Older adults' recovery from surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee: psychosocial resources and constraints as predictors of outcomes.

The authors investigated psychosocial resources (positive support, active coping) and psychosocial constraints (negative support, avoidant coping) as predictors of improvement in the health of 63 older adults undergoing surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee. Following surgery, patients and social partners are motivated both to strive for the appetitive goal of recovery (approach), and to protect themselves from pain and impairment (avoidance). The authors assessed resources and constraints 6 weeks after surgery as predictors of outcomes (improvement in knee pain, knee functioning, and psychological well-being) 6 months after surgery. The constraints patients encountered early in recovery were strong predictors of poor recovery. Although resources were associated with some improvement, these effects were largely accounted for by constraints.     

Multidimensional Latent Classification of ‘Street Robbery’ Offences

In a recent study of personal robbery, commissioned by the Home Office in the UK, a qualitative typology of robbery offences was proposed based on the approach used by the offender to commit the crime, consisting of four approach types: Blitz, Confrontation, Con, and Snatch. Conceptual inspection of the typology reveals that these proposed types may be hypothetically demarcated as the product of two latent dimensions: interaction (between the offender and the victim) and violence (used to threaten/harm the victim). The current paper utilises crime scene information from 72 incarcerated male offenders convicted of ‘street’ robbery to test this hypothesis. Convergent statistical analysis was utilised to test the structure of Smith's typology first using multidimensional scaling (MDS) and then principal component analysis (PCA). MDS and PCA analyses provided convergent support for the existence of the four robbery styles and the latent dimensions of interaction and violence. Implications of Smith's typological structure and latent behavioural dimensions on the conceptualisation and classification of robbery offences are discussed within the existing literature on ‘street’ robbery. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Road Map for an Emerging Psychology of Social Class

Though the scientific study of social class is over a century old, theories regarding how social class shapes psychological experience are in their infancy. In this review, we provide a road map for the empirical study of an emerging psychology of social class. Specifically, we outline key measurement issues in the study of social class – including the importance of both objective indicators and subjective perceptions of social class – as well as theoretical insights into the role of the social class context in influencing behavior. We then summarize why a psychology of social class is likely to be a fruitful area of research and propose that social class environments guide psychological experience because they shape fundamental aspects of the self and patterns of relating to others. Finally, we differentiate social class from other rank‐relevant states (e.g., power) and social categories (e.g., race/ethnicity), while also outlining potential avenues of future research.     

Beliefs of Chinese buyers of pirated goods

This study fills a void in the piracy literature by describing the results of a qualitative investigation of buyers conducted in mainland China, one of the largest piracy markets in the world. Chinese college students, invited to write essays expressing their views, revealed themselves to be active buyers of fake music and movies, untroubled by any legal or ethical issues. Theories of cognitive dissonance and neoclassical economics are used to explain the behavior of buyers. A surprising result is the feeling of young Chinese that their government is unwilling and/or able to control piracy. Another insight not previously revealed in the literature is the Chinese essayists' condemnation of foreigners as hypocrites who preach against piracy while avidly buying fake goods themselves. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

College Student Cheating: The Role of Motivation,Perceived Norms,Attitudes, and Knowledge of Institutional Policy

This study provides a comparative analysis of students' self-reported beliefs and behaviors related to six analogous pairs of conventional and digital forms of academic cheating. Results from an online survey of undergraduates at two universities (N = 1,305) suggest that students use conventional means more often than digital means to copy homework, collaborate when it is not permitted, and copy from others during an exam. However, engagement in digital plagiarism (cutting and pasting from the Internet) has surpassed conventional plagiarism. Students also reported using digital “cheat sheets” (i.e., notes stored in a digital device) to cheat on tests more often than conventional “cheat sheets.” Overall, 32% of students reported no cheating of any kind, 18.2% reported using only conventional methods, 4.2% reported using only digital methods, and 45.6% reported using both conventional and digital methods to cheat. “Digital only” cheaters were less likely than “conventional only” cheaters to report assignment cheating, but the former was more likely than the latter to report engagement in plagiarism. Students who cheated both conventionally and digitally were significantly different from the other three groups in terms of their self-reported engagement in all three types of cheating behavior. Students in this “both” group also had the lowest sense of moral responsibility to refrain from cheating and the greatest tendency to neutralize that responsibility. The scientific and educational implications of these findings are discussed in this study.     

The Person and work of Christ in the theology of Heinrich Bullinger

In christology, as elsewhere, Bullinger's approach is both biblical and patristic. Although the starting point is biblical, the emphasis is often patristic, especially when he is engaged in controversy. He begins with the Person of Christ — stressing the divinity. This is the basis for what he says on the work of Christ, not least as mediator. This determined his use of traditional language (one Person, two natures), but the emphasis, especially in debates on the Eucharist, is on the distinction of the two natures. The fundamental importance of christology is evident in the way his 1534 work on the two natures of Christ, described as an orthodox and Catholic confession refuting various heresies, prefaces the collected edition of his commentaries on the epistles. It is shown how Bullinger defends the use of non-biblical terms in the classic definition as consonant with Scripture and necessary because of the cunning of heretics. In his biblical approach he uses first testimony, and then argument.     

Reply to Humphreys' and Parsons' ″Piagetian tasks measure intelligence and intelligence tests assess cognitive development

Relationships which exist among 27 Piagetian reasoning assessments and standard measures of intelligence and achievement were determined in a study conducted by Stephens, McLaughlin, Miller and Glass. Subsequently a study conducted by Humphreys and Parsons was purported to correct errors in the original designs of the Stephens et al. study. In reply Glass and Stephens note fallacies in Humphreys and Parsons reasoning and question their statement that measures of intelligence and Piagetian reasoning assessments can be used interchangeably.     

Closing the empathy gap in college students' judgments of end‐of‐life tradeoffs

When considering hypothetical end‐of‐life (EOL) scenarios involving 80‐year‐old intensive‐care unit patients, young adults are more likely than older adults to judge that shorter lifespan would be a fair trade in exchange for a more pleasant death. This result has been interpreted in terms of an empathy gap, in which individuals fail to relate to the affective states of others. If so, the effect should be reduced when young adults consider scenarios involving patients similar to themselves. The present study examined college students' willingness to trade healthy lifespan for better death in EOL scenarios involving 80‐year‐old and 22‐year‐old cancer victims. Results indicated students under 30 were less likely to trade lifespan in the 22‐year‐old scenarios, and were less likely to trade lifespan in either set of scenarios when the 22‐year‐old scenarios were presented first. The findings are consistent with an empathy gap account of judgments concerning EOL care.