Ethics,Brain Injuries,and Sports: Prohibition,Reform, and Prudence

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the issue of the elimination of sports, or elements of sports, that present a high risk of brain injury. In particular, we critically examine two elements of Angelo Corlett’s and Pam Sailors’ arguments for the prohibition of football and Nicholas Dixon’s claim for the reformation of boxing to eliminate blows to the head based on (a) the empirical assumption of an essential or causal connection between brain injuries incurred in football and the development of a degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE); and (b) John Stuart Mill’s rejection of consensual domination (ie voluntary enslavement). We present four arguments to contest the validity of Corlett, Dixon’s and Sailor’s positions. Specifically, we argue that (i) certain autonomy-based arguments undermine paternalist arguments for reform; (ii) the nature of the goods people pursue in their lives might justify their foregoing (degrees of) future autonomy; (iii) Mill’s argument against consensual domination draws on ambiguous and arbitrary distinctions; (iv) the lack of consensus and empirical evidence regarding CTE arising from brain injuries in sport underdetermines calls for reform. We conclude that these proposals for reforming or eliminating sports with high risks of brain injuries are not well founded.     

Event-related potentials reveal the development of stable face representations from natural variability

Natural variability between instances of unfamiliar faces can make it difficult to reconcile two images as the same person. Yet for familiar faces, effortless recognition occurs even with considerable variability between images. To explore how stable face representations develop, we employed incidental learning in the form of a face sorting task. In each trial, multiple images of two facial identities were sorted into two corresponding piles. Following the sort, participants showed evidence of having learnt the faces performing more accurately on a matching task with seen than with unseen identities. Furthermore, ventral temporal event-related potentials were more negative in the N250 time range for previously seen than for previously unseen identities. These effects appear to demonstrate some degree of abstraction, rather than simple picture learning, as the neurophysiological and behavioural effects were observed with novel images of the previously seen identities. The results provide evidence of the development of facial representations, allowing a window onto natural mechanisms of face learning.     

An abbreviated tool for assessing feminine norm conformity: psychometric properties of the Conformity to Feminine Norms Inventory-45

The Conformity to Feminine Norms Inventory-45 (CFNI-45; Parent & Moradi, 2010) is an important tool for assessing level of conformity to feminine gender norms and for investigating the implications of such norms for women's functioning. The authors of the present study assessed the factor structure, measurement invariance, reliability, and validity of the CFNI-45 with data from 520 college women (55% White). Confirmatory factor analyses with data from this sample suggested acceptable fit for the posited 9-factor structure. Furthermore, analyses of measurement invariance indicated similar structural properties with members of socioculturally dominant (i.e., White) and nondominant (i.e., women of color) racial/ethnic status groups. Also, subscales of the CFNI-45 demonstrated acceptable internal consistency reliability coefficients, and correlations with convergent and discriminant validity indicators supported the validity of subscales scores. Overall, results offered support for the CFNI-45 as a multidimensional measure of women's conformity to feminine norms. The CFNI-45 can be used in research to facilitate evaluation of the theorized roles of conformity to feminine norms in women's mental health, vocational behavior, interpersonal relationships, and other domains. The CFNI-45 can be used in clinical practice to assess and attend to clients' conformity to feminine norms as is called for in the American Psychological Association's (2007) Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Girls and Women.     

Parenting Intervention to Reduce Attention and Behavior Difficulties in Preschoolers: A CUIDAR Evaluation Study

In this study, we evaluated CUIDAR, a program that provides community-based 10-week parent training to reduce attention and behavior problems in preschool children. We recruited 154 predominantly low-income and Latino preschoolers and their parents to participate in this evaluation study. We collected data prior to and immediately following intervention and one year later. At the time of follow-up, we also recruited 15 parents who had initially enrolled, but never participated in the program to serve as a comparison group for a limited set of analyses. From pre to post intervention, we observed significant, positive changes in eight out of ten measured parenting behaviors. From pre intervention to follow-up, improvements in the use of transitional statements and planning ahead were significant. Children’s SDQ Total Difficulties scores significantly decreased from pre to post intervention (d = .36), and we observed significant, positive changes in all SDQ subscales. From pre intervention to follow-up, children’s SDQ Total Difficulties scores significantly decreased (d = .71) and all SDQ subscales reflected significant, positive changes. We observed no significant differences in reported barriers to participation between parents who participated in the program and those who enrolled, but never participated. Intervention gains were moderated by several factors, including history of out-of-home care and family structure. Our results should be interpreted cautiously because not all analyses included a comparison group, and a randomized trial of CUIDAR effectiveness is still needed.     

Approach and Avoidance Tendencies in Spider Fearful Children: The Approach-Avoidance Task

Fear in children is associated with the tendency to avoid situations related to the fear. In this study, the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) was evaluated as a test of automatic behavioral avoidance tendencies in children. A sample of 195 children aged between 9 and 12 years completed an AAT, a Behavioral Assessment Task (BAT), and two spider fear questionnaires. The results indicate that all children showed an automatic avoidance tendency in response to spider pictures, but not pictures of butterflies or neutral pictures. Girls who reported more fear of spiders on the self-reports and behaved more anxiously during the BAT also showed a greater avoidance tendency in the AAT. These relationships were absent in boys.     

Conflict adaptation in time: Foreperiods as contextual cues for attentional adjustment

Interference evoked by distractor stimulus information, such as flankers in the Eriksen task, is reduced when the proportion of conflicting stimuli is increased. This modulation is sensitive to contextual cues such as stimulus location or color, suggesting attentional adjustment to conflict contingencies on the basis of context information. In the present study, we explored whether conflict adjustment is modulated by temporal variation of conflict likelihood. To this end, we associated low and high proportions of conflict stimuli with foreperiods of different lengths. Flanker interference was higher with foreperiods associated with low conflict proportions, suggesting that participants use the foreperiod as a contextual cue for attentional adjustment. We conjecture that participants initially adopt the strategy useful for conflict contingencies associated with short foreperiods, and then readjust during the trial, in the absence of any additional exogenous cue, when the imperative stimulus has not occurred during a certain time interval.     

Decision-making under uncertainty: biases and Bayesians

Animals (including humans) often face circumstances in which the best choice of action is not certain. Environmental cues may be ambiguous, and choices may be risky. This paper reviews the theoretical side of decision-making under uncertainty, particularly with regard to unknown risk (ambiguity). We use simple models to show that, irrespective of pay-offs, whether it is optimal to bias probability estimates depends upon how those estimates have been generated. In particular, if estimates have been calculated in a Bayesian framework with a sensible prior, it is best to use unbiased estimates. We review the extent of evidence for and against viewing animals (including humans) as Bayesian decision-makers. We pay particular attention to the Ellsberg Paradox, a classic result from experimental economics, in which human subjects appear to deviate from optimal decision-making by demonstrating an apparent aversion to ambiguity in a choice between two options with equal expected rewards. The paradox initially seems to be an example where decision-making estimates are biased relative to the Bayesian optimum. We discuss the extent to which the Bayesian paradigm might be applied to the evolution of decision-makers and how the Ellsberg Paradox may, with a deeper understanding, be resolved.     

His biceps become him: a test of objectification theory's application to drive for muscularity and propensity for steroid use in college men

Men's body image problems may manifest as an unhealthy drive for muscularity and propensity to use anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). Aspects of objectification theory were integrated with literature on men's drive for muscularity and AAS use to identify correlates of these problems. The resultant model was tested with path analyses of data from 270 college men. First, consistent with prior research on objectification theory, results indicated that body surveillance partially mediated the link of internalization of cultural standards of attractiveness with body shame. Second, positive outcome expectation for AAS use partially mediated the link of drive for muscularity with intention to use AAS. Third, drive for muscularity partially mediated the links of internalization with outcome expectation for AAS use and intention to use AAS. Finally, outcome expectation for AAS use was an additional partial mediator of the link of internalization with intention to use AAS. Body surveillance and body shame did not have unique direct or mediated relations with drive for muscularity or AAS variables. These findings point to internalization of cultural standards of attractiveness as the nexus of overlap between the objectification theory variables and men's drive for muscularity and propensity to use AAS.     

The impact of cognitive predispositions on exploration decisions in the minerals industry

Minerals exploration is conducted within an environment of ambiguity in the information and a high degree of uncertainty concerning success. In an extension and application of Tetlock (2005) the present research examined the impact of cognitive predispositions on the quality of minerals exploration decision‐making. Utilising instruments specifically designed to assess thinking and judgement predispositions results indicate that for this sample (n = 94) an enjoyment of rational thinking and the need for cognitive closure were predictive of lower estimated percentages of the likelihood of finding an exploitable deposit keeping geophysical data constant. Several counter‐intuitive findings related to the relationship between likelihood and amount of expenditure were also found. The findings add further support to Tetlock's (2005) call to hold experts in all fields to account for the recommendations they make and to examine not just what they think but how they think. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.