Ulysses contracts

ABSTRACT 'Ulysses contracts' are an instrument through which a psychiatric patient may prearrange involuntary commitments to be put into effect if the patient satisfies certain diagnostic criteria in the future. Proposals for Ulysses contracts typically impose numerous safeguards. This paper argues against the intuitively plausible safeguard which permits only presently remitted patients to contract. Instead of requiring a patient's remission, it is argued that the appropriate safeguard is the patient's ability, whether remitted or not, to offer good reasons for wishing to contract. In short, what matters is not an executive's character, but an executive's reasons, and a bad executive may have good reasons. Attempts to deny the accessibility of good reasons in unremitted patients are rejected on the ground that psychiatric diagnosis requires psychiatrists to be able to distinguish between good and bad reasons in both remitted and unremitted patients. If psychiatrists cannot do that, psychiatric diagnosis is impossible.     

A note on modulation of gait in man: Effects of constraining stride length and frequency

In this study, our aim was to investigate the effect of an imposed stride-length on walking speed and stride-frequency, and the effect of an imposed stride-frequency on walking speed and stride-length. These variations were determined in relation to the values obtained by analysing the subject's preferred pace. In the first case, the subject had to step on transversal stripes on the floor; in the second case, he had to synchronize his stride with a regular auditory signal. The results obtained with 8 subjects show that speed was the most variable factor. Variations in speed were correlated with variations in the imposed parameter: whenever the subject lengthened his stride or increased his stride-frequency, his walking speed increased proportionally. These results point to a relative independence between stride-length and stride-frequency, and a strong correlation between each of these parameters and speed.     

An assessment of decision-making as a possible factor in the age-related loss of contrast sensitivity

The possibility that changes in decision-making may contribute to the age-related decline in contrast sensitivity has been investigated in nineteen young subjects (ages 21-38 years) and twenty-seven old subjects (ages 55-92 years). A signal detection paradigm was employed in which the detection of stationary sinusoidal grating patterns was measured at 3 and 15 cycles deg-1 for a range of contrasts which were psychophysically equivalent for each subject. A decline in contrast sensitivity with age at the spatial frequencies studied was confirmed for contrast thresholds obtained both by the ascending method and from the 50% hit rate for detection of the grating pattern. The criterion adopted for decision-making, expressed as both beta and percentage bias, did not change significantly between young and old subjects at 15 cycles deg-1. At 3 cycles deg-1, criterion beta did not change significantly at X0.8, X1.0, or X1.2 contrast threshold, but at contrast giving 50% hit rate there was a significant increase with age. The percentage bias increased significantly at contrast threshold but not at 50% hit rate. It is inferred from the results that the loss of contrast sensitivity was not accountable in terms of the adoption of a more conservative criterion by older subjects. Hence visual loss in ageing is attributed to changes within the visual pathway rather than within higher decision-making centres.     

Relationship of physicians' nonverbal communication skill to patient satisfaction, appointment noncompliance, and physician workload

A field study of 28 residents in family practice was conducted. Physicians' self-reports of empathy, self-monitoring ability, and affective communication skill as well as their objectively measured nonverbal communication skills were examined as predictors of patient satisfaction, appointment noncompliance, and physician workload (schedule density). Physicians completed the Hogan Empathy Scale, Snyder Self-Monitoring Scale, Affective Communication Test, short form of the Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity, and a nonverbal encoding task. Patient satisfaction with communication, affective care, and technical care was assessed using a 25-item, visit-specific satisfaction scale. Appointment records were used to determine the number of patients seen by each physician and the compliance of patients with scheduled appointments. Results indicated that the three self-report measures were unrelated to the measures of patient noncompliance and patient satisfaction, but self-reported affective communication ability was significantly correlated with physician workload. Objectively measured physician sensitivity to audio communication predicted patient compliance: More sensitive physicians experienced fewer unrescheduled appointment cancellations. Nonverbal encoding skill was significantly related to patient satisfaction with affective care and to physician workload.     

Dating age and stage as correlates of adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior

Dating experiences, especially the type or stage of dating, have consistently been found to be related to premarital sexual behavior. Findings regarding the age at 1st date and sexual behavior have been less consistent. This paper examined the age at which dating began and the type of dating relationship as correlates of premarital sexual attitudes and behavior among mid-teen adolescents. The analyses were based on a sample of high school students (n=836), most of whom were between the ages of 15 and 18 when the surveys were conducted. Early dating, especially early steady dating, was related to permissive attitudes and to premarital sexual experience among both males and females. The relationship between early dating and intercourse experience was particulary strong among Mormons, a religious group which has institutionalized age 16 as the legitimate age to begin dating.     

Social and solipsistic observer training: Effects on agreement with a criterion

The need to train accurate, not necessarily agreeing, observers is discussed. Intraobserver consistency as an intermediate criterion in such training is proposed and contrasted with the more familiar criterion of interobserver agreement. Videotaped observations of social interactions between handicapped and nonhandicapped preschoolers provided the medium for examining the criterion agreement of four observers trained against each type of standard. Observers generally failed to show high levels of criterion agreement whether trained to a within- or to a between-observer agreement standard. The results varied somewhat with the frequency of behaviors, however. Correlations between interobserver agreement and intraobserver consistency were variable but somewhat higher when interobserver agreement was the training criterion than when intraobserver consistency was the criterion. Correlations between interobserver agreement and criterion agreement ranged from — .16 to .89 during interobserver agreement training. Correlations between intraobserver consistency and criterion agreement ranged from — .23 to .99 during intraobserver consistency training.     

Fertility of mating in rats (Rattus norvegicus): contributions of androgen-dependent morphology and actions of the penis

Three experiments with rats (Rattus norvegicus) were conducted to examine the roles of the male's penile spines and penile cups (flaring of the distal glans) in the induction of luteal activity in the female, and in the removal of copulatory plugs from the vaginal tract. The results of Experiment 1 revealed no role for the cup in luteal induction but did suggest that elements of the ejaculatory reflex apart from cup formation contribute to the elicitation of this neuroendocrine response. The origin of this stimulatory effect was not directly determined, but indirect evidence suggested a role for penile spines. In Experiments 2 and 3, features of the glans penis that might help effect plug removal were investigated, and the experiments demonstrated that penile spines, perhaps in conjunction with penile cups, contribute to the extraction of plugs from the vagina.