The naturalistic fallacy: moral inferences drawn from research with children versus adults

The naturalistic fallacy occurs when a person reads a report of scientific research and concludes that the moral implication of the research was included in the article when, in fact, it was not. For example, the fallacy is committed when a study contains the conclusion that TV advertising increases preference for sugar-based foods, but the reader later believes that the study concluded that TV advertising should be controlled. Previous research indicates that the commission of the fallacy was strong when memory for social research was tested. The present study showed that the commission of the fallacy was stronger when the research which was read involved children as subjects compared to adult subjects. Increased empathy for the subjects of a research article strengthens commission of the fallacy.     

Length of survival and lymphocyte percentage in women with mammary cancer as a function of psychotherapy

50 patients suffering from terminal mammary cancer and visceral metastases received chemotherapy, and in addition half of them received psychotherapy, while half did not. A lymphocyte count was undertaken seven times in all, once before initiation of chemotherapy, the others after six applications of the therapy. As hypothesized, the 25 women who received psychotherapy lived longer and had significantly higher lymphocyte counts on Occasions 5, 6 and 7 than did the 25 women who did not receive psychotherapy. Of the types of psychotherapy employed, a specially designed form of behaviour therapy was significantly more helpful than dynamic psychotherapy in prolonging life.     

Smoking, body weight, and their effects on smoking behavior: a comprehensive review of the literature

This article provides a comprehensive review of the research on smoking and body weight. The relationships between smoking and body weight are evaluated in 70 cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations. The mechanisms responsible for differences in body weight are discussed, the weight-related issues that promote smoking behavior are reviewed, methods for reducing postcessation weight gain are summarized, and future research directions are proposed. A proposed working research model for studying the relationship between smoking, energy balance, and weight gain is offered. It is concluded that smoking and body weight relationships are closely related and pose significant challenges for smoking researchers.     

Deprivation/enhancement fantasy patterns in children

Previous studies have shown that females tell stories that change from negative experiences (deprivation) to positive experiences (enhancement) and males tell stories that change in the opposite direction. The current study examines this phenomenon in children using a different story-telling procedure. Results were not consistent with those of previous studies.     

Happiness among adolescents in The Netherlands: ethnic and sex differences

A nationwide sample of 2710 Dutch adolescents and 518 ethnic minority adolescents living in the Netherlands was used to examine ethnic and sex differences in happiness. Analyses of variance were conducted with ethnic background, sex, and length of residence in the Netherlands, as variables. Socioeconomic status was included in the analyses as a covariate. Adolescents from ethnic minority backgrounds, as compared to the Dutch, had significantly lower scores on a generalized estimates of life satisfaction and on a measure of hedonic effect. Both differences, however, explained only a very small amount of variance. Girls (from all ethnic groups including the Dutch) had lower scores than boys on both measures. There was no significant effect for length of residence on either measure.     

Self-esteem, depression, and alcohol dependency among high school students

123 high school students completed the short form of the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory-School Form and its Lie scale, Beck's Depression Inventory, and an Alcohol Dependency Scale. Analyses of variance (2 x 4) showed boys had higher mean Lie scores than girls, and freshmen had lower mean alcohol dependency scores than sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Correlations between self-esteem scores and depression scores were significant and negative, but values were significant and positive between self-esteem and lie scores and between depression and alcohol dependency scores. Much work is required to understand better the relations among depression, self-esteem, and drug and alcohol dependency in high school students if interventions are to focus upon prevention.     

Hair mineral analysis: biochemical imbalances and violent criminal behavior

Trace mineral analysis of human hair was utilized to determine whether violent and nonviolent criminals could be differentiated on the basis of concentrations of levels of major and trace minerals. 40 violent and 40 nonviolent inmates from a prison population were selected for study. 27 mineral levels were analyzed and a discriminant function analysis correctly classified 86% of the violent and 78% of the nonviolent inmates. The results lent support to the hypothesis that significantly different levels of trace minerals could be found between the two groups.     

Hypnotic susceptibility and its relationship to outcome in the behavioral treatment of asthma: some preliminary data

12 subjects from an experiment on relaxation therapy for asthma were given the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. Full scale hypnotic susceptibility scores were positively correlated, at a borderline significance, with improvement in the methacholine challenge test, a measure of asthma severity. Performance on the amnesia item of the Harvard Group Scale was correlated with improvement in self-reported symptoms of asthma.