responsibility and punishment

Katrina Sifferd interviewed by Richard Marshall
3:AM Magazine
Originally posted

Here is an excerpt:

KS: Well, for one, we won’t be able to make responsibility assessments. When you show a jury a picture of a brain lighting up in such-and-such a way it means absolutely nothing to them until somebody translates the scientific data into folk psychological terms. Expert witnesses in a trial cannot just point to a dark spot on a PET scan and sit down: the scientific data is irrelevant to the defendant’s culpability until is it translated into folk concepts that push and pull responsibility assessments in different directions. For example, an expert might note that the dark spot is a brain tumor likely to result in a severe lack of impulse control, which the jury might feel undermines attribution of the highest levels of criminal intent.

I think it is interesting that some scientific data actually seems to push responsibility assessments in both directions, or in ways unanticipated by the side offering the evidence in a criminal trial. In one high profile capital sentencing hearing, the defense offered neuroscientific evidence of psychopathy in an attempt to prove diminished capacity (and thus a mitigating factor); but instead, the jury seemed to think the data made the defendant more culpable for his actions, and sentenced him to death. Is a person whose brain shows clear signs of psychopathy less responsible because of their abnormal brain function or more responsible because their brain is abnormal (and thus they are likely to be dangerous in the future)? I think it depends on the way in which the brain is dysfunctional, and maybe the reasons why it is dysfunctional. There is a lot of important work to be done making reliable translations of neuroscientific data into folk descriptions relevant to responsibility.

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KS: Different theories of punishment seem to emphasize different aspects of our cognitive capacities as most important to culpability. Bill and I have argued that deontological accounts which postulate emotional response or empathy as crucial to moral knowledge and decision-making might be more likely to excuse all psychopaths because of their apparent lack of relevant affective data. Some deontological theorists believe that a lack of appropriate emotional response translates into a wholesale lack of legal rationality. A consequentialist theory of punishment, however, may be more likely to hold some psychopaths responsible, because it emphasizes the need for rational capacities as a means to grasp and reflect upon the consequences of action given ones goals and relevant social norms (a skill successful psychopaths may possess), and not the way one feels about these consequences.

The entire interview is here.

Understanding Heidegger on Technology

By Mark Blitz
The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology and Society
Originally published in 2014

Here is an excerpt:

Technology as Revealing

Heidegger’s concern with technology is not limited to his writings that are explicitly dedicated to it, and a full appreciation of his views on technology requires some understanding of how the problem of technology fits into his broader philosophical project and phenomenological approach. (Phenomenology, for Heidegger, is a method that tries to let things show themselves in their own way, and not see them in advance through a technical or theoretical lens.) The most important argument in Being and Time that is relevant for Heidegger’s later thinking about technology is that theoretical activities such as the natural sciences depend on views of time and space that narrow the understanding implicit in how we deal with the ordinary world of action and concern. We cannot construct meaningful distance and direction, or understand the opportunities for action, from science’s neutral, mathematical understanding of space and time. Indeed, this detached and “objective” scientific view of the world restricts our everyday understanding. Our ordinary use of things and our “concernful dealings” within the world are pathways to a more fundamental and more truthful understanding of man and being than the sciences provide; science flattens the richness of ordinary concern. By placing science back within the realm of experience from which it originates, and by examining the way our scientific understanding of time, space, and nature derives from our more fundamental experience of the world, Heidegger, together with his teacher Husserl and some of his students such as Jacob Klein and Alexandre Koyré, helped to establish new ways of thinking about the history and philosophy of science.

The entire story is here.

Is Technology Shifting Our Moral Compass?

The Big Question
The Atlantic Video
Originally published August 22, 2014

At this year's Aspen Ideas Festival, we asked a group of experts what new technologies like self-driving cars and drones might mean for our collective conscience. "When a technology first comes into the marketplace, there are always unintended consequences," says Ping Fu, chief strategy officer for 3D Systems. Other panelists include Sebastian Thrun, Alex Reben, Missy Cummings, Jonathan Harris, Jennifer Pahlka, Danny Hillis.

Here’s a Terrible Idea: Robot Cars With Adjustable Ethics Settings

By Patrick Lin
Wired
Originally posted August 18, 2014

Here is an excerpt:

So why not let the user select the car’s “ethics setting”? The way this would work is one customer may set the car (which he paid for) to jealously value his life over all others; another user may prefer that the car values all lives the same and minimizes harm overall; yet another may want to minimize legal liability and costs for herself; and other settings are possible.

Plus, with an adjustable ethics dial set by the customer, the manufacturer presumably can’t be blamed for hard judgment calls, especially in no-win scenarios, right? In one survey, 44 percent of the respondents preferred to have a personalized ethics setting, while only 12 percent thought the manufacturer should predetermine the ethical standard. So why not give customers what they want?

The entire story is here.

Should We Teach Plato in Gym Class?

By Mark Edmundson
The New York Times
Originally published August  15, 2014

Here is an excerpt:

Evidence of our neglect is everywhere. Day after day we see athletes, especially male athletes, behaving badly. The players of the most violent sports, football in particular, are too often finding their way to the front pages of the newspaper for crimes like rape and assault. These are young men who have been encouraged to develop speed and strength and, most of all, aggression. Their spiritedness has been amped up by their training.

We need a more thoughtful and sound philosophy of educating the body and the spirit than we currently possess. The athletes who are raising their quotient of thymos with every collision need to be helped to understand what a wonderful but dangerous power they are unleashing in themselves.

The entire story is here.

Moral Distress in Medical Education and Training

by Berger, Jeffrey T
Journal of General Internal Medicine, Volume 29, Issue 2
doi: 10.1007/s11606-013-2665-0

Abstract

Moral distress is the experience of cognitive-emotional dissonance that arises when one feels compelled to act contrary to one’s moral requirements. Moral distress is common, but under-recognized in medical education and training, and this relative inattention may undermine educators’ efforts to promote empathy, ethical practice, and professionalism. Moral distress should be recognized as a feature of the clinical landscape, and addressed in conjunction with the related concerns of negative role modeling and the goals and efficacy of medical ethics curricula.

Introduction

Moral distress is the cognitive-emotional dissonance that arises when one feels compelled to act against one’s moral requirements. Moral distress is common in clinical practice, because caring for the ill is an inherently moral activity. Medical students and junior practitioners may be particularly challenged by morally distressing situations. Their development into attending physicians involves a process that is complex intellectually, sociologically, and culturally, and is no less complex in its moral dimensions.

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Academic health institutions whose leadership presupposes that moral distress affects all of its clinicians will be best positioned to mitigate this stress and to promote moral wellness and professionalism. Programs should expect that their trainees will experience moral distress and trainees should be aware of this expectation.

The entire article is here.

Who Is the Client and Who Controls Release of Records in a Forensic Evaluation?

By Bruce Borkosky
Psychological Injury and Law
August 2014
DOI: 10.1007/s12207-014-9199-6

Abstract

Forensic psychologists often refuse to release evaluation records, especially to the evaluee. One justification for this practice is based on the ethical positions that the referral source “is the client” and “controls release of records” (also found in the Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology). To determine whether these ethical positions are shared by the field of forensic mental health, official documents from forensic mental health organizations were used as a proxy for these views. Thirty-four supporting arguments for either position were identified from the literature; it was postulated that official documents would support both positions and utilize supporting arguments. Fifty-four official documents were discovered, and qualitative analysis was used to construct a 17-category model of official views. Neither position was supported by a majority of documents, and few of the supporting arguments were utilized by supportive documents. The positions are unsupported because official documents espouse a wide diversity of views, there are a number of logical flaws in supporting arguments, and even official APA documents hold conflicting views. Ethical arguments are advanced for contrary positions, and the referral-source-control of records release is contrary to law. A more ethical view is that the psychologist may have multiple, possibly conflicting responsibilities to multiple entities; the psychologist’s roles and responsibilities should be clarified with each entity using an informed consent process. Psychologists should release records at the behest of the evaluee, lest they be subject to licensing discipline, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) complaints, and/or civil sanctions. Recommendations are offered for psychologists, future ethics codes and professional practice guidelines, and test security practices.

The entire article is here.

Is One of the Most Popular Psychology Experiments Worthless?

By Olga Khazan
The Atlantic
Originally published July 24, 2014

Here is an excerpt:

But one group of researchers thinks it might be time to retire the trolley. In an upcoming paper that will be published in Social and Personality Psychology Compass, Christopher Bauman of the University of California, Irvine, Peter McGraw of the University of Colorado, Boulder, and others argue that the dilemma is too silly and unrealistic to be applicable to real-life moral problems. Therefore, they contend, it doesn't tell us as much about the human condition as we might hope.

In a survey of undergraduates, Bauman and McGraw found that 63 percent laughed "at least a little bit" in the fat-man scenario and 33 percent did so in the track-switching scenario. And that's an issue, because "humor may alter the decision-making processes people normally use to evaluate moral situations," they note. "A large body of research shows how positivity is less motivating than negativity."

The entire article is here.

Episode 14: Ethics and Quality Enhancement Strategies

In Episode 14, John welcomes Dr. Sam Knapp back to the podcast.  Sam was fresh off his Lifetime Achievement Award in Ethics Education from the American Psychological Association.  After John's first attempt at listener mail, the topic moves toward ethics education and ways to contemplate positive ethics.  Rather than looking at remedial ethics or the ethical floor, John and Sam give examples about striving for the ethical ceiling.  The focus on quality enhancement strategies grew out of risk management strategies.  From a quality enhancement perspective, Sam and John give several examples of what may trigger the need for quality enhancement strategies.  They also review four quality enhancement strategies: 1) consultation, 2) empowered collaboration, 3) documentation, and 4) redundant protections.  Sam and John also talk about psychologists' emotional reactions to patients.

At the end of this podcast, the listener will be able to:

1. Outline three quality enhancement strategies,
2. Describe how to prepare for a helpful consultation, and,
3. List the reasons why redundant protections are helpful in clinical practice.

Click here to earn one APA-approved CE credit

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Resources for this podcast

Ethical Issues With Patients at a High Risk for Treatment Failure 

Samuel J. Knapp and John Gavazzi

Can Checklists Help to Reduce Treatment Failure?

Sam Knapp and John Gavazzi

Quality Enhancement Strategies - PowerPoint

John Gavazzi, PsyD ABPP

Episode 8: The Dark Side of Ethics - False Risk Management Strategies 

Therapists' Anger, Hate, Fear, and Sexual Feelings: National Survey of Therapist Responses, Client Characteristics, Critical Events, Formal Complaints, and Training

Ken Pope and Barbara G. Tabachnick