An MMPI typology of cocaine abusers.

Three types were found in a cluster analysis of scores on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) of 100 men voluntarily presenting for treatment of cocaine abuse. Type 1 (n = 59) had a mean MMPI profile consistent with the hypothesized grouping of persons who self-medicate with cocaine as a means of overcoming depression. The relatively normal mean MMPI profile obtained by Type 2 (n = 37) suggested little indication of significant psychopathology. Type 3's (n = 4) mean MMPI profile suggested either severe disturbance or profile invalidity. Types were found to differ in the nature of drug use, reactions to cocaine, education level, and social class, but not on the scales of the Adjective Check List.     

The effect of an additional task on recall accuracy in serial short term memory: Preemption of rehearsal or acquisition?

In a serial short term memory test, being either visual or auditory, Ss got the additional instruction to make immediate binary classification responses (BcRs) to those items that occured after a marker which was presented somewhere in the list. The results show a general negative effect of BcRs on recall accuracy of both visually and auditory presented lists i.e. both on items which had been classified during presentation and on those which had occured before the marker arrived. The findings are contrary to the view that BcRs preclude acquisition of the items, but the hypothesis is confirmed that BcRs preempt intra trial rehearsal.     

Reinforcement and Helping Behavior1

A study was conducted to determine the effects of reinforcement following helping in one situation on subsequent helping behavior. It was predicted that helping behavior would increase following positive reinforcement and decrease following negative reinforcement. It was also predicted that the attractiveness of the dispenser of reinforcement would affect subsequent helping. The study was conducted using a 3 × 2 × 2 design with the variables bemg nature of reinforcement, attractivcness of the confederate, and sex of S. The data indicated that subsequent to negative reinforcement, helping responses decrease. There were no differences between the positive, neutral or control conditions. Sex of S interacted with reinforcemcnt condition, with mcn helping more than women following negative reinforcement. Malcs and females also differcd in quality of help given, with men offering more physical help than women, particularly following neutral reinforcement.     

Backlash against male elementary educators

We investigated the existence, nature, and processes underscoring backlash (social and economic penalties) against men who violate gender stereotypes by working in education, and whether backlash is exacerbated by internal (vs. external) behavioral attributions. Participants (N = 303) rated one of six applications for an elementary teaching position, identical apart from target gender and behavioral attribution type. Male applicants were rated as more likely to be gay, posing a greater safety threat, and less likeable (but not less hireable) than identical female applicants. Perceived sexuality and threat mediated target gender differences in likeability. Unexpectedly, behavioral attributions did not interact with target gender, suggesting that providing internal attributions may not exacerbate men's backlash. Implications for backlash theory and education gender disparities are discussed.     

Logics for Epistemic Programs

We construct logical languages which allow one to represent a variety of possible types of changes affecting the information states of agents in a multi-agent setting. We formalize these changes by defining a notion of epistemic program. The languages are two-sorted sets that contain not only sentences but also actions or programs. This is as in dynamic logic, and indeed our languages are not significantly more complicated than dynamic logics. But the semantics is more complicated. In general, the semantics of an epistemic program is what we call aprogram model. This is a Kripke model of ‘actions’,representing the agents' uncertainty about the current action in a similar way that Kripke models of ‘states’ are commonly used in epistemic logic to represent the agents' uncertainty about the current state of the system. Program models induce changes affecting agents' information, which we represent as changes of the state model, called epistemic updates. Formally, an update consists of two operations: the first is called the update map, and it takes every state model to another state model, called the updated model; the second gives, for each input state model, a transition relation between the states of that model and the states of the updated model. Each variety of epistemic actions, such as public announcements or completely private announcements to groups, gives what we call an action signature, and then each family of action signatures gives a logical language. The construction of these languages is the main topic of this paper. We also mention the systems that capture the valid sentences of our logics. But we defer to a separate paper the completeness proof. The basic operation used in the semantics is called the update product. A version of this was introduced in Baltag et al. (1998), and the presentation here improves on the earlier one. The update product is used to obtain from any program model the corresponding epistemic update, thus allowing us to compute changes of information or belief. This point is of interest independently of our logical languages. We illustrate the update product and our logical languages with many examples throughout the paper.     

Minimising risks and distractions for young drivers and their passengers: An evaluation of a novel driver–passenger training program

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate a pilot program designed to teach communication skills to young drivers and passengers. Sixty-two young males recruited as 31 pairs of friends, all aged between 18 and 21 years and holding a probationary drivers licence, were randomly assigned to a training or no-training condition. A training program was developed based upon elements of existing team training programs. Driver and passenger pairs operated a driving simulator through scenarios designed to measure aspects of safe driving behaviour and hazard response. Communications between driver and passenger were also measured. All participants were administered the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire before and approximately 2 months after simulator testing. Compared to the untrained group the trained participants exhibited a larger following distance, reduced speed significantly when faced with an unexpected hazard on the road, and exhibited more safe communications. Although current passenger restrictions are warranted, the present results reveal an alternative view of adolescent passengers: rather than being a negative influence on drivers, adolescent passengers can potentially be trained to become a positive influence.     

Development of a repeated measures affective change blindness task

Flicker-induced change blindness paradigms have been used to explore attentional biases for a range of concern-related cues. However, previous studies have had limitations related to concerns about carryover effects in repeated measures designs, as well as problems with response modalities. The present article develops a repeated measures paradigm utilising nonverbal responses and explores the implications of these design modifications for the reliability and validity of the paradigm. Affective stimuli were presented to participants, and the results suggest that the modified paradigm is a useful tool for assessing attentional bias. A number of recommendations for the future use of this methodology are made.     

The effect of attending to motor overflow on its voluntary inhibition in young and older adults

Motor overflow refers to involuntary movement or muscle activity coinciding with voluntary movement. We examined whether 16 young adults (18-30 years) and 16 older adults (50-80 years) could voluntarily inhibit overflow. Participants performed a finger pressing task, exerting 50% of their maximal force. Overflow was concurrently recorded in the non-task hand. In the first condition, participants were not made aware of their motor overflow. Then participants, though informed of it, were asked to ignore their overflow. Finally, participants were requested to inhibit overflow with, and then without visual feedback, or vice versa. Overflow was exacerbated when older adults were unaware of it, and was reduced once they were informed. For young adults there was no significant difference between these conditions. Both Age Groups could significantly reduce overflow when so requested, independent of visual feedback. Thus motor overflow can be modulated by higher order cognitive control with directed attention.     

‘Mutual Obligation’ and ‘New Deal’: Illegitimate and Unjustified?

It is now commonplace for governments in Western countries to require the unemployed to work in exchange for their unemployment benefits. In this article I raise some serious doubts about the most promising and philosophically interesting defence of this argument, which relies on the ‘principle of reciprocity’. I argue that it is seriously unclear whether the obligations imposed on welfare claimants by ‘workfare’ schemes are legitimate and justified according to the principle of reciprocity. I do this by reconstructing the arguments for the obligations of the unemployed put forward in both the United Kingdom and Australia.