Human and Animal Subjects of Research: The Moral Significance of Respect versus Welfare

Human beings with diminished decision-making capacities are usually thought to require greater protections from the potential harms of research than fully autonomous persons. Animal subjects of research receive lesser protections than any human beings regardless of decision-making capacity. Paradoxically, however, it is precisely animals’ lack of some characteristic human capacities that is commonly invoked to justify using them for human purposes. In other words, for humans lesser capacities correspond to greater protections but for animals the opposite is true. Without explicit justification, it is not clear why or whether this should be the case. Ethics regulations guiding human subject research include principles such as respect for persons—and related duties—that are required as a matter of justice while regulations guiding animal subject research attend only to highly circumscribed considerations of welfare. Further, the regulations guiding research on animals discount any consideration of animal welfare relative to comparable human welfare. This paper explores two of the most promising justifications for these differences␣between the two sets of regulations. The first potential justification points to lesser moral status for animals on the basis of their lesser capacities. The second potential justification relies on a claim about the permissibility of moral partiality as␣found in common morality. While neither potential justification is sufficient to justify the regulatory difference as it stands, there is possible common ground between supporters of some regulatory difference and those rejecting the current difference.     

青少年外向/宜人性人格、互联网服务偏好与"网络成瘾"的关系

该研究采用问卷法,以481名中学生为被试,通过无约束结构方程模型分析方法探讨了外向性、宜人性人格特征与互联网服务偏好的交互作用对网络成瘾的影响。研究发现在对网络成瘾的影响上,青少年宜人性人格特征与互联网社交服务偏好存在显著的交互作用,但与互联网娱乐、信息和交易服务偏好的交互作用不显著。外向性人格特征与互联服务偏好不存在显著的交互作用。(1)从平均影响来看,外向性、宜人性、互联网社交、娱乐和交易使用偏好能够正向预测网络成瘾,互联网信息使用偏好对网络成瘾没有显著的预测效果;(2)在宜人性高分组中,互联网社交服务偏好与PIU的正向关系要强于宜人性低分组。斜率检验表明对于低宜人性人格的青少年来说,互联网社交服务偏好不易导致其成瘾,而对高宜人性人格的青少年而言,互联网社交服务偏好反而容易导致其成瘾。     

Further evaluation of a brief, intensive teacher-training model

The purpose of this study was to further evaluate the outcomes of a model program that was designed to train current teachers of children with autism. Nine certified special education teachers participating in an intensive 5-day summer training program were taught a relatively large number of specific skills in two areas (preference assessment and direct teaching). The teachers met the mastery criteria for all of the skills during the summer training. Follow-up observations up to 6 months after training suggested that the skills generalized to their classrooms and were maintained for most teachers with brief feedback only.     

青少年的同伴依恋与其互联网使用的关系

青少年期同伴群体的支持逐渐超过了父母的影响.青少年期同伴依恋在青少年认知、情感、人格以及行为的健康发展和社会适应中起着重要作用,拥有亲密的同伴关系的青少年出现情感问题和行为问题的可能性更小,并拥有更健康的青少年期适应能力.该研究采用同伴依恋量表、互联网服务使用状况量表以及青少年病理性互联网使用量表对405名中学生进行了问卷调查.旨在探讨青少年同伴依恋与其互联网使用之间的关系.结果表明: (1)同伴信任与社交和娱乐服务的使用偏好呈负相关,尽管都没有达到统计显著性; (2)同伴沟通可以正向预测青少年对信息、娱乐和社交服务的使用偏好,且都达到显著性水平;还可以通过互联网娱乐服务使用偏好间接预测PIU; (3)青少年与同伴的疏离程度可以正向预测青少年对社交服务的使用偏好,也可以直接正向预测PIU.     

Procedural and interpersonal fairness moderate the relationship between outcome fairness and acceptance of merit pay

An organizational field study (N = 257) investigated employees' acceptance of a new merit pay system as involving an assessment of whether merit pay can make their earnings more fair, compared to their earnings in the current, seniority-based pay system. We expected that improvement of unfair earnings, and consequently acceptance of merit pay, is considered likely when existing procedures that produce these earnings are unfair, because merit pay improves such procedures. We also expected improvement of unfair earnings, and increased merit pay acceptance, to be likely when employees anticipate fair performance evaluation in a new system, as indicated by fair interpersonal treatment by their supervisor. Results showed that procedural and interpersonal fairness in the existing pay system indeed moderated the relationship between fairness of current outcomes and merit pay acceptance as predicted. Implications for the introduction of merit pay in organizations and for our understanding of the different roles of procedural and interpersonal fairness in outcome evaluations are discussed.     

A comparison of two online cognitive‐behavioural interventions for symptoms of depression in a student population: The role of therapist responsiveness

Objectives: The study aimed to compare the efficacy of eight weekly sessions of a self‐administered online CBT treatment (cCBT; n=51) to a therapist‐assisted email CBT treatment (eCBT; n=50) in University students. Design: The design was a randomised parallel group trial. The study randomised participants with symptoms of depression to one of two available treatments. Method: Participants were offered eight weekly sessions of either cCBT or eCBT. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory‐II (BDI‐II) and the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure (CORE‐OM) at pre‐and post‐treatment, at weeks 16 and 32 follow‐up. The Working Alliance Inventory‐Short Form (WAI‐SR) was completed at weeks 2, 4, and 6. Results: For both groups, pre‐post within group effect sizes reported were large for the BDI‐II and the CORE‐OM and these were maintained at follow‐up. Perceptions of working alliance were similar in each group, but Bond was significantly stronger for the eCBT condition. WAI scores correlated more positively with the outcome on BDI‐II for those in the eCBT condition than the cCBT condition, but not significantly. Conclusion: There were no significant differences between the two online treatments, both reduced depressive symptoms and improved general functioning. Similarly, at post‐treatment and follow‐up, clinical improvement and recovery was demonstrated for both groups equally. The study demonstrates the possibility for cCBT in a university setting that may contribute to addressing the shortcomings in meeting increasing demands that mental health services presently face.     

Effect of shifts in body weight on rats' straight alley performance as a function of reward magnitude

The performance of rats trained in a straight alley for 55 trials under 75% body weight and then shifted to 90% body weight was compared to that of rats trained only under 90% body weight. When training was with a small reward the speed of the shifted group decreased to the level of the 90% small reward control groups, but when training was with a large reward the speed of the shifted group dropped below the level of the 90% large reward control group. Thus, the effects on performance of shifting deprivation level following extended training depend on the reward magnitude employed.     

Slow brain potentials in the CNV-paradigm

Slow brain potentials were recorded during the foreperiod of a reaction time task, and the effects of instructions governing the trade-off between speed and accuracy were investigated. One brain potential, a slow negative shift preceding S₂, was largely attenuated under accuracy instructions. It is suggested that this shift is dependent on a motor response and that its amplitude reflects the level of motor preparation. Two other brain potentials, a slow positive and a slow negative wave, seem to depend on the psychological properties of S₁. Enhanced amplitudes were found, when S₁ provides information, besides its warning function.     

Effects of sentential stress and word class upon comprehension in Broca's aphasics

The roles which word class (open/closed) and sentential stress play in the sentence comprehension processes of both agrammatic (Broca's) aphasics and normal listeners were examined with a word monitoring task. Overall, normal listeners responded more quickly to stressed than to unstressed items, but showed no effect of word class. Aphasics also responded more quickly to stressed than to unstressed materials, but, unlike the normals, responded faster to open than to closed class words regardless of their stress. The results are interpreted as support for the theory that Broca's aphasics lack the functional underlying open/closed class word distinction used in word recognition by normal listeners.     

Reinforcement and punishment in a closed system

Children chose between toys freely and with various restrictive contingencies. Sometimes play with a preferred toy was contingent on play with a nonpreferred toy. Sometimes play with a nonpreferred toy was contingent on play with a preferred toy. Another toy (free toy) was always available during contingency sessions. Because toy playing occupied the entire session the response system was closed. When one response increased in duration others had to decrease. An analysis of closed-system responding revealed that the restrictions of the closed system together with the restrictions imposed by the contingencies forced subjects to alter the proportion of time devoted to the three responses. A geometrical model representing the closed system and an analytical method based on distance are presented to describe the data.