Sentencing goals, causal attributions, ideology, and personality

Disparity in sentencing of criminals has been related to a variety of individual difference variables. We propose a framework establishing resonances or coherent patterns among sentencing goals, causal attributions, ideology, and personality. Two studies are described, one with law and criminology students, the other with probation officers. Relations among the different types of variables reveal two resonances among both students and officers. One comprises various conservative and moralistic elements: a tough, punitive stance toward crime; belief in individual causality for crime; high scores on authoritarianism, dogmatism, and internal locus of control; lower moral stage; and political conservatism. The second comprises various liberal elements: rehabilitation, belief in economic and other external determinants of crime, higher moral stage, and belief in the powers and responsibilities of government to correct social problems. Implications of these results are discussed for individual differences in sentencing, attribution theory, and attempts to reduce disparity.     

A gandhian model of health: Looking at Alzheimer's disease

Mahatma Gandhi was often criticized for mixing religion, politics, economics, and health. However, it was his very insistence on the fundamental interrelationship of all aspects of life that gives his ideas such relevance for today's problems. This paper focuses on his views on health and attempts to develop a Gandhian model of health that has relevance for us today. This model is then specifically applied to the vexing problem of Alzheimer's disease, and an ongoing therapeutic trial that is based on this model is described.     

Correlation of scores of maximum security inmates on Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Revised and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Revised

29 men (15 white, 14 black) who were inmates at a maximum security penitentiary were given the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised on which the full scale IQs correlated .80. This suggests the Peabody would serve as an effective screening test for this population.     

The use of the MMPI special scales in the assessment of delinquent personality.

The MMPI was administered to 401 adjudicated male juvenile offenders, ages 13 to 17, who had been referred to a juvenile court mental health unit for recommendations in court disposition. Mean T scores generated by 86 MMPI clinical and supplementary scales were tabulated and analyzed as to their relationships with completed court offense histories. Twenty-eight of these scales that best described and discriminated between high and low levels of recidivism, crime severity, assault, and property offenses were identified, profiled, and discussed. Data were analyzed by a suggested T-score cutoff of 1.5 standard deviations, univariate, and multivariate (discriminant) analysis. Scales that best discriminated between high and low levels of recidivism and property offenses were Pd (Psychopathic Deviance), Ma1 (Amorality), Pd2 (Authority Problems), Re (Social Responsibility), and MAC (MacAndrew Alcoholism). Low scores on Re (Social Responsibility), Es (Ego Strength), Cn (Control), and St (Social Status) best discriminated between high and low levels of crime severity. High and low levels of assault were best differentiated by Ma3 (Imperturbability), Scale 5 (Masculinity-Femininity), and Pa2 (Poignancy). Although the linear combination of Scales F, 4, 8, and 9 has some utility in the areas of recidivism and property offenses, its discriminative ability is extremely poor for levels of assault and crime severity.     

JUDGMENTS OF LEARNING AT DELAYS:

Abstract— Nelson and Dunlosky (1991) found that judgment-of-leaning (JOL) accuracy (measured using G) was nearly perfect if the JOL was made several minutes after study (the delayed-JOL effect ). However, over time, the distribution of judgments changed radically. When JOLs were made immediately, subjects typically used the middle of the scale, after a delay, more than 50% of judgments were made using the ends of the scale (Dunlosky & Nelson, 1994, Experiment 1). We replicated the delayed-JOL effect and found a similar rating shift. Is the delayed-JOL effect an artifact produced by this shift, or does it reflect true metamemory improvement? Monte Carlo simulations allowed us to separate these effects. Shifting judgments to ends of the scale did inflate JOL accuracy somewhat. The bulk of the delayed-JOL effect, however, resulted form increases in calibration. We conclude that the delayed-JOL effect reflects true metamemory improvement.     

DEVELOPMENT OF A JOB ANALYSIS-BASED PROCEDURE FOR WEIGHTING AND COMBINING CONTENT RELATED TESTS INTO A SINGLE TEST BATTERY SCORE

By definition, content-related approaches to test validation do not rely on criterion data. As a consequence, regression and other statistical procedures for weighting and generating a composite score from a test battery are not applicable when a content-related validation strategy is used. This paper presents a procedure for determining the component weights for a test battery that has been developed on the basis of a content-related validity strategy. The Relative Content Contribution (RCC) weighting procedure is a logical extension of the conceptual basis underlying the rational developmental process used to demonstrate the validity of content-related tests. Results from field implementations of the procedure in the development of two promotional test batteries (fire and police) and an entry-level test battery (police) in two large metropolitan cities are presented to illustrate the procedure.     

Problem-Solving Appraisal and the Prediction of Depression During Pregnancy and in the Postpartum Period

Based on the presumed mood-regulatory properties of the problem orientation component delineated in the social problem-solving model, a positive problem orientation was predicted to influence ongoing levels of positive and negative affect during pregnancy. Higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect would then in turn predict depression during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. This hypothesis was tested in 100 women. Path analyses supported the predicted relation of the problem orientation components to trait affectivity, and indirectly to peripartum and postpartum depression. Trait negative and positive affectivity was also associated with peripartum depression, and indirectly with postpartum depression, as expected. Implications for the integrated social problem-solving model are discussed. Recommendations for assessment and counseling interventions with expectant women are offered.     

Effects of ipsilateral and contralateral counterirritation on experimentally produced itch in human beings.

The experimental study of itch was reviewed, and an experiment performed to test the effects of ipsilateral and contralateral counterirritation distal to the itching wrist. Each of the 18 subjects served in all experimental conditions, receiving cowage as the itch stimulus and a placebo. Counterirritation consisted of a 10-sec immersion of the fingers into a 2 degrees C water bath. Lateral differences both in response to cowage and to counterirritation were obtained. In general, counterirritation reduced itch significantly more than the control procedure during the treatment period and the first three intervals following treatment. The results of the present experiment suggest a central mechanism attenuating the sensation of itch.     

A behavioral technology for producing concept formation in university students

Three experiments analyzed the effectiveness of a textbook incorporating "concept programming" in producing concept formation in university students. The concept programming portion of each lesson requires students to determine which concept is illustrated by each of 20 short fictional stories about everyday behavioral situations. The stories are selected to illustrate and contrast the concepts of that lesson. Student responses are heavily prompted during the initial stories of each lesson. The first experiment demonstrated that students generalize to entirely novel examples from the examples in the textbook. The second experiment demonstrated that the concept programming portion of the textbook is a critical component in producing generalization. The third experiment demonstrated that the amount of concept formation produced by the concept programmed textbook is greater than that produced by a widely used standard textbook.