Toward the development of an objective assessment of ego-identity status

Four investigations were completed to develop a self-report measure of ego-identity status. Following James Marcia's definition of diffusion, moratorium, foreclosure, and identity achievement status, a series of Likert-type items were constructed and validated for use in the study of ego-identity formation. Convergent-divergent, concurrent, and predictive validity and test-retest reliability are documented in the reported data. Cross-sectional data suggest the measure will be sensitive to intraindividual change in identity formation. The new Objective Measure of Ego-Identity Status allows researchers to use either a typology or a distribution of stage responses in future longitudinal investigations.This research was supported by a Division of Research Grant at Utah State University.Received his Ph.D. in human development from the Pennsylvania State University. Current research interests include adolescent personality and social development, interpersonal attraction, and family relations.Received her M.S. from Utah State University and is currently a doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University.Received his B.S. from Utah State University and is currently a graduate student at that institution.     

Regional distribution of cocaine in postmortem brain of chronic human cocaine users

We measured concentrations of cocaine and its major metabolites (benzoylecgonine, ecgonine methylester, norcocaine, and cocaethylene) in 15 autopsied brain regions of 14 human chronic cocaine users. Only slight differences were observed in concentrations of cocaine and its metabolites amongst the examined brain areas. Although it is likely that some postmortem redistribution of the drug must have occurred, our data are consistent with the possibility that behaviorally relevant doses of cocaine are widely distributed throughout the brain of humans who use the drug on a chronic basis. Consideration should therefore be given to the possible pharmacological and toxicological actions of cocaine in both striatal and extra-striatal brain areas in human users of the drug.     

Gender,ethnic group,and grade differences in psychosocial functioning during middle adolescence?

Prior research has found significant differences between ethnic groups in identity formation. However, most investigations have either failed to include or adjust for SES level differences. To reassess possible differences in psychosocial development between African American, American Indian, Mexican American, and White American 10th–12th grade male and female adolescents (n=123), ethnic groups were compared according to passive-active dimensions delineated in identity, sex role orientation, and locus of control. A series of analyses of covariance (using education level of father and mother as covariates) were computed using ethnicity, grade, and gender in the factorial model as main effects. Consistent with previous research, White adolescents scored significantly lower than the other groups on ideological foreclosure. Overall, however, more similarity than differences between the four ethnic groups were found. Older students were observed to be more psychosocially mature, and males scored higher than females on identity diffusion. Marginal support was gained for the proposed passive-active delineations of the dependent variables.Partial support for this project was provided to Gerald Adams through funding from the Utah State Agricultural Experiment Station, Logan, Utah, and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Ottawa, Canada.Received Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Department of Psychology, Utah State University. Research interests: identity formation, ego strength and psychosocial maturity in adolescence, interfaith dating and courtship, and ethnic contexts of development.(Visiting Professor, Division of Family Resources, West Virginia University, 1994–1995 academic year.) Received Ph.D. in human development and family studies, Pennsylvania State University. Research interests: personality and social development in adolescence, identity formation, parent-adolescent relationships, and adolescent social problems.     

The Relational Conception of Practical Authority

I argue for a new conception of practical authority based on an analysis of the relationship between authority and subject. Commands entail a demand for practical deference, which establishes a relationship of hierarchy, vulnerability, and responsibility that involves a variety of signals and commitments. In order for this relationship to be justified, the subject must be under a preexisting duty, the authority’s commands must take precedence over the subject’s judgment regarding fulfillment of that duty, the authority must accept the position and responsibilities of command, and the authority must be sufficiently trustworthy relative to how vulnerable the subject makes herself by deferring. This results in an instrumentalist conception of practical authority that can be favorably compared to Joseph Raz’s influential service conception. The relational conception’s main advantage is that it focuses on the authority as much as the subject, requiring that the authority accept responsibility for the relationship and be sufficiently trustworthy. This allows the relational conception to avoid problems that the service conception faces and illuminates institutional authority.     

Santeria and Palo Mayombe: Skulls, Mercury, and Artifacts

Abstract:  Santeria and Palo Mayombe are syncretic religions created in the New World based upon African religious beliefs combined with Christianity. The main worship of Palo Mayombe involves religious receptacles that may contain earth, sticks, varied artifacts, and animal and human remains. Due to the use of human and nonhuman remains, discovery of these items often leads to involvement by the police due to a concern of homicide. We review in detail the medical examiner records of two of these ritualistic cases including the autopsy, anthropology, police, and investigators' reports. For the human remains, careful consideration of the context in which the remains were recovered, their state of preservation, and the associated artifacts (e.g., beads and mercury) are important in determining the appropriate level of forensic significance. Anthropological examination with particular attention to taphonomic characteristics also may help determine the origin and forensic significance.     

Fimag: The United Kingdom Disaster Victim/Forensic Identification Imaging System

Abstract:  Imaging is an integral diagnostic tool in mass fatality investigations undertaken traditionally by plain X-rays, fluoroscopy, and dental radiography. However, little attention has been given to appropriate image reporting, secure data transfer and storage particularly in relation to the need to meet stringent judicial requirements. Notwithstanding these limitations, it is the risk associated with the safe handling and investigation of contaminated fatalities which is providing new challenges for mass fatality radiological imaging. Mobile multi-slice computed tomography is an alternative to these traditional modalities as it provides a greater diagnostic yield and an opportunity to address the requirements of the criminal justice system. We present a new national disaster victim/forensic identification imaging system—Fimag—which is applicable for both contaminated and non-contaminated mass fatality imaging and addresses the issues of judicial reporting. We suggest this system opens a new era in radiological diagnostics for mass fatalities.     

Why candidate divergence should be expected to be just as great (or even greater) in competitive seats as in non-competitive ones

Basic Downsian theory predicts candidate convergence toward the views of the median voter in two-candidate elections. Common journalistic wisdom, moreover, leads us to expect these centripetal pressures to be strongest when elections are expected to be close. Yet, the available evidence from the US Congress disconfirms this prediction. To explain this counterintuitive result, we develop a spatial model that allows us to understand the complex interactions of political competition, partisan loyalties, and incentives for voter turnout that can lead office-seeking candidates, especially candidates in close elections, to emphasize policy appeals to their voter base rather than courting the median voter.     

Assimilation and contrast effects in voter projections of party locations: Evidence from Norway, France, and the USA

In the standard Downsian model, voters are assumed to choose parties based on the extent of ideological proximity between the voter's own position and that of the party. Yet it is also well known that there are rationalization and projection effects such that voters tend to misestimate the policy platforms of candidates or parties to which they are sympathetic by overstating the correspondence between those positions and the voter's own preferences (see, e.g., Markus & Converse 1979; Granberg & Brent 1980; Granberg & Holmberg 1988; Merrill & Grofman 1999). Here we follow insights in the psychological literature on persuasion (Sherif & Hovland 1961; Parducci & Marshall 1962) by distinguishing between assimilation and contrast effects. Assimilation refers to shortening the perceived ideological distance between oneself and parties one favors; contrast refers to exaggerating the distance to parties for which one does not intend to vote. Using survey data on voter self–placements and party placements on ideological scales for the seven major Norwegian parties, five major French parties, and two major American parties we show that both assimilation and contrast effects are present in each country to a considerable degree.We also investigate the possible effects of randomness in party placement and scale interpretation – effects that can easily be confounded with assimilation but not so easily with contrast.     

Multicandidate Equilibrium in American Elections

The United States presidential election of 1992 is anexample of a multicandidate contest involving bothDemocratic and Republican candidates. Using a spatialmodelling approach, I analyze candidate policystrategy for such elections, under the assumption thatvoters choose according to the multivariate votingmodel of behavioral research. This model representsvoters' decisions as probabilistic functions of theirpolicy preferences and political partisanship. Isuggest reasons why partisan voting motivatescandidates to locate near their party's partisans inthe policy space, and illustrate this argument withrespect to the 1992 presidential election. The resultsof computer simulations suggest that these motivationslead to multicandidate spatial equilibria, which arerobust to changes in the model's parameters.Partisanship appears to be an important source ofstability in multicandidate electoral competition.