The Identifiable Victim Effect: Using an Experimental-Causal-Chain Design to Test for Mediation

The identifiable victim effect (IVE) refers to individuals’ tendency to offer greater aid to identifiable victims than to statistical victims. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether emotional reactions work to mediate IVE. In two experiments based on the experimental-causal-chain design proposed by Spencer et al. (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 845–851, 2005), it was shown that an identifiable victim evokes stronger emotional reactions than does a statistical victim (Study 1). It was also demonstrated that the identifiable victim shown or described with a specific expression or information to evoke stronger emotional reactions elicited greater willingness to donate money in participants (Study 2). The results of two studies based on the experimental-causal-chain approach demonstrated that the underlying causal mechanism for the IVE is participants’ emotional reactions to identified victims. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Trait Procrastination,Hoarding, and Continuous Performance Attention Scores

We examined the relationship between chronic procrastination, hoarding, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and a computer measure of continuous performance with 84 adult patients evaluated for diagnoses. Patients were administered the General Procrastination Inventory, the Saving Inventory-Revised, the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale and the IVA + Plus Continuous Performance Test. Procrastination scores correlated negatively with auditory attention scores, while self-reported hoarding tendencies correlated negatively with visual attention. Measures of procrastiation, hoarding, and ADHD were positively correlated. Implications and limitations of findings are discussed as well as directions for futher research.     

Moral (dis)engagement with anthropogenic climate change in online comments on newspaper articles

Anthropogenic climate change (ACC) is widely acknowledged to be morally significant, but little is known about everyday moralising around ACC. We addressed this gap via quantified thematic analysis of 300 online comments to British newspaper articles on ACC, drawing on Bandura's moral disengagement theory. Moral disengagement through denial of ACC was widespread. Other disengagement strategies, such as palliative comparison and diminishing agency, occurred less often. There was also some moral engagement, most often through assertions of the existence of ACC and/or its harmful effects. Moral disengagement was significantly more common in comments on right wing than left wing newspapers, whereas the opposite was true of moral engagement. Although Bandura's framework provided a useful starting point to make sense of ACC moralising, it did not capture moral concerns that extended beyond its “harm/care” remit. In particular, many “denial” comments included a “dishonesty” discourse, whereby ACC proponents were accused of deception for ulterior motives. To classify this discourse as moral disengagement obscures its engagement with a different set of moral issues around trust and honesty. We suggest that Bandura's theory represents one possible “moral landscape” around ACC and could be extended to encompass a broader range of moral concerns.     

Literacy Interventions for Secondary Students Formally Identified with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Trends and Gaps in the Research

There has historically been much less research on the literacy skills of adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) compared to the amount of intervention research targeting their behavior. Within the limited literacy research available, there are multiple issues that need to be addressed, including (a) a predominant focus on children in elementary school, (b) gender differences in students with EBD, and (c) variation in the labels of research participants. The purpose of this integrative, comprehensive review was to investigate these concerns and provide a summary of the data to guide future research studies. A total of 63 articles targeting the reading and/or writing skills of middle and high school students with EBD were identified, spanning 37 years of research (1980–2016). Analysis of the articles revealed that less than 15% of the participants were female, and the percentage of females included in this research has declined across time; 11 different labels have been used to describe research participants; oral reading fluency, persuasive writing, and reading comprehension were the three most common dependent variables; and less than 5% of studies took place in inclusive general education settings. Recommendations for practitioners serving students with EBD and for researchers are discussed.     

Reimagining the Cuckoo’s Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962) by Ken Kesey and The Devil in Silver (2012) by Victor LaValle are two novels that focus on mental hospitalization as a medical and social practice. Published fifty years apart, however, the books possess important differences in setting, method, and message reflecting the times that spawned them. The purpose of this paper is to examine the changing documentary and metaphorical uses of the asylum novel by comparing an iconic work in the genre with a respectful, but divergent, successor. What emerges from this comparison is an appreciation of the literary conventions shared by Kesey and LaValle but also the ingredients that separate their work. Whereas Kesey produced an enduring tribute to the virtue of nonconformity, LaValle's social criticism expresses itself as a disturbing portrayal of class-based disparities and administrative dysfunction inside the contemporary American mental health system.     

Beyond Pathologizing Harm: Understanding PTSD in the Context of War Experience

An alternative to objectifying approaches to understanding Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) grounded in hermeneutic phenomenology is presented. Nurses who provided care for soldiers injured in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and sixty-seven wounded male servicemen in the rehabilitation phase of their recovery were interviewed. PTSD is the one major psychiatric diagnosis where social causation is established, yet PTSD is predominantly viewed in terms of the usual neuro-physiological causal models with traumatic social events viewed as pathogens with dose related effects. Biologic models of causation are applied reductively to both predisposing personal vulnerabilities and strengths that prevent PTSD, such as resiliency. However, framing PTSD as an objective disease state separates it from narrative historical details of the trauma. Personal stories and cultural meanings of the traumatic events are seen as epiphenomenal, unrelated to the understanding of, and ultimately, the therapeutic treatment of PTSD. Most wounded service members described classic symptoms of PTSD: flashbacks, insomnia, anxiety etc. All experienced disturbance in their sense of time and place. Rather than see the occurrence of these symptoms as decontextualized mechanistic reverberations of war, we consider how these symptoms meaningfully reflect actual war experiences and sense of displacement experienced by service members.     

Identification as a Mutation Carrier and Effects on Life According to Experiences of Finnish Male BRCA1/2 Mutation Carriers

Earlier studies have explored post-identification experiences of male BRCA1/2 mutation carriers, but more detailed knowledge of both their experiences and effects of identification as a carrier on their lives is required to improve genetic counseling. Thus, the aim of this study was to acquire deeper and broader insights into their experiences. Qualitative data were collected from theme-based interviews with 31 men carrying BRCA1/2 mutations in Finland, and analyzed using inductive content analysis. Three categories of the participants’ responses to identification as BRCA1/2 mutation carriers were identified (personal, offspring-related and related to other relatives), mainly concerning issues associated with cancer, hereditary transmission of their mutations, and life decisions. Although there were many neutral responses regarding the issues, there were also strong emotional reactions and cancer worries. Identification as a carrier also had several effects on participants’ lifestyles, including adoption of healthier and disease-preventing behavior, and social well-being, such as family planning and attitudes to life. The results provide detailed information about several aspects of male BRCA1/2 mutation carriers’ experiences, which could be used to develop a tentative model of tailored genetic counseling for them.     

Genetic Counseling in the Era of Genomics: What’s all the Fuss about?

As genomic sequencing becomes more widely available in clinical settings for diagnostic purposes, a number of genetic counseling issues are gaining precedence. The ability to manage these issues will be paramount as genetic and non-genetic healthcare professionals navigate the complexities of using genomic technologies to facilitate diagnosis and inform patient management. Counseling issues arising when counseling for diagnostic genomic sequencing were identified by four genetic counselors with 10 years of collective experience providing genetic counseling in this setting. These issues were discussed and refined at a meeting of genetic counselors working in clinical genomics settings in Melbourne, Australia. Emerging counseling issues, or variations of established counseling issues, were identified from the issues raised. Illustrative cases were selected where pre- and post-test genetic counseling was provided in clinical settings to individuals who received singleton or trio WES with targeted analysis. Counseling issues discussed in this paper include a reappraisal of how genetic counselors manage hope in the genomic era, informed consent for secondary use of genomic data, clinical reanalysis of genomic data, unexpected or unsolicited secondary findings, and trio sequencing. The authors seek to contribute to the evolving understanding of genetic counseling for diagnostic genomic sequencing through considering the applicability of existing genetic counseling competencies to managing emerging counseling issues and discussing genetic counseling practice implications.