scholarly journals Deontic Moral Reasoning Task

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-506
Author(s):  
Mislav Sudić ◽  
Pavle Valerjev ◽  
Josip Ćirić
Keyword(s):  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Qualitative Difference ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Abstract Reasoning ◽  
Reasoning Task ◽  
Confidence Levels ◽  
Deontic Reasoning ◽  
Moral Content ◽  
Rule Type

Domain theory suggests that moral rules and conventions are perceived differently and elicit a different response. A special procedure was designed to test this hypothesis in a laboratory setting using a deontic reasoning task. The goal was to gain insight into the cognitive and metacognitive processes of deontic reasoning from simple deontic premises. In the 3x2x2 within-subjects design, we varied rule-content (moral, conventional, abstract), rule-type (obligation, permission) and the induced dilemma (punishment dilemma, reward dilemma). Participants (N = 78) were presented with 12 laws. After memorizing a law, eight cases were presented to participants so that they make a quick judgment. Participants were tasked with punishing rule-violators, ignoring rule-conformists, and rewarding rule-supererogation. Response times (RT) and accuracy were measured for each judgment, and final confidence was measured after a set of judgments. No differences were expected between rule-types, except for superior performance for moral content and punishment dilemmas. RT correlated negatively with confidence levels, while accuracy correlated positively. Moral reasoning was more accurate than conventional and abstract reasoning, and produced higher confidence levels. Better performance was found for punishment dilemmas than reward dilemmas, likely due to the presence of a cheater-detection module; but the differences were not found in moral reasoning. Moral reasoning was also independent of rule-type, while conventional and abstract reasoning produced superior performance in obligation-type than in permission-type rules. A large drop-off in accuracy was detected for rules that allowed undesirable behaviour, a phenomenon we termed the "deontic blind spot". However, this blind spot was not present in moral reasoning. Three lines of evidence indicate a qualitative difference between the moral and other deontic domains: (1) performance for moral content was independent of rule-type, (2) moral content produced an equal activation of violator- and altruist-detection modules, and (3) moral content produces higher levels of confidence.

Normative Ethics of Two Categories of Offenders

1983 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 443-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph L. Wolff ◽  
Kathi S. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Normative Ethics ◽  
Personality Measures ◽  
Intensive Supervision ◽  
Moral Content

Previous research has established that various measures of moral reasoning and axiological orientation are capable of differentiating criminal from noncriminal populations and between probationers convicted of various types of offenses. Traditional personality measures (such as the MMPI), by comparison, do not seem to discriminate so reliably. In the present study a new measure of moral reasoning, the Moral Content Components Test, was explored as a possible aid for the classification of probationers requiring different degrees of supervision. Two scales reliably distinguished probationers requiring regular or intensive supervision. It was concluded that the test has potential as an aid to probationary classification.

scholarly journals Working Memory and Reasoning Benefit from Different Modes of Large-scale Brain Dynamics in Healthy Older Adults

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 1033-1046 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander V. Lebedev ◽  
Jonna Nilsson ◽  
Martin Lövdén
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Working Memory Training ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Memory Training ◽  
Reasoning Task ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Training Interventions ◽  
Complex Reasoning

Researchers have proposed that solving complex reasoning problems, a key indicator of fluid intelligence, involves the same cognitive processes as solving working memory tasks. This proposal is supported by an overlap of the functional brain activations associated with the two types of tasks and by high correlations between interindividual differences in performance. We replicated these findings in 53 older participants but also showed that solving reasoning and working memory problems benefits from different configurations of the functional connectome and that this dissimilarity increases with a higher difficulty load. Specifically, superior performance in a typical working memory paradigm ( n-back) was associated with upregulation of modularity (increased between-network segregation), whereas performance in the reasoning task was associated with effective downregulation of modularity. We also showed that working memory training promotes task-invariant increases in modularity. Because superior reasoning performance is associated with downregulation of modular dynamics, training may thus have fostered an inefficient way of solving the reasoning tasks. This could help explain why working memory training does little to promote complex reasoning performance. The study concludes that complex reasoning abilities cannot be reduced to working memory and suggests the need to reconsider the feasibility of using working memory training interventions to attempt to achieve effects that transfer to broader cognition.

Pulling Back the Curtain on Moral Reasoning and Ethical Leadership Development for K–12 School Leaders

2020 ◽  
pp. 194277512092121 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Keith Gurley ◽  
Amy Dagley
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Educational Leadership ◽  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Ethical Leadership ◽  
Defining Issues Test ◽  
Confidence Levels ◽  
Reasoning Abilities ◽  
Before And After ◽  
K 12

Using the Defining Issues Test of moral reasoning, researchers gathered pre- and posttest data from educational leadership students ( N = 52) and confidence levels in enacting ethical school leadership, before and after completing a master’s degree program in educational leadership. On a 95-point scale, pretest, postconventional moral reasoning abilities were calculated at M = 33.57. Significantly higher posttest, postconventional moral reasoning ( M = 38.80) was determined. Respondent confidence levels in enacting ethical leadership also increased dramatically. Moral reasoning abilities measured far lower than would be expected compared with national norms of adults who had achieved similar levels of education in other professional areas.

scholarly journals Working memory and reasoning benefit from different modes of large-scale brain dynamics in healthy older adults

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander V. Lebedev ◽  
Jonna Nilsson ◽  
Martin Lövdén
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Working Memory Training ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Memory Training ◽  
Reasoning Task ◽  
Down Regulation ◽  
Training Interventions ◽  
Complex Reasoning

AbstractResearchers have proposed that solving complex reasoning problems, a key indicator of fluid intelligence, involves the same cognitive processes as solving working memory tasks. This proposal is supported by an overlap of the functional brain activations associated with the two types of tasks and by high correlations between inter-individual differences in performance. We replicated these findings in fifty-three older subjects but also showed that solving reasoning and working memory problems benefits from different configurations of the functional connectome and that this dissimilarity increases with higher difficulty load. Specifically, superior performance in a typical working memory paradigm (n-back) was associated with up-regulation of modularity (increased between-network segregation), whereas performance in the reasoning task was associated with effective down-regulation of modularity. We also showed that working memory training promotes task-invariant increases in modularity. Since superior reasoning performance is associated with down-regulation of modular dynamics, training may thus have fostered an inefficient way of solving the reasoning tasks. This could help explain why working memory training does little to promote complex reasoning performance. The study concludes that complex reasoning abilities cannot be reduced to working memory and suggests the need to reconsider the feasibility of using working memory training interventions to attempt to achieve effects that transfer to broader cognition.

Moral reasoning is the process of asking moral questions and answering them

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Alfano
Keyword(s):  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Dependent Process ◽  
Asking Questions ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Path Dependent Process ◽  
Moral Questions

Abstract Reasoning is the iterative, path-dependent process of asking questions and answering them. Moral reasoning is a species of such reasoning, so it is a matter of asking and answering moral questions, which requires both creativity and curiosity. As such, interventions and practices that help people ask more and better moral questions promise to improve moral reasoning.

Seti Figure of Merit

1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 711-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Dreher ◽  
D. Kent Cullers
Keyword(s):  
Figure Of Merit ◽  
Qualitative Difference ◽  
Current Generation ◽  
Detection Range ◽  
Sky Surveys ◽  
Independent Observations ◽  
Good For

AbstractWe develop a figure of merit for SETI observations which is anexplicitfunction of the EIRP of the transmitters, which allows us to treat sky surveys and targeted searches on the same footing. For each EIRP, we calculate the product of terms measuring the number of stars within detection range, the range of frequencies searched, and the number of independent observations for each star. For a given set of SETI observations, the result is a graph of merit versus transmitter EIRP. We apply this technique to several completed and ongoing SETI programs. The results provide a quantitative confirmation of the expected qualitative difference between sky surveys and targeted searches: the Project Phoenix targeted search is good for finding transmitters in the 109to 1014W range, while the sky surveys do their best at higher powers. Current generation optical SETI is not yet competitive with microwave SETI.

In situ TEM Studies of agglomeration of sub-nanometer Ru layers in Ru/C multilayers

1992 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 256-257
Author(s):  
Tai D. Nguyen ◽  
Ronald Gronsky ◽  
Jeffrey B. Kortright
Keyword(s):  
Layered Structure ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
In Situ Tem ◽  
Rayleigh Instability ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Diffraction Patterns

Nanometer period Ru/C multilayers are one of the prime candidates for normal incident reflecting mirrors at wavelengths < 10 nm. Superior performance, which requires uniform layers and smooth interfaces, and high stability of the layered structure under thermal loadings are some of the demands in practical applications. Previous studies however show that the Ru layers in the 2 nm period Ru/C multilayer agglomerate upon moderate annealing, and the layered structure is no longer retained. This agglomeration and crystallization of the Ru layers upon annealing to form almost spherical crystallites is a result of the reduction of surface or interfacial energy from die amorphous high energy non-equilibrium state of the as-prepared sample dirough diffusive arrangements of the atoms. Proposed models for mechanism of thin film agglomeration include one analogous to Rayleigh instability, and grain boundary grooving in polycrystalline films. These models however are not necessarily appropriate to explain for the agglomeration in the sub-nanometer amorphous Ru layers in Ru/C multilayers. The Ru-C phase diagram shows a wide miscible gap, which indicates the preference of phase separation between these two materials and provides an additional driving force for agglomeration. In this paper, we study the evolution of the microstructures and layered structure via in-situ Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and attempt to determine the order of occurence of agglomeration and crystallization in the Ru layers by observing the diffraction patterns.

Speech-Language Pathologists' Perceptions of Their Preparation and Confidence for Providing Dysphagia Services

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 1666-1682
Author(s):  
Lena G. Caesar ◽  
Merertu Kitila
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Graduate School ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Academic Preparation ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Confidence Levels ◽  
Graduate School Preparation ◽  
Graduate Preparation ◽  
Significant Relationships

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) regarding their academic preparation and current confidence levels for providing dysphagia services, and the relationship between their perceptions of graduate school preparation and their current levels of confidence. Method This study utilized an online survey to gather information from 374 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association–certified SLPs who currently provide dysphagia services in the United States. Surveys were primarily distributed through American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Special Interest Group forums and Facebook groups. The anonymous survey gathered information regarding SLPs' perceptions of academic preparation and current confidence levels for providing dysphagia services in 11 knowledge and skill areas. Results Findings indicated that more than half of respondents did not feel prepared following their graduate academic training in five of the 11 knowledge and skill areas related to dysphagia service delivery. However, about half of respondents indicated they were currently confident about their ability to provide services in eight of the 11 knowledge and skill areas. Findings also indicated that their current confidence levels to provide dysphagia services were significantly higher than their perceptions of preparation immediately following graduate school. However, no significant relationships were found between respondents' self-reported current confidence levels and their perceptions of the adequacy of their academic preparation. Conclusions Despite SLPs' low perceptions of the adequacy of their graduate preparation for providing dysphagia services in specific knowledge and skill areas immediately following graduation, they reported high confidence levels with respect to their actual service delivery. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document