The Court of Public Opinion: Lay Perceptions of Polygraph Testing

We sampled a total of 411 participants and randomly assigned them one of three brief trial vignettes that contained either no-polygraph evidence, evidence of a passed polygraph test, or evidence of a failed polygraph test. Participants rendered guilt judgments and answered a series of questions concerning the trial in particular, and polygraph tests in general. Similar to previous studies on the impact of polygraph evidence on jurors' guilt judgments, this sample of jury-eligible adults indicated that they did not find polygraph test evidence to be persuasive. Moreover, it mattered little to participants whether the results indicated the defendant passed a polygraph test, or that he failed a polygraph test. However, when our findings are compared to those of previous surveys involving experts in the field of psychophysiology, they differ in a number of important respects. The implications for decisions regarding admissibility (e.g., U.S. v. Alexander, 1975 and U.S. v. Scheffer, 1998) are discussed.     

A psychometric typology of U.K. domestic violence offenders

A number of studies have described subtypes of domestically violent men, and the heterogeneity of domestically violent men is well established. The aim of the current study was to investigate the distribution of subtypes using psychometric measures in convicted domestically violent offenders in England. Four subtypes of offenders were identified: low pathology, borderline, narcissistic, and antisocial. These subtypes were broadly comparable with the family-only, dysphoric/borderline, and generally violent/antisocial types proposed by Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart. The majority of the sample (60%) best fit the generally violent/antisocial profile. However, the reliance on psychometric measurement and lack of corroborative evidence from partners means that further research is necessary to test these findings.     

Genocidal Violence,Nation-Building,and the Bloody Birth of Bangladesh

Why did the Pakistani military carry out genocidal violence against East Pakistani Hindus during the 1971 civil war when the Hindus did not constitute a security threat? This question carries not only theoretical but also important policy and security implications in present-day Bangladesh. A uniquely in-depth analysis of the little-known genocide in East Pakistan in 1971 shows that genocidal violence may be used as an instrument of nation-building. It was designed to mobilize both the Pakistani troops and the Bengali Muslim population against a convenient, well-defined enemy. The logic of othering – and then exterminating – a religious minority was meant to integrate a defiant, and previously marginalized, group into a reimagined community.     

Stress and adjustment in the transition to adolescence: Moderating effects of neuroticism and extroversion

Research on adult populations (P.T. Costa and R. R McCrae [1986] From Catalog to Classification; Murray's Needs and the Five Factor Model, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,Vol. 55, pp. 258–265) has indicated that neuroticism tends to exacerbate the dynamic link between stressful life events and maladjustment, whereas extroversion tends to ameliorate it. The present study examined the developmental relevance of this model during the transition to adolescence. Questionnaire data regarding stressful life events, neuroticism, and extroversion were provided by 51 males aged 10–11 and by 68 males aged 12–13, with parallel data on adjustment provided by homeroom teachers. As expected, regression analyses revealed significant interactions between personality traits and life events in the prediction of adjustment among adolescents, but not preadolescents. Further, significant but low correlations appeared in both age groups between personality traits and the appearance of stressful events as well as adjustment problems. Discussion focused on the dynamically differing processes linking personality, stress, and adjustment during the transition to adolescence.Received doctorate in educational psychology from UCLA. Research interests include stress and coping across the life span, social sources of adolescent self-esteem, and intergroup relations in the junior high school.Received doctorate in clinical psychology from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Research interests include family relations, social and emotional development in children and adolescents, and developmental psychopathology. To whom correspondence should be addressed.Research interests focus on social support in the family.