The ethics of punishment: Correctional practice implications

Correctional practitioners work within a context that is heavily influenced and constrained by punishment policies and practices. The overlap between the normative frameworks of punishment and offender rehabilitation creates a unique set of ethical challenges for program developers and therapists. In this paper we set out to briefly outline three major punishment theories and draw out their implications for correctional practitioners. First, we discuss the nature of punishment and the problems it poses for practitioners and all citizens in liberal democracies. Second, consequential, retributive, and communicative justifications of punishment are succinctly described and their clinical implications analyzed and some limitations noted. Finally we conclude with some suggestions for ethical practice in correctional settings.     

Consumer sophistication and the role of emotion on satisfaction judgments within credence services

• Evidence which demonstrates a link between the affective dimension and satisfaction in a tangible product based context is well documented. However, when placed in a credence service context the role of Affect becomes more complex. Previous research in this field has assumed consumer homogeneity when there is increasing evidence of consumer heterogeneity. This research attempts to address this by examining affective reactions to service encounters between two groups of respondents, one with the ability to make performance assessments about the service and one without. Findings suggest consumers of differing sophistication will vary in the way they form expectation and performance assessments about the technical, functional and affective components of credence services and that consumer sophistication may have a moderating influence on affective reactions evoked. This in turn has implications for the design and delivery of service offerings within such contexts.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory (P-FIT) of intelligence: converging neuroimaging evidence

"Is there a biology of intelligence which is characteristic of the normal human nervous system?" Here we review 37 modern neuroimaging studies in an attempt to address this question posed by Halstead (1947) as he and other icons of the last century endeavored to understand how brain and behavior are linked through the expression of intelligence and reason. Reviewing studies from functional (i.e., functional magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography) and structural (i.e., magnetic resonance spectroscopy, diffusion tensor imaging, voxel-based morphometry) neuroimaging paradigms, we report a striking consensus suggesting that variations in a distributed network predict individual differences found on intelligence and reasoning tasks. We describe this network as the Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory (P-FIT). The P-FIT model includes, by Brodmann areas (BAs): the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BAs 6, 9, 10, 45, 46, 47), the inferior (BAs 39, 40) and superior (BA 7) parietal lobule, the anterior cingulate (BA 32), and regions within the temporal (BAs 21, 37) and occipital (BAs 18, 19) lobes. White matter regions (i.e., arcuate fasciculus) are also implicated. The P-FIT is examined in light of findings from human lesion studies, including missile wounds, frontal lobotomy/leukotomy, temporal lobectomy, and lesions resulting in damage to the language network (e.g., aphasia), as well as findings from imaging research identifying brain regions under significant genetic control. Overall, we conclude that modern neuroimaging techniques are beginning to articulate a biology of intelligence. We propose that the P-FIT provides a parsimonious account for many of the empirical observations, to date, which relate individual differences in intelligence test scores to variations in brain structure and function. Moreover, the model provides a framework for testing new hypotheses in future experimental designs.     

Violence in the family—an attempt to apply contemporary theories of non-violent action and conflict resolution skills

Recognizing the influence of ideologies on approaches to violence in the family, the author has sought to set this violence in the context of a violent society. In this same society, however, there has also evolved in recent years a range of concepts related to non-violent problem-solving. Examining some of these concepts the author considers the possibility of applying them to family situations as a way of developing skills useful to the family but also relevant in other life conflicts.     

Global Versus Health-Specific Social Support and Match of Preferred and Perceived Social Support Levels in Relationship to Compliance and Blood Pressure of Hypertensives1

A comparison of the relative usefulness of a standardized measure of global perceived social support (Procidano and Heller, 1983) with a health-specific index showed that the latter was a better predictor of compliance for a sample consisting mostly of older female hypertensives. However, the relationship of support and compliance to actual health, as measured by blood pressure levels at two times separated by 3 to 6 months, was found to be weak. The hypothesis that the degree of fit between preference for social support and amount of perceived support would affect compliance was not upheld. A model of social support as the positive reaction of others to patients with good health status was proposed as an alternative or complement to the prevalent model in which support is viewed as an antecedent of compliance, and eventually, of improved health.