How expert witnesses' counterfactuals influence causal and responsibility attributions of mock jurors and expert judges

Past research has shown that counterfactual (“If…then…”) thoughts influence causal and responsibility attribution in the judicial context. However, little is known on whether and how the use of counterfactuals in communication affects lay jurors' and judges' evaluations. In two studies, we asked mock lay jurors (Study 1) and actual judges (Study 2) to read a medical malpractice case followed by an expert witness report, which included counterfactuals focused on either the physician, the patient, or external factors. Results showed that counterfactual focus had a strong effect on both lay jurors' and judges' causal and responsibility attributions. Counterfactual focus also moderated the effect of outcome foreseeability on responsibility attribution. Discussion focuses on how counterfactual communication can direct causal and responsibility attribution and reduce the importance of other factors known to influence judicial decision‐making. The potential implications of these findings in training programs and debiasing interventions are also discussed.     

Chaotic attractors in the therapeutic system 1

Because little research had been done on the presence and role of latent communication in the context of team‐conducted family therapy, the writers set out to monitor unconscious responses generated under these conditions. Specifically, they investigated an ongoing family treatment situation conducted according to the “reflecting team model.” One team of therapists handles the actual treatment session, while the other observes from behind a one‐way mirror. During the course of a session, the second team makes suggestions to the treatment team either by telephone or by calling the therapists out of the treatment room.

As the project developed, the writers found that the unconscious responses of both family and treatment teams indicated a process at work beyond the conscious intentions of the participants. That is, the therapeutic enterprise was functioning as a dynamical system, whose increasing complexity suggested a self organizing principle at work. This paper traces the development of the system's movement toward greater complexity, identifies the specific interventions that indicate this process, describes how all participants demonstrated a high degree of resonance and synchronization with this overarching‐self organizing pattern. This paper serves to alert therapists to the role of unconscious communication within the therapeutic system and postulates that the generation of form within psychotherapy follows many of the same self organizing processes found in other human and non human systems.     

Emotion recognition and expression in young obese participants: preliminary study

This study of the presence of alexithymic characteristics in obese adolescents and preadolescents tested the hypothesis of whether they showed impaired recognition and expression of emotion. The sample included 30 obese young participants and a control group of 30 participants of normal weight for their ages. Stimuli, 42 faces representing seven emotional expressions, were shown to participants who identified the emotion expressed in the face. The Level of Emotional Awareness Scale was adapted for children to evaluate their ability to describe their emotions. Young obese participants had significantly lower scores than control participants, but no differences were found in recognition of emotion. The lack of words to describe emotions might suggest a greater prevalence of alexithymic characteristics in the obese participants, but the hypothesis of a general deficit in the processing of emotional experiences was not supported.     

A microswitch program to foster simple foot and leg movements in adult wheelchair users with multiple disabilities

This study assessed a microswitch program to foster simple foot and leg movements in 2 adult wheelchair users with multiple disabilities. The participants' mood (indices of happiness) was recorded throughout the study. Data showed that participants rapidly increased the target foot and leg movements and maintained those movements during the course of the study, which lasted about 4.5 months. With regard to indices of happiness, 1 participant showed a fairly modest increase during the intervention while the other participant showed a substantial increase. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Are there different patterns of cerebral asymmetry between dyslexic subtypes?

The purpose of this research has been to analyze the cerebral asymmetry in dyslexic children and, specifically for demonstrating whether there are different patterns of cerebral asymmetry among subtypes of dyslexia. We used a sample of 89 dyslexic children divided into subtypes obtained from the Jimenez and Ramirez (2002) study. The dual-task method was used to assess hemispheric specialization. The data were compared with that obtained from a control group of normal readers of same age (CA; N= 37) and with a younger reading level control group (RL; N= 40). We found that in the dyslexic group, similarly to the younger reading level group, a high percentage of children showed convergence in the left hemisphere of both linguistic and spatial functions. This pattern was also found in the RL control group. On the other hand, we did not find different patterns of cerebral asymmetry between dyslexic subtypes.     

Facing the perfect contingency: interactions with the self at 2 and 3 months

We used a double video Live-Replay-Live procedure to explore self-self interactions in fourteen 9-week-old infants, repeated at 13-weeks with 10 of these infants. Using multiple measures of behavioural response we found that (1) in all cases where age effects held, duration of response was greater at 9- than at 13-weeks, (2) infants' responses differed according to whether or not self-images were Live or Replay, and (3) age and condition interacted to influence infants' responses. At 9 (but not 13) weeks, the two Live conditions correlated with each other but not with the Replay condition on some measures, indicating that infants apprehended the visual-proprioceptive contingency provided by their actions. Also at 9-weeks only, all infants showed reversals in visual attention with evidence for a bi-modal pattern: 8 preferring the Live conditions and 6 the Replay condition. An explanation based on familiarity and increasing disinterest with specific contexts is suggested.     

Comorbidity of DSM-IV Personality Disorders in unipolar and bipolar affective disorders: a comparative study

The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of Personality Disorders assessed by Structured Clinical Interview for Axis-II in 155 inpatients diagnosed with Unipolar Disorder vs inpatients with Bipolar Disorder (39). The most frequent Axis II diagnoses among Unipolar inpatients were Borderline (31.6%), Dependent (25.2%), and Obsessive-Compulsive (14.2%) Personality Disorders. Among Bipolar inpatients, the most prevalent personality disorders were Borderline (41%), Narcissistic (20.5%), Dependent (12.8%), and Histrionic disorders (10.3%). Using chi squared analysis, few differences in distribution emerged between the two groups: Unipolar patients had more recurrent Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder than Bipolar patients (chi(1)2=6.24, p<.005). Comorbid Narcissistic Personality Disorder was significantly more frequent in the Bipolar than in the Unipolar group (chi(1)2=6.34, P<.01). Considering the three clusters (DSM-IV classification), there was a significant difference between the groups, Cluster C (fearful, avoidant) diagnoses being more frequent in the Unipolar than in the Bipolar group (48.4% vs 20.5%, respectively). Cluster B (dramatic, emotionally erratic) diagnoses were found more frequently in patients with Bipolar Disorders (71.8% vs 45.2% in Unipolar patients, chi(2)2=10.1, p<.006). The differences in the distribution and prevalence of Personality Disorders between the two patient groups are discussed.     

A Century of Suicide in Italy: A Comparison between the Old and the Young

This study analyzes suicide rates from 1887 to 1993 in the Italian population between the ages of 15 and 24 years old and over 65 years of age, based on official data published in the Health Statistics Year Book. The rates of death by suicide (per 100,000) subjects) are calculated for each year and for 10-year periods, as are the mortality rates relative to each method of suicide, standardized by gender. The latter analysis was possible starting from 1951 only, when it became customary to record method. The findings indicate an increase in the suicide phenomenon in the elderly population in Italy over the test period. Rates are at least 3 times higher for men than for women. The highest rates are reported for elderly men, but there appears to have been a greater proportional increase in the number of suicides committed by elderly women. The rise was statistically significant in both males and females. By contrast, a rather constant decrease in suicide rates in young people emerges from the beginning of the century through to the present date. This decrease is more marked in females, although suicide rates are lower for females than for males. Over the study period, substantial changes have come about in the suicide methods used by both young and old people. There was an increase in poisoning by care exhaust fumes, jumping from heights, hanging, and firearms.