Well-Being and Moral Constraints: A Modified Subjectivist Account

Philosophia - In this paper, I argue that a modified version of well-being subjectivism can avoid the standard, yet unintuitive, conclusion that morally horrible acts may contribute to an...     

Thinking of Others: Feminist Identification and the Perception of Others’ Beliefs

Previous research has shown that most women in the United States support feminist goals but do not label themselves as feminists. Concern over other people’s opinions of feminists may predict rejection of the feminist label. In the present study we predicted that feminists would be more likely than non-feminists to believe that other people view feminists favorably. One hundred seventy-one female participants completed the Berryman-Fink Semantic Differential Scale twice, once to indicate how they view feminists and again to indicate how they believe others view feminists. Contrary to our hypothesis, all women, regardless of feminist identification, believed that others view feminists negatively and as more likely to be homosexual than heterosexual. Relationships between participants’ own views of feminists and their perceptions of others’ views of feminists were explored. Transformative experiences that may lead a feminist to ignore their perception of society’s views are discussed.     

Generalization of learning from picture books to novel test conditions by 18- and 24-month-old children

Researchers know little about whether very young children can recognize objects originally introduced to them in a picture book when they encounter similar looking objects in various real-world contexts. The present studies used an imitation procedure to explore young children's ability to generalize a novel action sequence from a picture book to novel test conditions. The authors found that 18-month-olds imitated the action sequence from a book only when the conditions at testing matched those at encoding; altering the test stimuli or context disrupted imitation (Experiment 1A). In contrast, the 24-month-olds imitated the action sequence with changes to both the test context and stimuli (Experiment 1B). Moreover, although the 24-month-olds exhibited deferred imitation with no changes to the test conditions, they did not defer imitation with changes to the context and stimuli (Experiment 2). Two factors may account for the pattern of results: age-related changes in children's ability to utilize novel retrieval cues as well as their emerging ability to understand the representational nature of pictures.     

Self-efficacy and work-related performance: the integral role of individual differences

The present study estimated the unique contribution of self-efficacy to work-related performance controlling for personality (the Big 5 traits), intelligence or general mental ability, and job or task experience. Results, based on a meta-analysis of the relevant literatures, revealed that overall, across all studies and moderator conditions, the contribution of self-efficacy relative to purportedly more distal variables is relatively small. Within moderator categories, there were several cases in which self-efficacy made unique contributions to work-related performance. For example, self-efficacy predicted performance in jobs or tasks of low complexity but not those of medium or high complexity, and self-efficacy predicted performance for task but not job performance. Overall, results suggest that the predictive validity of self-efficacy is attenuated in the presence of individual differences, though this attenuation does depend on the context.     

Malingering in toxic exposure: classification accuracy of reliable digit span and WAIS-III Digit Span scaled scores

This study examined the sensitivity and false-positive error rate of reliable digit span (RDS) and the WAIS-III Digit Span (DS) scaled score in persons alleging toxic exposure and determined whether error rates differed from published rates in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and chronic pain (CP). Data were obtained from the files of 123 persons referred for neuropsychological evaluation related to alleged exposure to environmental and industrial substances. Malingering status was determined using the criteria of Slick, Sherman, and Iverson (1999). The sensitivity and specificity of RDS and DS in toxic exposure are consistent with those observed in TBI and CP. These findings support the use of these malingering indicators in cases of alleged toxic exposure and suggest that the classification accuracy data of indicators derived from studies of TBI patients may also be validly applied to cases of alleged toxic exposure.     

Associations between emotional avoidance,anxiety sensitivity,and reactions to an observational fear challenge procedure

Research has shown that emotional avoidance and anxiety sensitivity are associated with more self-reported fear and distress in response to laboratory fear challenge procedures. The present study aimed to expand upon this work and examined how emotional avoidance and anxiety sensitivity are related to emotional and physiological responses to an observational fear challenge procedure. To accomplish this aim, a carefully screened, non-clinical sample (N = 43) was administered the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ), a measure of emotional avoidance, and the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI). Participants then engaged in an observational fear challenge paradigm. During the fear challenge, participants watched mock panic attacks while emotional (e.g., fear and panic) and skin conductance levels were assessed. Consistent with expectation, emotional avoidance and anxiety sensitivity were positively associated with more self-reported fear and more severe panic symptoms to the challenge procedure. However, anxiety sensitivity was more highly associated with self-reported fear and panic symptoms in response to the challenge procedure than emotional avoidance. Emotional avoidance and anxiety sensitivity were not associated with levels of physiological arousal to the observational fear challenge procedure. Discussion focuses on the interplay between emotional avoidance, anxiety sensitivity, and the development of vicarious fear responses and how these constructs may contribute to the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders.     

EVALUATION OF A MULTICOMPONENT INTERVENTION FOR DIURNAL BRUXISM IN A YOUNG CHILD WITH AUTISM

Bruxism, forceful grinding of one's teeth together, can produce destructive outcomes such as wear on the teeth and damaged gums and bone structures. The current study implemented a multicomponent intervention that consisted of vocal and physical cues to decrease rates of bruxism. A partial component analysis suggested that the vocal cue was only effective at decreasing levels of bruxism when paired with a simultaneous physical cue.     

USING DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT TO DECREASE ACADEMIC RESPONSE LATENCIES OF AN ADOLESCENT WITH ACQUIRED BRAIN INJURY

The present study investigated the effects of contingency‐specifying rules and a token economy to decrease the latency to comply with academic instructions by a 16‐year‐old girl with acquired brain injury. Results showed that treatment was successful in reducing academic response latencies. These results replicate previous research in which differential reinforcement was used to decrease slow responding to academic tasks.