[Clinical judgment is a schema. Conceptual proposals and training perspectives.

PubMed

Nagels, Marc

2017-06-01

Clinical judgment is a critical concept for the development of nursing and nursing education. Its theoretical origins are multiple and its definition is not yet consensus. The analysis of the scientific and professional literature shows heterogeneous and dispersed points of views, notably on the role of intuition, on its cognitive and metacognitive dimensions, and on its proximity to other concepts. Between professional stakes and epistemological constructions, clinical judgment is still an emerging concept.To overcome the obstacle and contribute to the theoretical effort, we will argue that clinical judgment must be analyzed as a schema. It presents all the characteristics : diagnosis and information necessary for reasoning, rational decision-making process, metacognitive control and evaluation of decision-making. Perspectives then open to better understand the nursing activity.In conclusion, recommendations for developing clinical judgment in training will be presented.

Assessing professional behaviour: Overcoming teachers' reluctance to fail students.

PubMed

Mak-van der Vossen, Marianne; Peerdeman, Saskia; van Mook, Walther; Croiset, Gerda; Kusurkar, Rashmi

2014-06-17

Developing professional behaviour is an important goal of medical education in which teachers play a significant part. Many teachers can be reluctant to fail students demonstrating unprofessional behaviour. We hypothesize that supporting teachers in teaching and assessing professional behaviour and involving them in remediation will reduce this reluctance. In 2010, VUmc School of Medical Sciences Amsterdam introduced an educational theme on professional behaviour for the bachelor's and master's programmes in medicine with a special emphasis on supporting teachers in teaching and assessing professional behaviour and involving them in the remediation process. Information was extracted from the student database on the number of unprofessional behaviour judgments awarded over 2008-2010 (before the intervention), and 2010-2013 (after introducing the intervention), which was compared. To find out if teachers' reluctance to fail had decreased, qualitative feedback from the teachers was gathered and analysed. Since the implementation of the educational theme, the number of unprofessional behaviour judgments has risen. The teachers are positive about the implemented system of teaching and assessing professional behaviour, and feel less reluctant to award an unsatisfactory professional behaviour judgment. Supporting teachers in teaching and assessing professional behaviour and involving them in students' remediation appears to reduce their reluctance to fail students demonstrating unprofessional behaviour.

The Practicum Script Concordance Test: An Online Continuing Professional Development Format to Foster Reflection on Clinical Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hornos, Eduardo H.; Pleguezuelos, Eduardo M.; Brailovsky, Carlos A.; Harillo, Leandro D.; Dory, Valerie; Charlin, Bernard

2013-01-01

Introduction: Judgment in the face of uncertainty is an important dimension of expertise and clinical competence. However, it is challenging to conceive continuing professional development (CPD) initiatives aimed at helping physicians enhance their clinical judgment skills in ill-defined situations. We present an online script concordance-based…

The Psychology of Judgment for Outdoor Leaders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clement, Kent

Judgment is the process of making decisions with incomplete information concerning either the outcomes or the decision factors. Sound judgment that leads to good decisions is an essential skill needed by adventure education and outdoor leadership professionals. Cognitive psychology provides several theories and insights concerning the accuracy of…

Professional identity as a resource for talk: exploring the mentor-student relationship.

PubMed

Shakespeare, Pam; Webb, Christine

2008-12-01

This paper discusses a study examining how mentors in nurse education make professional judgments about the clinical competence of their pre-registration nursing students. Interviews were undertaken with nine UK students and 15 mentors, using critical incidents in practice settings as a focus. The study was undertaken for the English National Practice-Based Professional Learning Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. This paper reports on the conversation analytic thread of the work. The mentor role with pre-registration nursing students is not only supportive but involves formal assessment. Central to the relationship is communication. In professional education, communication is seen as a skill to be applied and assessed in practice settings but is also the medium mentors and mentees use to talk about the relationship. Analysis of excerpts of conversation in the interviews shows that episodes of communication are used as topics of conversation to establish professional identity. It also reveals that judgments about the extent of professional capacity of both students and mentors are grounded in everyday behaviours (for example, enthusiasm, indifference and confidence) as well as professional competence. In addition to focusing on clinical issues, mentors can and do use mundane communication as a resource for judgments about competence.

Developing Social Work Professional Judgment Skills: Enhancing Learning in Practice by Researching Learning in Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rawles, Joanna

2016-01-01

The aims of this article are twofold: to discuss the value of practice-based research as a basis for enhancing learning and teaching in social work and, as an illustration of this, to present the findings of a preliminary qualitative research study into social work students' development of professional judgment skills. The research was conducted…

Standards of practice, professional judgment, and scientific evidence to establish and extend a beyond-use date.

PubMed

Thomson, Cassandra Marie; Savji, Taslim

2014-01-01

The establishment of both a beyond-use date and the extension of a beyond-use date need to be scientifically based. What is accepted as scientific evidence is at times misleading. The pharmacist may have the right to utilize some degree of professional judgment in both establishing and extending a beyond-use date, after a review of appropriate scientific literature. Notwithstanding this scientific review, it is the concept of professional judgment that seemingly needs to be better defined. A new-found appreciation for professional judgment will bring us to the understanding that a validated stability-indicating assay is the correct manner in which to extend a beyond-use date. This article addresses and discusses the recommendations and rigor required to establish and extend a beyond-use date. The perspectives of the pharmacist and physician are explored, as well as the impact of an extended beyond-use date, or lack thereof, are discussed. The application of a set of fundamental principles will be revealed, which will lead to finite conclusions as to the necessary methodology to establish as well as extend a beyond-use date.

Stress, Biases, or Professionalism: What Drives Teachers' Referral Judgments of Students with Challenging Behaviors?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abidin, Richard R.; Robinson, Lina L.

2002-01-01

This study explored relative contributions of variables underlying 30 elementary teachers' referral judgments. Best predictors of referral were teachers' judgments about presence of behavioral problems and students' academic competence, while demography, off-task behavior, and teachers' stress failed to contribute significantly. (Contains…

Using Dynamic Risk and Protective Factors to Predict Inpatient Aggression: Reliability and Validity of START Assessments

PubMed Central

Desmarais, Sarah L.; Nicholls, Tonia L.; Wilson, Catherine M.; Brink, Johann

2012-01-01

The Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) is a relatively new structured professional judgment guide for the assessment and management of short-term risks associated with mental, substance use, and personality disorders. The scheme may be distinguished from other violence risk instruments because of its inclusion of 20 dynamic factors that are rated in terms of both vulnerability and strength. This study examined the reliability and validity of START assessments in predicting inpatient aggression. Research assistants completed START assessments for 120 male forensic psychiatric patients through review of hospital files. They additionally completed Historical-Clinical-Risk Management – 20 (HCR-20) and the Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV) assessments. Outcome data was coded from hospital files for a 12-month follow-up period using the Overt Aggression Scale (OAS). START assessments evidenced excellent interrater reliability and demonstrated both predictive and incremental validity over the HCR-20 Historical subscale scores and PCL:SV total scores. Overall, results support the reliability and validity of START assessments, and use of the structured professional judgment approach more broadly, as well as the value of using dynamic risk and protective factors to assess violence risk. PMID:22250595

Haunted by a doppelgänger: irrelevant facial similarity affects rule-based judgments.

PubMed

von Helversen, Bettina; Herzog, Stefan M; Rieskamp, Jörg

2014-01-01

Judging other people is a common and important task. Every day professionals make decisions that affect the lives of other people when they diagnose medical conditions, grant parole, or hire new employees. To prevent discrimination, professional standards require that decision makers render accurate and unbiased judgments solely based on relevant information. Facial similarity to previously encountered persons can be a potential source of bias. Psychological research suggests that people only rely on similarity-based judgment strategies if the provided information does not allow them to make accurate rule-based judgments. Our study shows, however, that facial similarity to previously encountered persons influences judgment even in situations in which relevant information is available for making accurate rule-based judgments and where similarity is irrelevant for the task and relying on similarity is detrimental. In two experiments in an employment context we show that applicants who looked similar to high-performing former employees were judged as more suitable than applicants who looked similar to low-performing former employees. This similarity effect was found despite the fact that the participants used the relevant résumé information about the applicants by following a rule-based judgment strategy. These findings suggest that similarity-based and rule-based processes simultaneously underlie human judgment.

Using Dynamic Risk and Protective Factors to Predict Inpatient Aggression: Reliability and Validity of START Assessments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Desmarais, Sarah L.; Nicholls, Tonia L.; Wilson, Catherine M.; Brink, Johann

2012-01-01

The Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START; C. D. Webster, M. L. Martin, J. Brink, T. L. Nicholls, & S. L. Desmarais, 2009; C. D. Webster, M. L. Martin, J. Brink, T. L. Nicholls, & C. Middleton, 2004) is a relatively new structured professional judgment guide for the assessment and management of short-term risks associated…

The ADA's practice parameters.

PubMed

Ellek, Donalda M

2005-01-01

The ADA parameters of care have served the needs of practicing dentists for fifteen years. Their purpose is to describe a range of treatment options that dentists will want to consider, in combination with particular clinical conditions and patient preferences. These options have been developed based on available evidence and a consensus of professional judgment. The ADA has exercised concern that parameters not be used, out of the context of individual professional judgment, for policy purposes.

Emerging Technologies for Environmental Remediation: Integrating Data and Judgment.

PubMed

Bates, Matthew E; Grieger, Khara D; Trump, Benjamin D; Keisler, Jeffrey M; Plourde, Kenton J; Linkov, Igor

2016-01-05

Emerging technologies present significant challenges to researchers, decision-makers, industry professionals, and other stakeholder groups due to the lack of quantitative risk, benefit, and cost data associated with their use. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) can support early decisions for emerging technologies when data is too sparse or uncertain for traditional risk assessment. It does this by integrating expert judgment with available quantitative and qualitative inputs across multiple criteria to provide relative technology scores. Here, an MCDA framework provides preliminary insights on the suitability of emerging technologies for environmental remediation by comparing nanotechnology and synthetic biology to conventional remediation methods. Subject matter experts provided judgments regarding the importance of criteria used in the evaluations and scored the technologies with respect to those criteria. The results indicate that synthetic biology may be preferred over nanotechnology and conventional methods for high expected benefits and low deployment costs but that conventional technology may be preferred over emerging technologies for reduced risks and development costs. In the absence of field data regarding the risks, benefits, and costs of emerging technologies, structuring evidence-based expert judgment through a weighted hierarchy of topical questions may be helpful to inform preliminary risk governance and guide emerging technology development and policy.

Gifted Education Quarterly, 1998.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Maurice, Ed.

1998-01-01

These four issues of "Gifted Education Quarterly" include the following articles: (1) "Using Test Results To Support Clinical Judgment" (Linda Kreger Silverman), which discusses some of the difficulties in obtaining accurate indications of a child's level of giftedness and the importance of using professional judgment in…

An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of the Anchor and Adjustment Heuristic on the Audit Judgment Process

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-01-01

Pe ~ ** . . . ’ S .- ..% - - -- - - An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of the Anchor and Adjustment Heuristic on the Audit Judgment Process A...1 Introduction ....... ............... 1 Audit Opinion Process ... ............ 2 Professional Judgment ..... ........... 5 Heuristics in the Audit Process...to evaluating the results of analytic reviews and internal control compliance tests (Felix and Kinney 1982, also Libby 1981). Decomposing the audit opinion

Improving Professional Judgments of Risk and Amenability in Juvenile Justice

PubMed Central

Mulvey, Edward P.; Iselin, Anne-Marie R.

2013-01-01

Summary The dual requirement to ensure community safety and promote a youthful offender’s positive development permeates policy and frames daily practice in juvenile justice. Balancing those two demands, explain Edward Mulvey and Anne-Marie Iselin, requires justice system professionals at all levels to make extremely difficult decisions about the likely risk and amenability to treatment of adolescent offenders. Mulvey and Iselin point out that although various forms of “structured” decision-making instruments are used widely in other fields, juvenile justice professionals today make limited use of these tools. Instead, they make decisions based mainly on their intuition about whether the adolescent before them is more likely to harm the community or to use justice system services to turn his life around. The reluctance of busy court professionals to use these structured decision-making tools, they say, arises partly from their heavy work load. But it also grows out of the ethos of the juvenile court itself. Restricting an adolescent’s freedom or access to interventions based on a tallying of empirical data is antithetical to viewing each adolescent as a unique individual whose life chances may remain intact with developmentally appropriate intervention. Mulvey and Iselin recommend and examine three ways to integrate structured judgment approaches into the juvenile justice system that both capitalize on their strengths and support the court’s attempts to provide fair, individualized justice. First, more reliance on actuarial methods at detention and intake would promote more efficient and equitable screening of cases for subsequent court involvement. Second, the use of structured decision making by probation officers could provide more consistent and valid guidance for the court when formulating dispositions. Finally, implementing structured data systems to chart the progress of adolescents in placement could allow judges to oversee service providers more effectively. The challenge for the juvenile system, say the authors, will be to harness the new capacities of the science of decision making and of computer technology to increase the efficiency of its limited resources for the benefit both of the community and of the adolescents in the system. PMID:21337997

On judgment and judgmentalism: how counselling can make people better

PubMed Central

Gibson, S

2005-01-01

Counsellors, like other members of the caring professions, are required to practise within an ethical framework, at least in so far as they seek professional accreditation. As such, the counsellor is called upon to exercise her moral agency. In most professional contexts this requirement is, in itself, unproblematic. It has been suggested, however, that counselling practice does present a problem in this respect, in so far as the counsellor is expected to take a non-judgemental stance and an attitude of "unconditional positive regard" toward the client. If, as might appear to be the case, this stance and attitude are at odds with the making of moral judgments, the possibility of an adequate ethics of counselling is called into question. This paper explores the nature and extent of the problem suggesting that, understood in a Kantian context, non-judgmentalism can be seen to be at odds with neither the moral agency of the counsellor nor that of the client. Instead, it is argued, the relationship between the non-judgmental counsellor and her client is a fundamentally moral relationship, based on respect for the client's unconditional worth as a moral agent. PMID:16199597

Changing Resistant Audience Attitudes Using Social Judgment Theory's "Anchor" Point Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramos Salazar, Leslie

2017-01-01

Courses: Public Speaking, Business and Professional Communication, Persuasion, or any other skill-based oral communication course. Objectives: Students will practice the development and demonstration of persuasive arguments in this single-class social judgment theory activity to improve their ability to change resistant audience attitudes.

Confidence and Professional Judgment in Assessing Children's Risk of Abuse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Regehr, Cheryl; Bogo, Marion; Shlonsky, Aron; LeBlanc, Vicki

2010-01-01

Objective: Child welfare agencies have moved toward standardized risk assessment measures to improve the reliability with which child's risk of abuse is predicted. Nevertheless, these tools require a degree of subjective judgment. Research to date has not substantially investigated the influence of specific context and worker characteristics on…

Grading: Why You Should Trust Your Judgment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guskey, Thomas R.; Jung, Lee Ann

2016-01-01

Many educators consider grades calculated from statistical algorithms more accurate, objective, and reliable than grades they calculate themselves. But in this research, the authors first asked teachers to use their professional judgment to choose a summary grade for hypothetical students. When the researchers compared the teachers' grade with the…

Measurement of predictive validity in violence risk assessment studies: a second-order systematic review.

PubMed

Singh, Jay P; Desmarais, Sarah L; Van Dorn, Richard A

2013-01-01

The objective of the present review was to examine how predictive validity is analyzed and reported in studies of instruments used to assess violence risk. We reviewed 47 predictive validity studies published between 1990 and 2011 of 25 instruments that were included in two recent systematic reviews. Although all studies reported receiver operating characteristic curve analyses and the area under the curve (AUC) performance indicator, this methodology was defined inconsistently and findings often were misinterpreted. In addition, there was between-study variation in benchmarks used to determine whether AUCs were small, moderate, or large in magnitude. Though virtually all of the included instruments were designed to produce categorical estimates of risk - through the use of either actuarial risk bins or structured professional judgments - only a minority of studies calculated performance indicators for these categorical estimates. In addition to AUCs, other performance indicators, such as correlation coefficients, were reported in 60% of studies, but were infrequently defined or interpreted. An investigation of sources of heterogeneity did not reveal significant variation in reporting practices as a function of risk assessment approach (actuarial vs. structured professional judgment), study authorship, geographic location, type of journal (general vs. specialized audience), sample size, or year of publication. Findings suggest a need for standardization of predictive validity reporting to improve comparison across studies and instruments. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Prediction of aquatic toxicity mode of action using linear discriminant and random forest models.

PubMed

Martin, Todd M; Grulke, Christopher M; Young, Douglas M; Russom, Christine L; Wang, Nina Y; Jackson, Crystal R; Barron, Mace G

2013-09-23

The ability to determine the mode of action (MOA) for a diverse group of chemicals is a critical part of ecological risk assessment and chemical regulation. However, existing MOA assignment approaches in ecotoxicology have been limited to a relatively few MOAs, have high uncertainty, or rely on professional judgment. In this study, machine based learning algorithms (linear discriminant analysis and random forest) were used to develop models for assigning aquatic toxicity MOA. These methods were selected since they have been shown to be able to correlate diverse data sets and provide an indication of the most important descriptors. A data set of MOA assignments for 924 chemicals was developed using a combination of high confidence assignments, international consensus classifications, ASTER (ASessment Tools for the Evaluation of Risk) predictions, and weight of evidence professional judgment based an assessment of structure and literature information. The overall data set was randomly divided into a training set (75%) and a validation set (25%) and then used to develop linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and random forest (RF) MOA assignment models. The LDA and RF models had high internal concordance and specificity and were able to produce overall prediction accuracies ranging from 84.5 to 87.7% for the validation set. These results demonstrate that computational chemistry approaches can be used to determine the acute toxicity MOAs across a large range of structures and mechanisms.

Becoming an Approved Mental Health Professional: an analysis of the factors that influence individuals to become Approved Mental Health Professionals.

PubMed

Watson, David

2016-08-01

In England and Wales, the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) has final responsibility for applying under the Mental Health Act 1983 to admit an individual compulsorily and convey them to psychiatric hospital. The AMHP role is challenging and legally accountable and unique to the UK context. To analyse the motivation of individuals to become AMHPs, and identify factors which may affect motivation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 AMHPs from local authorities across Southern England. Ten participants were social workers, one was qualified as both a nurse and social worker, and one was a mental health nurse. Participants identify career progression and professional development as significant as well as the status and independence of the role and enhanced job security. Social work participants value the Mental Health Act assessment as a contained piece of work, with a high degree of professional discretion. AMHPs are motivated by an increase in professional status and job security, but also exercising independent judgment and authority in a time-limited intervention is emotionally and professionally rewarding.

Doing the Right Thing: An Overview of Teaching Professional Responsibility.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnstone, Ian; Treuthart, Mary Patricia

1991-01-01

Law school instruction in professional responsibility should not attempt to inculcate particular ethical values but should aim to sensitize students to the ethical dimension of the lawyer's professional role, provide insight into the nature of the legal profession, and cultivate willingness to engage in reflective judgment through traditional…

The Activist Professional and the Reinstatement of Trust.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Groundwater-Smith, Susan; Sachs, Judyth

2002-01-01

States there has been an expectation that the education industry can be managed like any other commercial enterprise with an emphasis on forms of accountability that limit professional judgment on the part of practitioners. Examines growth of the audit society and its consequences for professional practices in education. (BT)

Beginning Teacher Disposition: Examining the Moral/Ethical Domain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Lisa E.; Reiman, Alan J.

2007-01-01

As the push for high-quality teachers continues, many colleges of education, teacher induction programs, and professional development supervisors are left wondering about the role dispositions play in effective teaching. This study seeks to explore the definition of dispositions as teacher professional judgment and professional action in the…

Measuring and Promoting Inter-Rater Agreement of Teacher and Principal Performance Ratings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graham, Matthew; Milanowski, Anthony; Miller, Jackson

2012-01-01

As states, districts, and schools transition toward more rigorous educator evaluation systems, they are placing additional weight on judgments about educator practice. Since teacher and principal observation ratings inherently rely on evaluators' professional judgment, there is always a question of how much the ratings depend on the particular…

A Social Judgment Analysis of Information Source Preference Profiles: An Exploratory Study to Empirically Represent Media Selection Patterns.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stefl-Mabry, Joette

2003-01-01

Describes a study that empirically identified individual preferences profiles to understand information-seeking behavior among professional groups for six selected information sources. Highlights include Social Judgment Analysis; the development of the survey used, a copy of which is appended; hypotheses tested; results of multiple regression…

Professional Norms versus Managerialism in Campus Mental Health Centers: The Experiences of Eight Clinicians

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jodoin, Elizabeth C.; Ayers, David F.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand better how, if at all, eight campus-based mental health clinicians experienced and negotiated managerialist practices, and with what outcomes. It was found that managerialism was experienced as challenges to professional ethics, clinical judgment, and challenges related to professional role…

Peer Review: The CHAMPUS Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stricker, George

This paper examines the use of the peer review system in evaluating out-patient clinical services for a third-party payer seeking justification for payment of services. Peer review is defined as a process by which one professional, in an official capacity, makes a judgment about a co-professional in a matter involving professional functioning. The…

Perception of Laypeople and Dental Professionals of Smile Esthetics.

PubMed

Saffarpour, Aida; Ghavam, Maryam; Saffarpour, Anna; Dayani, Rozita; Fard, Mohammad Javad Kharazi

2016-03-01

This study aimed to assess and compare the perception of laypersons and dental professionals of smile esthetics based on two factors namely gingival display and alignment of teeth. A total of 32 females were randomly selected among dental students in the International Campus of School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (Tehran, Iran) with no previous history of esthetic dental work. Frontal photographs were obtained and cropped from the subnasal to menton areas of subjects to standardize the size of pictures. Three series of slides were prepared of the pictures using Microsoft PowerPoint software. The first series of slides were shown to familiarize the observers with the images. The second and third series were displayed for the observers and they were then asked to fill out a questionnaire. The group of observers included 10 dental specialists and 10 laypersons. Each observer was given a visual analog scale (VAS) chart for scoring (1-10). After completion of the questionnaires, data were transferred to a computer and the differences in judgments of professionals and laypeople were analyzed using the Mann Whitney test. No significant difference was found in the judgments of professionals and laypeople on evaluating overall smile esthetics, gingival display and alignment of teeth except for the slide showing a reverse smile arc. Laypeople and professionals had similar perceptions of smile esthetics. Thus, it appears that clinicians can rely on the judgment of laypersons in esthetic dental treatments.

Perception of Laypeople and Dental Professionals of Smile Esthetics

PubMed Central

Saffarpour, Aida; Ghavam, Maryam; Saffarpour, Anna; Dayani, Rozita; Fard, Mohammad Javad Kharazi

2016-01-01

Objectives: This study aimed to assess and compare the perception of laypersons and dental professionals of smile esthetics based on two factors namely gingival display and alignment of teeth. Materials and Methods: A total of 32 females were randomly selected among dental students in the International Campus of School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (Tehran, Iran) with no previous history of esthetic dental work. Frontal photographs were obtained and cropped from the subnasal to menton areas of subjects to standardize the size of pictures. Three series of slides were prepared of the pictures using Microsoft PowerPoint software. The first series of slides were shown to familiarize the observers with the images. The second and third series were displayed for the observers and they were then asked to fill out a questionnaire. The group of observers included 10 dental specialists and 10 laypersons. Each observer was given a visual analog scale (VAS) chart for scoring (1–10). After completion of the questionnaires, data were transferred to a computer and the differences in judgments of professionals and laypeople were analyzed using the Mann Whitney test. Results: No significant difference was found in the judgments of professionals and laypeople on evaluating overall smile esthetics, gingival display and alignment of teeth except for the slide showing a reverse smile arc. Conclusions: Laypeople and professionals had similar perceptions of smile esthetics. Thus, it appears that clinicians can rely on the judgment of laypersons in esthetic dental treatments. PMID:27928236

Professionals' Judgments of Peer Interaction Interventions: A Survey of Members of the Division for Early Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

West, Tracy Newman; Brown, William H.; Grego, John M.; Johnson, Robert

2007-01-01

We surveyed a sample of the membership of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) with the Social Interaction Program Features Questionnaire-Revised (SIPFQ-R) to determine their judgments of the acceptability, feasibility, and current use of contemporary peer interaction intervention tactics and…

Changes in Emotional-Social Intelligence, Caring, Leadership and Moral Judgment during Health Science Education Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larin, Helene; Benson, Gerry; Wessel, Jean; Martin, Lynn; Ploeg, Jenny

2014-01-01

In addition to having academic knowledge and clinical skills, health professionals need to be caring, ethical practitioners able to understand the emotional concerns of their patients and to effect change. The purpose of this study was to determine whether emotional-social intelligence, caring, leadership and moral judgment of health science…

An Ethical (Descriptive) Framework for Judgment of Actions and Decisions in the Construction Industry and Engineering-Part I.

PubMed

Alkhatib, Omar J; Abdou, Alaa

2018-04-01

The construction industry is usually characterized as a fragmented system of multiple-organizational entities in which members from different technical backgrounds and moral values join together to develop a particular business or project. The greatest challenge in the construction process for the achievement of a successful practice is the development of an outstanding reputation, which is built on identifying and applying an ethical framework. This framework should reflect a common ethical ground for myriad people involved in this process to survive and compete ethically in today's turbulent construction market. This study establishes a framework for ethical judgment of behavior and actions conducted in the construction process. The framework was primarily developed based on the essential attributes of business management identified in the literature review and subsequently incorporates additional attributes identified to prevent breaches in the construction industry and common ethical values related to professional engineering. The proposed judgment framework is based primarily on the ethical dimension of professional responsibility. The Ethical Judgment Framework consists of descriptive approaches involving technical, professional, administrative, and miscellaneous terms. The framework provides the basis for judging actions as either ethical or unethical. Furthermore, the framework can be implemented as a form of preventive ethics, which would help avoid ethical dilemmas and moral allegations. The framework can be considered a decision-making model to guide actions and improve the ethical reasoning process that would help individuals think through possible implications and consequences of ethical dilemmas in the construction industry.

Assessing Medical Students' Moral Judgment over the Course of a Four-Year Professionalism and Humanism Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riegle, Sandra E.; Frye, Ann W.; Glenn, Jason; Smith, Kirk L.

2012-01-01

Teachers tasked with developing moral character in future physicians face an array of pedagogic challenges, among them identifying tools to measure progress in instilling the requisite skill set. One validated instrument for assessing moral judgment is the Defining Issues Test (DIT-2). Based on the work of Lawrence Kohlberg, the test's main…

The failure of medical education to develop moral reasoning in medical students

PubMed Central

Murrell, Vicki S.

2014-01-01

Objectives The goal of this study was to determine differences in moral judgment among students in medical school. Methods This cross-sectional study involved students currently enrolled in undergraduate medical education. Recruited via email, 192 students took an online version of the Defining Issues Test to determine their current stage of moral judgment, as well as their percentage of post conventional thought. Independent variables included year of graduation, which indicated curriculum completion as well as participation in a professionalism course. Data was analyzed primarily using One-Way Analysis of Variance. Results Of the 192 participants, 165 responses were utilized. ANOVA showed no significant differences in moral judgment between or among any of the student cohorts, which were grouped by year of matriculation. Comparisons included students in the four years of medical school, divided by graduation year; students about to graduate (n=30) vs. those still in school (n=135); and students who had participated in a course in professionalism (n=91) vs. those who had not (n=74). Conclusions These results demonstrate a lack of evolution in the moral reasoning of medical students and raise the issue of what might stimulate positive changes in moral judgment during the medical school experience. PMID:25543016

Teacher Empowerment: School Administrators' Roles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balyer, Aydin; Özcan, Kenan; Yildiz, Ali

2017-01-01

Purpose: Teacher empowerment involves investing teachers with the right to participate in the determination of school goals and policies as informed by their professional judgment. By empowering teachers, teachers can discover their potential and limitations for themselves as well as developing competence in their professional development. This…

Effect of professional expertise and exposure to everyday life decision-making on moral choices.

PubMed

Boccia, Maddalena; Verde, Paola; Angelino, Gregorio; Carrozzo, Paolo; Vecchi, Diego; Piccardi, Laura; Colangeli, Stefano; Cordellieri, Pierluigi; Ferlazzo, Fabio; Giannini, Anna Maria

2017-07-27

Moral sense is defined as a feeling of fairness or unfairness of an action that knowingly causes harm to people other than the subject. It is crucial in determining human behavior and becomes pivotal in operational environments. Here we assessed whether professional daily life experience in an operational environment affects moral judgment by asking 41 military pilots of the Italian Air Force (P) and 69 controls (C) to solve 40 moral dilemmas. We found that P gave more morally acceptable utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas. Interestingly, men and women in P equally accepted utilitarian resolutions of moral dilemmas, whereas in C women were less prone than men to accept utilitarian responses. We conclude that professional daily life experience of P, in an operational environment, affects moral judgment and mitigates gender predisposition towards moral dilemmas. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The reablement team's voice: a qualitative study of how an integrated multidisciplinary team experiences participation in reablement.

PubMed

Hjelle, Kari Margrete; Skutle, Olbjørg; Førland, Oddvar; Alvsvåg, Herdis

2016-01-01

Reablement is an early and time-limited home-based rehabilitation intervention that emphasizes intensive, goal-oriented, and multidisciplinary assistance for people experiencing functional decline. Few empirical studies to date have examined the experiences of the integrated multidisciplinary teams involved in reablement. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to explore and describe how an integrated multidisciplinary team in Norway experienced participation in reablement. An integrated multidisciplinary team consisting of health care professionals with a bachelor's degree (including a physiotherapist, a social educator, occupational therapists, and nurses) and home-based care personnel without a bachelor's degree (auxiliary nurses and nursing assistants) participated in focus group discussions. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the resulting data. Three main themes emerged from the participants' experiences with participating in reablement, including "the older adult's goals are crucial", "a different way of thinking and acting - a shift in work culture", and "a better framework for cooperation and application of professional expertise and judgment". The integrated multidisciplinary team and the older adults collaborated and worked in the same direction to achieve the person's valued goals. The team supported the older adults in performing activities themselves rather than completing tasks for them. To facilitate cooperation and application of professional expertise and judgment, common meeting times and meeting places for communication and supervision were necessary. Structural factors that promote integrated multidisciplinary professional decisions include providing common meeting times and meeting places as well as sufficient time to apply professional knowledge when supervising and supporting older persons in everyday activities. These findings have implications for practice and suggest future directions for improving health care services. The shift in work culture from static to dynamic service is time consuming and requires politicians, community leaders, and health care systems to allocate the necessary time to support this approach to thinking and working.

Educational Leaders as Moral Leaders: The Value of Virtue.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Growe, Roslin

This essay examines the nature of morality and professional judgment from the perspective of executive and administrative decision making. The central focus includes matters on moral development as related to the professional training of administrators. A conceptual framework of moral development in making moral decisions begins with an…

The Trouble with Legal Ethics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simon, William H.

1991-01-01

The conceptions of legal ethics or professional responsibility as (1) disciplinary rules or codes; and (2) as the personal moralities of individual lawyers prevail. However, it is the application of general norms to specific circumstances through complex, creative judgment that is the ethical component of the ideal of legal professionalism. (MSE)

Improving Professional Judgments of Risk and Amenability in Juvenile Justice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulvey, Edward P.; Iselin, Anne-Marie R.

2008-01-01

The dual requirement to ensure community safety and promote a youthful offender's positive development permeates policy and frames daily practice in juvenile justice. Balancing those two demands, explain Edward Mulvey and Anne-Marie Iselin, requires justice system professionals at all levels to make extremely difficult decisions about the likely…

32 CFR 776.56 - Professional independence of a covered USG attorney.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... attorney. Nevertheless, the practice of law requires the exercise of judgment solely for the benefit of the... detailed or assigned to represent an individual member or employee of the DON is expected to exercise... DON is expected to exercise unfettered loyalty and professional independence during the representation...

Certified Professional Secretary Examination. Outline and Bibliography. Effective November 1994.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Professional Secretaries International, Kansas City, MO.

This outline and bibliography is designed to acquaint candidates and educators with the Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) Examination. The outline indicates the areas in which secretaries should possess knowledge, skill, understanding, and judgment. It is divided into the three parts that comprise the examination: finance and business law…

Probabilistic simulation of the human factor in structural reliability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chamis, C. C.

1993-01-01

A formal approach is described in an attempt to computationally simulate the probable ranges of uncertainties of the human factor in structural probabilistic assessments. A multi-factor interaction equation (MFIE) model has been adopted for this purpose. Human factors such as marital status, professional status, home life, job satisfaction, work load and health, are considered to demonstrate the concept. Parametric studies in conjunction with judgment are used to select reasonable values for the participating factors (primitive variables). Suitability of the MFIE in the subsequently probabilistic sensitivity studies are performed to assess the validity of the whole approach. Results obtained show that the uncertainties for no error range from five to thirty percent for the most optimistic case.

Probabilistic simulation of the human factor in structural reliability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chamis, Christos C.; Singhal, Surendra N.

1994-09-01

The formal approach described herein computationally simulates the probable ranges of uncertainties for the human factor in probabilistic assessments of structural reliability. Human factors such as marital status, professional status, home life, job satisfaction, work load, and health are studied by using a multifactor interaction equation (MFIE) model to demonstrate the approach. Parametric studies in conjunction with judgment are used to select reasonable values for the participating factors (primitive variables). Subsequently performed probabilistic sensitivity studies assess the suitability of the MFIE as well as the validity of the whole approach. Results show that uncertainties range from 5 to 30 percent for the most optimistic case, assuming 100 percent for no error (perfect performance).

Probabilistic Simulation of the Human Factor in Structural Reliability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chamis, Christos C.; Singhal, Surendra N.

1994-01-01

The formal approach described herein computationally simulates the probable ranges of uncertainties for the human factor in probabilistic assessments of structural reliability. Human factors such as marital status, professional status, home life, job satisfaction, work load, and health are studied by using a multifactor interaction equation (MFIE) model to demonstrate the approach. Parametric studies in conjunction with judgment are used to select reasonable values for the participating factors (primitive variables). Subsequently performed probabilistic sensitivity studies assess the suitability of the MFIE as well as the validity of the whole approach. Results show that uncertainties range from 5 to 30 percent for the most optimistic case, assuming 100 percent for no error (perfect performance).

2005 ACGIH Lifting TLV: Employee-Friendly Presentation and Guidance for Professional Judgment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Splittstoesser, Riley; O'Farrell, Daniel Edward; Hill, John

The American Council of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Lifting Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) provide a tool to reduce incidence of low back and shoulder injuries. However, application of the TLV is too complicated for floor-level workers and relies on professional judgment to assess commonly encountered tasks. This paper presents an Employee-Friendly Simplified Format of the TLV that has been adapted from Table 1 of the Lifting TLV presented in the 2005 TLVs and BEIs Based on the Documentation of the Threshold Limit Values for Chemical Substances and Physical Agents & Biological Exposure Indices. This simplified format can be employed bymore » floor-level workers to self-assess lifting tasks. The Ergonomics Project Team also provides research-based guidance for applying professional judgment consistent with standard industry practice: Extended Work Shifts – Reduce weight by 20% for shifts lasting 8 to 12 hours; Constrained Lower Body Posture – Reduce weight by 25% when lifting in such postures; Infrequently Performed Lifts – Lift up to 15 lbs. ≤3 lifts per hour within the zones marked “No safe limit for repetitive lifting” in the TLVs Table 1; Asymmetry beyond 30° – Reduce weight by 10 lbs. for lifts with up to 60° asymmetry from sagittal plane.« less

Financial Aid Policies and Practices at Graduate and Professional Programs. Results from the 1998 Survey of Graduate Aid Policies, Practices, and Procedures (SOGAPPP).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, Washington, DC.

To obtain information about the distribution of financial aid funds to graduate and professional students, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Information developed a survey about specific programs and awards, distribution methods, loan packaging policies, the use of professional judgment, the use of technology in aid offices, and…

When Assessment Data Are Words: Validity Evidence for Qualitative Educational Assessments.

PubMed

Cook, David A; Kuper, Ayelet; Hatala, Rose; Ginsburg, Shiphra

2016-10-01

Quantitative scores fail to capture all important features of learner performance. This awareness has led to increased use of qualitative data when assessing health professionals. Yet the use of qualitative assessments is hampered by incomplete understanding of their role in forming judgments, and lack of consensus in how to appraise the rigor of judgments therein derived. The authors articulate the role of qualitative assessment as part of a comprehensive program of assessment, and translate the concept of validity to apply to judgments arising from qualitative assessments. They first identify standards for rigor in qualitative research, and then use two contemporary assessment validity frameworks to reorganize these standards for application to qualitative assessment.Standards for rigor in qualitative research include responsiveness, reflexivity, purposive sampling, thick description, triangulation, transparency, and transferability. These standards can be reframed using Messick's five sources of validity evidence (content, response process, internal structure, relationships with other variables, and consequences) and Kane's four inferences in validation (scoring, generalization, extrapolation, and implications). Evidence can be collected and evaluated for each evidence source or inference. The authors illustrate this approach using published research on learning portfolios.The authors advocate a "methods-neutral" approach to assessment, in which a clearly stated purpose determines the nature of and approach to data collection and analysis. Increased use of qualitative assessments will necessitate more rigorous judgments of the defensibility (validity) of inferences and decisions. Evidence should be strategically sought to inform a coherent validity argument.

The effect of dentists' body-weight size on student social judgments of dental skill and patients' behavioural intentions: a vignette study.

PubMed

Asimakopoulou, Koula; Ignatius, Jessica; While, Alison; Newton, Tim

2015-02-01

Where previous work has suggested that over-weight individuals may be subject to negative social judgments, a finding also seen in judgments applied to healthcare professionals (HCPs), this study investigated whether these findings extend to judgments made about dental practitioners. A photo of a normal weight male and one of a normal weight female dentist were digitally modified to reliably show them as overweight, giving a total of 4 conditions. In a single-blind quasi-randomised controlled study of 302 undergraduate and postgraduate student participants used a 5 point Likert scale to appraise a single, gender-matched colour photograph as to whether they thought the dentist depicted was competent, professional, caring, had patients' best interests at heart, and was a good dentist. They further rated their future intentions to follow behavioural advice (reduce snacking and take-up flossing) given by the depicted dentist. The data were analysed using independent sample t-tests. There were no differences in outcomes as a function of the weight status of the depicted dentist in any of the variables explored with the exception of the normal-weight images being rated as more caring than the overweight ones (p<.04). Images of overweight dentists do not receive lower social judgement ratings than images of normal-weight dentists. Previous research in medicine reporting adverse social judgments made of over-weight HCPs does not apply to dental practitioners. Future research should focus on factors that may explain these findings. Dentists appear to be protected from the adverse effect of overweight on social judgments of their personal characteristics and on their health-promoting advice. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Complementarity of Clinician Judgment and Evidence Based Models in Medical Decision Making: Antecedents, Prospects, and Challenges

PubMed Central

Asante Antwi, Henry

2016-01-01

Early accounts of the development of modern medicine suggest that the clinical skills, scientific competence, and doctors' judgment were the main impetus for treatment decision, diagnosis, prognosis, therapy assessment, and medical progress. Yet, clinician judgment has its own critics and is sometimes harshly described as notoriously fallacious and an irrational and unfathomable black box with little transparency. With the rise of contemporary medical research, the reputation of clinician judgment has undergone significant reformation in the last century as its fallacious aspects are increasingly emphasized relative to the evidence based options. Within the last decade, however, medical forecasting literature has seen tremendous change and new understanding is emerging on best ways of sharing medical information to complement the evidence based medicine practices. This review revisits and highlights the core debate on clinical judgments and its interrelations with evidence based medicine. It outlines the key empirical results of clinician judgments relative to evidence based models and identifies its key strengths and prospects, the key limitations and conditions for the effective use of clinician judgment, and the extent to which it can be optimized and professionalized for medical use. PMID:27642588

Critical thinking, educational preparation, and development of moral judgment among selected groups of practicing nurses.

PubMed

Ketefian, S

1981-01-01

The focus of this descriptive study was the relationship between critical thinking, educational preparation, and level of moral judgment in 79 practicing nurses. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Test was used to measure critical thinking; information on the participating nurses' educational preparation was obtained from a personal information sheet. Moral judgment was measured by Rest's Defining Issues Test. The hypothesis that critical thinking would be positively related to moral judgment was tested by Pearson product moment correlation; the obtained coefficient of .5326 was significant at the .001 level. The hypothesis that there would be a difference between professional and technical nurses' moral judgments was tested through a one-way analysis of variance. The F ratio (F [1,77] = 9.6) was significant beyond the .01 level. Data also supported the hypothesis that critical thinking and educational preparation would predict greater variance in moral judgment than either variable alone, which was tested through multiple regression analysis (F [2,75] = 18.3, p = .01). Critical thinking and education together accounted for 32.9 percent of the variance in moral judgment. Implications of the findings are discussed for nursing research, practice, and education.

How clinicians make (or avoid) moral judgments of patients: implications of the evidence for relationships and research

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Physicians, nurses, and other clinicians readily acknowledge being troubled by encounters with patients who trigger moral judgments. For decades social scientists have noted that moral judgment of patients is pervasive, occurring not only in egregious and criminal cases but also in everyday situations in which appraisals of patients' social worth and culpability are routine. There is scant literature, however, on the actual prevalence and dynamics of moral judgment in healthcare. The indirect evidence available suggests that moral appraisals function via a complex calculus that reflects variation in patient characteristics, clinician characteristics, task, and organizational factors. The full impact of moral judgment on healthcare relationships, patient outcomes, and clinicians' own well-being is yet unknown. The paucity of attention to moral judgment, despite its significance for patient-centered care, communication, empathy, professionalism, healthcare education, stereotyping, and outcome disparities, represents a blind spot that merits explanation and repair. New methodologies in social psychology and neuroscience have yielded models for how moral judgment operates in healthcare and how research in this area should proceed. Clinicians, educators, and researchers would do well to recognize both the legitimate and illegitimate moral appraisals that are apt to occur in healthcare settings. PMID:20618947

Leader Development, Learning Agility, and the Army Profession

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-01

Profession campaign makes the case for a re-evaluation and assessment of the Army as a profession and the attributes of the Army Professional. Leadership ...campaign makes the case for a re-evaluation and assessment of the Army as a profession and the attributes of the Army Professional. Leadership ...as a profession and the attributes of the Army Professional. Leadership entails the repetitive exercise of discretionary judgments, all highly

Maternal versus Professional Estimates of Developmental Status for Young Children with Handicaps: An Ecological Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sexton, David; And Others

1990-01-01

The study compared maternal judgments about the development of their young disabled children with independently obtained developmental testing data for 53 children. Results indicated (1) maternal and professional estimates were highly correlated; (2) mothers systematically provided higher estimates across developmental domains; and (3) child IQ…

Effects of Teaching Critical Thinking to Saudi Female University Students Using a Stand-Alone Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al Ghamdi, Amani K. Hamdan; Deraney, Philline M.

2013-01-01

Teaching critical thinking, an educational goal widely discussed in the last 30 years (Halpern, 1993), is an essential element of professional and higher education as it promotes reasoned judgments under "conditions of uncertainty," a hallmark of professionalism (Levine, 2010; Shulman, 2005; Perry, 1970). In this study, the researchers…

Studying Teachers' Sensemaking to Investigate Teachers' Responses to Professional Development Focused on New Standards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allen, Carrie D.; Penuel, William R.

2015-01-01

Recent research on teacher professional development (PD) underscores the importance of the coherence of PD with standards, curriculum, and assessment. Teachers' judgments of the coherence of PD with larger system goals influence their decisions about what ideas and resources they appropriate from PD. Little research, however, has examined how…

Professionalism and clinical autonomy in the practice of medicine.

PubMed

Morreim, E Haavi

2002-11-01

Professionalism in medicine requires a reasonable measure of freedom for physicians to determine patients needs based on their own judgment. However, because virtually every medical decision is also a spending decision, third-party payers concerned about rising health care costs have introduced cost-containment tactics that significantly limit physicians accustomed autonomy. In response, groups of physicians have filed class-action lawsuits against managed care plans, alleging causes of action such as fraud, breach of contract, extortion, and violations of federal RICO (Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) law. Such litigation may have merits, but it also faces significant obstacles, in part because the contracts involved may not actually have promised the broad measure of clinical autonomy that the physicians allege was promised, then denied. As physicians seek to restore and retain their professional autonomy, it will be important for them to be increasingly proactive in structuring or modifying the contracts under whose terms they practice as some physicians have successfully done.

Clinical versus actuarial judgment.

PubMed

Dawes, R M; Faust, D; Meehl, P E

1989-03-31

Professionals are frequently consulted to diagnose and predict human behavior; optimal treatment and planning often hinge on the consultant's judgmental accuracy. The consultant may rely on one of two contrasting approaches to decision-making--the clinical and actuarial methods. Research comparing these two approaches shows the actuarial method to be superior. Factors underlying the greater accuracy of actuarial methods, sources of resistance to the scientific findings, and the benefits of increased reliance on actuarial approaches are discussed.

28 CFR 549.41 - Voluntary admission and psychotropic medication.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT MEDICAL SERVICES Administrative Safeguards for Psychiatric Treatment and Medication... admitted for psychiatric treatment and medication when, in the professional judgment of qualified health...

20 CFR 656.5 - Schedule A.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

.... Professional nursing generally includes making clinical judgments involving the observation, care and counsel... ability in the sciences or arts including college and university teachers of exceptional ability who have...

20 CFR 656.5 - Schedule A.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

.... Professional nursing generally includes making clinical judgments involving the observation, care and counsel... ability in the sciences or arts including college and university teachers of exceptional ability who have...

20 CFR 656.5 - Schedule A.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

.... Professional nursing generally includes making clinical judgments involving the observation, care and counsel... ability in the sciences or arts including college and university teachers of exceptional ability who have...

20 CFR 656.5 - Schedule A.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

.... Professional nursing generally includes making clinical judgments involving the observation, care and counsel... ability in the sciences or arts including college and university teachers of exceptional ability who have...

Principals Value-Informed Decision Making, Intrapersonal Moral Discord, and Pathways to Resolution: The Complexities of Moral Leadership Praxis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frick, William C.

2009-01-01

Purpose: This research seeks to explore the inevitable internal struggle experienced by school leaders when making ethically-informed judgments. The study acquired principals' intimate reflections about professional decision making in response to personal versus organizational and/or professional value discrepancy as identified in the ethic of the…

Thinking Like a Nurse and Perceived Readiness for Professional Practice: A Mixed Methods Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowdoin, Carol

2014-01-01

Thinking like a nurse (TLN) has been identified as a core competency of professional nursing practice. The term embraces the full context of the daily metacognitive process nurses use to provide competent nursing care and was theorized in this study to have four attributes: critical thinking, clinical judgment, moral reasoning, and professional…

Nurses' reported thinking during medication administration.

PubMed

Eisenhauer, Laurel A; Hurley, Ann C; Dolan, Nancy

2007-01-01

To document nurses' reported thinking processes during medication administration before and after implementation of point-of-care technology. Semistructured interviews and real-time tape recordings were used to document the thinking processes of 40 nurses practicing in inpatient care units in a large tertiary care teaching hospital in the northeastern US. Content analysis resulted in identification of 10 descriptive categories of nurses' thinking: communication, dose-time, checking, assessment, evaluation, teaching, side effects, work arounds, anticipating problem solving, and drug administration. Situations requiring judgment in dosage, timing, or selection of specific medications (e.g., pain management, titration of antihypertensives) provided the most explicit data about nurses' use of critical thinking and clinical judgment. A key element was nurses' constant professional vigilance to ensure that patients received their appropriate medications. Nurses' thinking processes extended beyond rules and procedures and were based on patient data and interdisciplinary professional knowledge to provide safe and effective care. Identification of thinking processes can help nurses to explain the professional expertise inherent in medication administration beyond the technical application of the "5 rights."

Clinical judgement and the medical profession

PubMed Central

Kienle, Gunver S; Kiene, Helmut

2011-01-01

Objectives Clinical judgment is a central element of the medical profession, essential for the performance of the doctor, and potentially generating information also for other clinicians and for scientists and health care managers. The recently renewed interest in clinical judgement is primarily engaged with its role in communication, diagnosis and decision making. Beyond this issue, the present article highlights the interrelations between clinical judgement, therapy assessment and medical professionalism. Methods Literature review and theory development. Results The article presents different methodological approaches to causality assessment in clinical studies and in clinical judgement, and offers criteria for clinical single case causality. The article outlines models of medical professionalism such as technical rationality and practice epistemology, and characterizes features of professional expertise such as tacit knowledge, reflection in action, and gestalt cognition. Conclusions Consequences of a methodological and logistical advancement of clinical judgment are discussed, both in regard to medical progress and to the renewel of the cognitive basis of the medical profession. PMID:20973873

17 CFR 210.2-06 - Retention of audit and review records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... Company Accounting Oversight Board. (c) Memoranda, correspondence, communications, other documents, and... to, those documenting a consultation on or resolution of differences in professional judgment. (d...

17 CFR 210.2-06 - Retention of audit and review records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... Company Accounting Oversight Board. (c) Memoranda, correspondence, communications, other documents, and... to, those documenting a consultation on or resolution of differences in professional judgment. (d...

17 CFR 210.2-06 - Retention of audit and review records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... Company Accounting Oversight Board. (c) Memoranda, correspondence, communications, other documents, and... to, those documenting a consultation on or resolution of differences in professional judgment. (d...

12 CFR 19.195 - Incompetence.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... in the representation of a client's rights and interests in a significant matter before the OCC is... the knowledge, judgment and skill that a professional would ordinarily and reasonably be expected to...

12 CFR 19.195 - Incompetence.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... in the representation of a client's rights and interests in a significant matter before the OCC is... the knowledge, judgment and skill that a professional would ordinarily and reasonably be expected to...

12 CFR 19.195 - Incompetence.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... in the representation of a client's rights and interests in a significant matter before the OCC is... the knowledge, judgment and skill that a professional would ordinarily and reasonably be expected to...

12 CFR 19.195 - Incompetence.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... in the representation of a client's rights and interests in a significant matter before the OCC is... the knowledge, judgment and skill that a professional would ordinarily and reasonably be expected to...

Comparison of ethical judgments exhibited by clients and ethics consultants in Japan.

PubMed

Nagao, Noriko; Kadooka, Yasuhiro; Asai, Atsushi

2014-03-04

Healthcare professionals must make decisions for patients based on ethical considerations. However, they rely on clinical ethics consultations (CEC) to review ethical justifications of their decisions. CEC consultants support the cases reviewed and guide medical care. When both healthcare professionals and CEC consultants face ethical problems in medical care, how is their judgment derived? How do medical judgments differ from the ethical considerations of CECs? This study examines CECs in Japan to identify differences in the ethical judgment of clients and CEC consultants. The CEC request and response documents of all 60 cases reviewed across Japan between October 2006 and the end of October 2011 were classified in terms of the presence of decisional capacity in the patient. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of the differences in reasoning between client and CEC consultants. Reasoned judgments were verified in individual cases to classify the similarities or differences of opinion between CEC clients and teams. As the result of classification of the decisional capacity and the difference of opinion regarding medical care, the most frequent category was 25 cases (41.7%) of "uncertain decisional capacity," and 23 cases (38.3%) of "withholding of decision-making." A chi-square analysis was performed on presence of decisional capacity and agreement in decision-making, yielding a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). The CEC consultants' reasoning was based on "patient's preference was ambiguous," "validity of family as a surrogate," "estimation of patient preference," and "patient's best interest," whereas the CEC client's reasoning was based on "consistent family preference was shown/not shown" and "appropriate therapeutic methods to manage patient safety." Differences in opinions were found in cases classified according to decisional capacity. Furthermore, the reasoning behind judgments differed between CEC clients and CEC consultants. The reasoning of CEC consultants was critical and reflective, while for clients it was situational and pragmatic.

Perceived determinants of cardiovascular risk management in primary care: disconnections between patient behaviours, practice organisation and healthcare system.

PubMed

Huntink, E; Wensing, M; Klomp, M A; van Lieshout, J

2015-12-15

Although conditions for high quality cardiovascular risk management in primary care in the Netherlands are favourable, there still remains a gap between practice guideline recommendations and practice. The aim of the current study was to identify determinants of cardiovascular primary care in the Netherlands. We performed a qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews with healthcare professionals and patients with established cardiovascular diseases or at high cardiovascular risk. A framework analysis was used to cluster the determinants into seven domains: 1) guideline factors, 2) individual healthcare professional factors, 3) patient factors, 4) professional interaction, 5) incentives and recourses, 6) mandate, authority and accountability, and 7) social, political and legal factors. Twelve healthcare professionals and 16 patients were interviewed. Healthcare professionals and patients mentioned a variety of factors concerning all seven domains. Determinants of practice according to the health care professionals were related to communication between healthcare professionals, patients' lack of knowledge and self-management, time management, market mechanisms in the Dutch healthcare system and motivational interviewing skills of healthcare professionals. Patients mentioned determinants related to their knowledge of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, medication adherence and self-management as key determinants. A key finding is the mismatch between healthcare professionals' and patients' views on patient's knowledge and self-management. Perceived determinants of cardiovascular risk management were mainly related to patient behaviors and (but only for health professionals) to the healthcare system. Though health care professionals and patients agree upon the importance of patients' knowledge and self-management, their judgment of the current state of knowledge and self-management is entirely different.

7 CFR 1773.7 - Audit standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

.... (b) The audit must include such tests of the accounting records and such other auditing procedures... imposed by the borrower, the CPA should use professional judgment to determine what levels of the borrower...

7 CFR 1773.7 - Audit standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

.... (b) The audit must include such tests of the accounting records and such other auditing procedures... imposed by the borrower, the CPA should use professional judgment to determine what levels of the borrower...

7 CFR 1773.7 - Audit standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

.... (b) The audit must include such tests of the accounting records and such other auditing procedures... imposed by the borrower, the CPA should use professional judgment to determine what levels of the borrower...

7 CFR 1773.7 - Audit standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

.... (b) The audit must include such tests of the accounting records and such other auditing procedures... imposed by the borrower, the CPA should use professional judgment to determine what levels of the borrower...

7 CFR 1773.7 - Audit standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

.... (b) The audit must include such tests of the accounting records and such other auditing procedures... imposed by the borrower, the CPA should use professional judgment to determine what levels of the borrower...

Is Grammar Spared in Autism Spectrum Disorder? Data from Judgments of Verb Argument Structure Overgeneralization Errors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ambridge, Ben; Bannard, Colin; Jackson, Georgina H.

2015-01-01

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) aged 11-13 (N = 16) and an IQ-matched typically developing (TD) group aged 7-12 (N = 16) completed a graded grammaticality judgment task, as well as a standardized test of cognitive function. In a departure from previous studies, the judgment task involved verb argument structure overgeneralization…

A matter of fact? Adolescents' assumptions about crime, laws, and authority and their domain-specific beliefs about punishment.

PubMed

Oosterhoff, Benjamin; Shook, Natalie J; Metzger, Aaron

2018-01-01

This study examined adolescents' beliefs about the amount of punishment individuals should receive for violating different laws and whether these beliefs are connected with their informational assumptions (i.e., perceived facts) about crime, laws, and authority. American adolescents (N = 340; M age  = 16.64, 58.2% female) reported their judgments concerning the appropriate punishment for violating laws regulating domain-specific behaviors and their informational assumptions regarding the prevalence and causes of crime, beliefs that authority is knowledgeable, and the purpose of punishment. Greater internal attributions for crime was associated with stronger punishment judgments for violating laws that regulate moral and conventional issues. Greater beliefs that punishment teaches right from wrong was associated with stronger punishment judgments for violating laws that regulate drug-related prudential issues, and lower punishment judgments for violating laws that regulate personal issues. Greater beliefs that authorities are more knowledgeable than others was associated with stronger punishment judgments for violating laws that regulate personal issues. Copyright © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integration of Intention and Outcome for Moral Judgment in Frontotemporal Dementia: Brain Structural Signatures.

PubMed

Baez, Sandra; Kanske, Philipp; Matallana, Diana; Montañes, Patricia; Reyes, Pablo; Slachevsky, Andrea; Matus, Cristian; Vigliecca, Nora Silvana; Torralva, Teresa; Manes, Facundo; Ibanez, Agustin

2016-01-01

Moral judgment has been proposed to rely on a distributed brain network. This function is impaired in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), a condition involving damage to some regions of this network. However, no studies have investigated moral judgment in bvFTD via structural neuroimaging. We compared the performance of 21 bvFTD patients and 19 controls on a moral judgment task involving scenarios that discriminate between the contributions of intentions and outcomes. Voxel-based morphometry was used to assess (a) the atrophy pattern in bvFTD patients, (b) associations between gray matter (GM) volume and moral judgments, and (c) structural differences between bvFTD subgroups (patients with relatively preserved moral judgment and patients with severer moral judgment impairments). Patients judged attempted harm as more permissible and accidental harm as less permissible than controls. The groups' performance on accidental harm was associated with GM volume in the precuneus. In controls, it was al- so associated with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Also, both groups' performance on attempted harm was associated with GM volume in the temporoparietal junction. Patients exhibiting worse performance displayed smaller GM volumes in the precuneus and temporal pole. Results suggest that moral judgment abnormalities in bvFTD are associated with impaired integration of intentions and outcomes, which depends on an extended brain network. In bvFTD, moral judgment seems to critically depend on areas beyond the VMPFC. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Interpreting weightings of the peer assessment rating index and the discrepancy index across contexts on Chinese patients.

PubMed

Liu, Siqi; Oh, Heesoo; Chambers, David William; Xu, Tianmin; Baumrind, Sheldon

2018-04-06

Determine optimal weightings of Peer Assessment Rating (PAR) index and Discrepancy Index (DI) for malocclusion severity assessment in Chinese orthodontic patients. Sixty-nine Chinese orthodontists assessed a full set of pre-treatment records from a stratified random sample of 120 subjects gathered from six university orthodontic centres. Using professional judgment as the outcome variable, multiple regression analyses were performed to derive customized weighting systems for the PAR index and DI, for all subjects and each Angle classification subgroup. Professional judgment was consistent, with an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) of 0.995. The PAR index or DI can be reliably measured, with ICC = 0.959 and 0.990, respectively. The predictive accuracy of PAR index was greatly improved by the Chinese weighting process (from r = 0.431 to r = 0.788) with almost equal distribution in each Angle classification subgroup. The Chinese-weighted DI showed a higher predictive accuracy, at P = 0.01, compared with the PAR index (r = 0.851 versus r = 0.788). A better performance was found in the Class II group (r = 0.890) when compared to Class I (r = 0.736) and III (r = 0.785) groups. The Chinese-weighted PAR index and DI were capable of predicting 62 per cent and 73 per cent of total variance in the professional judgment of malocclusion severity in Chinese patients. Differential prediction across Angle classifications merits attention since different weighting formulas were found.

Application of cognitive diagnosis models to competency-based situational judgment tests.

PubMed

García, Pablo Eduardo; Olea, Julio; De la Torre, Jimmy

2014-01-01

Profiling of jobs in terms of competency requirements has increasingly been applied in many organizational settings. Testing these competencies through situational judgment tests (SJTs) leads to validity problems because it is not usually clear which constructs SJTs measure. The primary purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether the application of cognitive diagnosis models (CDM) to competency-based SJTs can ascertain the underlying competencies measured by the items, and whether these competencies can be estimated precisely. The generalized deterministic inputs, noisy "and" gate (G-DINA) model was applied to 26 situational judgment items measuring professional competencies based on the great eight model. These items were applied to 485 employees of a Spanish financial company. The fit of the model to the data and the convergent validity between the estimated competencies and personality dimensions were examined. The G-DINA showed a good fit to the data and the estimated competency factors, adapting and coping and interacting and presenting were positively related to emotional stability and extraversion, respectively. This work indicates that CDM can be a useful tool when measuring professional competencies through SJTs. CDM can clarify the competencies being measured and provide precise estimates of these competencies.

Autonomy, Candour and Professional Teacher Practice: A Discussion Inspired by the Later Works of Michel Foucault

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raaen, Finn Daniel

2011-01-01

Autonomy is considered to be an important feature of professionals and to provide a necessary basis for their informed judgments. In this article these notions will be challenged. In this article I use Michel Foucault's deconstruction of the idea of the autonomous citizen, and his later attempts to reconstruct that idea, in order to bring some new…

17 CFR 210.2-06 - Retention of audit and review records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Commission or by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. (c) Memoranda, correspondence, communications... professional judgment. (d) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of this section, the term issuer means an issuer...

17 CFR 210.2-06 - Retention of audit and review records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... Commission or by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. (c) Memoranda, correspondence, communications... professional judgment. (d) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of this section, the term issuer means an issuer...

Legal hurdles for gastroenterologists in India.

PubMed

Nagpal, Neeraj

2017-05-01

Litigation and compensation claims have started occurring with increasing frequency against gastroenterologists in India. A study of few such cases decided by Indian Courts shows that commonest reason for allegations of negligence being upheld by Indian Courts is an improper consent being taken. Professional organisations need to focus on these issues more aggressively than has been done in the past. Judgments which do not appear to be in conformity with standard medical practices need to be challenged in higher courts, failing in which they would become precedents for future similar judgments.

Sight over sound in the judgment of music performance.

PubMed

Tsay, Chia-Jung

2013-09-03

Social judgments are made on the basis of both visual and auditory information, with consequential implications for our decisions. To examine the impact of visual information on expert judgment and its predictive validity for performance outcomes, this set of seven experiments in the domain of music offers a conservative test of the relative influence of vision versus audition. People consistently report that sound is the most important source of information in evaluating performance in music. However, the findings demonstrate that people actually depend primarily on visual information when making judgments about music performance. People reliably select the actual winners of live music competitions based on silent video recordings, but neither musical novices nor professional musicians were able to identify the winners based on sound recordings or recordings with both video and sound. The results highlight our natural, automatic, and nonconscious dependence on visual cues. The dominance of visual information emerges to the degree that it is overweighted relative to auditory information, even when sound is consciously valued as the core domain content.

Sight over sound in the judgment of music performance

PubMed Central

Tsay, Chia-Jung

2013-01-01

Social judgments are made on the basis of both visual and auditory information, with consequential implications for our decisions. To examine the impact of visual information on expert judgment and its predictive validity for performance outcomes, this set of seven experiments in the domain of music offers a conservative test of the relative influence of vision versus audition. People consistently report that sound is the most important source of information in evaluating performance in music. However, the findings demonstrate that people actually depend primarily on visual information when making judgments about music performance. People reliably select the actual winners of live music competitions based on silent video recordings, but neither musical novices nor professional musicians were able to identify the winners based on sound recordings or recordings with both video and sound. The results highlight our natural, automatic, and nonconscious dependence on visual cues. The dominance of visual information emerges to the degree that it is overweighted relative to auditory information, even when sound is consciously valued as the core domain content. PMID:23959902

37 CFR 41.208 - Content of substantive and responsive motions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

..., making of 10.23 Independent professional judgment, exercise of 10.61, 10.62, 10.66, 10.68 Individual... matters 10.77 Non-practitioner, formation of partnership with 10.49 Notice of suspension or exclusion 11...

The ABC of moral development: an attachment approach to moral judgment

PubMed Central

Govrin, Aner

2014-01-01

As with other cognitive faculties, the etiology of moral judgment and its connection to early development is complex. Because research is limited, the causative and contributory factors to the development of moral judgment in preverbal infants are unclear. However, evidence is emerging from studies within both infant research and moral psychology that may contribute to our understanding of the early development of moral judgments. Though its finding are preliminary, this proposed paradigm synthesizes these findings to generate an overarching, model of the process that appears to contribute to the development of moral judgment in the first year of life. I will propose that through early interactions with the caregiver, the child acquires an internal representation of a system of rules that determine how right/wrong judgments are to be construed, used, and understood. By breaking moral situations down into their defining features, the attachment model of moral judgment outlines a framework for a universal moral faculty based on a universal, innate, deep structure that appears uniformly in the structure of almost all moral judgments regardless of their content. The implications of the model for our understanding of innateness, universal morality, and the representations of moral situations are discussed. PMID:24478739

Development of a Base for the Re-evaluation of the Professional Segment of the Master of Science Degree Program in Industrial Education at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Part VIII: Importance of Industrial Education Teacher's Professional Tasks as Seen by a Jury of Selected Leaders in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Lawrence S.

This study was conducted a) to determine the importance that a jury of selected national leaders in education attaches to each of the professional tasks for secondary school industrial education teachers and b) to find out what differences, if any, exist between the importance judgments of the jury and those of each of four industrial education…

Comparison of ethical judgments exhibited by clients and ethics consultants in Japan

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Healthcare professionals must make decisions for patients based on ethical considerations. However, they rely on clinical ethics consultations (CEC) to review ethical justifications of their decisions. CEC consultants support the cases reviewed and guide medical care. When both healthcare professionals and CEC consultants face ethical problems in medical care, how is their judgment derived? How do medical judgments differ from the ethical considerations of CECs? This study examines CECs in Japan to identify differences in the ethical judgment of clients and CEC consultants. Methods The CEC request and response documents of all 60 cases reviewed across Japan between October 2006 and the end of October 2011 were classified in terms of the presence of decisional capacity in the patient. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of the differences in reasoning between client and CEC consultants. Reasoned judgments were verified in individual cases to classify the similarities or differences of opinion between CEC clients and teams. Results As the result of classification of the decisional capacity and the difference of opinion regarding medical care, the most frequent category was 25 cases (41.7%) of “uncertain decisional capacity,” and 23 cases (38.3%) of “withholding of decision-making.” A chi-square analysis was performed on presence of decisional capacity and agreement in decision-making, yielding a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). The CEC consultants’ reasoning was based on “patient’s preference was ambiguous,” “validity of family as a surrogate,” “estimation of patient preference,” and “patient’s best interest,” whereas the CEC client’s reasoning was based on “consistent family preference was shown/not shown” and “appropriate therapeutic methods to manage patient safety.” Conclusion Differences in opinions were found in cases classified according to decisional capacity. Furthermore, the reasoning behind judgments differed between CEC clients and CEC consultants. The reasoning of CEC consultants was critical and reflective, while for clients it was situational and pragmatic. PMID:24592932

Methodological Concerns in Experimental Reading Research: All That Glitters...

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henk, William A.

1987-01-01

Describes the nature and consequences of liberally or improperly applying the traditional reading research methodology and provides an argument for tempering judgments about the relative contributions that experimental studies make to the professional literature in reading. (SKC)

Historical Trends

Cancer.gov

Since its establishment in 1937, the National Cancer Institute has served as a scientific cornerstone of the National Institutes of Health. Find information about the history of NCI appropriations and the Professional Judgment (Bypass) Budget, as well as data on funding trends and staffing levels.

When Teachers Falter.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Neil, I. Riley; Adamson, David R.

1993-01-01

Administrators cannot avoid disciplining and dismissing teachers who lack the skill to teach or the judgment to conduct themselves professionally. Central office administrators at a Salt Lake City school district developed "corrective discipline" procedures to help principals incorporate just cause, due process, and progressive…

Rating educational quality: factors in the erosion of professional standards.

PubMed

Albanese, M

1999-06-01

Changes in the health care environment are putting increasing pressure on medical schools to make faculty accountable and to document the quality of the medical education they provide. Faculty's ratings of students' performances and students' ratings of faculty's teaching are important elements in these efforts to document educational quality. This article discusses selected research related to factors affecting raters' judgments, analyzes how changes in the health care environment are influencing such judgments, and links these influences to the system that upholds professional standards. Ratings are known to have a positive bias (generosity error), provide limited discrimination, and often fail to document serious deficits. The potential sources of these problems relate to the mechanics of the rating task, the system used to obtain ratings, and factors affecting rater judgment. As managed care demands reduce the time faculty have for teaching, as system-wide disincentives to provide negative ratings proliferate, and as social engineering challenges, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, impose differential standards for students, the natural tendency to avoid giving negative ratings becomes even harder to resist. Ultimately, these forces compromise the capability of faculty to uphold the standards of the profession. The author calls for a national effort to stem the erosion of those standards.

The logic of syntactic priming and acceptability judgments.

PubMed

Gaston, Phoebe; Huang, Nick; Phillips, Colin

2017-01-01

A critical flaw in Branigan & Pickering's (B&P's) advocacy of structural priming is the absence of a theory of priming. This undermines their claims about the value of priming as a methodology. In contrast, acceptability judgments enable clearer inferences about structure. It is important to engage thoroughly with the logic behind different structural diagnostics.

A sociological perspective on "the unmotivated client": public accountability and professional work methods in vocational rehabilitation.

PubMed

van Hal, Lineke; Meershoek, Agnes; Nijhuis, Frans; Horstman, Klasien

2013-05-01

This study aims at a sociological understanding of the concept of (un)motivation in order to provide clues for improving vocational rehabilitation (VR) support. (Un)motivation is understood as the product of the interaction between clients and professionals in an institutional context. To gain better understanding of this construction of (un)motivation, in depth-interviews are held with 14 VR professionals. Based on the stories professionals told about their professional practices, we analysed the ways in which they guide their clients during their VR path within the institutional context of the Dutch welfare state. "The unmotivated client" is a judgment that arises in the interaction between professional and client if the institutional goals of VR are not achieved. Two work methods are distinguished in which this judgment takes shapes in various ways, namely "Professional as a Signpost" and "Professional as a Personal Guide". Professionals work in a dichotomous public accountability framework with a strong focus on labour participation. This causes professionals to look for ways out of VR paths in which labour participation is not achieved. The construction of "the unmotivated client" is such a way out. An alternative way out is to explicitly value clients' (intermediary) achievements. • In vocational rehabilitation (VR) there exists the risk that a perceived lack of motivation is only considered a personal problem in stead of a social issue. • Reconsideration of the public accountability framework of VR may lead to more inclusive VR support in which a differentiated concept of participation is valued. • Lessons can be drawn from the articulation of achievements made in VR paths that are now considered unsuccessful. • For more inclusive VR support, the specific situation and situated needs of clients need to be taken as a starting point instead of a primary focus on the final goal of labour participation.

The art of negotiation. An everyday experience.

PubMed

Smeltzer, C H

1991-01-01

The art of negotiation permeates every aspect of one's professional and personal life. Nurse administrators who use a scientific method of negotiation to augment professional judgment and decision making can create a climate conductive to success. The author reviews the definition and purpose of negotiation, examines concepts associated with negotiation and communication, analyzes the steps in the negotiation process, relates the negotiation process to the change process, and describes strategies for conducting effective negotiation.

32 CFR 575.1 - Military Academy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... sound education in the arts and sciences requisite for continued professional and intellectual growth... judgment to take appropriate action in the absence of instructions or supervision. (7) Physical and moral courage. (8) The physical strength, endurance, and conditioning habits required of a soldier. ...

32 CFR 575.1 - Military Academy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... sound education in the arts and sciences requisite for continued professional and intellectual growth... judgment to take appropriate action in the absence of instructions or supervision. (7) Physical and moral courage. (8) The physical strength, endurance, and conditioning habits required of a soldier. ...

32 CFR 575.1 - Military Academy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... sound education in the arts and sciences requisite for continued professional and intellectual growth... judgment to take appropriate action in the absence of instructions or supervision. (7) Physical and moral courage. (8) The physical strength, endurance, and conditioning habits required of a soldier. ...

32 CFR 575.1 - Military Academy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... sound education in the arts and sciences requisite for continued professional and intellectual growth... judgment to take appropriate action in the absence of instructions or supervision. (7) Physical and moral courage. (8) The physical strength, endurance, and conditioning habits required of a soldier. ...

32 CFR 575.1 - Military Academy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... sound education in the arts and sciences requisite for continued professional and intellectual growth... judgment to take appropriate action in the absence of instructions or supervision. (7) Physical and moral courage. (8) The physical strength, endurance, and conditioning habits required of a soldier. ...

Lake Superior Aquatic Invasive Species Complete Prevention Plan

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Lake Superior Aquatic Invasive Species Complete Prevention Plan is an expression of the best professional judgment of the members of the Lake Superior Task Force as to what is necessary to protect Lake Superior from new aquatic invasive species.

Leadership Styles and Moral Judgment Competence of Community College Personnel

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McFadden, Cheryl; Miller, Brian; Sypawka, William; Clay, Maria; Hoover-Plonk, Shelly

2013-01-01

This study investigated the convergence of leadership styles and moral judgment competence of community college personnel participating in a leadership institute using the Leadership Orientation Instrument (Bolman & Deal, 1984) and the Moral Judgment Test (Lind, 1978). Results indicated that the human resource and structural frames were the…

7 CFR 4279.30 - Lenders' functions and responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... sound lending practices, (v) Supervising construction (vi) Distribution of loan funds, (vii) Servicing... the loan processing phase. The lender must analyze all credit factors associated with each proposed loan and apply its professional judgment to determine that the credit factors, considered in...

45 CFR Appendix A to Part 1211 - Standards for Examiners

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

..., professional, investigative, or technical work which has demonstrated the possession of: (i) The personal... problems and apply mature judgment in assessing the practical implications of alternative solutions to those problems; Interpret and apply regulations and other complex written material; Communicate...

45 CFR Appendix A to Part 1211 - Standards for Examiners

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

..., professional, investigative, or technical work which has demonstrated the possession of: (i) The personal... problems and apply mature judgment in assessing the practical implications of alternative solutions to those problems; Interpret and apply regulations and other complex written material; Communicate...

48 CFR 52.237-7 - Indemnification and Medical Liability Insurance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... ACQUISITION REGULATION (CONTINUED) CLAUSES AND FORMS SOLICITATION PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT CLAUSES Text of... expressly agreed and understood that this is a nonpersonal services contract, as defined in Federal... services rendered, including by example, the Contractor's professional medical judgment, diagnosis, or...

Pillars of judgment: how memory abilities affect performance in rule-based and exemplar-based judgments.

PubMed

Hoffmann, Janina A; von Helversen, Bettina; Rieskamp, Jörg

2014-12-01

Making accurate judgments is an essential skill in everyday life. Although how different memory abilities relate to categorization and judgment processes has been hotly debated, the question is far from resolved. We contribute to the solution by investigating how individual differences in memory abilities affect judgment performance in 2 tasks that induced rule-based or exemplar-based judgment strategies. In a study with 279 participants, we investigated how working memory and episodic memory affect judgment accuracy and strategy use. As predicted, participants switched strategies between tasks. Furthermore, structural equation modeling showed that the ability to solve rule-based tasks was predicted by working memory, whereas episodic memory predicted judgment accuracy in the exemplar-based task. Last, the probability of choosing an exemplar-based strategy was related to better episodic memory, but strategy selection was unrelated to working memory capacity. In sum, our results suggest that different memory abilities are essential for successfully adopting different judgment strategies. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Entrance and Exit Requirements of Professional Social Work Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duehn, Wayne D.; Mayadas, Nazneen Sada

1977-01-01

A competency-based direct practice curriculum for graduate social work education is described based on: (1) interpersonal behavioral control; (2) judgment and decision making; (3) contracting and goal setting; (4) selection and application of change method; and (5) assessment of outcomes. (Author/LBH)

Monitoring network-design influence on assessment of ecological condition in wadeable streams

EPA Science Inventory

We investigated outcomes of three monitoring networks for assessing ecological character and condition of wadeable streams in the Waikato region, New Zealand. Sites were selected 1) based on a professional judgment network, 2) within categories of stream and watershed characteris...

School Counselors and Confidentiality: Factors Affecting Professional Choices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isaacs, Madelyn L; Stone, Carolyn

1999-01-01

Counselors who work with children regularly face the ethical dilemma of confidentiality for which there are few definitive answers. Confidentiality and Minors Questionnaire about managing student's confidential information was distributed to district guidance supervisors. It appears that counselors' judgment of what breaches confidentiality is…

7 CFR 4279.30 - Lenders' functions and responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... the loan processing phase. The lender must analyze all credit factors associated with each proposed loan and apply its professional judgment to determine that the credit factors, considered in... environmental impacts of their proposals at the earliest planning stages; and to develop proposals that minimize...

7 CFR 4279.30 - Lenders' functions and responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... the loan processing phase. The lender must analyze all credit factors associated with each proposed loan and apply its professional judgment to determine that the credit factors, considered in... environmental impacts of their proposals at the earliest planning stages; and to develop proposals that minimize...

Mathematics in Technology & Engineering Education: Judgments of Grade-Level Appropriateness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flowers, Jim; Rose, Mary Annette

2014-01-01

Technology and engineering (TE) educators have long championed the infusion of mathematics into technology curriculum, especially to enhance TE learning goals and demonstrate "connections between technology and other fields of study." There is a need for curriculum development and professional development initiatives to purposefully…

Relationships between habitat quality and measured condition variables in Gulf of Mexico mangroves

EPA Science Inventory

Abstract Ecosystem condition assessments were conducted for 12 mangrove sites in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Nine sites were selected randomly; three were selected a priori based on best professional judgment to represent a poor, intermediate and good environmental condition. D...

Utility Considerations in Emotional Stability Monitoring for Nuclear Plant Personnel,

DTIC Science & Technology

Training, and (4) Employee assistance program. Some data exists which show more acts of sabotage, theft, or vandalism occur in environments in which...definition of criteria and the judgment of a professional psychologist or psychiatrist who knows the job environment . Finally, it must provide

It's Not Too Late.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carvell, Fred; Tadlock, Max

This book contains 23 articles related to: 1) the scope of ecological concern; 2) our changing environment; 3) examples of attacks on the problem; 4) establishing priorities; and 5) the value judgments that are posed as a result of our growing ecological awareness. Selections express the divergent experience, professional backgrounds, and…

17 CFR 270.0-1 - Definition of terms used in this part.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... who provides significant administrative or business affairs management services to an investment... that it is unlikely to adversely affect the professional judgment of the person in providing legal... company's management organizations. (7) Fund governance standards. The board of directors of an investment...

PRN 2000-8: Reportability of Attorneys’ Opinions and Conclusions Under 40 CFR Part 159 and FIFRA Section 6(a)(2)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is issuing this pesticide registration notice to inform registrants of EPA’s opinion that an attorney’s professional legal judgment is not an opinion or conclusion that is reportable under 40 CFR part 159.

32 CFR 147.11 - Guideline I-Emotional, mental, and personality disorders.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... because they may indicate a defect in judgment, reliability, or stability. A credentialed mental health... properly, and particularly for consultation with the individual's mental health care provider. (b... credentialed mental health professional that the individual has a condition or treatment that may indicate a...

32 CFR 147.11 - Guideline I-Emotional, mental, and personality disorders.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... because they may indicate a defect in judgment, reliability, or stability. A credentialed mental health... properly, and particularly for consultation with the individual's mental health care provider. (b... credentialed mental health professional that the individual has a condition or treatment that may indicate a...

32 CFR 147.11 - Guideline I-Emotional, mental, and personality disorders.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... because they may indicate a defect in judgment, reliability, or stability. A credentialed mental health... properly, and particularly for consultation with the individual's mental health care provider. (b... credentialed mental health professional that the individual has a condition or treatment that may indicate a...

32 CFR 147.11 - Guideline I-Emotional, mental, and personality disorders.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... because they may indicate a defect in judgment, reliability, or stability. A credentialed mental health... properly, and particularly for consultation with the individual's mental health care provider. (b... credentialed mental health professional that the individual has a condition or treatment that may indicate a...

32 CFR 147.11 - Guideline I-Emotional, mental, and personality disorders.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... because they may indicate a defect in judgment, reliability, or stability. A credentialed mental health... properly, and particularly for consultation with the individual's mental health care provider. (b... credentialed mental health professional that the individual has a condition or treatment that may indicate a...

Ethics of the Health Educator as Behavior Change Agent in Gerontological Health.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neutens, James J.; Jackson, Michael L.

1985-01-01

As health education becomes a focal point in the health care system, more attention will be given to the professional practice of health educators. Understanding ethical theory and other value judgments will be an important aspect of the health education profession. (DF)

Reciprocity and Humility in Wonderland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harry, Beth

2011-01-01

This article supports the perspective of Jan Valle regarding the importance of recognizing the subjectivity inherent in decisions about Learning Disabilities. The author argues that the perspectives of both parents and professionals are informed by subjective judgments that must be taken into account in decision making. A reciprocal approach to…

The speed of metacognition: taking time to get to know one's structural knowledge.

PubMed

Mealor, Andy D; Dienes, Zoltan

2013-03-01

The time course of different metacognitive experiences of knowledge was investigated using artificial grammar learning. Experiment 1 revealed that when participants are aware of the basis of their judgments (conscious structural knowledge) decisions are made most rapidly, followed by decisions made with conscious judgment but without conscious knowledge of underlying structure (unconscious structural knowledge), and guess responses (unconscious judgment knowledge) were made most slowly, even when controlling for differences in confidence and accuracy. In experiment 2, short response deadlines decreased the accuracy of unconscious but not conscious structural knowledge. Conversely, the deadline decreased the proportion of conscious structural knowledge in favour of guessing. Unconscious structural knowledge can be applied rapidly but becomes more reliable with additional metacognitive processing time whereas conscious structural knowledge is an all-or-nothing response that cannot always be applied rapidly. These dissociations corroborate quite separate theories of recognition (dual-process) and metacognition (higher order thought and cross-order integration). Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How Does Sequence Structure Affect the Judgment of Time? Exploring a Weighted Sum of Segments Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matthews, William J.

2013-01-01

This paper examines the judgment of segmented temporal intervals, using short tone sequences as a convenient test case. In four experiments, we investigate how the relative lengths, arrangement, and pitches of the tones in a sequence affect judgments of sequence duration, and ask whether the data can be described by a simple weighted sum of…

Civil rights for people with disabilities: obstacles related to the least restrictive environment mandate.

PubMed

Palley, Elizabeth

2009-01-01

State and other social service agencies as well as service providers are governed by laws that often provide unclear guidance regarding the rights of people with disabilities. Although some standards can be, and have been, developed to protect the rights of people with disabilities, all people with disabilities are not the same and therefore, each can require very different types of accommodations. Some aspects of disability rights must be individually based, including the requirement that people with disabilities receive educational services in the least restrictive environment and care in the most inclusive setting. The current interpretation of these mandates suggests that agency decisions rely on professional judgments. Unless professionals work with their clients, this reliance can serve to disempower those whom the law was intended to protect. Though much debated, the legal definition of a person with a disability is unclear. This article examines the concept of disability and that of the least restrictive environment as well as that of the "most inclusive setting," explains to whom they apply, discusses how they have been defined both in statutes and case law, and elaborates on the role of social workers as a result of the law's reliance on professional judgment in ascertaining client rights.

[A Triage Scale for Mental Health, an Emerging Practice, a Value-Add for Measuring Demand for Mental Health Services].

PubMed

Boucher, Lucie

Objectives The article aims to present two studies supporting the development of l'Échelle brève de triage RIFCAS en santé mentale 0-99 ans, a measuring instrument used to determine - based on the level of customer demand, seriousness, and urgent need for intervention - the priority of a mental health service across all age groups.Methods Both versions have been subject to a measurement interjudge agreement that is compared against the judgment of professionals and other comparison tools.Results The results produced by the interjudge agreement reflect significant correlations with the priorities established by l'Échelle brève de triage RIFCAS en santé mentale 0-99 ans, the judgment of professional experts and the usual instruments used.Conclusion The final version of the triage scale provides an objective measure for the priority that should be given to all mental health service requests - these encompass all recognized and essential clinical information. Clinicians can rely on a reliable and proven instrument to prioritize service requests before placing them on the waiting list. The use of this instrument facilitates the development of a common procedure between professionals and ensures a fair and safe treatment of users.

How Communication Context Impacts Judgments of a Potential Peer Mentor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christofides, Emily; Wood, Eileen; Benn, Amanda Catherine; Desmarais, Serge; Westfall, Krista

2017-01-01

Disclosure is a critical element of interpersonal relationships and individuals are often evaluated on what they share with others, whether in personal, professional, or learning contexts. Technology now allows for many different outlets for communicating with other people. We used experimental methods to explore the impact of communication medium…

Credit for Learning Gained in Life and Work Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strange, John

1980-01-01

Prime features of sound college programs that assess for credit the prior experiential learning of adults are outlined. Faculty judgment underlies all evaluation methods, which include oral exams, written reports, actual performance, or appraisals of advanced professional knowledge. Work of the Council for the Advancement of Experiential Learning…

Relationship Between Performance in Medical School and Postgraduate Competence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonnella, Joseph S.; Hojat, Mohammadreza

1983-01-01

The hypothesis that the relationship between medical school achievement and postgraduate performance would vary by specialty was confirmed in a comparison of grades, standardized medical exams, and ratings in four areas of competence (medical knowledge, data-gathering skills, clinical judgment, and professional attitudes) in internal medicine,…

School Finance Adequacy: What Is It and How Do We Measure It?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Picus, Lawrence O.

2001-01-01

Discusses legal definition of school-finance "adequacy" and four methods for determining the cost of an adequate system: Cost function, observational methods, professional judgment, and costs of a comprehensive school design. Draws implications for school districts' resource-allocation decisions based on adequacy. (Contains 21 references.) (PKP)

Clear Mentoring: Contributing to Mentees' Professional Self-Confidence and Intention to Stay in Their Job

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lejonberg, Eli; Tiplic, Dijana

2016-01-01

Researchers have highlighted developmental mentoring as being beneficial and judgmental mentoring as hampering the potential positive outcomes of mentoring. We introduce the construct "clear mentoring" as a beneficial form of mentoring. The findings suggest that newly qualified teachers who perceive higher levels of mentoring…

Impact of APEX parameterization and soil data on runoff, sediment, and nutrients transport assessment

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Hydrological models have become essential tools for environmental assessments. This study’s objective was to evaluate a best professional judgment (BPJ) parameterization of the Agricultural Policy and Environmental eXtender (APEX) model with soil-survey data against the calibrated model with either ...

Exploring the Impact of Mental Workload on Rater-Based Assessments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tavares, Walter; Eva, Kevin W.

2013-01-01

When appraising the performance of others, assessors must acquire relevant information and process it in a meaningful way in order to translate it effectively into ratings, comments, or judgments about how well the performance meets appropriate standards. Rater-based assessment strategies in health professional education, including scale and…

37 CFR 10.65 - Limiting business relations with a client.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... with a client. 10.65 Section 10.65 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights UNITED STATES PATENT AND... a client. A practitioner shall not enter into a business transaction with a client if they have differing interests therein and if the client expects the practitioner to exercise professional judgment...

A decision support system for forest harvest planning in North Carolina

Treesearch

D.G. Jones

2010-01-01

Forest preharvest planning (FPP) can enhance recognition of environmentally-sensitive areas in advance of forest harvesting, including soil and water resources. While preharvest planning is often a standard component of many forest harvesting operations, either explicitly with paper-based checklists or implicitly with best professional judgment, Geographic Information...

National Child and Youth Care Practitioner Professional Certification: Promoting Competent Care for Children and Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curry, Dale; Eckles, Frank; Stuart, Carol; Qaqish, Basil

2010-01-01

This article provides an overview of the history, development, and conceptual framework guiding a national certification initiative for child and youth care workers. Summarized are descriptions of three certification assessment measures (supervisor assessment, situational judgment certification exam, and portfolio assessment), integrated with…

Critical Thinking for Natural Resource, Agricultural, and Environmental Ethics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quinn, Courtney; Burbach, Mark E.; Matkin, Gina S.; Flores, Kevin

2009-01-01

Future decision makers in natural resource fields will be required to make judgments on issues that lack clear solutions and with information complicated by ethical challenges. Therefore, natural resource, environmental, and agricultural professionals must possess the ability to think critically about the consequences of policy, economic systems,…

Standardised Testing: What Space for Professional Judgement?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doecke, Brenton; Reynolds, Gail; Roberts, Arlene

2002-01-01

Gives an account of Gail Reynolds's experience in administrating the DART (Developmental assessment resource for teachers) and AIM (Achievement improvement monitor) tests at her school. Reflects on how the test results compared with her own judgments of the literacy abilities of individual students in her class. Offers four case studies that draw…

Judging Mental Disorder in Youths: Effects of Client, Clinician, and Contextual Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pottick, Kathleen J.; Kirk, Stuart A.; Hsieh, Derek K.; Tian, Xin

2007-01-01

Using a vignette-based, mailed survey of 1,401 experienced psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, the authors examined how clients' race/ethnicity and clinicians' professional and social characteristics affect their judgment of mental disorder among antisocially behaving youths. Vignettes described problematic behaviors meeting the …

COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATIVE TECHNIQUES FOR THE CHILD WITH A CLEFT PALATE.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

BENSEN, JACK F.; WHITE, FRAZER D.

A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO CHILDREN WITH CLEFT PALATES IS DESCRIBED. THE SOUTH FLORIDA CLEFT PALATE CLINIC, REPRESENTING NINE PROFESSIONAL SPECIALTIES, MEETS WEEKLY TO SEE SIX OR SEVEN CASES. SPEECH PERFORMANCE IS RECORDED ON SIX DIAGNOSTIC, DATA COLLECTING FORMS WHICH PROVIDE A BASIS FOR RECORDING CLINICAL JUDGMENTS. PROGNOSIS AND…

Professional responsibility in maternity care: role of medical audit.

PubMed

Bhatt, R V

1989-09-01

In 1965, Baroda Medical College initiated a process of medical audit of maternal and perinatal deaths occurring at this institution, and consultation in peripheral medical facilities providing antenatal and obstetric care. By 1984 maternal and perinatal mortality had declined and clinical judgment in maternity care had improved.

Conducting a wildland visual resources inventory

Treesearch

James F. Palmer

1979-01-01

This paper describes a procedure for systematically inventorying the visual resources of wildland environments. Visual attributes are recorded photographically using two separate sampling methods: one based on professional judgment and the other on random selection. The location and description of each inventoried scene are recorded on U.S. Geological Survey...

Victims of Domestic Violence and Front-Line Workers: A Helping Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peters, Scott W.; Trepal, Heather C.; de Vries, Sabina M.; Day, Sally W.; Leeth, Christopher

2009-01-01

Victims of domestic violence present a challenge to law enforcement and emergency room personnel. The authors propose a helping approach to assist these professionals. This paradigm is composed of: active and empathetic listening, acceptance without judgment, identifying victims' strengths, honoring victims as experts, and the process of leaving…

Women Sociological Faculty and Scholarship Success in the Heartland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colmenero-Chilberg, Laura

2010-01-01

Women's difficulty in achieving professional success in faculty positions in higher education is a continuing concern. Finding a balance between home and work responsibilities is more complex for women, and when traditional gender scripts are bent, they lead to harsher judgments from students, peers and administrators than for their male…

Soccer Offside Judgments in Laypersons with Different Types of Static Displays

PubMed Central

Wühr, Peter; Fasold, Frowin; Memmert, Daniel

2015-01-01

Four experiments investigated offside decisions in laypersons with different types of static displays. Previous research neglected this group although the majority of assistant referees in soccer games at the amateur level are laypersons. The aims of our research were (a) to investigate the spatial resolution in laypersons’ perception of offside situations, (b) to search for biases in laypersons’ offside judgments, and (c) to develop useful displays for future research. The displays showed the moment when a midfielder passes the ball to a forward moving in the vicinity of a defender. We varied the spatial location of the forward around the defender in eleven steps and participants made their offside decision by pressing a key. Across experiments, displays varied in abstractness (simple shapes, clipart figures, photographs). There were two major findings. Firstly, both accuracy and speed of offside judgments deteriorated when the spatial distance between forward and defender decreased, approaching guessing rate at the smallest distances. Secondly, participants showed a consistent bias in favor of the non-offside response, in contrast to most studies on professional assistant referees. In sum, the results highlight the limited spatial resolution of the visual system and underscore the role of response bias in offside-judgment tasks. PMID:26252653

Diminished Medial Prefrontal Activity behind Autistic Social Judgments of Incongruent Information

PubMed Central

Watanabe, Takamitsu; Yahata, Noriaki; Abe, Osamu; Kuwabara, Hitoshi; Inoue, Hideyuki; Takano, Yosuke; Iwashiro, Norichika; Natsubori, Tatsunobu; Aoki, Yuta; Takao, Hidemasa; Sasaki, Hiroki; Gonoi, Wataru; Murakami, Mizuho; Katsura, Masaki; Kunimatsu, Akira; Kawakubo, Yuki; Matsuzaki, Hideo; Tsuchiya, Kenji J.; Kato, Nobumasa; Kano, Yukiko; Miyashita, Yasushi; Kasai, Kiyoto; Yamasue, Hidenori

2012-01-01

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to make inadequate social judgments, particularly when the nonverbal and verbal emotional expressions of other people are incongruent. Although previous behavioral studies have suggested that ASD individuals have difficulty in using nonverbal cues when presented with incongruent verbal-nonverbal information, the neural mechanisms underlying this symptom of ASD remain unclear. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we compared brain activity in 15 non-medicated adult males with high-functioning ASD to that of 17 age-, parental-background-, socioeconomic-, and intelligence-quotient-matched typically-developed (TD) male participants. Brain activity was measured while each participant made friend or foe judgments of realistic movies in which professional actors spoke with conflicting nonverbal facial expressions and voice prosody. We found that the ASD group made significantly less judgments primarily based on the nonverbal information than the TD group, and they exhibited significantly less brain activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral anterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex/ventral medial prefrontal cortex (ACC/vmPFC), and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) than the TD group. Among these five regions, the ACC/vmPFC and dmPFC were most involved in nonverbal-information-biased judgments in the TD group. Furthermore, the degree of decrease of the brain activity in these two brain regions predicted the severity of autistic communication deficits. The findings indicate that diminished activity in the ACC/vmPFC and dmPFC underlies the impaired abilities of individuals with ASD to use nonverbal content when making judgments regarding other people based on incongruent social information. PMID:22745788

Reach and speed of judgment propagation in the laboratory.

PubMed

Moussaïd, Mehdi; Herzog, Stefan M; Kämmer, Juliane E; Hertwig, Ralph

2017-04-18

In recent years, a large body of research has demonstrated that judgments and behaviors can propagate from person to person. Phenomena as diverse as political mobilization, health practices, altruism, and emotional states exhibit similar dynamics of social contagion. The precise mechanisms of judgment propagation are not well understood, however, because it is difficult to control for confounding factors such as homophily or dynamic network structures. We introduce an experimental design that renders possible the stringent study of judgment propagation. In this design, experimental chains of individuals can revise their initial judgment in a visual perception task after observing a predecessor's judgment. The positioning of a very good performer at the top of a chain created a performance gap, which triggered waves of judgment propagation down the chain. We evaluated the dynamics of judgment propagation experimentally. Despite strong social influence within pairs of individuals, the reach of judgment propagation across a chain rarely exceeded a social distance of three to four degrees of separation. Furthermore, computer simulations showed that the speed of judgment propagation decayed exponentially with the social distance from the source. We show that information distortion and the overweighting of other people's errors are two individual-level mechanisms hindering judgment propagation at the scale of the chain. Our results contribute to the understanding of social-contagion processes, and our experimental method offers numerous new opportunities to study judgment propagation in the laboratory.

Reach and speed of judgment propagation in the laboratory

PubMed Central

Herzog, Stefan M.; Kämmer, Juliane E.; Hertwig, Ralph

2017-01-01

In recent years, a large body of research has demonstrated that judgments and behaviors can propagate from person to person. Phenomena as diverse as political mobilization, health practices, altruism, and emotional states exhibit similar dynamics of social contagion. The precise mechanisms of judgment propagation are not well understood, however, because it is difficult to control for confounding factors such as homophily or dynamic network structures. We introduce an experimental design that renders possible the stringent study of judgment propagation. In this design, experimental chains of individuals can revise their initial judgment in a visual perception task after observing a predecessor’s judgment. The positioning of a very good performer at the top of a chain created a performance gap, which triggered waves of judgment propagation down the chain. We evaluated the dynamics of judgment propagation experimentally. Despite strong social influence within pairs of individuals, the reach of judgment propagation across a chain rarely exceeded a social distance of three to four degrees of separation. Furthermore, computer simulations showed that the speed of judgment propagation decayed exponentially with the social distance from the source. We show that information distortion and the overweighting of other people’s errors are two individual-level mechanisms hindering judgment propagation at the scale of the chain. Our results contribute to the understanding of social-contagion processes, and our experimental method offers numerous new opportunities to study judgment propagation in the laboratory. PMID:28373540

Engineering Student's Ethical Awareness and Behavior: A New Motivational Model.

PubMed

Bairaktarova, Diana; Woodcock, Anna

2017-08-01

Professional communities are experiencing scandals involving unethical and illegal practices daily. Yet it should not take a national major structure failure to highlight the importance of ethical awareness and behavior, or the need for the development and practice of ethical behavior in engineering students. Development of ethical behavior skills in future engineers is a key competency for engineering schools as ethical behavior is a part of the professional identity and practice of engineers. While engineering educators have somewhat established instructional methods to teach engineering ethics, they still rely heavily on teaching ethical awareness, and pay little attention to how well ethical awareness predicts ethical behavior. However the ability to exercise ethical judgement does not mean that students are ethically educated or likely to behave in an ethical manner. This paper argues measuring ethical judgment is insufficient for evaluating the teaching of engineering ethics, because ethical awareness has not been demonstrated to translate into ethical behavior. The focus of this paper is to propose a model that correlates with both, ethical awareness and ethical behavior. This model integrates the theory of planned behavior, person and thing orientation, and spheres of control. Applying this model will allow educators to build confidence and trust in their students' ability to build a professional identity and be prepared for the engineering profession and practice.

Instruction in information structuring improves Bayesian judgment in intelligence analysts.

PubMed

Mandel, David R

2015-01-01

An experiment was conducted to test the effectiveness of brief instruction in information structuring (i.e., representing and integrating information) for improving the coherence of probability judgments and binary choices among intelligence analysts. Forty-three analysts were presented with comparable sets of Bayesian judgment problems before and immediately after instruction. After instruction, analysts' probability judgments were more coherent (i.e., more additive and compliant with Bayes theorem). Instruction also improved the coherence of binary choices regarding category membership: after instruction, subjects were more likely to invariably choose the category to which they assigned the higher probability of a target's membership. The research provides a rare example of evidence-based validation of effectiveness in instruction to improve the statistical assessment skills of intelligence analysts. Such instruction could also be used to improve the assessment quality of other types of experts who are required to integrate statistical information or make probabilistic assessments.

Exploring children's face-space: a multidimensional scaling analysis of the mental representation of facial identity.

PubMed

Nishimura, Mayu; Maurer, Daphne; Gao, Xiaoqing

2009-07-01

We explored differences in the mental representation of facial identity between 8-year-olds and adults. The 8-year-olds and adults made similarity judgments of a homogeneous set of faces (individual hair cues removed) using an "odd-man-out" paradigm. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) analyses were performed to represent perceived similarity of faces in a multidimensional space. Five dimensions accounted optimally for the judgments of both children and adults, with similar local clustering of faces. However, the fit of the MDS solutions was better for adults, in part because children's responses were more variable. More children relied predominantly on a single dimension, namely eye color, whereas adults appeared to use multiple dimensions for each judgment. The pattern of findings suggests that children's mental representation of faces has a structure similar to that of adults but that children's judgments are influenced less consistently by that overall structure.

Effects of magnification and visual accommodation on aimpoint estimation in simulated landings with real and virtual image displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Randle, R. J.; Roscoe, S. N.; Petitt, J. C.

1980-01-01

Twenty professional pilots observed a computer-generated airport scene during simulated autopilot-coupled night landing approaches and at two points (20 sec and 10 sec before touchdown) judged whether the airplane would undershoot or overshoot the aimpoint. Visual accommodation was continuously measured using an automatic infrared optometer. Experimental variables included approach slope angle, display magnification, visual focus demand (using ophthalmic lenses), and presentation of the display as either a real (direct view) or a virtual (collimated) image. Aimpoint judgments shifted predictably with actual approach slope and display magnification. Both pilot judgments and measured accommodation interacted with focus demand with real-image displays but not with virtual-image displays. With either type of display, measured accommodation lagged far behind focus demand and was reliably less responsive to the virtual images. Pilot judgments shifted dramatically from an overwhelming perceived-overshoot bias 20 sec before touchdown to a reliable undershoot bias 10 sec later.

A Critical Ear: Analysis of Value Judgments in Reviews of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Recordings

PubMed Central

Alessandri, Elena; Williamson, Victoria J.; Eiholzer, Hubert; Williamon, Aaron

2016-01-01

What sets a great music performance apart? In this study, we addressed this question through an examination of value judgments in written criticism of recorded performance. One hundred reviews of recordings of Beethoven's piano sonatas, published in the Gramophone between 1934 and 2010, were analyzed through a three-step qualitative analysis that identified the valence (positive/negative) expressed by critics' statements and the evaluation criteria that underpinned their judgments. The outcome is a model of the main evaluation criteria used by professional critics: aesthetic properties, including intensity, coherence, and complexity, and achievement-related properties, including sureness, comprehension, and endeavor. The model also emphasizes how critics consider the suitability and balance of these properties across the musical and cultural context of the performance. The findings relate directly to current discourses on the role of evaluation in music criticism and the generalizability of aesthetic principles. In particular, the perceived achievement of the performer stands out as a factor that drives appreciation of a recording. PMID:27065900

Students' Anchoring Predisposition: An Illustration from Spring Training Baseball

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mohrweis, Lawrence C.

2014-01-01

The anchoring tendency results when decision makers anchor on initial values and then make final assessments that are adjusted insufficiently away from the initial values. The professional literature recognizes that auditors often risk falling into the judgment trap of anchoring and adjusting (Ranzilla et al., 2011). Students may also be unaware…

Education for Judgment: The Artistry of Discussion Leadership.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christensen, C. Roland, Ed.; And Others

This book offers a collection of essays on teaching, written by teachers who, though they represent high school to professional school levels and diverse fields of interest, favor teaching by discussion. Part I introduces key principles in "Barriers and Gateways to Learning" (David A. Garvin) and "Premises and Practices of Discussion Teaching" (C.…

Moderation and Teacher Learning: What Can Research Tell Us about Their Interrelationships?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hipkins, Rosemary; Robertson, Sally

2011-01-01

This report is a synthesis that explores "opportunities for professional learning" that might occur when teachers work together to moderate their judgments about students' work. Since such conversations are inherently social, the synthesis employs the lens of sociocultural learning theory. It draws together key themes from the small…

The Psychological Rights of the Child and the Law.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teitelbaum, Lee E.

1982-01-01

Children's rights are discussed as part of a larger conflict between the integrative (emphasizing the duty of institutions to guide the child) and the libertarian views of civil rights. The relative authority given to the judgments of parents, professionals, and children by the law and by court decisions is described. (Author/PP)

WEIGHING THE EVIDENCE OF ECOLOGICAL RISK OF CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION IN THE ESTUARINE ENVIRONMENT ADJACENT TO THE PORTSMOUTH NAVAL SHIPYARD, KITTERY, MAINE, USA

EPA Science Inventory

In characterizing ecological risks, considerable consensus building and professional judgments are required to develop conclusions about risk. This is because how to evaluate all the factors that determine ecological risk is not well defined and is subject to interpretation. Here...

Teacher Education under Audit: Value-Added Measures,TVAAS, EdTPA and Evidence-Based Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Todd Alan

2014-01-01

This article describes how evidence-based theory fuels an audit culture for teacher education in the USA, placing faculty under monitoring and surveillance, and severely constraining judgment, discretion, and professional decision-making. The national education reform efforts, Race to the Top and Common Core State Standards, demand fealty to…

The Ruling Relation of Evidence-Based Practice: The Case of Documentary Governance in a Social Welfare Service

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pilerot, Ola

2016-01-01

Introduction: Evidence-based practice has broadened and spread into new areas including librarianship. This reorientation has resulted in increased uncertainty regarding what counts as evidence and has caused a tension between formalised procedures and professional judgment. This theoretical paper aims to extend the knowledge about how…

A Path Analysis of Educator Perceptions of Open Educational Resources Using the Technology Acceptance Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Hope

2014-01-01

Open educational resources (OER) are making their way into a variety of educational contexts from formal lesson planning to just in time learning. Educators and training professionals have been recognized as an important audience for these materials. The concepts of "self-efficacy" and "outcome judgment" from social cognitive…

Thinking beyond Measurement, Description and Judgment: Fourth Generation Evaluation in Family-Centered Pediatric Healthcare Organizations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moreau, Katherine Ann; Clarkin, Chantalle Louise

2012-01-01

Background: Although pediatric healthcare organizations have widely implemented the philosophy of family-centered care (FCC), evaluators and health professionals have not explored how to preserve the philosophy of FCC in evaluation processes. Purpose: To illustrate how fourth generation evaluation, in theory, could facilitate collaboration between…

School Search and Seizure Law: A Guideline for K-12 Administrators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frandsen, Scott

2010-01-01

In an effort to safeguard the learning environment, school administrators generally rely on district or local school guidelines and professional judgment. With new technology, the proliferation of drug use, and increased school violence, schools have become a complex environment to manage for both system and local leadership. Administrators are…

40 CFR 451.11 - Effluent limitations attainable by the application of the best practicable control technology...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... application of the best practicable control technology currently available (BPT). 451.11 Section 451.11... § 451.11 Effluent limitations attainable by the application of the best practicable control technology... professional judgment) representing the application of BPT: (a) Solids control. The permittee must: (1) Employ...

40 CFR 451.11 - Effluent limitations attainable by the application of the best practicable control technology...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... application of the best practicable control technology currently available (BPT). 451.11 Section 451.11... § 451.11 Effluent limitations attainable by the application of the best practicable control technology... professional judgment) representing the application of BPT: (a) Solids control. The permittee must: (1) Employ...

Guidelines for Dealing with Faculty Conflicts of Commitment and Conflicts of Interest in Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Academic Medicine, 1990

1990-01-01

Incidents of scientists allowing personal or outside interests to cloud their professional judgment in conducting research are alarming and unacceptable. The Association of American Medical Colleges' Ad Hoc Committee on Misconduct and Conflict of Interest in Research offers a conceptual framework and defines institutional and individual…

Providing Appropriate Evaluative Support for Valuing in the Public Interest

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Julnes, George; Bustelo, Maria

2016-01-01

Evaluation is increasingly accepted as a tool for understanding and assessing the value of public programs and policies. Less understood, however, is how and why evaluation helps to inform judgments of value. This "American Journal of Evaluation" ("AJE") section on Professional Values and Ethics focuses on how values are to…

28 CFR 115.382 - Access to emergency medical and mental health services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

....382 Access to emergency medical and mental health services. (a) Resident victims of sexual abuse shall... nature and scope of which are determined by medical and mental health practitioners according to their professional judgment. (b) If no qualified medical or mental health practitioners are on duty at the time a...

28 CFR 115.282 - Access to emergency medical and mental health services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Mental Care § 115.282 Access to emergency medical and mental health services. (a) Resident victims of... intervention services, the nature and scope of which are determined by medical and mental health practitioners according to their professional judgment. (b) If no qualified medical or mental health practitioners are on...

28 CFR 115.82 - Access to emergency medical and mental health services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... § 115.82 Access to emergency medical and mental health services. (a) Inmate victims of sexual abuse..., the nature and scope of which are determined by medical and mental health practitioners according to their professional judgment. (b) If no qualified medical or mental health practitioners are on duty at...

28 CFR 115.82 - Access to emergency medical and mental health services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... § 115.82 Access to emergency medical and mental health services. (a) Inmate victims of sexual abuse..., the nature and scope of which are determined by medical and mental health practitioners according to their professional judgment. (b) If no qualified medical or mental health practitioners are on duty at...

28 CFR 115.82 - Access to emergency medical and mental health services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... § 115.82 Access to emergency medical and mental health services. (a) Inmate victims of sexual abuse..., the nature and scope of which are determined by medical and mental health practitioners according to their professional judgment. (b) If no qualified medical or mental health practitioners are on duty at...

28 CFR 115.282 - Access to emergency medical and mental health services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Mental Care § 115.282 Access to emergency medical and mental health services. (a) Resident victims of... intervention services, the nature and scope of which are determined by medical and mental health practitioners according to their professional judgment. (b) If no qualified medical or mental health practitioners are on...

28 CFR 115.282 - Access to emergency medical and mental health services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Mental Care § 115.282 Access to emergency medical and mental health services. (a) Resident victims of... intervention services, the nature and scope of which are determined by medical and mental health practitioners according to their professional judgment. (b) If no qualified medical or mental health practitioners are on...

28 CFR 115.382 - Access to emergency medical and mental health services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

....382 Access to emergency medical and mental health services. (a) Resident victims of sexual abuse shall... nature and scope of which are determined by medical and mental health practitioners according to their professional judgment. (b) If no qualified medical or mental health practitioners are on duty at the time a...

28 CFR 115.382 - Access to emergency medical and mental health services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

....382 Access to emergency medical and mental health services. (a) Resident victims of sexual abuse shall... nature and scope of which are determined by medical and mental health practitioners according to their professional judgment. (b) If no qualified medical or mental health practitioners are on duty at the time a...

40 CFR 125.87 - As an owner or operator of a new facility, must I perform monitoring?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... biweekly during the primary period of reproduction, larval recruitment, and peak abundance identified... screen systems, you must monitor head loss across the screens and correlate the measured value with the... source water surface elevation (best professional judgment based on available hydrological data). The...

Contents of a core library in continuing medical education: a Delphi study.

PubMed

Olson, Curtis A; Tooman, Tricia R; Leist, James C

2005-01-01

In developing their professional competence, those who are interested in the practice of continuing medical education (CME) should recognize the knowledge base that defines their field. This study systematically identifies and organizes a list of books and journals comprising a core library (100 books/15 journals) for CME professionals. The Delphi method was applied to elicit and combine the judgments of a fifty member panel considered knowledgeable about the CME field. The panelists participated in three iterations of the survey to first identify and then rank order nominated works. Separate ranked lists were created for books and journals. Forty-four participants completed the study (88% response rate). 268 books and 34 journals were identified. Mean ratings ranged from 4.78 (high) to 1.50 (low). The results of the study reflect the panel's judgment. The list is not definitive; instead, it describes what a select group of individuals knowledgeable about the CME field considered important. The list should therefore be seen as a general guide and a resource to facilitate decision-making, not as a prescription for creating a library.

Visual discrimination of local surface structure: slant, tilt, and curvedness.

PubMed

Norman, J Farley; Todd, James T; Norman, Hideko F; Clayton, Anna Marie; McBride, T Ryan

2006-03-01

In four experiments, observers were required to discriminate interval or ordinal differences in slant, tilt, or curvedness between designated probe points on randomly shaped curved surfaces defined by shading, texture, and binocular disparity. The results reveal that discrimination thresholds for judgments of slant or tilt typically range between 4 degrees and 10 degrees; that judgments of one component are unaffected by simultaneous variations in the other; and that the individual thresholds for either the slant or tilt components of orientation are approximately equal to those obtained for judgments of the total orientation difference between two probed regions. Performance was much worse, however, for judgments of curvedness, and these judgments were significantly impaired when there were simultaneous variations in the shape index parameter of curvature.

Why doesn't a family member of a person with advanced dementia use a substituted judgment when making a decision for that person?

PubMed

Hirschman, Karen B; Kapo, Jennifer M; Karlawish, Jason H T

2006-08-01

The objective of this study was to identify what standard of decision making a family member uses when making medical decisions for their relative with advanced dementia. Thirty family members of patients with advanced dementia from an Alzheimer disease center and a suburban long-term care facility were interviewed using a semistructured interview. All interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using qualitative data analysis techniques. Family members were split almost evenly in the standard they used when making medical decisions for their relative: substituted judgment (43%) or best interests (57%). However, few who used the substituted judgment standard viewed it as distinct from best interests. Instead, both standards were taken into consideration when making medical decisions. In addition to not having discussions about healthcare preferences, the reasons for not using a substituted judgment included: the need for family consensus, unrealistic expectations of the patient, the need to incorporate their relative's quality of life into the decision, and the influence of healthcare professionals. Family members who did not have discussions about healthcare preferences identified various barriers to the discussion, including waiting too long, avoiding the topic, and the patient's denial of dementia. These data suggest several reasons why surrogate decision-makers for persons with advanced dementia do not use the substituted judgment standard and the potential value of interventions that would allow patients with early-stage dementia and their family members to discuss healthcare preferences.

Restoring and Managing Gulf of Mexico Fisheries: A Path Toward Creative Decision-Making

EPA Science Inventory

This chapter introduces decision analysis concepts with examples for managing fisheries. Decision analytic methods provide useful tools for structuring environmental management problems and separating technical judgments from preference judgments to better weigh the prospects fro...

Being a Victim of Medical Error in Brazil: An (Un)Real Dilemma

PubMed Central

Mendonça, Vitor Silva; Custódio, Eda Marconi

2016-01-01

Medical error stems from inadequate professional conduct that is capable of producing harm to life or exacerbating the health of another, whether through act or omission. This situation has become increasingly common in Brazil and worldwide. In this study, the aim was to understand what being the victim of medical error is like and to investigate the circumstances imposed on this condition of victims in Brazil. A semi-structured interview was conducted with twelve people who had gone through situations of medical error in their lives, creating a space for narratives of their experiences and deep reflection on the phenomenon. The concept of medical error has a negative connotation, often being associated with the incompetence of a medical professional. Medical error in Brazil is demonstrated by low-quality professional performance and represents the current reality of the country because of the common lack of respect and consideration for patients. Victims often remark on their loss of identity, as their social functions have been interrupted and they do not expect to regain such. It was found, however, little assumption of error in the involved doctors’ discourses and attitudes, which felt a need to judge the medical conduct in an attempt to assert their rights. Medical error in Brazil presents a punitive character and is little discussed in medical and scientific circles. The stigma of medical error is closely connected to the value and cultural judgments of the country, making it difficult to accept, both by victims and professionals. PMID:27403461

The DUNDRUM-1 structured professional judgment for triage to appropriate levels of therapeutic security: retrospective-cohort validation study

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The assessment of those presenting to prison in-reach and court diversion services and those referred for admission to mental health services is a triage decision, allocating the patient to the appropriate level of therapeutic security. This is a critical clinical decision. We set out to improve on unstructured clinical judgement. We collated qualitative information and devised an 11 item structured professional judgment instrument for this purpose then tested for validity. Methods All those assessed following screening over a three month period at a busy remand committals prison (n = 246) were rated in a retrospective cohort design blind to outcome. Similarly, all those admitted to a mental health service from the same prison in-reach service over an overlapping two year period were rated blind to outcome (n = 100). Results The 11 item scale had good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.95) and inter-rater reliability. The scale score did not correlate with the HCR-20 'historical' score. For the three month sample, the receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (AUC) for those admitted to hospital was 0.893 (95% confidence interval 0.843 to 0.943). For the two year sample, AUC distinguished at each level between those admitted to open wards, low secure units or a medium/high secure service. Open wards v low secure units AUC = 0.805 (95% CI 0.680 to 0.930); low secure v medium/high secure AUC = 0.866, (95% CI 0.784 to 0.949). Item to outcome correlations were significant for all 11 items. Conclusions The DUNDRUM-1 triage security scale and its items performed to criterion levels when tested against the real world outcome. This instrument can be used to ensure consistency in decision making when deciding who to admit to secure forensic hospitals. It can also be used to benchmark admission thresholds between services and jurisdictions. In this study we found some divergence between assessed need and actual placement. This provides fertile ground for future research as well as practical assistance in assessing unmet need, auditing case mix and planning care pathways. PMID:21410967

Applying linear programming to estimate fluxes in ecosystems or food webs: An example from the herpetological assemblage of the freshwater Everglades

USGS Publications Warehouse

Diffendorfer, James E.; Richards, Paul M.; Dalrymple, George H.; DeAngelis, Donald L.

2001-01-01

We present the application of Linear Programming for estimating biomass fluxes in ecosystem and food web models. We use the herpetological assemblage of the Everglades as an example. We developed food web structures for three common Everglades freshwater habitat types: marsh, prairie, and upland. We obtained a first estimate of the fluxes using field data, literature estimates, and professional judgment. Linear programming was used to obtain a consistent and better estimate of the set of fluxes, while maintaining mass balance and minimizing deviations from point estimates. The results support the view that the Everglades is a spatially heterogeneous system, with changing patterns of energy flux, species composition, and biomasses across the habitat types. We show that a food web/ecosystem perspective, combined with Linear Programming, is a robust method for describing food webs and ecosystems that requires minimal data, produces useful post-solution analyses, and generates hypotheses regarding the structure of energy flow in the system.

Effects of knowledge and internal locus of control in groups of health care workers judging likelihood of pathogen transfer.

PubMed

McLaughlin, Anne Collins; Walsh, Fran; Bryant, Michelle

2013-08-01

A study was conducted to measure the effects of attitudes and beliefs on the risk judgments of health care workers. Lack of hand hygiene compliance is a worldwide issue in health care, contributing to infections, fatalities, and increased health care costs. Human factors methods are a promising solution to the problem of compliance, although thus far, the concentration has been on process and engineering methods, such as the design of no-touch sinks. Factors internal to the health care worker, such as their attitudes and beliefs about hand hygiene, have received less attention. For this study, three groups of health care workers completed measures of attitudes, control beliefs, and hand hygiene knowledge. They then provided risk judgments of touching various surfaces via a factorial survey. Attitudes, knowledge, control beliefs, and surface type all predicted the risk judgments of the sample of health care workers, with differences between professional groups. Health care workers perceive less risk when touching surfaces,which may explain historically low rates of hand hygiene compliance after surface contact. Although more research is needed to directly connect risk judgments to failures of hand hygiene, the current results can inform interventions targeting the internal attitudes and beliefs of health care workers.

[The role of the Medical Scientific Council's Forensic Committee in the consent judgments regarding private insurance companies].

PubMed

Horváth, János

2008-08-03

During recent years the Medical Scientific Council's Forensic Committee has provided for the professional revision of the medico-legal experts' opinions and settled the inconsonance between inconsistent opinions. This paper analyses the relationship between the revised experts' opinions in damage suits and the consent judgments. The author assesses and evaluates the role and importance of the revised experts' opinions by the Forensic Committee in the process of lawsuits. The Court has evaluated positively about two thirds of the revised experts' opinions and incorporated the Committee's answers to the forensic questions into the judgments. Sometimes it has happened that the judge misunderstood the basic medical and experts' opinions terms. In certain cases the consultant doctor of forensic medicine, the expert of social insurance and the doctor of the business insurance company used different terms, which resulted in ambiguity of terms appearing in the judgments. The author recommends to elaborate a new methodical newsletter that defines the most important experts' opinions terms and background knowledge regarding damages in a way which is clear to all, and clarifies them according to everyday practice in order to make sure that experts working in different fields and dispensers of justice use a common language.

Teachers become Zombies: The Ugly Side of Scripted Reading Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demko, Maura

2010-01-01

A brief history of NCLB and the resultant scripted reading programs shows how hollow these fixes are when you eliminate teacher responsibility, professional judgment, and flexibility. The authors caution, "In some cases, we do think that these programs can be successful, but only if the teacher has the power as an educator to adjust the…

42 CFR 50.304 - Life of the mother would be endangered.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Life of the mother would be endangered. 50.304... the Public Health Service § 50.304 Life of the mother would be endangered. Federal financial... writing to the program or project, that on the basis of his/her professional judgment, the life of the...

Calibrating One's Moral Compass: How Principal Preparation Shapes School Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larsen, Donald E.; Derrington, Mary Lynne

2012-01-01

No textbook that an aspiring principal encounters in preparing for the role of school leader discusses what steps to follow when a member--or members--of the school staff challenge standards of professional judgment and moral rectitude. Instead, the most reliable guide at the principal's disposal may be the "moral compass" upon which the…

Complex Problem Solving in Radiologic Technology: Understanding the Roles of Experience, Reflective Judgment, and Workplace Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yates, Jennifer L.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this research study was to explore the process of learning and development of problem solving skills in radiologic technologists. The researcher sought to understand the nature of difficult problems encountered in clinical practice, to identify specific learning practices leading to the development of professional expertise, and to…

42 CFR 441.203 - Life of the mother would be endangered.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 42 Public Health 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Life of the mother would be endangered. 441.203... SERVICES Abortions § 441.203 Life of the mother would be endangered. FFP is available in expenditures for... basis of his professional judgment, the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried...

42 CFR 441.203 - Life of the mother would be endangered.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Life of the mother would be endangered. 441.203... SERVICES Abortions § 441.203 Life of the mother would be endangered. FFP is available in expenditures for... basis of his professional judgment, the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried...

The Alchemy of "Costing Out" an Adequate Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanushek, Eric A.

2006-01-01

In response to the rapid rise in court cases related to the adequacy of school funding, a variety of alternative methods have been developed to provide an analytical base about the necessary expenditure on schools. These approaches have been titled to give an aura of a thoughtful and solid scientific basis: the professional judgment model, the…

The Role of Emotional Stability and Competence in Young Adolescents' Career Judgments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bubic, Andreja; Ivaniševic, Karmen

2016-01-01

A transition from elementary to high school represents a very profound change and a potential source of stress, as it often requires young adolescents to make significant professional decisions. This topic was the focus of the present study in which 303 Croatian students attending their final year of elementary school completed measures of career…

Customizing a Research-Based Reading Practice: Balancing the Importance of Implementation Fidelity with Professional Judgment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMaster, Kristen L.; Jung, Pyung-Gang; Brandes, Dana; Pinto, Viveca; Fuchs, Douglas; Kearns, Devin; Lemons, Christopher; Sáenz, Laura; Yen, Loulee

2014-01-01

Teachers are often asked to implement research-based instructional programs with fidelity and to ensure that all students reach high academic standards. These requests sometimes conflict when teachers find that not all their students are benefiting from the research-backed programs. In this article, we suggest that researchers and teachers can…

Improving Programs for the Preparation of Teachers through the Use of Program Evaluation--The Second Phase.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berney, Mary F.

Plans for the field-testing and implementation of the Accreditation Plus Model (APM) for evaluation of teacher preparation programs are described. Field-testing is taking place in the Center for Teacher Education Evaluation at Tennessee Technological University (Cookeville). The APM is based on the professional judgment approach to program…

STUDY OF NEEDS IN TRAINING MEDICAL ASSISTANTS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

BECKER, GEORGE L.

TO OBTAIN PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENTS ON TRAINING MEDICAL ASSISTANTS, 800 4-PAGE QUESTIONNAIRES WERE SENT TO DOCTORS IN THE LONG BEACH AREA. TABLES SHOW THE DATA FROM THE 193 RETURNS. MOST SAID THEY (1) DO NOT WANT STATE LICENSING OF ASSISTANTS, (2) PREFER THOSE TRAINED IN COURSES ACCREDITED BY THE COUNCIL ON MEDICAL EDUCATION, (3) DO NOT LIMIT THEIR…

40 CFR 125.137 - As an owner or operator of a new offshore oil and gas extraction facility, must I perform...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... reproduction, larval recruitment, and peak abundance identified during the Source Water Baseline Biological... across the screens and correlate the measured value with the design intake velocity. The head loss across... professional judgment based on available hydrological data). The maximum head loss across the screen for each...

Effect of Explicit Evaluation on Neural Connectivity Related to Listening to Unfamiliar Music

PubMed Central

Liu, Chao; Brattico, Elvira; Abu-jamous, Basel; Pereira, Carlos S.; Jacobsen, Thomas; Nandi, Asoke K.

2017-01-01

People can experience different emotions when listening to music. A growing number of studies have investigated the brain structures and neural connectivities associated with perceived emotions. However, very little is known about the effect of an explicit act of judgment on the neural processing of emotionally-valenced music. In this study, we adopted the novel consensus clustering paradigm, called binarisation of consensus partition matrices (Bi-CoPaM), to study whether and how the conscious aesthetic evaluation of the music would modulate brain connectivity networks related to emotion and reward processing. Participants listened to music under three conditions – one involving a non-evaluative judgment, one involving an explicit evaluative aesthetic judgment, and one involving no judgment at all (passive listening only). During non-evaluative attentive listening we obtained auditory-limbic connectivity whereas when participants were asked to decide explicitly whether they liked or disliked the music excerpt, only two clusters of intercommunicating brain regions were found: one including areas related to auditory processing and action observation, and the other comprising higher-order structures involved with visual processing. Results indicate that explicit evaluative judgment has an impact on the neural auditory-limbic connectivity during affective processing of music. PMID:29311874

The good engineer: giving virtue its due in engineering ethics.

PubMed

Harris, Charles E

2008-06-01

During the past few decades, engineering ethics has been oriented towards protecting the public from professional misconduct by engineers and from the harmful effects of technology. This "preventive ethics" project has been accomplished primarily by means of the promulgation of negative rules. However, some aspects of engineering professionalism, such as (1) sensitivity to risk (2) awareness of the social context of technology, (3) respect for nature, and (4) commitment to the public good, cannot be adequately accounted for in terms of rules, certainly not negative rules. Virtue ethics is a more appropriate vehicle for expressing these aspects of engineering professionalism. Some of the unique features of virtue ethics are the greater place it gives for discretion and judgment and also for inner motivation and commitment. Four of the many professional virtues that are important for engineers correspond to the four aspects of engineering professionalism listed above. Finally, the importance of the humanities and social sciences in promoting these virtues suggests that these disciplines are crucial in the professional education of engineers.

Emergency Management of Tension Pneumothorax for Health Professionals on Remote Cat Island Bahamas

PubMed Central

Parsons, Michael; Francis, Leathe; Senoro, Cristian; Chriswell, Caroline; Saunders, Rose; Hollander, Charles

2017-01-01

Patients living in remote areas have higher rates of injury-related death than those living in cities. Rural and remote health professionals working in sparsely populated places, such as Cat Island Bahamas, may have scant resources for treating emergency conditions. Local health professionals must be prepared to rely solely upon clinical judgment to perform emergency “high-stakes low-frequency” procedures while also accurately and effectively communicating with distantly located receiving specialists. However, these health providers may not recently have performed or had the opportunity to practice such emergency procedures. Telesimulation may be a useful way to teach remote practitioners both emergency procedures and communication skills. This technical report describes a simulation exercise for teaching these skills. PMID:28775930

The forensic anthropology legacy of T. Dale Stewart (1901-1997).

PubMed

Ubelaker, D H

2000-03-01

T. Dale Stewart (1901-1997) began his Smithsonian career as a temporary aide to Ales Hrdlicka (1869-1943) in 1924. At the time of his death in 1997, he was regarded world-wide as an authority who led the professional development of American forensic anthropology. He was a prodigious researcher, best known for his meticulous attention to detail, balanced scientific judgment, keen sense of research design, and ability for synthesis. Stewart's publications, extensive casework for the FBI and others, his court testimony, publications, professional contacts, and organizational activity merit him a prominent place in the history of American forensic anthropology.

The perceived effectiveness of persuasive messages: questions of structure, referent, and bias.

PubMed

Dillard, James Price; Ye, Sun

2008-03-01

To gain a sense of the persuasive efficacy of a message prior to implementation of a campaign, researchers often gather judgments of perceived effectiveness (PE). At present, they do so without much knowledge of the conceptual meaning or empirical properties of PE. In the spirit of construct explication, we report a study intended to address a series of questions about PE. Using student (N = 155) and community samples (N = 100), we found the following: (a) PE is a two-dimensional judgment involving global evaluations of message impact and specific judgments of message attributes, but it may be reducible to a single second-order factor, (b) most individuals reported using more than one referent (i.e., person or group) when making PE judgments, but the choice of referents varies by message and judge, and (c) judgments of PE are biased upward as a function of the number of referents chosen. Suggestions are offered for enhancing the validity of PE judgments in formative campaign research.

Does skull shape mediate the relationship between objective features and subjective impressions about the face?

PubMed

Marečková, Klára; Chakravarty, M Mallar; Huang, Mei; Lawrence, Claire; Leonard, Gabriel; Perron, Michel; Pike, Bruce G; Richer, Louis; Veillette, Suzanne; Pausova, Zdenka; Paus, Tomáš

2013-10-01

In our previous work, we described facial features associated with a successful recognition of the sex of the face (Marečková et al., 2011). These features were based on landmarks placed on the surface of faces reconstructed from magnetic resonance (MR) images; their position was therefore influenced by both soft tissue (fat and muscle) and bone structure of the skull. Here, we ask whether bone structure has dissociable influences on observers' identification of the sex of the face. To answer this question, we used a novel method of studying skull morphology using MR images and explored the relationship between skull features, facial features, and sex recognition in a large sample of adolescents (n=876; including 475 adolescents from our original report). To determine whether skull features mediate the relationship between facial features and identification accuracy, we performed mediation analysis using bootstrapping. In males, skull features mediated fully the relationship between facial features and sex judgments. In females, the skull mediated this relationship only after adjusting facial features for the amount of body fat (estimated with bioimpedance). While body fat had a very slight positive influence on correct sex judgments about male faces, there was a robust negative influence of body fat on the correct sex judgments about female faces. Overall, these results suggest that craniofacial bone structure is essential for correct sex judgments about a male face. In females, body fat influences negatively the accuracy of sex judgments, and craniofacial bone structure alone cannot explain the relationship between facial features and identification of a face as female. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Professional misconduct in obstetrics and gynecology in light of the Supreme Medical Court between 2002-2012].

PubMed

Kordel, Piotr; Kordel, Krzysztof

2014-11-01

The aim of the study was to present and analyze the verdicts of the Supreme Medical Court concerning professional misconduct among obstetrics and gynecology specialists between 2002-2012. Verdicts of the Supreme Medical Court from 84 cases concerning obstetrics and gynecology speciallsts, passed between 2002-20 12, were analyzed. The following categories were used to classify the types of professional misconduct: decisive erro, error in the performance of a medical procedure, organizational errol error of professional judgment, criminal offence, and unethical behavior. The largest group among the accused professionals were doctors working in private offices and on-call doctors in urban and district hospitals. The most frequent type of professional malpractice was decisive error and the most frequent type of case were obstetric labor complications. The analysis also showed a correlation between the type of case and the sentence in the Supreme Medical Court. A respective jurisdiction approach may be observed in the Supreme Medical Court ruling against cases concerning professional misconduct which are also criminal offences (i.e., illegal abortion, working under the influence). The most frequent types of professional misconduct should determine areas for professional training of obstetrics and gynecology specialists.

Children's Attitudes Toward Peers With Unintelligible Speech Associated With Cleft Lip and/or Palate.

PubMed

Lee, Alice; Gibbon, Fiona E; Spivey, Kimberley

2017-05-01

  The objective of this study was to investigate whether reduced speech intelligibility in children with cleft palate affects social and personal attribute judgments made by typically developing children of different ages.   The study (1) measured the correlation between intelligibility scores of speech samples from children with cleft palate and social and personal attribute judgments made by typically developing children based on these samples and (2) compared the attitude judgments made by children of different ages. Participants   A total of 90 typically developing children, 30 in each of three age groups (7 to 8 years, 9 to 10 years, and 11 to 12 years).   Speech intelligibility scores and typically developing children's attitudes were measured using eight social and personal attributes on a three-point rating scale.   There was a significant correlation between the speech intelligibility scores and attitude judgments for a number of traits: "sick-healthy" as rated by the children aged 7 to 8 years, "no friends-friends" by the children aged 9 to 10 years, and "ugly-good looking" and "no friends-friends" by the children aged 11 to 12 years. Children aged 7 to 8 years gave significantly lower ratings for "mean-kind" but higher ratings for "shy-outgoing" when compared with the other two groups.   Typically developing children tended to make negative social and personal attribute judgments about children with cleft palate based solely on the intelligibility of their speech. Society, educators, and health professionals should work together to ensure that children with cleft palate are not stigmatized by their peers.

Medical Judgments Across the Range of Reported Pain Severity: Clinician and Lay Perspectives.

PubMed

Tait, Raymond C; Chibnall, John T; House, Kylie; Biehl, Joann

2016-07-01

While increasing evidence suggests that observers discount high-severity chronic pain, factors that occasion such discounting are poorly understood, particularly regarding health provider vs lay perspectives. This study examined the effects of supporting medical evidence and comorbid psychological distress (pain behavior) on medical student and lay clinical judgments of increasingly severe patient pain reports. In a 2 × 2 × 2 × (7) mixed between- and within-subject design, participants (medical students vs lay) made clinical judgments after reading vignettes describing a hypothetical patient that varied in levels of medical evidence and pain behavior (low vs high) and pain severity (4/10-10/10). Fourth-year medical students (N = 115) and lay persons in the community (N = 300) participated in this research. While both medical student and lay judgments plateaued at high levels of pain severity, judgments regarding cause (medical vs psychological), treatment (opioid prescription), and disability showed growing divergence as levels of reported pain severity increased. Divergence relative to medical and psychological causes of pain was found irrespective of the level of supporting medical evidence; divergence relative to opioid treatment and support for a disability claim was found when supporting medical evidence was low. The results indicate differing expectations of chronic pain treatment for health care providers relative to the lay public that could impact clinical care, especially at high pain severity levels, where lay expectations diverge significantly from those of health professionals. © 2015 American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Impact of Comer's School Development Program's Student Staff Support Team Process on High-Incidence Special Education Referrals in One Elementary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibson-Robinson, Joi

2010-01-01

This study examines whether the Comer (1996) placement model process reduces the overrepresentation of certain student groups into high-incidence disabilities programs. High-incidence disabilities are those disabilities which require an extensive degree of "professional judgment" by the teacher in determining whether or not a disability exists…

The North-American Long-Term Soil Productivity Study: Concepts and literature

Treesearch

Deborah S. Page-Dumroese

2010-01-01

The resiliency of forest sites after a pulse disturbance is one of the key questions mandated by the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 1976. This Act mandated that we maintain the productive capacity of federally managed stands. The original USDA Forest Service soil quality standards were based largely on professional judgment. The North American Long-Term Soil...

Detecting the Upstream Extent of Fish in the Redwood Region of Northern California

Treesearch

Aaron K. Bliesner; E. George Robison

2007-01-01

The point at which fish use ends represents a key ecological and regulatory demarcation on state and private forest land in the Redwood region. Currently, the end of fish use and other key demarcations with stream classification are measured or estimated based on judgments of Registered Professional Foresters and aquatic biologists with little guidance from empirical...

42 CFR 136.54 - Life of the mother would be endangered.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Life of the mother would be endangered. 136.54... Indian Health Service Facilities and Indian Health Service Programs § 136.54 Life of the mother would be..., that “on the basis of my professional judgment the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus...

42 CFR 136.54 - Life of the mother would be endangered.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Life of the mother would be endangered. 136.54... Indian Health Service Facilities and Indian Health Service Programs § 136.54 Life of the mother would be..., that “on the basis of my professional judgment the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus...

(Updated) NCI Fiscal 2016 Bypass Budget Proposes $25 Million for Frederick National Lab | Poster

Cancer.gov

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer; image by Richard Frederickson, Staff Photographer The additional funding requested for Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) in the Fiscal 2016 Bypass Budget was $25 million, or approximately 3.5 percent of the total additional funding request of $715 million. Officially called the Professional Judgment Budget, the Bypass

Conflict of Interest in the Evaluation and Dissemination of "Model" School-Based Drug and Violence Prevention Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gorman, Dennis M.; Conde, Eugenia

2007-01-01

Conflict of interest refers to a set of conditions in which professional judgment concerning the validity of research might be influenced by a secondary competing interest. The competing interest that has received most attention in the literature addressing the prevalence and effects of such conflicts on the practice of empirical research has been…

Flipping the Classroom: A Pedagogical Approach to Applying Clinical Judgment by Engaging, Interacting, and Collaborating with Nursing Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peisachovich, Eva Hava; Murtha, Susan; Phillips, Andria; Messinger, Gal

2016-01-01

The flipped-classroom format offers students opportunities for engagement and ownership of learning by enabling them to make sense of their views and perspectives and connect their personal and professional experiences. Student engagement and the infusion of active learning are core concepts of the educational process; given the present generation…

A systematic review of ethics knowledge in audiology (1980-2010).

PubMed

Naudé, Alida Maryna; Bornman, Juan

2014-06-01

The purpose of this research was to apply multiple perspectives as part of a systematic review to analyze literature regarding ethics in audiology. Audiologists are particularly vulnerable to the changing requirements of the discipline that compel them to straddle both professional obligations and business principles, creating a hybrid professional. The authors used a 2-phase mixed-method approach to analyze publications. Publications were sorted into categories, namely, ethics approach, author, decade, role of the audiologist, component of morality, and common themes. The sample consisted of peer-reviewed articles cited in MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC, MasterFILE Premier, E-Journals, Africa-Wide Information, and Academic Search Premier electronic databases and non-peer-reviewed articles in Seminars in Hearing. The publications were predominantly philosophical, focused on the rehabilitative role of the audiologist, and addressed the moral judgment component of moral behavior. Despite the fact that knowledge of ethics grew between 1980 and 2010, this retrospective analysis identified gaps in current knowledge. Research is needed to address the unique ethical problems commonly encountered in all 8 roles of the audiologist; patient perspectives on ethics; ethical approaches; factors affecting moral judgment, sensitivity, motivation, and courage; and cultural dimensions of ethical practice in audiology.

Event-related potential effects of superior action anticipation in professional badminton players.

PubMed

Jin, Hua; Xu, Guiping; Zhang, John X; Gao, Hongwei; Ye, Zuoer; Wang, Pin; Lin, Huiyan; Mo, Lei; Lin, Chong-De

2011-04-04

The ability to predict the trajectory of a ball based on the opponent's body kinematics has been shown to be critical to high-performing athletes in many sports. However, little is known about the neural correlates underlying such superior ability in action anticipation. The present event-related potential study compared brain responses from professional badminton players and non-player controls when they watched video clips of badminton games and predicted a ball's landing position. Replicating literature findings, the players made significantly more accurate judgments than the controls and showed better action anticipation. Correspondingly, they showed enlarged amplitudes of two ERP components, a P300 peaking around 350ms post-stimulus with a parietal scalp distribution and a P2 peaking around 250ms with a posterior-occipital distribution. The P300 effect was interpreted to reflect primed access and/or directing of attention to game-related memory representations in the players facilitating their online judgment of related actions. The P2 effect was suggested to reflect some generic learning effects. The results identify clear neural responses that differentiate between different levels of action anticipation associated with sports expertise. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

HIPAA and patient care: the role for professional judgment.

PubMed

Lo, Bernard; Dornbrand, Laurie; Dubler, Nancy N

2005-04-13

Federal health privacy regulations, commonly known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, came into effect in April 2003. Many clinicians and institutions have relied on consultants and risk managers to tell them how to implement these regulations. Much of the controversy and confusion over the HIPAA regulations concern so-called incidental disclosures. Some interpretations of the privacy regulations would limit essential communication and compromise good patient care. This article analyzes misconceptions regarding what the regulations say about incidental disclosures and discusses the reasons for such misunderstandings. Many misconceptions arise from gaps in the regulations. These gaps are appropriately filled by professional judgment informed by ethical guidelines. The communication should be necessary and effective for good patient care, and the risks of a breach of confidentiality should be proportional to the likely benefit for the patient's care. The alternative for communication should be impractical. We offer specific recommendations to help physicians think through what incidental disclosures in patient care are ethically permissible and what safeguards ought to be taken. Physicians should work with risk managers and practice administrators to develop policies that promote good communication in patient care, while taking appropriate steps to protect patient privacy.

On Designing Construct Driven Situational Judgment Tests: Some Preliminary Recommendations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guenole, Nigel; Chernyshenko, Oleksandr S.; Weekly, Jeff

2017-01-01

Situational judgment tests (SJTs) are widely agreed to be a measurement technique. It is also widely agreed that SJTs are a questionable methodological choice for measurement of psychological constructs, such as behavioral competencies, due to a lack of evidence supporting appropriate factor structures and high internal consistencies.…

The Effects of Unstructured Group Discussion on Ethical Judgment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richards, Clinton H.; Alder, G. Stoney

2014-01-01

The authors examine the effects of shared information and group discussion on ethical judgment when no structure is imposed on the discussion to encourage ethical considerations. Discussants were asked to identify arguments for and against a variety of business behaviors with ethical implications. A group moderator solicited and recorded arguments…

Critical Aesthetic Realism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMahon, Jennifer A.

2011-01-01

A clear-cut concept of the aesthetic is elusive. Kant's "Critique of Judgment" presents one of the more comprehensive aesthetic theories from which one can extract a set of features, some of which pertain to aesthetic experience and others to the logical structure of aesthetic judgment. When considered together, however, these features present a…

Parents' communication decision for children with hearing loss: sources of information and influence.

PubMed

Decker, Kalli B; Vallotton, Claire D; Johnson, Harold A

2012-01-01

Choosing a method of communication for a child with hearing loss is a complex process that must occur early to prevent developmental consequences. Research shows that parents' decisions are influenced by professionals; parental attitudes and knowledge also may be influential. The present study investigated additional influences on parents' choices; data were collected via an online survey (N = 36). Results indicated no effects of parents' knowledge of development on their communication choices, but did indicate an effect of parents' values and priorities for their children. Further, parents who chose speech only received information from education or speech/audiology professionals more often. However, there were no group differences in sources parents cited as influential; all parents relied on their own judgment. Results suggest that parents internalize the opinions of professionals. Thus, accurate information from professionals is necessary for parents to make informed decisions about their children's communication.

How effective are risk assessments/measures for predicting future aggressive behaviour in adults with intellectual disabilities (ID): A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Lofthouse, Rachael; Golding, Laura; Totsika, Vasiliki; Hastings, Richard; Lindsay, William

2017-12-01

Risk assessments assist professionals in the identification and management of risk of aggression. The present study aimed to systematically review evidence on the efficacy of assessments for managing the risk of physical aggression in adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). A literature search was conducted using the databases PsycINFO, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Electronic and hand searches identified 14 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Standardised mean difference effect sizes Area Under Curve (AUC) were calculated for studies. Random effects subgroup analysis was used to compare different types of risk measures (Actuarial, Structured Professional Judgment and dynamic), and prospective vs. catch-up longitudinal study designs. Overall, evidence of predictive validity was found for risk measures with ID populations: (AUC)=0.724, 95% CI [0.681, 0.768]. There was no variation in the performance of different types of risk measures, or different study design. Risk assessment measures predict the likelihood of aggression in ID population and are comparable to those in mainstream populations. Further meta-analysis is necessary when risk measures are more established in this population. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Clinical errors and therapist discomfort with client disclosure of troublesome pornography use: Implications for clinical practice and error reduction.

PubMed

Walters, Nathan T; Spengler, Paul M

2016-09-01

Mental health professionals are increasingly aware of the need for competence in the treatment of clients with pornography-related concerns. However, while researchers have recently sought to explore efficacious treatments for pornography-related concerns, few explorations of potential clinical judgment issues have occurred. Due to the sensitive, and at times uncomfortable, nature of client disclosures of sexual concerns within therapy, therapists are required to manage their own discomfort while retaining fidelity to treatment. The present paper explores clinician examples of judgment errors that may result from feelings of discomfort, and specifically from client use of pornography. Issues of potential bias, bias management techniques, and therapeutic implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Problem-Based Learning for Didactic Presentation to Baccalaureate Nursing Students.

PubMed

Montenery, Susan

2017-05-01

Nursing judgment is an essential component in the delivery of safe, quality patient care. Nurses must have the knowledge and skills to question authority, make judgments, substantiate evidence, and advocate for the patient. Traditional pedagogy in content-laden courses remains primarily lecture based. Incorporating active strategies to strengthen professional practice is essential. A pilot study assessed senior baccalaureate nursing students' perceptions of problem-based learning (PBL) and their readiness for self-directed learning. In addition, the authors analyzed the relationship between readiness for self-directed learning and course content mastery using PBL. Students completed the Self-directed Learning Readiness Scale, the Problem-Based Learning Environment Inventory, and course content mastery exams. Students reported positive experiences with PBL and readiness for self-directed learning. Readiness for self-directed learning and 2 of 5 exam scores were inversely, significantly related. Students' perceptions of their readiness for self-directed learning did not always correspond with course content mastery. Specifically, some students who perceived themselves as ready for self-directed learning did not perform well on course content exams. This inverse relationship has not been reported by other researchers and brings an interesting perspective to student perceptions and actual performance. Four themes emerged from students' narrative responses: Prepared Me for Real Life Professional Situations, Stimulated My Critical Thinking, Promoted Independent Problem Solving, and Supported Learning Retention. PBL as a pedagogical approach provides opportunities for nursing students to explore their professional independence while attempting to master content.

A descriptive study of Myers-Briggs personality types of professional music educators and music therapists with comparisons to undergraduate majors.

PubMed

Steele, Anita Louise; Young, Sylvester

2011-01-01

The purpose of the current study was to determine personality types and demographic characteristics of professional music educators and music therapists. The researchers also sought to determine if personality types of professionals were consistent with undergraduate majors in those fields and personal characteristics as suggested by The Music Education National Conference (MENC) and the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA). The research of Steele and Young (2008) found strong similarities and some differences between undergraduate music education and music therapy students. The possibility that basic types extend across the life span may strengthen understanding of job satisfaction, stress, burn out and other factors affecting retention. Participants were a voluntary convenience sample of 253 music educators (n=110) and music therapists (n=143). The highest preference for music educators was Extrovert-Intuition-Feeling-Judgment (ENFJ) and the highest preference for music therapists was Introvert-Intuition-Feeling-Judgment (INFJ). The difference in the collective type of each group was their "outlook on life", which was either Extrovert or Introvert. However, both groups were the same in their secondary type functions of "NFJ". A comparison of findings with the Steele and Young (2008) study suggested small changes in personality type over time. Caution must be exercised in generalizing findings; however this descriptive investigation may serve as the basis for future studies, which should help foster a stable work force in these professions.

Cognitive Engineering of Advanced Information Technology for Air Force Systems Design and Deployment: Prototype for Air Defense Intelligence and Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-10-01

train members of the eventual decision-making group to have different strategies, called " policies ," for making inferences and/or decisions. For example...group task, the task side of the lens model is structured so that each person must modify his judgment policy by learning from the other person in order...judgment policy ; that is, they would receive in both pictorial and textual form a description of how each person combines information to make a judgment

Adolescent civic and political engagement: associations between domain-specific judgments and behavior.

PubMed

Metzger, Aaron; Smetana, Judith G

2009-01-01

Judgments and justifications for different forms of civic involvement and their associations with organized and civic behavior were examined in 312 middle-class primarily White adolescents (M = 17.01 years). Adolescents applied moral, conventional, and personal criteria to distinguish involvement in community service, standard political, social movement, and social gathering activities. Males judged standard political involvement to be more obligatory and important than did females, who judged community service to be more obligatory and important than did males. For each form of civic involvement, greater involvement was associated with more positive judgments and fewer personal justifications. Structural equation modeling indicated that adolescents' judgments about specific types of civic involvement were associated with similar forms of civic behaviors.

An empirical test of competing theories of hazard-related trust: the case of GM food.

PubMed

Allum, Nick

2007-08-01

Few scholars doubt the importance of trust in explaining variation in public perception of technological risk. Relatively little, however, is known about the particular types of judgments that people use in granting or withholding trust. This article presents findings from an empirical study that explores several dimensions of trust relevant for citizens' judgments of scientists involved in the development of GM food. The relationship between particular dimensions of trust and perceptions of GM food risk is also explored, using structural equation modeling. Results suggest that trust judgments based on the perception of shared values are most important in relation to GM food risk, but that judgments about scientists' technical competence are also important.

Clinical Interview Assessment of Financial Capacity in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease

PubMed Central

Marson, Daniel C.; Martin, Roy C.; Wadley, Virginia; Griffith, H. Randall; Snyder, Scott; Goode, Patricia S.; Kinney, F. Cleveland; Nicholas, Anthony P.; Steele, Terri; Anderson, Britt; Zamrini, Edward; Raman, Rema; Bartolucci, Alfred; Harrell, Lindy E.

2009-01-01

Objectives To investigate financial capacity in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) using a clinician interview approach. Design Cross-sectional. Setting Tertiary care medical center. Participants Healthy older adults (N=75), patients with amnestic MCI (N=58), mild AD (N=97), and moderate AD (N=31). Measurements The investigators and five study physicians developed a conceptually based, semi-structured clinical interview for evaluating seven core financial domains and overall financial capacity (Semi-Structured Clinical Interview for Financial Capacity; SCIFC). For each participant, a physician made capacity judgments (capable, marginally capable, or incapable) for each financial domain and for overall capacity. Results Study physicians made a total of over 11,000 capacity judgments across the study sample (N=261). Very good inter-rater agreement was obtained for the SCIFC judgments. Increasing proportions of marginal and incapable judgment ratings were associated with increasing disease severity across the four study groups. For overall financial capacity, 95 percent of physician judgments for older controls were rated as capable, as compared to only 82% for patients with MCI, 26% for patients with mild AD, and 4% for patients with moderate AD. Conclusion Financial capacity in cognitively impaired older adults can be reliably evaluated by physicians using a relatively brief, semi-structured clinical interview. Financial capacity shows mild impairment in MCI, emerging global impairment in mild AD, and advanced global impairment in moderate AD. MCI patients and their families should proactively engage in financial and legal planning given these patients’ risk of developing AD and accelerated loss of financial abilities. PMID:19453308

Event-related repetitive TMS reveals distinct, critical roles for right OFA and bilateral posterior STS in judging the sex and trustworthiness of faces.

PubMed

Dzhelyova, Milena P; Ellison, Amanda; Atkinson, Anthony P

2011-10-01

Judging the sex of faces relies on cues related to facial morphology and spatial relations between features, whereas judging the trustworthiness of faces relies on both structural and expressive cues that signal affective valence. The right occipital face area (OFA) processes structural cues and has been associated with sex judgments, whereas the posterior STS processes changeable facial cues related to muscle movements and is activated when observers judge trustworthiness. It is commonly supposed that the STS receives inputs from the OFA, yet it is unknown whether these regions have functionally dissociable, critical roles in sex and trustworthiness judgments. We addressed this issue using event-related, fMRI-guided repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Twelve healthy volunteers judged the sex of individually presented faces and, in a separate session, whether those same faces were trustworthy or not. Relative to sham stimulation, RTs were significantly longer for sex judgments when rTMS was delivered over the right OFA but not the right or left STS, and for trustworthiness judgments on male but not female faces when rTMS was delivered over the right STS or left STS but not the right OFA. Nonetheless, an analysis of the RT distributions revealed a possible critical role also for the right OFA in trustworthiness judgments, limited to faces with longer RTs, perhaps reflecting the later, ancillary use of structural cues related to the sex of the face. On the whole, our findings provide evidence that evaluations of the trustworthiness and sex of faces rely on functionally dissociable cortical regions.

Prefrontal Cortex Contributions to Controlled Memory Judgment: fMRI Evidence from Adolescents and Young Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaeger, Antonio; Selmeczy, Diana; O'Connor, Akira R.; Diaz, Michael; Dobbins, Ian G.

2012-01-01

Cortical regions supporting cognitive control and memory judgment are structurally immature in adolescents. Here we studied adolescents (13-15 y.o.) and young adults (20-22 y.o.) using a recognition memory paradigm that modulates cognitive control demands through cues that probabilistically forecast memory probe status. Behaviorally, adolescence…

Education in Values and Moral Education in Vocational Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ludecke-Plumer, Sigrid

2007-01-01

On the assumption that education in values and moral education are necessary, moral competence (to make judgments) and the structure and development of the faculty of moral judgment should not be disregarded, even in the vocational education system. The main features of Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development are described as a basis for…

Discrimination of tonal and atonal music in congenital amusia: The advantage of implicit tasks.

PubMed

Tillmann, Barbara; Lalitte, Philippe; Albouy, Philippe; Caclin, Anne; Bigand, Emmanuel

2016-05-01

Congenital amusia is a neurodevelopmental disorder of music perception and production, which has been attributed to a major deficit in pitch processing. While most studies and diagnosis tests have used explicit investigation methods, recent studies using implicit investigation approaches have revealed some unimpaired pitch structure processing in congenital amusia. The present study investigated amusic individuals' processing of tonal structures (e.g., musical structures respecting the Western tonal system) via three different questions. Amusic participants and their matched controls judged tonal versions (original musical excerpts) and atonal versions (with manipulated pitch content to remove tonal structures) of 12 musical pieces. For each piece, participants answered three questions that required judgments from different perspectives: an explicit structural one, a personal, emotional one and a more social one (judging the perception of others). Results revealed that amusic individuals' judgments differed between tonal and atonal versions. However, the question type influenced the extent of the revealed structure processing: while amusic individuals were impaired for the question requiring explicit structural judgments, they performed as well as their matched controls for the two other questions. Together with other recent studies, these findings suggest that congenital amusia might be related to a disorder of the conscious access to music processing rather than music processing per se. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Networking in medical education: creating and connecting.

PubMed

Supe, Avinash N

2008-03-01

Social networking is being increasingly used as a tool of choice for communications and collaborations in business and higher education. Learning and practice become inseparable when professionals work in communities of practice that create interpersonal bonds and promote collective learning. Individual learning that arises from the critical reconstruction of practice, in the presence of peers and other health professionals, enhances a physician's capability of clinical judgment and evidence-based practice. As such, it would be wise for medical schools, whose responsibility it is to prepare students to make a transition to adult life with the skills they need to succeed in both arenas, to reckon with it.

Calculation of the Cost of an Adequate Education in Kentucky: A Professional Judgment Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verstegen, Deborah A.

2004-01-01

What is an adequate education and how much does it cost? In 1989, Kentucky's State Supreme Court found the entire system of education unconstitutional--"all of its parts and parcels". The Court called for all children to have access to an adequate education, one that is uniform and has as its goal the development of seven capacities,…

The Relationship between Preschool Teachers' Professional Ethical Behavior Perceptions, Moral Judgment Levels and Attitudes to Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oktay, Ayla; Ramazan, Oya; Sakin, Ahmet

2010-01-01

Morality is the stance and attitude that makes a social human being; the display of behaviors such as praise, criticism, tolerance and intolerance, confirmation and rejection; the taking of sides by stating what one finds good or bad, right or wrong, instead of staying indifferent to what other people say and do (Pieper, 1999). Moral development…

Complicated Choices: Struggling to Meet NCLB Requirements AND Remain Faithful to a School's Educational Vision and Practice. An Occasional Paper

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Travers, Eva

2009-01-01

In an era of high-stakes accountability, school leaders often face contradictory pressures as they strive to improve student performance. They must meet the federal mandate of NCLB for student achievement; at the same time, many believe that NCLB constrains their professional judgment about how to best teach and assess students in the context of…

Moral development in context: Associations of neighborhood and maternal discipline with preschoolers' moral judgments.

PubMed

Ball, Courtney L; Smetana, Judith G; Sturge-Apple, Melissa L; Suor, Jennifer H; Skibo, Michael A

2017-10-01

Associations among moral judgments, neighborhood risk, and maternal discipline were examined in 118 socioeconomically diverse preschoolers (Mage = 41.84 months, SD = 1.42). Children rated the severity and punishment deserved for 6 prototypical moral transgressions entailing physical and psychological harm and unfairness. They also evaluated 3 criteria for assessing maturity in moral judgments: whether acts were considered wrong regardless of rules and wrong independent of authority, as well as whether moral rules were considered unacceptable to alter (collectively called criterion judgments). Mothers reported on their socioeconomic status, neighborhood characteristics and risk, and consistency of discipline; harsh maternal discipline was observed during a mother-child clean-up task. Structural equation modeling indicated that greater neighborhood risk was associated with less mature criterion judgments and ratings that transgressions were less serious and less deserving of punishment, particularly for children who were disciplined less harshly. Although harsh maternal discipline was associated with children's ratings of moral transgressions as more serious and deserving of punishment, this effect for severity judgments was more pronounced when mothers were inconsistent versus consistent in applying harsh discipline. Preschoolers who received consistent harsh discipline had less sophisticated moral criterion judgments than their less consistently or harshly disciplined peers. Results demonstrate the importance of social contexts in preschoolers' developing moral judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Senior Seminar Focusing on Societal Issues Related to Chemistry and Biochemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

White, Harold B., III; Johnston, Murray V.; Panar, Manuel

2000-12-01

The lack of a clearly defined content or structure provided the opportunity to transform a one-credit, pass-fail senior seminar course into a meaningful capstone experience for chemistry and biochemistry majors. In addition to individual and class exercises associated with employment, graduate school, communication skills, and professional ethics, small groups of students worked together to create informative Web sites that took positions on important societal issues related to chemistry. Each group presented a seminar and responded to questions from their peers and two or more unannounced visitors, "wild cards" who often had expertise in the seminar topic. Throughout the course, the instructors placed particular emphasis on developing students' ability to work cooperatively, locate and evaluate information, make informed judgments based on available information, and logically develop and defend their positions. Input from a retired industrial chemist helped define these skill elements.

Automatic prediction of facial trait judgments: appearance vs. structural models.

PubMed

Rojas, Mario; Masip, David; Todorov, Alexander; Vitria, Jordi

2011-01-01

Evaluating other individuals with respect to personality characteristics plays a crucial role in human relations and it is the focus of attention for research in diverse fields such as psychology and interactive computer systems. In psychology, face perception has been recognized as a key component of this evaluation system. Multiple studies suggest that observers use face information to infer personality characteristics. Interactive computer systems are trying to take advantage of these findings and apply them to increase the natural aspect of interaction and to improve the performance of interactive computer systems. Here, we experimentally test whether the automatic prediction of facial trait judgments (e.g. dominance) can be made by using the full appearance information of the face and whether a reduced representation of its structure is sufficient. We evaluate two separate approaches: a holistic representation model using the facial appearance information and a structural model constructed from the relations among facial salient points. State of the art machine learning methods are applied to a) derive a facial trait judgment model from training data and b) predict a facial trait value for any face. Furthermore, we address the issue of whether there are specific structural relations among facial points that predict perception of facial traits. Experimental results over a set of labeled data (9 different trait evaluations) and classification rules (4 rules) suggest that a) prediction of perception of facial traits is learnable by both holistic and structural approaches; b) the most reliable prediction of facial trait judgments is obtained by certain type of holistic descriptions of the face appearance; and c) for some traits such as attractiveness and extroversion, there are relationships between specific structural features and social perceptions.

When fast logic meets slow belief: Evidence for a parallel-processing model of belief bias.

PubMed

Trippas, Dries; Thompson, Valerie A; Handley, Simon J

2017-05-01

Two experiments pitted the default-interventionist account of belief bias against a parallel-processing model. According to the former, belief bias occurs because a fast, belief-based evaluation of the conclusion pre-empts a working-memory demanding logical analysis. In contrast, according to the latter both belief-based and logic-based responding occur in parallel. Participants were given deductive reasoning problems of variable complexity and instructed to decide whether the conclusion was valid on half the trials or to decide whether the conclusion was believable on the other half. When belief and logic conflict, the default-interventionist view predicts that it should take less time to respond on the basis of belief than logic, and that the believability of a conclusion should interfere with judgments of validity, but not the reverse. The parallel-processing view predicts that beliefs should interfere with logic judgments only if the processing required to evaluate the logical structure exceeds that required to evaluate the knowledge necessary to make a belief-based judgment, and vice versa otherwise. Consistent with this latter view, for the simplest reasoning problems (modus ponens), judgments of belief resulted in lower accuracy than judgments of validity, and believability interfered more with judgments of validity than the converse. For problems of moderate complexity (modus tollens and single-model syllogisms), the interference was symmetrical, in that validity interfered with belief judgments to the same degree that believability interfered with validity judgments. For the most complex (three-term multiple-model syllogisms), conclusion believability interfered more with judgments of validity than vice versa, in spite of the significant interference from conclusion validity on judgments of belief.

Variation in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) is associated with differences in moral judgment

PubMed Central

Chaponis, Jonathan; Siburian, Richie; Gallagher, Patience; Ransohoff, Katherine; Wikler, Daniel; Perlis, Roy H.; Greene, Joshua D.

2016-01-01

Moral judgments are produced through the coordinated interaction of multiple neural systems, each of which relies on a characteristic set of neurotransmitters. Genes that produce or regulate these neurotransmitters may have distinctive influences on moral judgment. Two studies examined potential genetic influences on moral judgment using dilemmas that reliably elicit competing automatic and controlled responses, generated by dissociable neural systems. Study 1 (N = 228) examined 49 common variants (SNPs) within 10 candidate genes and identified a nominal association between a polymorphism (rs237889) of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) and variation in deontological vs utilitarian moral judgment (that is, judgments favoring individual rights vs the greater good). An association was likewise observed for rs1042615 of the arginine vasopressin receptor gene (AVPR1A). Study 2 (N = 322) aimed to replicate these findings using the aforementioned dilemmas as well as a new set of structurally similar medical dilemmas. Study 2 failed to replicate the association with AVPR1A, but replicated the OXTR finding using both the original and new dilemmas. Together, these findings suggest that moral judgment is influenced by variation in the oxytocin receptor gene and, more generally, that single genetic polymorphisms can have a detectable effect on complex decision processes. PMID:27497314

Variation in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) is associated with differences in moral judgment.

PubMed

Bernhard, Regan M; Chaponis, Jonathan; Siburian, Richie; Gallagher, Patience; Ransohoff, Katherine; Wikler, Daniel; Perlis, Roy H; Greene, Joshua D

2016-12-01

Moral judgments are produced through the coordinated interaction of multiple neural systems, each of which relies on a characteristic set of neurotransmitters. Genes that produce or regulate these neurotransmitters may have distinctive influences on moral judgment. Two studies examined potential genetic influences on moral judgment using dilemmas that reliably elicit competing automatic and controlled responses, generated by dissociable neural systems. Study 1 (N = 228) examined 49 common variants (SNPs) within 10 candidate genes and identified a nominal association between a polymorphism (rs237889) of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) and variation in deontological vs utilitarian moral judgment (that is, judgments favoring individual rights vs the greater good). An association was likewise observed for rs1042615 of the arginine vasopressin receptor gene (AVPR1A). Study 2 (N = 322) aimed to replicate these findings using the aforementioned dilemmas as well as a new set of structurally similar medical dilemmas. Study 2 failed to replicate the association with AVPR1A, but replicated the OXTR finding using both the original and new dilemmas. Together, these findings suggest that moral judgment is influenced by variation in the oxytocin receptor gene and, more generally, that single genetic polymorphisms can have a detectable effect on complex decision processes. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press.

Identification and Recall of Structurally Important Units in Prose by Mentally Retarded Learners.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luftig, Richard L.; Johnson, Ronald E.

The study investigated the ability of 80 mildly mentally retarded students (19 to 17 years old) to make accurate judgments of textual idea importance and to differentially and spontaneously remember important rather than unimportant ideas. Ss were assigned to one of six conditions which differed as a function of whether importance judgments were…

Judgments of Successful Inclusion by Education Service Personnel

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frederickson, Norah; Osborne, Lisa A.; Reed, Phil

2004-01-01

Three different methods were used to investigate the basis of judgments about the success of inclusion made by key staff in an education service in the UK. First, a structured questionnaire was used by staff to rate the pupil social and learning skills needed for success in mainstream classes. Second, an open-ended elicitation technique was used…

Pharmacy Students' Facebook Activity and Opinions Regarding Accountability and E-Professionalism

PubMed Central

Scott, Doneka R.; Akers, Paige

2009-01-01

Objective To assess pharmacy students' Facebook activity and opinions regarding accountability and e-professionalism and determine effects of an e-professionalism education session on pharmacy students' posting behavior. Methods A 21-item questionnaire was developed, pilot-tested, revised, and administered to 299 pharmacy students at 3 colleges of pharmacy. Following a presentation regarding potential e-professionalism issues with Facebook, pharmacy students with existing profiles answered an additional question concerning changes in online posting behavior. Results Incoming first-year pharmacy students' Facebook usage is consistent with that of the general college student population. Male students are opposed to authority figures' use of Facebook for character and professionalism judgments and are more likely to present information they would not want faculty members, future employers, or patients to see. More than half of the pharmacy students planned to make changes to their online posting behavior as a result of the e-professionalism presentation. Conclusions There is high social media usage among pharmacy students and many do not fully comprehend the issues that arise from being overly transparent in online settings. Attitudes toward accountability for information supplied via social networking emphasize the need for e-professionalism training of incoming pharmacy students. PMID:19885073

Acoustical consulting-Reflections on a challenging career

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braslau, David

2004-05-01

The acoustical consulting profession can be entered in a number of ways. The most direct approach is to obtain a degree in acoustics and join a large consulting firm immediately after graduation. Acoustical consulting can also be entered indirectly from various fields of engineering or physics which can provide a somewhat broader background. These disciplines might include, for example, structural engineering and structural dynamics, mechanics of materials, dynamic behavior of solids or geophysics. Acoustical consulting specialization can be very broad or very narrow as seen from the National Council of Acoustical Consultants capability listing. As an acoustical consultant, one must address a wide range of problems which provides both the challenges and joys of this profession. Technical capabilities and professional judgment are constantly developed from exposure to these problems and through interaction with other members of the profession. Selected case studies including sound isolation in buildings, noise and vibration from blasting, control of noise from environmental sources, acoustical design of classrooms and performing spaces, and product design demonstrate the variety of challenges faced by an acoustical consultant.

Assessment and management of risk for intimate partner violence by police officers using the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide.

PubMed

Belfrage, Henrik; Strand, Susanne; Storey, Jennifer E; Gibas, Andrea L; Kropp, P Randall; Hart, Stephen D

2012-02-01

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a crime that is present in all countries, seriously impacts victims, and demands a great deal of time and resources from the criminal justice system. The current study examined the use of the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide, 2nd ed. (SARA; Kropp, Hart, Webster, & Eaves, 1995), a structured professional judgment risk assessment and management tool for IPV, by police officers in Sweden over a follow-up of 18 months. SARA risk assessments had significant predictive validity with respect to risk management recommendations made by police, as well as with recidivism as indexed by subsequent contacts with police. Risk management mediated the association between risk assessment and recidivism: High levels of intervention were associated with decreased recidivism in high risk cases, but with increased recidivism in low risk cases. The findings support the potential utility of police-based risk assessment and management of IPV, and in particular the belief that appropriately structured risk assessment and management decisions can prevent violence. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Homicide committed by psychiatric patients: Psychiatrists' liability in Italian law cases.

PubMed

Terranova, Claudio; Rocca, Gabriele

2016-01-01

Interest in psychiatrists' professional liability in Italy has increased in recent years because of the number of medical malpractice claims. Professional liability for failure to prevent violent behaviour by psychiatric patients is particularly debated. This study describes three Italian cases in which health professionals - physicians and nurses - were found guilty of manslaughter for murders committed by psychiatric patients. Examination of the cases focuses on claims of malpractice, patients' characteristics, the circumstances of the homicide and the reasons for the court's judgment. In particular, the predictability of violent behaviour and the concept of causal links are examined in detail. The cases provide an opportunity for a study of comparative jurisprudence. The topics discussed are relevant not only to practicing psychiatrists but also to experts assessing medical liability in cases of criminal acts committed by psychiatric patients. © The Author(s) 2015.

Assessing Professional Competence by Using Occupational Judgment Tests Derived From Job Analysis Questionnaires

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

theoretical framework developed by Edward L. Thorndike and his contemporaries (1935), proposed that (a) learning occurs in both formal and informal settings...implies, and general learning theory ( Thorndike , 1935) suggests, that more motivated employees should acquire more knowledge, so there should be a...that is predicted by tacit knowledge and general learning theory (Sternberg & Wagner, 1993; Thorndike , 1935). Table 3 reports modest true-score

A Quality Management Evaluation of the Graduate Education Process for Ocean Engineers in the Civil Engineer Corps

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-12-01

graduate education required for Ocean Facilities Program (OFP) officers in the Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) of the United States Navy. For the purpose...determined by distributing questionnaires to all officers in the OFP. Statistical analyses of numerical data and judgmental3 analysis of professional...45 B. Ocean Facility Program Officer Graduate Education Questionnaire ....... 47 C. Summary of Questionnaire Responses

DecAID advisor: a tool for managing snags, down wood and wood decay in PNW forests.

Treesearch

Bruce G. Marcot; Grant Gunderson; Kim Mellen; Janet L. Ohmann

2004-01-01

Past tools for modeling and setting guidelines for snag and down wood management have been based on theory, professional judgment, models of wildlife species use as habitat and empirical data. However, recent studies reveal that guidelines for amounts of snags and down wood on national forests of Washington and Oregon may have been lower than the new field data on use...

Potential pros and cons of external healthcare performance evaluation systems: real-life perspectives on Iranian hospital evaluation and accreditation program

PubMed Central

Jaafaripooyan, Ebrahim

2014-01-01

Background: Performance evaluation is essential to quality improvement in healthcare. The current study has identified the potential pros and cons of external healthcare evaluation programs, utilizing them subsequently to look into the merits of a similar case in a developing country. Methods: A mixed method study employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques was adopted to achieve the study end. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and professionals were approached for two-stage process of data collection. Results: Potential advantages included greater attractiveness of high accreditation rank healthcare organizations to their customers/purchasers and boosted morale of their personnel. Downsides, as such, comprised the programs’ over-reliance on value judgment of surveyors, routinization and incurring undue cost on the organizations. In addition, the improved, standardized care processes as well as the judgmental nature of program survey were associated, as pros and cons, to the program investigated by the professionals. Conclusion: Besides rendering a tentative assessment of Iranian hospital evaluation program, the study provides those running external performance evaluations with a lens to scrutinize the virtues of their own evaluation systems through identifying the potential advantages and drawbacks of such programs. Moreover, the approach followed could be utilized for performance assessment of similar evaluation programs. PMID:25279381

Potential pros and cons of external healthcare performance evaluation systems: real-life perspectives on Iranian hospital evaluation and accreditation program.

PubMed

Jaafaripooyan, Ebrahim

2014-09-01

Performance evaluation is essential to quality improvement in healthcare. The current study has identified the potential pros and cons of external healthcare evaluation programs, utilizing them subsequently to look into the merits of a similar case in a developing country. A mixed method study employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques was adopted to achieve the study end. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and professionals were approached for two-stage process of data collection. Potential advantages included greater attractiveness of high accreditation rank healthcare organizations to their customers/purchasers and boosted morale of their personnel. Downsides, as such, comprised the programs' over-reliance on value judgment of surveyors, routinization and incurring undue cost on the organizations. In addition, the improved, standardized care processes as well as the judgmental nature of program survey were associated, as pros and cons, to the program investigated by the professionals. Besides rendering a tentative assessment of Iranian hospital evaluation program, the study provides those running external performance evaluations with a lens to scrutinize the virtues of their own evaluation systems through identifying the potential advantages and drawbacks of such programs. Moreover, the approach followed could be utilized for performance assessment of similar evaluation programs.

Experience of care for mental health problems in the antenatal or postnatal period for women in the UK: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative research.

PubMed

Megnin-Viggars, Odette; Symington, Iona; Howard, Louise M; Pilling, Stephen

2015-12-01

Pregnancy and the first postnatal year can be a difficult and distressing period for women with mental health problems, particularly if they are not able to access appropriate and timely assessment and treatment. The aim of this systematic review was to synthesise qualitative evidence on experiences of care for women with (or at risk of developing) antenatal or postnatal mental health problems across a range of disorders (including non-psychotic mental disorders). Six electronic databases were searched for papers published from 2000 to April 2014. Thirty-nine studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. Findings were synthesised using secondary framework and thematic analysis approaches. Seven key themes were identified across mental disorder groups: an unmet need for collaborative and integrated care; stigma and fears about loss of custody; healthcare professionals unable or unwilling to address psychological needs; focus on babies over mothers; importance of non-judgmental and compassionate support; an unmet need for information; importance of service user involvement in treatment decisions. Women's experience of accessing and engaging with care for mental health problems could be improved if given the opportunity to develop trusting relationships with healthcare professionals who acknowledge and reinforce the woman's role in caring for her baby in a non-judgmental and compassionate manner, and foster hope and optimism about treatment. Information for women, their families and healthcare professionals, and the provision of individualised care and treatment, are also crucial to enable full implementation of a person-centred programme of care.

Using Insights from Applied Moral Psychology to Promote Ethical Behavior Among Engineering Students and Professional Engineers.

PubMed

Gelfand, Scott D

2016-10-01

In this essay I discuss a novel engineering ethics class that has the potential to significantly decrease the likelihood that students (and professionals) will inadvertently or unintentionally act unethically in the future. This class is different from standard engineering ethics classes in that it focuses on the issue of why people act unethically and how students (and professionals) can avoid a variety of hurdles to ethical behavior. I do not deny that it is important for students to develop cogent moral reasoning and ethical decision-making as taught in traditional college-level ethics classes, but as an educator, I aim to help students apply moral reasoning in specific, real-life situations so they are able to make ethical decisions and act ethically in their academic careers and after they graduate. Research in moral psychology provides evidence that many seemingly irrelevant situational factors affect the moral judgment of most moral agents and frequently lead agents to unintentionally or inadvertently act wrongly. I argue that, in addition to teaching college students moral reasoning and ethical decision-making, it is important to: 1. Teach students about psychological and situational factors that affect people's ethical judgments/behaviors in the sometimes stressful, emotion-laden environment of the workplace; 2. Guide students to engage in critical reflection about the sorts of situations they personally might find ethically challenging before they encounter those situations; and 3. Provide students with strategies to help them avoid future unethical behavior when they encounter these situations in school and in the workplace.

Objective Identification of Prepubertal Female Singers and Non-singers by Singing Power Ratio Using Matlab.

PubMed

Usha, M; Geetha, Y V; Darshan, Y S

2017-03-01

The field of music is increasingly gaining scope and attracting researchers from varied fields in terms of improvising the art of voice modulation in singing. There has been a lot of competition, and young budding singers are emerging with more talent. This study is aimed to develop software to differentiate a prepubertal voice as that of a singer or a non-singer using an objective tool-singing power ratio (SPR)-as an objective measure to quantify the resonant voice quality. Recordings of singing and phonation were obtained from 30 singers and 30 non-singer girls (8-10 years). Three professional singers perceptually evaluated all samples using a rating scale and categorized them as singers or non-singers. Using Matlab, a program was developed to automatically calculate the SPR of a particular sample and classify it into either of two groups based on the normative values of SPR developed manually. Positive correlation for SPR of phonation or singing was found between perceptual and manual ratings, and objective values of SPR. Software could automatically give the SPR values for samples that are fed and could further differentiate them as singer or non-singer. Researchers need not depend on professional singers or musicians for the judgment of voice for research purposes. This software uses an objective tool, which serves as an instrument to judge singing talent using singing and phonation samples of children. Also, it can be used as a first line of judgment in any singing audition process, which could ease the work of professionals. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. All rights reserved.

A Bayesian network modeling approach to forecasting the 21st century worldwide status of polar bears

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amstrup, Steven C.; Marcot, Bruce G.; Douglas, David C.

To inform the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision, whether or not to list polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), we projected the status of the world's polar bears (Ursus maritimus) for decades centered on future years 2025, 2050, 2075, and 2095. We defined four ecoregions based on current and projected sea ice conditions: seasonal ice, Canadian Archipelago, polar basin divergent, and polar basin convergent ecoregions. We incorporated general circulation model projections of future sea ice into a Bayesian network (BN) model structured around the factors considered in ESA decisions. This first-generation BN model combined empirical data, interpretations of data, and professional judgments of one polar bear expert into a probabilistic framework that identifies causal links between environmental stressors and polar bear responses. We provide guidance regarding steps necessary to refine the model, including adding inputs from other experts. The BN model projected extirpation of polar bears from the seasonal ice and polar basin divergent ecoregions, where ≈2/3 of the world's polar bears currently occur, by mid century. Projections were less dire in other ecoregions. Decline in ice habitat was the overriding factor driving the model outcomes. Although this is a first-generation model, the dependence of polar bears on sea ice is universally accepted, and the observed sea ice decline is faster than models suggest. Therefore, incorporating judgments of multiple experts in a final model is not expected to fundamentally alter the outlook for polar bears described here.

The Development of Adaptive Decision Making: Recognition-Based Inference in Children and Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horn, Sebastian S.; Ruggeri, Azzurra; Pachur, Thorsten

2016-01-01

Judgments about objects in the world are often based on probabilistic information (or cues). A frugal judgment strategy that utilizes memory (i.e., the ability to discriminate between known and unknown objects) as a cue for inference is the recognition heuristic (RH). The usefulness of the RH depends on the structure of the environment,…

Neural correlates of the self-concept in adolescence-A focus on the significance of friends.

PubMed

Romund, Lydia; Golde, Sabrina; Lorenz, Robert C; Raufelder, Diana; Pelz, Patricia; Gleich, Tobias; Heinz, Andreas; Beck, Anne

2017-02-01

The formation of a coherent and unified self-concept represents a key developmental stage during adolescence. Imaging studies on self-referential processing in adolescents are rare, and it is not clear whether neural structures involved in self-reflection are also involved in reflections of familiar others. In the current study, 41 adolescents were asked to make judgments about trait adjectives during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): they had to indicate whether the word describes themselves, their friends, their teachers or politicians. Findings indicate a greater overlap in neural networks for responses to self- and friend-related judgments compared to teachers and politicians. In particular, classic self-reference structures such as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and medial posterior parietal cortex also exhibited higher activation to judgments about friends. In contrast, brain responses towards judgments of teachers (familiar others) compared to politicians (unfamiliar others) did not significantly differ. Results support behavioral findings of a greater relevance of friends for the development of a self-concept during adolescence and indicate underlying functional brain processes. Hum Brain Mapp 38:987-996, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

RELIGION AND DISASTER VICTIM IDENTIFICATION.

PubMed

Levinson, Jay; Domb, Abraham J

2014-12-01

Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) is a triangle, the components of which are secular law, religious law and custom and professional methods. In cases of single non-criminal deaths, identification often rests with a hospital or a medical authority. When dealing with criminal or mass death incidents, the law, in many jurisdictions, assigns identification to the coroner/medical examiner, who typically uses professional methods and only answers the religious requirements of the deceased's next-of-kin according to his personal judgment. This article discusses religious considerations regarding scientific methods and their limitations, as well as the ethical issues involved in the government coroner/medical examiner's becoming involved in clarifying and answering the next-of-kin's religious requirements.

A framework to support preceptors' evaluation and development of new nurses' clinical judgment.

PubMed

Nielsen, Ann; Lasater, Kathie; Stock, Mary

2016-07-01

In today's complex, fast-paced world of hospital nursing, new graduate nurses do not have well-developed clinical judgment skills. Nurse preceptors are charged with bridging the gap between new graduates' learning in school and their autonomous practice as RNs. In one large, urban medical center in the U.S., a clinical judgment model and rubric were used as a framework for a new evaluation and orientation process. Preceptors of new graduate nurses who had used the former and new processes described their experiences using the framework. The findings indicated that having a structured framework provided objective ways to evaluate and help develop new graduate nurses' clinical judgment. It is hypothesized that academic clinical supervisors may find such a framework useful to prepare students for transition to practice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acceptability of the Predicting Abusive Head Trauma (PredAHT) clinical prediction tool: A qualitative study with child protection professionals.

PubMed

Cowley, Laura E; Maguire, Sabine; Farewell, Daniel M; Quinn-Scoggins, Harriet D; Flynn, Matthew O; Kemp, Alison M

2018-05-09

The validated Predicting Abusive Head Trauma (PredAHT) tool estimates the probability of abusive head trauma (AHT) based on combinations of six clinical features: head/neck bruising; apnea; seizures; rib/long-bone fractures; retinal hemorrhages. We aimed to determine the acceptability of PredAHT to child protection professionals. We conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with 56 participants: clinicians (25), child protection social workers (10), legal practitioners (9, including 4 judges), police officers (8), and pathologists (4), purposively sampled across southwest United Kingdom. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and imported into NVivo for thematic analysis (38% double-coded). We explored participants' evaluations of PredAHT, their opinions about the optimal way to present the calculated probabilities, and their interpretation of probabilities in the context of suspected AHT. Clinicians, child protection social workers and police thought PredAHT would be beneficial as an objective adjunct to their professional judgment, to give them greater confidence in their decisions. Lawyers and pathologists appreciated its value for prompting multidisciplinary investigations, but were uncertain of its usefulness in court. Perceived disadvantages included: possible over-reliance and false reassurance from a low score. Interpretations regarding which percentages equate to 'low', 'medium' or 'high' likelihood of AHT varied; participants preferred a precise % probability over these general terms. Participants would use PredAHT with provisos: if they received multi-agency training to define accepted risk thresholds for consistent interpretation; with knowledge of its development; if it was accepted by colleagues. PredAHT may therefore increase professionals' confidence in their decision-making when investigating suspected AHT, but may be of less value in court. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Examination of the Application of Professional Reliance To Management of Karst Resources In British Columbia (Canada)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramsey, Carolyn L.; Griffiths, Paul A.

2010-05-01

British Columbia (BC), Canada's most ecologically diverse province, is home to some of the nation's finest karst resources. Many of these are in forested settings, and are often associated with special/unique natural attributes ranging from geomorphology to hydrology, biology and ecology. Karst management in BC forests was shaped initially by concerns for caves and their recreation management, but as of 1997 there was a significant shift to an ecosystem approach to management of karst and cave resources. This new management approach was supported in due course by standards and guidelines for karst assessment and management. The approach also recognized the inherently multidisciplinary nature of this type of work and the frequent need to engage professionals with specialized knowledge of karst, and its natural and cultural resource values. In 2004, the BC Government introduced the Forest and Range Practices Act, a new results-based regulatory framework for forest practices. Government orders made pursuant to regulations under the Act identify categories of karst terrain and associated resource features that must be protected from the potentially damaging effects of roadbuilding and road maintenance, timber harvesting, and silviculture activities. In support of a general shift toward more results-based regulation and "freedom to manage" forest resources, it was argued that the forestry sector and its professionals are qualified, and competent enough, to formulate strategies for protecting and managing forest resources (including karst) without as much government oversight. As a result, forest tenure holders and their professionals are now responsible for assessing protected categories of karst resource features and developing and applying appropriate forest practices for them. Where knowledge beyond the area of forest professionals' expertise is required, the knowledge gaps are to be addressed by hiring suitably qualified professional consultants for advice and judgment - a concept termed "professional reliance". Forest tenure holders are responsible for determining when specialized expertise or judgment of qualified resource professionals is required and for assessing the professional qualifications of any consultants they hire. However, there is mounting cause for concern about the quality of karst resource work being conducted in BC. Sidestepping or disregarding the principles of professional reliance has lead to substandard karst field assessments and poor "results" for karst resource features. In this paper, we examine some of the professional reliance failures and conclude that persons engaged to conduct karst resource work in BC have seldom met the minimum qualifications suggested by government. Published standards and guidelines for conducting karst assessments, as well as the published best practices for managing karst landscapes and features in BC exist but these are often overlooked, misapplied or ignored. We offer a more precise definition of the title "Qualified Karst Resource Professional" as well as an expanded checklist of criteria that can be used to evaluate professional qualifications and competency.

The role of the human pulvinar in visual attention and action: evidence from temporal-order judgment, saccade decision, and antisaccade tasks.

PubMed

Arend, Isabel; Machado, Liana; Ward, Robert; McGrath, Michelle; Ro, Tony; Rafal, Robert D

2008-01-01

The pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus has been considered as a key structure for visual attention functions (Grieve, K.L. et al. (2000). Trends Neurosci., 23: 35-39; Shipp, S. (2003). Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci., 358(1438): 1605-1624). During the past several years, we have studied the role of the human pulvinar in visual attention and oculomotor behaviour by testing a small group of patients with unilateral pulvinar lesions. Here we summarize some of these findings, and present new evidence for the role of this structure in both eye movements and visual attention through two versions of a temporal-order judgment task and an antisaccade task. Pulvinar damage induces an ipsilesional bias in perceptual temporal-order judgments and in saccadic decision, and also increases the latency of antisaccades away from contralesional targets. The demonstration that pulvinar damage affects both attention and oculomotor behaviour highlights the role of this structure in the integration of visual and oculomotor signals and, more generally, its role in flexibly linking visual stimuli with context-specific motor responses.

A conceptual model for generating and validating in-session clinical judgments

PubMed Central

Jacinto, Sofia B.; Lewis, Cara C.; Braga, João N.; Scott, Kelli

2016-01-01

Objective Little attention has been paid to the nuanced and complex decisions made in the clinical session context and how these decisions influence therapy effectiveness. Despite decades of research on the dual-processing systems, it remains unclear when and how intuitive and analytical reasoning influence the direction of the clinical session. Method This paper puts forth a testable conceptual model, guided by an interdisciplinary integration of the literature, that posits that the clinical session context moderates the use of intuitive versus analytical reasoning. Results A synthesis of studies examining professional best practices in clinical decision-making, empirical evidence from clinical judgment research, and the application of decision science theories indicate that intuitive and analytical reasoning may have profoundly different impacts on clinical practice and outcomes. Conclusions The proposed model is discussed with respect to its implications for clinical practice and future research. PMID:27088962

A Journey Toward Cultural Competence: The Role of Researcher Reflexivity in Indigenous Research.

PubMed

Nilson, Caroline

2017-03-01

This article highlights the personal journey of reflective development that a non-Aboriginal White researcher and health professional underwent to be "fully positioned" in the everyday lives of a rural Australian Aboriginal community in Western Australia. The article explains the researcher's personal development in areas important to building respect, building relationships, and ensuring reciprocity while undertaking Aboriginal research. The researcher reports on the reflective evaluation of her worldview. Understanding that judgment is a natural tendency, the researcher used reflexivity as a tool to examine and contextualize her judgments, presumptions, and preconceptions, which positioned her to be open to differing viewpoints and actively explore alternate perspectives. The researcher explores her evolutionary understanding that cultural competence is not a destination but a continual journey, and she details her knowledge development regarding the Aboriginal research paradigm, which requires that all the learning, sharing, and growth taking place is reciprocal and engages all parties actively.

[Ascertainment of physical fitness for work in persons applying for annuities in the Federal Republic of Germany (author's transl)].

PubMed

Gramse, M; Wille, G

1980-06-01

Annuities granted because of unfitness for work in general or unfitness to perform particular professional work are being paid in Germany by a state insurance agency. Unfitness for work has to be ascertained in each individual case as has been ruled by jurisdiction of the Highest German Court. It is the task of the medical expert in the course of this procedure to register the clinical status of the applicants and to reach a medical judgment in regard to fitness for work. This judgment does not rely upon the diagnosis or prognosis of a particular disease; a decreased fitness for work because of a particular disease can only be assumed if the disease has led to long-term irreversible deficient organ functions. Annuities for a limited time period may be granted if there is a chance for improvement of health. Problems of finding expert judgement are reported.

Effects of Gain/Loss Framing in Cyber Defense Decision-Making

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bos, Nathan; Paul, Celeste; Gersh, John

Cyber defense requires decision making under uncertainty. Yet this critical area has not been a strong focus of research in judgment and decision-making. Future defense systems, which will rely on software-defined networks and may employ ‘moving target’ defenses, will increasingly automate lower level detection and analysis, but will still require humans in the loop for higher level judgment. We studied the decision making process and outcomes of 17 experienced network defense professionals who worked through a set of realistic network defense scenarios. We manipulated gain versus loss framing in a cyber defense scenario, and found significant effects in one ofmore » two focal problems. Defenders that began with a network already in quarantine (gain framing) used a quarantine system more than those that did not (loss framing). We also found some difference in perceived workload and efficacy. Alternate explanations of these findings and implications for network defense are discussed.« less

Legal aspects of therapist-driven protocols. Do therapist-driven protocols place therapists in a legally compromising position?

PubMed

Meehan, M J

1996-03-01

The recent introduction of therapist-driven protocols has given the appearance of restricting the professional judgment of respiratory therapists with decision-tree robotics while contemporaneously catapulting them into the practice of medicine. This is happening in the midst of a spiraling litigation climate. This article examines the legal aspects--from malpractice to licensure--of this exciting new practice known as therapist-driven respiratory protocols.

New Perspectives on the Validity of the "GRE"® General Test for Predicting Graduate School Grades. ETS GRE® Board Research Report. ETS GRE®-14-03. ETS Research Report. RR-14-26

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klieger, David M.; Cline, Frederick A.; Holtzman, Steven L.; Minsky, Jennifer L.; Lorenz, Florian

2014-01-01

Given the serious consequences of making ill-fated admissions and funding decisions for applicants to graduate and professional school, it is important to rely on sound evidence to optimize such judgments. Previous meta-analytic research has demonstrated the generalizable validity of the "GRE"® General Test for predicting academic…

Conflict between object structural and functional affordances in peripersonal space.

PubMed

Kalénine, Solène; Wamain, Yannick; Decroix, Jérémy; Coello, Yann

2016-10-01

Recent studies indicate that competition between conflicting action representations slows down planning of object-directed actions. The present study aims to assess whether similar conflict effects exist during manipulable object perception. Twenty-six young adults performed reach-to-grasp and semantic judgements on conflictual objects (with competing structural and functional gestures) and non-conflictual objects (with similar structural and functional gestures) presented at difference distances in a 3D virtual environment. Results highlight a space-dependent conflict between structural and functional affordances. Perceptual judgments on conflictual objects were slower that perceptual judgments on non-conflictual objects, but only when objects were presented within reach. Findings demonstrate that competition between structural and functional affordances during object perception induces a processing cost, and further show that object position in space can bias affordance competition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparison of Cramer classification between Toxtree, the OECD QSAR Toolbox and expert judgment.

PubMed

Bhatia, Sneha; Schultz, Terry; Roberts, David; Shen, Jie; Kromidas, Lambros; Marie Api, Anne

2015-02-01

The Threshold of Toxicological Concern (TTC) is a pragmatic approach in risk assessment. In the absence of data, it sets up levels of human exposure that are considered to have no appreciable risk to human health. The Cramer decision tree is used extensively to determine these exposure thresholds by categorizing non-carcinogenic chemicals into three different structural classes. Therefore, assigning an accurate Cramer class to a material is a crucial step to preserve the integrity of the risk assessment. In this study the Cramer class of over 1000 fragrance materials across diverse chemical classes were determined by using Toxtree (TT), the OECD QSAR Toolbox (TB), and expert judgment. Disconcordance was observed between TT and the TB. A total of 165 materials (16%) showed different results from the two programs. The overall concordance for Cramer classification between TT and expert judgment is 83%, while the concordance between the TB and expert judgment is 77%. Amines, lactones and heterocycles have the lowest percent agreement with expert judgment for TT and the TB. For amines, the expert judgment agreement is 45% for TT and 55% for the TB. For heterocycles, the expert judgment agreement is 55% for TT and the TB. For lactones, the expert judgment agreement is 56% for TT and 50% for the TB. Additional analyses were conducted to determine the concordance within various chemical classes. Critical checkpoints in the decision tree are identified. Strategies and guidance on determining the Cramer class for various chemical classes are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Integrative moral judgment: dissociating the roles of the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

PubMed

Shenhav, Amitai; Greene, Joshua D

2014-03-26

A decade's research highlights a critical dissociation between automatic and controlled influences on moral judgment, which is subserved by distinct neural structures. Specifically, negative automatic emotional responses to prototypically harmful actions (e.g., pushing someone off of a footbridge) compete with controlled responses favoring the best consequences (e.g., saving five lives instead of one). It is unknown how such competitions are resolved to yield "all things considered" judgments. Here, we examine such integrative moral judgments. Drawing on insights from research on self-interested, value-based decision-making in humans and animals, we test a theory concerning the respective contributions of the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) to moral judgment. Participants undergoing fMRI responded to moral dilemmas, separately evaluating options for their utility (Which does the most good?), emotional aversiveness (Which feels worse?), and overall moral acceptability. Behavioral data indicate that emotional aversiveness and utility jointly predict "all things considered" integrative judgments. Amygdala response tracks the emotional aversiveness of harmful utilitarian actions and overall disapproval of such actions. During such integrative moral judgments, the vmPFC is preferentially engaged relative to utilitarian and emotional assessments. Amygdala-vmPFC connectivity varies with the role played by emotional input in the task, being the lowest for pure utilitarian assessments and the highest for pure emotional assessments. These findings, which parallel those of research on self-interested economic decision-making, support the hypothesis that the amygdala provides an affective assessment of the action in question, whereas the vmPFC integrates that signal with a utilitarian assessment of expected outcomes to yield "all things considered" moral judgments.

A comprehensive survey of the relationship between self-efficacy and performance for the governmental auditors.

PubMed

Su, Jau-Ming; Lee, Shue-Ching; Tsai, Sang-Bing; Lu, Tzu-Li

2016-01-01

As governmental auditing is involved in evaluating the legitimacy, economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of how the various administrative branches use their allocated resources to optimize the government's functions, it is expected that the performance of the auditors in charge are strongly influenced by their respective qualities such as self-efficacy and experience, etc. To further understand the factors that may enhance their performance and to ultimately provide practical recommendations for the audit authorities, we have surveyed about 50 % of all the governmental auditors in Taiwan. The result showed that any auditing experience and professionalization do positively influence the professional awareness, and acquired knowledge and skillset of an auditor can effectively improve his or her professional judgment. We also found that perceived ability, problem-solving skills, and resource sharing may significantly impact any performance involved. Our study provides a workable management guidelines for strengthening the self-efficacy of audit authorities in Taiwan.

When should psychiatrists seek criminal prosecution of assaultive psychiatric inpatients?

PubMed

Ho, Justin; Ralston, D Christopher; McCullough, Laurence B; Coverdale, John H

2009-08-01

This Open Forum commentary reviews the ethical considerations relevant to the question of prosecuting assaultive psychiatric patients, with particular attention to the significance that should be attached to the arguments generated by those considerations. A comprehensive literature search was conducted incorporating the terms "assaultive patients," "ethics," "psychiatric inpatients," and "law." The literature of professional medical ethics was applied to identify relevant domains of ethical argument. Five domains were identified: fiduciary obligations of physicians to assaultive and other patients; obligations to staff members; professional virtues of compassion, self-sacrifice, and self-effacement; retributive justice; and the patient's right to confidentiality. The content of each domain is explained, and guidance is provided on how to assess the relative strengths of ethical argument within each domain. All five domains must be explicitly addressed in order to make ethically disciplined judgments about whether to seek prosecution. A distinctive feature of this ethical analysis is the central importance of the professional virtues.

Evidence based medicine guidelines: a solution to rationing or politics disguised as science?

PubMed

Saarni, S I; Gylling, H A

2004-04-01

"Evidence based medicine" (EBM) is often seen as a scientific tool for quality improvement, even though its application requires the combination of scientific facts with value judgments and the costing of different treatments. How this is done depends on whether we approach the problem from the perspective of individual patients, doctors, or public health administrators. Evidence based medicine exerts a fundamental influence on certain key aspects of medical professionalism. Since, when clinical practice guidelines are created, costs affect the content of EBM, EBM inevitably becomes a form of rationing and adopts a public health point of view. This challenges traditional professionalism in much the same way as managed care has done in the US. Here we chart some of these major philosophical issues and show why simple solutions cannot be found. The profession needs to pay more attention to different uses of EBM in order to preserve the good aspects of professionalism.

Audiovisual Simultaneity Judgment and Rapid Recalibration throughout the Lifespan.

PubMed

Noel, Jean-Paul; De Niear, Matthew; Van der Burg, Erik; Wallace, Mark T

2016-01-01

Multisensory interactions are well established to convey an array of perceptual and behavioral benefits. One of the key features of multisensory interactions is the temporal structure of the stimuli combined. In an effort to better characterize how temporal factors influence multisensory interactions across the lifespan, we examined audiovisual simultaneity judgment and the degree of rapid recalibration to paired audiovisual stimuli (Flash-Beep and Speech) in a sample of 220 participants ranging from 7 to 86 years of age. Results demonstrate a surprisingly protracted developmental time-course for both audiovisual simultaneity judgment and rapid recalibration, with neither reaching maturity until well into adolescence. Interestingly, correlational analyses revealed that audiovisual simultaneity judgments (i.e., the size of the audiovisual temporal window of simultaneity) and rapid recalibration significantly co-varied as a function of age. Together, our results represent the most complete description of age-related changes in audiovisual simultaneity judgments to date, as well as being the first to describe changes in the degree of rapid recalibration as a function of age. We propose that the developmental time-course of rapid recalibration scaffolds the maturation of more durable audiovisual temporal representations.

A Moral (Normative) Framework for the Judgment of Actions and Decisions in the Construction Industry and Engineering: Part II.

PubMed

Alkhatib, Omar J

2017-12-01

The construction industry is typically characterized as a fragmented, multi-organizational setting in which members from different technical backgrounds and moral values join together to develop a particular business or project. The most challenging obstacle in the construction process is to achieve a successful practice and to identify and apply an ethical framework to manage the behavior of involved specialists and contractors and to ensure the quality of all completed construction activities. The framework should reflect a common moral ground for myriad people involved in this process to survive and compete ethically in today's turbulent construction market. This study establishes a framework for moral judgment of behavior and actions conducted in the construction process. The moral framework provides the basis of judging actions as "moral" or "immoral" based on three levels of moral accountability: personal, professional, and social. The social aspect of the proposed framework is developed primarily from the essential attributes of normative business decision-making models identified in the literature review and subsequently incorporates additional attributes related to professional and personal moral values. The normative decision-making models reviewed are based primarily on social attributes as related to moral theories (e.g., utilitarianism, duty, rights, virtue, etc.). The professional and moral attributes are established by identifying a set of common moral values recognized by professionals in the construction industry and required to prevent common construction breaches. The moral framework presented here is the complementary part of the ethical framework developed in Part I of this article and is based primarily on the personal behavior or the moral aspect of professional responsibility. The framework can be implemented as a form of preventive personal ethics, which would help avoid ethical dilemmas and moral implications in the first place. Furthermore, the moral framework can be considered as a decision-making model to guide actions and improve the moral reasoning process, which would help individuals think through possible implications and the consequences of ethical and moral issues in the construction industry.

A comprehensive survey of government auditors' self-efficacy and professional development for improving audit quality.

PubMed

Lee, Shue-Ching; Su, Jau-Ming; Tsai, Sang-Bing; Lu, Tzu-Li; Dong, Weiwei

2016-01-01

Government audit authorities supervise the implementation of government budgets and evaluate the use of administrative resources to ensure that funding is used wisely, economically, and effectively. A quality audit involves reviewing policies according to international standards and perspectives, and provides insight, predictions, and warnings to related organizations. Such practice can reflect the effectiveness of a government. Professional development and self-efficacy have strong influence upon the performance of auditors. To further understand the factors that may enhance their performance and to ultimately provide practical recommendations for the audit authorities, we have surveyed about 50 % of all the governmental auditors in Taiwan using the stratified random sampling method. The result showed that any auditing experience and professionalization can positively influence the professional awareness. Also, acquired knowledge and skillset of an auditor can effectively improve ones professional judgment. We also found that professional development (including organizational culture and training opportunities) and self-efficacy (including profession and experience as well as trends and performance) may significantly impact audit quality. We concluded that to retain auditors, audit authorities must develop an attractive future outlook emphasizing feedback and learning within an organization. Our study provides a workable management guidelines for strengthening the professional development and self-efficacy of audit authorities in Taiwan.

Subjective measures of unconscious knowledge.

PubMed

Dienes, Zoltán

2008-01-01

The chapter gives an overview of the use of subjective measures of unconscious knowledge. Unconscious knowledge is knowledge we have, and could very well be using, but we are not aware of. Hence appropriate methods for indicating unconscious knowledge must show that the person (a) has knowledge but (b) does not know that she has it. One way of determining awareness of knowing is by taking confidence ratings after making judgments. If the judgments are above baseline but the person believes they are guessing (guessing criterion) or confidence does not relate to accuracy (zero-correlation criterion) there is evidence of unconscious knowledge. The way these methods can deal with the problem of bias is discussed, as is the use of different types of confidence scales. The guessing and zero-correlation criteria show whether or not the person is aware of knowing the content of the judgment, but not whether the person is aware of what any knowledge was that enabled the judgment. Thus, a distinction is made between judgment and structural knowledge, and it is shown how the conscious status of the latter can also be assessed. Finally, the use of control over the use of knowledge as a subjective measure of judgment knowledge is illustrated. Experiments using artificial grammar learning and a serial reaction time task explore these issues.

Inter-rater agreement in evaluation of disability: systematic review of reproducibility studies

PubMed Central

Barth, Jürgen; de Boer, Wout E L; Busse, Jason W; Hoving, Jan L; Kedzia, Sarah; Couban, Rachel; Fischer, Katrin; von Allmen, David Y; Spanjer, Jerry

2017-01-01

Objectives To explore agreement among healthcare professionals assessing eligibility for work disability benefits. Design Systematic review and narrative synthesis of reproducibility studies. Data sources Medline, Embase, and PsycINFO searched up to 16 March 2016, without language restrictions, and review of bibliographies of included studies. Eligibility criteria Observational studies investigating reproducibility among healthcare professionals performing disability evaluations using a global rating of working capacity and reporting inter-rater reliability by a statistical measure or descriptively. Studies could be conducted in insurance settings, where decisions on ability to work include normative judgments based on legal considerations, or in research settings, where decisions on ability to work disregard normative considerations.Teams of paired reviewers identified eligible studies, appraised their methodological quality and generalisability, and abstracted results with pretested forms. As heterogeneity of research designs and findings impeded a quantitative analysis, a descriptive synthesis stratified by setting (insurance or research) was performed. Results From 4562 references, 101 full text articles were reviewed. Of these, 16 studies conducted in an insurance setting and seven in a research setting, performed in 12 countries, met the inclusion criteria. Studies in the insurance setting were conducted with medical experts assessing claimants who were actual disability claimants or played by actors, hypothetical cases, or short written scenarios. Conditions were mental (n=6, 38%), musculoskeletal (n=4, 25%), or mixed (n=6, 38%). Applicability of findings from studies conducted in an insurance setting to real life evaluations ranged from generalisable (n=7, 44%) and probably generalisable (n=3, 19%) to probably not generalisable (n=6, 37%). Median inter-rater reliability among experts was 0.45 (range intraclass correlation coefficient 0.86 to κ−0.10). Inter-rater reliability was poor in six studies (37%) and excellent in only two (13%). This contrasts with studies conducted in the research setting, where the median inter-rater reliability was 0.76 (range 0.91-0.53), and 71% (5/7) studies achieved excellent inter-rater reliability. Reliability between assessing professionals was higher when the evaluation was guided by a standardised instrument (23 studies, P=0.006). No such association was detected for subjective or chronic health conditions or the studies’ generalisability to real world evaluation of disability (P=0.46, 0.45, and 0.65, respectively). Conclusions Despite their common use and far reaching consequences for workers claiming disabling injury or illness, research on the reliability of medical evaluations of disability for work is limited and indicates high variation in judgments among assessing professionals. Standardising the evaluation process could improve reliability. Development and testing of instruments and structured approaches to improve reliability in evaluation of disability are urgently needed. PMID:28122727

Assessment of the Influence of Demographic and Professional Characteristics on Health Care Providers' Pain Management Decisions Using Virtual Humans.

PubMed

Boissoneault, Jeff; Mundt, Jennifer M; Bartley, Emily J; Wandner, Laura D; Hirsh, Adam T; Robinson, Michael E

2016-05-01

Disparities in health care associated with patients' gender, race, and age are well documented. Previous studies using virtual human (VH) technology have demonstrated that provider characteristics may play an important role in pain management decisions. However, these studies have largely emphasized group differences. The aims of this study were to examine dentists' and physicians' use of VH characteristics when making clinical judgments (i.e., cue use) and to identify provider characteristics associated with the magnitude of the impact of these cues (β-weights). Providers (N=152; 76 physicians, 76 dentists) viewed video vignettes of VH patients varying in gender (male/female), race (white/black), and age (younger/older). Participants rated VH patients' pain intensity and unpleasantness and then rated their own likelihood of administering non-opioid and opioid analgesics. Compared to physicians, dentists had significantly lower β-weights associated with VH age cues for all ratings (p<0.001; d>0.69). These effects varied by provider race and gender. For pain intensity, professional differences were present only among non-white providers. White providers had greater β-weights than non-white providers for pain unpleasantness but only among men. Provider differences regarding the use of VH age cues in non-opioid analgesic administration were present among all providers except non-white males. These findings highlight the interaction of patient and provider factors in driving clinical decision making. Although profession was related to use of VH age cues in pain-related clinical judgments, this relationship was modified by providers' personal characteristics. Additional research is needed to understand what aspects of professional training or practice may account for differences between physicians and dentists and what forms of continuing education may help to mitigate the disparities.

DOES TRAINING IN THE CIRCLE OF SECURITY FRAMEWORK INCREASE RELATIONAL UNDERSTANDING IN INFANT/CHILD AND FAMILY WORKERS?

PubMed

McMahon, Catherine; Huber, Anna; Kohlhoff, Jane; Camberis, Anna-Lisa

2017-09-01

This article evaluated whether attendance at Circle of Security training workshops resulted in attendees showing greater empathy and attachment-related knowledge and understanding, and fewer judgmental responses to viewing a stressful parent-child interaction. Participants were 202 practitioners who attended and completed a 2-day (n = 70), 4-day (n = 105), or 10-day (n = 27) COS training workshop in Australia or New Zealand in 2015. In a pre/post design, participant reactions to a video clip of a challenging parent-child interaction were coded for empathic, judgmental, or attachment-focused language. Attachment understanding was coded in response to questions about the greatest challenge that the dyad faced. In all training conditions, participants provided significantly more attachment-focused descriptors and showed significantly greater attachment understanding after training, but significantly fewer empathic descriptors. While participants at the longer workshops provided significantly fewer judgmental/critical descriptors, there was no change for those attending the 2-day workshop. Irrespective of workshop duration or professional background, participants took a more relational perspective on the vignette after the training workshops. More detailed research is required to establish the extent to which this increased knowledge and understanding is retained and integrated into infant mental health practice with parents and young children. © 2017 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

Counter-stereotypical pictures as a strategy for overcoming spontaneous gender stereotypes.

PubMed

Finnegan, Eimear; Oakhill, Jane; Garnham, Alan

2015-01-01

The present research investigated the use of counter-stereotypical pictures as a strategy for overcoming spontaneous gender stereotypes when certain social role nouns and professional terms are read. Across two experiments, participants completed a judgment task in which they were presented with word pairs comprised of a role noun with a stereotypical gender bias (e.g., beautician) and a kinship term with definitional gender (e.g., brother). Their task was to quickly decide whether or not both terms could refer to one person. In each experiment they completed two blocks of such judgment trials separated by a training session in which they were presented with pictures of people working in gender counter-stereotypical (Experiment 1) or gender stereotypical roles (Experiment 2). To ensure participants were focused on the pictures, they were also required to answer four questions on each one relating to the character's leisure activities, earnings, job satisfaction, and personal life. Accuracy of judgments to stereotype incongruent pairings was found to improve significantly across blocks when participants were exposed to counter-stereotype images (9.87%) as opposed to stereotypical images (0.12%), while response times decreased significantly across blocks in both studies. It is concluded that exposure to counter-stereotypical pictures is a valuable strategy for overcoming spontaneous gender stereotype biases in the short term.

Using the Human Eye to Characterize Displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gille, Jennifer; Larimer, James

2001-01-01

Monitor characterization has taken on new importance for non-professional users, who are not usually equipped to make photometric measurements. Our purpose was to examine some of the visual judgments used in characterization schemes that have been proposed for web users. We studied adjusting brightness to set the black level, banding effects due to digitization, and gamma estimation in the light and in the dark, and a color-matching task in the light, on a desktop CRT and a laptop LCD. Observers demonstrated the sensitivity of the visual system for comparative judgments in black-level adjustment, banding visibility, and gamma estimation. The results of the color-matching task were ambiguous. In the brightness adjustment task, the action of the adjustment was not as presumed; however, perceptual judgments were as expected under the actual conditions. When the gamma estimates of observers were compared to photometric measurements, problems with the definition of gamma were identified. Information about absolute light levels that would be important for characterizing a display, given the shortcomings of gamma in measuring apparent contrast, are not measurable by eye alone. The LCD was not studied as extensively as the CRT because of viewing-angle problems, and its transfer function did not follow a power law, rendering gamma estimation meaningless.

Investigating the cognitive structure of stereotypes: Generic beliefs about groups predict social judgments better than statistical beliefs.

PubMed

Hammond, Matthew D; Cimpian, Andrei

2017-05-01

Stereotypes are typically defined as beliefs about groups, but this definition is underspecified. Beliefs about groups can be generic or statistical. Generic beliefs attribute features to entire groups (e.g., men are strong), whereas statistical beliefs encode the perceived prevalence of features (e.g., how common it is for men to be strong). In the present research, we sought to determine which beliefs-generic or statistical-are more central to the cognitive structure of stereotypes. Specifically, we tested whether generic or statistical beliefs are more influential in people's social judgments, on the assumption that greater functional importance indicates greater centrality in stereotype structure. Relative to statistical beliefs, generic beliefs about social groups were significantly stronger predictors of expectations (Studies 1-3) and explanations (Study 4) for unfamiliar individuals' traits. In addition, consistent with prior evidence that generic beliefs are cognitively simpler than statistical beliefs, generic beliefs were particularly predictive of social judgments for participants with more intuitive (vs. analytic) cognitive styles and for participants higher (vs. lower) in authoritarianism, who tend to view outgroups in simplistic, all-or-none terms. The present studies suggest that generic beliefs about groups are more central than statistical beliefs to the cognitive structure of stereotypes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Moral motivation based on multiple developmental structures: an exploration of cognitive and emotional dynamics.

PubMed

Kaplan, Ulas; Tivnan, Terrence

2014-01-01

Intrapersonal variability and multiplicity in the complexity of moral motivation were examined from Dynamic Systems and Self-Determination Theory perspectives. L. Kohlberg's (1969) stages of moral development are reconceptualized as soft-assembled and dynamically transformable process structures of motivation that may operate simultaneously within person in different degrees. Moral motivation is conceptualized as the real-time process of self-organization of cognitive and emotional dynamics out of which moral judgment and action emerge. A detailed inquiry into intrapersonal variation in moral motivation is carried out based on the differential operation of multiple motivational structures. A total of 74 high school students and 97 college students participated in the study by completing a new questionnaire, involving 3 different hypothetical moral judgments. As hypothesized, findings revealed significant multiplicity in the within-person operation of developmental stage structures, and intrapersonal variability in the degrees to which stages were used. Developmental patterns were found in terms of different distributions of multiple stages between high school and college samples, as well as the association between age and overall motivation scores. Differential relations of specific emotions to moral motivation revealed and confirmed the value of differentiating multiple emotions. Implications of the present theoretical perspective and the findings for understanding the complexity of moral judgment and motivation are discussed.

Professional Culture and Climate: Addressing Unconscious Bias

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knezek, Patricia

2016-10-01

Unconscious bias reflects expectations or stereotypes that influence our judgments of others (regardless of our own group). Everyone has unconscious biases. The end result of unconscious bias can be an accumulation of advantage or disadvantage that impacts the long term career success of individuals, depending on which biases they are subject to. In order to foster a professional culture and climate, being aware of these unconscious biases and mitigating against them is a first step. This is particularly important when judgements are needed, such as in cases for recruitment, choice of speakers for conferences, and even reviewing papers submitted for publication. This presentation will cover how unconscious bias manifests itself, what evidence exists to demonstrate it exists, and ways it can be addressed.

Teaching complex trauma care in a curriculum challenges critical thinking and clinical judgment--how nurses can help.

PubMed

West, Margaret Mary; Bross, Gina; Snyder, Melissa

2007-01-01

Incorporating complex content into a nursing curriculum presents students with the knowledge and thinking skills necessary to enter a career in nursing. A level 1 trauma center is a prefect environment to advance these thinking skills. Nurses act as professional role models and teachers as they clarify and explain their thinking to a student. When experienced nurses show invitational behaviors to students and share their knowledge with them, they ignite a strong desire within the student to progress. Caring, communication, and inclusion are key components that synergize the teaching/learning experience. The development of critical thinking is a continuous process that is best achieved through collaboration between the student, faculty, and professional, experienced nurses.

Nephrologists' perspectives on waitlisting and allocation of deceased donor kidneys for transplant.

PubMed

Tong, Allison; Howard, Kirsten; Wong, Germaine; Cass, Alan; Jan, Stephen; Irving, Michelle; Craig, Jonathan C

2011-11-01

Deceased donor kidneys are a scarce resource and there is debate about how to maximize the benefit from each donated kidney while ensuring equity of access to transplants. Allocation of kidneys to waitlisted patients is determined by a computer algorithm, but the decision to waitlist patients or accept the kidneys offered is largely at the discretion of nephrologists. This study aims to elicit nephrologists' perspectives on waitlisting patients for kidney transplant and the allocation of deceased kidneys. We conducted semistructured face-to-face interviews with adult and pediatric nephrologists from 15 Australian nephrology or transplant centers. Transcripts were analyzed for descriptive and analytical themes. 25 nephrologists participated. 5 major themes on waitlisting and deceased donor kidney allocation were identified: patient advocacy (championing their own patients, empowering patients, giving hope, individualizing judgments, patient preferences, and limited autonomy), professional and moral integrity (transparency, avoiding value judgments, and eliminating bias), protecting center reputation (gatekeeping), achieving equity (uniformity, avoiding discrimination, and fairness for specific populations), and maximizing societal benefit (prioritizing best use of kidney, resource implications, favoring social contribution, and improving efficiency of the allocation process). In making individual patient assessments, estimates about outcomes for a patient had to be resolved with whether it was reasonable from a broader societal perspective. Nephrologists expressed their primary responsibility in terms of giving their own patients access to a transplant and upholding professional integrity by maintaining transparency and avoiding value judgments and bias. However, nephrologists perceived an obligation to protect their center's reputation through the selection of "good" patients, and this caused some frustration. Despite having personal preferences for optimizing the balance between societal benefit and equity, nephrologists did not want direct responsibility for ensuring societal benefit in clinical practice. Rather, they placed the onus on policy makers and the community to reconcile such tensions and advocate for societal benefit. Copyright © 2011 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Professional discipline and support recommendations for family caregivers of persons with dementia.

PubMed

Gaugler, Joseph E; Westra, Bonnie L; Kane, Robert L

2016-06-01

Family caregivers of persons with dementia often require support services to help ease the challenges of providing care. Although the efficacy of some dementia caregiver interventions seems apparent, evidence indicating which types of protocols can best meet the diverse needs of individual families is not yet available. Because of this gap, families must often turn to professionals for such guidance, but it remains unknown whether professionals from different disciplines are more inclined to recommend particular types of services than others. This study assessed whether recommendations of supportive interventions to hypothetical dementia family caregivers differed by professional discipline. In a cross-sectional survey design, a convenience sample of 422 dementia care professionals across the USA viewed up to 24 randomly selected, hypothetical scenarios that systematically varied characteristics of persons with dementia and their caregivers. For each scenario, 7 possible intervention recommendations were rated. A total of 6,890 scenarios were rated and served as the unit of analysis. General linear models revealed that discipline was often a stronger predictor of how likely professionals were to recommend dementia caregiver interventions than caregiver, care recipient, or other professional characteristics. Psychotherapists tended to recommend psychoeducation more than other professionals, while those in medicine were more likely to recommend training of the person with dementia and psychotherapy. The heterogeneity in recommendations suggests that the professional source of information influences the types of support families are directed toward. Empirical evidence should inform these professional judgments to better achieve person-centered care for families.

Professional networks and the alignment of individual perceptions about medical innovation.

PubMed

Iacopino, Valentina; Mascia, Daniele; Cicchetti, Americo

In recent decades, the role of technology in health care organizations has become increasingly relevant because it enhances health care outcomes and the achievement of clinical goals. Extant research demonstrates that the effectiveness of a medical innovation depends largely on health care professionals' perceptions of its usefulness and impact on their activities and practices. We also know that interaction among social actors contributes to the shaping of their judgments and opinions regarding innovation. This study investigated the role of professionals' social networks and social capital in the formation of similar individual perceptions about a highly innovative robotic surgical system. We collected data from a sample of 50 professionals, including both physicians and nurses, working in three hospital wards belonging to an Italian hospital organization. Using a survey, we gathered data on professionals' demographic characteristics, the adoption and impact of the new technology, and social networks. We tested our hypotheses using a dyadic perspective and logistic regression quadratic assignment procedures. Our findings document that professionals' perceptions regarding technological change were more likely to be similar when they were connected and exhibited similarity in some social capital characteristics and adoption behavior. These results have important implications for health care executives and administrators, as well as for health professionals characterized by high degrees of autonomy and for which organizational change can be affected by professional or organizational resistance.

Trust, but Verify: Standard Setting That Honors and Validates Professional Teacher Judgment. Subtitle: A Tenuous Titanic Tale of Testy Testing and Titillating Touchstones (A Screen Play with an Unknown Number of Acts).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matter, M. Kevin

The Cherry Creek School district (Englewood, Colorado) is a growing district of 37,000 students in the Denver area. The 1988 Colorado State School Finance Act required district-set proficiencies (standards), and forced agreement on a set of values for student knowledge and skills. State-adopted standards added additional requirements for the…

The power grid monitoring promotion of Liaoning December 14th accident

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Zhi; Gao, Ziji; He, Xiaoyang; Li, Tie; Jin, Xiaoming; Wang, Mingkai; Qu, Zhi; Sun, Chenguang

2018-02-01

This paper introduces the main responsibilities of power grid monitoring and the accident of Liaoning Power Grid 500kV Xujia transformer substation at December 14th, 2016. This paper analyzes the problems exposed in this accident from the aspects of abnormal information judgment, fault information collection, auxiliary video monitoring, online monitoring of substation equipment, puts forward the corresponding improvement methods and summarizes the methods of improving the professional level of power grid equipment monitoring.

Civilian Combatants, Military Professionals? American Officer Judgments

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

basis to claim a corporate identity for these employees of PMFs. On the other hand, there is a prima facie case to be made that the employees of this...of social obligation to utilize this craft for the benefit of society.’ 3 Mercenaries ‘who fight for employers other than their home state’s...report by the Congressional Research Service, ‘conduct that violates international obligations is attributable to a State if it is committed by the

Clouding the Judgment of Domestic Violence Law: Victim Blaming by Institutional Stakeholders in Cambodia

PubMed Central

Brickell, Katherine

2015-01-01

This article examines victims’ purported complicity in the judicial failures of domestic violence law to protect them in Cambodia. It is based on 3 years (2012-2014) of research in Siem Reap and Pursat Provinces on the everyday politics of the 2005 “Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Protection of the Victims” (DV Law). The project questioned why investments in DV Law are faltering and took a multi-stakeholder approach to do so. In addition to 40 interviews with female domestic violence victims, the research included 50 interviews with legal and health professionals, NGO workers, low- and high-ranking police officers, religious figures, and local government authority leaders who each have an occupational investment in the implementation and enforcement of DV Law. Forming the backbone of the article, the findings from this latter sample reveal how women are construed not only as barriers “clouding the judgment of law” but also as actors denying the agency of institutional stakeholders (and law itself) to bring perpetrators to account. The findings suggest that DV Law has the potential to entrench, rather than diminish, an environment of victim blaming. In turn, the article signals the importance of research on, and better professional support of, intermediaries who (discursively) administrate the relationship between DV Law and the victims/citizens it seeks to protect. PMID:26076978

Caring for 'Very Important Patients'--Ethical Dilemmas and Suggestions for Practical Management.

PubMed

Alfandre, David; Clever, Sarah; Farber, Neil J; Hughes, Mark T; Redstone, Paul; Lehmann, Lisa Soleymani

2016-02-01

The care of Very Important Patients (VIPs) is different from other patients because they may receive greater access, attention, and resources from health care staff. Although the term VIP is used regularly in the medical literature and is implicitly understood, in practice it constitutes a wide and heterogeneous group of patients that have a strong effect on health care providers. We define a VIP as a very influential patient whose individual attributes and characteristics (eg, social status, occupation, position), coupled with their behavior, have the potential to significantly influence a clinician's judgment or behavior. Physicians, celebrities, the politically powerful, and philanthropists, may all become VIPs in the appropriate context. The quality of care may be inferior because health care professionals may deviate from standard practices when caring for them. Understanding the common features among what may otherwise be very different groups of patients can help health care providers manage ethical concerns when they arise. We use a series of vignettes to demonstrate how VIPs behavior and status can influence a clinician's judgment or actions. Appreciating the ethical principles in these varied circumstances provides health care professionals with the tools to manage ethical conflicts that arise in the care of VIPs. We conclude each vignette with guidance for how health care providers and administrators can manage the ethical concern. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Human judgment vs. quantitative models for the management of ecological resources.

PubMed

Holden, Matthew H; Ellner, Stephen P

2016-07-01

Despite major advances in quantitative approaches to natural resource management, there has been resistance to using these tools in the actual practice of managing ecological populations. Given a managed system and a set of assumptions, translated into a model, optimization methods can be used to solve for the most cost-effective management actions. However, when the underlying assumptions are not met, such methods can potentially lead to decisions that harm the environment and economy. Managers who develop decisions based on past experience and judgment, without the aid of mathematical models, can potentially learn about the system and develop flexible management strategies. However, these strategies are often based on subjective criteria and equally invalid and often unstated assumptions. Given the drawbacks of both methods, it is unclear whether simple quantitative models improve environmental decision making over expert opinion. In this study, we explore how well students, using their experience and judgment, manage simulated fishery populations in an online computer game and compare their management outcomes to the performance of model-based decisions. We consider harvest decisions generated using four different quantitative models: (1) the model used to produce the simulated population dynamics observed in the game, with the values of all parameters known (as a control), (2) the same model, but with unknown parameter values that must be estimated during the game from observed data, (3) models that are structurally different from those used to simulate the population dynamics, and (4) a model that ignores age structure. Humans on average performed much worse than the models in cases 1-3, but in a small minority of scenarios, models produced worse outcomes than those resulting from students making decisions based on experience and judgment. When the models ignored age structure, they generated poorly performing management decisions, but still outperformed students using experience and judgment 66% of the time. © 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.

The significance of ethics reflection groups in mental health care: a focus group study among health care professionals.

PubMed

Hem, Marit Helene; Molewijk, Bert; Gjerberg, Elisabeth; Lillemoen, Lillian; Pedersen, Reidar

2018-06-05

Professionals within the mental health services face many ethical dilemmas and challenging situations regarding the use of coercion. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the significance of participating in systematic ethics reflection groups focusing on ethical challenges related to coercion. In 2013 and 2014, 20 focus group interviews with 127 participants were conducted. The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. The analysis is inspired by the concept of 'bricolage' which means our approach was inductive. Most participants report positive experiences with participating in ethics reflection groups: A systematic and well-structured approach to discuss ethical challenges, increased consciousness of formal and informal coercion, a possibility to challenge problematic concepts, attitudes and practices, improved professional competence and confidence, greater trust within the team, more constructive disagreement and room for internal critique, less judgmental reactions and more reasoned approaches, and identification of potential for improvement and alternative courses of action. On several wards, the participation of psychiatrists and psychologists in the reflection groups was missing. The impact of the perceived lack of safety in reflection groups should not be underestimated. Sometimes the method for ethics reflection was utilised in a rigid way. Direct involvement of patients and family was missing. This focus group study indicates the potential of ethics reflection groups to create a moral space in the workplace that promotes critical, reflective and collaborative moral deliberations. Future research, with other designs and methodologies, is needed to further investigate the impact of ethics reflection groups on improving health care practices.

Finding a Path to Entrustment in Undergraduate Medical Education: A Progress Report From the AAMC Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency Entrustment Concept Group.

PubMed

Brown, David R; Warren, Jamie B; Hyderi, Abbas; Drusin, Ronald E; Moeller, Jeremy; Rosenfeld, Melvin; Orlander, Philip R; Yingling, Sandra; Call, Stephanie; Terhune, Kyla; Bull, Janet; Englander, Robert; Wagner, Dianne P

2017-06-01

To better prepare graduating medical students to transition to the professional responsibilities of residency, 10 medical schools are participating in an Association of American Medical Colleges pilot to evaluate the feasibility of explicitly teaching and assessing 13 Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency. The authors focused on operationalizing the concept of entrustment as part of this process. Starting in 2014, the Entrustment Concept Group, with representatives from each of the pilot schools, guided the development of the structures and processes necessary for formal entrustment decisions associated with students' increased responsibilities at the start of residency. Guiding principles developed by the group recommend that formal, summative entrustment decisions in undergraduate medical education be made by a trained group, be based on longitudinal performance assessments from multiple assessors, and incorporate day-to-day entrustment judgments by workplace supervisors. Key to entrustment decisions is evidence that students know their limits (discernment), can be relied on to follow through (conscientiousness), and are forthcoming despite potential personal costs (truthfulness), in addition to having the requisite knowledge and skills. The group constructed a developmental framework for discernment, conscientiousness, and truthfulness to pilot a model for transparent entrustment decision making. The pilot schools are studying a number of questions regarding the pathways to and decisions about entrustment. This work seeks to inform meaningful culture change in undergraduate medical education through a shared understanding of the assessment of trust and a shared trust in that assessment.

Community pharmacists' prescription intervention practices--exploring variations in practice in Norwegian pharmacies.

PubMed

Mandt, Ingunn; Horn, Anne Marie; Ekedahl, Anders; Granas, Anne Gerd

2010-03-01

Evidence suggests that prescription intervention frequencies have been found to vary as much as 10-fold among Norwegian pharmacies and among pharmacists within the same pharmacy. To explore community pharmacists' perceptions of how their prescription intervention practices were influenced by their working environment, their technological resources, the physical and social structures of the pharmacies, their relations with colleagues, and to the individual pharmacist's professional skills. Two focus groups consisting of 14 community pharmacists in total, from urban and rural areas in Norway, discussed their working procedures and professional judgments related to prescription interventions. Organizational theories were used as theoretical and analytical frameworks in the study. A framework based on Leavitt's organizational model was to structure our interview guide. The study units were the statements of the individual pharmacists. Recurrent themes were identified and condensed. Two processes describing variations in the dispensing workflow including prescription interventions were derived--an active dispensing process extracting information about the patient's medication from several sources and a fast dispensing process focusing mainly on the information available on the prescription. Both workflow processes were used in the same pharmacies and by the same pharmacist but on different occasions. A pharmacy layout allowing interactions between pharmacist and patients and a convenient organization of technology, layout, pharmacist-patient and pharmacist-coworker transactions at the workplace was essential for detecting and solving prescription problems. Pharmacists limited their contact with general practitioners when they considered the problem a formality and/or when they knew the answers themselves. The combined use of dispensing software and the Internet was a driving force toward more independent and cognitively advanced prescription interventions. Implementation of a general organizational model made it easier to analyze and interpret the pharmacists' intervention practices. Working environment, technology, management and professional skills may all contribute to variations in pharmacists' prescription intervention practices in and between community pharmacies. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The role of warning behaviors in threat assessment: an exploration and suggested typology.

PubMed

Reid Meloy, J; Hoffmann, Jens; Guldimann, Angela; James, David

2012-01-01

The concept of warning behaviors offers an additional perspective in threat assessment. Warning behaviors are acts which constitute evidence of increasing or accelerating risk. They are acute, dynamic, and particularly toxic changes in patterns of behavior which may aid in structuring a professional's judgment that an individual of concern now poses a threat - whether the actual target has been identified or not. They require an operational response. A typology of eight warning behaviors for assessing the threat of intended violence is proposed: pathway, fixation, identification, novel aggression, energy burst, leakage, directly communicated threat, and last resort warning behaviors. Previous research on risk factors associated with such warning behaviors is reviewed, and examples of each warning behavior from various intended violence cases are presented, including public figure assassination, adolescent and adult mass murder, corporate celebrity stalking, and both domestic and foreign acts of terrorism. Practical applications and future research into warning behaviors are suggested. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Online Professionalism and the Mirror of Social Media

PubMed Central

Kind, Terry; Chretien, Katherine C.

2010-01-01

The rise of social media—content created by Internet users and hosted by popular sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Wikipedia, and blogs—has brought several new hazards for medical professionalism. First, many physicians may find applying principles for medical professionalism to the online environment challenging in certain contexts. Second, physicians may not consider the potential impact of their online content on their patients and the public. Third, a momentary lapse in judgment by an individual physician to create unprofessional content online can reflect poorly on the entire profession. To overcome these challenges, we encourage individual physicians to realize that as they “tread” through the World Wide Web, they leave behind a “footprint” that may have unintended negative consequences for them and for the profession at large. We also recommend that institutions take a proactive approach to engage users of social media in setting consensus-based standards for “online professionalism.” Finally, given that professionalism encompasses more than the avoidance of negative behaviors, we conclude with examples of more positive applications for this technology. Much like a mirror, social media can reflect the best and worst aspects of the content placed before it for all to see. PMID:20632121

Online professionalism and the mirror of social media.

PubMed

Greysen, S Ryan; Kind, Terry; Chretien, Katherine C

2010-11-01

The rise of social media--content created by Internet users and hosted by popular sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Wikipedia, and blogs--has brought several new hazards for medical professionalism. First, many physicians may find applying principles for medical professionalism to the online environment challenging in certain contexts. Second, physicians may not consider the potential impact of their online content on their patients and the public. Third, a momentary lapse in judgment by an individual physician to create unprofessional content online can reflect poorly on the entire profession. To overcome these challenges, we encourage individual physicians to realize that as they "tread" through the World Wide Web, they leave behind a "footprint" that may have unintended negative consequences for them and for the profession at large. We also recommend that institutions take a proactive approach to engage users of social media in setting consensus-based standards for "online professionalism." Finally, given that professionalism encompasses more than the avoidance of negative behaviors, we conclude with examples of more positive applications for this technology. Much like a mirror, social media can reflect the best and worst aspects of the content placed before it for all to see.

Variation in Acceptable Child Discipline Practices by Child Age: Perceptions of Community Norms by Medical and Legal Professionals

PubMed Central

Block, Stephanie D.; Poplin, Ashlee Burgess; Wang, Eric; Widaman, Keith F.; Runyan, Desmond K.

2016-01-01

Mandated child abuse reporters may judge specific disciplinary practices as unacceptable for young children, whereas child law professionals arbitrating allegations may be less inclusive. Do the views of these groups diverge, by child age, regarding physical discipline? Judgments of community norms across a wide range of children’s ages were obtained from 380 medical and legal professionals. Because the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (PC-CTS) can be used to assess the epidemiology of child disciplinary behaviors and as a proxy to examine the incidence or prevalence of child abuse, the disciplinary practices described on the PC-CTS were presented as triggers for questions. Significant child age effects were found for disciplinary practices classified as “harsh.” The consistencies between legal and medical professionals were striking. Both groups reflected changes in United States norms, as non-physical approaches were the most approved. We conclude that instruments estimating the prevalence of child maltreatment by parent-report should consider modifying how specific disciplinary practices are classified. PMID:27117603

The Nazi engineers: reflections on technological ethics in hell.

PubMed

Katz, Eric

2011-09-01

Engineers, architects, and other technological professionals designed the genocidal death machines of the Third Reich. The death camp operations were highly efficient, so these technological professionals knew what they were doing: they were, so to speak, good engineers. As an educator at a technological university, I need to explain to my students-future engineers and architects-the motivations and ethical reasoning of the technological professionals of the Third Reich. I need to educate my students in the ethical practices of this hellish regime so that they can avoid the kind of ethical justifications used by the Nazi engineers. In their own professional lives, my former students should not only be good engineers in a technical sense, but good engineers in a moral sense. In this essay, I examine several arguments about the ethical judgments of professionals in Nazi Germany, and attempt a synthesis that can provide a lesson for contemporary engineers and other technological professionals. How does an engineer avoid the error of the Nazi engineers in their embrace of an evil ideology underlying their technological creations? How does an engineer know that the values he embodies through his technological products are good values that will lead to a better world? This last question, I believe, is the fundamental issue for the understanding of engineering ethics.

Professionals' Attitude Toward Reporting Child Sexual Abuse in Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Al-Saif, Dalia M; Al-Eissa, Majid; Saleheen, Hassan; Al-Mutlaq, Huda; Everson, Mark D; Almuneef, Maha A

2018-01-01

Child sexual abuse (CSA) requires specialized knowledge and training that includes forensic interview skills. The aim of this study was to determine variations in professionals' attitudes toward CSA by measuring three aspects of forensic attitudes (sensitivity, specificity, and skepticism) and evaluating disagreements concerning the assessment of CSA cases in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional, web-based study, in which the Child Forensic Attitude Scale was used to measure professionals' attitudes, was conducted. Professionals who dealt with suspected cases of CSA as part of their jobs or were in professions that necessitated involvement with such cases, were selected as participants. Of 327 participants, 53% were aged ≤40 years, and 54% were men. In addition, 24% were doctors/nurses, 20% were therapists/psychiatrists, 24% were social workers, 17% were educators, 9% were law enforcement professionals, and 5% were medical examiners. Attitude subscale scores differed significantly according to participants' sex, specialty, and training. Women, healthcare professionals, and those who had participated in more than five training courses were more concerned about the underreporting of abuse (high sensitivity) relative to other professionals. In comparison, men, medical examiners, law enforcement officers, and undertrained professionals tended to underreport suspected sexual abuse cases (high specificity). High specificity in attitudes toward suspected cases of CSA could affect professionals' judgment and contribute to low reporting rates. Certain strategies, including increasing self-awareness of personal bias, specific CSA recognition courses, and team approaches to case assessment and management, should be implemented to control the influence of subjective factors.

Neural correlates of context-independent and context-dependent self-knowledge.

PubMed

Martial, Charlotte; Stawarczyk, David; D'Argembeau, Arnaud

2018-05-25

The self-concept consists of both a general (context-independent) self-representation and a set of context-dependent selves that represent personal attributes in particular contexts (e.g., as a student, as a daughter). To date, however, neuroimaging studies have focused on general self-representations, such that little is known about the neural correlates of context-dependent self-knowledge. The present study aimed at investigating this issue by examining the neural correlates of both kinds of self-knowledge. Participants judged the extent to which trait adjectives described their own personality or the personality of a close friend, either in a specific context (i.e., as a student) or in general. We found that both kinds of self-judgments were associated with common activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), as compared to judgments about others. Interestingly, however, there were also notable differences between self-judgments, with context-independent judgments being associated with higher activity in the MPFC, whereas context-dependent judgments were associated with greater activation in posterior brain regions (i.e., the posterior cingulate/retrosplenial cortex). These findings show that context-independent and context-dependent self-referential judgments recruit both common and distinct brain regions, thereby supporting the view that the self-concept is a multi-dimensional knowledge structure that includes a general self-representation and a set of context-specific selves. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The closed-mindedness that wasn't: need for structure and expectancy-inconsistent information.

PubMed

Kemmelmeier, Markus

2015-01-01

Social-cognitive researchers have typically assumed that individuals high in need for structure or need for closure tend to be closed-minded: they are motivated to resist or ignore information that is inconsistent with existing beliefs but instead they rely on category-based expectancies. The present paper argues that this conclusion is not necessarily warranted because previous studies did not allow individual differences in categorical processing to emerge and did not consider different distributions of category-relevant information. Using a person memory paradigm, Experiments 1 and 2 shows that, when categorical processing is optional, high need-for-structure individuals are especially likely to use this type processing to reduce uncertainty, which results in superior recall for expectancy-inconsistent information. Experiment 2 demonstrates that such information is also more likely to be used in judgment making, leading to judgmental moderation among high need-for-structure individuals. Experiments 3 and 4 used a person memory paradigm which requires categorical processing regardless of levels of need for structure. Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrate that, whether expectancy-consistent or -inconsistent information is recalled better is a function of whether the majority of available information is compatible or incompatible with an initial category-based expectancy. Experiment 4 confirmed that the extent to which high need-for-structure individuals attend to different types of information varies with their distribution. The discussion highlights that task affordances have a critical influence on the consequences of categorical processing for memory and social judgment. Thus, high need for structure does not necessarily equate closed-mindedness.

The closed-mindedness that wasn’t: need for structure and expectancy-inconsistent information

PubMed Central

Kemmelmeier, Markus

2015-01-01

Social-cognitive researchers have typically assumed that individuals high in need for structure or need for closure tend to be closed-minded: they are motivated to resist or ignore information that is inconsistent with existing beliefs but instead they rely on category-based expectancies. The present paper argues that this conclusion is not necessarily warranted because previous studies did not allow individual differences in categorical processing to emerge and did not consider different distributions of category-relevant information. Using a person memory paradigm, Experiments 1 and 2 shows that, when categorical processing is optional, high need-for-structure individuals are especially likely to use this type processing to reduce uncertainty, which results in superior recall for expectancy-inconsistent information. Experiment 2 demonstrates that such information is also more likely to be used in judgment making, leading to judgmental moderation among high need-for-structure individuals. Experiments 3 and 4 used a person memory paradigm which requires categorical processing regardless of levels of need for structure. Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrate that, whether expectancy-consistent or -inconsistent information is recalled better is a function of whether the majority of available information is compatible or incompatible with an initial category-based expectancy. Experiment 4 confirmed that the extent to which high need-for-structure individuals attend to different types of information varies with their distribution. The discussion highlights that task affordances have a critical influence on the consequences of categorical processing for memory and social judgment. Thus, high need for structure does not necessarily equate closed-mindedness. PMID:26191017

Implication of defamation for dental educators.

PubMed

Moore, R N

1987-08-01

Recent court decisions have indicated that in dealing with their students and colleagues, faculty must balance academic freedom and the individual right of fair consideration. It is also important for faculty and administrators to distinguish between decision-making procedures and criteria. It is quite clear from two recent United States Supreme Court cases that subjective evaluation by professional judgment is permissible as long as standard procedures of procedural due process are followed. In short, courts are more likely to review the application of the criteria than their substance.

Commentary: balancing life and death--proceed with caution.

PubMed Central

Dubler, N N

1993-01-01

Hospital professionals' decisions to permit death are amalgams of medical, ethical, and legal judgments. Medical education and socialization and the business of health all focus on offering and providing treatment, not on facilitating death. Some patients are suspicious that rights to refuse care will foster abandonment by care providers. Lawyers and risk managers often let exaggerated fears of future liability limit patients' and families' rights. The culture of medical institutions must change to accommodate notions of negotiated death. PMID:8417601

[Healthcare occupations are "different"].

PubMed

Heubel, F

2014-08-01

Healthcare requires careful coordination of several occupations. In order to attain the best possible result, including effectiveness and cost-efficiency, the specific expertise of each of these occupations must be clearly defined. Healthcare occupations, physicians and nurses, are indeed professions as opposed to mere "jobs". They are concerned with living but ill human beings and not with things. Reliance on a personal capacity of judgment is a decisive aspect of professions. Healthcare professionals perform best if they are granted specific independence relative to their work.

Sound Military Decision

DTIC Science & Technology

1942-01-01

basis of professional judgment (see page i),--and its essentials are the proper foundation for any system of Eelf- improvement in the exercise of mental...ftmdamentals of the military profession, i.e., the profession of arms. emphasis, naturally, is on the exercise of mental effort in the solution of itary...ESTIMATE OF THE SIT ATION which, t e p-’fesince 1916ofarsTe e s nr, iWas"•I’ revisedx-I" editions. The new material that was added in 1936 was intended

Standard of care: the legal view.

PubMed

Curley, Arthur W; Peltier, Bruce

2014-01-01

The standard of care is a legal construct, a line defined by juries, based on expert testimony, marking a point where treatment failed to meet expectations for what a reasonable professional would have done. There is no before-the-fact objective definition of this standard, except for cases of law and regulation, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Admintration (OSHA). Practitioners must use their judgment in determining what would be acceptable should a case come to trial. Professional codes of conduct and acting in the patient's best interests are helpful guides to practicing within the standard of care. Continuing education credit is available for this and the following article together online at www.dentalethics.org for those who wish to complete the quiz and exercises associated with them (see Course 22).

Investigating industrial investigation: examining the impact of a priori knowledge and tunnel vision education.

PubMed

Maclean, Carla L; Brimacombe, C A Elizabeth; Lindsay, D Stephen

2013-12-01

The current study addressed tunnel vision in industrial incident investigation by experimentally testing how a priori information and a human bias (generated via the fundamental attribution error or correspondence bias) affected participants' investigative behavior as well as the effectiveness of a debiasing intervention. Undergraduates and professional investigators engaged in a simulated industrial investigation exercise. We found that participants' judgments were biased by knowledge about the safety history of either a worker or piece of equipment and that a human bias was evident in participants' decision making. However, bias was successfully reduced with "tunnel vision education." Professional investigators demonstrated a greater sophistication in their investigative decision making compared to undergraduates. The similarities and differences between these two populations are discussed. (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Reasoning about modesty among adolescents and adults in China and the U.S.

PubMed

Genyue, Fu; Heyman, Gail D; Lee, Kang

2011-08-01

Reasoning about modesty was examined among adolescents and young adults in China and the U.S. Participants made moral judgments of story characters who did a good deed and either truthfully accepted credit for it, or falsely denied having done it. The social context in which statements occurred was manipulated, with some made in private and others in front of a class. Chinese participants judged accepting credit for good deeds less favorably and lying in the service of modesty more favorably than did participants from the U.S. In each country, older participants judged modesty-based lies more favorably when they were told in public. Additionally, a high collectivist orientation and low individualistic orientation was associated with higher ratings of modesty-based lying in public, which provides the first direct link between endorsement of these values and moral judgments about lie-telling. Copyright © 2010 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Importance Of Integrating Narrative Into Health Care Decision Making.

PubMed

Dohan, Daniel; Garrett, Sarah B; Rendle, Katharine A; Halley, Meghan; Abramson, Corey

2016-04-01

When making health care decisions, patients and consumers use data but also gather stories from family and friends. When advising patients, clinicians consult the medical evidence but also use professional judgment. These stories and judgments, as well as other forms of narrative, shape decision making but remain poorly understood. Furthermore, qualitative research methods to examine narrative are rarely included in health science research. We illustrate how narratives shape decision making and explain why it is difficult but necessary to integrate qualitative research on narrative into the health sciences. We draw on social-scientific insights on rigorous qualitative research and our ongoing studies of decision making by patients with cancer, and we describe new tools and approaches that link qualitative research findings with the predominantly quantitative health science scholarship. Finally, we highlight the benefits of more fully integrating qualitative research and narrative analysis into the medical evidence base and into evidence-based medical practice. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Are patients' decisions to refuse treatment binding on health care professionals?

PubMed

Murphy, Peter

2005-06-01

When patients refuse to receive medical treatment, the consequences of honouring their decisions can be tragic. This is no less true of patients who autonomously decide to refuse treatment. I distinguish three possible implications of these autonomous decisions. According to the Permissibility Claim, such a decision implies that it is permissible for the patient who has made the autonomous decision to forego medical treatment. According to the Anti-Paternalism Claim, it follows that health-care professionals are not morally permitted to treat that patient. According to the Binding Claim it follows that these decisions are binding on health-care professionals. My focus is the last claim. After arguing that it is importantly different from each of the first two claims, I give two arguments to show that it is false. One argument against the Binding Claim draws a comparison with cases in which patients autonomously choose perilous positive treatments. The other argument appeals to considered judgments about cases in which disincentives are used to deter patients from refusing sound treatments.

The role of pharmacies and pharmacists in managing controlled substance dispensing.

PubMed

Hoppe, Jason; Howland, Mary Ann; Nelson, Lewis

2014-12-01

The epidemic of prescription opioid-related morbidity and mortality demonstrates the need for a fresh, open, and balanced approach to managing pain while minimizing adverse personal and public health outcomes. Interventions by pharmacists in situations in which prescriptions are felt to be inappropriate have raised the ire of prescribers who feel their professional judgment is being questioned and their time is being usurped from patient care. Pharmacists, however, represent an important check and balance in the opioid analgesic prescribing chain, and prescribers should embrace their involvement and recognize that the time and effort of the pharmacist are directed at improving care of individual patients and keeping a watchful eye on the public health. Pharmacies need to keep a mindful eye toward professional practices of physicians and use noninvasive means, such as database inquiries, prior to directly contacting a prescriber. Collaboration is the most professional approach that can be taken to assure that our joint priority of caring for patients in distress will be accomplished effectively and safely. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Conscientious Objection and "Effective Referral".

PubMed

Trigg, Roger

2017-01-01

Complicity in an immoral, and even criminal, activity, such as robbery or murder, is itself regarded as involving responsibility for those acts. What should the position be of health professionals who are expected to participate in actions that they believe are morally wrong? Professional responsibilities may clash with private conscience. Even referring a patient to someone else, when what is in question may be assisted suicide, or euthanasia, seems to involve some complicity. This is a live issue in Canada, but similar dilemmas occur elsewhere. Physicians and others should not be coerced into involvement of any kind in what they regard as wrong. Such coercion goes against the very principles of liberal democracy. Conscience matters. Reasonable accommodation should be given to those whose moral judgment may be at variance with prevailing professional norms. Moral questions should still be given weight within medicine, and disagreements respected. Dedication to the promotion of human welfare should be paramount, but it should be recognized that there may be different visions of what such welfare consists of.

Humanizing Oral Health Care through Continuing Education on Social Determinants of Health: Evaluative Case Study of a Canadian Private Dental Clinic.

PubMed

Lévesque, Martine; Levine, Alissa; Bedos, Christophe

2016-01-01

Primary care practitioners are frequently unprepared to take into account the effects of social determinants on underprivileged patients' health and health management. To address this issue among dental professionals, an original onsite continuing education (CE) course on poverty was co-developed by researchers, dental professionals, and community organizations. Integrating patient narratives and a short film, course material aims to elicit critical reflection and provide coaching for practice improvements. A qualitative case study conducted with a large Montreal Canada dental team reveals CE course participants' newfound understandings and increased sensitivity to the causes of poverty and the nature of life on welfare. Participants also describe revised interpretations of certain patient behaviors, subtle changes in communication with patients and improved equity in appointment-giving policy. Unintended outcomes include reinforced judgment and a tendency to moralize certain patient categories. Implications for health professional educators, researchers, and dental regulatory authorities are discussed.

Chemosignals of stress influence social judgments.

PubMed

Dalton, Pamela; Mauté, Christopher; Jaén, Cristina; Wilson, Tamika

2013-01-01

Human body odors have important communicative functions regarding genetic identity, immune fitness and general health, but an expanding body of research suggests they can also communicate information about an individual's emotional state. In the current study, we tested whether axillary odors obtained from women experiencing psychosocial stress could negatively influence personality judgments of warmth and competence made about other women depicted in video scenarios. 44 female donors provided three types of sweat samples: untreated exercise sweat, untreated stress sweat and treated stress sweat. After a 'washout' period, a commercial unscented anti-perspirant product was applied to the left axilla only to evaluate whether 'blocking' the stress signal would improve the social evaluations. A separate group of male and female evaluators (n = 120) rated the women in the videos while smelling one of the three types of sweat samples. Women in the video scenes were rated as being more stressed by both men and women when smelling the untreated vs. treated stress sweat. For men only, the women in the videos were rated as less confident, trustworthy and competent when smelling both the untreated stress and exercise sweat in contrast to the treated stress sweat. Women's social judgments were unaffected by sniffing the pads. The results have implications for influencing multiple types of professional and personal social interactions and impression management and extend our understanding of the social communicative function of body odors.

Cognitive Constraints and Island Effects

PubMed Central

Hofmeister, Philip; Sag, Ivan A.

2012-01-01

Competence-based theories of island effects play a central role in generative grammar, yet the graded nature of many syntactic islands has never been properly accounted for. Categorical syntactic accounts of island effects have persisted in spite of a wealth of data suggesting that island effects are not categorical in nature and that non-structural manipulations that leave island structures intact can radically alter judgments of island violations. We argue here, building on work by Deane, Kluender, and others, that processing factors have the potential to account for this otherwise unexplained variation in acceptability judgments. We report the results of self-paced reading experiments and controlled acceptability studies which explore the relationship between processing costs and judgments of acceptability. In each of the three self-paced reading studies, the data indicate that the processing cost of different types of island violations can be significantly reduced to a degree comparable to that of non-island filler-gap constructions by manipulating a single non-structural factor. Moreover, this reduction in processing cost is accompanied by significant improvements in acceptability. This evidence favors the hypothesis that island-violating constructions involve numerous processing pressures that aggregate to drive processing difficulty above a threshold so that a perception of unacceptability ensues. We examine the implications of these findings for the grammar of filler-gap dependencies.* PMID:22661792

40 CFR 86.1305-2010 - Introduction; structure of subpart.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Introduction; structure of subpart. 86... Exhaust Test Procedures § 86.1305-2010 Introduction; structure of subpart. (a) This subpart specifies the... use good engineering judgment when testing under this paragraph (h), and must comply with the...

Cultural differences in moral judgment and behavior, across and within societies.

PubMed

Graham, Jesse; Meindl, Peter; Beall, Erica; Johnson, Kate M; Zhang, Li

2016-04-01

We review contemporary work on cultural factors affecting moral judgments and values, and those affecting moral behaviors. In both cases, we highlight examples of within-societal cultural differences in morality, to show that these can be as substantial and important as cross-societal differences. Whether between or within nations and societies, cultures vary substantially in their promotion and transmission of a multitude of moral judgments and behaviors. Cultural factors contributing to this variation include religion, social ecology (weather, crop conditions, population density, pathogen prevalence, residential mobility), and regulatory social institutions such as kinship structures and economic markets. This variability raises questions for normative theories of morality, but also holds promise for future descriptive work on moral thought and behavior. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Kant, cognitive psychotherapy, and the hardening of the categories.

PubMed

Nevid, Jeffrey S

2007-12-01

Contemporary models of psychotherapy owe a considerable intellectual debt to philosophy, even though the contributions of philosophers to contemporary practice in the field often go unrecognized. A case in point is Kant's epistemology, which is foundational to cognitive approaches to psychotherapy. Here, it is argued that the rigid use of certain judgments represented in Kant's conceptual scheme underlies patterns of distorted or dysfunctional thinking associated with emotional disorders. Kantian judgments of necessity, disjunction, particularity and universality have counterpoints in contemporary conceptions of cognitive distortions. Moreover, Kantian epistemology has important therapeutic implications with respect to helping people with emotional disorders recognize and challenge rigidly held judgments or categories of understanding. The Kantian perspective also leads us to consider the cognitive frameworks or thought structures that underlie dysfunctional thinking patterns.

Happiness as a belief system: individual differences and priming in emotion judgments.

PubMed

Robinson, Michael D; Kirkeby, Ben S

2005-08-01

Three studies involving 104 undergraduates sought to examine how an individual's level of life satisfaction organizes their knowledge concerning the self's emotions. Participants judged the self's positive and negative emotions within a computerized task. Key results sought to determine whether judging two positive emotions in a consecutive sequence speeds the second judgment--a pattern of priming that would suggest a tighter, more interconnected structure in semantic memory related to one's positive emotions. As expected, individual differences in life satisfaction predicted the magnitude of this priming effect (Studies 1 & 2), which appeared to be unique to judgments of the self's emotions (Study 3). The results indicate that happy, relative to less happy, individuals organize information concerning their positive emotions in a qualitatively different and tighter semantic manner.

Fear of Progression in Parents of Children with Cancer: Results of An Online Expert Survey in Pediatric Oncology.

PubMed

Clever, Katharina; Schepper, Florian; Küpper, Luise; Christiansen, Holger; Martini, Julia

2018-04-01

Fear of Progression (FoP) is a commonly reported psychological strain in parents of children with cancer. This expert survey investigates how professionals in pediatric oncology estimate the burden and consequences of FoP in parents and how they assess and treat parental FoP. N=77 professionals in pediatric oncology (members and associates of the Psychosocial Association in Paediatric Oncology and Haematology, PSAPOH) were examined in an online survey with a self-developed questionnaire. Data were analyzed via descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis. Three of four experts in clinical practice were (very) often confronted with parental FoP which was associated with more negative (e. g., psychosomatic reactions, reduced family functioning) than positive (e. g., active illness processing) consequences. N=40 experts indicated that they mainly assess parents' anxiety via clinical judgment (72.5%) and/or according to ICD-10/DSM-5 diagnostic criteria (37.5%), whereas standardized methods such as psycho-oncological questionnaires (12.5%) were applied less often. Only n=6 experts named a specific diagnostic approach to assess parental FoP. The most common treatment approaches for FoP were supportive counseling (74.0%), psychotherapy (59.7%) and/or relaxation techniques (55.8%). Parental FoP is frequently perceived by experts in clinical practice. A standardized diagnostic procedure would increase comparability of diagnostic judgments and harmonize treatment indications. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

When travel is a challenge: Travel medicine and the 'dis-abled' traveller.

PubMed

Bauer, Irmgard

Travellers with recognised disabilities or the dis-ability to function as required during a trip have been overlooked in the travel medicine literature. This paper provides a starting point for further discussion and research into this neglected traveller population. In contrast, tourism research has explored travel with a disability for some time in order to understand the travellers' needs and to improve services accordingly. The contemporary bio-psycho-social understanding of disability serves as the framework for exploring motivations to travel as well as barriers, such as inter and intrapersonal, economic, structural and attitudinal obstacles. The demands of complex travel planning are acknowledged. Attention is also drawn to the particular issue of acquired disability. The theoretical discussion is complemented by travellers' own accounts using as examples mobility impairment on aeroplanes, sensory impairments, and obesity. These insights should inform high quality travel health care starting with an exploration of the health professionals' own views on such endeavours. Important are appropriate communication skills, an understanding of the travellers'/carers' views, wishes and judgment of abilities, as well as the appreciation of the reason for the trip, destination and planned activities. Challenging may be the need to accept that the traveller/carer will be more knowledgeable about the disability, needs, potential problems and solutions than the health professional. Finally, medical requirements for destination and activity need to be combined with the medical requirements for the dis-abling condition. Scarce literature and increasing numbers of travellers with disabilities should make this field a research priority in travel medicine. Unless there is an absolute medical contraindication, travel health professionals should encourage and support travellers for whom travel is a challenge. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inter-rater agreement in evaluation of disability: systematic review of reproducibility studies.

PubMed

Barth, Jürgen; de Boer, Wout E L; Busse, Jason W; Hoving, Jan L; Kedzia, Sarah; Couban, Rachel; Fischer, Katrin; von Allmen, David Y; Spanjer, Jerry; Kunz, Regina

2017-01-25

 To explore agreement among healthcare professionals assessing eligibility for work disability benefits.  Systematic review and narrative synthesis of reproducibility studies.  Medline, Embase, and PsycINFO searched up to 16 March 2016, without language restrictions, and review of bibliographies of included studies.  Observational studies investigating reproducibility among healthcare professionals performing disability evaluations using a global rating of working capacity and reporting inter-rater reliability by a statistical measure or descriptively. Studies could be conducted in insurance settings, where decisions on ability to work include normative judgments based on legal considerations, or in research settings, where decisions on ability to work disregard normative considerations. : Teams of paired reviewers identified eligible studies, appraised their methodological quality and generalisability, and abstracted results with pretested forms. As heterogeneity of research designs and findings impeded a quantitative analysis, a descriptive synthesis stratified by setting (insurance or research) was performed.  From 4562 references, 101 full text articles were reviewed. Of these, 16 studies conducted in an insurance setting and seven in a research setting, performed in 12 countries, met the inclusion criteria. Studies in the insurance setting were conducted with medical experts assessing claimants who were actual disability claimants or played by actors, hypothetical cases, or short written scenarios. Conditions were mental (n=6, 38%), musculoskeletal (n=4, 25%), or mixed (n=6, 38%). Applicability of findings from studies conducted in an insurance setting to real life evaluations ranged from generalisable (n=7, 44%) and probably generalisable (n=3, 19%) to probably not generalisable (n=6, 37%). Median inter-rater reliability among experts was 0.45 (range intraclass correlation coefficient 0.86 to κ-0.10). Inter-rater reliability was poor in six studies (37%) and excellent in only two (13%). This contrasts with studies conducted in the research setting, where the median inter-rater reliability was 0.76 (range 0.91-0.53), and 71% (5/7) studies achieved excellent inter-rater reliability. Reliability between assessing professionals was higher when the evaluation was guided by a standardised instrument (23 studies, P=0.006). No such association was detected for subjective or chronic health conditions or the studies' generalisability to real world evaluation of disability (P=0.46, 0.45, and 0.65, respectively).  Despite their common use and far reaching consequences for workers claiming disabling injury or illness, research on the reliability of medical evaluations of disability for work is limited and indicates high variation in judgments among assessing professionals. Standardising the evaluation process could improve reliability. Development and testing of instruments and structured approaches to improve reliability in evaluation of disability are urgently needed. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Enhancing professionalism using ethics education as part of a dental licensure board's disciplinary action. Part 2. Evidence of the process.

PubMed

Bebeau, Muriel J

2009-01-01

Pretest scores were analyzed for 41 professionals referred for ethics assessment by a dental licensing board. Two were exempt from instruction based on pretest performance on five well-validated measures; 38 completed an individualized course designed to remediate deficiencies in ethical abilities. Statistically significant change (effect sizes ranging from .55 to 5.0) was observed for ethical sensitivity (DEST scores), moral reasoning (DIT scores), and role concept (essays and PROI scores). Analysis of the relationships between ability deficiencies and disciplinary actions supports the explanatory power of Rest's Four Component Model of Morality. Of particular interest is the way the model helped referred professionals deconstruct summary judgments about character and see them as capacities that can be further developed. The performance-based assessments, especially the DEST, were particularly useful in identifying shortcomings in ethical implementation. Referred practitioners highly valued the emphasis on ethical implementation, suggesting the importance of addressing what to do and say in ethically challenging cases. Finally, the required self-assessments of learning confirm the value of the process for professional renewal (i.e., a renewed commitment to professional ideals) and of enhanced abilities not only to reason about moral problems, but to implement actions.

Observing functional actions affects semantic processing of tools: evidence of a motor-to-semantic priming.

PubMed

De Bellis, Francesco; Ferrara, Antonia; Errico, Domenico; Panico, Francesco; Sagliano, Laura; Conson, Massimiliano; Trojano, Luigi

2016-01-01

Recent evidence shows that activation of motor information can favor identification of related tools, thus suggesting a strict link between motor and conceptual knowledge in cognitive representation of tools. However, the involvement of motor information in further semantic processing has not been elucidated. In three experiments, we aimed to ascertain whether motor information provided by observation of actions could affect processing of conceptual knowledge about tools. In Experiment 1, healthy participants judged whether pairs of tools evoking different functional handgrips had the same function. In Experiment 2 participants judged whether tools were paired with appropriate recipients. Finally, in Experiment 3 we again required functional judgments as in Experiment 1, but also included in the set of stimuli pairs of objects having different function and similar functional handgrips. In all experiments, pictures displaying either functional grasping (aimed to use tools) or structural grasping (just aimed to move tools independently from their use) were presented before each stimulus pair. The results demonstrated that, in comparison with structural grasping, observing functional grasping facilitates judgments about tools' function when objects did not imply the same functional manipulation (Experiment 1), whereas worsened such judgments when objects shared functional grasp (Experiment 3). Instead, action observation did not affect judgments concerning tool-recipient associations (Experiment 2). Our findings support a task-dependent influence of motor information on high-order conceptual tasks and provide further insights into how motor and conceptual processing about tools can interact.

Phonological Similarity in American Sign Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hildebrandt, Ursula; Corina, David

2002-01-01

Investigates deaf and hearing subjects' ratings of American Sign Language (ASL) signs to assess whether linguistic experience shapes judgments of sign similarity. Findings are consistent with linguistic theories that posit movement and location as core structural elements of syllable structure in ASL. (Author/VWL)

Uncertainty of Comparative Judgments and Multidimensional Structure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sjoberg, Lennart

1975-01-01

An analysis of preferences with respect to silhouette drawings of nude females is presented. Systematic intransitivities were discovered. The dispersions of differences (comparatal dispersons) were shown to reflect the multidimensional structure of the stimuli, a finding expected on the basis of prior work. (Author)

The conscious, the unconscious, and familiarity.

PubMed

Scott, Ryan B; Dienes, Zoltán

2008-09-01

This article examines the role of subjective familiarity in the implicit and explicit learning of artificial grammars. Experiment 1 found that objective measures of similarity (including fragment frequency and repetition structure) predicted ratings of familiarity, that familiarity ratings predicted grammaticality judgments, and that the extremity of familiarity ratings predicted confidence. Familiarity was further shown to predict judgments in the absence of confidence, hence contributing to above-chance guessing. Experiment 2 found that confidence developed as participants refined their knowledge of the distribution of familiarity and that differences in familiarity could be exploited prior to confidence developing. Experiment 3 found that familiarity was consciously exploited to make grammaticality judgments including those made without confidence and that familiarity could in some instances influence participants' grammaticality judgments apparently without their awareness. All 3 experiments found that knowledge distinct from familiarity was derived only under deliberate learning conditions. The results provide decisive evidence that familiarity is the essential source of knowledge in artificial grammar learning while also supporting a dual-process model of implicit and explicit learning. (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved.

Injury and the orchestral environment: part II. Organisational culture, behavioural norms, and attitudes to injury.

PubMed

Rickert, Dale Ll; Barrett, Margaret S; Ackermann, Bronwen J

2014-06-01

The organisational culture, behavioural norms, and attitudes of a workplace have a profound influence on levels of injury and illness amongst its workers. While this is well established in Work Health and Safety literature, very little research has attempted to understand the influence of organisational culture on injury risk in the orchestral profession. To address this, the current study aimed to investigate the influence of organisational culture on injury outcomes for orchestral musicians. Using a qualitative case study methodology, in-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 10 professional orchestral cellists (2 freelance and 8 fulltime members) from a single Australian orchestra. After initial data analysis, further interviews were undertaken with a set of 5 orchestral management staff as a means of data triangulation. All data were analysed using a themes-based "analysis of narrative" approach. The findings indicate that an orchestral culture exists in which musicians see injury as a sign of weakness, failure, and poor musicianship. Such negative perceptions of injury influence musicians to play through considerable levels of pain and continue performing with injuries. Because of perceived judgment from the orchestral group, musicians were found to conceal injuries from colleagues and management staff. Freelance musicians felt that disclosing injuries may lead to decreased work opportunities, and both full-time and casual musicians felt that "opening up" about injury may subject them to group judgment about their technique or musicianship. The study suggests education measures which may be effective at influencing individual behaviours and attitudes as well as cultural change initiatives which could lead to long-term positive health outcomes in the orchestral workplace.

Predicting the decisions of hospital based child protection teams to report to child protective services, police and community welfare services.

PubMed

Benbenishty, Rami; Jedwab, Merav; Chen, Wendy; Glasser, Saralee; Slutzky, Hanna; Siegal, Gil; Lavi-Sahar, Zohar; Lerner-Geva, Liat

2014-01-01

This study examines judgments made by hospital-based child protection teams (CPTs) when determining if there is reasonable suspicion that a child has been maltreated, and whether to report the case to a community welfare agency, to child protective services (CPS) and/or to the police. A prospective multi-center study of all 968 consecutive cases referred to CPTs during 2010-2011 in six medical centers in Israel. Centers were purposefully selected to represent the heterogeneity of medical centers in Israel in terms of size, geographical location and population characteristics. A structured questionnaire was designed to capture relevant information and judgments on each child referred to the team. Bivariate associations and multivariate multinomial logistic regressions were conducted to predict whether the decisions would be (a) to close the case, (b) to refer the case to community welfare services, or (c) to report it to CPS and/or the police. Bivariate and multivariate analyses identified a large number of case characteristics associated with higher probability of reporting to CPS/police or of referral to community welfare services. Case characteristics associated with the decisions include socio-demographic (e.g., ethnicity and financial status), parental functioning (e.g., mental health), previous contacts with authorities and hospital, current referral characteristics (e.g., parental referral vs. child referral), physical findings, and suspicious behaviors of child and parent. Most of the findings suggest that decisions of CPTs are based on indices that have strong support in the professional literature. Existing heterogeneity between cases, practitioners and medical centers had an impact on the overall predictability of the decision to report. Attending to collaboration between hospitals and community agencies is suggested to support learning and quality improvement. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Liability for Diagnosing Malingering.

PubMed

Weiss, Kenneth J; Van Dell, Landon

2017-09-01

Malingering is a medical diagnosis, but not a psychiatric disorder. The label imputes that an evaluee has intentionally engaged in false behavior or statements. By diagnosing malingering, psychiatrists pass judgment on truthfulness. Evaluees taking exception to the label may claim that the professional has committed defamation of character (libel or slander) when the diagnosis is wrong and costs the claimant money or benefits. Clinicians may counter by claiming immunity or that the diagnosis was made in good faith. This problem has come into focus in military and veterans' contexts, where diagnoses become thresholds for benefits. Through historical and literary examples, case law, and military/veterans' claims of disability and entitlement, the authors examine the potency of the malingering label and the potential liability for professionals and institutions of making this diagnosis. © 2017 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

The process of whistleblowing in a Japanese psychiatric hospital.

PubMed

Ohnishi, Kayoko; Hayama, Yumiko; Asai, Atsushi; Kosugi, Shinji

2008-09-01

This study aims to unveil the process of whistleblowing. Two nursing staff members who worked in a psychiatric hospital convicted of large-scale wrongdoing were interviewed. Data were analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach. Analysis of the interviews demonstrated that they did not decide to whistleblow when they were suspicious or had an awareness of wrongdoing. They continued to work, driven by appreciation, affection, and a sense of duty. Their decision to whistleblow was ultimately motivated by firm conviction. Shortly after whistleblowing, wavering emotions were observed, consisting of a guilty conscience, fear of retribution, and pride, which subsequently transformed to stable emotions containing a sense of relief and regret for delayed action. It is necessary for nurses to recognize that their professional responsibility is primarily to patients, not to organizations. Nurses should also have professional judgment about appropriate allegiance and actions.

Compilation of a casebook on bioethics and the Holocaust as a platform for bioethics education.

PubMed

Chelouche, Tessa

2013-03-01

The Holocaust arose, in part, because of a profound and pervasive breakdown of medical professional ethics. This history is complex and powerfully instructive. The value judgments and moral actions of the Nazi doctors can inform current debate and practices and also prevent the use of inaccurate analogies in current bioethical debates. Under the auspices of the International Center for Health, Law and Ethics at Haifa University, we are in the process of publishing a casebook on bioethical topics, using personal cases from the Third Reich and the Holocaust. The casebook will provide a platform for deep reflection and discourse on historical ethical issues and their relevance for today. This teaching tool can also inspire healthcare professionals and students to practice with greater compassion, knowledge, tolerance, respect and justice on behalf of their patients.

Integrating nursing diagnostic concepts into the medical entities dictionary using the ISO Reference Terminology Model for Nursing Diagnosis.

PubMed

Hwang, Jee-In; Cimino, James J; Bakken, Suzanne

2003-01-01

The purposes of the study were (1) to evaluate the usefulness of the International Standards Organization (ISO) Reference Terminology Model for Nursing Diagnoses as a terminology model for defining nursing diagnostic concepts in the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED) and (2) to create the additional hierarchical structures required for integration of nursing diagnostic concepts into the MED. The authors dissected nursing diagnostic terms from two source terminologies (Home Health Care Classification and the Omaha System) into the semantic categories of the ISO model. Consistent with the ISO model, they selected Focus and Judgment as required semantic categories for creating intensional definitions of nursing diagnostic concepts in the MED. Because the MED does not include Focus and Judgment hierarchies, the authors developed them to define the nursing diagnostic concepts. The ISO model was sufficient for dissecting the source terminologies into atomic terms. The authors identified 162 unique focus concepts from the 266 nursing diagnosis terms for inclusion in the Focus hierarchy. For the Judgment hierarchy, the authors precoordinated Judgment and Potentiality instead of using Potentiality as a qualifier of Judgment as in the ISO model. Impairment and Alteration were the most frequently occurring judgments. Nursing care represents a large proportion of health care activities; thus, it is vital that terms used by nurses are integrated into concept-oriented terminologies that provide broad coverage for the domain of health care. This study supports the utility of the ISO Reference Terminology Model for Nursing Diagnoses as a facilitator for the integration process.

Integrating Nursing Diagnostic Concepts into the Medical Entities Dictionary Using the ISO Reference Terminology Model for Nursing Diagnosis

PubMed Central

Hwang, Jee-In; Cimino, James J.; Bakken, Suzanne

2003-01-01

Objective: The purposes of the study were (1) to evaluate the usefulness of the International Standards Organization (ISO) Reference Terminology Model for Nursing Diagnoses as a terminology model for defining nursing diagnostic concepts in the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED) and (2) to create the additional hierarchical structures required for integration of nursing diagnostic concepts into the MED. Design and Measurements: The authors dissected nursing diagnostic terms from two source terminologies (Home Health Care Classification and the Omaha System) into the semantic categories of the ISO model. Consistent with the ISO model, they selected Focus and Judgment as required semantic categories for creating intensional definitions of nursing diagnostic concepts in the MED. Because the MED does not include Focus and Judgment hierarchies, the authors developed them to define the nursing diagnostic concepts. Results: The ISO model was sufficient for dissecting the source terminologies into atomic terms. The authors identified 162 unique focus concepts from the 266 nursing diagnosis terms for inclusion in the Focus hierarchy. For the Judgment hierarchy, the authors precoordinated Judgment and Potentiality instead of using Potentiality as a qualifier of Judgment as in the ISO model. Impairment and Alteration were the most frequently occurring judgments. Conclusions: Nursing care represents a large proportion of health care activities; thus, it is vital that terms used by nurses are integrated into concept-oriented terminologies that provide broad coverage for the domain of health care. This study supports the utility of the ISO Reference Terminology Model for Nursing Diagnoses as a facilitator for the integration process. PMID:12668692

Over- and undersupply in home care: a representative multicenter correlational study.

PubMed

Lahmann, Nils A; Suhr, Ralf; Kuntz, Simone; Kottner, Jan

2015-04-01

Quality assurance and funding of care become a major challenge against the background of demographic changes in western societies. The primary aim of the study was to identify possible misclassification, respectively over and undersupply of care by comparing the Barthel Index of clients of home care service with the level of care (Stage 0, I, II, III) according to the statutory German long-term care insurance. In 2012, a multi-center point prevalence study of 878 randomly selected clients of 100 randomly selected home care services across Germany was conducted. According to a standardized study protocol, demographics, the Barthel Index and the nurses' professional judgment-whether a client requires more nursing care-were assessed. Associations of the Barthel items and professional judgment were analyzed using univariate (Chi-square) and multivariate (logistic regression and classification-regression-tree-models) statistics. In each level of care, the Barthel Index showed large variability e.g. in level II ranging from 0 to 100 points. Multivariate logistic regression regarding possible under- and oversupply revealed occasionally fecal incontinence (2.1; 95 % CI 1.2-3.7), urinary incontinence (2.0; 95 % CI 1.1-3.6), feeding (1.7; 95 % CI 1.0-2.9), immobility (0.2; 95 % CI 0.1-0.6) and to be female (1.8; 95 % CI 1.2-2.6) to be statistically significantly associated. The variability in Barthel Index in each level of care found in this study indicated a large general misclassification of home care clients according to their actual need of care. Professional caregivers identified occasional incontinence, help with eating and drinking and mobility (especially in female clients) as areas of possible under- and oversupply of care. The statutory German long-term care insurance classification should be modified according to the above finding to increase the quality of care in home care clients.

'Sharing things with people that I don't even know': help-seeking for psychological symptoms in injured Black men in Philadelphia.

PubMed

Jacoby, Sara F; Rich, John A; Webster, Jessica L; Richmond, Therese S

2018-04-01

Psychological distress is common in survivors of traumatic injury, yet across United States' trauma systems, it is rare that standard injury care integrates psychological evaluation and professional mental healthcare. The purpose of this study was to explore help-seeking for psychological symptoms in injured Black men living in Philadelphia. A subset of a cohort of 551 injured Black men admitted to a Trauma Center in Philadelphia participated in qualitative interviews that explored their perceptions of psychological symptoms after injury and the factors that guided their decision to seek professional mental health help. Data from 32 participants were analyzed for narrative and thematic content. Three overarching themes emerged: (1) facilitators of help-seeking, (2) barriers to help-seeking, and (3) factors underlying the decision not to consider professional help. Five participants felt that their injury-related psychological distress was severe enough to merit professional help despite any perceived barriers. Seventeen participants identified systemic and interpersonal obstacles to professional help that prevented them from seeking this kind of care. These included: financial constraints, limited access to mental healthcare services, and fear of the judgments of mental healthcare professionals. Ten participants would not consider professional help; these men perceived a lack of need and sufficiency in their existing social support networks. Research is needed to inform or identify interventions that diminish the impact of barriers to care, and identify from whom, where, and how professional mental health help might be more effectively offered to injured Black men in recovery environments like Philadelphia.

Reasoning about Causal Relationships: Inferences on Causal Networks

PubMed Central

Rottman, Benjamin Margolin; Hastie, Reid

2013-01-01

Over the last decade, a normative framework for making causal inferences, Bayesian Probabilistic Causal Networks, has come to dominate psychological studies of inference based on causal relationships. The following causal networks—[X→Y→Z, X←Y→Z, X→Y←Z]—supply answers for questions like, “Suppose both X and Y occur, what is the probability Z occurs?” or “Suppose you intervene and make Y occur, what is the probability Z occurs?” In this review, we provide a tutorial for how normatively to calculate these inferences. Then, we systematically detail the results of behavioral studies comparing human qualitative and quantitative judgments to the normative calculations for many network structures and for several types of inferences on those networks. Overall, when the normative calculations imply that an inference should increase, judgments usually go up; when calculations imply a decrease, judgments usually go down. However, two systematic deviations appear. First, people’s inferences violate the Markov assumption. For example, when inferring Z from the structure X→Y→Z, people think that X is relevant even when Y completely mediates the relationship between X and Z. Second, even when people’s inferences are directionally consistent with the normative calculations, they are often not as sensitive to the parameters and the structure of the network as they should be. We conclude with a discussion of productive directions for future research. PMID:23544658

A sampling model of social judgment.

PubMed

Galesic, Mirta; Olsson, Henrik; Rieskamp, Jörg

2018-04-01

Studies of social judgments have demonstrated a number of diverse phenomena that were so far difficult to explain within a single theoretical framework. Prominent examples are false consensus and false uniqueness, as well as self-enhancement and self-depreciation. Here we show that these seemingly complex phenomena can be a product of an interplay between basic cognitive processes and the structure of social and task environments. We propose and test a new process model of social judgment, the social sampling model (SSM), which provides a parsimonious quantitative account of different types of social judgments. In the SSM, judgments about characteristics of broader social environments are based on sampling of social instances from memory, where instances receive activation if they belong to a target reference class and have a particular characteristic. These sampling processes interact with the properties of social and task environments, including homophily, shapes of frequency distributions, and question formats. For example, in line with the model's predictions we found that whether false consensus or false uniqueness will occur depends on the level of homophily in people's social circles and on the way questions are asked. The model also explains some previously unaccounted-for patterns of self-enhancement and self-depreciation. People seem to be well informed about many characteristics of their immediate social circles, which in turn influence how they evaluate broader social environments and their position within them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Using a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to determine product usability: A proposed theoretical framework.

PubMed

Zhou, Ronggang; Chan, Alan H S

2017-01-01

In order to compare existing usability data to ideal goals or to that for other products, usability practitioners have tried to develop a framework for deriving an integrated metric. However, most current usability methods with this aim rely heavily on human judgment about the various attributes of a product, but often fail to take into account of the inherent uncertainties in these judgments in the evaluation process. This paper presents a universal method of usability evaluation by combining the analytic hierarchical process (AHP) and the fuzzy evaluation method. By integrating multiple sources of uncertain information during product usability evaluation, the method proposed here aims to derive an index that is structured hierarchically in terms of the three usability components of effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction of a product. With consideration of the theoretical basis of fuzzy evaluation, a two-layer comprehensive evaluation index was first constructed. After the membership functions were determined by an expert panel, the evaluation appraisals were computed by using the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation technique model to characterize fuzzy human judgments. Then with the use of AHP, the weights of usability components were elicited from these experts. Compared to traditional usability evaluation methods, the major strength of the fuzzy method is that it captures the fuzziness and uncertainties in human judgments and provides an integrated framework that combines the vague judgments from multiple stages of a product evaluation process.

School Perceptions of Children Raised by Grandparents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards, Oliver W.

2018-01-01

Increasing numbers of children raised by grandparents are students in schools. Their substitute family structure and precursors to the emergence of this family structure have implications for the children's school performance. Research suggests teachers view these children as at risk for difficult school functioning. The aforementioned judgment is…

Workplace harassment: a test of definitional criteria derived from an analysis of research definitions and Canadian social definitions.

PubMed

Claybourn, Marvin; Spinner, Barry; Malcom, Kathryn

2014-01-01

Public awareness of the occurrence and effects of workplace harassment continues to grow. However, despite increasing awareness, ambiguity remains about how harassment is defined and, consequently, how to determine whether a questionable situation should be judged as harassment. For this research we reviewed definitions of workplace harassment and identified four elements that were frequently included as criteria for making judgments of whether harassment had occurred (i.e., repetition, intent, perceived intent, consequences). In two separate studies, fictional scenarios were used to evaluate the extent to which participants' judgments about harassment were affected by the presence or absence of the four elements. Ratings of the scenarios provided by student participants (study one; N=160) and a convenience sample of community participants (study two; N=292) with varying levels of work experience and diverse professional backgrounds were analysed. According to our results the four elements significantly influenced participants' judgments of harassment. The intent of the harasser had the strongest and most consistent effect on harassment judgements and whether the behaviour was repeated had the weakest and least consistent effect. In addition to the unique effects of the individual elements, significant interactions between the elements emerged and suggest that harassment judgements depend on the interplay of a variety of factors. Though the results of these studies add to the growing body of research that focuses on defining workplace harassment, they also highlight the need for additional research in the area. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Professional liability in orthopaedics and traumatology in Italy.

PubMed

Tarantino, Umberto; Giai Via, Alessio; Macrì, Ernesto; Eramo, Alessandro; Marino, Valeria; Marsella, Luigi Tonino

2013-10-01

Interest in medical errors has increased during the last few years owing to the number of medical malpractice claims. Reasons for the increasing number of claims may be related to patients' higher expectations, iatrogenic injury, and the growth of the legal services industry. Claims analysis provides helpful information in specialties in which a higher number of errors occur, highlighting areas where orthopaedic care might be improved. We determined: (1) the number of claims involving orthopaedics and traumatology in Rome; (2) the risk of litigation in elective and trauma surgery; (3) the most common surgical procedures involved in claims and indemnity payments; (4) the time between the adverse medical event and the judgment date; and (5) issues related to informed consent. We analyzed 1925 malpractice judgments decided in the Civil Court of Rome between 2004 and 2010. In total, 243 orthopaedics claims were filed, and in 75% of these cases surgeons were found liable; 149 (61%) of these resulted from elective surgery. Surgical teams were sued in 30 claims and found liable in 22. The total indemnity payment ordered was more than €12,350,000 (USD 16,190,000). THA and spinal surgery were the most common surgical procedures involved. Inadequate informed consent was reported in 5.3% of cases. Our study shows that careful medical examination, accurate documentation in medical records, and adequate informed consent might reduce the number of claims. We suggest monitoring of court judgments would be useful to develop prevention strategies to reduce claims.

Development of a Work Climate Scale in Emergency Health Services

PubMed Central

Sanduvete-Chaves, Susana; Lozano-Lozano, José A.; Chacón-Moscoso, Salvador; Holgado-Tello, Francisco P.

2018-01-01

An adequate work climate fosters productivity in organizations and increases employee satisfaction. Workers in emergency health services (EHS) have an extremely high degree of responsibility and consequent stress. Therefore, it is essential to foster a good work climate in this context. Despite this, scales with a full study of their psychometric properties (i.e., validity evidence based on test content, internal structure and relations to other variables, and reliability) are not available to measure work climate in EHS specifically. For this reason, our objective was to develop a scale to measure the quality of work climates in EHS. We carried out three studies. In Study 1, we used a mixed-method approach to identify the latent conceptual structure of the construct work climate. Thus, we integrated the results found in (a) a previous study, where a content analysis of seven in-depth interviews obtained from EHS professionals in two hospitals in Gibraltar Countryside County was carried out; and (b) the factor analysis of the responses given by 113 EHS professionals from these same centers to 18 items that measured the work climate in health organizations. As a result, we obtained 56 items grouped into four factors (work satisfaction, productivity/achievement of aims, interpersonal relationships, and performance at work). In Study 2, we presented validity evidence based on test content through experts' judgment. Fourteen experts from the methodology and health fields evaluated the representativeness, utility, and feasibility of each of the 56 items with respect to their factor (theoretical dimension). Forty items met the inclusion criterion, which was to obtain an Osterlind index value greater than or equal to 0.5 in the three aspects assessed. In Study 3, 201 EHS professionals from the same centers completed the resulting 40-item scale. This new instrument produced validity evidence based on the internal structure in a second-order factor model with four components (RMSEA = 0.079, GFI = 0.97, AGFI = 0.97, CFI = 0.97; NFI = 0.95, and NNFI = 0.97); absence of Differential Item Functioning (DIF) in 80% of the items; reliability (α = 0.96); and validity evidence based on relations to other variables, specifically the test-criterion relationship (ρ = 0.680). Finally, we discuss further developments of the instrument and its possible implications for EHS workers. PMID:29403417

Development of a Work Climate Scale in Emergency Health Services.

PubMed

Sanduvete-Chaves, Susana; Lozano-Lozano, José A; Chacón-Moscoso, Salvador; Holgado-Tello, Francisco P

2018-01-01

An adequate work climate fosters productivity in organizations and increases employee satisfaction. Workers in emergency health services (EHS) have an extremely high degree of responsibility and consequent stress. Therefore, it is essential to foster a good work climate in this context. Despite this, scales with a full study of their psychometric properties (i.e., validity evidence based on test content, internal structure and relations to other variables, and reliability) are not available to measure work climate in EHS specifically. For this reason, our objective was to develop a scale to measure the quality of work climates in EHS. We carried out three studies. In Study 1, we used a mixed-method approach to identify the latent conceptual structure of the construct work climate . Thus, we integrated the results found in (a) a previous study, where a content analysis of seven in-depth interviews obtained from EHS professionals in two hospitals in Gibraltar Countryside County was carried out; and (b) the factor analysis of the responses given by 113 EHS professionals from these same centers to 18 items that measured the work climate in health organizations. As a result, we obtained 56 items grouped into four factors (work satisfaction, productivity/achievement of aims, interpersonal relationships, and performance at work). In Study 2, we presented validity evidence based on test content through experts' judgment. Fourteen experts from the methodology and health fields evaluated the representativeness, utility, and feasibility of each of the 56 items with respect to their factor (theoretical dimension). Forty items met the inclusion criterion, which was to obtain an Osterlind index value greater than or equal to 0.5 in the three aspects assessed. In Study 3, 201 EHS professionals from the same centers completed the resulting 40-item scale. This new instrument produced validity evidence based on the internal structure in a second-order factor model with four components ( RMSEA = 0.079, GFI = 0.97, AGFI = 0.97, CFI = 0.97; NFI = 0.95, and NNFI = 0.97); absence of Differential Item Functioning (DIF) in 80% of the items; reliability (α = 0.96); and validity evidence based on relations to other variables, specifically the test-criterion relationship (ρ = 0.680). Finally, we discuss further developments of the instrument and its possible implications for EHS workers.

Multisite Evaluation of APEX for Water Quality: I. Best Professional Judgment Parameterization.

PubMed

Baffaut, Claire; Nelson, Nathan O; Lory, John A; Senaviratne, G M M M Anomaa; Bhandari, Ammar B; Udawatta, Ranjith P; Sweeney, Daniel W; Helmers, Matt J; Van Liew, Mike W; Mallarino, Antonio P; Wortmann, Charles S

2017-11-01

The Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) model is capable of estimating edge-of-field water, nutrient, and sediment transport and is used to assess the environmental impacts of management practices. The current practice is to fully calibrate the model for each site simulation, a task that requires resources and data not always available. The objective of this study was to compare model performance for flow, sediment, and phosphorus transport under two parameterization schemes: a best professional judgment (BPJ) parameterization based on readily available data and a fully calibrated parameterization based on site-specific soil, weather, event flow, and water quality data. The analysis was conducted using 12 datasets at four locations representing poorly drained soils and row-crop production under different tillage systems. Model performance was based on the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), the coefficient of determination () and the regression slope between simulated and measured annualized loads across all site years. Although the BPJ model performance for flow was acceptable (NSE = 0.7) at the annual time step, calibration improved it (NSE = 0.9). Acceptable simulation of sediment and total phosphorus transport (NSE = 0.5 and 0.9, respectively) was obtained only after full calibration at each site. Given the unacceptable performance of the BPJ approach, uncalibrated use of APEX for planning or management purposes may be misleading. Model calibration with water quality data prior to using APEX for simulating sediment and total phosphorus loss is essential. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Determining dangerousness in sexually violent predator evaluations: cognitive-experiential self-theory and juror judgments of expert testimony.

PubMed

Lieberman, Joel D; Krauss, Daniel A; Kyger, Mariel; Lehoux, Maribeth

2007-01-01

Past research examining the effects of expert testimony on the future dangerousness of a defendant in death penalty sentencing found that jurors are more influenced by less scientific clinical expert testimony and tend to devalue scientific actuarial testimony. This study was designed to determine whether these findings extend to civil commitment trials for sexual offenders and to test a theoretical rationale for this effect. In addition, we investigated the influence of a recently developed innovation in risk assessment procedures, Guided Professional Judgment (GPJ) instruments. Consistent with a cognitive-experiential self-theory based explanation, mock jurors motivated to process information in an experiential condition were more influenced by clinical testimony, while mock jurors in a rational mode were more influenced by actuarial testimony. Participants responded to clinical and GPJ testimony in a similar manner. However, participants' gender exerted important interactive effects on dangerousness decisions, with male jurors showing the predicted effect while females did not. The policy implications of these findings are discussed. 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Design and implementation of a simulation exercise for teaching confidentiality of patient information.

PubMed

Snyder, J R

1982-05-01

Allied health students, making the transition from a purely academic to a professional school setting, are suddenly faced with judgment decisions about disclosure of medical information. Obscure guidelines and new interpersonal relationships with other members of the health care team complicate this transition and pose a threat to confidentiality of patient information. This article describes the design and implementation of a simulation exercise to reinforce lecture guidelines specifying disclosure of medical information without risk to the patient or student. The simulation is comprised of 10 critical incidents calling for responses ranging from logical to judgmental. Although written primarily for medical technologists, with emphasis on limitations governing release of patient laboratory data, the simulation approach is presented here as a model for other allied health professions. The use of a latent image format provides learners with positive or negative reinforcement as they learn the consequences of their decisions. The simulation activity described is easily adapted to small group discussion or computer-assisted instruction. While the simulation appears to be an accurate representation of reality, peer and real-life pressures could not be totally simulated.

The Impact of Critical Thinking on Clinical Judgment During Simulation With Senior Nursing Students.

PubMed

Cazzell, Mary; Anderson, Mindi

2016-01-01

The study examined the impact of critical thinking (CT) on clinical judgment (CJ) during a pediatric Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) with 160 pre-licensure nursing students. Educators are called to transform teaching strategies to develop CJ but confusion exists over definitions. A descriptive correlational design was used to examine demographics and Tower of Hanoi (TOH) and Health Science Reasoning Test (HSRT) scores. CJ was measured by scores on the Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric (LCJR) from videotaped OSCEs. Participants were: 86 percent female, 42 percent Caucasian, median 23 years, with 49 percent having health care experience. Students averaged seven moves over minimum on the TOH. Average scores were: HSRT 25/38 and LCJR 31/44. Statistically significant predictors of CJ were gender, ethnicity, HSRT deduction, and analysis; 11 CT variables accounted for 17 percent of LCJR scores. Educators need to utilize/develop innovative teaching strategies addressing CJ predictors.

Non-Bayesian Inference: Causal Structure Trumps Correlation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bes, Benedicte; Sloman, Steven; Lucas, Christopher G.; Raufaste, Eric

2012-01-01

The study tests the hypothesis that conditional probability judgments can be influenced by causal links between the target event and the evidence even when the statistical relations among variables are held constant. Three experiments varied the causal structure relating three variables and found that (a) the target event was perceived as more…

Duration, distance, and speed judgments of two moving objects by 4- to 11-year olds.

PubMed

Matsuda, F

1996-11-01

Four- to 11-year-old children (N = 133) made duration, distance, and speed judgments on a Piagetian task where two cars ran on two parallel tracks. Special effort was made to make duration judgment tasks and distance judgment tasks comparable. Among younger children, difficulties of duration judgments and distance judgments were approximately the same. Additionally, temporal attributes had nearly the same effects on duration judgments as spatial attributes had on distance judgments, and spatial attributes had nearly the same effects on duration judgments as temporal attributes had on distance judgments. Among older children, distance judgments were easier than duration judgments, and the above-mentioned symmetry in effects of temporal and spatial attributes decreased somewhat. Temporal and spatial attributes affected speed judgments equally, across age groups.

Task-dependency and structure-dependency in number interference effects in sentence comprehension

PubMed Central

Franck, Julie; Colonna, Saveria; Rizzi, Luigi

2015-01-01

We report three experiments on French that explore number mismatch effects in intervention configurations in the comprehension of object A’-dependencies, relative clauses and questions. The study capitalizes on the finding of object attraction in sentence production, in which speakers sometimes erroneously produce a verb that agrees in number with a plural object in object relative clauses. Evidence points to the role of three critical constructs from formal syntax: intervention, intermediate traces and c-command (Franck et al., 2010). Experiment 1, using a self-paced reading procedure on these grammatical structures with an agreement error on the verb, shows an enhancing effect of number mismatch in intervention configurations, with faster reading times with plural (mismatching) objects. Experiment 2, using an on-line grammaticality judgment task on the ungrammatical versions of these structures, shows an interference effect in the form of attraction, with slower response times with plural objects. Experiment 3 with a similar grammaticality judgment task shows stronger attraction from c-commanding than from preceding interveners. Overall, the data suggest that syntactic computations in performance refer to the same syntactic representations in production and comprehension, but that different tasks tap into different processes involved in parsing: whereas performance in self-paced reading reflects the intervention of the subject in the process of building an object A’-dependency, performance in grammaticality judgment reflects intervention of the object on the computation of the subject-verb agreement dependency. The latter shows the hallmarks of structure-dependent attraction effects in sentence production, in particular, a sensitivity to specific characteristics of hierarchical representations. PMID:25914652

Neural Substrates for Judgment of Self-Agency in Ambiguous Situations

PubMed Central

Fukushima, Hirokata; Goto, Yurie; Maeda, Takaki; Kato, Motoichiro; Umeda, Satoshi

2013-01-01

The sense of agency is the attribution of oneself as the cause of one’s own actions and their effects. Accurate agency judgments are essential for adaptive behaviors in dynamic environments, especially in conditions of uncertainty. However, it is unclear how agency judgments are made in ambiguous situations where self-agency and non-self-agency are both possible. Agency attribution is thus thought to require higher-order neurocognitive processes that integrate several possibilities. Furthermore, neural activity specific to self-attribution, as compared with non-self-attribution, may reflect higher-order critical operations that contribute to constructions of self-consciousness. Based on these assumptions, the present study focused on agency judgments under ambiguous conditions and examined the neural correlates of this operation with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants performed a simple but demanding agency-judgment task, which required them to report on whether they attributed their own action as the cause of a visual stimulus change. The temporal discrepancy between the participant’s action and the visual events was adaptively set to be maximally ambiguous for each individual on a trial-by-trial basis. Comparison with results for a control condition revealed that the judgment of agency was associated with activity in lateral temporo-parietal areas, medial frontal areas, the dorsolateral prefrontal area, and frontal operculum/insula regions. However, most of these areas did not differentiate between self- and non-self-attribution. Instead, self-attribution was associated with activity in posterior midline areas, including the precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex. These results suggest that deliberate self-attribution of an external event is principally associated with activity in posterior midline structures, which is imperative for self-consciousness. PMID:23977268

Social identity contingencies: how diversity cues signal threat or safety for African Americans in mainstream institutions.

PubMed

Purdie-Vaughns, Valerie; Steele, Claude M; Davies, Paul G; Ditlmann, Ruth; Crosby, Jennifer Randall

2008-04-01

This research demonstrates that people at risk of devaluation based on group membership are attuned to cues that signal social identity contingencies--judgments, stereotypes, opportunities, restrictions, and treatments that are tied to one's social identity in a given setting. In 3 experiments, African American professionals were attuned to minority representation and diversity philosophy cues when they were presented as a part of workplace settings. Low minority representation cues coupled with colorblindness (as opposed to valuing diversity) led African American professionals to perceive threatening identity contingencies and to distrust the setting (Experiment 1). The authors then verified that the mechanism mediating the effect of setting cues on trust was identity contingent evaluations (Experiments 2 & 3). The power of social identity contingencies as they relate to underrepresented groups in mainstream institutions is discussed. (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved.

Comparison of CMA joint statement on resuscitative interventions and New Brunswick hospital corporations' policies on end-of-life treatments.

PubMed

Poirier, N

2000-01-01

Why do most physicians have so much difficulty respecting the wishes of their terminally ill patients who refuse treatment? The normative pluralism model is introduced to answer this question. Comparative content analysis serves as the theoretical framework for evaluating the Canadian Medical Association Joint Statement on Resuscitative Interventions against the corresponding administrative policies of New Brunswick hospital corporations and relevant New Brunswick law. Despite protection afforded patients by law, fully 75% of New Brunswick hospital corporations' administrative policies permit physicians to ignore patients' expressed objection to treatments. The futility-of-treatment criteria in the CMA joint statement and in all provincial hospital corporations' policies authorize physicians to substitute their judgment for patients' expressed refusal of CPR. The author concludes that when medical professional norms conflict with the law, physicians tend to follow their professional normative order.

Quality evaluation on an e-learning system in continuing professional education of nurses.

PubMed

Lin, I-Chun; Chien, Yu-Mei; Chang, I-Chiu

2006-01-01

Maintaining high quality in Web-based learning is a powerful means of increasing the overall efficiency and effectiveness of distance learning. Many studies have evaluated Web-based learning but seldom evaluate from the information systems (IS) perspective. This study applied the famous IS Success model in measuring the quality of a Web-based learning system using a Web-based questionnaire for data collection. One hundred and fifty four nurses participated in the survey. Based on confirmatory factor analysis, the variables of the research model fit for measuring the quality of a Web-based learning system. As Web-based education continues to grow worldwide, the results of this study may assist the system adopter (hospital executives), the learner (nurses), and the system designers in making reasonable and informed judgments with regard to the quality of Web-based learning system in continuing professional education.

Origins of the brain networks for advanced mathematics in expert mathematicians

PubMed Central

Amalric, Marie; Dehaene, Stanislas

2016-01-01

The origins of human abilities for mathematics are debated: Some theories suggest that they are founded upon evolutionarily ancient brain circuits for number and space and others that they are grounded in language competence. To evaluate what brain systems underlie higher mathematics, we scanned professional mathematicians and mathematically naive subjects of equal academic standing as they evaluated the truth of advanced mathematical and nonmathematical statements. In professional mathematicians only, mathematical statements, whether in algebra, analysis, topology or geometry, activated a reproducible set of bilateral frontal, Intraparietal, and ventrolateral temporal regions. Crucially, these activations spared areas related to language and to general-knowledge semantics. Rather, mathematical judgments were related to an amplification of brain activity at sites that are activated by numbers and formulas in nonmathematicians, with a corresponding reduction in nearby face responses. The evidence suggests that high-level mathematical expertise and basic number sense share common roots in a nonlinguistic brain circuit. PMID:27071124

Origins of the brain networks for advanced mathematics in expert mathematicians.

PubMed

Amalric, Marie; Dehaene, Stanislas

2016-05-03

The origins of human abilities for mathematics are debated: Some theories suggest that they are founded upon evolutionarily ancient brain circuits for number and space and others that they are grounded in language competence. To evaluate what brain systems underlie higher mathematics, we scanned professional mathematicians and mathematically naive subjects of equal academic standing as they evaluated the truth of advanced mathematical and nonmathematical statements. In professional mathematicians only, mathematical statements, whether in algebra, analysis, topology or geometry, activated a reproducible set of bilateral frontal, Intraparietal, and ventrolateral temporal regions. Crucially, these activations spared areas related to language and to general-knowledge semantics. Rather, mathematical judgments were related to an amplification of brain activity at sites that are activated by numbers and formulas in nonmathematicians, with a corresponding reduction in nearby face responses. The evidence suggests that high-level mathematical expertise and basic number sense share common roots in a nonlinguistic brain circuit.

Evaluating moral reasoning in nursing education.

PubMed

McLeod-Sordjan, Renee

2014-06-01

Evidence-based practice suggests the best approach to improving professionalism in practice is ethics curricula. However, recent research has demonstrated that millennium graduates do not advocate for patients or assert themselves during moral conflicts. The aim of this article is the exploration of evaluation techniques to evaluate one measurable outcome of ethics curricula: moral reasoning. A review of literature, published between 1995 and 2013, demonstrated that the moral orientations of care and justice as conceptualized by Gilligan and Kohlberg are utilized by nursing students to solve ethical dilemmas. Data obtained by means of reflective journaling, Ethics of Care Interview (ECI) and Defining Issues Test (DIT), would objectively measure the interrelated pathways of care-based and justice-based moral reasoning. In conclusion, educators have an ethical responsibility to foster students' ability to exercise sound clinical judgment, and support their professional development. It is recommended that educators design authentic assessments to demonstrate student's improvement of moral reasoning. © The Author(s) 2013.

What's fair is fair--or is it? Value differences underlying public views about social justice.

PubMed

Rasinski, K A

1987-07-01

Individual differences in judgments of the fairness of various sociopolitical phenomena were examined in three surveys. Scales measuring two value dimensions thought to underlie the meaning of fairness were constructed, and survey respondents endorsing these different values were compared on their evaluation of the procedural and distributive fairness of political objects. Those endorsing the value of proportionality, hypothesized by equity theorists to underlie fairness judgments, judged equity-based public policies to be fairer than equality-based policies and judged that Ronald Reagan would be a fairer president than Walter Mondale. These people also emphasized the procedural aspects of government when judging government fairness. Respondents endorsing the value of egalitarianism, hypothesized by developmental theorists and some political philosophers to underlie fairness judgments, judged equality-based public policies to be fairer than equity-based policies and judged that Mondale would be a fairer president than Reagan. These people emphasized the distributive aspects of government when judging government fairness. Results support the naive moral philosopher image of the individual as judge of political objects (Tyler, 1984a). Political fairness judgments are ideological responses and are subject to the influence of the value structure of the judge (Tetlock, 1986).

Number and density discrimination rely on a common metric: Similar psychophysical effects of size, contrast, and divided attention.

PubMed

Tibber, Marc S; Greenwood, John A; Dakin, Steven C

2012-06-04

While observers are adept at judging the density of elements (e.g., in a random-dot image), it has recently been proposed that they also have an independent visual sense of number. To test the independence of number and density discrimination, we examined the effects of manipulating stimulus structure (patch size, element size, contrast, and contrast-polarity) and available attentional resources on both judgments. Five observers made a series of two-alternative, forced-choice discriminations based on the relative numerosity/density of two simultaneously presented patches containing 16-1,024 Gaussian blobs. Mismatches of patch size and element size (across reference and test) led to bias and reduced sensitivity in both tasks, whereas manipulations of contrast and contrast-polarity had varied effects on observers, implying differing strategies. Nonetheless, the effects reported were consistent across density and number judgments, the only exception being when luminance cues were made available. Finally, density and number judgment were similarly impaired by attentional load in a dual-task experiment. These results are consistent with a common underlying metric to density and number judgments, with the caveat that additional cues may be exploited when they are available.

Who Is the Rotten Apple? Mock Jurors' Views of Teacher-Student Sexual Contact.

PubMed

Anderson, Alissa; Wingrove, Twila; Fox, Paul; McLean, Kyle; Styer, Erin

2018-05-01

The present study investigated mock jurors' ( N = 541) perceptions of a hypothetical case of teacher-student sexual contact. Mock jurors read a brief vignette describing an alleged sexual encounter where the gender and age of both the teacher and student were manipulated. Participants rendered legal decisions (i.e., verdict, degree of guilt, and sentence length), as well as culpability judgments pertaining to both the teacher and the student (i.e., blame, cause, and desire for the sexual contact). In addition, the effects of mock juror gender and attitudes regarding both rape myth acceptance and homophobia were investigated. Teacher gender and both teacher and student age predicted mock jurors' recommended sentences, with male teachers, older teachers, and younger students leading to greater sentences. Overall, student age was most consistently related to multiple culpability judgments, and the culpability judgments regarding the victim were the most consistently predicted by the independent variables. We did not find any evidence of homosexist attitudes, meaning that same-gender teacher-student contact was not judged any differently than opposite-gender contact. Worth noting, we found an interaction such that male students victimized by female teachers were judged to have wanted the contact more than any other gender combination, especially by male participants. The authors discuss these findings in the context of the child sexual abuse (CSA) literature concluding that many of the findings of more prototypical CSA cases extend to the teacher-student context. We also discuss the implications of these findings in terms of gendered judgments of adolescents who are victimized by teachers, possibly decided by legal professionals, school administrators, and jurors themselves. In particular, the three-way gender interaction can be interpreted in the context of stereotypes regarding sexual development marking sexual contact between adolescent males and older females as a "rite of passage" into adulthood.

Aspirin in Older Adults: Need for Wider Utilization in Secondary Prevention and Individual Clinical Judgments in Primary Prevention.

PubMed

Sehgal, Mandi; Wood, Sarah K; Ouslander, Joseph G; Hennekens, Charles H

2017-11-01

In the treatment or secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), there is general consensus that the absolute benefits of aspirin far outweigh the absolute risks. Despite evidence from randomized trials and their meta-analyses, older adults, defined as aged 65 years or older, are less likely to be prescribed aspirin than their middle-aged counterparts. In primary prevention, the optimal utilization of aspirin is widely debated. There is insufficient randomized evidence among apparently healthy participants at moderate to high risk of a first CVD event, so general guidelines seem premature. Among older adults, randomized data are even more sparse but trials are ongoing. Further, older adults commonly take multiple medications due to comorbidities, which may increase deleterious interactions and side effects. Older adults have higher risks of occlusive events as well as bleeding. All these considerations support the need for individual clinical judgments in prescribing aspirin in the context of therapeutic lifestyle changes and other adjunctive drug therapies. These include statins for lipids and usually multiple drugs to achieve control of high blood pressure. As regards aspirin, the clinician should weigh the absolute benefit on occlusion against the absolute risk of bleeding. These issues should be considered with each patient to facilitate an informed and person-centered individual clinical judgment. The use of aspirin in primary prevention is particularly attractive because the drug is generally over the counter and, for developing countries where CVD is becoming the leading cause of death, is extremely inexpensive. The more widespread use of aspirin in older adults with prior CVD will confer net benefits to risks and even larger net benefits to costs in the United States as well as other developed and developing countries. In primary prevention among older adults, individual clinical judgments should be made by the health-care professional and each of his or her patients.

Using a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to determine product usability: A proposed theoretical framework

PubMed Central

Zhou, Ronggang; Chan, Alan H. S.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: In order to compare existing usability data to ideal goals or to that for other products, usability practitioners have tried to develop a framework for deriving an integrated metric. However, most current usability methods with this aim rely heavily on human judgment about the various attributes of a product, but often fail to take into account of the inherent uncertainties in these judgments in the evaluation process. OBJECTIVE: This paper presents a universal method of usability evaluation by combining the analytic hierarchical process (AHP) and the fuzzy evaluation method. By integrating multiple sources of uncertain information during product usability evaluation, the method proposed here aims to derive an index that is structured hierarchically in terms of the three usability components of effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction of a product. METHODS: With consideration of the theoretical basis of fuzzy evaluation, a two-layer comprehensive evaluation index was first constructed. After the membership functions were determined by an expert panel, the evaluation appraisals were computed by using the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation technique model to characterize fuzzy human judgments. Then with the use of AHP, the weights of usability components were elicited from these experts. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Compared to traditional usability evaluation methods, the major strength of the fuzzy method is that it captures the fuzziness and uncertainties in human judgments and provides an integrated framework that combines the vague judgments from multiple stages of a product evaluation process. PMID:28035943

Ethical Issues Raised by Private Practice Physiotherapy Are More Diverse than First Meets the Eye: Recommendations from a Literature Review

PubMed Central

Drolet, Marie-Josée; Williams-Jones, Bryn

2015-01-01

ABSTRACT Purpose: Physiotherapy in private practice differs from physiotherapy practised in a public setting in several ways, the most evident of which is the for-profit nature of private physiotherapy clinics; these differences can generate distinct and challenging ethical issues. The objectives of this article are to identify ethical issues encountered by physiotherapists in private practice settings and to identify potential solutions and recommendations to address these issues. Method: After a literature search of eight databases, 39 studies addressing ethical issues in a private practice context were analyzed. Results: A total of 25 ethical issues emerging from the included studies were classified into three main categories: (1) business and economic issues (e.g., conflicts of interests, inequity in a managed care context, lack of time affecting quality of care); (2) professional issues (e.g., professional autonomy, clinical judgment, treatment effectiveness, professional conduct); and (3) patients' rights and welfare issues (e.g., confidentiality, power asymmetries, paternalism vs. patient autonomy, informed consent). Recommendations as to how physiotherapists could better manage these issues were then identified and categorized. Conclusions: The physiotherapy community should reflect on the challenges raised by private practice so that professionals can be supported—through education, research, and good governance—in providing the best possible care for their patients. PMID:25931663

Threats to bioethical principles in medical practice in Brazil: new medical ethics code period.

PubMed

Gracindo, G C L; da Silva Gallo, J H; Nunes, R

2018-03-15

We aimed to outline the profile of medical professionals in Brazil who have violated the deontological norms set forth in the ethics code of the profession, and whose cases were judged by the higher tribunal for medical ethics between 2010 and 2016. This survey was conducted using a database formed from professional ethics cases extracted from the plenary of the medical ethics tribunal of the Federal Council of Medicine. These were disciplinary ethics cases that were judged at appeal level between 2010 and 2016. Most of these professionals were male (88.5%) and their mean age was 59.9 years (SD=11.62) on the date of judgment of their appeals, ranging from 28 to 95 years. Most of them were based in the southeastern region of Brazil (50.89%). Articles 1 and 18 of the medical ethics code were the rules most frequently violated. The sentence given most often was the cancellation of their professional license (37.6%) and the acts most often sentenced involved malpractice, imprudence, and negligence (18.49%). It is acknowledged that concern for the principles of bioethics was present in the appeal decisions made by the plenary of the medical ethics tribunal of the Federal Council of Medicine.

[Conflict of interest in medical practice and research].

PubMed

Youn, Young Hoon; Lee, Ilhak

2012-09-25

In recent years, medical professionals are in charge with multiple roles. They have to work as an educator, researcher, and administrator, as well as medical practitioner. In addition, they experience a conflict between the primary responsibilities that each role requires of them. A conflict of interest (COI) is a set of circumstances that creates a risk that professional judgment or actions regarding a primary interest will be unduly influenced by a secondary interest. It occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other. The COI should be managed appropriately to preserve the value of public trust, scientific objectivity, and the benefit and safety of patients. Primary interest of medical professionals refers to the principal goals of the medical profession, such as the health and safety of patients, and the integrity of research. Secondary interest includes not only financial gain but also such motives as the desire for professional advancement and the wish to do favors for family and friends, but COI rules usually focus on financial relationships because they are relatively more objective, fungible, and quantifiable. This article will briefly review the COI in medical practice and research, discuss about what is COI, why we should manage it, and how we can manage it.

Validity and reliability of exposure assessors' ratings of exposure intensity by type of occupational questionnaire and type of rater.

PubMed

Friesen, Melissa C; Coble, Joseph B; Katki, Hormuzd A; Ji, Bu-Tian; Xue, Shouzheng; Lu, Wei; Stewart, Patricia A

2011-07-01

In epidemiologic studies that rely on professional judgment to assess occupational exposures, the raters' accurate assessment is vital to detect associations. We examined the influence of the type of questionnaire, type of industry, and type of rater on the raters' ability to reliably and validly assess within-industry differences in exposure. Our aim was to identify areas where improvements in exposure assessment may be possible. Subjects from three foundries (n = 72) and three textile plants (n = 74) in Shanghai, China, completed an occupational history (OH) and an industry-specific questionnaire (IQ). Six total dust measurements were collected per subject and were used to calculate a subject-specific measurement mean, which was used as the gold standard. Six raters independently ranked the intensity of each subject's current job on an ordinal scale (1-4) based on the OH alone and on the OH and IQ together. Aggregate ratings were calculated for the group, for industrial hygienists, and for occupational physicians. We calculated intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) to evaluate the reliability of the raters. We calculated the correlation between the subject-specific measurement means and the ratings to evaluate the raters' validity. Analyses were stratified by industry, type of questionnaire, and type of rater. We also examined the agreement between the ratings by exposure category, where the subject-specific measurement means were categorized into two and four categories. The reliability and validity measures were higher for the aggregate ratings than for the ratings from the individual raters. The group's performance was maximized with three raters. Both the reliability and validity measures were higher for the foundry industry than for the textile industry. The ICCs were consistently lower in the OH/IQ round than in the OH round in both industries. In contrast, the correlations with the measurement means were higher in the OH/IQ round than in the OH round for the foundry industry (group rating, OH/IQ: Spearman rho = 0.77; OH: rho = 0.64). No pattern by questionnaire type was observed for the textile industry (group rating, Spearman rho = 0.50, both assessment rounds). For both industries, the agreement by exposure category was higher when the task was reduced to discriminating between two versus four exposure categories. Assessments based on professional judgment may reduce misclassification by using two or three raters, by using questionnaires that systematically collect task information, and by defining intensity categories that are distinguishable by the raters. However, few studies have the resources to use multiple raters and these additional efforts may not be adequate for obtaining valid subjective ratings. Thus, improving exposure assessment approaches for studies that rely on professional judgment remain an important research need.

The GRADE evidence-to-decision framework: a report of its testing and application in 15 international guideline panels.

PubMed

Neumann, Ignacio; Brignardello-Petersen, Romina; Wiercioch, Wojtek; Carrasco-Labra, Alonso; Cuello, Carlos; Akl, Elie; Mustafa, Reem A; Al-Hazzani, Waleed; Etxeandia-Ikobaltzeta, Itziar; Rojas, Maria Ximena; Falavigna, Maicon; Santesso, Nancy; Brozek, Jan; Iorio, Alfonso; Alonso-Coello, Pablo; Schünemann, Holger J

2016-07-15

Judgments underlying guideline recommendations are seldom recorded and presented in a systematic fashion. The GRADE Evidence-to-Decision Framework (EtD) offers a transparent way to record and report guideline developers' judgments. In this paper, we report the experiences with the EtD frameworks in 15 real guideline panels. Following the guideline panel meetings, we asked methodologists participating in the panel to provide feedback regarding the EtD framework. They were instructed to consider their own experience and the feedback collected from the rest of the panel. Two investigators independently summarized the responses and jointly interpreted the data using pre-specified domains as coding system. We asked methodologists to review the results and provide further input to improve the structure of the EtDs iteratively. The EtD framework was well received, and the comments were generally positive. Methodologists felt that in a real guideline panel, the EtD framework helps structuring a complex process through relatively simple steps in an explicit and transparent way. However, some sections (e.g., "values and preferences" and "balance between benefits and harms") required further development and clarification that were considered in the current version of the EtD framework. The use of an EtD framework in guideline development offers a structured and explicit way to record and report the judgments and discussion of guideline panels during the formulation of recommendations. In addition, it facilitates the formulation of recommendations, assessment of their strength, and identifying gaps in research.

Cocited Author Mapping as a Valid Representation of Intellectual Structure.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCain, Katherine W.

1986-01-01

To test validity of cocitation studies as representations of intellectual structure, five-six years of aggregate cocitation data for 41 authors in macroeconomics and 49 authors in genetics of fruit flies were compared with independent judgments of interauthor similarity collected from 14 macroeconomists and 15 geneticists via a card-sorting…

Quality assessment of structure and language elements of written responses given by seven Scandinavian drug information centres.

PubMed

Reppe, Linda Amundstuen; Spigset, Olav; Kampmann, Jens Peter; Damkier, Per; Christensen, Hanne Rolighed; Böttiger, Ylva; Schjøtt, Jan

2017-05-01

The aim of this study was to identify structure and language elements affecting the quality of responses from Scandinavian drug information centres (DICs). Six different fictitious drug-related queries were sent to each of seven Scandinavian DICs. The centres were blinded for which queries were part of the study. The responses were assessed qualitatively by six clinical pharmacologists (internal experts) and six general practitioners (GPs, external experts). In addition, linguistic aspects of the responses were evaluated by a plain language expert. The quality of responses was generally judged as satisfactory to good. Presenting specific advice and conclusions were considered to improve the quality of the responses. However, small nuances in language formulations could affect the individual judgments of the experts, e.g. on whether or not advice was given. Some experts preferred the use of primary sources to the use of secondary and tertiary sources. Both internal and external experts criticised the use of abbreviations, professional terminology and study findings that was left unexplained. The plain language expert emphasised the importance of defining and explaining pharmacological terms to ensure that enquirers understand the response as intended. In addition, more use of active voice and less compressed text structure would be desirable. This evaluation of responses to DIC queries may give some indications on how to improve written responses on drug-related queries with respect to language and text structure. Giving specific advice and precise conclusions and avoiding too compressed language and non-standard abbreviations may aid to reach this goal.

Structure induction in diagnostic causal reasoning.

PubMed

Meder, Björn; Mayrhofer, Ralf; Waldmann, Michael R

2014-07-01

Our research examines the normative and descriptive adequacy of alternative computational models of diagnostic reasoning from single effects to single causes. Many theories of diagnostic reasoning are based on the normative assumption that inferences from an effect to its cause should reflect solely the empirically observed conditional probability of cause given effect. We argue against this assumption, as it neglects alternative causal structures that may have generated the sample data. Our structure induction model of diagnostic reasoning takes into account the uncertainty regarding the underlying causal structure. A key prediction of the model is that diagnostic judgments should not only reflect the empirical probability of cause given effect but should also depend on the reasoner's beliefs about the existence and strength of the link between cause and effect. We confirmed this prediction in 2 studies and showed that our theory better accounts for human judgments than alternative theories of diagnostic reasoning. Overall, our findings support the view that in diagnostic reasoning people go "beyond the information given" and use the available data to make inferences on the (unobserved) causal rather than on the (observed) data level. (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Whose statistical reasoning is facilitated by a causal structure intervention?

PubMed

McNair, Simon; Feeney, Aidan

2015-02-01

People often struggle when making Bayesian probabilistic estimates on the basis of competing sources of statistical evidence. Recently, Krynski and Tenenbaum (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136, 430-450, 2007) proposed that a causal Bayesian framework accounts for peoples' errors in Bayesian reasoning and showed that, by clarifying the causal relations among the pieces of evidence, judgments on a classic statistical reasoning problem could be significantly improved. We aimed to understand whose statistical reasoning is facilitated by the causal structure intervention. In Experiment 1, although we observed causal facilitation effects overall, the effect was confined to participants high in numeracy. We did not find an overall facilitation effect in Experiment 2 but did replicate the earlier interaction between numerical ability and the presence or absence of causal content. This effect held when we controlled for general cognitive ability and thinking disposition. Our results suggest that clarifying causal structure facilitates Bayesian judgments, but only for participants with sufficient understanding of basic concepts in probability and statistics.

When reality is out of focus: Can people tell whether their beliefs and judgments are correct or wrong?

PubMed

Koriat, Asher

2018-05-01

Can we tell whether our beliefs and judgments are correct or wrong? Results across many domains indicate that people are skilled at discriminating between correct and wrong answers, endorsing the former with greater confidence than the latter. However, it has not been realized that because of people's adaptation to reality, representative samples of items tend to favor the correct answer, yielding object-level accuracy (OLA) that is considerably better than chance. Across 16 experiments that used 2-alternative forced-choice items from several domains, the confidence/accuracy (C/A) relationship was positive for items with OLA >50%, but consistently negative across items with OLA <50%. A systematic sampling of items that covered the full range of OLA (0-100%) yielded a U-function relating confidence to OLA. The results imply that the positive C/A relationship that has been reported in many studies is an artifact of OLA being better than chance rather than representing a general ability to discriminate between correct and wrong responses. However, the results also support the ecological approach, suggesting that confidence is based on a frugal, "bounded" heuristic that has been specifically tailored to the ecological structure of the natural environment. This heuristic is used despite the fact that for items with OLA <50%, it yields confidence judgments that are counterdiagnostic of accuracy. Our ability to tell between correct and wrong judgments is confined to the probability structure of the world we live in. The results were discussed in terms of the contrast between systematic design and representative design. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Better Minds, Better Morals: A Procedural Guide to Better Judgment.

PubMed

Schaefer, G Owen; Savulescu, Julian

2017-01-01

Making more moral decisions - an uncontroversial goal, if ever there was one. But how to go about it? In this article, we offer a practical guide on ways to promote good judgment in our personal and professional lives. We will do this not by outlining what the good life consists in or which values we should accept.Rather, we offer a theory of procedural reliability : a set of dimensions of thought that are generally conducive to good moral reasoning. At the end of the day, we all have to decide for ourselves what is good and bad, right and wrong. The best way to ensure we make the right choices is to ensure the procedures we're employing are sound and reliable. We identify four broad categories of judgment to be targeted - cognitive, self-management, motivational and interpersonal. Specific factors within each category are further delineated, with a total of 14 factors to be discussed. For each, we will go through the reasons it generally leads to more morally reliable decision-making, how various thinkers have historically addressed the topic, and the insights of recent research that can offer new ways to promote good reasoning. The result is a wide-ranging survey that contains practical advice on how to make better choices. Finally, we relate this to the project of transhumanism and prudential decision-making. We argue that transhumans will employ better moral procedures like these. We also argue that the same virtues will enable us to take better control of our own lives, enhancing our responsibility and enabling us to lead better lives from the prudential perspective.

The Scope of Our Affective Influences: When and How Naturally Occurring Positive, Negative, and Neutral Affects Alter Judgment.

PubMed

Gasper, Karen; Danube, Cinnamon L

2016-03-01

To determine how naturally arising affect alters judgment, we examined whether (a) affective states exert a specific, rather than a general, influence on valenced-specific judgments; (b) neutral affect is associated with increased neutral judgments, independent of positive, negative, and ambivalent affects, and whether neutral judgments are associated with behavioral disengagement; and (c) the informational value of naturally arising states may be difficult to alter via salience and relevance manipulations. The results support several conclusions: (a) Affective states exerted a judgment-specific effect-positive affect was most strongly associated with positive judgments, negative affect with negative judgments, and neutral affect with neutral judgments. (b) Neutral affect influenced judgments, taking into account positive, negative, and ambivalent affects; and neutral judgments predicted behavioral disengagement. (c) With the exception of negative affect, naturally arising affective states typically influenced judgments regardless of their salience and relevance. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Implicit theories concerning the intelligence of individuals with Down syndrome.

PubMed

Enea-Drapeau, Claire; Carlier, Michèle; Huguet, Pascal

2017-01-01

Studies over the past three decades have shown that learning difficulties are not only determined by neurological disorders, but also by motivational and/or socio-cognitive factors Among these factors, implicit theories of intelligence (also referred to as conceptions, mindsets or beliefs about intelligence) are key elements. The belief that intelligence is fixed (entity theory), as opposed to malleable (incremental theory), is generally associated with negative teaching practices and poorer student outcomes, yet beliefs about the intelligence of individuals with intellectual disabilities have not received much attention. We propose the first study on conceptions of intelligence of persons with intellectual disabilities, here people with Down syndrome. Participants were 55 professionally qualified people working with individuals with intellectual disabilities and 81 adults from the community. We compared what both groups of participants believe about intelligence of typical people and what they believe about the intelligence of individuals with Down syndrome. We also investigated implicit theories of intelligence as predictors of explicit judgments about intelligence and implicit attitudes toward people with Down syndrome. Whatever the work experience in the field of intellectual disability, implicit theories of intelligence were found to be less incremental when considering people with Down syndrome than when considering typical people; and the stronger the belief in entity theory, the more negative (and less positive) the judgments expressed explicitly. Implicit theories of intelligence were also found to be predictors of negative implicit attitude but only in adults from the community. These findings offer prospects for improving practices by people working in the field of intellectual disability. They might interest a wide range of people caring for people with intellectual disabilities, such as teachers, but also other professional caregivers, and other scientists focusing on intellectual disabilities or social cognition.

Implicit theories concerning the intelligence of individuals with Down syndrome

PubMed Central

Carlier, Michèle; Huguet, Pascal

2017-01-01

Studies over the past three decades have shown that learning difficulties are not only determined by neurological disorders, but also by motivational and/or socio-cognitive factors Among these factors, implicit theories of intelligence (also referred to as conceptions, mindsets or beliefs about intelligence) are key elements. The belief that intelligence is fixed (entity theory), as opposed to malleable (incremental theory), is generally associated with negative teaching practices and poorer student outcomes, yet beliefs about the intelligence of individuals with intellectual disabilities have not received much attention. We propose the first study on conceptions of intelligence of persons with intellectual disabilities, here people with Down syndrome. Participants were 55 professionally qualified people working with individuals with intellectual disabilities and 81 adults from the community. We compared what both groups of participants believe about intelligence of typical people and what they believe about the intelligence of individuals with Down syndrome. We also investigated implicit theories of intelligence as predictors of explicit judgments about intelligence and implicit attitudes toward people with Down syndrome. Whatever the work experience in the field of intellectual disability, implicit theories of intelligence were found to be less incremental when considering people with Down syndrome than when considering typical people; and the stronger the belief in entity theory, the more negative (and less positive) the judgments expressed explicitly. Implicit theories of intelligence were also found to be predictors of negative implicit attitude but only in adults from the community. These findings offer prospects for improving practices by people working in the field of intellectual disability. They might interest a wide range of people caring for people with intellectual disabilities, such as teachers, but also other professional caregivers, and other scientists focusing on intellectual disabilities or social cognition. PMID:29166393

Weighing the evidence of ecological risk from chemical contamination in the estuarine environment adjacent to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine, USA.

PubMed

Johnston, Robert K; Munns, Wayne R; Tyler, Patti Lynne; Marajh-Whittemore, Patty; Finkelstein, Kenneth; Munney, Kenneth; Short, Fred T; Melville, Ann; Hahn, Simeon P

2002-01-01

In characterizing ecological risks, considerable consensus building and professional judgments are required to develop conclusions about risk. This is because how to evaluate all the factors that determine ecological risk is not well defined and is subject to interpretation. Here we report on the application of a procedure to weigh the evidence of ecological risk and develop conclusions about risk that will incorporate the strengths and weaknesses of the assessment. The procedure was applied to characterize ecological risk of chemical contamination in nearshore areas adjacent to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, located at the mouth of the Great Bay Estuary, New Hampshire and Maine, USA. Measures of exposure and effect were used to interpret the magnitude of risk to the assessment endpoints of pelagic species, epibenthic species, the benthic community, eelgrass plants, the salt marsh community, and avian receptors. The evidence of chemical exposure from water, sediment, and tissue and the evidence of biological effects to representative pelagic, epibenthic, benthic, eelgrass, salt marsh, and avian species were weighed to characterize ecological risk. Individual measures were weighted by the quality and reliability of their data and risk was estimated from the preponderance, magnitude, extent, and strength of causal relationships between the data on exposure and effects. Relating evidence of risk to hypothesized pathways of exposure made it possible to estimate the magnitude of risk from sediment and water and express the confidence associated with the findings. Systematically weighing the evidence of risk rendered conclusions about risk in a manner that was clearly defined, objective, consistent, and did not rely solely on professional judgment.

A Causal Role for V5/MT Neurons Coding Motion-Disparity Conjunctions in Resolving Perceptual Ambiguity

PubMed Central

Krug, Kristine; Cicmil, Nela; Parker, Andrew J.; Cumming, Bruce G.

2013-01-01

Summary Judgments about the perceptual appearance of visual objects require the combination of multiple parameters, like location, direction, color, speed, and depth. Our understanding of perceptual judgments has been greatly informed by studies of ambiguous figures, which take on different appearances depending upon the brain state of the observer. Here we probe the neural mechanisms hypothesized as responsible for judging the apparent direction of rotation of ambiguous structure from motion (SFM) stimuli. Resolving the rotation direction of SFM cylinders requires the conjoint decoding of direction of motion and binocular depth signals [1, 2]. Within cortical visual area V5/MT of two macaque monkeys, we applied electrical stimulation at sites with consistent multiunit tuning to combinations of binocular depth and direction of motion, while the monkey made perceptual decisions about the rotation of SFM stimuli. For both ambiguous and unambiguous SFM figures, rotation judgments shifted as if we had added a specific conjunction of disparity and motion signals to the stimulus elements. This is the first causal demonstration that the activity of neurons in V5/MT contributes directly to the perception of SFM stimuli and by implication to decoding the specific conjunction of disparity and motion, the two different visual cues whose combination drives the perceptual judgment. PMID:23871244

The good, the bad, and the timely: how temporal order and moral judgment influence causal selection

PubMed Central

Reuter, Kevin; Kirfel, Lara; van Riel, Raphael; Barlassina, Luca

2014-01-01

Causal selection is the cognitive process through which one or more elements in a complex causal structure are singled out as actual causes of a certain effect. In this paper, we report on an experiment in which we investigated the role of moral and temporal factors in causal selection. Our results are as follows. First, when presented with a temporal chain in which two human agents perform the same action one after the other, subjects tend to judge the later agent to be the actual cause. Second, the impact of temporal location on causal selection is almost canceled out if the later agent did not violate a norm while the former did. We argue that this is due to the impact that judgments of norm violation have on causal selection—even if the violated norm has nothing to do with the obtaining effect. Third, moral judgments about the effect influence causal selection even in the case in which agents could not have foreseen the effect and did not intend to bring it about. We discuss our findings in connection to recent theories of the role of moral judgment in causal reasoning, on the one hand, and to probabilistic models of temporal location, on the other. PMID:25477851

Olympic Medals as Fruits of Comparison? Assimilation and Contrast in Sequential Performance Judgments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Damisch, Lysann; Mussweiler, Thomas; Plessner, Henning

2006-01-01

The authors investigated the evaluative consequences of sequential performance judgments. Recent social comparison research has suggested that performance judgments may be influenced by judgments about a preceding performance. Specifically, performance judgments may be assimilated to judgments of the preceding performance if judges focus on…

On the relativity of athletic performance: a comparison perspective on performance judgments in sports.

PubMed

Damisch, Lysann; Mussweiler, Thomas

2009-01-01

Identifying the best performance at a specific point in time constitutes the central purpose of all competitive sports. In many sports, this decision is based on subjective performance judgments. In the present chapter, we consider how these judgments are formed by emphasizing the relative nature of person judgments and athletic performance judgments in particular. Specifically, we argue that athletic judgments are influenced by comparisons with prior performances thereby leading to similar judgmental consequences as have been observed in other comparison domains (e.g., social comparison). Particularly, we demonstrate that performance judgments are assimilated to judgments of the preceding performance if judges focus on similarities between the two. If judges focus on differences, however, contrast ensues. Strategies for preventing or correcting this judgmental bias are discussed.

Mapping High Dimensional Sparse Customer Requirements into Product Configurations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiao, Yao; Yang, Yu; Zhang, Hongshan

2017-10-01

Mapping customer requirements into product configurations is a crucial step for product design, while, customers express their needs ambiguously and locally due to the lack of domain knowledge. Thus the data mining process of customer requirements might result in fragmental information with high dimensional sparsity, leading the mapping procedure risk uncertainty and complexity. The Expert Judgment is widely applied against that background since there is no formal requirements for systematic or structural data. However, there are concerns on the repeatability and bias for Expert Judgment. In this study, an integrated method by adjusted Local Linear Embedding (LLE) and Naïve Bayes (NB) classifier is proposed to map high dimensional sparse customer requirements to product configurations. The integrated method adjusts classical LLE to preprocess high dimensional sparse dataset to satisfy the prerequisite of NB for classifying different customer requirements to corresponding product configurations. Compared with Expert Judgment, the adjusted LLE with NB performs much better in a real-world Tablet PC design case both in accuracy and robustness.

Interface strategies in monolingual and end-state L2 Spanish grammars are not that different.

PubMed

Parafita Couto, María C; Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C; Stadthagen-González, Hans

2014-01-01

This study explores syntactic, pragmatic, and lexical influences on adherence to SV and VS orders in native and fluent L2 speakers of Spanish. A judgment task examined 20 native monolingual and 20 longstanding L2 bilingual Spanish speakers' acceptance of SV and VS structures. Seventy-six distinct verbs were tested under a combination of syntactic and pragmatic constraints. Our findings challenge the hypothesis that internal interfaces are acquired more easily than external interfaces (Sorace, 2005, 2011; Sorace and Filiaci, 2006; White, 2006). Additional findings are that (a) bilinguals' judgments are less firm overall than monolinguals' (i.e., monolinguals are more likely to give extreme "yes" or "no" judgments) and (b) individual verbs do not necessarily behave as predicted under standard definitions of unaccusatives and unergatives. Correlations of the patterns found in the data with verb frequencies suggest that usage-based accounts of grammatical knowledge could help provide insight into speakers' knowledge of these constructs.

Cognitive Demands of Lower Paleolithic Toolmaking

PubMed Central

Stout, Dietrich; Hecht, Erin; Khreisheh, Nada; Bradley, Bruce; Chaminade, Thierry

2015-01-01

Stone tools provide some of the most abundant, continuous, and high resolution evidence of behavioral change over human evolution, but their implications for cognitive evolution have remained unclear. We investigated the neurophysiological demands of stone toolmaking by training modern subjects in known Paleolithic methods (“Oldowan”, “Acheulean”) and collecting structural and functional brain imaging data as they made technical judgments (outcome prediction, strategic appropriateness) about planned actions on partially completed tools. Results show that this task affected neural activity and functional connectivity in dorsal prefrontal cortex, that effect magnitude correlated with the frequency of correct strategic judgments, and that the frequency of correct strategic judgments was predictive of success in Acheulean, but not Oldowan, toolmaking. This corroborates hypothesized cognitive control demands of Acheulean toolmaking, specifically including information monitoring and manipulation functions attributed to the "central executive" of working memory. More broadly, it develops empirical methods for assessing the differential cognitive demands of Paleolithic technologies, and expands the scope of evolutionary hypotheses that can be tested using the available archaeological record. PMID:25875283

The Reliability and Predictive Validity of the Stalking Risk Profile.

PubMed

McEwan, Troy E; Shea, Daniel E; Daffern, Michael; MacKenzie, Rachel D; Ogloff, James R P; Mullen, Paul E

2018-03-01

This study assessed the reliability and validity of the Stalking Risk Profile (SRP), a structured measure for assessing stalking risks. The SRP was administered at the point of assessment or retrospectively from file review for 241 adult stalkers (91% male) referred to a community-based forensic mental health service. Interrater reliability was high for stalker type, and moderate-to-substantial for risk judgments and domain scores. Evidence for predictive validity and discrimination between stalking recidivists and nonrecidivists for risk judgments depended on follow-up duration. Discrimination was moderate (area under the curve = 0.66-0.68) and positive and negative predictive values good over the full follow-up period ( Mdn = 170.43 weeks). At 6 months, discrimination was better than chance only for judgments related to stalking of new victims (area under the curve = 0.75); however, high-risk stalkers still reoffended against their original victim(s) 2 to 4 times as often as low-risk stalkers. Implications for the clinical utility and refinement of the SRP are discussed.

Exploring the theoretical pathways through which asthma app features can promote adolescent self-management.

PubMed

Carpenter, Delesha M; Geryk, Lorie L; Sage, Adam; Arrindell, Courtney; Sleath, Betsy L

2016-12-01

Asthma apps often lack strong theoretical underpinnings. We describe how specific features of asthma apps influenced adolescents' self-observation, self-judgment, and self-reactions, which are key constructs of Self-Regulation Theory (SRT). Adolescents (ages 12-16) with persistent asthma (n = 20) used two asthma self-management apps over a 1-week period. During semi-structured interviews, participants identified their asthma goals and the app features that best promoted self-observation, self-judgment, and fostered positive self-reactions. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed thematically using MAXQDA. Adolescents' goals were to reduce the impact of asthma on their lives. Adolescents reported that self-check quizzes, reminders, and charting features increased their ability to self-observe and self-judge their asthma, which, in turn, helped them feel more confident they could manage their asthma independently and keep their asthma well-controlled. Asthma apps can positively influence adolescents' self-management behaviors via increased self-observation, self-judgment, and increased self-efficacy.

A Structured Approach to Teaching Applied Problem Solving through Technology Assessment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fischbach, Fritz A.; Sell, Nancy J.

1986-01-01

Describes an approach to problem solving based on real-world problems. Discusses problem analysis and definitions, preparation of briefing documents, solution finding techniques (brainstorming and synectics), solution evaluation and judgment, and implementation. (JM)

[Self-judgment of personality traits and cognitive dimensions of the self].

PubMed

Horiuchi, T

1996-12-01

When people make a judgment as to whether a trait describes themselves or not, cognitive structure about the self must play an important role. Cognitive dimensions are a characteristic of such cognitive structure. The present study examined whether a self-referent information processing was mediated by cognitive dimensions of the self. For the purpose, Klein, Loftus, and Burton's task facilitation paradigm (1989) was adapted, which consisted of performing in succession two tasks, initial and target, for each trait adjective used. Experiment 1, which examined the evaluative dimension, showed that an evaluative processing in the target task was facilitated when the initial task was self-referent. Experiment 2, which examined six dimensions, showed that processing of the relevant dimension in the target task was facilitated when the initial task was self-referent. These results suggest that a self-referent information processing is mediated by cognitive dimensions of the self.

Supernatural beliefs, natural kinds, and conceptual structure.

PubMed

Walker, S J

1992-11-01

This article presents cross-cultural evidence in support of the notion that adults' natural kind concepts are theory based but may be informed by knowledge/belief systems other than the biological. Three groups of subjects from western Nigeria--rural, urban, and elite--participated in the study. Subjects heard stories describing alterations of appearance; that is, one natural kind was made to resemble another in both ritual and nonritual contexts. Subjects then were required to judge the identity of the altered item and to give an explanation for the category judgment. It was predicted that subjects would make more nonpreservation-of-identity category judgments supported by supernatural explanations in the ritual contexts and that subjects' use of supernatural explanations would reflect the extent of their engagement with the supernatural. The first prediction was borne out; the second prediction was only partially supported. Discussion of the results emphasizes the importance of exploring the role of sociocultural factors in conceptual structure.

Brain correlates of aesthetic judgment of beauty.

PubMed

Jacobsen, Thomas; Schubotz, Ricarda I; Höfel, Lea; Cramon, D Yves V

2006-01-01

Functional MRI was used to investigate the neural correlates of aesthetic judgments of beauty of geometrical shapes. Participants performed evaluative aesthetic judgments (beautiful or not?) and descriptive symmetry judgments (symmetric or not?) on the same stimulus material. Symmetry was employed because aesthetic judgments are known to be often guided by criteria of symmetry. Novel, abstract graphic patterns were presented to minimize influences of attitudes or memory-related processes and to test effects of stimulus symmetry and complexity. Behavioral results confirmed the influence of stimulus symmetry and complexity on aesthetic judgments. Direct contrasts showed specific activations for aesthetic judgments in the frontomedian cortex (BA 9/10), bilateral prefrontal BA 45/47, and posterior cingulate, left temporal pole, and the temporoparietal junction. In contrast, symmetry judgments elicited specific activations in parietal and premotor areas subserving spatial processing. Interestingly, beautiful judgments enhanced BOLD signals not only in the frontomedian cortex, but also in the left intraparietal sulcus of the symmetry network. Moreover, stimulus complexity caused differential effects for each of the two judgment types. Findings indicate aesthetic judgments of beauty to rely on a network partially overlapping with that underlying evaluative judgments on social and moral cues and substantiate the significance of symmetry and complexity for our judgment of beauty.

The Effect of Information Analysis Automation Display Content on Human Judgment Performance in Noisy Environments.

PubMed

Bass, Ellen J; Baumgart, Leigh A; Shepley, Kathryn Klein

2013-03-01

Displaying both the strategy that information analysis automation employs to makes its judgments and variability in the task environment may improve human judgment performance, especially in cases where this variability impacts the judgment performance of the information analysis automation. This work investigated the contribution of providing either information analysis automation strategy information, task environment information, or both, on human judgment performance in a domain where noisy sensor data are used by both the human and the information analysis automation to make judgments. In a simplified air traffic conflict prediction experiment, 32 participants made probability of horizontal conflict judgments under different display content conditions. After being exposed to the information analysis automation, judgment achievement significantly improved for all participants as compared to judgments without any of the automation's information. Participants provided with additional display content pertaining to cue variability in the task environment had significantly higher aided judgment achievement compared to those provided with only the automation's judgment of a probability of conflict. When designing information analysis automation for environments where the automation's judgment achievement is impacted by noisy environmental data, it may be beneficial to show additional task environment information to the human judge in order to improve judgment performance.

Visualizing surgical quality data with treemaps.

PubMed

Hugine, Akilah L; Guerlain, Stephanie A; Turrentine, Florence E

2014-09-01

Treemaps are space-constrained visualizations for displaying hierarchical data structures using nested rectangles. The visualization allows large amounts of data to be examined in one display. The objective of this research was to examine the effects of using treemap visualizations to help surgeons assess surgical quality data from the American College of Surgeons created the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database in a quick and timely manner. A controlled human subjects experiment was conducted to assess the ability of individuals to make quick and accurate judgments on surgery data by visualizing a treemap, with data hierarchically displayed by surgeon group, surgeon, and patient. Participants were given 20 task questions to complete involving examining the treemap and comparing surgeons' patients based on outcomes (dead or alive) and length of stay days. The outcomes measured were error (incorrect or correct) and task completion time. 120 participants completed 20 task questions for a total of 2400 responses. The main effects of layout and node size were found to be significant for absolute error, P < 0.0505 and P < 0.0185, respectively. The average judgment time to complete a task was 24 s with an accuracy rate of approximately 68%. This study served as a proof of concept to determine if treemaps could be beneficial in assessing surgical data retrospectively by allowing surgeons and healthcare administrators to make quick visual judgments. The study found that factors about the layout design affect judgment performance. Future research is needed to examine whether implementing the treemap within a dashboard system will improve on judgment accuracy for surgical quality questions. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Facial profile esthetics in operated children with bilateral cleft lip and palate

PubMed Central

Lauris, Rita de Cássia Moura Carvalho; Capelozza, Leopoldino; Calil, Louise Resti; Lauris, José Roberto Pereira; Janson, Guilherme; Garib, Daniela Gamba

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the facial profile esthetics of rehabilitated children with complete bilateral cleft lip and palate (BCLP), comparing the judgment of professionals related and not related to cleft rehabilitation and laypersons. Methods: Thirty children in the mixed dentition (24 male; 6 female) with a mean age of 7.8 years were evaluated using facial profile photographs by 25 examiners: 5 orthodontists and 5 plastic surgeons with experience in cleft care, 5 orthodontists and 5 plastic surgeons without experience in oral cleft rehabilitation and 5 graduated laymen. Their facial profiles were classified into esthetically unpleasant (grade 1 to 3), esthetically acceptable (grade 4 to 6), and esthetically pleasant (grade 7 to 9). Intraexaminer and interexaminer errors were evaluated using Spearman correlation coefficient and Kendall’s test, respectively. Inter-rater differences were analyzed using Friedman test and Student-Newman-Keuls test for multiple comparisons. Results: Orthodontists dealing with oral clefts rehabilitation considered the majority of the sample as esthetically pleasant. Plastic surgeons of the cleft team and laypersons classified most of the sample as esthetically acceptable. Most of the orthodontists and plastic surgeons not related to cleft care evaluated the facial profile as esthetically unpleasant. The structures associated to unpleasant profiles were the nose, the midface and the upper lip. Conclusions: The facial profile of children with BCLP was classified as esthetically acceptable by laypersons. Professionals related to cleft rehabilitation were more lenient and those not related to cleft care were stricter to facial esthetics than laypersons. PMID:28902248

Evaluating Health Advice in a Web 2.0 Environment: The Impact of Multiple User-Generated Factors on HIV Advice Perceptions.

PubMed

Walther, Joseph B; Jang, Jeong-Woo; Hanna Edwards, Ashley A

2018-01-01

Unlike traditional media, social media systems often present information of different types from different kinds of contributors within a single message pane, a juxtaposition of potential influences that challenges traditional health communication processing. One type of social media system, question-and-answer advice systems, provides peers' answers to health-related questions, which yet other peers read and rate. Responses may appear good or bad, responders may claim expertise, and others' aggregated evaluations of an answer's usefulness may affect readers' judgments. An experiment explored how answer feasibility, expertise claims, and user-generated ratings affected readers' assessments of advice about anonymous HIV testing. Results extend the heuristic-systematic model of persuasion (Chaiken, 1980) and warranting theory (Walther & Parks, 2002). Information that is generally associated with both systematic and heuristic processes influenced readers' evaluations. Moreover, content-level cues affected judgments about message sources unexpectedly. When conflicting cues were present, cues with greater warranting value (consensus user-generated ratings) had greater influence on outcomes than less warranted cues (self-promoted expertise). Findings present a challenge to health professionals' concerns about the reliability of online health information systems.

The doctor as businessman: the changing politics of a cultural icon.

PubMed

Stone, D A

1997-04-01

From just after the Civil War, when medicine began to professionalize, until the late 1970s, doctors and policy makers believed that clinical judgment should not be influenced by the financial interests of doctors. Physicians were highly entrepreneurial, and organized medicine fought to preserve their entrepreneurial interests, but the moral norm that justified their autonomy from state regulation was a strict separation of clinical judgment and pecuniary interests. Under managed care, the old norm is reversed. A good doctor takes financial considerations into account in making clinical decisions. Theoretically, doctors should consider measures of cost to society, but in practice, the payment systems of managed care plans induce doctors to consider the impact of each clinical decision on their own income. Because doctors share the risks of insuring patients with managed care plans, they have the same incentives as insurers to avoid patients who are expensively sick. The new cultural image of doctors as entrepreneurs masks their considerable loss of clinical autonomy under managed care. It also serves to persuade doctors to accept managed care arrangements and to persuade insurance consumers and patients to accept reduced benefits from employers and the government.

Ethical Information Transparency and Sexually Transmitted Infections.

PubMed

Feltz, Adam

2015-01-01

Shared decision making is intended to help protect patient autonomy while satisfying the demands of beneficence. In shared decision making, information is shared between health care professional and patient. The sharing of information presents new and practical problems about how much information to share and how transparent that information should be. Sharing information also allows for subtle paternalistic strategies to be employed to "nudge" the patient in a desired direction. These problems are illustrated in two experiments. Experiment 1 (N = 146) suggested that positively framed messages increased the strength of judgments about whether a patient with HIV should designate a surrogate compared to a negatively framed message. A simple decision aid did not reliably reduce this effect. Experiment 2 (N = 492) replicated these effects. In addition, Experiment 2 suggested that providing some additional information (e.g., about surrogate decision making accuracy) can reduce tendencies to think that one with AIDS should designate a surrogate. These results indicate that in some circumstances, nudges (e.g., framing) influence judgments in ways that non-nudging interventions (e.g., simple graphs) do not. While non-nudging interventions are generally preferable, careful thought is required for determining the relative benefits and costs associated with information transparency and persuasion.

Descriptive and evaluative judgment processes: behavioral and electrophysiological indices of processing symmetry and aesthetics.

PubMed

Jacobsen, Thomas; Höfel, Lea

2003-12-01

Descriptive symmetry and evaluative aesthetic judgment processes were compared using identical stimuli in both judgment tasks. Electrophysiological activity was recorded while participants judged novel formal graphic patterns in a trial-by-trial cuing setting using binary responses (symmetric, not symmetric; beautiful, not beautiful). Judgment analyses of a Phase 1 test and main experiment performance resulted in individual models, as well as group models, of the participants' judgment systems. Symmetry showed a strong positive correlation with beautiful judgments and was the most important cue. Descriptive judgments were performed faster than evaluative judgments. The ERPs revealed a phasic, early frontal negativity for the not-beautiful judgments. A sustained posterior negativity was observed in the symmetric condition. All conditions showed late positive potentials (LPPs). Evaluative judgment LPPs revealed a more pronounced right lateralization. It is argued that the present aesthetic judgments engage a two-stage process consisting of early, anterior frontomedian impression formation after 300 msec and right-hemisphere evaluative categorization around 600 msec after onset of the graphic patterns.

Unpacking the neural associations of emotion and judgment in emotion-congruent judgment

PubMed Central

Beer, Jennifer S.

2012-01-01

The current study takes a new approach to understand the neural systems that support emotion-congruent judgment. The bulk of previous neural research has inferred emotional influences on judgment from disadvantageous judgments or non-random individual differences. The current study manipulated the influence of emotional information on judgments of stimuli that were equivocally composed of positive and negative attributes. Emotion-congruent processing was operationalized in two ways: neural activation significantly associated with primes that lead to emotionally congruent judgments and neural activation significantly associated with judgments that were preceded by emotionally congruent primes. Distinct regions of medial orbitofrontal cortex were associated with these patterns of emotion-congruent processing. Judgments that were incongruent with preceding primes were associated with dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and lateral orbitofrontal cortex activity. The current study demonstrates a new approach to investigate the neural systems associated with emotion-congruent judgment. The findings suggest that medial OFC may support attentional processes that underlie emotion-congruent judgment. PMID:21511825

A comparison of four measures of moral reasoning.

PubMed

Wilmoth, G H; McFarland, S G

1977-08-01

Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Scale, Gilligan et al.'s Sexual Moral Judgment Scale, Maitland and Goldman's Objective Moral Judgment Scale, and Hogan's Maturity of Moral Judgment Scale, were examined for reliability and inter-scale relationships. All measures except the Objective Moral Judgment Scale had good reliabilities. The obtained relations between the Moral Judgment Scale and the Sexual Moral Judgment Scale replicated previous research. The Objective Moral Judgment Scale was not found to validly assess the Kohlberg stages. The Maturity of Moral Judgment Scale scores were strongly related to the subjects's classification on the Kohlberg stages, and the scale appears to offer a reliable, quickly scored, and valid index of mature thought, although the scale's continuous scores do not permit clear stage classification.

The Effect of Information Analysis Automation Display Content on Human Judgment Performance in Noisy Environments

PubMed Central

Bass, Ellen J.; Baumgart, Leigh A.; Shepley, Kathryn Klein

2014-01-01

Displaying both the strategy that information analysis automation employs to makes its judgments and variability in the task environment may improve human judgment performance, especially in cases where this variability impacts the judgment performance of the information analysis automation. This work investigated the contribution of providing either information analysis automation strategy information, task environment information, or both, on human judgment performance in a domain where noisy sensor data are used by both the human and the information analysis automation to make judgments. In a simplified air traffic conflict prediction experiment, 32 participants made probability of horizontal conflict judgments under different display content conditions. After being exposed to the information analysis automation, judgment achievement significantly improved for all participants as compared to judgments without any of the automation's information. Participants provided with additional display content pertaining to cue variability in the task environment had significantly higher aided judgment achievement compared to those provided with only the automation's judgment of a probability of conflict. When designing information analysis automation for environments where the automation's judgment achievement is impacted by noisy environmental data, it may be beneficial to show additional task environment information to the human judge in order to improve judgment performance. PMID:24847184

Processes of Similarity Judgment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larkey, Levi B.; Markman, Arthur B.

2005-01-01

Similarity underlies fundamental cognitive capabilities such as memory, categorization, decision making, problem solving, and reasoning. Although recent approaches to similarity appreciate the structure of mental representations, they differ in the processes posited to operate over these representations. We present an experiment that…

Open disclosure: ethical, professional and legal obligations, and the way forward for regulation.

PubMed

Finlay, Angus J F; Stewart, Cameron L; Parker, Malcolm

2013-05-06

Open disclosure (OD) after adverse health care events is the subject of a national standard that has been implemented in state health policy documents, and is included in the Medical Board of Australia's code of conduct for doctors. Nevertheless, doctors have been slow to embrace the practice of OD. There is a strong ethical case for implementing OD in the primary interests of patients, and additionally from a medicolegal risk management point of view. There are no statutory requirements in relation to OD, but common law judgments have imposed a duty of OD in tort and contract. There are a number of barriers to the better uptake and implementation of OD, including perceptions of legal risk, lack of education and training, reluctance to admit error, uncertainty concerning what and how much to disclose, and the variations in state and territory "apology laws". The implementation of OD could be improved by making apology laws consistent across jurisdictions, including providing "blanket" cover for admissions of fault; by preventing insurers voiding contracts when apologies are made, either through self-regulation or legislation; and by inserting OD obligations into different structures within the health system.

Why Don't Smokers Want Help to Quit? A Qualitative Study of Smokers' Attitudes towards Assisted vs. Unassisted Quitting.

PubMed

Morphett, Kylie; Partridge, Brad; Gartner, Coral; Carter, Adrian; Hall, Wayne

2015-06-10

The development of prescription medication for smoking cessation and the introduction of evidence-based guidelines for health professionals has increasingly medicalised smoking cessation. There are debates about whether medicalisation is a positive development, or whether it has devalued unassisted quitting. In this debate the views of smokers have been neglected. This study explored the attitudes of smokers towards a range of quitting methods, and their considerations when judging their value. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 29 smokers and analysed data using thematic analysis. The results show that the perceived nature of an individual smoker's addiction was central to judgments about the value of pharmacological cessation aids, as was personal experience with a method, and how well it was judged to align with an individual's situation and personality. Unassisted quitting was often described as the best method. Negative views of pharmacological cessation aids were frequently expressed, particularly concerns about side effects from prescription medications. Smokers' views about the value of different methods were not independent: attitudes about cessation aids were shaped by positive attitudes towards unassisted quitting. Examining smokers' attitudes towards either assisted or unassisted quitting in isolation provides incomplete information on quitting preferences.

Identifying and managing inappropriate hospital utilization: a policy synthesis.

PubMed Central

Payne, S M

1987-01-01

Utilization review, the assessment of the appropriateness and efficiency of hospital care through review of the medical record, and utilization management, deliberate action by payers or hospital administrators to influence providers of hospital services to increase the efficiency and effectiveness with which services are provided, are valuable but relatively unfamiliar strategies for containing hospital costs. The purpose of this synthesis is to increase awareness of the scope of and potential for these approaches among health services managers and administrators, third-party payers, policy analysts, and health services researchers. The synthesis will assist the reader to trace the conceptual context and the historical development of utilization review from unstructured methods using individual physicians' professional judgment to structured methods using explicit criteria; to establish the context of utilization review and clarify its uses; to understand the concepts and tools used in assessing the efficiency of hospital use; and to select, design, and evaluate utilization review and utilization management programs. The extent of inappropriate (medical unnecessary) hospital utilization and the factors associated with it are described. Implications for managers, providers, and third-party payers in targeting utilization review and in designing and evaluating utilization management programs are discussed. PMID:3121538

Perceived Case Management Needs and Service Preferences of Frequent Emergency Department Users: Lessons Learned in a Large Urban Centre.

PubMed

Kahan, Deborah; Poremski, Daniel; Wise-Harris, Deborah; Pauly, Daniel; Leszcz, Molyn; Wasylenki, Donald; Stergiopoulos, Vicky

2016-01-01

This study aimed to explore the service needs and preferences of frequent emergency department users with mental health and addictions concerns who participated in a brief intensive case management intervention. We conducted semi-structured individual interviews with 20 frequent emergency department users with mental health and addictions challenges, 13 service providers involved in the delivery of a brief case management intervention, and a focus group with intervention case managers. Thematic analysis was used to explore perceived service user profiles, service needs and preferences of care. Service users experienced complex health and social needs and social isolation, while exhibiting resilience and the desire to contribute. They described multiple instances of stigmatization in interactions with healthcare professionals. Components of the brief intensive case management intervention perceived to be helpful included system navigation, advocacy, intermediation, and practical needs assistance. Frequent service users valued relational responsiveness, a non-judgmental stance, and a recovery orientation in case managers. Interventions for frequent service users in mental health may be enhanced by focusing on the engagement of formal and informal social supports, practical needs assistance, system navigation, advocacy and intermediation, and attention to the recovery goals of service users.

How Should Clinicians Respond to Medical Requests from Clinician Family Members of Patients?

PubMed

Thurston, Andrew

2017-04-01

In the medical profession, receiving a request for medical management from a colleague is a routine experience. However, when the colleague is a family member of a patient and the desired or requested medical intervention is not medically indicated in the attending physician's view, the situation becomes more complicated. Ethical issues include respect for patient autonomy and social justice as well as nonmaleficence. Furthermore, interpersonal and professional relationships may be tested in this situation. Addressing the colleague's concerns with empathy and respect, without compromising one's own medical judgment, is critical in resolving these kinds of conflicts. © 2017 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.

[Centennial retrospective on the evolution and development of nursing research in Taiwan].

PubMed

Tzeng, Wen-Chii; Lu, Meei-Shiow

2014-08-01

Nursing is a distinct branch of science. Nursing research is not only key to developing professional knowledge and but also to promoting nursing as an independent discipline. This paper describes the development and outcomes of nursing research over the past 100 years and then explores the factors that have influenced the focus of nursing research in the past. Findings may be applied to future efforts to promote nursing research. The authors hope that nurses integrate the best research evidence, the best clinical judgment, and the expectations of patients in order to provide the best quality of nursing care through reflection and praxis in nursing research.

A case of musical anhedonia due to right putaminal hemorrhage: a disconnection syndrome between the auditory cortex and insula.

PubMed

Satoh, Masayuki; Kato, Natsuko; Tabei, Ken-Ichi; Nakano, Chizuru; Abe, Makiko; Fujita, Risa; Kida, Hirotaka; Tomimoto, Hidekazu; Kondo, Kiyohiko

2016-12-01

A 63-year-old, right-handed professional chorus conductor developed right putaminal hemorrhage, and became unable to experience emotion while listening to music. Two years later, neurological examination revealed slight left hemiparesis. Neuromusicological assessments revealed impaired judgment of "musical sense," and the inability to discriminate the sound of chords in pure intervals from those in equal temperament. Brain MRI and tractography identified the old hemorrhagic lesion in the right putamen and impaired fiber connectivity between the right insula and superior temporal lobe. These findings suggest that musical anhedonia might be caused by a disconnection between the insula and auditory cortex.

49 CFR 821.17 - Motions to dismiss, for judgment on the pleadings and for summary judgment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... shall be filed within 10 days after service of the law judge's order on the motion. (b) Motions to... a matter of law. (d) Motions for summary judgment. A party may file a motion for summary judgment on... dismissal, judgment on the pleadings and summary judgment orders. When a law judge grants a motion to...

49 CFR 821.17 - Motions to dismiss, for judgment on the pleadings and for summary judgment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... shall be filed within 10 days after service of the law judge's order on the motion. (b) Motions to... a matter of law. (d) Motions for summary judgment. A party may file a motion for summary judgment on... dismissal, judgment on the pleadings and summary judgment orders. When a law judge grants a motion to...

49 CFR 821.17 - Motions to dismiss, for judgment on the pleadings and for summary judgment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... shall be filed within 10 days after service of the law judge's order on the motion. (b) Motions to... a matter of law. (d) Motions for summary judgment. A party may file a motion for summary judgment on... dismissal, judgment on the pleadings and summary judgment orders. When a law judge grants a motion to...

49 CFR 821.17 - Motions to dismiss, for judgment on the pleadings and for summary judgment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... shall be filed within 10 days after service of the law judge's order on the motion. (b) Motions to... a matter of law. (d) Motions for summary judgment. A party may file a motion for summary judgment on... dismissal, judgment on the pleadings and summary judgment orders. When a law judge grants a motion to...

49 CFR 821.17 - Motions to dismiss, for judgment on the pleadings and for summary judgment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... shall be filed within 10 days after service of the law judge's order on the motion. (b) Motions to... a matter of law. (d) Motions for summary judgment. A party may file a motion for summary judgment on... dismissal, judgment on the pleadings and summary judgment orders. When a law judge grants a motion to...

Acquisition Strategy Guide,

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-07-01

acquisition stategy for his program. Well informed, educated, and innovative applications and judgments are necessary to structure a successful...program but part of’the Con- operating forces. gress is opposed to it. A case in point is thle MIX missile development. In other instances the Ad...hierarchical format, can be applied to help in The market factors element includes both industrial organizing and structuring an acquisition strategy

Agreement on Child Maltreatment Decisions: A Nonrandomized Study on the Effects of Structured Decision-Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bartelink, C.; van Yperen, T. A.; ten Berge, I. J.; de Kwaadsteniet, L.; Witteman, C. L. M.

2014-01-01

Background: Practitioners investigating cases of suspected child maltreatment often disagree whether a child is subject to or at risk of abuse or neglect in the family and, if so, what to do about such abuse or neglect. Structured decision-making is considered to be a solution to the problem of subjective judgments and decisions. Objective: This…

40 CFR 194.26 - Expert judgment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... judgment elicitation processes and the reasoning behind those results. Documentation of interviews used to elicit judgments from experts, the questions or issues presented for elicitation of expert judgment... expert judgment elicitation comports with the level of knowledge required by the questions or issues...

40 CFR 194.26 - Expert judgment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... judgment elicitation processes and the reasoning behind those results. Documentation of interviews used to elicit judgments from experts, the questions or issues presented for elicitation of expert judgment... expert judgment elicitation comports with the level of knowledge required by the questions or issues...

Judgments about Judgments: The Dissociation of Consideration Price and Transaction Commitment Judgments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Janiszewski, Chris; Lichtenstein, Donald R.; Belyavsky, Julia

2008-01-01

There are many contexts in which people make judgments about prior judgments. For example, Internet shopping bots (e.g., NexTag.com) allow consumers to search for products and, if the price is too high, list a price at which they would consider making the purchase (i.e., base judgment). If the price drops to this level, the vendor generates an…

The Case for Addressing Operator Fatigue

PubMed Central

Duffy, Jeanne F.; Zitting, Kirsi-Marja; Czeisler, Charles A.

2015-01-01

Sleep deficiency, which can be caused by acute sleep deprivation, chronic insufficient sleep, untreated sleep disorders, disruption of circadian timing, and other factors, is endemic in the U.S., including among professional and non-professional drivers and operators. Vigilance and attention are critical for safe transportation operations, but fatigue and sleepiness compromise vigilance and attention by slowing reaction times and impairing judgment and decision-making abilities. Research studies, polls, and accident investigations indicate that many Americans drive a motor vehicle or operate an aircraft, train or marine vessel while drowsy, putting themselves and others at risk for error and accident. In this chapter, we will outline some of the factors that contribute to sleepiness, present evidence from laboratory and field studies demonstrating how sleepiness impacts transportation safety, review how sleepiness is measured in laboratory and field settings, describe what is known about interventions for sleepiness in transportation settings, and summarize what we believe are important gaps in our knowledge of sleepiness and transportation safety. PMID:26056516

"If It Feels Right, Do It": Intuitive Decision Making in a Sample of High-Level Sport Coaches.

PubMed

Collins, Dave; Collins, Loel; Carson, Howie J

2016-01-01

Comprehensive understanding and application of decision making is important for the professional practice and status of sports coaches. Accordingly, building on a strong work base exploring the use of professional judgment and decision making (PJDM) in sport, we report a preliminary investigation into uses of intuition by high-level coaches. Two contrasting groups of high-level coaches from adventure sports (n = 10) and rugby union (n = 8), were interviewed on their experiences of using intuitive and deliberative decision making styles, the source of these skills, and the interaction between the two. Participants reported similarly high levels of usage to other professions. Interaction between the two styles was apparent to varying degrees, while the role of experience was seen as an important precursor to greater intuitive practice and employment. Initially intuitive then deliberate decision making was a particular feature, offering participants an immediate check on the accuracy and validity of the decision. Integration of these data with the extant literature and implications for practice are discussed.

Conflicts of interest in research: looking out for number one means keeping the primary interest front and center.

PubMed

Romain, Paul L

2015-06-01

Conflicts of interest represent circumstances in which professional judgments or actions regarding a primary interest, such as the responsibilities of a medical researcher, may be at risk of being unduly influenced by a secondary interest, such as financial gain or career advancement. The secondary interest may be financial or non-financial, and the resultant bias may be conscious or unconscious. The presence of conflicts of interest poses a problem for professional, patient, and public trust in research and the research enterprise. Effective means of identifying and managing conflicts are an important element in successfully achieving the goals of research. These strategies typically focus on the investigator and rely upon disclosure, which has substantial limitations. Additional management strategies include process-oriented steps and outcomes-oriented strategies. More attention to identifying and managing non-financial conflicts is needed. Future empirical research will be important for defining which conflicts need to be better addressed and how to achieve this goal.

Decision support system and medical liability.

PubMed Central

Allaërt, F. A.; Dusserre, L.

1992-01-01

Expert systems, which are going to be an essential tool in Medicine, are evolving in terms of sophistication of both knowledge representation and types of reasoning models used. The more efficient they are, the more often they will be used and professional liability will be involved. So after giving a short survey of configuration and working of expert systems, the authors will study the liabilities of people building and the using expert systems regarding some various dysfunctions. Of course the expert systems have to be considered only for human support and they should not possess any authority themselves, therefore the doctors must keep in mind that it is their own responsibility and as such keep their judgment and criticism. However other professionals could be involved, if they have participated in the building of expert systems. The different liabilities and the burden of proof are discussed according to some possible dysfunctions. In any case the final proof is inside the expert system by itself through re-computation of data. PMID:1482972

Borderline personality disorder and related traits in forensic psychiatry.

PubMed

Reid, William H

2009-05-01

Persons with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and related traits appear in many forensic psychiatry settings. Their clinical hallmarks affecting judgment, insight, impulsivity, motivations, and regulation of emotions, as well as their frequently chaotic lives (internal and external), inaccurate perceptions, rationalizations, and comorbid syndromes can have a marked effect on many civil, criminal, and institutional (eg, corrections) issues. Individuals with BPD are overrepresented in civil, criminal, and child custody forensic situations. The character psychopathology of these individuals is substantial, but is often not obvious to laypersons, including lawyers, judges, and jurors. The presence of BPD rarely affects basic responsibility for the person's actions, nor does it usually compromise most forms of competency. Function, not diagnosis, is the key arbiter of forensic relevance. BPD is associated with an increase in the likelihood of doctor-patient problems, including patient complaints and lawsuits that may not be deserved. Forensic professionals evaluating persons with BPD and related traits should be aware of personal and professional bias, particularly that associated with true countertransference.

First impressions: making up your mind after a 100-ms exposure to a face.

PubMed

Willis, Janine; Todorov, Alexander

2006-07-01

People often draw trait inferences from the facial appearance of other people. We investigated the minimal conditions under which people make such inferences. In five experiments, each focusing on a specific trait judgment, we manipulated the exposure time of unfamiliar faces. Judgments made after a 100-ms exposure correlated highly with judgments made in the absence of time constraints, suggesting that this exposure time was sufficient for participants to form an impression. In fact, for all judgments-attractiveness, likeability, trustworthiness, competence, and aggressiveness-increased exposure time did not significantly increase the correlations. When exposure time increased from 100 to 500 ms, participants' judgments became more negative, response times for judgments decreased, and confidence in judgments increased. When exposure time increased from 500 to 1,000 ms, trait judgments and response times did not change significantly (with one exception), but confidence increased for some of the judgments; this result suggests that additional time may simply boost confidence in judgments. However, increased exposure time led to more differentiated person impressions.

Imagining value, imagining users: academic technology transfer for health innovation.

PubMed

Miller, Fiona Alice; Sanders, Carrie B; Lehoux, Pascale

2009-04-01

Governments have invested heavily in the clinical and economic promise of health innovation and express increasing concern with the efficacy and efficiency of the health innovation system. In considering strategies for 'better' health innovation, policy makers and researchers have taken a particular interest in the work of universities and related public research organizations: How do these organizations identify and transfer promising innovations to market, and do these efforts make best use of public sector investments? We conducted an ethnographic study of technology transfer offices (TTOs) in Ontario and British Columbia, Canada, to consider the place of health and health system imperatives in judgments of value in early-stage health innovation. Our analysis suggests that the valuation process is poorly specified as a set of task-specific judgments. Instead, we argue that technology transfer professionals are active participants in the construction of the innovation and assign value by 'imagining' the end product in its 'context of use'. Oriented as they are to the commercialization of health technology, TTOs understand users primarily as market players. The immediate users of TTOs' efforts are commercial partners (i.e., licensees, investors) who are capable of translating current discoveries into future commodities. The ultimate end users - patients, clinicians, health systems - are the future consumers of the products to be sold. Attention to these proximate and more distal users in the valuation process is a complex and constitutive feature of the work of health technology transfer. At the same time, judgements about individual technologies are made in relation to a broader imperative through which TTOs seek to imagine and construct sustainable innovation systems. Judgments of value are rendered sensible in relation to the logic of valuation for systems of innovation that, in turn, configure users of health innovation in systemic ways.

Debiasing Health-Related Judgments and Decision Making: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Ludolph, Ramona; Schulz, Peter J

2018-01-01

Being confronted with uncertainty in the context of health-related judgments and decision making can give rise to the occurrence of systematic biases. These biases may detrimentally affect lay persons and health experts alike. Debiasing aims at mitigating these negative effects by eliminating or reducing the biases. However, little is known about its effectiveness. This study seeks to systematically review the research on health-related debiasing to identify new opportunities and challenges for successful debiasing strategies. A systematic search resulted in 2748 abstracts eligible for screening. Sixty-eight articles reporting 87 relevant studies met the predefined inclusion criteria and were categorized and analyzed with regard to content and quality. All steps were undertaken independently by 2 reviewers, and inconsistencies were resolved through discussion. The majority of debiasing interventions ( n = 60) was at least partially successful. Optimistic biases ( n = 25), framing effects ( n = 14), and base rate neglects ( n = 10) were the main targets of debiasing efforts. Cognitive strategies ( n = 36) such as "consider-the-opposite" and technological interventions ( n = 33) such as visual aids were mainly tested. Thirteen studies aimed at debiasing health care professionals' judgments, while 74 interventions addressed the general population. Studies' methodological quality ranged from 26.2% to 92.9%, with an average rating of 68.7%. In the past, the usefulness of debiasing was often debated. Yet most of the interventions reviewed here are found to be effective, pointing to the utility of debiasing in the health context. In particular, technological strategies offer a novel opportunity to pursue large-scale debiasing outside the laboratory. The need to strengthen the transfer of debiasing interventions to real-life settings and a lack of conceptual rigor are identified as the main challenges requiring further research.

Better Minds, Better Morals: A Procedural Guide to Better Judgment

PubMed Central

Schaefer, G. Owen; Savulescu, Julian

2017-01-01

Making more moral decisions – an uncontroversial goal, if ever there was one. But how to go about it? In this article, we offer a practical guide on ways to promote good judgment in our personal and professional lives. We will do this not by outlining what the good life consists in or which values we should accept.Rather, we offer a theory of procedural reliability: a set of dimensions of thought that are generally conducive to good moral reasoning. At the end of the day, we all have to decide for ourselves what is good and bad, right and wrong. The best way to ensure we make the right choices is to ensure the procedures we’re employing are sound and reliable. We identify four broad categories of judgment to be targeted – cognitive, self-management, motivational and interpersonal. Specific factors within each category are further delineated, with a total of 14 factors to be discussed. For each, we will go through the reasons it generally leads to more morally reliable decision-making, how various thinkers have historically addressed the topic, and the insights of recent research that can offer new ways to promote good reasoning. The result is a wide-ranging survey that contains practical advice on how to make better choices. Finally, we relate this to the project of transhumanism and prudential decision-making. We argue that transhumans will employ better moral procedures like these. We also argue that the same virtues will enable us to take better control of our own lives, enhancing our responsibility and enabling us to lead better lives from the prudential perspective. PMID:29098205

The organization of verbs of knowing: evidence for cultural commonality and variation in theory of mind.

PubMed

Schwanenflugel, P J; Martin, M; Takahashi, T

1999-09-01

Cross-cultural commonality and variation in folk theories of knowing were studied by examining the organization of verbs of knowing in German and Japanese adults. German and Japanese adults performed one of two tasks: a similarity judgment task and an attribute rating task. Organizational structure was assessed for the similarity judgment task using multidimensional scaling and additive similarity tree analyses. The attribute rating task was used to describe the characteristics that organized the dimensions and clusters emerging from the scaling solutions. The folk theory of mind displayed was an information processing model with constructive components, although the constructive aspects were more salient for the Germans than for the Japanese.

A causal role for V5/MT neurons coding motion-disparity conjunctions in resolving perceptual ambiguity.

PubMed

Krug, Kristine; Cicmil, Nela; Parker, Andrew J; Cumming, Bruce G

2013-08-05

Judgments about the perceptual appearance of visual objects require the combination of multiple parameters, like location, direction, color, speed, and depth. Our understanding of perceptual judgments has been greatly informed by studies of ambiguous figures, which take on different appearances depending upon the brain state of the observer. Here we probe the neural mechanisms hypothesized as responsible for judging the apparent direction of rotation of ambiguous structure from motion (SFM) stimuli. Resolving the rotation direction of SFM cylinders requires the conjoint decoding of direction of motion and binocular depth signals [1, 2]. Within cortical visual area V5/MT of two macaque monkeys, we applied electrical stimulation at sites with consistent multiunit tuning to combinations of binocular depth and direction of motion, while the monkey made perceptual decisions about the rotation of SFM stimuli. For both ambiguous and unambiguous SFM figures, rotation judgments shifted as if we had added a specific conjunction of disparity and motion signals to the stimulus elements. This is the first causal demonstration that the activity of neurons in V5/MT contributes directly to the perception of SFM stimuli and by implication to decoding the specific conjunction of disparity and motion, the two different visual cues whose combination drives the perceptual judgment. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improving Adolescent Judgment and Decision Making

PubMed Central

Dansereau, Donald F.; Knight, Danica K.; Flynn, Patrick M.

2013-01-01

Human judgment and decision making (JDM) has substantial room for improvement, especially among adolescents. Increased technological and social complexity “ups the ante” for developing impactful JDM interventions and aids. Current explanatory advances in this field emphasize dual processing models that incorporate both experiential and analytic processing systems. According to these models, judgment and decisions based on the experiential system are rapid and stem from automatic reference to previously stored episodes. Those based on the analytic system are viewed as slower and consciously developed. These models also hypothesize that metacognitive (self-monitoring) activities embedded in the analytic system influence how and when the two systems are used. What is not included in these models is the development of an intersection between the two systems. Because such an intersection is strongly suggested by memory and educational research as the basis of wisdom/expertise, the present paper describes an Integrated Judgment and Decision-Making Model (IJDM) that incorporates this component. Wisdom/expertise is hypothesized to contain a collection of schematic structures that can emerge from the accumulation of similar episodes or repeated analytic practice. As will be argued, in comparisons to dual system models, the addition of this component provides a broader basis for selecting and designing interventions to improve adolescent JDM. Its development also has implications for generally enhancing cognitive interventions by adopting principles from athletic training to create automated, expert behaviors. PMID:24391350

New evidence of a rhythmic priming effect that enhances grammaticality judgments in children.

PubMed

Chern, Alexander; Tillmann, Barbara; Vaughan, Chloe; Gordon, Reyna L

2018-09-01

Musical rhythm and the grammatical structure of language share a surprising number of characteristics that may be intrinsically related in child development. The current study aimed to understand the potential influence of musical rhythmic priming on subsequent spoken grammar task performance in children with typical development who were native speakers of English. Participants (ages 5-8 years) listened to rhythmically regular and irregular musical sequences (within-participants design) followed by blocks of grammatically correct and incorrect sentences upon which they were asked to perform a grammaticality judgment task. Rhythmically regular musical sequences improved performance in grammaticality judgment compared with rhythmically irregular musical sequences. No such effect of rhythmic priming was found in two nonlinguistic control tasks, suggesting a neural overlap between rhythm processing and mechanisms recruited during grammar processing. These findings build on previous research investigating the effect of rhythmic priming by extending the paradigm to a different language, testing a younger population, and employing nonlanguage control tasks. These findings of an immediate influence of rhythm on grammar states (temporarily augmented grammaticality judgment performance) also converge with previous findings of associations between rhythm and grammar traits (stable generalized grammar abilities) in children. Taken together, the results of this study provide additional evidence for shared neural processing for language and music and warrant future investigations of potentially beneficial effects of innovative musical material on language processing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Emotional Responses to Suicidal Patients: Factor Structure, Construct, and Predictive Validity of the Therapist Response Questionnaire-Suicide Form.

PubMed

Barzilay, Shira; Yaseen, Zimri S; Hawes, Mariah; Gorman, Bernard; Altman, Rachel; Foster, Adriana; Apter, Alan; Rosenfield, Paul; Galynker, Igor

2018-01-01

Mental health professionals have a pivotal role in suicide prevention. However, they also often have intense emotional responses, or countertransference, during encounters with suicidal patients. Previous studies of the Therapist Response Questionnaire-Suicide Form (TRQ-SF), a brief novel measure aimed at probing a distinct set of suicide-related emotional responses to patients found it to be predictive of near-term suicidal behavior among high suicide-risk inpatients. The purpose of this study was to validate the TRQ-SF in a general outpatient clinic setting. Adult psychiatric outpatients ( N  = 346) and their treating mental health professionals ( N  = 48) completed self-report assessments following their first clinic meeting. Clinician measures included the TRQ-SF, general emotional states and traits, therapeutic alliance, and assessment of patient suicide risk. Patient suicidal outcomes and symptom severity were assessed at intake and one-month follow-up. Following confirmatory factor analysis of the TRQ-SF, factor scores were examined for relationships with clinician and patient measures and suicidal outcomes. Factor analysis of the TRQ-SF confirmed three dimensions: (1) affiliation, (2) distress, and (3) hope. The three factors also loaded onto a single general factor of negative emotional response toward the patient that demonstrated good internal reliability. The TRQ-SF scores were associated with measures of clinician state anger and anxiety and therapeutic alliance, independently of clinician personality traits after controlling for the state- and patient-specific measures. The total score and three subscales were associated in both concurrent and predictive ways with patient suicidal outcomes, depression severity, and clinicians' judgment of patient suicide risk, but not with global symptom severity, thus indicating specifically suicide-related responses. The TRQ-SF is a brief and reliable measure with a 3-factor structure. It demonstrates construct validity for assessing distinct suicide-related countertransference to psychiatric outpatients. Mental health professionals' emotional responses to their patients are concurrently indicative and prospectively predictive of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Thus, the TRQ-SF is a useful tool for the study of countertransference in the treatment of suicidal patients and may help clinicians make diagnostic and therapeutic use of their own responses to improve assessment and intervention for individual suicidal patients.

Probative value of absolute and relative judgments in eyewitness identification.

PubMed

Clark, Steven E; Erickson, Michael A; Breneman, Jesse

2011-10-01

It is well-accepted that eyewitness identification decisions based on relative judgments are less accurate than identification decisions based on absolute judgments. However, the theoretical foundation for this view has not been established. In this study relative and absolute judgments were compared through simulations of the WITNESS model (Clark, Appl Cogn Psychol 17:629-654, 2003) to address the question: Do suspect identifications based on absolute judgments have higher probative value than suspect identifications based on relative judgments? Simulations of the WITNESS model showed a consistent advantage for absolute judgments over relative judgments for suspect-matched lineups. However, simulations of same-foils lineups showed a complex interaction based on the accuracy of memory and the similarity relationships among lineup members.

Implications of Cognitive Load for Hypothesis Generation and Probability Judgment

PubMed Central

Sprenger, Amber M.; Dougherty, Michael R.; Atkins, Sharona M.; Franco-Watkins, Ana M.; Thomas, Rick P.; Lange, Nicholas; Abbs, Brandon

2011-01-01

We tested the predictions of HyGene (Thomas et al., 2008) that both divided attention at encoding and judgment should affect the degree to which participants’ probability judgments violate the principle of additivity. In two experiments, we showed that divided attention during judgment leads to an increase in subadditivity, suggesting that the comparison process for probability judgments is capacity limited. Contrary to the predictions of HyGene, a third experiment revealed that divided attention during encoding leads to an increase in later probability judgment made under full attention. The effect of divided attention during encoding on judgment was completely mediated by the number of hypotheses participants generated, indicating that limitations in both encoding and recall can cascade into biases in judgments. PMID:21734897

Does ADHD in adults affect the relative accuracy of metamemory judgments?

PubMed

Knouse, Laura E; Paradise, Matthew J; Dunlosky, John

2006-11-01

Prior research suggests that individuals with ADHD overestimate their performance across domains despite performing more poorly in these domains. The authors introduce measures of accuracy from the larger realm of judgment and decision making--namely, relative accuracy and calibration--to the study of self-evaluative judgment accuracy in adults with ADHD. Twenty-eight adults with ADHD and 28 matched controls participate in a computer-administered paired-associate learning task and predict their future recall using immediate and delayed judgments of learning (JOLs). Retrospective confidence judgments are also collected. Groups perform equally in terms of judgment magnitude and absolute judgment accuracy as measured by discrepancy scores and calibration curves. Both groups benefit equally from making their JOL at a delay, and the group with ADHD show higher relative accuracy for delayed judgments. Results suggest that under certain circumstances, adults with ADHD can make accurate judgments about their future memory.

Individual differences in moral judgment competence influence neural correlates of socio-normative judgments

PubMed Central

Wartenburger, Isabell; Mériau, Katja; Scheibe, Christina; Goodenough, Oliver R.; Villringer, Arno; van der Meer, Elke; Heekeren, Hauke R.

2008-01-01

To investigate how individual differences in moral judgment competence are reflected in the human brain, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, while 23 participants made either socio-normative or grammatical judgments. Participants with lower moral judgment competence recruited the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the left posterior superior temporal sulcus more than participants with greater competence in this domain when identifying social norm violations. Moreover, moral judgment competence scores were inversely correlated with activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during socio-normative relative to grammatical judgments. Greater activity in right DLPFC in participants with lower moral judgment competence indicates increased recruitment of rule-based knowledge and its controlled application during socio-normative judgments. These data support current models of the neurocognition of morality according to which both emotional and cognitive components play an important role. PMID:19015093

Children's Facial Trustworthiness Judgments: Agreement and Relationship with Facial Attractiveness.

PubMed

Ma, Fengling; Xu, Fen; Luo, Xianming

2016-01-01

This study examined developmental changes in children's abilities to make trustworthiness judgments based on faces and the relationship between a child's perception of trustworthiness and facial attractiveness. One hundred and one 8-, 10-, and 12-year-olds, along with 37 undergraduates, were asked to judge the trustworthiness of 200 faces. Next, they issued facial attractiveness judgments. The results indicated that children made consistent trustworthiness and attractiveness judgments based on facial appearance, but with-adult and within-age agreement levels of facial judgments increased with age. Additionally, the agreement levels of judgments made by girls were higher than those by boys. Furthermore, the relationship between trustworthiness and attractiveness judgments increased with age, and the relationship between two judgments made by girls was closer than those by boys. These findings suggest that face-based trait judgment ability develops throughout childhood and that, like adults, children may use facial attractiveness as a heuristic cue that signals a stranger's trustworthiness.

The neural basis of intuitive and counterintuitive moral judgment.

PubMed

Kahane, Guy; Wiech, Katja; Shackel, Nicholas; Farias, Miguel; Savulescu, Julian; Tracey, Irene

2012-04-01

Neuroimaging studies on moral decision-making have thus far largely focused on differences between moral judgments with opposing utilitarian (well-being maximizing) and deontological (duty-based) content. However, these studies have investigated moral dilemmas involving extreme situations, and did not control for two distinct dimensions of moral judgment: whether or not it is intuitive (immediately compelling to most people) and whether it is utilitarian or deontological in content. By contrasting dilemmas where utilitarian judgments are counterintuitive with dilemmas in which they are intuitive, we were able to use functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify the neural correlates of intuitive and counterintuitive judgments across a range of moral situations. Irrespective of content (utilitarian/deontological), counterintuitive moral judgments were associated with greater difficulty and with activation in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, suggesting that such judgments may involve emotional conflict; intuitive judgments were linked to activation in the visual and premotor cortex. In addition, we obtained evidence that neural differences in moral judgment in such dilemmas are largely due to whether they are intuitive and not, as previously assumed, to differences between utilitarian and deontological judgments. Our findings therefore do not support theories that have generally associated utilitarian and deontological judgments with distinct neural systems.

The neural basis of intuitive and counterintuitive moral judgment

PubMed Central

Wiech, Katja; Shackel, Nicholas; Farias, Miguel; Savulescu, Julian; Tracey, Irene

2012-01-01

Neuroimaging studies on moral decision-making have thus far largely focused on differences between moral judgments with opposing utilitarian (well-being maximizing) and deontological (duty-based) content. However, these studies have investigated moral dilemmas involving extreme situations, and did not control for two distinct dimensions of moral judgment: whether or not it is intuitive (immediately compelling to most people) and whether it is utilitarian or deontological in content. By contrasting dilemmas where utilitarian judgments are counterintuitive with dilemmas in which they are intuitive, we were able to use functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify the neural correlates of intuitive and counterintuitive judgments across a range of moral situations. Irrespective of content (utilitarian/deontological), counterintuitive moral judgments were associated with greater difficulty and with activation in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, suggesting that such judgments may involve emotional conflict; intuitive judgments were linked to activation in the visual and premotor cortex. In addition, we obtained evidence that neural differences in moral judgment in such dilemmas are largely due to whether they are intuitive and not, as previously assumed, to differences between utilitarian and deontological judgments. Our findings therefore do not support theories that have generally associated utilitarian and deontological judgments with distinct neural systems. PMID:21421730

Rethinking Familiarity: Remember/Know Judgments in Free Recall

PubMed Central

Mickes, Laura; Seale-Carlisle, Travis M.; Wixted, John T.

2013-01-01

Although frequently used with recognition, a few studies have used the Remember/Know procedure with free recall. In each case, participants gave Know judgments to a significant number of recalled items (items that were presumably not remembered on the basis of familiarity). What do these Know judgments mean? We investigated this issue using a source memory/free-recall procedure. For each word that was recalled, participants were asked to (a) make a confidence rating on a 5-point scale, (b) make a Remember/Know judgment, and (c) recollect a source detail. The large majority of both Remember judgments and Know judgments were made with high confidence and high accuracy, but source memory was nevertheless higher for Remember judgments than for Know judgments. These source memory results correspond to what is found using recognition, and they raise the possibility that Know judgments in free recall identify the cue-dependent retrieval of item-only information from an episodic memory search set. In agreement with this idea, we also found that the temporal dynamics of free recall were similar for high-confidence Remember and high-confidence Know judgments (as if both judgments reflected retrieval from the same search set). If Know judgments in free recall do in fact reflect the episodic retrieval of item-only information, it seems reasonable to suppose that the same might be true of high-confidence Know judgments in recognition. If so, then a longstanding debate about the role of the hippocampus in recollection and familiarity may have a natural resolution. PMID:23637470

Innovations in Second Language Research Methods.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gass, Susan M.

2001-01-01

Focuses on two approaches to research in second language acquisition: (1) various types of acceptability judgments or probes aimed at assessing acquisition of syntactic structure; and (2) various types of stimulated recall designed to gather learners' accounts of their own thought processes. (Author/VWL)

Helping Struggling Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tucker, Pamela

2001-01-01

About 5 to 15 percent of teachers in 2.7 million public-education classrooms are marginal or incompetent. Assistance plans offer structure, purpose, and remedial help. Plans have six components: definition of the problem, statement of objectives, intervention strategies, a timeline, data-collection procedures, and final judgment. (MLH)

Revealing and acknowledging value judgments in health technology assessment.

PubMed

Hofmann, Bjørn; Cleemput, Irina; Bond, Kenneth; Krones, Tanja; Droste, Sigrid; Sacchini, Dario; Oortwijn, Wija

2014-12-01

Although value issues are increasingly addressed in health technology assessment (HTA) reports, HTA is still seen as a scientific endeavor and sometimes contrasted with value judgments, which are considered arbitrary and unscientific. This article aims at illustrating how numerous value judgments are at play in the HTA process, and why it is important to acknowledge and address value judgments. A panel of experts involved in HTA, including ethicists, scrutinized the HTA process with regard to implicit value judgments. It was analyzed whether these value judgments undermine the accountability of HTA results. The final results were obtained after several rounds of deliberation. Value judgments are identified before the assessment when identifying and selecting health technologies to assess, and as part of assessment. They are at play in the processes of deciding on how to select, frame, present, summarize or synthesize information in systematic reviews. Also, in economic analysis, value judgments are ubiquitous. Addressing the ethical, legal, and social issues of a given health technology involves moral, legal, and social value judgments by definition. So do the appraisal and the decision-making process. HTA by and large is a process of value judgments. However, the preponderance of value judgments does not render HTA biased or flawed. On the contrary they are basic elements of the HTA process. Acknowledging and explicitly addressing value judgments may improve the accountability of HTA.

Can Student Nurse Critical Thinking Be Predicted from Perceptions of Structural Empowerment within the Undergraduate, Pre-Licensure Learning Environment?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caswell-Moore, Shelley P.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to test a model using Rosabeth Kanter's theory (1977; 1993) of structural empowerment to determine if this model can predict student nurses' level of critical thinking. Major goals of nursing education are to cultivate graduates who can think critically with a keen sense of clinical judgment, and who can perform…

First- and Second-Order Metacognitive Judgments of Semantic Memory Reports: The Influence of Personality Traits and Cognitive Styles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buratti, Sandra; Allwood, Carl Martin; Kleitman, Sabina

2013-01-01

In learning contexts, people need to make realistic confidence judgments about their memory performance. The present study investigated whether second-order judgments of first-order confidence judgments could help people improve their confidence judgments of semantic memory information. Furthermore, we assessed whether different personality and…

Causal judgment from contingency information: relation between subjective reports and individual tendencies in judgment.

PubMed

White, P A

2000-04-01

In two experiments, participants made causal judgments from contingency information for problems with different objective contingencies. After the judgment task, the participants reported how their judgments had changed following each type of contingency information. Some reported idiosyncratic tendencies--in other words, tendencies contrary to those expected under associative-learning and normative rule induction models of contingency judgment. These idiosyncratic reports tended to be better predictors of the judgments of those who made them than did the models. The results are consistent with the view that causal judgment from contingency information is made, at least in part, by deliberative use of acquired and sometimes idiosyncratic notions of evidential value, the outcomes of which tend, in aggregate, to be highly correlated with the outcomes of normative procedures.

Cognitive Load Selectively Interferes with Utilitarian Moral Judgment

PubMed Central

Greene, Joshua D.; Morelli, Sylvia A.; Lowenberg, Kelly; Nystrom, Leigh E.; Cohen, Jonathan D.

2008-01-01

Traditional theories of moral development emphasize the role of controlled cognition in mature moral judgment, while a more recent trend emphasizes intuitive and emotional processes. Here we test a dual-process theory synthesizing these perspectives. More specifically, our theory associates utilitarian moral judgment (approving of harmful actions that maximize good consequences) with controlled cognitive processes and associates non-utilitarian moral judgment with automatic emotional responses. Consistent with this theory, we find that a cognitive load manipulation selectively interferes with utilitarian judgment. This interference effect provides direct evidence for the influence of controlled cognitive processes in moral judgment, and utilitarian moral judgment more specifically. PMID:18158145

Effect of congenital blindness on the semantic representation of some everyday concepts.

PubMed

Connolly, Andrew C; Gleitman, Lila R; Thompson-Schill, Sharon L

2007-05-15

This study explores how the lack of first-hand experience with color, as a result of congenital blindness, affects implicit judgments about "higher-order" concepts, such as "fruits and vegetables" (FV), but not others, such as "household items" (HHI). We demonstrate how the differential diagnosticity of color across our test categories interacts with visual experience to produce, in effect, a category-specific difference in implicit similarity. Implicit pair-wise similarity judgments were collected by using an odd-man-out triad task. Pair-wise similarities for both FV and for HHI were derived from this task and were compared by using cluster analysis and regression analyses. Color was found to be a significant component in the structure of implicit similarity for FV for sighted participants but not for blind participants; and this pattern remained even when the analysis was restricted to blind participants who had good explicit color knowledge of the stimulus items. There was also no evidence that either subject group used color knowledge in making decisions about HHI, nor was there an indication of any qualitative differences between blind and sighted subjects' judgments on HHI.

Bridging the Gap between Human Judgment and Automated Reasoning in Predictive Analytics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sanfilippo, Antonio P.; Riensche, Roderick M.; Unwin, Stephen D.

2010-06-07

Events occur daily that impact the health, security and sustainable growth of our society. If we are to address the challenges that emerge from these events, anticipatory reasoning has to become an everyday activity. Strong advances have been made in using integrated modeling for analysis and decision making. However, a wider impact of predictive analytics is currently hindered by the lack of systematic methods for integrating predictive inferences from computer models with human judgment. In this paper, we present a predictive analytics approach that supports anticipatory analysis and decision-making through a concerted reasoning effort that interleaves human judgment and automatedmore » inferences. We describe a systematic methodology for integrating modeling algorithms within a serious gaming environment in which role-playing by human agents provides updates to model nodes and the ensuing model outcomes in turn influence the behavior of the human players. The approach ensures a strong functional partnership between human players and computer models while maintaining a high degree of independence and greatly facilitating the connection between model and game structures.« less

The face of fear and anger: Facial width-to-height ratio biases recognition of angry and fearful expressions.

PubMed

Deska, Jason C; Lloyd, E Paige; Hugenberg, Kurt

2018-04-01

The ability to rapidly and accurately decode facial expressions is adaptive for human sociality. Although judgments of emotion are primarily determined by musculature, static face structure can also impact emotion judgments. The current work investigates how facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR), a stable feature of all faces, influences perceivers' judgments of expressive displays of anger and fear (Studies 1a, 1b, & 2), and anger and happiness (Study 3). Across 4 studies, we provide evidence consistent with the hypothesis that perceivers more readily see anger on faces with high fWHR compared with those with low fWHR, which instead facilitates the recognition of fear and happiness. This bias emerges when participants are led to believe that targets displaying otherwise neutral faces are attempting to mask an emotion (Studies 1a & 1b), and is evident when faces display an emotion (Studies 2 & 3). Together, these studies suggest that target facial width-to-height ratio biases ascriptions of emotion with consequences for emotion recognition speed and accuracy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Oculomotor responses and visuospatial perceptual judgments compete for common limited resources

PubMed Central

Tibber, Marc S.; Grant, Simon; Morgan, Michael J.

2010-01-01

While there is evidence for multiple spatial and attentional maps in the brain it is not clear to what extent visuoperceptual and oculomotor tasks rely on common neural representations and attentional mechanisms. Using a dual-task interference paradigm we tested the hypothesis that eye movements and perceptual judgments made to simultaneously presented visuospatial information compete for shared limited resources. Observers undertook judgments of stimulus collinearity (perceptual extrapolation) using a pointer and Gabor patch and/or performed saccades to a peripheral dot target while their eye movements were recorded. In addition, observers performed a non-spatial control task (contrast discrimination), matched for task difficulty and stimulus structure, which on the basis of previous studies was expected to represent a lesser load on putative shared resources. Greater mutual interference was indeed found between the saccade and extrapolation task pair than between the saccade and contrast discrimination task pair. These data are consistent with visuoperceptual and oculomotor responses competing for common limited resources as well as spatial tasks incurring a relatively high attentional cost. PMID:20053112

Dynamic cultural influences on neural representations of the self.

PubMed

Chiao, Joan Y; Harada, Tokiko; Komeda, Hidetsugu; Li, Zhang; Mano, Yoko; Saito, Daisuke; Parrish, Todd B; Sadato, Norihiro; Iidaka, Tetsuya

2010-01-01

People living in multicultural environments often encounter situations which require them to acquire different cultural schemas and to switch between these cultural schemas depending on their immediate sociocultural context. Prior behavioral studies show that priming cultural schemas reliably impacts mental processes and behavior underlying self-concept. However, less well understood is whether or not cultural priming affects neurobiological mechanisms underlying the self. Here we examined whether priming cultural values of individualism and collectivism in bicultural individuals affects neural activity in cortical midline structures underlying self-relevant processes using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Biculturals primed with individualistic values showed increased activation within medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) during general relative to contextual self-judgments, whereas biculturals primed with collectivistic values showed increased response within MPFC and PCC during contextual relative to general self-judgments. Moreover, degree of cultural priming was positively correlated with degree of MPFC and PCC activity during culturally congruent self-judgments. These findings illustrate the dynamic influence of culture on neural representations underlying the self and, more broadly, suggest a neurobiological basis by which people acculturate to novel environments.

A multi-factor Rasch scale for artistic judgment.

PubMed

Bezruczko, Nikolaus

2002-01-01

Measurement properties are reported for a combined scale of abstract and figurative artistic judgment aptitude items. Abstract items are synthetic, rule-based images from Visual Designs Test which implements a statistical algorithm to control design complexity and redundancy, and figurative items are canvas paintings in five styles, Fauvism, Post-Impressionism, Surrealism, Renaissance, and Baroque especially created for this research. The paintings integrate syntactic structure from VDT Abstract designs with thematic content for each style at four levels of complexity while controlling redundancy. Trained test administrators collected preference for synthetic abstract designs and authentic figurative art from 462 examinees in Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation testing offices in Boston, New York, Chicago, and Dallas. The Rasch model replicated measurement properties for VDT Abstract items and identified an item hierarchy that was statistically invariant between genders and generally stable across age for new, authentic figurative items. Further examination of the figurative item hierarchy revealed that complexity interacts with style and meaning. Sound measurement properties for a combined VDT Abstract and Figurative scale shows promise for a comprehensive artistic judgment construct.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pilat, Joseph F

The application of the methodology developed by the GenIV International Forum's (GIF's) Proliferation Resistance and Physical Protection (PR&PP) Working Group is an expert elicitation. Although the framework of the methodology is structured and systematic, it does not by itself constitute or require a formal elicitation. However, formal elicitation can be utilized in the PR&PP context to provide a systematic, credible and transparent qualitative analysis and develop input for quantitative analyses. This section provides an overview of expert elicitations, a discussion of the role formal expert elicitations can play in the PR&PP methodology, an outline of the formal expert elicitation processmore » and a brief practical guide to conducting formal expert elicitations. Expert elicitation is a process utilizing knowledgeable people in cases, for example, when an assessment is needed but physically based data is absent or open to interpretation. More specifically, it can be used to: (1) predict future events; (2) provide estimates on new, rare, complex or poorly understood phenomena; (3) integrate or interpret existing information; or (4) determine what is currently known, how well it is known or what is worth learning in a field. Expert elicitation can be informal or formal. The informal application of expert judgment is frequently used. Although it can produce good results, it often provides demonstrably biased or otherwise flawed answers to problems. This along with the absence of transparency can result in a loss of confidence when experts speak on issues. More formal expert elicitation is a structured process that makes use of people knowledgeable in certain areas to make assessments. The reason for advocating formal use is that the quality and accuracy of expert judgment comes from the completeness of the expert's understanding of the phenomena and the process used to elicit and analyze the data. The use of a more formal process to obtain, lU1derstand and analyze expert judgment has led to an improved acceptance of expert judgment because of the rigor and transparency of the results.« less