Recherche sur données : aspects juridiques et éthiques à travers l’expérience de l’hôpital Foch

Health data is the object of covetousness by many actors, of course by the healthcare industry, in particular the drug and medical device industry, by hospitals and research institutes, but also by all types of merchant companies which would like to derive substantial benefits from it. Faced with this phenomenon, the European Commission, within the framework of the replacement of the European Directive on health data of 1995, by the General Data Protection Regulation of 2016 (GDPR) has strengthened the protection of health data which is particularly sensitive data for everyone and, consequently, carrying out studies on health data. Researches that does not involve human beings, improperly called “Data studies”, are closely regulated by the GDPR and, for France, by the Data Protection Act, which has been amended accordingly. This article describes the steps to be taken for the implementation of data studies and what are the rights of participants/patients in the context of these researchs. Ethical vigilance would require that such research be reviewed by an ad hoc committee.     

Seeing is believing: Priors,trust, and base rate neglect

Kahneman and Tversky (1973) described an effect they called ‘insensitivity to prior probability of outcomes’, later dubbed base rate neglect, which describes people’s tendency to underweight prior information in favor of new data. As probability theory requires that prior probabilities be taken into account, via Bayes’ theorem, the fact that most people fail to do so has been taken as evidence of human irrationality and, by others, of a mismatch between our cognitive processes and the questions being asked (Cosmides & Tooby, 1996). In contrast to both views, we suggest that simplistic Bayesian updating using base rates is not necessarily rational. To that end, we present experiments in which base rate neglect is often the right strategy, and show that people’s base rate usage varies systematically as a function of the extent to which the data that make up a base rate are perceived as trustworthy.     

Context affects the interpretation of low but not high numerical probabilities: A hypothesis testing account of subjective probability

Low numerical probabilities tend to be directionally ambiguous, meaning they can be interpreted either positively, suggesting the occurrence of the target event, or negatively, suggesting its non-occurrence. High numerical probabilities, however, are typically interpreted positively. We argue that the greater directional ambiguity of low numerical probabilities may make them more susceptible than high probabilities to contextual influences. Results from five experiments supported this premise, with perceived base rate affecting the interpretation of an event’s numerical posterior probability more when it was low than high. The effect is consistent with a confirmatory hypothesis testing process, with the relevant perceived base rate suggesting the directional hypothesis which people then test in a confirmatory manner.     

Personal resources at the juncture of culture and life satisfaction

This study investigates cultural group differences (Israeli Arab vs. Jewish) in personal resources and life satisfaction. Arab students evidenced lower levels of life satisfaction, as well as perceived personal resources, when compared to their Jewish counterparts. Furthermore, personal resources mediated the effects of culture on life satisfaction. The role of personal resources at the juncture of culture and life satisfaction was discussed.     

Psychological wellbeing and the diathesis-stress hypothesis model: The role of psychological functioning and quality of relations in promoting subjective well-being in a life events study

Negative life events are associated with poor wellbeing and mental health outcomes. Following a diathesis-stress model, we tested whether psychological functioning and quality of interpersonal relationships moderated the effect of life events on subjective wellbeing. This study comprised data from a young and middle-aged adult sample (n = 364) drawn from an Australian university-student population. Results indicated that life events were associated with negative but not positive wellbeing outcomes. Perceived impact of life events was a stronger predictor of wellbeing than was the number of life events. Psychological functioning and quality of interpersonal relationships were associated with both wellbeing dimensions but only quality of interpersonal relationships moderated the effect of life events on wellbeing. In conclusion, perceived impact of life events was more strongly related to wellbeing than number of life events. Interpersonal relationships moderate the effect of life events with those reporting higher levels of quality of interpersonal relationships reporting less decrement in negative affect following stressful life events.     

Lecturers' faces fatigue their students: Face identity aftereffects for dynamic and static faces

Face adaptation has been used as a tool to probe our representations for facial identity. It has also been claimed to play a functional role in face processing, perhaps calibrating the visual system towards encountered faces. However, for this to be so, face aftereffects must be observable following adaptation to ecologically valid moving stimuli, not just after prolonged viewing of static images. We adapted our participants to videos, static image sequences or single images of the faces of lecturers who were personally familiar to them. All three stimulus types produced significant, and equivalent, face identity aftereffects, demonstrating that aftereffects are not confined to static images but can occur after exposure to more naturalistic stimuli. It is also further evidence against explanations of face adaptation effects solely in terms of low-level visual processing.     

The path and price of personal development

Personal development follows an inevitable path. The initial focus is upon social factors which gives way to emphasis on ‘self’, and ultimately enters a spiritual phase. It is a one-way process, and initial social gains may be lost as the process unfolds.     

Factors influencing the decision to engage in alcohol-impaired driving among Arab-Israeli youths

Alcohol-Impaired Driving (AID) is rarely studied among Arab communities. As contacts between Arab and Western cultures grow, alcohol consumption and safety-related issues are emerging as a major public health concern. This paper examines factors influencing the decision to engage in AID in a sample of young Arab-Israeli bar patrons (n = 300, age 17–34), including both Muslims (n = 77) and Christians (n = 176); alcohol is prohibited for the former, but is normative for the latter. Studies of AID often use agent-oriented models, most notably the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The current study complements this tradition using the structure-oriented Social-Cultural (SC) model. Over 70% of participants reported engaging in AID after consuming 3–4 portions of alcohol. The TPB model proved to have significant explanatory power while most cultural factors, including religion, failed to gain statistical significance. The latter finding is counter-intuitive given the different status of alcohol in the cultures investigated. The TPB variable Personal Behavioral Control (PBC) and a specific sub-component of the subjective norms variable emerged as providing the greatest contribution to the model. The results support the robustness of TPB and demonstrate that beyond identifying idiosyncratic patterns structure-based models can be useful in refuting pre-conceived conceptions. Thus, both approaches should be utilized to inform policymaking. Governmental authorities, particularly in Israel, must consider the neglected issue of AID among Arab communities, including both Christians and Muslims.