Lost in translation? Psychometric properties and construct validity of the English Essen Climate Evaluation Schema (EssenCES) social climate questionnaire

The social climate of correctional (forensic) settings is likely to have a significant impact on the outcome of treatment and the overall functioning of these units. The Essen Climate Evaluation Schema (EssenCES) provides an objective way of measuring social climate that overcomes the content, length, and psychometric limitations of other measures. But the English translation of the EssenCES has yet to be sufficiently validated for use in forensic settings in the United Kingdom. The current study presents psychometric properties (factor structure and internal consistency) and an examination of construct validity with the English EssenCES. Satisfactory internal consistency was found for all EssenCES scales, and the expected three-factor structure was confirmed with both staff and residents and in prison and secure hospital settings using confirmatory factor analysis. Evidence to support construct validity was established using multilevel models, which showed statistically significant associations between scores on the EssenCES and scores on the Working Environment Scale, institutional aggression, and site security. Future validation work and potential practical applications of the EssenCES are discussed.     

Psychophysiological Effects of Toxic Chemical Contamination Exposure: A Community Field Study

The present study evaluated the psychophysiological impact of an environmental stressor—potential health threats to residents due to chronic exposure to toxic chemical contamination. Residents of a community exposed to this toxic contamination were compared with residents in a demographically matched community not exposed to such contamination. A battery of self-report. performance, and physiological measures were administered to residents in these two communities. Results demonstrated that residents of the contaminated community exhibited significantly more symptoms of stress (greater self-report indices, poorer task performance, and higher diastolic blood pressure levels) relative to residents in the comparison community. Such findings indicate that these exposure-community residents are being significantly impacted by this environmental stressor.     

Factor comparison of two Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory short forms

A sample of 315 valid Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) protocols were selected from inpatient files and scored for both the MMPI-168 and Faschingbauer Abbreviated MMPI short forms. Each short form was then factor-analyzed by a principal axis strategy with varimax rotation. The six factors extracted from each short form were then compared as to their similarity by use of the s index. This procedure showed five of the six factors in each short form as having a significant relationship of the pattern of salient variables they had in common with the complimentary factors of the other form. These data suggest that both short forms, though based on different construction methodologies, share the same underlying personality attributes. Future research is suggested to replicate these results and extend them to the full MMPI.     

Katrina: Macro-Ethical Issues for Engineers

Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst disasters in United States history. Failures within New Orleans’ engineered hurricane protection system (levees and floodwalls) contributed to the severity of the event and have drawn considerable public attention. In the time since Katrina, forensic investigations have uncovered a range of issues and problems related to the engineering work. In this article, my goal is to distill from these investigations, and the related literature that has accumulated, some overarching macro-ethical issues that are relevant for all engineers. I attempt to frame these issues, using illustrative examples taken from Katrina, in a way that might be of pedagogical use and benefit for engineering educators interested in engaging their students in discussions of engineering ethics, societal impact of engineered systems, engineering design, or related topics. Some of the issues discussed are problems of unanticipated failure modes, faulty assumptions, lack or misuse of information, the importance of resiliency, the effects of time, balancing competing interests, attending to the details of interfaces, the fickleness of risk perception, and how the past constrains the present.     

Validation of a novel cognitive bias task based on difference in quantity of reinforcement for assessing environmental enrichment

Cognitive bias tasks purport to assess affective states via responses to ambiguous stimuli. We hypothesized that a novel cognitive bias task based on positive reinforcement using quantity differences would detect changes in affect in captive grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis). We trained bears (n = 8) to respond differently (nose or paw touch) to two stimuli (light or dark gray cue cards), with responses counterbalanced across bears. The two cues signaled a small or large food reward, respectively. Responses to ambiguous probe stimuli (i.e., shades of gray) intermediate to the trained stimuli were classified as either ‘optimistic,’ appropriate for the larger reward, or ‘pessimistic,’ appropriate for the smaller reward. In Experiment 1, we explored the contrast in reward size necessary to detect a change in response across probe stimuli (large reward, 3 or 6 apple slices: small reward, 1 slice). We observed a change in response across probe stimuli, with no difference in response between reward-value groups, indicating that a contrast of 3:1 apple slices was sufficient to affect responses. In Experiment 2, we investigated cognitive bias after 2.1 h of exposure to enrichment items varying in attractiveness. Results were unaffected by enrichment type or time spent interacting with enrichments, indicating that the task failed to demonstrate criterion validity for comparing mood following exposure to different enrichment items. However, greater time spent pacing prior to testing was associated with ‘optimistic’ judgments. The data provide some support for use of cognitive bias tasks based on quantity differences in animal welfare assessments involving captive wildlife.     

Admission of suspicion as a function of information source: Tip-off vs. situational cues

Two studies were run in which subjects received information about a fake opponent in a two-person game either from a confederate tip off or from situational cues designed to allow the subject to penetrate the deception unaided. In both experiments, subjects given the tip off reported less suspicion of the opponent than did those using situational cues. Probes were run to check tip-off information transmission in both experiments. In Experiment II a preinstruction manipulation was used to check for awareness of the actual purpose of the experiment and suspicion of the confederate tip off, but no evidence for these unwanted artifacts was found. The results suggest that subjects may be candid about their interpretations, at least if their suspicions do not derive from peers.     

Roles of Boredom and Life Goals in Juvenile Delinquency1

The relationship between possible selves and boredom in juvenile delinquency was examined in 418 high school students. The construct Possible Selves refers to the representation of the self that each person would like to become, could become, and is afraid of becoming. Participants who acknowledged high levels of delinquent behaviors reported more negative possible selves, a higher tendency to experience boredom, and fewer positive possible selves than did adolescents who engaged in lower levels of delinquent behaviors. Also, the number of negative possible selves, the number of positive possible selves, boredom proneness, and gender accounted for 32% of the variance in juvenile delinquency. Overall, the results provide evidence that boredom and a negative view of one's future play a significant role in adolescent delinquent behavior.