Über die Treffsicherheit der standardisierten Risikoeinschätzungsverfahren Static-99 und Stable-2007 bei aus einer Sicherungsmaßnahme entlassenen Sexualstraftätern

The accuracy of the recidivism risk assessment instruments Static-99 and Stable-2007 for sexual offenders was examined in a population of released male forensic sexual offenders hospitalized under mandatory treatment in Austria (N?=?96). The Static-99 with an area under the curve (AUC) ?value of 0.86 and the Stable-2007 (AUC?=?0.71) were significantly related to sexual reoffending after nearly 7 years time at risk, thus revealing a predictive power comparable with offenders released from prison (N?=?274). Also the Stable-2007 incrementally supplemented the predictive accuracy of the Static-99. Static-99/Stable-2007 risk/need categories identified a high risk group with a 50?% chance for sexual reconviction within 5 years after release despite a favorable risk assessment as the precondition for release and post-release risk management. On the other hand, there was virtually no relapse in the three lowest risk categories suggesting a specific effect of the mandatory treatment at least in these offender categories. The data suggest that the instruments are valid not only for offenders released from prison but also for forensic sexual offenders.     

The association of sleep disturbances with endocrine and perceived stress reactivity measures in male employees

Evidence on the relationship between stress reactivity and sleep is conflicting. This study examined the association between disturbed sleep and perceived and endocrine stress reactivity independently of age, body mass index (BMI), and chronic stress. One hundred and twenty middle-aged men were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale were used to assess sleep and perceived stress reactivity, respectively. Endocrine stress reactivity was examined by assessing salivary cortisol levels. Regression analyses showed that men with disturbed sleep had blunted overall cortisol responses (b = −18.246, p = .044), but the association did not survive adjustment for age, BMI, and chronic stress. In contrast, poor sleep was associated with heightened perceived stress reactivity independently of age and BMI (b = 0.235, p = .005), but additional adjustment for chronic stress attenuated the relationship and only chronic stress remained a significant predictor of perceived stress reactivity (b = 0.470, p < .001). Cortisol and perceived stress reactivity were uncorrelated. In summary, our study indicates associations between sleep disturbances and stress reactivity were not independent of BMI and chronic stress levels, and endocrine and perceived stress reactivity were dissociated.     

Zeitordnung und Zeitpunkte

In many of his writings Russell developed a theory of time,highly interesting bothfrom a philosophical and from a logical point of view.Strangely enough, this has not acquired generalattention. The most important relational propertiesof the duration and points of time will be presented.In addition, Russell's considerations on the existenceand density of time points will becritically analysed and systematically reconstructed.A. G. Walker's explication of the concept of timepoint is unlike that of Russell. His theory oftime reflects the Dedekindian concept of cut.Walker's constructions will be modified in a suitableway and supplemented so that it becomes possileto prove the continuity of the temporal series.     

How task experience influences students' performance expectancies: the role of certainty

The importance of performance expectancies for predicting behavior has long been highlighted in research on expectancy-value models. These models do not take into account that expectancies may vary in terms of their certainty. The study tested the following predictions: task experience leads to a higher certainty of expectancies; certainty and mean expectancies are empirically distinguishable; and expectancies held with high certainty are more accurate for predicting performance. 273 Grade 8 students reported their performance expectancy and the certainty of expectation with regard to a mathematics examination immediately before and after the examination. Actual grades on the examination were also assessed. The results supported the predictions: there was an increase in certainty between the two times of measurement; expectancies and certainty were unrelated at both times of measurement; and for students initially reporting higher certainty, the accuracy of the performance expectancy (i.e., the relation between expectancy and performance) was higher than for students reporting lower certainty. Given lower certainty, the accuracy increased after the students had experience with the examination. The data indicate that it may be useful to include certainty as an additional variable in expectancy-value models.     

Need for Cognition and the process of lie detection

Four experiments investigated the influence of Need for Cognition on the process of lie detection. According to the basic assumptions of dual process models, only higher Need for Cognition leads to the use of verbal information when making judgments of veracity. People with lower Need for Cognition predominantly use stereotypical nonverbal information for their judgments. In both Experiments 1 and 2, participants saw a film in which nonverbal cues (fidgety vs. calm movements) and verbal cues (low vs. high plausibility) were manipulated. As predicted, when Need for Cognition was lower, only the nonverbal cues influenced participants' judgments of veracity. In contrast, participants with higher Need for Cognition also used the verbal cues. Experiments 3 and 4 tested the hypothesis that higher Need for Cognition leads to better discrimination of truthful from deceptive messages. Both experiments found that participants with higher Need for Cognition achieved higher accuracy at classifying truthful and deceptive messages than participants with lower Need for Cognition.     

Potential negative consequences of mindfulness in the moral domain

Mindfulness is a state of paying conscious and nonjudgmental attention to present-moment experiences. Previous research relates this state to more effective emotion regulation and less emotion reactivity. We therefore hypothesized an attenuating effect of a mindfulness exercise on moral reactions that usually results from a bad conscience when having caused harm. Across five studies, we experimentally induced mindfulness via a short breathing exercise and then assessed harm-based moral reactions. As hypothesized, participants in the mindfulness (vs. control) exercise condition showed (i) attenuated repair intentions after having read a scenario in which participants caused harm to a friend (Study 3) and (ii) attenuated intentions to change harm-causing eating habits (Study 4). Results of Studies 1, 2 and 5 did not provide evidence for our hypothesis. A following meta-analysis across all five studies yielded an overall significant effect of mindfulness in the harm-condition, providing preliminary evidence for a potential downside to mindfulness.     

The attenuating effect of mortality salience on dishonest behavior

People are easily tempted to engage in dishonest behavior when an incentive is given and when full anonymity is provided. In the present work, we investigated existential threat as a motivational factor that might reduce dishonest behavior. Research based on terror management theory has found that mortality salience increases the motivation to fulfill salient values of one’s cultural worldview. Assuming the concept of honesty is important to human societies, we hypothesized that mortality salience will reduce dishonest behavior when the concept of honesty is salient. In two experiments, we assessed dishonesty under full anonymity by applying a die-under-the-cup paradigm with the expected value serving as a stochastic baseline for honest behavior. Both experiments provided support for our hypothesis. Given an incentive to cheat, when the concept of honesty was cognitively activated by a word-search puzzle (Study 1) or by the name of the dice game (i.e., “honest game”; Study 2), mortality salient participants showed not only less dishonest behavior but actually honest behavior.