A proposed variation of the matching technique

A matching procedure is proposed by which a judge may use the same items in different matches. TheK items in one group most likely to include the correct match with each item in the other are selected. Inclusion of the correct match among theK items chosen is defined as a success. The distribution of the number of successes is discussed. Tables are presented showing the number of successes needed for significance for various values ofK and ofN, the number of items in each group.     

The insanity plea: Szaszian ethics and epistemology

The traditional legal verdict of ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ as well as the more recent verdict of ‘guilty but mentally ill’ rest on often unquestioned epistemological assumptions about human behavior and its causes, unjustified reliance on forensic psychiatrists, and questionable, if not deplorable ethical standards. This paper offers a critique of legal perspectives on insanity, historical and current, based on the altermative epistemological and ethical assumptions of Thomas S. Szasz. In addition, we examine Szasz's unique rhetorical analysis of ‘mental illness’ and its implications for forensic psychiatry.     

On doing better, experimental-style

Timothy Williamson devotes significant effort in his The Philosophy of Philosophy to arguing against skepticism about judgment. One might think that the recent “experimental philosophy” challenge to the philosophical practice of appealing to intuitions as evidence is a possible target of those arguments. However, this is not so. The structure of that challenge is radically dissimilar from that of traditional skeptical arguments, and the aims of the challenge are entirely congruent with the spirit of methodological improvement that Williamson himself exemplifies in the Afterword of his book.

Group Therapy in Israel

This paper is an analysis of the group therapy and the group work phenomena in Israel as a microcosm of the Israeli society and culture. We discuss the structure of Israeli society and its features, identify the key norms and myths that express the social unconscious, and pinpoint events that mark critical points of change. Drawing on these, the paper then describes some examples of the influence of Israeli identity on participants' and group therapists' behavior, and on current training programs.     

Identifying and Dissolving the Non-Identity Problem

Philosophers concerned with procreative ethics have long been puzzled by Parfit’s Non-Identity Problem (NIP). Various solutions have been proposed, but I argue that we have not solved the problem on its own narrow person-affecting terms, i.e., in terms of the identified individuals affected by procreative decisions and acts, especially future children. Thus, the core problem remains unsolved. This is a nagging concern for all who hold the common intuition that actions that harm no one are permissible. I argue against Harmon’s and Woodward’s direct, narrow person-affecting solutions, and in favor of a new solution to the NIP. My solution, or, rather, dissolution, is based on the argument that merely possible people, i.e., hypothetical people who could possibly, but will not actually, exist, are morally irrelevant. I show that the NIP only arises when we concern ourselves with merely possible people. Once we are careful to restrict our concerns to only those that do or will exist, the NIP is dissolved.     

Family Smoking Patterns and Smoking among Eighth and Tenth Grade Students

Les families de fumeurs ont étéétudiées à partir du comportement tabagique d'un grand échantillon représentatif des lycéens des 8* et 10* niveaux du centre de la Floride ( n = 1416). Des analyses multivariées ont révélé que le tabagisme de la mère, du père, de la soeur ou du frère aînés rendait compte de 12% de la variance de la décision de se mettre à fumer. Des analyses de régression multiple ont montré qu'une grande soeur fumeuse expliquait la plus grande part de la variance des fumeurs, suivie par la mère et par le père. L'influence du frère aîné n'est pas significative. La famille n'est pas significativement liée au maintien du tabagisme chez les lycéens.
Family smoking habits were examined as they related to the behaviour of a broad, representative sample of eighth and tenth grade students from central and south-central Florida ( n =1416). Multivariate analyses of variance revealed that 12% of the variance for smoking initiation (smoker) was accounted for by the smoking habits of mother, father, older sister, and older brother. Multiple regression analyses showed that older sister's smoking accounted for the greatest independent proportion of smoker variance, followed by mother's and father's smoking. Older brother's smoking habits did not contribute significant unique variance. Family smoking habits were not significantly related to the maintenance of students' smoking behaviour.     

Higher cortisol is associated with poorer executive functioning in preschool children: The role of parenting stress,parent coping and quality of daycare

Child executive functions (cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, working memory) are key to success in school. Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, is known to affect cognition; however, there is limited information about how child cortisol levels, parenting factors and child care context relate to executive functions in young children. The aim of this study was to examine relationships between child cortisol, parenting stress, parent coping, and daycare quality in relation to executive functions in children aged 3–5 years. We hypothesized that (1) poorer executive functioning would be related to higher child cortisol and higher parenting stress, and (2) positive daycare quality and positive parent coping style would buffer the effects of child cortisol and parenting stress on executive functions. A total of 101 children (53 girls, 48 boys, mean age 4.24 years ±0.74) with complete data on all measures were included. Three saliva samples to measure cortisol were collected at the child’s daycare/preschool in one morning. Parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function – Preschool Version (BRIEF-P), Parenting Stress Index (PSI), and Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ). The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale – Revised (ECERS-R) was used to measure the quality of daycare. It was found that children with poorer executive functioning had higher levels of salivary cortisol, and their parents reported higher parenting stress. However, parent coping style and quality of daycare did not modulate these relationships. Identifying ways to promote child executive functioning is an important direction for improving school readiness.