The issue of generality in ethics

Conclusion Does ethics have adequate general theories? Our analysis shows that this question does not have a straightforward answer since the key terms are ambiguous. So we should not concentrate on the answer but on the question itself. Ethics stands for many things, but we let that pass. Adequate may refer to varied arrays of methodological principles which are seldom fully articulated in ethics. General is a notion with at least three meanings. Different kinds of generality may be at cross-purposes, so we must not expect theories to be general in sundry senses. Theory, for that matter, is itself ambiguous. Some thinkers say that ethics cannot have theories, while others deny it. We doubt whether opposing parties are talking about the same things.No wonder, then, that controversies in ethics are long-lasting and unproductive. We hope that the methodology we have presented will alleviate some of them. The examples we chose show that this is feasible. Views such as Hare's and Jonsen and Toulmin's which are seemingly wide apart, show convergence if we put them in a methodological perspective.Our analysis also suggests that many alleged differences between science and ethics could fade away if methodology is brought to bear on them. Specifically, the idea that ethics compares poorly with science in view of limited generality, or poor means of justification, is unfounded. Those who defend this view over-rate the powers of science.     

University students’ sleep during an exam period: the role of basic psychological needs and stress

During exam periods university students are at risk for poor sleep. To understand variability in this vulnerability for poor sleep, the role of the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness was examined by assessing university students (N?=?121; 78% female; M_age?=?21.69, SD?=?1.39, range 19–25) before, during, and after an exam period. Need-based and sleep-related functioning deteriorated during the exam period and then improved after the exam period. As need satisfaction decreased (i.e., from pre-exam to exam period) sleep quality, sleep quantity and daytime functioning deteriorated, while subsequent increases in need satisfaction (i.e., from exam to the post-exam period) were accompanied by improvements in sleep quality and daytime functioning. These correlated changes in need-based experiences and the sleep-related outcomes were largely accounted for by changes in stress, suggesting that stress may play an explanatory role in these associations.     

Victimization Mediates the Longitudinal Association Between Depressive Symptoms and Violent Behaviors in Adolescence

Despite evidence of a positive link between depressive symptoms and violent behaviors, the pathways underlying this longitudinal association remain unknown. Depressive symptoms might drive and reinforce victimization which in turn could increase risk of individuals becoming violent towards others. Thus, we tested whether victimization mediated the link between depressive symptoms and violent behaviors using a 6-year longitudinal study of a community sample of adolescents. The sample included 682 Dutch adolescents (54% boys) from an ongoing longitudinal study RADAR (Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships). From ages 13 to 18 years, depressive symptoms, victimization experiences, and violent behaviors were annually assessed. We conducted longitudinal mediation analyses to test pathways to violence in adolescents with depressive symptoms. Longitudinal analyses revealed that victimization mediated the association between depressive symptoms and violent behaviors from early to late adolescence. As part of this, we found that adolescents’ depressive symptoms predicted victimization, and this victimization increased risk of subsequent violent behaviors. In conclusion, links between depressive symptoms and violent behaviors are potentially important to understand adolescent development. Decreasing the occurence of victimization is likely to be an important target for the prevention of violent behaviors in adolescents with depressive symptoms.     

Retrieving relevant factors with exploratory SEM and principal-covariate regression: A comparison

Behavioral researchers often linearly regress a criterion on multiple predictors, aiming to gain insight into the relations between the criterion and predictors. Obtaining this insight from the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression solution may be troublesome, because OLS regression weights show only the effect of a predictor on top of the effects of other predictors. Moreover, when the number of predictors grows larger, it becomes likely that the predictors will be highly collinear, which makes the regression weights’ estimates unstable (i.e., the “bouncing beta” problem). Among other procedures, dimension-reduction-based methods have been proposed for dealing with these problems. These methods yield insight into the data by reducing the predictors to a smaller number of summarizing variables and regressing the criterion on these summarizing variables. Two promising methods are principal-covariate regression (PCovR) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). Both simultaneously optimize reduction and prediction, but they are based on different frameworks. The resulting solutions have not yet been compared; it is thus unclear what the strengths and weaknesses are of both methods. In this article, we focus on the extents to which PCovR and ESEM are able to extract the factors that truly underlie the predictor scores and can predict a single criterion. The results of two simulation studies showed that for a typical behavioral dataset, ESEM (using the BIC for model selection) in this regard is successful more often than PCovR. Yet, in 93% of the datasets PCovR performed equally well, and in the case of 48 predictors, 100 observations, and large differences in the strengths of the factors, PCovR even outperformed ESEM.     

Post-conflict slowing: cognitive adaptation after conflict processing

The aftereffects of error and conflict (i.e., stimulus or response incongruency) have been extensively studied in the cognitive control literature. Each has been characterized by its own behavioral signature on the following trial. Conflict leads to a reduced congruency effect (Gratton effect), whereas an error leads to increased response time (post-error slowing). The reason for this dissociation has remained unclear. Here, we show that post-conflict slowing is not typically observed because it is masked by the processing of the irrelevant stimulus dimension. We demonstrate that post-conflict slowing does occur when tested in pure trials where helpful or detrimental impacts from irrelevant stimulus dimensions are removed (i.e., univalent stimuli).     

The Concept Shifting Test: adult normative data

The Concept Shifting Test (CST) is a newly developed Trail Making Type test that measures concept shifting and executive functioning. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether CST performance was affected by age, gender, educational level, or handedness and to establish the normal range of test performance. The CST was administered to a large sample (N = 1,794) of cognitively intact adults (age range 24 to 81 years). The results showed that CST performance was superior in women, decreased with age, and increased with level of education. Handedness did not affect CST performance. Normative data that are corrected for the influences of these demographical variables were established with a regression-based normative approach.     

Top-down and bottom-up sequential modulations of congruency effects

Several studies have demonstrated reduced congruency effects after incongruent trials. The conflict monitoring hypothesis (Botvinick, Braver, Barch, Carter, & Cohen, 2001) assumes that this sequential modulation is based on top-down cognitive control and suggests that more control is engaged after the detection of conflict. An alternative account is based on repetition effects of stimulus and response features and can be considered bottom up. This study investigates both modulatory sources. In a Stroop task with two response-stimulus intervals (RSIs), we demonstrate that top-down modulation does not occur with a very short RSI, suggesting that it takes some time before the system can be reconfigured. Bottom-up modulation is observed for both RSIs. This finding demonstrates that two different sources simultaneously reduce congruency effects after incongruent trials.