Far from “Anything Goes”: Ethics as Communally Constructed

Constructivist and constructionist stances have long been critiqued for inviting “anything goes,” otherwise referred to as “rampant relativism.” As Raskin and Debany (this issue Raskin, J. D., &; Debany, A. E. (this issue). The inescapability of ethics and the impossibility of “anything goes”: A constructivist model of ethical meaning making. Journal of Constructivist Psychology. (Reprinted from Ethics in action: Dialogue between knowledge and practice, pp. 13–32, by S. Cipolletta &; E. Gius (Eds.), 2012, Milan, Italy: LED) [Google Scholar]) argue, there could be nothing further from the case. In my response to their article, I take up three issues: (a) the distinction between constructivism and social construction, (b) the critique of rampant relativism, and (c) the case for an ethic of relational responsibility that emerges within a constructionist philosophical stance.     

Stigma Towards Homosexuality and AIDS Among Students of a Large Hispanic-Serving University

Homosexuality and AIDS-related stigma lead to failures in testing, disclosure of HIV status, and treatment for HIV. This study explored stigma towards AIDS and homosexuality among students of a large Hispanic-serving university in the southeastern United States (US). An online anonymous survey was emailed to 8000 randomly selected students. Two multiple choice questions about attitudes towards a professor with AIDS and a gay classmate were analyzed using Chi-square tests, simple and multivariable logistic regression to examine the association of stigma with other factors. Most (60%) of the 632 respondents were women. Only 7.8% of study participants reported stigmatizing attitudes of wanting to drop a class, sitting further away from, or feeling less comfortable in a class with a professor diagnosed with AIDS. Similarly, 7.8% of respondents would stigmatize a gay classmate by trying to avoid social contact or feeling uncomfortable talking with him. Males (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 3.71, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.95, 7.04) and non-Hispanic students (AOR 2.03, 95% CI 1.08, 3.81) had a higher—and those born in the US had a lower (AOR 0.43, 95% CI 0.23, 0.81)—odds of stigmatizing a gay classmate. No variables were significantly associated with stigmatizing attitudes towards a professor with AIDS. Stigmatizing attitudes towards a faculty member with AIDS or a gay classmate do not appear to be a major problem among students at this Hispanic-serving university. Interventions designed to further reduce gay-related stigma might focus on non-Hispanic young men who are born outside of the United States.     

Correlation between functional mobility and cognitive performance in older adults with cognitive impairment

Association between cognitive impairment and gait performance occurs in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer‘s disease (AD), particularly under “divided attention” conditions, leading to a greater risk of falls. We studied 36 controls, 42 MCI, and 26 mild AD patients, using the Timed Up-and-Go test (TUG) under four conditions: TUG single – TUG1; TUG cognitive – TUG2; TUG manual –TUG3; TUG cognitive and manual – TUG4. Cognition was assessed using the MMSE, SKT, Exit25, and TMT (A and B). We found significant correlations between cognitive scores and TUG2 [r values (MMSE: –0.383, TMT-A: 0.430, TMT-B: 0.386, Exit25: 0.455, SKT: 0.563)] and TUG4 [(MMSE: –0.398, TMT-A: 0.384, TMT-B: 0.352,Exit25: 0.466, SKT: 0.525)] in the AD group, and between all TUG modalities and SKT in MCI and AD. Our results revealed that functional mobility impairment in cognitive dual tasks correlated to cognitive decline in AD patients and to attention and memory impairment in MCI.     

Females in the forefront: time-based intervention effects on impulsive choice and interval timing in female rats

Impulsive choice has been implicated in substance abuse, gambling, obesity, and other maladaptive behaviors. Deficits in interval timing may increase impulsive choices, and therefore, could serve as an avenue through which suboptimal impulsive choices can be moderated. Temporal interventions have successfully attenuated impulsive choices in male rats, but the efficacy of a temporal intervention has yet to be assessed in female rats. As such, this experiment examined timing and choice behavior in female rats, and evaluated the ability of a temporal intervention to mitigate impulsive choice behavior. The temporal intervention administered in this study was successful in reducing impulsive choices compared to a control group. Results of a temporal bisection task indicated that the temporal intervention increased long responses at the shorter durations. Further, results from the peak trials within the choice task combined with the progressive interval task suggest that the intervention increased sensitivity to delay and enhanced timing confidence. Overall, these results indicate that a temporal intervention can be a successful avenue for reducing impulsive choice behavior in female rats, and could contribute to the development of behavioral interventions to prevent impulsive choice and maladaptive behaviors that can be applied to both sexes.     

Peers,Social Control,or Guilt? Self-Conscious Emotions as Explanation for Antisocial Behavior

Criminologists rarely include self-conscious emotions like guilt or shame to explain delinquency. Instead, factors external to the individual are often used, such as social institutions, the family, or peers. This study uses a longitudinal sample of 526 youth from two waves of survey data to assess the effects of peer influences, social control, and the self-conscious emotion of guilt on youth problem behaviors. Problem behavior is measured using teacher assessments at Time2. All other variables are baseline youth self-report measures that were collected at Time1. The results show that guilt statistically predicted teacher-assessed problem behaviors. Further work is needed to develop this measure in criminology.     

Validation of a Standardized Multiple‐Choice Multicultural Competence Test: Implications for Training,Assessment, and Practice

The Multicultural Counseling and Psychotherapy Test (MCPT), a measure of multicultural counseling competence (MCC), was validated in 2 phases. In Phase 1, the authors administered 451 test items derived from multicultural guidelines in counseling and psychology to 32 multicultural experts and 30 nonexperts. In Phase 2, the authors administered the top 50 discriminative items to licensed mental health professionals (N = 227) and compared MCPT scores to external indicators of MCC. Evidence was found for the construct validity and internal consistency reliability of the MCPT. El Test de Consejería Multicultural y Psicoterapia (MCPT, por sus siglas en inglés), una medida de la competencia en consejería multicultural (MCC, por sus siglas en inglés) fue validado en dos fases. En la Fase 1, los autores administraron 451 elementos del test derivados de las pautas multiculturales en consejería y psicología a 32 expertos multiculturales y 30 no expertos. En la Fase 2, los autores administraron los 50 elementos más discriminativos a profesionales licenciados de la salud mental (N = 227) y compararon los puntajes del MCPT con indicadores externos de MCC. Se hallaron evidencias de la validez del constructo y la fiabilidad de la consistencia interna del MCPT.     

Laboratory and questionnaire measures of aggression among female parolees with violent or nonviolent histories

Female parolees were recruited into a laboratory study to determine the relationship between their previous aggression history, questionnaire measures of aggression, and behavioral measures of aggressive responding using a laboratory methodology: the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (PSAP). Subjects were assigned to a violent or nonviolent group based on their criminal history. Subjects participated in sessions in which they were given three response options: (1) nonaggressive responding that earned money, (2) aggressive responding that ostensibly subtracted money from another fictitious person and was defined as aggressive since it resulted in the ostensible delivery of an aversive stimulus (subtraction of money) to another person, and (3) escape responding that protected the subject's earnings from periodic subtractions initiated by the fictitious other person. Results indicated that the violent female parolees emitted significantly more aggressive responses than subjects in the nonviolent group. This study provides additional external validity as well as evidence for convergent and discriminant validity for PSAP laboratory measurement of human aggressive responding and extends these findings to female parolees. Comparisons to previously published data with male parolees showed that gender differences were found among violent but not nonviolent parolees. Aggr. Behav. 26:291–307, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Who Thinks Outside the Gender Box? Feminism,Gender Self-Esteem,and Attitudes toward Trans People

Sex Roles - Trans people are targeted with widespread prejudice and discrimination in the United States. In order to better understand this hostility, we examined how different gender beliefs...     

Gender Differences in Spatial Task Performance as a Function of Speed or Accuracy Orientation

Performance differences in spatial abilities as a function of gender may be modified by practice and relevant background experiences, as well as by directions given in laboratory situations. We examined whether a focus on speed or accuracy influenced performance in various spatial domains, using several different scoring techniques. Men and women from a small, predominantly White private college completed tasks of spatial perception, spatial visualization, and mental rotation under one of three conditions: speed-emphasis, accuracy-emphasis, or control. Participants also provided information concerning experiences pertinent to spatial ability. Results revealed relative parity between men and women on tasks of spatial visualization and spatial perception; speed/accuracy orientation did not alter these findings. Men outperformed women on mental rotation, but only when scored in a strict manner and when explicitly told to focus on accuracy, but not when directional emphasis was absent or geared toward speed. Self-reported background in math, sports, and the arts was unrelated to performance. The results are discussed in terms of women's efficacy beliefs about performing tasks explicitly designated as spatial in nature.     

The evaluation of guidance: listening to pupils' views

The increasing emphasis on school evaluation and improvement may encourage schools to pay greater attention to pupils' views of their schooling, including their experience of guidance or pastoral care. A study of pupils' experience of guidance in Scottish schools indicated that pupils have much to contribute to the evaluation process and highlights a number of implications for guidance or pastoral care.