Creative Anticipatory Ethical Reasoning with Scenario Analysis and Design Fiction

Science and Engineering Ethics - This paper presents an experimental approach for engaging undergraduate STEM students in anticipatory ethical reasoning, or ethical reasoning applied to the...     

Moving beyond Kučera and Francis: A critical evaluation of current word frequency norms and the introduction of a new and improved word frequency measure for American English

Word frequency is the most important variable in research on word processing and memory. Yet, the main criterion for selecting word frequency norms has been the availability of the measure, rather than its quality. As a result, much research is still based on the old Kučera and Francis frequency norms. By using the lexical decision times of recently published megastudies, we show how bad this measure is and what must be done to improve it. In particular, we investigated the size of the corpus, the language register on which the corpus is based, and the definition of the frequency measure. We observed that corpus size is of practical importance for small sizes (depending on the frequency of the word), but not for sizes above 16–30 million words. As for the language register, we found that frequencies based on television and film subtitles are better than frequencies based on written sources, certainly for the monosyllabic and bisyllabic words used in psycholinguistic research. Finally, we found that lemma frequencies are not superior to word form frequencies in English and that a measure of contextual diversity is better than a measure based on raw frequency of occurrence. Part of the superiority of the latter is due to the words that are frequently used as names. Assembling a new frequency norm on the basis of these considerations turned out to predict word processing times much better than did the existing norms (including Kučera & Francis and Celex). The new SUBTL frequency norms from the SUBTLEXUS corpus are freely available for research purposes from http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental, as well as from the University of Ghent and Lexique Web sites.     

The role of learning data in causal reasoning about observations and interventions

Recent studies have shown that people have the capacity to derive interventional predictions for previously unseen actions from observational knowledge, a finding that challenges associative theories of causal learning and reasoning (e.g., Meder, Hagmayer, & Waldmann, 2008). Although some researchers have claimed that such inferences are based mainly on qualitative reasoning about the structure of a causal system (e.g., Sloman, 2005), we propose that people use both the causal structure and its parameters for their inferences. We here employ an observational trial-by-trial learning paradigm to test this prediction. In Experiment 1, the causal strength of the links within a given causal model was varied, whereas in Experiment 2, base rate information was manipulated while keeping the structure of the model constant. The results show that learners’ causal judgments were strongly affected by the observed learning data despite being presented with identical hypotheses about causal structure. The findings show furthermore that participants correctly distinguished between observations and hypothetical interventions. However, they did not adequately differentiate between hypothetical and counterfactual interventions.     

Using video and role‐play to introduce medical students to family therapy: is watching better than appearing?

Family therapists emphasize introducing members of the caring professions to systemic ideas. Doctors in training usually gain some experience of systemic therapy. In this study two participatory styles of learning were used with medical students. Six groups of forty students were randomly allocated to learn about family therapy either by watching a video of a family or through role-play. The two mediums used are feasible, scored similarly on students' level of satisfaction, and result in gains in the students' knowledge of systemic principles.     

Current Assessment Practice,Personality Measurement,and Rorschach Usage by Psychologists

The hypothesis under evaluation was that persons giving a larger number of M responses (minimum 5) would show greater ease in expressing themselves creatively than a group of persons giving low M in the Rorschach (0 to 2). Groups were matched on variables of age, education, and socio-economic status. Twenty-two high M and 21 low M persons were tested for creative expression by means of written and verbal TAT, drawings and Lowenfeld Mosaic Designs. Ability to be creatively expressive for high as compared to low M Ss was very great, reaching significance levels beyond .001 on all tests. Flexor and extensor quality of M appeared to be unrelated to ease of creative expression.     

Diphones-fr: A French database of diphone positional frequency

The aim of this article is to describe a database of diphone positional frequencies in French. More specifically, we provide frequencies for word-initial, word-internal, and word-final diphones of all words extracted from a subtitle corpus of 50 million words that come from movie and TV series dialogue. We also provide intra- and intersyllable diphone frequencies, as well as interword diphone frequencies. To our knowledge, no other such tool is available to psycholinguists for the study of French sequential probabilities. This database and its new indicators should help researchers conducting new studies on speech segmentation.     

The psychophysics of sugar concentration discrimination and contrast evaluation in bumblebees

The capacity to discriminate between choice options is crucial for a decision-maker to avoid unprofitable options. The physical properties of rewards are presumed to be represented on context-dependent, nonlinear cognitive scales that may systematically influence reward expectation and thus choice behavior. In this study, we investigated the discrimination performance of free-flying bumblebee workers (Bombus impatiens) in a choice between sucrose solutions with different concentrations. We conducted two-alternative free choice experiments on two B. impatiens colonies containing some electronically tagged bumblebees foraging at an array of computer-automated artificial flowers that recorded individual choices. We mimicked natural foraging conditions by allowing uncertainty in the probability of reward delivery while maintaining certainty in reward concentration. We used a Bayesian approach to fit psychometric functions, relating the strength of preference for the higher concentration option to the relative intensity of the presented stimuli. Psychometric analysis was performed on visitation data from individually marked bumblebees and pooled data from unmarked individuals. Bumblebees preferred the more concentrated sugar solutions at high stimulus intensities and showed no preference at low stimulus intensities. The obtained psychometric function is consistent with reward evaluation based on perceived concentration contrast between choices. We found no evidence that bumblebees reduce reward expectations upon experiencing non-rewarded visits. We compare psychometric function parameters between the bumblebee B. impatiens and the flower bat Glossophaga commissarisi and discuss the relevance of psychophysics for pollinator-exerted selection pressures on plants.     

Parental burden associated with borderline personality disorder in female offspring

To identify aspects of parental burden associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD), an anonymous internet survey linked to BPD support websites was developed for parents to complete on their BPD offspring and unaffected siblings. The questions cover aspects of the child's life from pregnancy through young adulthood, and query about the impact of the child's BPD on six domains of the parent's life, including physical and emotional health, marriage, job, standard of living, social life, and career trajectory. Additionally, financial burden was assessed with questions pertaining to insurance and out-of pocket costs associated with the BPD disorder. BPD offspring were identified by meeting diagnostic criteria embedded within the survey and having been given a diagnosis of BPD by a professional at some point in their life. We report on 233 female offspring meeting strict criteria for BPD. Parents of daughters with BPD endorsed varying levels of impact on the six domains comprising burden with the largest impact on emotional health which was impacted in over 88% of the respondents. Over 50% of parents endorsed four or greater of the six burden items. Particular aspects of the offspring's BPD symptom profile correlated with intensity of parental burden included including problems in adolescence with acting out behavior (p < .000), property destruction (.003), delusional symptoms (.007), and hallucinatory symptoms (.008). A subgroup of respondents provided data on specific financial expenses. The average and median out-of-pocket expense was $60,087, and $10,000. Insurance costs totaled an average of $108,251 with a mean of $20,000. The average cost per year after diagnosis was $14,606 out-of-pocket and $45,573 billed to insurance. The median cost per year after diagnosis was $3,667 out-of-pocket, and $12,500 billed to insurance. After adjusting for household income, a female proband who had been raped incurred roughly $40,000 more in BPD-related costs, while a diagnosis of conduct disorder led to about $50,000 in additional costs. Parents of female offspring with BPD experience burden in multiple domains of their life and many have incurred substantial financial expense. Increasing awareness of co-morbid conditions in the BPD proband that significantly increase parental burden may be indicators for the provision of increased family support.