Young adults' scores on the defining issues test as a function of a “self” versus “other” presentation mode

One hundred college students were randomly divided into four groups and were administered the standard version (i.e., other-orientation) of the Defining Issues Test (DIT) and/or a Modified version (i.e., self-orientation) of the same instrument on two separate occasions. Subjects displayed greater amounts of principled moral reasoning when responding to the standard (other-orientation) rather than the modified (self-orientation) version of the DIT. Also, significant test-retest reliability was obtained for the standard, but not the modified, version of the DIT. The role of affective factors in the evaluation of moral problems involving the self versus hypothetical others was discussed.Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meetings of the Midwestern Psychological Association, St. Louis, Missouri, May 1980.Received M.A. from the State University of New York at Oswego. Current research interests are moral development, social cognition across the life-span.Received Ph.D. from Purdue University. Current research interests are children's cognitive development, eidetic imagery, and moral thinking.Received Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Current research interests are logical concept development and moral and political development.     

Moral structure and moral content: Their relationship to personality

The relationship between personality as embodied in the moral content of the Survey of Ethical Attitudes (SEA) and moral structure as measured by the Kohlberg Moral Judgment Interview (MJI) was investigated using 99 male college students. No relationship was found between scores on the SEA and Moral Maturity Scores on the MJI, although this finding was qualified by the fact that the MJI Scores for most students were restricted to Kohlberg's conventional range of morality. However, SEA scores were significantly correlated with the Moral Orientation scores obtained from the MJI. In contrast to scores on the SEA, scores on the MJI were significantly related to age. The problem of confusing content and structure in moral development research was explored. The theoretical implications of a personality component being involved in choice of moral orientation were discussed as well.This research was partly supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH-16899).Major interests are in the area of moral development and family theories of psychopathology.Received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Major interests are sociocognitive development of children and clinical child psychology.     

Suicide using a hand grenade

The authors describe an unusual case of suicide that required particular attention to establish whether the victim was murdered, was preparing a terrorist attack or had committed suicide. Examination of the corpse and the crime scene, as well as testimonies, led the authors to determine the real cause of death, namely, an unusual method of suicide.     

B. Reviews: general

EUROPE'S FUTURE IN THE ARAB VIEW. Edited by Dieter Beilenstein. (Paper of the Institute for International Relations, No.7), Saarbrücken, Breitenbach, 1981. pp.163.

A CHANGING IMAGE: AMERICAN PERCEPTIONS OF THE ARAB‐ISRAELI DISPUTE. By Richard H. Curtiss. Washing D.C., American Educational Trust, 1982.

THE BATTLE OF BEIRUT: WHY ISRAEL INVADED LEBANON. By Michael Jensen. London, Zed Press, 1982.

FIRE OF ISLAM. By Desmond Meiring. London, Wildwood House, 1982.

PUBLIC DUTIES IN ISLAM: THE INSTITUTION OF THE HISBA. By Ibn Taymiya, Al‐Shaykh Al‐Imam Taqi Al‐Din Ahmad (trans. Mukhtar Holland). (Islamic Economic Series 3), Leicester, The Islamic Foundation, 1982.

ISSUES IN ISLAMIC BANKING: SELECTED PAPERS. By M.N.Siddiqui. (Islamic Economic Series, 4), Leicester, The Islamic Foundation, 1983.

REGESTEN PUBLIZIERTER SAFAWIDISCHER HERRSCHERURKUNDEN: ERLASSE UND STAATSSCHREIBEN DER FRUHEN NEUZEIT IRANS. By Renate. Schimkoreit. (Islamkuhdliche Untersuchungen, Bd 68), Berlin, Klaus Shwarz Verlag, 1982. pp. 552. DM.87.

THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH PETROLEUM COMPANY.‐ VOLUME I: THE DEVELOPING YEARS 1901–1932.. By R.W.Ferrier. Cambridge University Press, 1982. pp.801. £37.50.

THE CHALLENGE OF ENERGY: POLICIES IN THE MAKING. Edited by Mohammad W. Khouja. (Energy Resources and Policies of the Middle East and North Africa.) London‐New York, Longman, 1981. pp.127. Paperback.

THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF IRAN. Volume 3: THE SELEUCID, PARTHIAN AND SASANIAN PERIODS. Edited by Ehsan Yarshater. Vol. 3(1), pp. lxxv, 624, 48 pl., 4 line drawings, 13 maps; vol.3(2), pp.xix, thereafter pagination continuous with that of 3(1), ending at p.1488, 99 pl. (4 in colour), 25 line drawings, 3 maps. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983. £37.50.

TA ‘LIKI‐ZADE'S ?EHNAME‐YI HÜMAYUN: A HISTORY OF THE OTTOMAN CAMPAIGN INTO HUNGARY 1593–94. Edited with introduction and notes by Christine Woodhead. (Islamkundliche Untersuchungen, Band 82.) vii, pp.421, map. Berlin, Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1983.

OTTOMAN YEAR BOOKS (SALNAME AND NEVSAL). Compiled by Hasan Duman. Istanbul, Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), 1402/1982. pp.144.

THE CRISIS OF TURKISH DEMOCRACY. By C.H.Dodd. Hull, Eothen Press, 1983. pp.136. £9.50 (cloth); £4.95 (paperback).

CULT, GHETTO AND STATE: THE PERSISTENCE OF THE JEWISH QUESTION. By Maxime Rodinson. London, Al Saqi Books, 1983. pp.239. £5.95.     

Strategies to enhance price and quality competition in health care: lessons learned from tracking local markets

Drawing on observations from tracking changes in local health care markets over the past ten years, this article critiques two Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice recommendations to enhance price and quality competition. First, we take issue with the notion that consumers, acting independently, will drive greater competition in health care markets. Rather we suggest an important role remains for trusted agents who can analyze inherently complex price and quality information and negotiate on consumers' behalf. With aggregated information identifying providers who deliver cost-effective care, consumers would be better positioned to respond to financial incentives about where to seek care and thereby drive more meaningful competition among providers to reduce costs and improve quality. Second, we take issue with the FTC/DOJ recommendation to provide more direct subsidies to prevent distortions in competition. In the current political environment, it is not practical to provide direct subsidies for all of the unfunded care that exists in health care markets today; instead, some interference with competition may be necessary to protect cross subsidies. Barriers can be reduced, though, by revising pricing policies that have resulted in marked disparities in the relative profitability of different services.     

Validities and abilities in criminal profiling: a critique of the studies conducted by Richard Kocsis and his colleagues

In a recent issue of this journal, Kocsis reviewed the criminal profiling research that he and his colleagues have conducted during the past 4 years. Their research examines the correlates of profile accuracy with respect to the skills of the individual constructing the profile, and it has led Kocsis to draw conclusions that are important to the profiling field. In this article, the authors review the contributions of the Kocsis studies and critique their methodological and conceptual foundations. The authors raise a number of concerns and argue that data from the Kocsis studies fail to support many of the conclusions presented in his recent review. The authors present evidence in support of their assertions and provide recommendations that will allow future research in the area to generate data that are more meaningful and generalizable.     

Computerized craniofacial reconstruction using CT-derived implicit surface representations

In forensic craniofacial reconstruction, facial features of an unknown individual are estimated from an unidentified skull, based on a mixture of experimentally obtained guidelines on the relationship between soft tissues and the underlying skeleton. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of using full 3D cross-sectional CT images for establishing a reference database of densely sampled distances between the external surfaces of the skull and head for automated craniofacial reconstruction. For each CT image in the reference database, the hard tissue (skull) and soft tissue (head) volumes are automatically segmented and transformed into signed distance transform (sDT) images, representing for each voxel in this image the Euclidean distance to the closest point on the skull and head surface, respectively, distances being positive (negative) for voxels inside (outside) the skull/head. Multiple craniofacial reconstructions are obtained by first warping each reference skull sDT maps to the target skull sDT using a B-spline based free form deformation algorithm and subsequently applying these warps to the reference head sDT maps. A single reconstruction of the target head surface is defined as the zero level set of the arithmetic average of all warped reference head sDT maps, but other reconstructions are possible, biasing the result to subject specific attributes (age, BMI, gender). Both qualitative and quantitative tests (measuring the similarity between the 3D reconstructed and corresponding original head surface) on a small (N = 20) database are presented to proof the validity of the concept.