Particularism and the Point of Moral Principles

According to radical moral particularists such as Jonathan Dancy, there are no substantive moral principles. And yet, few particularists wish to deny that something very like moral principles do indeed play a significant role in our everyday moral practice. Loathe at dismissing this as mere error on the part of everyday moral agents, particularists have proposed a number of alternative accounts of the practice. The aim of all of these accounts is to make sense of our appeal to general moral truths in both reaching and justifying our particular moral judgments without thereby violating the particularists' stricture against substantive moral principles. In this paper, I argue that the most prominent non-substantive accounts of moral generalities appealed to by radical particularists – the heuristic account and default reasons accounts – fail in this aim.     

The link between child temperament and low-income mothers’ and fathers’ parenting

Numerous studies have shown that children's temperamental characteristics impact the quality and quantity of parent–child interactions. However, these studies have largely focused on middle-class samples, have not compared multiple domains of parenting across mothers and fathers, and have not considered the possibility of nonlinear associations between temperament and parenting. The present study addresses these gaps by examining the potentially nonlinear role of two temperamental characteristics—negative emotionality and sociability—in predicting the quality and quantity of low-income mothers’ and fathers’ parenting. Data were drawn from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, a study of low-income children and families. Results indicated that whereas parenting quality was somewhat impaired when children were temperamentally vulnerable (low sociability, high negativity), parents increased parenting quantity with the same vulnerable children. There was some evidence that parents were most reactive to children who scored either very high or very low on negative emotionality and sociability in both parenting domains. Patterns also suggest that mothers were more reactive to sociability, and fathers to negative emotionality.     

Objectification in Heterosexual Romantic Relationships: Examining Relationship Satisfaction of Female Objectification Recipients and Male Objectifying Perpetrators

Sex Roles - Sexual objectification is one of most the common manifestations of discrimination against women in Western societies; however, few studies have examined objectification in the context...     

Rādhātantram: Rādhā as Guru in the Service of the Great Goddess

International Journal of Hindu Studies - The Rādhātantram can serve as a tool with which to examine textual and doctrinal appropriations that took place between Vai??avas and...     

Home Groups: Integrating Peer Support and Clinical Care in a Community Mental Health Center

With peer supporters now comprising one of the most rapidly growing components of the mental health workforce, group interventions that combine their expertise with those of more traditional mental health providers are needed. An example of one such intervention, developed and implemented at a large community mental health center for individuals with serious mental illnesses, is presented. Called a “Home Group” and co-led by peers and clinical psychology interns, this intervention provides unique learning opportunities for peers and trainees and many potential benefits to group members. Vignettes to illustrate the model are presented and the potential therapeutic and empowering aspects of this innovative and promising approach are identified and discussed.     

Anxiety Symptoms as Predictors of Nursing Home Placement in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

Anxiety symptoms are fairly common among patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Such symptoms are likely to make patient care more problematic and, therefore, increase the risk of nursing home placement. Anxiety symptoms were evaluated on the basis of physician examinations, in conjunction with caregiver interviews, in 372 community-dwelling AD patients. Patients received annual follow-up for 1–12 years (M = 4.4). Patients who exhibited anxiety symptoms at baseline assessment were significantly more likely to enter nursing homes, regardless of initial cognitive status or other risks for institutionalization. There was a 15% increase in risk for each point on a 0–5 scale. This study supports the hypothesis that anxiety symptoms increase the risk of nursing home placement in patients with AD. Consequently, there is a need for better understanding of the causes of anxiety in AD and for the development of effective methods of assessment and treatment.     

Faking psychopathy? An examination of response styles with antisocial youth

Psychopaths frequently con and manipulate others in an attempt to achieve their own objectives. In the current literature, correlational research has generally found that psychopathy has (a) an inverse relation with social desirability and (b) a positive relation with malingering. Although instructive, these correlational data do not address whether the assessment of psychopathy is vulnerable to specific response styles. This study examined 2 response styles among adolescent offenders in the context of pending adjudication: social desirability and social nonconformity. On 3 measures of psychopathy (i.e., Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version, Psychopathy Screening Device, and Self-Report of Psychopathy-Second Edition), a simulation design was employed with a realistic scenario, incentives for successful deception, and appropriate manipulation checks. Results indicated moderate to large effect sizes for social desirability and large effect sizes for social nonconformity. The implications of these results for the clinical assessment of psychopathy are discussed.     

A developmental perspective on personality in emerging adulthood: childhood antecedents and concurrent adaptation

Personality and competence were examined in a community sample of 205 children ages 8-12 who were followed up 10 years later in emerging adulthood (ages 17-23). Adult Positive Emotionality (PEM), Negative Emotionality (NEM), and Constraint (CON) were presaged by childhood personality. PEM was associated with current success in social and romantic relationships. Low CON was associated with childhood and current antisocial conduct. NEM was broadly linked to childhood and current maladaptation, consistent with the possibility that failure in major developmental tasks increases NEM. Findings highlight the pervasive linkage of NEM to maladaptation and suggest that adult personality may develop from processes embedded in childhood adaptation as well as childhood personality.