Anti-Luminosity: Four Unsuccessful Strategies

Adam Morton, Stephen de Wijze, Hillel Steiner, and Eve Garrard have defended the view that evil action is qualitatively distinct from ordinary wrongdoing. By this, they do not that mean that evil actions feel different to ordinary wrongs, but that they have motives or effects that are not possessed to any degree by ordinary wrongs. Despite their professed intentions, Morton and de Wijze both offer accounts of evil action that fail to identify a clear qualitative difference between evil and ordinary wrongdoing. In contrast, both Steiner's and Garrard's accounts of evil do point to qualitative distinctions between kinds of action, but it is implausible that either account correctly characterizes evil. The most plausible accounts maintain that evil actions have a necessary connection to extreme harms, and this suggests that evil is not qualitatively distinct from ordinary wrongdoing.     

Individual Piagetian Epistemological Development of Children from Ages 6 to 11

This long-term study of children from ages 6 to 11 was undertaken to support the patterns of cognitive development inferred from Piaget's work and its short-term statistical replications. Several Piagetian tasks were used individually with 48 first graders, some of the same and new tasks with 43 of the same children as third graders, and two new tasks with 38 of the same children as fifth graders. Pearson product-moment coefficients indicated that uses of the clinical tasks in the study agreed significantly with those in the literature. In 33 individual line graphs, the average age (as indicated in the literature) for the most difficult task performed by a child at each level was compared with the actual age for the child's performance. Although individual aberrations in rates and patterns of cognitive development were observed, the graphic data supported the main hypothesis of the study.     

Memory for Constrained and Preselected Movement Location and Distance

These experiments assessed the interrelationship between location and distance cues in the coding of movements. In separate experiments subjects recalled either the terminal location or the distance of constrained (Experiment 1) or preselected (Experiment 2) movements following a 15-sec retention interval. Changes in direction amd amplitude of starting position were used to ascertain whether recall errors were related to these changes. The findings of both experiments indicated that location and distance were recalled with similar accuracy when the starting position was identical for the criterion and recall movement. However, analysis of constant errors when the recall starting position was varied in either direction clearly indicated neither terminal location nor distance are coded independently, and memory for movement is based on an interaction between these cues.     

Postural Sway and the Amplitude of Horizontal Eye Movements

In 2 experiments, we evaluated relations between postural activity and the amplitude of visually guided eye movements. Participants shifted their gaze to follow horizontal oscillation of a visible target. The target moved with amplitude 9° or 24°. In different experiments, the frequency of target oscillation was 0.5 Hz or 1.1 Hz. In both experiments, the variability of head and torso motion was reduced (in the anterior-posterior axis) when participants viewed moving targets, relative to sway during viewing of stationary targets. Sway variability was not influenced by the amplitude of target motion. The results are compatible with the hypothesis that postural activity was modulated relative to the demands of suprapostural visual tasks.     

Increasing On-Task Behavior in Students in a Regular Classroom: Effectiveness of a Self-Management Procedure Using a Tactile Prompt

Self-management strategies have been shown to be widely effective. However, limited classroom-based research exists involving low performing but developmentally normal high school-aged participants. This study examined the effectiveness of a self-management strategy aimed at increasing on-task behavior in general education classrooms with students without a diagnosed disability, behavior disorder, or exceptionality. The self-management package included provision of a tactile prompt, training in self-monitoring and data recording, self-monitoring, and the plotting of the results on a cumulative graph. A multiple baseline design across three participants was used to evaluate the effects of the intervention. An increase in on-task behavior was observed with all participants on implementation of the self-management package, and questionnaire-based social validity findings suggest this was an acceptable and effective procedure for the classroom context. Limitations, implications, and future directions of these findings are discussed.     

Delay of Gratification in Two- and Three-Year-Olds: Associations with Attachment, Personality, and Temperament

Delay of gratification in young children has been linked to long-term behavioral and academic outcomes. This study explored temperament, personality, and child–parent attachment as possible associates of delay ability. The sample consisted of 50 2- and 3-year-old children and their primary caregivers. Two laboratory tasks, the Preschool Strange Situation and the newly created Gift Delay Task, were conducted on separate occasions to assess child–parent attachment and delay of gratification, respectively. Parents and preschool teachers completed child temperament (EASI-III) and personality (California Child Q-Set) questionnaires. Based on the award-oriented behavior in the Gift Delay Task, children were classified into three groups: Delay (20 %), Touch and Go (i.e., approached the gift, but demonstrated some delay ability; 46 %), and Non Delay (34 %). Reports on activity, impulsivity, decision time, negative emotionality, over-control, and affect were found to be associated with delay ability. The association between child–parent attachment and delay was not statistically significant, but an interesting trend emerged. A larger percentage of Non Delayers were rated as Insecure-Ambivalent (“C”), and more Delayers were rated as Securely attached (“B”). Implications for behavioral interventions focused on parental support and scaffolding are discussed.     

Digital Drift and the “Sense of Injustice”: Counter-Productive Policing of Youth Cybercrime

ABSTRACT

Over the past several decades, criminological scholarship has increasingly focused on the problem of cybercrime including technology-enabled offending. Theoretical developments that account for these offences have not grown in tandem, leading to questions as to the nature of cybercriminality relative to traditional forms of offending. Recently, Goldsmith and Brewer proposed the conceptual framework of digital drift, extending elements of Matza’s original theories to the virtual environment. While making a useful contribution to the theorization of cybercrime, we argue that further elements of Matza’s original work also warrant consideration. In particular, we acknowledge the role of policing and the criminal justice system in affecting offender perceptions and decision-making. As such, this article extends the theorizing around digital drift to incorporate the ways that offender views are shaped in reaction to the law enforcement and industry responses to cybercrime. The implications of this extension are discussed in depth.     

Birth Order and Sex Differences In Complexity-Simplicity,Color-Form Preference and Personality

With 196 undergraduate Ss it was found that (a) females preferred more complexity than males, and first-born males and later-born females preferred more complexity than their respective sex groups; (b) first-born males and later-born females checked adjectives which were like those of independent Ss in a conformity study; (c) there were no significant differences with the Internal-External Control Scale; (d) males preferred more form than females. These significant findings were related to previous research in personality and in creativity.