Attitudes,Tracing, and Control

There is an apparent tension in our everyday moral responsibility practices. On the one hand, it is commonly assumed that moral responsibility requires voluntary control: an agent can be morally responsible only for those things that fall within the scope of her voluntary control. On the other hand, we regularly praise and blame individuals for mental states and conditions that appear to fall outside the scope of their voluntary control, such as desires, emotions, beliefs, and other attitudes. In order to resolve this apparent tension, many philosophers appeal to a tracing principle to argue that agents are morally responsible (only) for those attitudes whose existence can be traced back, causally, to a voluntary action or omission in the past. My aim in this article is to critically evaluate this tracing strategy and to argue that it gives us a misguided picture of when and why we are morally responsible for our attitudes. I argue that we should accept a ‘judgment sensitivity’ condition of moral responsibility rather than a ‘voluntary control’ condition, and defend this account against various objections.     

Spatial coding in the processing of anaphor by good and poor readers: Evidence from eye movement analyses

An experiment that examined the way in which young readers deployed eye movements while reading sentences and while answering questions containing either a pronominal or noun anaphor is reported. To evaluate the possible causal role played by differences in inspection strategies between readers of above- and below-average reading skill, a third“age control” group of younger children was also tested. This group was matched on absolute reading ability with the less skilled group of older children, and on relative reading ability (i.e. reading quotient) with the more skilled group. Differences in inspection strategy were apparent between the groups of good and poor readers. Good readers launched more selective reinspections, whereas the poorer readers were more inclined to engage in“backtracking” and appeared to make less use of the displayed text. In every case there was a marked similarity in the behaviour of the good readers and the“age controls”. These results suggest that the ability to code the spatial location of words in a sentence, and, where necessary, to use this information to launch accurately targetted selective reinspections of previously read text, plays a crucial role in the development of skilled reading performance.     

Focused search of semantic cases in question answering

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that people can execute focused searches of semantic cases when answering questions about complex facts, such as “the teacher watered the peas, the corn, and the lettuce with the hose.” In Experiment 1, answer time varied mainly with the number of concepts in the relevant or focused case, supporting the hypothesis. Experiment 2 indicated that the irrelevant case undergoes some processing. Experiment 3 confirmed that search in Experiments 1 and 2 focused on semantic cases rather than on taxonomic categories. It is proposed that focused memory search has a high probability of retrieving the relevant case and a low probability of retrieving the irrelevant case. In the latter event, the irrelevant concepts receive full processing.     

Psychologists and alcoholic women

Alcoholism among women often has been treated using a model based on research with alcoholic men. Women react differently to alcohol than men both physiologically and psychologically and their drinking patterns are different from men's. Treatment facilities for alcoholism have not been as available for women as for men and treatment must be individualized for the differences between men and women problem drinkers and for the differences among alcoholic women.     

Alcoholism: etiologies proposed and therapeutic approaches tried

Alcohol, probably the most popular mood-altering drug, has frightening consequences when abused. Genetic factors and sociocultural influences contribute to alcoholic behavior. Study of endocrines, neurotransmitters, and neuropeptides may reveal biological markers to help identify those at risk for alcoholism. Drinking patterns are often based on the expectation of alcohol's mood-altering quality. The focus of treatment has expanded to include not only drinking behavior but also emotional, social, and vocational adjustment. Controlled drinking has proved effective for some, so that complete abstinence is no longer the sole goal of therapy. Behavioral, martial, group and individual, outpatient and inpatient therapy, and drugs as adjuncts, all help some alcoholics, but none is a cure for all. Answers still lag behind questions but researchers have registered some advances that challenge therapists to enlarge therapeutic approaches to fit the multifaceted picture of alcoholism.     

Counting On Blood Donors: Increasing the Impact of Reminder Calls

Two experiments were conducted to see if blood drive attendance could be increased by altering the content of reminder calls. In Experiment 1 college students received either a standard reminder (the place, time, and necessity of eating beforehand) or a commitment-enhancing reminder in which they agreed to be "counted on". Those in the latter condition were significantly more likely (p <.007) to attend a blood drive. Experiment 2 demonstrated that an alternate wording for the commitment-enhancing message was possible; that a verbal response was necessary to ensure the commitment; and that a message enhancing altruism was not as effective. The studies suggest that asking for an additional commitment during a reminder call can appreciably increase blood drive participation rates.     

Choosing situations for a purpose

Within the literature, in theoretical discussions individuals are conceptualized as agents, capable of choosing and planning their actions. Situations are open to definition and may be construed differently by different individuals. On the other hand, the majority of studies of situations treat them as concrete givens with specific properties merely waiting to be discovered. The present paper attempts to explore the possibility of empirically treating individuals as agents, capable of choosing and planning their actions and of treating situations as being open to definition. It focuses on the choice of settings to fulfil different goals and on aspects of the setting considered salient once the goal is specified. The two studies described in this paper have illustrated that there is some consensus in the way people choose settings for different goals and that different uses of the setting lead to different aspects of the setting being considered salient. The high consensus with which two different groups of subjects, performing slightly different tasks, associated goals and settings suggests that there is some shared, at least subcultural, knowledge concerning the appropriate places in which to achieve specific goals. Individuals enter settings for specific purposes. Individuals entering a particular setting for different purposes tend to report using the setting in different ways. Both the goal and the particular setting affect the aspects of the setting considered relevant to the goal; neither the goal nor the setting alone is sufficient.