Deterministic Frankfurt cases

According to the principle of alternative possibilities (PAP), people are morally responsible for what they do only if they could have done otherwise. Over the last few decades, this principle has dominated discussions of free will and moral responsibility. One important strand of this discussion concerns the Frankfurt-type cases or Frankfurt cases, originally developed by Frankfurt (J Philos 66:829–839, 1969), which are alleged counterexamples to PAP. One way in which proponents of PAP have responded to these purported counterexamples is by arguing that they fall prey to a dilemma, both horns of which undermine their cogency. Recently, Fischer (Philos Rev 119: 315–336, 2010) has defended the Frankfurt cases against one horn of this dilemma. In this essay, I criticize Fischer’s defense of the Frankfurt cases and argue that he does not successfully show how the cases can avoid this horn of the dilemma. If I am right, then, despite Fischer’s claims to the contrary, the original dilemma plaguing the cases still stands.     

Testing Models of Psychopathology in Preschool-aged Children Using a Structured Interview-based Assessment

A number of studies have found that broadband internalizing and externalizing factors provide a parsimonious framework for understanding the structure of psychopathology across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. However, few of these studies have examined psychopathology in young children, and several recent studies have found support for alternative models, including a bi-factor model with common and specific factors. The present study used parents’ (typically mothers’) reports on a diagnostic interview in a community sample of 3-year old children (n?=?541; 53.9 % male) to compare the internalizing-externalizing latent factor model with a bi-factor model. The bi-factor model provided a better fit to the data. To test the concurrent validity of this solution, we examined associations between this model and paternal reports and laboratory observations of child temperament. The internalizing factor was associated with low levels of surgency and high levels of fear; the externalizing factor was associated with high levels of surgency and disinhibition and low levels of effortful control; and the common factor was associated with high levels of surgency and negative affect and low levels of effortful control. These results suggest that psychopathology in preschool-aged children may be explained by a single, common factor influencing nearly all disorders and unique internalizing and externalizing factors. These findings indicate that shared variance across internalizing and externalizing domains is substantial and are consistent with recent suggestions that emotion regulation difficulties may be a common vulnerability for a wide array of psychopathology.     

Frustrated,but not flustered: The benefits of hierarchical approach motivation to weathering daily frustrations

Variations in the organization of personal goals are thought to be important to self-regulation, yet relevant measures and evidence is largely lacking. In two studies (total N = 217), participants were prompted to self-generate personal goals at three levels of a goal hierarchy (low, mid, and high), following which they rated all of these goals along an approach-avoidance dimension. A hierarchical approach measure was created from these ratings and this novel individual difference measure was hypothesized to predict the better self-regulation of goal frustrations in daily life. Such predictions were confirmed. For example, daily frustrations precipitated anger among those low but not high, in hierarchical approach (Study 2). The findings are important theoretically as well as from a measurement perspective.     

Residential mobility and the family context: A developmental approach

The goal of this study was to examine the links between residential mobility and the family context, whether these links varied across developmental periods (early childhood, middle childhood, or adolescence), and how they were associated with children's achievement and behavioral outcomes. Longitudinal data from a diverse sample of over 1000 U.S. children were used to explore family structure (marital and employment change), process (quality of the home and maternal sensitivity and depression), and residential mobility. Results of structural equation models indicated that associations between residential mobility and family structure and process varied across developmental periods, with significant links found for family process in early childhood and structure in middle childhood and adolescence. We found evidence of indirect associations between residential mobility and children's outcomes through family process in early childhood and of a direct association with internalizing behaviors in adolescence. We provide implications for programs and policies for residentially mobile children.     

Career adaptability,hope and life satisfaction in workers with intellectual disability

The unpredictable and unstable current work market is impacting in particular at-risk workers, such as individuals with disability. Based on Life Design approach, the present study focused on two variables, career adaptability and hope, relevant to coping with the current work context and their role in affecting life satisfaction. A partial mediational model between career adaptability and life satisfaction, through agency and pathway (hope), was tested. 120 (60 women and 60 men) adult workers with mild intellectual disability were involved. Results provided support for the model. Specifically, career adaptability indirectly, through agency and pathway, predicted life satisfaction. These results have important implications for practice and underscore the need to support workers with disability in their life design process.     

Using Brief Academic Assessments to Determine Generalization Strategies

This study examined the utility of brief academic assessments to identify effective generalization procedures for individual students. Specifically, the study built on the proposal that brief assessments of antecedent and consequence manipulations can identify the most effective generalization strategy for individual students. The design was an alternating treatments design nested within a multiple baseline across six students. Students learned how to solve a set of multiplication facts using a common strategy while spontaneous generalization to other sets of facts was measured. Next, researchers determined whether an antecedent- or consequent-based generalization strategy would be more effective for increasing generalization across multiplication skills and conducted an extended analysis with an alternating treatment phase to confirm results of the brief assessment. Results indicated that the assessment correctly identified the most effective generalization strategy for five of the six students.     

Classifying Married Adults Diagnosed With Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Based on Spousal Communication Patterns Using Latent Class Analysis: Insights for Intervention

Married adults are increasingly exposed to test results that indicate an increased genetic risk for adult-onset conditions. For example, a SERPINA1 mutation, associated with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), predisposes affected individuals to diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cancer, which are often detected in adulthood. Married adults are likely to discuss genetic test results with their spouses, and interpersonal research suggests that spouses’ communication patterns differ. Latent class analysis was used to identify subgroups of spousal communication patterns about AATD results from a sample of married adults in the Alpha-1 Research Registry (N?=?130). A five-class model was identified, and the subgroups were consistent with existing spousal-communication typologies. This study also showed that genetic beliefs (e.g., genetic stigma), emotions, and experiences (e.g., insurance difficulties) covaried with membership in particular subgroups. Understanding these differences can serve as the foundation for the creation of effective, targeted communications interventions to address the specific needs and conversational patterns of different kinds of couples.     

An Internal Performance Assessment of CancerGene Connect: An Electronic Tool to Streamline,Measure and Improve the Genetic Counseling Process

CancerGene Connect (CGC) is a web-based program that combines the collection of family and medical history, cancer risk assessment, psychosocial assessment, report templates, a result tracking system, and a patient follow up system. The performance of CGC was assessed in several ways: pre-appointment completion data analyzed for demographic and health variables; a time study to assess overall time per case and to compare the data entry by the genetic counselor compared to the patient, and a measured quality assessment of the program via observation and interview of patients. Prior to their appointment, 52.3 % of 2,414 patients completed the online patient questionnaire section of CGC. There were significant differences in completion rates among racial and ethnic groups. County hospital patients were less likely to complete the questionnaire than insured patients (p?p?CGC. CGC reduces genetic counselor time by approximately 14–46 % compared to average time per case using traditional risk assessment and documentation methods previously reported. All surveyed users felt the questionnaire was easy to understand. CGC is an effective tool that streamlines workflow, and provides a standardized data collection tool that can be used to evaluate and improve the genetic counseling process.     

Forming and updating vaccination beliefs: does the continued effect of misinformation depend on what we think we know?

Cognitive Processing - People may cling to false facts even in the face of updated and correct information. The present study confronted misconceptions about the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine...     

Subjective organization in the episodic memory of individuals with Parkinson’s disease associated with mild cognitive impairment

Word clustering (i.e., the ability to reproduce the same word pairs in consecutive recall trials of an unrelated word list) has been extensively investigated as a proxy of subjective organization (SO) of memorandum. In healthy subjects and in groups of brain-damaged patients, the rate of SO generally predicts accuracy of word list recall. This study aimed at evaluating SO in the performance of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) on a word list recall task in order to investigate the basic mechanisms of episodic memory impairment that are frequently observed in these patients. For this purpose, 56 PD patients, who were stratified according to the presence and quality of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and a group of healthy controls (HCs) were administered a word list task and an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Results showed that recall accuracy on the word list task progressively decreased passing from HC to PD patients without cognitive impairment, to patients with single-domain dysexecutive MCI and to patients with multiple-domain dysexecutive and amnesic MCI. Conversely, only the latter PD group showed a lower SO score than that achieved by the other groups. In the overall PD group, correlational and regression analyses demonstrated that SO scores and a composite score of executive functions were not reciprocally related, but both provided an independent and significant contribution to the prediction of word list recall accuracy. These data are discussed in terms of the contribution of executive functions and hippocampal storage processes to the onset of memory impairment in PD.