Beyond Frogs and Scorpions: A Risk‐Based Framework for Understanding Negotiating Counterparts' Ethical Motivations

Managing the flow of valid information is one of the biggest challenges that negotiators face. The high incidence of questionable or unethical negotiating tactics has been well documented, but ways of dealing with the deceptive practices of a counterpart have received comparatively little attention. In this article, we suggest that, in addition to avoidance and confrontation, negotiators typically attempt to manage the unethical tendencies of their counterparts through twelve neutralizing approaches. These approaches are based on four types of perceived risk that counterparts often consider when deciding whether to use ethically ambiguous negotiation tactics: risks to immediate or short‐term goals/tasks; risks to immediate or short‐term relationship(s); risks to future or long‐term goals/tasks; and, risks to future or long‐term relationships. By applying expectancy theory, resource dependency theory, social identity theory, and social network theory to this framework, we have developed propositions related to these twelve neutralizing approaches. We also discuss the opportunities and challenges related to evaluating these propositions in future research.     

Competence to Complete Psychiatric Advance Directives: Effects of Facilitated Decision Making

Psychiatric advance directives (PADs) statutes presume competence to complete these documents, but the range and dimensions of decisional competence among people who actually complete PADs is unknown. This study examines clinical and neuropsychological correlates of performance on a measure to assess competence to complete PADs and investigates the effects of a facilitated PAD intervention on decisional capacity. N=469 adults with psychotic disorders were interviewed at baseline and then randomly assigned to either a control group in which they received written materials about PADs or to an intervention group in which they were offered an opportunity to meet individually with a trained facilitator to create a PAD. At baseline, domains on the Decisional Competence Assessment Tool for PADs (DCAT-PAD) were most strongly associated with IQ, verbal memory, abstract thinking, and psychiatric symptoms. At one-month follow-up, participants in the intervention group showed more improvement on the DCAT-PAD than controls, particularly among participants with pre-morbid IQ estimates below the median of 100. The results suggest that PAD facilitation is an effective method to boost competence of cognitively-impaired clients to write PADs and make treatment decisions within PADs, thereby maximizing the chances their advance directives will be valid.     

The recovery of illicit drugs from oral fluid sampling devices

Testing for drugs in oral fluid is a convenient procedure for determining recent drug use. A number of issues are still to be resolved and this paper investigates the effects of storage systems on drug stability and recovery using three different collection devices supplied by Cozart, Immunalysis and Microgenics (third party). Drugs were analysed using a range of immunoassay systems followed by MS confirmation and quantitation. The reproducibility of the weight of specimen collected was excellent (CV<10%) for the three collection devices tested. Of the three systems studied, only the Cozart product gave acceptable recovery of THC from drug-spiked oral fluid. A combination of Cozart, Immunalysis and Diagnostix immunoassays with the Cozart collection system gave the most sensitive and discriminating screening assays for the drugs studied, namely THC, benzodiazepines, methamphetamine and morphine. Storage at either 5 degrees C or room temperature had no significant effect on drug recoveries.     

The role of beliefs about aggression in cyberbullying and animal abuse

ABSTRACT

The current study sought to examine the associations between involvement in bullying (traditional and cyber), attitudes about aggression, and animal abuse. Four hundred and thirty-nine undergraduate students (267 females and 172 males) enrolled in Introductory Psychology completed surveys assessing bullying involvement, normative beliefs about aggression, and animal abuse tendencies. Results revealed that animal abusers reported significantly higher rates of bullying (traditional and cyber) and significantly more accepting views of aggression when compared to non-abusers. A logistic regression model indicated that bullying perpetration (traditional and cyber), normative beliefs about aggression, and gender were significant predictors of animal abuse. In addition, the findings suggest that normative beliefs about aggression may serve as an underlying mechanism linking traditional bullying, cyberbullying, and animal abuse. Implications for prevention and intervention programs for aggression toward humans and animals are discussed.     

Putting a Price on Justice: How to Incentivize the Downsizing of Prison Populations

Abstract

We argue that the proximate reason the United States overuses prisons is that for local prosecutors and judges, sending offenders to prison is “free”; the state pays. By completely subsidizing prison use, states incentivize local overuse of prisons. State prisons in the United States are common pool resources, so options to managing common pool resources used in fisheries and environmental protection may have applications to corrections. We propose, for this purpose, seven options: six involve pricing systems and each having several variants. Each approach, in its own way, puts a price on justice. We also outline other changes in correctional and sentencing practices policy makers need to make to implement these approaches. We anticipate potential consequences, good and bad, of incentivizing justice. Finally, we fully expect our proposals to incur the ire of some political idealists on the right and the left. Nevertheless, for policy makers who are concerned about practical solutions to the grave injustices and high costs of mass incarcerations, our portfolio of options should be useful.     

Afterschool Youth Program Design and Structural Quality: Implications for Quality Improvement

This study examined quality and afterschool program designs with a focus on conditions of persistent low quality. Using an action science case study method, data from a quality-improvement project were examined to explore circumstances and reasons for low quality. Four identified program designs varied by emphasis on academics, school alignment, physical space, resources, and grouping strategies, as well as by the operationalization of youth choice. These program design features were found to be dynamically interrelated and key elements of structural quality yet were not found to be targets of state, funder, or agency quality improvement interventions guided by the current broad theory of change for quality initiatives. Structural quality, conceptualized as dynamic and interdependent, may be a prerequisite condition for self-directed quality improvement or a focus of targeted quality interventions.     

Did the CIA Reproduce ‘Soviet Satellite’ Imagery of the US During DCI McCone’s Era? Evidence from a Document at the National Archives

The US developed the capability to see and reproduce photo imagery taken by Soviet satellites crossing the American landmass, according to notes of a conversation between DCI John McCone and Secretary of State Dean Rusk in 1963. We analyze the implications of this conversation, and report results of a literature search to explore how the US might have developed such a capability, and whether it lasted.