Manipulation and Degrees of Blameworthiness

We propose an original response to Derk Pereboom’s four-case manipulation argument. This response combines a hard-line and a soft-line. Like hard-liners, we insist that the manipulated agent is blameworthy for his wrongdoing. However, like soft-liners, we maintain that there is a difference in blameworthiness between the manipulated agent and the non-manipulated one. The former is less blameworthy than the latter. This difference is due to the fact that it is more difficult for the manipulated agent to do the right thing. We explain how we can make sense of this notion of difficulty in terms of Fischer and Ravizza’s notion of reasons-responsiveness.     

Perceptions of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles: A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis was conducted to compare perceptions of Duchenne smiles, smiles that include activation of the cheek raiser muscle that creates crow's feet around the eyes, with perceptions of non-Duchenne smiles, smiles without cheek raiser activation. In addition to testing the overall effect, moderator analyses were conducted to test how methodological, stimulus-specific and perceiver-specific differences between studies predicted the overall effect size. The meta-analysis found that, overall, Duchenne smiles and people producing Duchenne smiles are rated more positively (i.e., authentic, genuine, real, attractive, trustworthy) than non-Duchenne smiles and people producing non-Duchenne smiles. The difference between Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles was greater when the stimuli were videos rather than photographs, when smiles were elicited naturally rather than through posing paradigms and when Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles were not matched for intensity of the lip corner puller in addition to other perceiver and methodological moderators.     

Partial replication of two rumination-related candidate gene studies

Two recent papers associated candidate genes with brooding rumination, a possible cognitive endophenotype for depression, in children ages 8–14 years. Stone et al. reported that BDNF val66met polymorphism predicted brooding in adolescence. Woody et al. reported that children carrying at least one copy of a CRHR1 TAT haplotype reported less brooding than their peers in the presence of maternal depression. We attempted to replicate and extend these findings in a sample of twins aged 12–16 years. We analyzed the BDNF val66met (rs6265) polymorphism and two (rs242924 and rs7209436) out of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that Woody et al. used to create a CRHR1 haplotype. We controlled for maternal history of depression and clustering within families. Unlike Stone et al., we found higher brooding among BDNF Met carriers. This main effect was qualified by an interaction with pubertal status, with the effect driven by more physically mature participants. Similar to Woody et al., we found an interaction between CRHR1 SNPs and maternal depression, with the homozygous minor genotype acting as a protective factor against brooding in the presence of maternal depression. Findings provide partial support for the influence of candidate genes in two environmentally sensitive systems on brooding.     

Functional analysis and treatment of human-directed undesirable behavior exhibited by a captive chimpanzee

A functional analysis identified the reinforcer maintaining feces throwing and spitting exhibited by a captive adult chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). The implementation of a function-based treatment combining extinction with differential reinforcement of an alternate behavior decreased levels of inappropriate behavior. These findings further demonstrate the utility of function-based approaches to assess and treat behavior problems exhibited by captive animals.     

Women's perceptions and labeling of sexual harassment in academia before and after the Hill-Thomas hearings

Two years before the Hill—Thomas sexual harassment hearings, Jaschik and Fretz (1991) had sixty female undergraduates view videotapes of a male teaching assistant sexually harassing a female undergraduate as he evaluated her term paper. Seventy percent of subjects were Caucasian, 8% were African-American, 20% were Asian-American, and 2% were identified as of another race. Following the videos, subjects completed measures of perceptions of the teaching assistant. To explore the effects of the hearings on women's perceptions of sexual harassment, this study replicated the earlier one. In this study, 81% of subjects were Caucasian, 10% were African-American, 6% were Asian-American, and 2% were identified as of another race. Using Fisher's Exact Probability Test, results indicated that while women in 1992 were as likely as women in 1989 to label behaviors as harassment when directly asked about it (p= .16), women in 1992 were significantly more likely to spontaneously label the behaviors as harassment (p= .02), suggesting that publicity from the hearings may have increased women's sensitivity to the issue of sexual harassment, although other possible explanations for the changes are also explored.     

Spiritual Beliefs and Barriers Among Managed Care Practitioners

Purpose: Ninety percent of American adults believe in God and 82% pray weekly. A majority wants their physicians to address spirituality during their health care visit. However, clinicians incorporate spiritual discussion in less than 20% of visits. Our objectives were to measure clinician beliefs and identify perceived barriers to integrating spirituality into patient care in a statewide, primary care, managed care group. Methods: Practitioners completed a 30-item survey including demographics and religious involvement (DUREL), spirituality in patient care (SPC), and barriers (BAR). We analyzed data using frequencies, means, standard deviations, and ANOVA. Findings: Clinicians had a range of religious denominations (67% Christian, 14% Jewish, 11% Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist, 8% agnostic), were 57% female and 24% had training in spirituality. Sixty-six percent reported experiencing the divine. Ninety-five percent felt that a patients spiritual outlook was important to handling health difficulties and 68% percent agreed that addressing spirituality was part of the physicians role. Ninety-five percent of our managed care group noted 8lack of time as an important barrier, lack of training was indicated by 69%, and 21% cited fear of response from administration. Conclusions: Managed care practitioners in a time constrained setting were spiritual themselves and believed this to be important to patients. Respondents indicated barriers of time and training to implementing these beliefs. Comparing responses from our group to those in other published surveys on clinician spirituality, we find similar concerns. Clinician education may overcome these barriers and improve ability to more fully meet their patients expressed needs regarding spirituality and beliefs.*This material has previously been presented as an abstract at the Culture and End of Life Conference, Association of Medical Colleges Spirituality, Kansas City, MO, September 12–14, 2002.Project supported by the Foundation for Spirituality in Medicine, Baltimore, MD     

Women's perceptions and labeling of sexual harassment

This study explored women's perceptions of videotaped portrayals of sexual harassment. Ninety female undergraduates viewed a video of a male teaching assistant evaluating a female undergraduate's term paper. Videos contained either no, subtle, or explicit sexual harassment. Following the videos, subjects completed measures of perceptions of the teaching assistant. Results indicated that women perceived sexual harassment in the videos that contained it, but most did not explicitly label the behavior as sexual harassment until they were cued to do so.     

Genetic Discrimination and the Employment Provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act: Emerging Legal,Empirical, and Policy Implications

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is the most comprehensive federal civil rights law addressing employment discrimination against potentially millions of Americans. The Human Genome Project (HGP) is a federally funded research effort that seeks to map and sequence every human gene. This article is meant to contribute to the emerging dialogue on the interplay between the HGP and the employment provisions of the ADA, set forth in Title I of the act. The relevance of the HGP to emerging legal questions, including those arising under Title I and recent EEOC guidelines, is described. Thereafter, empirical issues are discussed, and directions for future investigation of genetic discrimination under the ADA are explored.