Addressing the dual relationship problem in forensic and correctional practice

The dual relationship problem in forensic and correctional practice emerges from conflict between two sets of ethical norms: those associated with community protection and justice versus norms related to offender/defendant well-being and autonomy. The problem occurs because forensic practitioners typically have their professional roots in mental health or allied disciplines such as psychiatry, clinical psychology, social work, or law, and as such, often struggle to ethically justify aspects of forensic and/or correctional work. First, the problem of dual relationships will be described and its nuances explored. As will become apparent, the problem extends beyond the straightforward conflict of roles and resides at the very heart of professional practice. It is a core normative conflict created by practitioners varying ethical allegiances. Second, contemporary ways of resolving the dual relationship problem will be briefly outlined, that is, approaches that assert the primary of one set of codes over the other or involve the construction of hybrid ethical codes. Third, after briefly reviewing the shortcomings of these approaches I present a possible way forward drawing from relational ethics and the concept of moral acquaintances.     

Physical self-presentation and competitive anxiety in male master divers

This study investigated the link between physical self-presentation and competitive anxiety in male, master-level, high-board divers (N=84, M age = 29.3 yr., SD = 14.3). Competitive trait anxiety, social physique anxiety, and physical self-presentation confidence were assessed using the Sport Anxiety Scale, Social Physique Anxiety Scale, and the Physical Self-presentation inventory. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that variance in competitive anxiety was accounted for by the physical self-presentation variables and that these variables were more strongly associated with the cognitive anxiety subscale Worry, and to a lesser extent, Somatic Anxiety. The results of this study provide support for the argument that physical self-presentation is associated with competitive anxiety in male athletes.     

Relationship between team identification and trait aggression: a replication

Research yielded no significant relationship between sport fandom and trait aggression. The current study replicated previous efforts using the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, an updated version of the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory. In contrast to past work, the current study did yield a significant relationship between fandom and aggression for men.     

The role of perceptual load in processing distractor faces

It has been established that successful ignoring of irrelevant distractors depends on the extent to which the current task loads attention. However, the previous load studies have typically employed neutral distractor stimuli (e.g., letters). In the experiments reported here, we examined whether the perception of irrelevant distractor faces would show the same effects. We manipulated attentional load in a relevant task of name search by varying the search set size and found that whereas congruency effects from meaningful nonface distractors were eliminated by higher search load, interference from distractor faces was entirely unaffected by search load. These results support the idea that face processing may be mandatory and generalize the load theory to the processing of meaningful and more complex nonface distractors.     

fMRI of developmental stuttering: a pilot study

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the feasibility of fMRI in the study of developmental stuttering. Speech contrasts (loud versus silent reading) and language contrasts (reading of semantically meaningful text versus nonsense words) of six developmental stutterers and six nonstutterers were compared using a commercial 1 Tesla MR-Scanner (Siemens Expert). Results indicate that mapping cortical function in persons who stutter is indeed feasible, even with a 1TMR-system. Compared to normals the stutterers seemed to employ different and particularly less differentiated auditory and motor feedback strategies in speech. They apparently rely on auditory processing and on cerebellar contribution as much during silent reading as during reading aloud. Moreover, they showed a greater involvement of the right hemisphere in language processing, activating not only the typical language areas on the left but also and with equal magnitude the right side homologues of these areas. In spite of the promising results, at present several practical problems such as possible movement artifacts and possible masking through scanner noise still hamper a more straightforward use of fMRI in the study of developmental stuttering.     

Diagnostic judgments as a function of client and therapist race

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the process of differential evaluation of clients as a function of client and therapist race. It was hypothesized that race of client and therapist would interact, influencing the judgments of client psychopathology, appropriateness for therapy, verbal facility, and likelihood of treatment success despite standardization of the clinical stimuli. Graduate students in clinical psychology and with varying levels of training (i.e., 1 to 5 years) were asked to rate videotaped interviews of clients in which race of the client and level of psychopathology (i.e., normal, neurotic, and psychotic) were systematically varied. There were significant differences in ratings as a function of race of client, race of therapist, and level of psychopathology observed. Black clients were not rated differently on degree of psychopathology but were rated as less verbally skilled and less appropriate for treatment but more likely to benefit from treatment than white clients. Contrary to expectations, white therapists tended to underrate the pathology of black clients. On the other hand, black therapists tended to overrate the pathology of white clients and made mixed judgments of black clients. The implications of these findings are discussed.This study was supported in part by NIMH Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Grant G12RR03206-2.     

The psychological health of employed and unemployed recent graduates as a function cognitive appraisal and of coping

In the literature on the effects of unemployment on graduates two competing hypothesis have found support. On one hand graduates have higher expectations about status and occupational identity, hence being unemployed should be more distressing. On the other hand graduates have access to more personal and situational resources and should cope better with the stress of unemployment. In a study of 181 recent graduates it was found that those who were employed (n = 88) scored higher on both somatization and interpersonal sensitivity than those who were unemployed (n = 93). A large percentage also reported not being in the job to which they aspired and scored low on job commitment. The unemployed graduates had a more positive approach to problem-solving, higher achievement motivation, more perceived social support, were more assertive, and felt less hopeless than their employed peers. They also engaged in more constructive leisure activities than the employed group. The data provide tentative support for the hypothesis that graduates are better at coping with unemployment. However the indication is that any advantage to be gained is relative to the type of job occupied by the employed group to whom they are compared. The general conclusion is that opting for a job which does not meet expectations or aspirations may be more psychologically damaging in the short term than being unemployed and hopeful. This is a function of the individual's vulnerability or resistance to stress and highlights the need for graduates to be prepared more effectively for the path to a career.     

Scalable choice models

Two representational criteria for probabilistic choice models are studied. These criteria, called scalability and weak scalability, are shown to be characterized by behavioral axioms designated, respectively, as pairwise dependence and weak pairwise dependence. The former is shown to be equivalent to the order independence axiom of Tversky. In addition, structural conditions on the choice alternatives are established under which all axioms are equivalent.     

Inhibition, Contextual Segregation, and Subject Strategies in List Method Directed Forgetting

This experiment tested alternative explanations of list method directed forgetting effects. Two word lists were studied by 135 subjects. Between lists, subjects were instructed to remember both lists (remember group), remember both lists as well as in which list words were studied (segregate group), or to forget the first list and remember the second (forget group). All subjects took both recall and recognition tests with test order varied between subjects. Among subjects who took the recall test first, the forget group showed a directed forgetting effect (poorer performance on List 1 than List 2) with both recall accuracy, recall typing time, and recognition reaction time measures. Contextual segregation of List 1 words by forget subjects was ruled out as a sufficient cause of the effect. Limited support was obtained for a differential rehearsal explanation of the effect. Within-group comparisons and findings of release from directed forgetting support inhibitory processes as the major cause of the directed forgetting effect.