Die Validit?t dynamisch-ver?nderbarer Risikofaktoren bei der Vorhersage einschl?giger R��ckf?lle p?dosexueller Straft?ter

The present study examines the predictive validity of dynamic risk factors for the prediction of sexual recidivism in a sample of pedosexual offenders (N?=?135) released from the Austrian prison system between 2002 and 2005. Static-99 was used to rate static risk factors and in order to measure dynamic risk factors Stable-2000 and Stable-2007 were applied. In addition to the demonstration of results about the interrater reliability the results about the predictive and incremental validity of the dynamic risk assessment are presented. After a mean follow-up period of 5½ years Static-99, Stable-2000 and Stable-2007 showed excellent interrater reliability and good predictive validity for the prediction of sexual recidivism. Furthermore, Stable-2007 showed better predictive accuracy than its predecessor and added incremental predictive validity beyond Static-99.     

Beyond quantitative decline: conceptual shifts in adolescents' development of interest in mathematics

Research has shown that the average values for academic interest decrease during adolescence. Looking beyond such quantitative decline, we explored qualitative change of interest in the domain of mathematics across adolescence. Study 1 was based on a longitudinal data set (annual assessments from Grade 5 to Grade 9; N = 3,193). Latent variable modeling showed that the measurement coefficients of the latent variable of interest (intercepts, structural weights, and error variances) significantly differed across time points, indicating structural changes of the construct. Study 2 was based on interviews with adolescents (Grades 5 and 9, N = 70). Cognitive validation was used to explore differences in subjective concepts of interest across age groups. As expected, there were significant age-related differences, indicating a shift from an affect-laden concept in 5th grade to a more cognitively oriented concept in 9th grade. The findings suggest that developmental research should integrate quantitative and qualitative perspectives of construct change over time and pay more attention to issues of measurement invariance and qualitative changes of constructs over time.     

To judge a book by its weight you need to know its content: Knowledge moderates the use of embodied cues

Participants evaluated a book as more important when it weighed heavily in their hands (due to a concealed weight), but only when they had substantive knowledge about the book. Those who had read a synopsis (Study 1), had read the book (Study 2) and knew details about its plot (Study 3) were influenced by its weight, whereas those unfamiliar with the book were not. This contradicts the widely shared assumption that metaphorically related perceptual inputs serve as heuristic cues that people primarily use in the absence of more diagnostic information. Instead, perceptual inputs may increase the accessibility of metaphorically congruent knowledge or may suggest an initial hypothesis that is only endorsed when supporting information is accessible.     

Acting your avatar’s age: effects of virtual reality avatar embodiment on real life walking speed

ABSTRACT

When immersive virtual reality users employ digital self-representations, i.e., avatars, they may be subject to the Proteus effect. This effect describes changes in attitudes and behaviors in accordance with identity cues derived from the employed avatar’s appearance, which can persist after leaving virtual reality. Individual reactions to the experience can affect the strength of observed Proteus effects. Especially the experienced illusions of body ownership of avatars and of being in the virtual environment (spatial presence) have been discussed in this context. This study investigated a Proteus effect of avatar age on post-embodiment walking speed, with special focus on how body ownership and spatial presence moderated this effect. Participants who had previously embodied older avatars took significantly longer to walk a set distance than either young avatar or control group participants. This was only apparent during the first half of the walking phase, which may indicate fast decay rates of the effect after embodiment ended. The reported body ownership could not be shown to impact the strength of the Proteus effect. Participants reporting more pronounced spatial presence were subject to stronger Proteus effects, with only the two-thirds of the sample with higher spatial presence showing evidence of the effect.     

Attentional resource allocation to emotional events: An ERP study

The effects of experimentally induced emotions on task-related processing resources were investigated in two studies designed as dual-task-like paradigms. In Experiment 1, 24 participants viewed a series of affective pictures inducing positive, negative, and neutral emotional states. In Experiment 2, 24 participants imagined emotionally laden life events. Simultaneously to the emotion-inducing procedure, and during a neutral single-task condition, the participants performed auditory oddball discrimination tasks. In this paradigm, the amplitude of the oddball-evoked P3 component of the event-related brain potential reflects the allocation of processing resources to task-related processes. In both studies, the P3 amplitude was smaller in the negative as well as in the positive emotional condition, compared to the two neutral conditions. The results support the assumption that negative emotions get a higher processing priority and can drain on task-related processing resources. In addition, they extend the hypothesis to the effects of positive emotions.     

(Re‐)Forming Freedom: Reflections “after Veritatis splendor” on Freedom's Fate in Modernity and Protestantism's Antinomian Captivity

This essay unfolds in four steps. First, it sketches the way the fate of freedom in modernity – the freedom of the Promethean self – has set the stage for Protestantism's antinomianism as well as for the theological intervention of Veritatis Spendor. The essay focuses here on Kant, Fichte, Nietzsche. Secondly, it shows how Veritatis Spendor overcomes modernity's autonomist conception of freedom. The essay, thirdly, turns to Protestantism “after Veritatis Spendor” and argues that the encyclical's vision of freedom puts into clear relief the antinomian captivity of contemporary Protestantism. Here, the essay also offers a fresh perspective on Luther's largely unknown opposition to antinomianism. It concludes with ten theses “after the Promethean self” that point the way forward, intimating how freedom will need to be rethought theologically in order to overcome the antinomian captivity of contemporary Protestantism.