dr. T. T. Stigall. Special thanks go to Doctors Boudreaux, Greenleaf, and Pryer for permission to employ their patients from the Adolescent Unit of Central Louisiana State Hospital, and to Dr. Deiker for his provision of the listing of abnormal subjective perceptual experiences. Above all, many thanks are given to the necessarily unnamed adolescents and their parents who took part in the project at considerable inconvenience to themselves, and to the numerous personnel in the mental health centers who cooperated in the project.     

Reading ability and the encoding of item and location information

Two experiments using duration exposures ranging from 20 to 130 msec are reported that link reading skill in adults to the initial encoding of location information. Highly skilled and less skilled readers were equivalent in identifying single letters presented at a central fixation point. When they had to identify the serial position of a letter, however, highly skilled readers performed significantly more accurately than did less skilled readers. A second experiment used displays that consisted of one letter and three dollar signs. Subjects had to identify the letter under two location cuing conditions. When subjects were cued in advance as to which serial position would contain the letter, highly skilled and less skilled readers were equivalent. When the location of the letter had to be resolved prior to identification, highly skilled readers performed significantly more accurately than did less skilled readers. Results are interpreted to suggest that the role of perception in reading has been underestimated because emphasis has been on item perception, and the perception of spatial location has been largely overlooked.