Heuristic Methods for Computer Ethics

The domain of "procedural ethics" is the set of reflective and deliberative methods that maximize the reliability of moral judgment. While no general algorithmic method exists that will guarantee the validity of ethical deliberation, non-algorithmic "heuristic" methods can guide and inform the process, making it significantly more robust and dependable. This essay examines various representative heuristic procedures commonly recommended for use in applied ethics, maps them into a uniform set of twelve stages, identifies common faults, then shows how the resulting stage-by-stage decision-making model could be adapted for general use and for use in computer ethics.     

Concise formulas for the standard errors of component loading estimates

Concise formulas for the asymptotic standard errors of component loading estimates were derived. The formulas cover the cases of principal component analysis for unstandardized and standardized variables with orthogonal and oblique rotations. The formulas can be used under any distributions for observed variables as long as the asymptotic covariance matrix for sample covariances/correlations is available. The estimated standard errors in numerical examples were shown to be equivalent to those by the methods using information matrices.The author is indebted to anonymous reviewers for the corrections and suggestions on this study, which have led to improvements of earlier versions of this article.     

应激诱发复吸的动物模型及其神经生物学基础

复吸是药物成瘾的重要特征,应激是诱发复吸的因素之一。该文介绍了用于研究应激诱发复吸的动物恢复模型,阐述了涉及应激诱发复吸的神经生物学基础。大量研究结果表明,下丘脑外侧的终纹床核与杏仁核内的促肾上腺皮质激素释放因子和去甲肾上腺素是参与应激诱发复吸的重要神经递质。内侧前额叶皮层可能是介导应激、药物点燃及药物相关线索等各类因素诱发复吸的共同通路     

《大学生主观幸福感量表》的编制

根据国内外关于主观幸福感的文献和已有的研究经验,编制了大学生主观幸福感问卷。以往大多数研究认为,主观幸福感由生活满意度和情绪体验两个基本成分构成,本研究认为主观幸福感还应包括社会性行为和人际关系等成分。对376名大学生进行初测,通过探索性因素分析,表明大学生主观幸福感由自我满意、家庭满意、消极情绪、积极情绪、精力、生活满意、社会性行为和人际关系8个维度构成,共41个项目。对511名大学生施测41个项目的主观幸福感问卷,进行验证性因素分析,结果表明,上述结构是合理的。     

Confirmatory Factor Analyses of the Full and Short Versions of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale

Abstract

Over the years, researchers have developed various short versions of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (D. P. Crowne & D. Marlowe, 1960). The authors used confirmatory factor analyses (J. L. Arbuckle, 1997) as well as item and scale analyses to evaluate the adequacy of the full version and various short versions. Overall, the results from 232 Canadian undergraduates showed (a) that all the short versions in the present study are a significant improvement in fit over the 33-item full scale and (b) that W. M. Reynolds's (1982) Forms A and B are the best fitting short versions. No gender differences were found for the full scale or any of the short versions. The results show that the full scale could be improved psychometrically and that the psychometrically sound short versions should be available because they require less administration time than the full scale.     

Associations Between Religious Behavior and Attitude to Christianity Among Australian Catholic Adolescents: Scale Validation

Abstract

In a sample of 1,166 Catholic high school students (age = 13–18 years), the author used confirmatory factor analysis to validate a 30-item instrument that assesses 6 dimensions of attitude to Christianity (viz., attitude to prayer, attitude to God, attitude to Jesus, attitude to the Bible, attitude to Christian practice, attitude to social justice). Goodness-of-fit indices for the proposed measurement model revealed that the model fitted the data very well, thus confirming the instrument's structure. A correlation analysis revealed associations between religious behavior and attitude to Christianity.     

The Deep Structure of Group Life: Unconscious Dimensions

There is a reconsideration and renaissance of interest in expanded conceptions of unconscious processes as they affect individuals and groups (Grotstein, 1999). Recent focus on social unconscious (Hopper, 1996) and cultural unconscious processes (Henderson, 1988) and the nature of intersubjectivity (Harwood and Pines, 1998) raise questions about the location of group analysis. This paper considers the deep structure of group life by examining four functions of the unconscious: repressive, conservative, creative, and mythopoetic (Ellenberger, 1970). On an individual level of analysis, these functions are equated respectively with formative ideas about the: personal–subjective, social–political, intersubjective–cultural and collective–objective unconscious. Group level analogs, as they develop and affect groups and their members, are explored as synthetic, shared, symbolicy and synchronous unconscious processes.     

The Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire: Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Within contemporary psychology there is increasing interest in the role of religion on behaviour and psychological functioning. Such interest can be attested to by the growth in the number of pertinent books and articles that have been published and also the development of new self-report measures of religiosity. The Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire is one such recently developed measure. It is a brief self-report measure comprising 10 items that were designed to measure strength of religious faith regardless of religious denomination or affiliation. Although Plante and Boccaccini (1997a, 1997b) have provided some preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the scale, the factor structure of the scale has not yet been examined. The aim of the present paper was to confirm the factor structure of the scale. The hypothesised one-factor model was tested using confirmatory factor analytic methods. Data from a sample of 106 Northern Irish undergraduate university students were examined using confirmatory factor analytic methods. A one-factor model was tested and accepted on the basis of fit statistics, therefore supporting the hypothesised unidimensional structure of the scale. The present results provide further evidence that the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire is psychometrically sound and therefore it can be recommended for further use by researchers interested in the construct of strength of religious faith.     

应对量表(COPE)测评维度结构研究

该文旨在对应对量表(COPE)的测评维度结构进行进一步的鉴别分析和验证研究。研究一对736名大学生的应对量表中文修订本(C-COPE)测评数据进行探索性二阶因素分析;研究二根据已有研究关于应对量表测评维度组构模式的不同结论,以及研究一的结果,提出十个假设模型,采用验证性因素分析测试这些模型与另一大学生样本(N：465)测评数据的拟合度。研究结果支持C-COPE八因子斜交模型。该量表如何进一步修订也在文中予以讨论。