Small changes in the wording of health related recommendations about Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) can significantly influence their impact. In this paper, we review advances in research ...investigating the content and structure of these framed messages. We also summarize the results of a recent longitudinal study examining the effects of a brief risk awareness intervention (i.e., a brochure) targeting young adults-the population at highest risk of contracting STDs. Building on a leading theory and emerging data, we review key aspects of the psychological processes that underlie the impact of framed messages on prevention and detection of STDs, and we detail how these messages can be made more influential when accompanied by visual aids. Our review converges with other research indicating that well constructed visual aids are often among the most highly effective, transparent, and ethically desirable means of health risk communication. Larger scale implementation of these and other theory-based, custom-tailored methods holds the promise of relatively inexpensive yet highly-effective systems for promoting prevention and detection of STDs.
Injury Risk Estimation Expertise Petushek, Erich J.; Cokely, Edward T.; Ward, Paul ...
The American journal of sports medicine,
07/2015, Volume:
43, Issue:
7
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Background:
Available methods for screening anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk are effective but limited in application as they generally rely on expensive and time-consuming biomechanical ...movement analysis. A potentially efficient alternative to biomechanical screening is skilled movement analysis via visual inspection (ie, having experts estimate injury risk factors based on observations of athletes’ movements).
Purpose:
To develop a brief, valid psychometric assessment of ACL injury risk factor estimation skill: the ACL Injury Risk Estimation Quiz (ACL-IQ).
Study Design:
Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 3.
Methods:
A total of 660 individuals participated in various stages of the study, including athletes, physicians, physical therapists, athletic trainers, exercise science researchers/students, and members of the general public in the United States. The ACL-IQ was fully computerized and made available online (www.ACL-IQ.org). Item sampling/reduction, reliability analysis, cross-validation, and convergent/discriminant validity analyses were conducted to refine the efficiency and validity of the assessment.
Results:
Psychometric optimization techniques identified a short (mean time, 2 min 24 s), robust, 5-item assessment with high reliability (test-retest: r = 0.90) and high test sensitivity (average difference of exercise science professionals vs general population: Cohen d = 2). Exercise science professionals and individuals from the general population scored 74% and 53% correct, respectively. Convergent and discriminant validity was demonstrated. Scores on the ACL-IQ were best predicted by ACL knowledge and specific judgment strategies (ie, cue use) and were largely unrelated to domain-general spatial/decision-making ability, personality, or other demographic variables. Overall, 23% of the total sample (40% of exercise science professionals; 6% of general population) performed better than or equal to the ACL nomogram.
Conclusion:
This study presents the results of a systematic approach to assess individual differences in ACL injury risk factor estimation skill; the assessment approach is efficient (ie, it can be completed in <3 min) and psychometrically robust. The results provide evidence that some individuals have the ability to visually estimate ACL injury risk factors more accurately than other instrument-based ACL risk estimation methods (ie, ACL nomogram). The ACL-IQ provides the foundation for assessing the efficacy of observational ACL injury risk factor assessment (ie, does simple skilled visual inspection reduce ACL injuries?). The ACL-IQ can also be used to increase our understanding of the perceptual-cognitive mechanisms underlying injury risk assessment expertise, which can be leveraged to accelerate learning and improve performance.
Instrument-based biomechanical movement analysis is an effective injury screening method but relies on expensive equipment and time-consuming analysis. Screening methods that rely on visual ...inspection and perceptual skill for prognosticating injury risk provide an alternative approach that can significantly reduce cost and time. However, substantial individual differences exist in skill when estimating injury risk performance via observation. The underlying perceptual-cognitive mechanisms of injury risk identification were explored to better understand the nature of this skill and provide a foundation for improving performance. Quantitative structural and process modeling of risk estimation indicated that superior performance was largely mediated by specific strategies and skills (e.g., irrelevant information reduction), and independent of domain-general cognitive abilities (e.g., mental rotation, general decision skill). These cognitive models suggest that injury prediction expertise (i.e., ACL-IQ) is a trainable skill, and provide a foundation for future research and applications in training, decision support, and ultimately clinical screening investigations.
Flooding is among the costliest natural disasters in the United States. Research indicates that flood risk perceptions and knowledge often shape flood-related decision making; however, relatively ...less is known about specific individual differences in flood risk literacy. The current study presents data from 630 participants who completed a flood risk communication experiment and a general decision-making inventory (e.g., numeracy, risk perceptions, knowledge). Structural equation modeling revealed that both numeracy and flood knowledge partially explain differences in vulnerability, including effects on risk comprehension, weather risk perceptions, and decision quality (i.e., taking protective action). Limitations and implications for enhancing flood risk literacy are discussed.
Graphical displays use spatial relations to convey meaning, facilitating the communication of quantitative information. However, information conveyed by spatial features can conflict with that ...conveyed by features linked to arbitrary conventions (e.g., axes labels or scales), leading to misinterpretations. Here, we investigated the role of individual differences in graph literacy on the interpretation of health-related bar graphs containing such conflicts. Individuals with low graph literacy were more often biased by spatial-to-conceptual mappings grounded in their real world experience, neglecting information in titles of graphs, axes labels and scales. Implications for perspectives on embodied cognition and effective graphical design are discussed.
Evaluational internalism holds that only features internal to agency (e.g., motivation) are relevant to attributions of virtue Slote, M. (2001). Morals from motives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ...Evaluational externalism holds that only features external to agency (e.g., consequences) are relevant to attributions of virtue Driver, J. (2001). Uneasy virtue. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Many evaluational externalists and internalists claim that their view best accords with philosophically naïve (i.e., folk) intuitions, and that accordance provides argumentative support for their view. Evaluational internalism and externalism are incompatible views and therefore it is impossible that both views are supported by most folk intuitions. In four experiments, we present evidence that neither pure evaluational internalism nor pure evaluational externalism accurately capture some relevant folk intuitions about virtue. However, our experiments suggest external factors are vastly more important than internal factors for folk attributions of virtue. While these data do not entail that evaluational internalism and externalism about virtue are false, they situate important argumentative burdens, constrain philosophical theory about virtue, and illustrate a valuable method that could foster more efficient progress in ethics.
We explore and provide an account for a recently identified judgment anomaly, i.e., an order effect that changes the strength of intentionality ascriptions for some side effects (e.g., when a ...chairman's pursuit of profits has the foreseen but unintended consequence of harming the environment). Experiment 1 replicated the previously unanticipated order effect anomaly controlling for general individual differences. Experiment 2 revealed that the order effect was multiply determined and influenced by factors such as beliefs (i.e., that the same actor was involved in bringing about both good and bad side effects) and philosophical training (i.e., more training was associated with smaller differences in judgment when harm followed help). Results provide more evidence that the folk's philosophically relevant intuitions are predictably fragmented and depend on the dynamic interplay between persons, process, and environments. Methodological and theoretical implications are discussed.
Some theorists argue that appropriate responses to terrorism are in part shaped by popular sentiment. In two experiments, using representative design and ecological stimuli (e.g. actual news ...reports), we present evidence for some of the ways popular sentiment about terrorism tracks theory and can be constructed. In Experiment 1, we document that using the word 'terrorist' to describe a group of people decreases willingness to understand the group's grievances, decreases willingness to negotiate with the group, increases perceived permissibility of violence against the group, and decreases the perceived rationality of the group. In Experiment 2, we demonstrate that judgment about the permissibility of the use of force against terrorist groups can be biased by simple memory-priming manipulations. Results are interpreted in terms of (1) implications for philosophical theories about terrorism and (2) the role that experimental investigation can play in applied ethics.
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