Belief in conspiracy theories: The influence of uncertainty and perceived morality

In the present research, we examined people's tendency to endorse or question belief in conspiracy theories. In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that the perceived morality of authorities influences conspiracy beliefs, particularly when people experience uncertainty. Study 1 revealed that information about the morality of oil companies influenced beliefs that these companies were involved in planning the war in Iraq, but only when uncertainty was made salient. Similar findings were obtained in Study 2, which focused on a bogus newspaper article about a fatal car accident of a political leader in an African country. It is concluded that uncertainty leads people to make inferences about the plausibility or implausibility of conspiracy theories by attending to morality information. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effect of Neighborhood Recorded Crime on Fear: Does Neighborhood Social Context Matter?

A number of individual and neighborhood‐level factors may influence the relationship between recorded crime in one’s neighborhood and fear of crime. Understanding these factors may assist in reducing fear, which has been associated with poorer physical and mental health. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the effect of recorded crime rates on fear differs based on the neighborhood social context (social fragmentation) using hierarchical regression modelling, with separate analyses by crime type. Recorded crimes (2008–2010) and national (New Zealand) survey data were used. Higher crime in a neighborhood was associated with higher fear of crime, with only small effect size differences in feelings of fear by recorded type of crime. However, when stratified, the associations between violent and drug/alcohol crimes and fear of crime were larger for those living in highly fragmented neighborhoods compared with less fragmented neighborhoods. Efforts to alleviate fear of crime should focus on the broader neighborhood social context in which these feelings are espoused.     

The Intervention of Robot Caregivers and the Cultivation of Children’s Capability to Play

In this article, the authors examine whether and how robot caregivers can contribute to the welfare of children with various cognitive and physical impairments by expanding recreational opportunities for these children. The capabilities approach is used as a basis for informing the relevant discussion. Though important in its own right, having the opportunity to play is essential to the development of other capabilities central to human flourishing. Drawing from empirical studies, the authors show that the use of various types of robots has already helped some children with impairments. Recognizing the potential ethical pitfalls of robot caregiver intervention, however, the authors examine these concerns and conclude that an appropriately designed robot caregiver has the potential to contribute positively to the development of the capability to play while also enhancing the ability of human caregivers to understand and interact with care recipients.     

The Relationship of Impulsiveness to Psychoticism and Extraversion in Elderly Psychiatric Patients

I conducted a correlational study to test the hypothesis that resource allocation outcomes become more favorable as uncertainty assessment accuracy (i.e., resolution and calibration) increases. For each of 32 college basketball games, participants predicted which team would win, estimated the subjective probability that their prediction was correct, and were given the opportunity to place a wager. The dependent variable was profit earned over the 32 bets. Proportion correct and mean certainty were controlled in the analyses. Results indicated that individuals with higher resolution scores earned significantly more profit than those with lower scores. Higher profits were also associated with better calibration.     

Impulsivity and Paced Tapping

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that impulsivity is positively related to both the intraindividual variability and the rate of performance of a paced tapping task. Selected experimental conditions which have been demonstrated to influence paced tapping were included in the experimental design of the tapping task. The independent variables in the tapping task were: feedback vs. no feedback; tempo; concurrent cognitive task (counting) vs. no concurrent cognitive task. Three measures of tapping performance were computed: absolute or total error of tapping, tapping rate, and the intraindividual variability of tapping. The results confirm the hypothesis that impulsivity is positively related to rate of paced tapping, although the degree of relationship varied under different experimental conditions within the paced tapping task. Intraindividual variability of tapping was not significantly related to impulsivity, but the results were suggestive of a positive relationship.     

Cracking a Conundrum: Christian Origins in Egypt

The biblical conquest account in Joshua 1–12 raises questions about the hermeneutical and ethical challenges of the biblical textual tradition. While these texts may be sought to be better understood on the background of Ancient Near Eastern cultural and literary conventions, this does not relieve interpreters of the problem that these texts support the extermination of the inhabitants of the captured cities. Since these texts are not just products of past cultures but are still accorded authority and, in some cases, actively used to support discreet programs of action and to justify violence, the challenge of the place of the biblical texts needs to be faced by biblical scholars, theologians, and leaders in contemporary society alike. This article raises and explores some of these questions.     

Deviant scientists and scientific deviance

Fraud in the form of data fabrication/manipulation by scientists, heretofore ignored owing to its presumed nonexistence, is discussed as an area of potential interest for the study of deviant behavior. By way if illustration, twelve recent cases of scientific fraud are described. These examples serve to highlight the question of prevalence as their existence is evidence that deviance in science exists, and belies the argument that the normative structure of science makes such acts unlikely. Primary attention was given to the problem of explaining this atypical form of deviant behavior. Current popular efforts tend to be either individualistic “bad apple” explanations, or indictments of the pressures to produce inherent in the structure of modern science. A sociology of scientific deviance 1s offered by reveiwing the potential contributions of anomie, interactionist, and conflict theories. All were found to have significant application to the study of scientific deviance as a number of questions for further research are suggested.     

Laminar cortical dynamics of cognitive and motor working memory, sequence learning and performance: toward a unified theory of how the cerebral cortex works

How does the brain carry out working memory storage, categorization, and voluntary performance of event sequences? The LIST PARSE neural model proposes an answer that unifies the explanation of cognitive, neurophysiological, and anatomical data. It quantitatively simulates human cognitive data about immediate serial recall and free recall, and monkey neurophysiological data from the prefrontal cortex obtained during sequential sensory-motor imitation and planned performance. The model clarifies why spatial and non-spatial working memories share the same type of circuit design. It proposes how laminar circuits of lateral prefrontal cortex carry out working memory storage of event sequences within layers 6 and 4, how these event sequences are unitized through learning into list chunks within layer 2/3, and how these stored sequences can be recalled at variable rates that are under volitional control by the basal ganglia. These laminar prefrontal circuits are variations of visual cortical circuits that explained data about how the brain sees. These examples from visual and prefrontal cortex illustrate how laminar neocortex can represent both spatial and temporal information, and open the way towards understanding how other behaviors derive from shared laminar neocortical designs.