Judgments of blame and forgiveness: A comparison of young adults,older adults,and older adults with dementia

IntroductionAlzheimer's disease may modify moral judgment.ObjectiveIn two studies, we assessed the impact of dementia on blame and forgiveness. Study 1 compared the ways in which young adults, older adults, and older adults with dementia cognitively integrated two factors. Study 2 assessed the number of different factors that older adults with dementia were able to integrate during these moral judgments.MethodThe participants recorded their moral judgements in a blame task and in a forgiveness task. In study 1, the two questionnaires contained scenarios built from the combination of two factors. In study 2, the participants were confronted with the same tasks under three different conditions with scenarios that combined three, four or five factors.ResultsThe data from study 1 showed that the older adults with dementia did not combine the two factors in the same way as young adults did: the combination depended on the type of moral judgment. Study 2 revealed differences in moral judgment between older adults with dementia and adults without dementia in all tasks (i.e. with three, four or five factors combined).ConclusionDementia has an impact on moral judgments. Moral judgment among people with dementia is both task- and condition-dependant.     

Improving parent–child interactions through interactive reading workshops

IntroductionMany authors agree on the importance of training parents in early literacy strategies.ObjectiveThis study analyses the effects of an intervention to improve parent–child interactions during reading sessions, using interactive reading techniques.MethodThe design is exploratory and includes a treatment group (n = 22), which benefited from four interactive reading workshops, and a control group (n = 18), which did not benefit from specific training. Both groups read the same books, three times a week, for 10 weeks. The children come from middle socioeconomic backgrounds and attend preschool or kindergarten (grades 1–3).ResultsThe analyses were conducted on the basis of pre- and post-intervention video observations, coded using the Adult–Child Interactive Reading Inventory (ACIRI). Results from an ANCOVA show that parental behavior, and in turn child behavior, improves in post-intervention: parents improve their children's attention to the text and implement literacy strategies, while the children become more involved in the interactions.ConclusionInteractive reading workshops for parents improve the quantity and quality of parent–child interactions when reading books in a natural and playful context.     

When to (or not to) trust intelligent machines: Insights from an evolutionary game theory analysis of trust in repeated games

The actions of intelligent agents, such as chatbots, recommender systems, and virtual assistants are typically not fully transparent to the user. Consequently, users take the risk that such agents act in ways opposed to the users’ preferences or goals. It is often argued that people use trust as a cognitive shortcut to reduce the complexity of such interactions. Here we formalise this by using the methods of evolutionary game theory to study the viability of trust-based strategies in repeated games. These are reciprocal strategies that cooperate as long as the other player is observed to be cooperating. Unlike classic reciprocal strategies, once mutual cooperation has been observed for a threshold number of rounds they stop checking their co-player’s behaviour every round, and instead only check it with some probability. By doing so, they reduce the opportunity cost of verifying whether the action of their co-player was actually cooperative. We demonstrate that these trust-based strategies can outcompete strategies that are always conditional, such as Tit-for-Tat, when the opportunity cost is non-negligible. We argue that this cost is likely to be greater when the interaction is between people and intelligent agents, because of the reduced transparency of the agent. Consequently, we expect people to use trust-based strategies more frequently in interactions with intelligent agents. Our results provide new, important insights into the design of mechanisms for facilitating interactions between humans and intelligent agents, where trust is an essential factor.     

Factors affecting motorcyclists’ behavior in car-following condition

Car-following (CF) maneuver plays an important role in both traffic flow analysis and road safety assessment. However, many studies on this issue have focused on the drivers’ behaviour, neglecting the different driving behaviour of the motorcycle riders and the vulnerability of this type of user. The aim of the present paper is to analyse the factors affecting the riders’ behaviour in CF condition, by using two surrogate safety indicators, Time Headway (TH) and Time To Collision (TTC). A field experiment was conducted to collect data. Twenty young motorcyclists participated in the study driving their own motorcycles, which were instrumented with a camera and a global positioning system device (GPS). A digital image processing algorithm was used to obtain CF related indicators. The results of the study showed that Time Headway (TH) and Time To Collision (TTC) are independent of each other, extending the result obtained in the literature for the four wheeled vehicles to the motorcycles. TTC and TH were therefore analyzed separately. As for TTC, it was observed that only in few cases (0.8%) the riders were found in risky condition (TTC < 5 s), confirming the role of this parameter for the detection of an impending risk. On the other hand, TH gives information about a potentially risky situation, and 99% of the riders were found in such condition (TH < 2 s). Due to the few cases in TTC risky conditions, only TH was further modelled by using the hazard-based duration analysis. Accelerated Failure Time (AFT) model specification was used, and the Weibull distribution provided the best fit of the data. The model identified four covariates affecting TH and all of them had the effect of reducing TH, increasing the collision risk. The time spent on CF condition, the speed of the motorcycle, the willingness of overtaking and the engine size of the motorcycle were the factors that reduced TH.The findings of this study could be considered in the development of microsimulation models; the factors that were found affecting the motorcyclists’ behavior in car-following condition could be considered for a more realistic simulation of the riders’ choice of Time Headway.     

成员关系对协作提取成绩的影响

当人们与搭档组成社会群体一起协作讨论某些已经发生的事件或经验时, 该社会群体中的成员关系对协作提取成绩的影响仍不明确。本研究通过两项实验, 分别使用语词词单和情景故事作为实验材料, 考察成员关系(包括关系类型和关系时长)对协作提取成绩的影响。研究结果表明, 当记忆的材料为语词词单时, 青年陌生组出现了协作抑制; 而当记忆的材料为情景故事时, 青年夫妻和老年夫妻组均出现了协作促进。此外, 老年夫妻在协作提取情景故事的过程中使用的有效交流策略更多, 且这些有效交流策略的使用与更高的协作提取成绩有关。该结果支持了具有长时亲密关系的老年夫妻之间的“交互记忆系统”对协作促进的关键作用, 为理解成员关系对协作提取成绩的影响提供了全面的证据。     

When Being “Essential” Illuminates Disparities: Counseling Clients Affected by COVID‐19

The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID‐19) has highlighted social disparities in the United States. This article examines how preexisting racial and ethnic disparities, exacerbated by COVID‐19, have negatively affected communities of color that tend to be overrepresented in lower socioeconomic groups, have limited access to health care and education, have an undocumented status, and work in jobs considered “essential.” Counselors are encouraged to use creative strategies to design and facilitate telecounseling and reduced‐ or no‐cost workshops in which attendees can participate safely. Specific cultural considerations, aspects of crisis management, and creative interventions that can be used with clients of color at an appropriate social distance are discussed. Counselors can also instill hope in their clients by promoting sociopolitical development. As the impact of COVID‐19 will be felt for years, it is crucial that counselors be prepared to address the needs of those disproportionately affected.     

Psychosis,symbol, affectivity 2: another perspective on the treatment of psychotic disorder

This is the second of two papers concerning our study into an integrated approach to psychotic disorders conducted at the University Psychiatry Unit of Palermo’s Polyclinic over approximately 15 years; this paper concentrates on the clinical phenomena. The study aimed to find the best possible treatment and to improve the prognosis of this patient group. We have explored the efficacy of a range of psycho-therapeutic (cognitive-behavioural, systemic-relational, psychodynamic, group and others), psycho-pharmaceutical, psychiatric rehabilitative and psycho-educational treatments, with a hermeneutic approach instead of a systematic one. The study’s conclusions, described in the paper, are that all psychotic functions start with a nuclear psychic issue connected to emotional development. We describe how the most significant symptoms of acute psychotic manifestations (delusions and misperceptions) make use of an encrypted psychological meaning that can be decoded through the patient’s symbolic language. This language is a key element in diagnosis and in the choice of treatment. The paper describes how we revised our understanding of psychosis from being a brain disease to being a process aimed at the rearrangement of psychic functioning. Our significant results are described.     

工作记忆、认知灵活性对幼儿阅读理解的影响:推理能力、心理理论的中介作用

研究选取202名4～5岁的幼儿为研究对象,其中男孩102人、女孩100人,研究采用测验法考察幼儿年龄、工作记忆、认知灵活性、推理能力、心理理论与其阅读理解之间的关系。研究采用Amos22.0验证模型。结果发现,4～5岁幼儿的年龄、心理理论、推理能力能直接影响其阅读理解。认知灵活性、工作记忆会通过影响心理理论、推理能力间接影响阅读理解,并且心理理论、推理能力在其中起完全中介作用。     

‘My Husband is My Key to Paradise.’ Attitudes of Muslims in Indonesia and Norway to Spousal Roles and Wife-Beating

This article explores the influence of religious factors and values held by local societies, when Muslims develop their personal attitudes and perceived religious norms regarding spousal roles and wife-beating. It is based on qualitative interviews with 59 Muslims in Indonesia (N?=?35) and Norway (N?=?24). In addition, relevant Indonesian and Norwegian Muslim literature and web pages are examined. According to most Indonesian respondents, Islamic norms prescribe male leadership and allow the husband to beat a disobedient wife. This was regarded as crucial for the wife’s destiny after death. According to most Norwegian respondents, Islamic norms promote gender equality and oppose wife-beating. The sharp contrast between the perceived religious norms of Indonesian and Norwegian respondents may be caused by dissimilar cultural values in the two countries – values that influenced personal attitudes and thus the horizon of understanding where religion and authoritative text were interpreted. The reasoning of the respondents also sheds light on the importance of specific sacred texts when religious norms were developed individually. From a psychological point of view, the implementation of the egalitarian attitudes represented by numerous respondents may have positive effects for Muslim women living in patriarchal societies.     

‘Thank God We Are in Syria!’ Modernization,Interfaith Relations and Women’s Rights in Syria Before the ‘Arab Spring’ (2000–2010)

The status of women is generally considered a measure of ‘modernity’ and it has often been exploited by the West to highlight the ‘backwardness’ of non-Western countries and to justify colonialism and ‘civilization’ endeavours. The question of women’s rights and its connection to ‘modernity’, however, is not simple. This article considers the example of Syria immediately before the revolts of 2011, and highlights that the government’s approach to the issue of women’s rights appears to have been inspired by a peculiar idea of ‘modernity’ that is not in line with the Western mainstream view, because it is not based on the centrality of the individual and does not include a view of secularization that underestimates the social and political importance of religious beliefs. Reflections on the peculiarities of the Syrian approach may help avoid simplifications and – more generally – may help us reflect on the premise of the mainstream Western approach to the issue in countries considered as ‘other’.