Epistemic Entitlement and Luck

The aim of this paper is to defend a novel characterization of epistemic luck. Helping myself to the notions of epistemic entitlement and adequate explanation, I propose that a true belief suffers from epistemic luck iff an adequate explanation of the fact that the belief acquired is true must appeal to propositions to which the subject herself is not epistemically entitled (in a sense to be made clear below). The burden of the argument is to show that there is a plausible construal of the notions of epistemic entitlement and adequate explanation on which the resulting characterization of epistemic luck, though admittedly programmatic, has several important virtues. It avoids difficulties which plague modal accounts of epistemic luck; it can explain the conflicting temptations one can feel in certain alleged cases of epistemic luck; it offers a novel account of the value of knowledge, without committing itself to any particular analysis of knowledge; and it illuminates the significance for epistemology of the phenomenon of epistemic luck itself.     

Efficacy of a Manualized and Workbook-Driven Individual Treatment for Social Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorder is a prevalent and impairing disorder for which viable cognitive-behavioral therapies exist. However, these treatments have not been easily packaged for dissemination and may be underutilized as a result. The current study reports on the findings of a randomized controlled trial of a manualized and workbook-driven individual cognitive-behavioral treatment for social anxiety disorder (Hope, Heimberg, Juster, & Turk, 2000; Hope, Heimberg, & Turk, 2006). This treatment package was derived from an empirically supported group treatment for social anxiety disorder and intended for broad dissemination, but it has not previously been subjected to empirical examination on its own. As a first step in that examination, 38 clients seeking treatment for social anxiety disorder at either the Adult Anxiety Clinic of Temple University or the Anxiety Disorders Clinic of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln were randomly assigned to receive either immediate treatment with this cognitive-behavioral treatment package or treatment delayed for 20 weeks. Evaluation at the posttreatment/postdelay period revealed substantially greater improvements among immediate treatment clients on interviewer-rated and self-report measures of social anxiety and impairment. Three-month follow-up assessment revealed maintenance of gains. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Temperament and adolescent substance use: an epigenetic approach to risk and protection

We outline an epigenetic approach to understanding the relation between simple dispositional characteristics and complex problem behaviors, with a focus on adolescent substance use. Epigenetic theory predicts that effects of temperament are mediated through self-control and risk-taking tendency, isomorphic attributes that are based in temperament but represent developmental elaborations of these characteristics. We describe how the research program has confirmed predictions from epigenetic theory, addressed additional questions embodied in the theory, and clarified the multiple pathways from temperament characteristics to life stress, social relationships, and motives for substance use. In a final section, we discuss implications for the study of problem behavior and psychopathology.     

College grade point average as a personnel selection device: ethnic group differences and potential adverse impact

College grade point average (GPA) is often used in a variety of ways in personnel selection. Unfortunately, there is little empirical research literature in human resource management that informs researchers or practitioners about the magnitude of ethnic group differences and any potential adverse impact implications when using cumulative GPA for selection. Data from a medium-sized university in the Southeast (N = 7,498) indicate that the standardized average Black-White difference for cumulative GPA in the senior year is d = 0.78. The authors also conducted analyses at 3 GPA screens (3.00, 3.25, and 3.50) to demonstrate that employers (or educators) might face adverse impact at all 3 levels if GPA continues to be implemented as part of a selection system. Implications and future research are discussed.     

The emotional costs of parents' conditional regard: a self-determination theory analysis

Parents' use of conditional regard as a socializing practice was hypothesized to predict their children's introjected internalization (indexed by a sense of internal compulsion), resentment toward parents, and ill-being. In Study 1, involving three generations, mothers' reports of their parents' having used conditional regard to promote academic achievement predicted (a) the mothers' poor well-being and controlling parenting attitudes, and (b) their college-aged daughters' viewing them as having used conditional regard, thus showing both negative affective consequences from and intergenerational transmission of conditional regard. Study 2 expanded on the first by using four domains, including both genders, and examining mediating processes. College students' perceptions of their mothers' and fathers' having used conditional regard in four domains (emotion control, prosocial, academic, sport) were found to relate to introjected internalization, behavioral enactment, fluctuations in self-esteem, perceived parental disapproval, and resentment of parents. Introjection mediated the link from conditional regard to behavioral enactment. The results suggest that use of conditional regard as a socializing practice can promote enactment of the desired behaviors but does so with significant affective costs.     

Does augmented feedback from pedometers increase adults' walking behavior?

This study investigated whether feedback from pedometers motivated adults to increase their walking behavior. Participants (n =26) were enrolled in one of two 8-wk. "Walking for Fitness" classes. The study used a crossover design, such that Group 1 wore pedometers for the first 3 weeks (Feedback Condition) and sealed "disguised" pedometers for the last 3 weeks (No-feedback Condition). The order of feedback was reversed for Group 2. Analysis indicated that (a) neither group increased their walking behavior significantly over time and, (b) interactions between groups were not significant at Week 3 or 6, indicating that groups did not respond differently to feedback from the pedometers. If a motivational effect from pedometers exists, it may be small, dissipate before 3 wk., only work in combination with goal setting, or only motivate certain types of individuals.     

Effect of visual experience on face processing: a developmental study of inversion and non-native effects

In adults, three phenomena are taken to demonstrate an experience effect on face recognition: an inversion effect, a non-native face effect (so-called 'other-race' effect) and their interaction. It is crucial for our understanding of the developmental perception mechanisms of object processing to discover when these effects are present in childhood. Three- to 5-year-old Caucasian children (N = 64) were asked to recognize upright and inverted Caucasian and Asian faces. Recognition was tested with a forced-choice procedure. Overall performance improved with age. However, there was an interaction between the inversion and non-native effects that did not change with age between ages 3 and 5: (a) the inversion effect with native (Caucasian) faces was larger than with non-native (Asian) faces, and (b) upright native faces were recognized better than upright non-native faces. These results show that face orientation and morphology constrain face processing in 3- to 5-year-olds. The first 3 years of life during which the brain and the environment interact are sufficient to build a face-processing system that constrains recognition.     

A privileged and exemplar resource: traumatic avoidance learning and the early triumph of mathematical psychology

The relationship between a classic 1953 study by R. L. Solomon and L.C. Wynne on traumatic avoidance learning adn the pioneering efforts by Robert Bush and Frederick Mosteller and others to develop mathematical models of learning is analyzed. The main purpose is to explore how Bush and Mosteller disembedded a carefully selected set of Solomon and Wynne's data from its original context, which allowed something as seemingly humble as a set of numbers to become a widely available and valuable resource for the newly emerging field of mathematical learning theory (MLT). The creative use that the MLT community made of these data once Bush and Mosteller had systematically reduced the empirical and conceptual uncertainties within Solomon and Wynne's study is also discussed.     

Effects of the presence of others on food intake: a normative interpretation

The authors review the effect of the presence of others on food intake. In social facilitation studies, people tend to eat more in groups than when alone. In modeling studies, the presence of others may facilitate or inhibit intake, depending on how much these other people eat. Studies of impression management demonstrate that people tend to eat less in the presence of others than when alone. The authors attempt to reconcile these divergent literatures by reference to a model of inhibitory norms that govern eating. In the presence of palatable food, and in the absence of clear signals of satiety, people look outward to cues from the environment to determine when to stop eating. Socially derived inhibitory norms can account for either increased or decreased intake in the presence of others, depending on how much the others eat and the extent to which one is eager to impress them.