Francisca Fariña

Predictors of anxiety towards computers

Abstract The relations between anxiety towards computers and the variables: trait anxiety, anxiety towards mathematics, perceived impact of computers on society and experience in using computers were studied in a sample of 162 university students (81 women and 81 men). All these variables are found to influence anxiety towards computers, in which a significant difference was also found by sex.

Neighborhood and Community Factors: Effects on Deviant Behavior and Social Competence

Socialization in a neighborhood and community at risk, defined in terms of violence, social alienation, school failure, and disruptive behavior, is a risk factor for the acquisition of antisocial and delinquent behavior. In order to test this hypothesis and examine the underlying mechanisms involved, 346 participants, 155 high-risk and 191 low-risk, aged 11 to 13, that is, under the age of criminal responsibility as established by the Spanish Law 5/2000 were selected. The results reveal that high-risk youngsters had higher rates of antisocial behavior and lower levels of social skills (i.e., greater tendency to externalize attribution of responsibility, fewer conflict resolution strategies, lower self esteem, and a lower degrees of emotional intelligence) in comparison to the lower-risk group. Finally, the results and implications of the study are discussed in the light of designing prevention programs.

Criteria-Based Content Analysis (CBCA) reality criteria in adults: A meta-analytic review

Background/Objective: Criteria-Based Content Analysis (CBCA) is the tool most extensively used worldwide for evaluating the veracity of a testimony. CBCA, initially designed for evaluating the testimonies of victims of child sexual abuse, has been empirically validated. Moreover, CBCA has been generalized to adult populations and other contexts though this generalization has not been endorsed by the scientific literature. Method: Thus, a meta-analysis was performed to assess the Undeutsch Hypothesis and the CBCA checklist of criteria in discerning in adults between memories of self-experienced real-life events and fabricated or fictitious memories. Results: Though the results corroborated the Undeutsch Hypothesis, and CBCA as a valid technique, the results were not generalizable, and the self-deprecation and pardoning the perpetrator criteria failed to discriminate between both memories. The technique can be complemented with additional reality criteria. The study of moderators revealed discriminating efficacy was significantly higher in filed studies on sexual offences and intimate partner violence. Conclusions: The findings are discussed in terms of their implications as well as the limitations and conditions for applying these results to forensic settings.

Assessment of the standard forensic procedure for the evaluation of psychological injury in intimate-partner violence

In judicial terms, a victim refers to any person who has suffered injury arising from an action or omission of an action that constitutes an offence, and the burden of proof lies with the prosecution. A review of Spanish judicial judgements underscored that the lack of evidence of psychological injury in cases of intimate-partner violence (IPV) accounted for approximately 40% of acquittals. Thus, the Spanish standard of proof for the forensic evaluation of psychological injury i.e., the MMPI-2 and the unstructured interview were assessed in order to determine if they met the statutory requirement for the assessment of psychological injury and the differential diagnosis of feigning. The results of the comparison of 51 women victims of IPV with firm convictions against their aggressors, and 54 women mock victims of IPV showed that the F, K, Fb, Fp and Ds scales, and the F-K index discriminated significantly and with medium and large effect sizes, between adjudicated and mock victims. However, the results did not provide a valid decision criterion for forensic settings i.e., false negatives (identifying feigner as honest protocols) were not classified correctly. In conclusion, the standard forensic procedure for the evaluation of psychological injury in cases of IPV did not constitute valid proof for judges who acquitted defendants on the grounds of not proven due to the lack of evidence of psychological injury.

Estimating the Epidemiology and Quantifying the Damages of Parental Separation in Children and Adolescents

Parental separation is linked to multiple negative outcomes for children in all spheres of life. A field study was designed to estimate the epidemiology and to quantify the outcomes on the wellbeing of children from separated parents. Thus, data on socio-economic status, psychological adjustment, behavioral disorders, social relations, self-concept, and academic achievement were gathered from 346 children and adolescents, 173 separated parents, and 173 parents from intact families in the paediatric catchment area of Galicia (Spain). The results showed that parental separation had a significant negative impact on the children’s and adolescents’ family income (increasing the probability of falling below the poverty line); psychological adjustment (i.e., higher scores in anxiety, depression, hostility, paranoid ideation, and interpersonal alienation); social relations (i.e., less self-control in social relations; higher social withdrawal); self-concept (lower levels of academic, emotional, physical, and family self-concept), and academic achievement (lower academic achievement with higher school dropout rates). Moreover, children from separated families had a higher probability of being exposed to gender violence. Epidemiologically, parental separation is associated to the probability of falling below the poverty line 33.9%; being exposed to gender violence 43.2%; and symptoms such as depression, anxiety, hostility, paranoid ideation interpersonal alienation, and social withdrawal, i.e., 20, 17, 27, 20, 19, and 35.5%, respectively. Inversely, self-control in social relations, and academic, emotional, physical, and family self-concept fell to 16, 32, 27, 22, and 37%, respectively. The interrelationship among these variables and the implications of these results for interventions are discussed.

Assessing Impression Management With the MMPI-2 in Child Custody Litigation

Forensic psychological evaluation of parents in child custody litigation is primarily focused on evaluating parenting capacity and underreporting. The biased responses of underreporting have been classified as Impression Management (IM) or as Self-Deceptive Positivity (S-DP), which are regarded to be conscious or unconscious in nature, respectively. A field study was undertaken to assess impression management on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (MMPI-2) in child custody cases, the accuracy of the MMPI-2 scales in classifying IM, and what parents in child custody litigation actually manipulate in terms of IM. A total of 244 parents in child custody litigation and 244 parents under standard instructions were administered the MMPI-2. The results revealed that the L, Mp, Wsd, and Od scales discriminated between both samples of parents; the rate of satisfactory classification (i.e., odds ratio ranged from 5.7 for Wsd to 23.3 for Od) and an incremental validity of Od over Mp and Wsd. As for the effects of IM, the results show IM effects in the Basic Clinical Scales, the Restructured Clinical Scales, the Personality Psychopathology Five Scales, the Content Scales, and the Supplementary Scales. The implications of the results are discussed in relation to the forensic evaluation of parents in child custody litigation.

Construcción estadística de perfiles predictores de sesgo en la formación de juicios

ResumenA lo largo de la literatura sobre la toma de decisiones de los jurados y la incidencia en la misma de variables psicologicas se habian obtenido resultados muy inconsistentes. En otras palabras, mientras unos autores hallaban que determinada variable psicologica o sociodemografica predecia sesgos en la decision de los jurados, otros encontraban todo lo contrario. Nosotros entendemos que esta inconsistencia en los datos se debe a las diferencias existentes entre estudios en los casos manejados y la cantidad de evidencia presentada. En consecuencia, intentamos construir a traves de tecnicas estadisticas perfiles de variables predictores de veredictos. El metodo usado consistio en presentar cuatro casos judiciales distintos y con una evidencia minima que pusiera de manifiesto, en su caso, tendencias de juicio a un nivel muy basico. Con este diseno encontramos dos grupos de perfiles predictores de veredicto, en interaccion con el tipo de caso: perfil atribucional e ideologico. Finalmente discutimos las ...

Empirical assessment of the escabinato jury system

Abstract There are two practical applications of the jury system: the jury of lay people and the escabinato jury involving joint decision making by legal experts and lay people. Research undertaken in this field has been almost exclusively centered on the former. This work consists of an empirical study of the role of legal suggest that the loss of a jury of peers implies the dominance of the judges opinion. The causes and consequences of this domination have been assessed.

Jurados: de su composición y sus efectos en la toma de decisión grupal

ResumenA traves de la LO 5/1995 se ha reinstaurado en Espana el Tribunal de Jurado. En el preambulo de la Ley se deja abierta la puerta a las modificaciones que resulten necesario realizar para su eficaz funcionamiento para mejorar su calidad de ejecucion. En cuanto a la decision grupal, dos son las variables que tradicionalmente se han puesto en relacion directa con la calidad de ejecucion de losJurados: tamano y regla resolutoria (p. ej., Zeisel, 1971; Hastie et al., 1983). Nuestros resultados, considerando las principales caracterizaciones delJurado, ponen de manifiesto que un Jurado de doce miembros regidos por una regla de unanimidad alcanza decisiones mas consistentes y en los terminos esperados.

Perfiles psicosociales como predictores de sesgo en la toma de decisión del Jurado

ResumenSe han encontrado resultados contradictorios acerca de los posibles sesgos de origen psicologico en la toma de decisiones de los jurados legos. Posiblemente la causa de tales diferencias radique en que en las revisiones no se ha controlado ni el tipo de caso presentado al jurado ni la cantidad de evidencia. En estudios nuestros (Arce, 1989) cuando presentamos casos filmados en video a jurados homogeneos en perfiles psicosociales, encontramos que tales perfiles predecian sesgos en unos casos pero no en otros. Ademas, eran las condiciones de homogeneidad las que constituian tales sesgos en significativos a traves del condicionamiento del contenido de la interaccion grupal(Arce, Sobraly Farina, 1990).