The effects of explicit “Not Present” and “Don't Know” response options on identification decisions in computer-administered lineups

Eyewitness researchers recommend that “not present” and “don't know” response options should be presented with police lineups. Although it is important that witnesses—most of whom are unlikely to be familiar with the identification task—are fully cognizant of all response options available to them, an understanding of how explicit non-identification options affect performance is lacking. Across four experiments, including 3,633 participants and 8 different stimulus sets, we tested the effects of including non-identification options in computer-administered lineups. When explicit non-identification options were presented, target-present and -absent choosing decreased. This decrease in choosing was characterized by a shift from filler identifications to lineup rejections. ROC analyses revealed that there was no overall difference in discriminability between guilty and innocent suspects depending on response option condition. On balance, the findings suggest that, in addition to informing witnesses about acceptable responses, displaying non-identification response options does not undermine identification performance.     

Refining the blank line-up procedure: How should we instruct eyewitnesses?

Presenting a blank line-up—containing only fillers—to witnesses prior to showing a real line-up might be useful for screening out those who pick from the blank line-up as unreliable witnesses. We show that the effectiveness of this procedure varies depending on instructions given to witnesses. Participants (N = 462) viewed a simulated crime and attempted to identify the perpetrator from a line-up approximately 1 week later. Rejecting a blank line-up was associated with greater identification accuracy and greater diagnosticity of suspect identifications, but only when witnesses were instructed prior to the blank line-up that they would view a series of line-ups; the procedure was ineffective for screening when witnesses were advised they would view two line-ups or received no instruction. These results highlight the importance of instructions used in the blank line-up procedure, and the need for better understanding of how to interpret choosing patterns in this paradigm.     

Risk perceptions: assessment and relationship to influenza vaccination.

OBJECTIVE: Accurate measurement of beliefs about risk probability is essential to determine what role these beliefs have in health behavior. This study investigated the ability of several types of risk perception measures and of other constructs from health behavior theories to predict influenza vaccination. DESIGN: Prospective study in which students, faculty, and staff at 3 universities (N = 428) were interviewed in the fall, before influenza vaccine was available, and again early in the next calendar year. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Self-reported influenza vaccination. RESULTS: Two interview questions that asked about feeling at risk and feeling vulnerable predicted subsequent behavior better (r = .44, p = .001) than 2 questions that asked for agreement or disagreement with statements about risk probability (r = .25, p = .001) or 4 questions that asked respondents to estimate the magnitude of the risk probability (r = .30, p = .001). Of the 4 perceived risk magnitude scales, a 7-point verbal scale was the best predictor of behavior. Anticipated regret was the strongest predictor of vaccination (r = .45, p = .001) of all constructs studied, including risk perceptions, worry, and perceived vaccine effectiveness. CONCLUSION: Risk perceptions predicted subsequent vaccination. However, perceived risk phrased in terms of feelings rather than as a purely cognitive probability judgment predicted better. Because neither feeling at risk nor anticipated regret is represented in the most commonly used theories of health behavior, the data suggest that these theories are missing important constructs.     

Physicalism,Qualia Inversion,And Affective States

I argue that the inverted spectrum hypothesis is nota possibility we should take seriously. The principlereason is that if someone's qualia were inverted inthe specified manner there is reason to believe thephenomenal difference would manifest itself inbehaviour. This is so for two reasons. First, Isuggest that qualia, including phenomenal colours, arepartly constituted by an affective component whichwould be inverted along with the connected qualia. Theresulting affective inversions will, given theintimate connections that exist between emotions andbehaviour, likely manifest themselves in behaviour, inwhich case the underlying phenomenal differences canbe functionally captured. Second, I argue that othersense modalities lack the structural featuresnecessary for undetectable inversion which, because oftheir analogy with colour qualia, weakens theplausibility of such an inversion in the original caseof vision.     

Noticing and commenting on what’s new: differences and similarities among 22‐month‐old typically developing children,children with Down syndrome and children with autism

Twenty 22‐month‐old typically developing children (TD), 11 children with Down syndrome (DS) and 10 children with autism (A), all functioning at a one‐ or two‐word linguistic level, were given eight series of four toys to explore. In each series, the first three toys (i.e. Trials 1–3) were identical, but the fourth toy (i.e. Trial 4) differed on a property or in identity. The children sat beside their mother and the experimenter while exploring the toys. Of interest was whether (1) the TD children would show more exploratory and communicative behavior related to the toys on Trials 1 and 4 than 2 and 3, and (2) how the response patterns of nontypically developing children would compare. The DS group showed a pattern of responding similar to that of the TD group with respect to their attention and interest in the toys, although a much lower rate of communicating with their mother. In contrast, the A group differed significantly from both other groups with respect to both the toys they found of interest and the timing of their topic initiations. Implications for observing declarative communication among children with Down syndrome and children with autism are discussed.     

Repeated exposure to violent and nonviolent pornography: Likelihood of raping ratings and laboratory aggression against women

This study examined the relatively long-term effects of repeated exposure to violent and nonviolent pornography on male' laboratory aggression against women. Self-reported likelihood of raping was also assessed as an individual differences variable that might mediate susceptibility to the effects of pornography and to ascertain whether it predicted actual aggressive behavior. Subjects were randomly assigned to the sexually violent, sexually nonviolent, or control exposure conditions. Those assigned to the sexually violent or sexually nonviolent conditions were exposed over a four-week period to ten stimuli including feature-length films and written and pictorial depictions, whereas control subjects were not exposed to any stimuli. About a week following the end of the exposure phase, subjects participated in what they believed to be a totally unrelated experiment in which aggression was assessed within a Buss paradigm. Exposure to the violent or nonviolent pornographic stimuli was not found to affect laboratory aggression. These data are discussed in terms of a recent analysis of media effects emphasizing the temporary activation of ideas in audience' minds. Likelihood of raping ratings was found to predict laboratory aggression.