This is a lively and engaging look at the factors, known as `artifacts', that can confound behavioural experiments. By describing key research studies in a narrative style, Rosnow and Rosenthal address the issues of scientific method and clarify the difficulties that behavioural researchers will encounter. Their final chapter addresses ethical issues, again through narrative use of examples.

The pre-eminent figure in mid-Victorian psychological medicine, Dr. John Conolly had his reputation damaged in the 1850s by scandals linking him to cases of wrongful confinement, including one that figures in Charles Reade’s novel, Hard Cash. This essay looks at two major works Conolly published during the scandals and argues that they are responses to the charges against him. Both works focus on representations of insanity in art, rather than actual patients. “The Physiognomy of Insanity” (1858-59) is a series of essays on photographic portraits of asylum patients, and his essays prove to be more fictional than factual. A Study of Hamlet (1863) looks at the ambiguity of madness in Shakespeare’s portrayal of Hamlet, but it explains how Conolly understood the relationship between fact and fiction in cases of insanity. In both works, Conolly defends himself as an aesthete and defines his diagnostic method as a deliberate and necessary form of impressionism.

The empirical study of language has historically relied heavily upon concrete word stimuli. By definition, concrete words evoke salient perceptual associations that fit well within feature-based, sensorimotor models of word meaning. In contrast, many theorists argue that abstract words are “disembodied” in that their meaning is mediated through language. We investigated word meaning as distributed in multidimensional space using hierarchical cluster analysis. Participants (N = 365) rated target words (n = 400 English nouns) across 12 cognitive dimensions (e.g., polarity, ease of teaching, emotional valence). Factor reduction revealed three latent factors, corresponding roughly to perceptual salience, affective association, and magnitude. We plotted the original 400 words for the three latent factors. Abstract and concrete words showed overlap in their topography but also differentiated themselves in semantic space. This topographic approach to word meaning offers a unique perspective to word concreteness.

In a multichannel era of fragmented and contested political communication, both misinformation and fact checking have taken on new significance. The rise of Twitter as a key venue for political journalists would seem to support their fact-checking activities. Through a content analysis of political journalists’ Twitter discourse surrounding the 2012 presidential debates, this study examines the degree to which fact-checking techniques were used on Twitter and the ways in which journalists on Twitter adhered to the practices of either “professional” or “scientific” objectivity—the mode that underlies the fact-checking enterprise—or disregarded objectivity altogether. A typology of tweets indicates that fact checking played a notable but secondary role in journalists’ Twitter discourse. Professional objectivity, especially simple stenography, dominated reporting practices on Twitter, and opinion and commentary were also prevalent. We determine that Twitter is indeed conducive to some elements of fact checking. But taken as a whole, our data suggest that journalists and commentators posted opinionated tweets about the candidates’ claims more often than they fact checked those claims.

Using Twitter, journalists may pass along comment from other users without, at least ostensibly, taking accountability for that message. Minimizing responsibility and editorial oversight, as is the case with retweets, allows a different view of individual journalists as gatekeepers. Through a qualitative textual analysis, this study finds that journalists are challenging norms of objectivity and independence on Twitter. Journalists frequently pass along subtle interpretation and analysis rather than strong opinions. Many retweets are humorous, sometimes even at journalism’s expense. Journalists also retweet many messages about themselves, working to build a personal brand and relationships with their audience. Implications for journalists, their industry, and the audience are discussed.

Objective: To characterize prevalence and correlates of child maltreatment (CM) in a clinical sample of adolescents with severe obesity. Method Multicenter baseline data from 139 adolescents undergoing weight loss surgery (Mage = 16.9; 79.9% female, 66.2% White; Mbody mass index [BMI] = 51.5 kg/m2) and 83 nonsurgical comparisons (Mage = 16.1; 81.9% female, 54.2% White; MBMI = 46.9 kg/m2) documented self-reported CM (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) and associations with psychopathology, quality of life, self-esteem and body image, high-risk behaviors, and family dysfunction. Results CM prevalence (females: 29%; males: 12%) was similar to national adolescent base rates. Emotional abuse was most prevalent. One in 10 females reported sexual abuse. For females, CM rates were higher in comparisons, yet correlates were similar for both cohorts: greater psychopathology, substance use, and family dysfunction, and lower quality of life. Conclusion While a minority of adolescents with severe obesity reported a CM history, they carry greater psychosocial burden into the clinical setting.

Background: Facial redness contributes to impaired psychosocial functioning in rosacea patients and the only approved treatment for erythema is topical brimonidine gel 0.33%. Objectives: To evaluate patient‐reported outcomes, as well as efficacy and safety, in subjects with self‐perceived severe erythema treated with brimonidine gel 0.33% compared to vehicle. Methods: An 8‐day multicenter, randomized study comparing once‐daily brimonidine gel 0.33% with vehicle gel using a facial redness questionnaire, subject satisfaction questionnaire and a patient diary of facial redness control to assess patient‐reported outcomes. Results: Of the 92 included subjects with self‐perceived severe erythema, very few were satisfied with their appearance at baseline (4.2% brimonidine group, 0 vehicle group). On Day 8, significantly more brimonidine group subjects were satisfied with their facial appearance compared to vehicle group (36.9% vs. 21.5%; P < 0.05), with the overall treatment effect (69.6% vs. 40.4%; P < 0.01), and with the improvement in their facial redness (67.4% vs. 33.3%; P < 0.001). More brimonidine group subjects were able to control their facial redness daily (e.g. 83.0% vs. 38.9% on Day 1). On Day 8, significantly more brimonidine group subjects than vehicle group had at least a one‐grade improvement from baseline in the Clinician Erythema Assessment score (71.7% vs. 35.7%; P = 0.0011) and Patient Self‐Assessment score (76.1% vs. 47.6%; P = 0.004). More subjects in the brimonidine group (29.2%) reported treatment‐related adverse events than in the vehicle group (15.9%) but most were mild and transient. Conclusions: Once‐daily brimonidine gel 0.33% allowed patients to rapidly control their facial redness and significantly improved patient‐reported outcomes in the treatment of persistent facial erythema of rosacea.

Researchers have explored the role of organizational and personal branding in journalism, paying particular attention to digital media and social network sites. While these studies have observed a rise in the incorporation of branding practices among journalists, they have largely avoided questions about the implications such shifts in practice may have on the personal identities of journalists. This study addresses that gap, drawing on interviews with 41 reporters and editors from US newspapers. The findings suggest that as reporters incorporate branding into their routines, they may feel as though they are sacrificing the ability to simultaneously maintain a personal identity online. For their part, editors seem to sympathize with journalists’ loss of personal identity but defer to organizational policies.