Nominal and interactive groups: Effects of preinstruction and deliberations on deicisions and evidence recall in complex trials.

Two studies assessed the effects of preinstruction on decision making in simulated civil trials. In Study 1, substantive instructions were presented before the evidence, after the evidence, before and after the evidence, or not at all to nominal jurors who did not deliberate and to interactive jurors who did deliberate. Preinstructed nominal jurors differentiated among the plaintiffs in awarding damages, whereas postinstructed nominal and interactive jurors did not. Group discussion and preinstruction augmented damage awards and improved recall of evidence only for preinstructed jurors. Study 2 suggested that substantive preinstruction engaged a proplaintiff bias when trial evidence was technically difficult but enhanced systematic processing when the evidence was presented in less complex language. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Juror decision-making models: The generalization gap.

Evaluates psychological and mathematical models that have been applied to individual juror decision making and identifies 3 research goals: to gain insight into adult cognition in a complex, naturally occurring reasoning task, to extend existing psychological models of decision making and judgment, and to provide empirical data on questions of interest to the legal community. A task analysis is presented in the form of an ideal juror model to describe and evaluate empirical research with respect to these goals. Component processes proposed in each model and empirical findings are compared across models and in relation to the task analysis. Models examined include information integration, Bayesian, Poisson, sequential weighting, and nonmodels. It is concluded that laboratory model applications to actual complex reasoning tasks must be based on thorough task analyses to avoid conflict between research goals and to facilitate generalization to natural settings. (130 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Juror underutilization of eyewitness nonidentifications: Theoretical and practical implications.

Tested the impact of 2 types of nonidentification information (eyewitness testimony and fingerprint evidence) on the perception of guilt. 216 undergraduates simulating the role of jurors were shown cases in which there was (a) a single eyewitness identification, (b) a single eyewitness nonidentification, (c) a single eyewitness control, (d) contradictory testimony, (e) 2 eyewitness identifications, or (f) 2 eyewitness nonidentifications. Three levels of fingerprint information (identification, nonidentification, and control) were factorially combined with the eyewitness factor. Results show that nonidentifications had less impact on perceptions of guilt than identification for both eyewitness testimony and fingerprint evidence. Findings are explained in terms of the general tendency for negative information to carry greater weight than positive information. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of mothers' perceptions of children's competence: The moderating role of mothers' theories of competence.

There is much evidence that parents' perceptions of children's competence affect the development of children's academic functioning. In the current research, the possibility that this is moderated by parents' theories about the stability of competence was examined. In a 2-wave, 1-year study of 126 children (9 to 12 years old) and their mothers, children's academic functioning (i.e., grades, perceptions of competence, attributions for performance, and mastery orientation) and affective functioning (i.e., self-esteem and depressive symptoms) were examined. Among mothers with relatively high entity theories, their perceptions acted as self-fulfilling prophecies foreshadowing children's academic and affective functioning over time. However, among mothers with relatively low entity theories, mothers' perceptions did not predict children's academic and affective functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Juror comprehension and public policy: Perceived problems and proposed solutions.

Laypersons, the media, and many legal scholars tend to attribute problems in the jury system to the dispositions of individual jurors and to recommend reforms in jury selection procedures and relaxation of the unanimity rule. Social scientists view problems as a consequence of the structure of the jurors' task and recommend reforms in trial procedures. After years of apathy, the legal system has proposed, and in some jurisdictions implemented, a variety of reforms, most of which are based on the social science perspective that the problem is not due to bad jurors but to unnecessary procedural obstacles to high-quality decision making. These reforms are described in the final section of the article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Community members' perceptions of evidence: The effects of gender in a recovered memory civil trial.

Community members judged a civil trial in which a memory had either been recovered or kept secret until therapy 12 years later. Female jurors were more likely to find the defendant liable and to compensate female plaintiffs more than male plaintiffs, whereas the reverse pattern held for male jurors. Female plaintiffs who reported recovered memories were compensated least, whereas female plaintiffs who kept the abuse secret were compensated most. A mediational model was posited and results indicated that the origin of the memory of sexual abuse and victim gender influenced assessments of trial testimonies that were related to the trial outcomes. Results supported the postulated model and indicated significant juror-gender differences in evaluating and weighing the evidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judge and attorney experiences, practices, and concerns regarding expert testimony in federal civil trials.

The results of 3 surveys (1 each of federal judges in 1991 and 1998 and another of attorneys in 1999) indicate that practices and beliefs concerning expert testimony have changed in the wake of the 1993 Supreme Court decision on admissibility in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Reporting both on their general experience with expert testimony and on their most recent civil trial involving such testimony, judges and attorneys indicated that judges were more likely in 1998 than in 1991 to scrutinize expert testimony before trial and then limit or exclude proffered testimony. The results describe common problems with expert testimony, the characteristics of trials in which expert testimony is introduced, and the types of experts who testify. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

School and peer competence in early adolescence: A test of domain-specific self-perceived competence.

The validity for a domain-specific model of self-perceived peer and school competence was examined in a sample of young Black adolescents of lower socioeconomic status. Three methods were used to gauge peer and school competence: self-ratings, via the Perceived Social Competence Scale for Children; peer-ratings, based on nominations; and objective criteria, such as grade point average, achievement test scores, and number of reciprocated friendship choices. More generally defined measures of social competence (i.e., perceived general competence and the Social Competence Nomination Form) were included in some analyses for purposes of comparison. Correlations within and between competence domains were examined via both a multitrait-multimethod matrix and factor analysis. Findings supported the distinctness of perceived peer and school competence domains, providing support for a domain-specific model of self-concept. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical activity and lipoprotein metabolism: epidemiological evidence and clinical trials

Twenty cases with patellar luxation in dogs and cats, in which a sulcoplasty and cranialisation of the tuberositas tibiae were performed, were investigated and reviewed retrospectively. Twelve knees were available for follow-up after a mean period of 15 months. Clinical scoring of patients showed eight with no lameness, three with an occasional weightbearing lameness, and one with a frequent weightbearing lameness. The patella was stable and could not be luxated in ten out of twelve cases. Degenerative joint disease was slightly progressive in the postoperative period. It did not impair the outcome of the procedure.     

Children's emotional competence and attentional competence in early elementary school.

The current study examined the relations between two aspects of emotional competence--emotion knowledge and emotion expression, and children's attentional competence during one school year. Participants were 263 first- and second-grade students at two rural elementary schools. A multiple regression analysis showed that emotion knowledge predicted attentional competence while controlling for age, gender, verbal ability, and initial levels of attentional competence. Multiple regression analyses examining predictors of peer nominations of emotion expression showed that attentional competence predicted peer nominations of happiness, sadness, and anger expression, and emotion knowledge predicted peer nominations of anger expression. Potential improvements for prevention programs and the importance of the findings for school personnel are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of therapist adherence and competence on patient outcome in brief dynamic therapy.

The authors examined the relation between therapist process variables (adherence and competence) and subsequent symptomatic change in patients. 29 depressed patients were seen in 16 sessions of weekly supportive expressive (SE) dynamic psychotherapy. Change in depression from intake to Session 3 predicted higher ratings of adherence to expressive (interpretative) techniques during Session 3 but not their competent delivery. Partialling pretreatment psychiatric severity, therapists' adherence to use of expressive techniques, and previous symptomatic improvement, relatively competent delivery of SE-specific expressive techniques predicted subsequent improvement in depression, Secondary analyses addressing alternative explanations (such as the role of either therapeutic alliance or general therapeutic skills) did not change the results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multicultural competence: Criteria and case examples.

How do you as a professional psychologist know if you are competent to treat clients whose cultural origins and values differ from your own? What awareness, knowledge, and skills do you need? With whom should you consult? When should you refer? Adopting an idiographic, inclusive approach, the authors identify 12 minimal multicultural competencies for practice and illustrate their usefulness through 3 case examples. Suggestions for how professional psychologists can augment and evaluate their own multicultural competencies are offered as well as implications for professional psychology educators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A question of competence: The effects of competence and task feedback on intrinsic interest.

Examined whether competence information is the feedback feature that affects intrinsic motivation and whether perceived competence is the process responsible in 2 studies in which 174 undergraduates compared competence feedback with meaningful task feedback. In Study 1, positive competence feedback and task feedback were manipulated independently. Findings indicate that although positive feedback resulted in the highest level of perceived competence, both positive and task feedback enhanced interest individually. In Study 2, an ego-involvement manipulation emphasized competence prior to task engagement. Path-analytic techniques were used to identify 2 processes that mediated the effects of positive, negative, and task feedback on interest: perceived competence and personal valuation. Results indicate that perceived competence enhanced enjoyment only when performance quality was stressed by the ego-involvement manipulation. When competence was not made salient, subsequent interest depended more on the degree the individual personally valued involvement. Both studies indicate that competence information can affect both perceived competence and personal valuation. Feeling competent itself enhanced intrinsic motivation only if attaining competence was a primary goal of the task. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Striving for competence in the assessment of competence: Psychology's professional education and credentialing journey of public accountability.

The history of psychology's development as a licensed profession is traced over the past 60 years through the evolution of the profession's quality control practices in education and credentialing. These two essential features of a profession began at about the same time, but evolved quite independent of one another for the first 30 years. Shaped by events of the 1970s and 1980s, however, there has been a gradual convergence of focus by those responsible for professional education and credentialing on how best to assess the quality of professional education programs and their graduates who apply for licensure. Although at first this focus was predominantly on the content of curriculum taught and the knowledge examined, increasingly over the past decade there has been a shift of emphasis to the broader, more complex construct of competence to practice for which examination of knowledge is a necessary but insufficient assessment. The article describes the events and structures that led to this outcome and concludes with comments about the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of masked stimuli on motor activation: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence.

Three experiments investigated the influence of unperceived events on response activation. Masked primes were presented before a target. On compatible trials, primes and targets were identical; on incompatible trials, opposite responses were assigned to them. Forced-choice performance indicated that prime identification was prevented by the masking procedure, but overt performance and motor activation as mirrored by the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) were systematically influenced by the prime. The direction of these effects was unexpected: Performance costs for compatible and performance benefits for incompatible trials were obtained relative to a neutral trial condition. The LRP revealed a sequential pattern of motor activation. A partial activation of the response corresponding to the prime was followed by a reverse activation pattern. It is argued that these effects primarily reflect an inhibition of the response initially triggered by the prime. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Collective induction: Effects of multiple hypotheses and multiple evidence in two problem domains.

This article proposes that collective induction is improved more by multiple evidence than by multiple hypotheses. In Experiment 1, 4-person cooperative groups solved rule induction problems. In 9 conditions, they proposed 1, 2, or 4 hypotheses and selected evidence on 1, 2, or 4 arrays, on each trial. Correct hypotheses increased with multiple evidence but not with multiple hypotheses. Conversely, nonplausible hypotheses increased with multiple hypotheses but not with multiple evidence. In Experiment 2, 4-person cooperative groups solved a random mapping of the letters A–J to the numbers 0–9. On each trial, they proposed 2 or 2 equations in letters (e.g., A?+?D?≠??), learned the answer in letters (e.g., A?+?D?=?G), and proposed 1 or 2 hypotheses (e.g., A?=?5). Performance was improved by multiple equations (evidence) but not by multiple hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of airway management on ventilator-associated pneumonia: evidence from randomized trials

OBJECTIVE: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a serious complication of critical illness, conferring increased morbidity and mortality. Many interventions have been studied to reduce the risk of VAP. We systematically reviewed the influence of airway management on VAP in critically ill patients. DATA SOURCES: Studies were identified through searching MEDLINE and EMBASE from 1980 through July 1997 and by searching SCISEARCH, the Cochrane Library, bibliographies of primary and review articles, personal files, and contact with authors of the randomized trials. STUDY SELECTION: We selected randomized trials evaluating ventilator circuit and secretion management strategies on the rate of VAP. DATA EXTRACTION: Two investigators independently abstracted key data on design features, the population, intervention, and outcome of the studies. DATA SYNTHESIS: The frequency of ventilator circuit changes and the type of endotracheal suction system do not appear to influence VAP rates (3 trials, none with significant difference; range of relative risks [RRs], 0.84-0.91). However, lower VAP rates may be associated with avoidance of heated humidifiers and use of heat and moisture exchangers (5 trials, only 1 showing a significant difference; range of RRs, 0.34-0.86), use of oral vs nasal intubation (1 trial; RR, 0.52; 95% confidence interval, 0.24-1.13), subglottic secretion drainage vs standard endotracheal tubes (2 trials, 1 showing a significant difference; range of RRs, 0.46-0.57), and kinetic vs conventional beds (5 trials, only 1 showing a significant difference; range of RRs, 0.35-0.78). CONCLUSIONS: Some ventilator circuit and secretion management strategies may influence VAP rates in critically ill patients. Whether these strategies are adopted in practice depends on several factors such as the magnitude and precision of estimates of benefit and harm, as well as access, availability, and costs.     

Childhood competence and depression.

Examined whether children with both academic and social skill deficiencies have higher levels of peer-nominated and self-ratings of depression than their more competent peers and whether depression levels can distinguish academically skilled children from socially skilled ones. Objective measures of academic and social competence classified 169 3rd–6th grade children as competent (above the median on both measures), incompetent (below on both), academically skilled (above only on academic competence), or socially skilled (above only on social competence). Children completed the Perceived Competence Scale for Children, Children's Depression Inventory, and a peer nomination inventory of depression. Results demonstrate information about academic and social competence best predicted Ss' depression. Peer-nominated and self-rated depression were highest among incompetent Ss and lowest among competent Ss. Peer-nominated happiness was higher among the socially skilled than among the academically skilled. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists and civil commitment: Review of state statutes.

Conducted a national survey to examine to what extent psychologists have increasingly been recognized in new state statutes regarding civil commitment of the mentally ill. This survey reveals that although 24 out of 50 states include psychologists in their commitment statutes, inclusion is generally of an optional type, in which a psychologist can be substituted for 1 of 2 physicians. Most often psychologists are included in the judicial form of commitment and much less frequently in voluntary or emergency procedures. Even though psychologists have increasingly been included in state civil commitment procedures for the mentally ill since 1970, they remain in many ways unrecognized as qualified mental health professionals competent to judge the appropriateness of hospitalization of mentally ill persons. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)