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Mental Capacity (mental + capacity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Psychology80%

Terms modified by Mental Capacity

  • mental capacity act
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    Selected Abstracts

    Development of Mental Attention in Gifted and Mainstream Children: The Role of Mental Capacity, Inhibition, and Speed of Processing

    CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2003
    Janice Johnson
    The study examined performance of 6- to 11-year-old children, from gifted and mainstream academic programs, on measures of mental-attentional capacity, cognitive inhibition, and speed of processing. In comparison with mainstream peers, gifted children scored higher on measures of mental-attentional capacity, responded more quickly on speeded tasks of varying complexity, and were better able to resist interference in tasks requiring effortful inhibition. There was no group difference on a task requiring automatic inhibition. Comparisons between older and younger children yielded similar results. Correlations between inhibition tasks suggest that inhibition is multidimensional in nature, and its application may be affected by task demands. Measures of efficiency of inhibition and speed of processing did not explain age or group differences on a complex intellective measure of mental-attentional capacity. [source]

    Children's Understanding of Ordinary and Extraordinary Minds

    CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2010
    Jonathan D. Lane
    How and when do children develop an understanding of extraordinary mental capacities? The current study tested 56 preschoolers on false-belief and knowledge-ignorance tasks about the mental states of contrasting agents,some agents were ordinary humans, some had exceptional perceptual capacities, and others possessed extraordinary mental capacities. Results indicated that, in contrast to younger and older peers, children within a specific age range reliably attributed fallible, human-like capacities to ordinary humans and to several special agents (including God) for both tasks. These data lend critical support to an anthropomorphism hypothesis,which holds that children's understanding of extraordinary minds is derived from their everyday intuitive psychology,and reconcile disparities between the findings of other studies on children's understanding of extraordinary minds. [source]

    Capacity of People with Intellectual Disabilities to Consent to Take Part in a Research Study

    JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 2 2007
    Linda Dye
    Background, Within the context of current legislation relating to mental capacity in adults, the capacity of people with intellectual disabilities to consent to take part in research studies and the impact of different forms of information provision was experimentally investigated. Materials and methods, A questionnaire measure of ability to consent to take part in this research study was administered individually to participants. A total of 102 participants with intellectual disabilities were recruited from three day services for adults with intellectual disabilities. Consent information appertaining to taking part in an actual research project was presented to participants and their capacity assessed using a questionnaire. Three experimental conditions were used: ,,Control (n = 34) , consent information was presented followed by the questionnaire. ,,Section (n = 34) , consent information was broken into sections and the appropriate questions were asked following each section. ,,Photograph (n = 34) , consent information was accompanied by six colour photographs, followed by the questionnaire. Participants also completed measures of memory ability, verbal ability and non-verbal problem-solving ability. Results, Seventeen participants withdrew from the study at some point. Of the remaining 85 participants, no significant differences in ability to consent scores were found between the experimental conditions. Using this measure, only five participants (5.9%) were deemed able to consent, i.e. scored the minimum required on each aspect of consent. Conclusions, The validity and usefulness of the current dichotomous concept of consent is challenged as only a small proportion of participants were deemed able to consent. [source]

    Conceptual framework from the Paris Psychosomatic School: A clinical psychoanalytic approach to oncology,

    THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOANALYSIS, Issue 3 2010
    Marilia Aisenstein
    This article presents further clinical material from the Paris Psychosomatic School (Aisenstein, 2006). The Freudian foundations of psychosomatics are detailed and post-Freudian developments focusing on the contribution of the Paris Psychosomatic School are outlined, in particular, the somatizing process as a result of regression and the somatizing process as a result of drive unbinding. The authors argue that the latter possibly gives rise to progressive and serious illness leading to death. The relationship of classical psychoanalysis to psychotherapeutic treatment from the angle of the Paris school is commented on. The authors then turn to two clinical presentations of women suffering from breast cancer. The method of evaluating the patients' capacities for undergoing psychotherapeutic treatment and their mental capacity for healing is discussed. The face-to-face psychoanalytic treatment undertaken with the second case is discussed. Finally, the authors recall Freud's insistence after 1920 on the opposition of the life drives and the death drives, which placed self-destruction at the centre of psychic functioning. They conclude that current research in biology and medicine, notably research concerning programmed cell death, will converge with psychoanalytic psychosomatics to illuminate somatizing processes and demonstrate the relevance of psychoanalytic treatment to patients who are capable of mental reorganization in the course of their illness and medical treatment. [source]

    Death penalty support for special offender populations of legally convicted murderers: juveniles, the mentally retarded, and the mentally incompetent,

    BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES & THE LAW, Issue 2 2004
    Denise Paquette Boots M.A.
    The U.S. Supreme Court recently re-examined the constitutionality of the death penalty in the context of two of three special offender populations of murderers (juveniles, mentally retarded, and mentally incompetent). The Court reaffirmed the imposition of the death penalty for juveniles 16 and 17, while reversing itself on the mentally retarded. In reaching its decision, the Court relied on society's "evolving standards of decency." Using Likert-type items, this study is the first to have prospective jurors assess support for the death penalty for these specific offender groups. The public's support for the execution of each of the groups is then compared with existing case law. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses indicate that, as expected, the levels of support for the applicability of capital punishment to the various special offender populations are much lower than that for the general adult offender. Moreover, these findings are congruent with the holdings of the Court with one notable exception: a slight majority of respondents supported executing the mentally incompetent. Reasons for the public's apparent departure from the Supreme Court holding prohibiting the execution of mentally incompetent convicted murderers are discussed. The Court's continued role in protecting marginalized populations from "cruel and unusual punishment" is explored in the context of strong public sentiment demanding justice and finality despite changes in offenders' mental capacity. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]