Hispanic and black American adolescents' beliefs relating to sexuality and contraception

Popular beliefs and level of scientific knowledge regarding sexuality and contraception were elicited from black and Hispanic inner-city adolescents. Significant differences were found: Hispanic males were the most knowledgeable, Hispanic females the least, and black males and females were intermediate. A cultural basis for the dramatic difference between Hispanic male and female scores is suggested and the need to design culturally appropriate sexuality education classes is discussed. In addition, the data depicted two conflicting beliefs that were held simultaneously by many of the adolescents: Contraception is "good" because it prevents pregnancy, and it is "bad" because the various birth control methods carry serious health hazards for users.     

From teaching to counselling: An evaluation of the role of microcounselling in the training of school counsellors

During the past 20 years the use of microtraining as a method for training professionals in communication skills has attracted considerable attention. In this paper, the microtraining approach is explained briefly, in terms of the development of microteaching and microcounselling, as a means of training teachers and counsellors respectively. One interesting aspect of the training of teachers is then focused upon, namely the use of microcounselling in the preparation of in-service teachers for the role of school counsellor. The nature of teaching and counselling activities are compared and contrasted, and the resultant difficulties in training teachers to act as counsellors are high-lighted. Finally, a number of procedures for trainers involved in such training are listed, whereby teachers can be encouraged to more readily adopt a style of behaviour appropriate for the counselling context.     

John Hick, Philosophy of Religion, and the Clarity of God's Existence

Book reviewed in this article:
David Cheetham, John Hick: A Critical Introduction and Reflection     

Philosophy and Science Dialogue: Consciousness

This is a dialogue between a philosopher and a scientist about the scientific explanation of consciousness. What is consciousness? Does it admit of scientific explanation? If so, what must a scientific theory of consciousness be like in order to provide us with a satisfying explanation of its explanandum? And what types of entities might such a theory acknowledge as being conscious? Philosopher Owen Flanagan and scientist Giulio Tononi weigh in on these issues during an exchange about the nature and scientific explanation of consciousness.     

Locus of control and academic achievement in high school students

This study investigated the hypothesized relationship between internal locus of control and academic achievement among a sample of 187 students in Grades 8 through 12 using the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children. Analysis indicated that students in the higher GPA group reported higher scores on internal locus of control.     

Shape correlates of visual and tactual size judgments: A contrast with complexity

Pattern correlates of perceived size were studied by obtaining category judgments of the size of 100 random forms from 40 Ss who explored the forms visually and 40 Ss who explored them factually. Comparison of the modalities and contrasts with perceived complexity were made via intercorrelations of judgments and latencies, multiple regression analyses using factored form dimensions, and correlations with original form measures. By holding area of the forms constant, it was shown that perceived size can be related to characteristics of shape.     

Variables influencing the neural correlates of perceived risk of physical harm

Many human activities involve a risk of physical harm. However, not much is known about the specific brain regions involved in decision making regarding these risks. To explore the neural correlates of risk perception for physical harms, 19 participants took part in an event-related fMRI study while rating risky activities. The scenarios varied in level of potential harm (e.g., paralysis vs. stubbed toe), likelihood of injury (e.g., 1 chance in 100 vs. 1 chance in 1,000), and format (frequency vs. probability). Networks of brain regions were responsive to different aspects of risk information. Cortical language- processing areas, the middle temporal gyrus, and a region around the bed nucleus of stria terminalis responded more strongly to high- harm conditions. Prefrontal areas, along with subcortical ventral striatum, responded preferentially to high- likelihood conditions. Participants rated identical risks to be greater when information was presented in frequency format rather than probability format. These findings indicate that risk assessments for physical harm engage a broad network of brain regions that are sensitive to the severity of harm, the likelihood of risk, and the framing of risk information.     

Positive Automatic Cognitions Mediate the Relationship Between Personality and Trait Positive Affect

Positive affect (PA) has emerged as a key well-being facet and a powerful predictor of physical and psychological well-being. One of the strongest predictors of PA is personality, particularly neuroticism and extraversion. However, the mechanisms via which personality affects PA are not well-understood. Consistent with theories that accord cognitive factors a role in mediating the relationship between personality and outcomes, we tested whether positive automatic thoughts (PATs) mediated the relationship between neuroticism, extraversion, and PA among 199 college students (137 women, 70% White, 66% first and second year students, mean age = 24.13, SD = 8.86). Consistent with hypotheses, structural equation modeling indicated that PATs fully mediated the relationship between both neuroticism and extraversion and PA. The structural model fit the data well, χ²/df = 2.33, CFI = .96, SRMR = .07, RMSEA = .08 (90% CI: .06, .10), AIC = 172.45, and accounted for 58% of the variance in PA. An alternative model in which personality predicted PA, which in turn predicted PATs, did not provide as good a fit to the data, χ²/df = 3.03, CFI = .94, SRMR = .09, RMSEA = .10 (90% CI: .08, .12), AIC = 207.40. Models in which negative automatic thoughts (NATs) were construed as fully [χ²/df = 4.46, CFI = .95, SRMR = .08, RMSEA = .13 (90% CI: .11, .16)] or partially [χ²/df = 4.04, CFI = .96, SRMR = .06, RMSEA = .12 (90% CI: .10, .15)] mediating the relationship between neuroticism and negative affect did not provide a good fit to the data. A final model in which negative affect was tested a mediator of the relationship between neuroticism and NATs also did not fit the data well, χ²/df = 4.03, CFI = .96, SRMR = .07, RMSEA = .12 (90% CI: .10, .15).     

Locke and Hume on Belief, Judgment and Assent

Hume's account of belief has been much reviled, especially considered as an account of what it is to assent to or judge a proposition to be true. In fact, given that he thinks that thoughts about existence can be composed of a single idea, and that relations are just complex ideas, it might be wondered whether he has an account of judgment at all. Nonetheless, Hume was extremely proud of his account of belief, discussing it at length in the Abstract, and developing it in the Appendix. Furthermore, he claimed several times that his account was new. It was not just a new answer to an old question, but an answer to a new question as well. Why did Hume think he was raising, and answering, a new question? Is his answer really so appalling? Why did he define belief in terms of a relationship with a present impression? In this paper, I propose answers to these questions. The answers emerge by contrasting Hume with Locke. Locke thought that belief was a pale imitation of knowledge, and that the assent we give to propositions is constituted in the very same act as forming those propositions. Hume saw the problems such a theory faced concerning existential beliefs. By ceasing to treat existence as a predicate, Hume was confronted with the issue of what it was to judge something to be true, or to assent to something. This issue had to be solved independently of the question of what it was to conceive something, or understand the content of a proposition. Hume thought this problem was new. He should be looked at, not as giving a bad answer to an important question, but rather as being the first in the early modern period to recognize that there was an important question here to be answered.