Science and politics: Dangerous liaisons

In contrast to the opinion of numerous authors (e.g. R. Rudner, P. Kitcher, L. R. Graham, M. Dummett, N. Chomsky, R. Lewontin, etc.) it is argued here that the formation of opinion in science should be greatly insulated from political considerations. Special attention is devoted to the view that methodological standards for evaluation of scientific theories ought to vary according to the envisaged political uses of these theories.I wish to thank the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for having supported the work on this paper.     

How serious a fallacy is inconsistency?

Consistency is often pictured as an indispensable requisite for rationality. The paper argues that this is overly rigoristic. Inconsistency can be treated as a matter of isolable singularities rather than an all-destructive disaster. The paper, supports and illustrates a perspective on which consistency can be seen as a desideratum rather than a totaly non-negotiable demand. The argumentation of the paper casts consistency in the role of a cognitive ideal rather than a sine qua non condition of rational process.     

Social interactions as predictors of children's likability and friendship patterns: A multiple regression analysis

The concurrent and predictive validity of four qualitative behavioral classes of social interaction (initiating and receiving positive and negative social interaction) was investigated using sociometric measures of peer acceptance (ratings) and friendship (nominations). Correlational analyses showed significant relationships between behavioral and sociometric measures supporting previous work with preschool populations. Stepwise multiple regression analyses suggested that receiving social interaction from peers best predicted overall acceptance, whereas initiating social interactions best predicted children's friendship patterns. Tentative implications for the behavioral assessment of children's social skills were discussed.The current data were gathered as part of a larger research project concerning social skills assessment and training in children.     

Close‐knit ties through thick and thin: Sharing social exclusion and acceptance enhances social bond

Three experiments investigated whether and why sharing experiences of social exclusion or social acceptance with others strengthens social bonds. Participants experienced either social exclusion or social acceptance alongside another co‐participant who either also experienced the same outcome, or experienced a different outcome, as them. Multilevel modeling results showed that participant dyads who shared the experience of social exclusion or social acceptance felt closer to each other than those who experienced different outcomes, and that perceived similarity mediated the effect of shared experiences on social bonds. Interestingly, participants felt closer to one another after having shared social acceptance, more so than when they have shared social exclusion. Implications of the present findings are interpreted in light of theories of social exclusion, shared experiences, and social bonding.     

Investigating the impact of a novel active gap metering signalization strategy on driver behavior at highway merging sections

A safe headway to the lead vehicle is important to reduce conflicts with merging vehicles from highway on-ramps. Previous research has outlined the advantage of gap metering strategies to yield sufficient space to merging vehicles and improve highway capacity during peak hours. However, prevailing gap metering systems fail to indicate the minimum required gap and leave it to the drivers’ judgment to adjust their headway. This paper proposes a new Active Gap Metering (AGM) signalization that helps outer lane drivers to adjust their headway to the lead vehicle when approaching highway ramps with incoming vehicles. This AGM signalization represents a combination of pavement markings and an innovative Variable Message Sign (VMS). The AGM system was tested alone and in combination with additional variable speed limits (VSL) in distinct environments of the Doha Expressway in the State of Qatar using a driving simulator. The driving behavior of 64 drivers was analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. The results showed that the AGM effectively influenced the drivers’ behavior on the right stream lane. Drivers did gradually increase the distance to the lead vehicle, which resulted in optimal headways to merging on-ramp vehicles. Most importantly, the minimum time-to-collision (TTC_min) to the merging vehicle was increased by an additional 1–1.5 s as compared to no treatment. The proposed AGM signalization can, therefore, be considered by policymakers to influence drivers’ headways at critical merging sections.     

Different level automation technology acceptance: Older adult driver opinion

The increase in the number of older adult drivers in developed countries has raised safety concerns due to the decline in their sensory, motor, perceptual, and cognitive abilities which can limit their driving capabilities. Their driving safety could be enhanced by the use of modern Automated Driver Assistance Systems (ADASs) and might totally resolved by full driving automation. However, the acceptance of these technologies by older adult drivers is not yet well understood. Thus, this study investigated older adult drivers’ intention to use six ADASs and full driving automation through two questionnaires with 115 and 132 participants respectively in Rhode Island, USA. A four-dimensional model referred to as the USEA model was used for exploring older adult drivers’ technology acceptance. The USEA model included perceived usefulness, perceived safety, perceived ease of use, and perceived anxiety. Path Analysis was applied to evaluate the proposed model. The results of this study identified the important factors in older adult drivers’ intention to use ADASs and full driving automation, which could assist stakeholders in improving technologies for use by older drivers.     

Bullying as a group process: Participant roles and their relations to social status within the group

Bullying was investigated as a group process, a social phenomenon taking place in a school setting among 573 Finnish sixth-grade children (286 girls, 287 boys) aged 12–13 years. Different Participant Roles taken by individual children in the bullying process were examined and related to a) self-estimated behavior in bullying situations, b) social acceptance and social rejection, and c) belongingness to one of the five sociometric status groups (popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average). The Participant Roles assigned to the subject were Victim, Bully, Reinforcer of the bully, Assistant of the bully, Defender of the victim, and Outsider. There were significant sex differences in the distribution of Participant Roles. Boys were more frequently in the roles of Bully, Reinforcer and Assistant, while the most frequent roles of the girls were those of Defender and Outsider. The subjects were moderately well aware of their Participant Roles, although they underestimated their participation in active bullying behavior and emphasized that they acted as Defenders and Outsiders. The sociometric status of the children was found to be connected to their Participant Roles. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study Investigating the Function of Hoarding

This study examined the function of hoarding behaviors and the relations between hoarding and a series of cognitive and affective processes in the moment using ecological momentary assessment. A matched-groups design was used to compare college students with higher hoarding symptoms (n = 31) and matched controls (n = 29). The two groups did not differ in what function they reported acquiring served, and positive automatic reinforcement was the most commonly reported function in both groups. Engaging in hoarding-relevant behaviors did not predict change in positive or negative affect when controlling for previous affect. Emotional reactivity and experiential avoidance in the moment were both elevated in the higher hoarding group compared to controls, while momentary mindfulness and negative affect differentiation were lower. Overall, these findings support the importance of emotion regulation processes in hoarding. They also suggest individuals may not be successfully regulating affect in the moment with hoarding behaviors, despite efforts to do so. It may be useful to evaluate processes such as striving for positive affect in hoarding disorder in the future.     

Evaluation of a finger prompt variation in the treatment of pediatric feeding disorders

Children with feeding disorders often engage in refusal behavior to escape or avoid eating. Escape extinction combined with reinforcement is a well-established intervention to treat food refusal. Physical guidance procedures (e.g., jaw prompt, finger prompt) have been shown to increase food acceptance and decrease inappropriate mealtime behavior when more commonly employed escape extinction (e.g., nonremoval of the spoon) procedures are ineffective. The finger prompt, however, has not been extensively evaluated as a treatment adjunct to target food refusal, thus necessitating further examination. The purpose of this prospective study was to assess a variation of a finger prompt procedure to treat food refusal and to assess caregivers' acceptability of the procedure. Three children age 1 to 4 years admitted to an intensive feeding disorders program and their caregivers participated. The finger prompt was effective in increasing bite acceptance across all participants and decreasing or maintaining low levels of inappropriate behavior for 2 participants. The procedure was also acceptable to all caregivers.     

Using the UTAUT2 model to explain public acceptance of conditionally automated (L3) cars: A questionnaire study among 9,118 car drivers from eight European countries

We investigated public acceptance of conditionally automated (SAE Level 3) passenger cars using a questionnaire study among 9,118 car-drivers in eight European countries, as part of the European L3Pilot project. 71.06% of respondents considered conditionally automated cars easy to use while 28.03% of respondents planned to buy a conditionally automated car once it is available. 41.85% of respondents would like to use the time in the conditionally automated car for secondary activities. Among these 41.85%, respondents plan to talk to fellow travellers (44.76%), surf the internet, watch videos or TV shows (44%), observe the landscape (41.70%), and work (17.06%). The UTAUT2 (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) was applied to investigate the effects of performance and effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and hedonic motivation on the behavioural intention to use conditionally automated cars. Structural equation analysis revealed that the UTAUT2 can be applied to conditional automation, with hedonic motivation, social influence, and performance expectancy influencing the behavioural intention to buy and use a conditionally automated car. The present study also found positive effects of facilitating conditions on effort expectancy and hedonic motivation. Social influence was a positive predictor of hedonic motivation, facilitating conditions, and performance expectancy. Age, gender and experience with advanced driver assistance systems had significant, yet small (<0.10), effects on behavioural intention. The implications of these results on the policy and best practices to enable large-scale implementation of conditionally automated cars on public roads are discussed.