The practice of forensic psychology. A look toward the future in light of the past

In a 1987 American Psychologist article, Tom Grisso summarized the state of forensic psychological assessment, noted its limitations and potential, and offered suggestions for researchers and practitioners interested in contributing to its future. Since that time, there have been many important developments in the field of forensic psychology, as well as in clinical psychology more generally, some of which were anticipated and recommended by Grisso, and some of which were not. Forensic psychology is now at a crossroads, and the specialty must make an effort to respond to current challenges if it is to aid in the administration of justice by assisting legal decision makers. The need to distinguish between and identify levels of forensic knowledge and practice, establish guidelines for practice, educate legal consumers, and devote more attention to treatment issues in forensic contexts is highlighted.     

The implications of cortical recruitment and brain morphology for individual differences in inhibitory function in aging humans

The authors assessed individual differences in cortical recruitment, brain morphology, and inhibitory task performance. Similar to previous studies, older adults tended toward bilateral activity during task performance more than younger adults. However, better performing older adults showed less bilateral activity than poorer performers, contrary to the idea that additional activity is universally compensatory. A review of the results and of extant literature suggests that compensatory activity in prefrontal cortex may only be effective if the additional cortical processors brought to bear on the task can play a complementary role in task performance. Morphological analyses revealed that frontal white matter tracts differed as a function of performance in older adults, suggesting that hemispheric connectivity might impact both patterns of recruitment and cognitive performance.     

Motor-iconicity of sign language does not alter the neural systems underlying tool and action naming

Positron emission tomography was used to investigate whether the motor-iconic basis of certain forms in American Sign Language (ASL) partially alters the neural systems engaged during lexical retrieval. Most ASL nouns denoting tools and ASL verbs referring to tool-based actions are produced with a handshape representing the human hand holding a tool and with an iconic movement depicting canonical tool use, whereas the visual iconicity of animal signs is more idiosyncratic and inconsistent across signs. We investigated whether the motor-iconic relation between a sign and its referent alters the neural substrate for lexical retrieval in ASL. Ten deaf native ASL signers viewed photographs of tools/utensils or of actions performed with or without an implement and were asked to overtly produce the ASL sign for each object or action. The control task required subjects to judge the orientation of unknown faces. Compared to the control task, naming tools engaged left inferior and middle frontal gyri, bilateral parietal lobe, and posterior inferotemporal cortex. Naming actions performed with or without a tool engaged left inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral parietal lobe, and posterior middle temporal gyrus at the temporo-occipital junction (area MT). When motor-iconic verbs were compared with non-iconic verbs, no differences in neural activation were found. Overall, the results indicate that even when the form of a sign is indistinguishable from a pantomimic gesture, the neural systems underlying its production mirror those engaged when hearing speakers name tools or tool-based actions with speech.     

Psychology of the scientist: LXXXV. Research on homosexuality: a response to Schumm (and Herek)

Because social science is "messy," just about any criticism of any work--including our efforts--has validity. But the empiricist principle is more important than a theoretical search for perfection in research. The findings from our 1983-1984 nationwide random survey are superior to earlier efforts and similar enough to those reported by the 1992 nationwide random survey conducted by University of Chicago investigators, the 1994 British effort, and the 1996 NHSDA to suggest all approximate "a similar truth about reported sexuality."     

Elementary subtraction

Four experiments examined performance on the 100 "basic facts" of subtraction and found a discontinuous "stair step" function for reaction times and errors beginning with 11 - n facts. Participants' immediate retrospective reports of nonretrieval showed the same pattern in Experiment 3. The degree to which elementary subtraction depends on working memory (WM) was examined in a dual-task paradigm in Experiment 4. The reconstructive processing used with larger basic facts was strongly associated with greater WM disruption, as evidenced by errors in the secondary task: this was especially the case for participants with lower WM spans. The results support the R. S. Siegler and E. Jenkins (1989) distribution of associations model, although discriminating among the alternative solution processes appears to be a serious challenge.     

Lay Theories Concerning Causes and Treatment of Depression

This study compared perceptions of the causes of, therapies for, and means of coping with, depression between two groups of currently nondepressed adults: one with a history of major depression and one with no history of depression. Currently nondepressed participants were selected so that effects of past experience of depression could be distinguished from those of current mood. Recovered depressed participants (RD) (n = 25) and Never depressed participants (ND) (n = 25) recruited via newspaper advertisements completed self-report measures of (a) the perceived utility of either professional or self-help coping strategies for managing their own experiences of depression; (b) likely effectiveness of several major therapies for depression; and (c) perceived accuracy of several etiological theories of depression. RD participants rated depression as being less amenable to everyday self-help methods of coping and more in need of professional intervention. However, RD and ND subgroups did not differ significantly in their perceptions of the plausibility of etiological theories of depression in general, nor in their ratings of the likely helpfulness of major therapies.     

Reliable and Valid Coding of Thin Slices of Video Footage: Applicability to the Assessment of Mother-Child Interactions

When using behavioral-observation methods for coding video footage, it is unknown how much time of an interaction needs to be coded to gain results that are representative for the behavior of interest. The current study examined this problem using the INTAKT, a standardized observational measure for assessing the quality of mother-child interactions. Results from coding only 10 min of each video (i.e., thin slices) were compared with results from coding the remaining parts (averaging about 40 min) of the interaction. Inter-rater agreement for the short versions taken from the beginning or the middle, but not the end of the interactions indicated satisfactory observer accuracy. Coding results did not differ between short and long video sequences, when sequences were taken from the middle of the interactions. Importantly, characteristic differences between different interactive situations were equally well represented in the short and long video sequences. Therefore, our results show that coding only 10 min of an interaction is as reliable and valid as coding full-length videos, if those short sequences are taken from the middle of an interaction. Our findings support the idea that for every method, it is necessary to individually determine the window duration that is long enough to gain results that are reliable and valid.     

What People Want From Their Professionals: Attitudes Toward Decision‐making Strategies

Attitudes toward four types of decision‐making strategies—clinical/fully rational, clinical/heuristic, actuarial/fully rational, and actuarial/heuristic—were examined across three studies. In Study 1, undergraduate students were split randomly between legal and medical decision‐making scenarios and asked to rate each strategy in terms of the following: (i) preference; (ii) accuracy; (iii) fairness; (iv) ethicalness; and (v) its perceived similarity to the strategies used by actual legal and medical professionals to make decisions. Studies 2 and 3 extended Study 1 by using a more relevant scenario and a community sample, respectively. Across the three studies, the clinical/fully rational strategy tended to be rated the highest across all attitudinal judgments, whereas the actuarial/heuristic strategy tended to receive the lowest ratings. Considering the two strategy‐differentiating factors separately, clinically based strategies tended to be rated higher than actuarially based strategies, and fully rational strategies were always rated higher than heuristic‐based strategies. The potential implications of the results for professionals' and those affected by their decisions are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Bull's-Eye Values Survey: A Psychometric Evaluation

Two studies were conducted to develop and evaluate an instrument intended to identify and measure personal values, values attainment, and persistence in the face of barriers. Study 1 describes a content validity approach to the construction and preliminary validation of the Bull's Eye Values Survey (BEVS), using a sample of institutionalized patients suffering from epilepsy. Study 2 investigated the psychometric properties of the BEVS with a sample of Swedish university students. Results suggest that the BEVS is sensitive to treatment effects and can differentiate between clients who receive values-based interventions and those who do not. The BEVS subscales and total score appear to measure an independent dimension of psychological functioning that is negatively correlated with measures of depression, anxiety, and stress, and positively correlated with a measure of psychological flexibility. The BEVS also exhibits acceptable temporal stability and internal consistency. The study provides preliminary support for the BEVS as both a research and clinical tool for measuring values, values-action discrepancies, and barriers to value-based living.     

Physical activity status of academic professors during their early career transition: an application of the theory of planned behavior

Life-transitions (e.g. parenthood) have been linked to physical inactivity, yet the topic requires further exploration. In this study, we evaluated changes in the physical activity (PA) of adults during their early career transition using retrospective analysis and the theory of planned behavior. Recruitment from January to March 2010 yielded a random sample of 267 assistant professors, ages 25-44, employed within the last five years. Repeated measures analysis of variance (RM ANOVA) concluded that PA declined across the transition (d?=?0.36-0.43) and was further attenuated by marriage, work hours, and parenthood status. Discriminant function analysis (DFA) identified specific behavioral and control correlates about PA enjoyment, limited time, inconsistent schedule, work demands, and job pressures to distinguish between those who remained active from those who did not across the transition. PA interventions administered prior to career transitions may be needed to prevent physical inactivity.