The child verbal competence effect in court: a comparative study of field investigative interviews of children in child sexual abuse cases

The purpose of this study is to compare field investigative interviews of children (FIIC) with three different legal outcomes in child sexual abuse cases: (i) insufficient evidence to proceed (IEP); (ii) convictions; or (iii) acquittals by the court. One hundred FIIC were divided into one of the three outcome possibilities. Amongst the female interviewees older than 10 years, there were no cases of acquittals and the convicted cases were over-represented. The children's response to open questions was found to be the main difference between the three FIIC outcomes. The responses to these open questions were 1.9 and 2.3 times longer in the convicted cases compared to acquittals and IEP. Possible explanations for the result are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing potential reinforcement-like effects of brief stimuli unrelated to food reinforcers

It is widely assumed that reinforcers are biologically relevant stimuli, or stimuli that have been associated with biologically relevant stimuli. However, brief, arbitrary stimuli have also been reported to have reinforcement-like effects, despite being unrelated to biologically relevant stimuli like food. The present study explored the potential reinforcement-like effects of brief stimuli across 5 experiments. In Experiments 1 through 4, pigeon subjects responded for food reinforcement and brief stimulus presentations in a 2-component multiple schedule. Neither baseline response rates nor resistance to change during disruption tests were systematically greater in a component with versus without brief stimulus presentations. Increasing the rate and duration of brief stimulus presentations in Experiment 4 did not reveal reinforcement-like effects when compared directly with food. In Experiment 5, pigeons chose between independent terminal links in a concurrent-chains procedure. Across conditions, varying the location, duration, and rate of brief stimulus presentations in the terminal links had no systematic effects on preference. In contrast, varying rates of food reinforcers resulted in large and reliable shifts in preference. Therefore, the present study found no systematic evidence that brief stimuli unrelated to food reliably increase response rates, resistance to change, or preference. These data demonstrate the value of systematic replication, and a behavioral momentum approach to assessing potential reinforcement-like effects.     

Book Review: Cultural Psychotherapy: Working with Culture in the Clinical Encounter. By Karen M. Seeley. New Jersey: Jason Aronson,Inc, 2000, 266 pp., ISBN 0-7657-0224-X

Pastoral Psychology -     

DIMENSIONS COGNITIVES ET COMPORTEMENTALES CHEZ LES JOUEURS RÉGULIERS ET OCCASIONNELS AU BLACKJACK

Empirical studies in the psychology of gambling have revealed at least two well supported findings: (1) irrational cognitions outnumber rational cognitions during gambling (Gaboury and Ladouceur, 1987; Ladouceur, Gaboury, Dumont and Rochette 1988); (2) risk-taking behavior increases as a function to exposure to gambling activities (Ladouceur, Mayrand and Tourigny 1987; Ladouceur, Tourigny and Mayrand 1986). The present study compared regular and occasional gamblers on cognitive and behavioral measures during a blackjack session using the thinking aloud method. The results confirmed that regular players emitted more irrational thoughts than occasional gamblers. The theoretical and practical implications of those results are discussed within the general context of the psychology of gambling.     

The assessment of child abuse potential and the prevention of child abuse and neglect: A policy analysis

A frequently advocated strategy for increasing the efficiency of child abuse prevention programs is to deliver prevention services to "high-risk" populations. This article critically reviews procedures for the reliable and valid assessment of child abuse potential within an ecological perspective. Factors that limit the usefulness of child abuse risk assessment are discussed. These factors include the uncertain criteria of child abuse and neglect, the low base rate of the phenomenon, and the financial and social costs of such procedures. Finally, the prevention implications of the current and future state of the art in child abuse risk assessment are considered and preventive interventions that do not depend on individual case risk screening are advocated.     

Medical ethics in Norway: Modern medicine — Traditional morality

In Norway, by tradition a Lutheran country, the puritan ethics of a “moral minority” has a strong influence on the development and manifestations of medical ethics. Those who exert this influence are found primarily among politicians, the clergy, and, last but certainly not least, among nurses and doctors. The focus of interest is not so much on problems of bioethical moral theory or the teaching of bioethics to students, but very much on attitudes and policies with regard to substantive issues traditionally regarded in Norway as burning bioethical issues, such as: medical research ethics, abortion, prenatal diagnosis, euthanasia, definitions of death, and reproductive technologies.     

Catholic priests and their experience of celibacy

This paper presents some results of an in-depth interview study on the celibate experience of Roman Catholic priests. Twenty-four parish priests who were able and willing to talk about their celibacy were interviewed in five- to six-hour-long sessions. The purpose of the study was to gain more insight into the psychodynamics of being obliged to live a celibate life. Three varieties of celibate experience that we discovered in our research population will be presented. Also the problematic relationship between celibacy and mental health will be discussed.This research was partly supported by the Dutch Centre for Studies in Mental Health (KSGV).     

Sources of Bias in Health Commission and Tobacco Industry Surveys in Australia

Recently, the attitudes held by Australians towards tobacco company advertising and sponsorship have become the focus of much public discussion and the concern of psychological researchers and opinion pollsters. Community attitude surveys have been commissioned by both supporters and opponents of the tobacco industry. Paradoxically, the data obtained from these surveys allow each protagonist to state that the majority of Australians agree with their viewpoint The present authors have identified several sources of possible bias in two surveys as causes of contradictory research findings. A questionnaire was designed which attempted to reduce the sources of bias and which incorporated other methodological refinements. The data obtained highlight how the form of the questions may substantially influence responses in attitude surveys.     

The effects of syntactic structure on letter detection in adjacent function words

In the present study, we examined letter detection in very frequent function-word sequences. It has been claimed that such sequences are processed in a unitized manner, thus preempting access to their constituent letters. In contrast, we showed that letter detection in the words for and the (1) was no more difficult when the words appeared in adjacent locations in a sentence (familiar) than when they appeared apart (less familiar sequence) and (2) was contingent upon the words' syntactic roles within the phrase. Thus, letter detection in for was easier when the sequence was separated by a clause boundary than when the words were part of the same clause. The advantage derived from clause separation was strongest when a comma divided clauses. These results challenge the unitization account of the "missing-letter" effect in common phrases and support a position where this phenomenon is seen to reflect the extraction of phrase structure during reading.