Defending conversation and responsibility: reply to Dana Nelkin and Holly Smith

In this paper, I defend the central arguments of my book Conversation and Responsibility in response to two critics, Dana Nelkin and Holly Smith.     

Is the DOSPERT gender invariant? A psychometric test of measurement invariance

It is well established in the risk literature that men tend to take more risks than women. This gender difference, however, is often qualified by its domain specificity. Considering recent research on the domain generality of risk taking as a disposition, there is a need to examine the degree to which men take more risks than women, in general. In order to make substantive conclusions about the gender differences in risk‐taking propensity, one must first establish measurement invariance, which is required for the meaningful interpretation of observed group differences. In this paper, we examined the measurement invariance of the Domain‐Specific Risk‐Taking scale (DOSPERT)—one of the most popular measures of individual differences in risk taking. We found that the DOSPERT violated configural invariance in a bifactor model, indicating that the underlying factor structure of the DOSPERT differs between men and women. Even after removing the social risk dimension, DOSPERT still failed to reach scalar invariance. Taken together, these findings suggest that score differences in the DOSPERT may be due to response artifacts rather than true differences in the latent construct. Therefore, gender differences in the DOSPERT must be interpreted with caution. Implications for the measurement of risk taking are discussed.     

Reversing the emotional Stroop effect reveals that it is not what it seems: the role of fast and slow components

The relative contributions of slow and fast (online) components in a modified emotional Stroop task were evaluated. The slow component, neglected in previous research, was shown to lead to the prediction of a reversed emotional intrusion effect using pseudorandomly mixed negative and neutral stimuli. This prediction was supported in Experiments 1 and 2. In Experiments 3 and 4, a new paradigm was developed that allowed a more direct observation of the nature of disruptive effects from negative stimuli. The results provided a clear demonstration of the presence of the slow component. The fast component, which has generally been assumed to be the source of the interference, was shown, in fact, to have little or no role in the disruption.     

The association between negative and dysexecutive syndromes in schizophrenia: a cross-cultural study

This paper examined the relationship between the 'negative syndrome' (NS) and the neuropsychological 'dysexecutive syndrome' (DES) in schizophrenia. The study also examined whether any relationship that exists between the NS and the DES holds equally for British and Japanese subjects. We compared 26 Japanese with 17 British schizophrenic patients, divided into 'mild' and 'severe' NS groups, on the basis of performance on neuropsychological tests, including the 'Behavioural Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome' (BADS). We found that patients with severe NS showed more everyday executive deficits than those with mild NS. The severity of NS was correlated with executive competence. The association between NS and the BADS performance was closer than that between NS and other conventional executive measures. These findings were not influenced by cultural differences between Japanese and British subjects, and, hence, suggested the existence of culture-neutral neurobehavioural processes.     

The development, validation, and application of a video-based technique for measuring an everyday risk-taking behavior: drivers' speed choice

Drivers' choice of speed is an important aspect of everyday risk-taking behavior because it has been shown to be one of the most important predictors of road accident involvement. This research developed, validated, and applied a measure of drivers' speed choice that combined a high degree of experimental control with external and ecological validity. In Study 1, a video-simulation measure of drivers' speed choice was developed and found to relate specifically to speed-related accident involvement, implying a degree of external validity. In Study 2, the measure was used to investigate the effect of auditory feedback on drivers' speed choice. It was found that increasing the level of internal car noise decreased drivers' preferred speeds. Further analyses indicated that this was likely due to perceptual effects on speed estimation. Results are discussed in terms of road safety and the ability of video-based measures to facilitate experimental control over tasks involving complex ecological stimuli.     

The colour naming of socially threatening words

An emotional Stroop task was used to investigate colour naming of socially threatening words in individuals who possess a repressive coping style. The Marlowe-Crowne scale (MC) and the Bendig version of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) were used to select repressor and control subjects, who subsequently completed the Stroop task. Repressors (high MC, low MAS) did not show an emotional Stroop effect, whereas low anxious (low MC, low MAS), high anxious (low MC, high MAS) and defensive high anxious (high MC, high MAS) all exhibited retarded colour naming of emotional words compared with neutral words. These results are discussed in terms of previous research in this area.     

Family‐based Intervention for Legal System‐involved Girls: A Mixed Methods Evaluation

The increased proportion of juvenile court‐involved girls has spurred interest to implement and evaluate services to reduce girls’ system involvement. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a family‐based intervention by using a dominant sequential mixed methods evaluation approach. First, we examined quantitative data using a quasi‐experimental design to determine whether the family‐based intervention reduced recidivism among court‐involved girls. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to construct statistically equivalent groups to compare one‐year recidivism outcomes for girls who received the court‐run family‐based intervention (n = 181) to a group of girls on probation who did not receive the intervention (n = 803). Qualitative interviews (n = 39) were conducted to contextualize the quantitative findings and highlighted the circumstances that family‐focused interventions for court‐involved girls. Girls who received the program had slightly lower recidivism rates following the intervention. The qualitative findings contextualized the quasi‐experimental results by providing an explanation as to the girls’ family circumstances and insights into the mechanisms of the intervention. Results highlighted the importance of family‐focused interventions for juvenile justice‐involved girls. These findings have practical and policy implications for the use interventions—beyond the individual level—with adjudicated girls and offer suggestions for ways to improve their effectiveness using a community psychology lens. In addition, this paper includes a discussion of evaluating of juvenile court programming from a community psychology perspective including strengths, challenges, and considerations for future work in this area.     

A critical assessment of Pereboom’s Frankfurt-style example

In this paper, I assess Derk Pereboom’s argument for the thesis that moral responsibility does not require the ability to do otherwise. I argue that the Frankfurt-style example Pereboom develops presupposes a prior act or omission which the agent was able to avoid. This undermines his argument. I propose a way for Pereboom to revise his example and thereby undercut this objection. Along the way, I also argue that Pereboom should supplement his account of what counts as a robust alternative—an alternative of the sort that should matter to those who argue for an ability-to-do-otherwise condition on moral responsibility.