Examining personal control beliefs as a mediating variable in the health-damaging behavior of substance use: an alternative approach.

Substance use continues to be a concern for researchers and health professionals alike. One of the most extensive areas of research on health-related behaviors such as smoking and drug use has been on personal control beliefs. Since many health actions (both facilitative and deleterious) depend on voluntary behaviors, and many health-related prevention and intervention programs are predicted on an assumption of controllability, this is an important area to consider. This article is a review of some of the literature and presents an alternative approach that entails using area-specific and domain-specific methods to examine the role that control beliefs play in the health-damaging behavior of substance use.     

Examining Personal Control Beliefs as a Mediating Variable in the Health-Damaging Behavior of Substance Use: An Alternative Approach

Substance use continues to be a concern for researchers and health professionals alike. One of the most extensive areas of research on health-related behaviors such as smoking and drug use has been on personal control beliefs. Since many health actions (both facilitative and deleterious) depend on voluntary behaviors, and many health-related prevention and intervention programs are predicted on an assumption of controllability, this is an important area to consider. This article is a review of some of the literature and presents an alternative approach that entails using area-specific and domain-specific methods to examine the role that control beliefs play in the health-damaging behavior of substance use.     

二级强化程序在药物成瘾研究中的应用

二级强化程序是一种以物质的强化效应为基础,评价药物的精神依赖性潜力的方法,将其应用到自身给药实验中,即为二级强化自身给药模型。在这个模型中,动物在条件性刺激的影响下按压杠杆以寻求药物的行为反映了其对成瘾性药物的渴求。使用二级强化程序,人们发现：条件性刺激既能够影响觅药行为的获得和保持,也能够影响这种行为的消退;伏隔核的核区、杏仁核基底外侧部和内侧前额皮层等部位在药物相关的条件性刺激诱导动物产生觅药行为的过程中起重要作用。二级强化程序的应用为开发治疗药物成瘾的物质提供了一条新思路     

A critical review of the assumptions underlying drug testing

Current drug screening programs are based on a set of assumptions: That drug use adversely affects productivity, that available tests are accurate and cost-effective means of detecting and reducing drug use, and that drug testing is legal. When analyzed in the light of available evidence, little support was found for these assumptions. Used properly, drug testing may play a role in the overall management of employee performance; used improperly, it represents a profound threat to individual rights. Recommendations for additional research and for employers planning to use drug screening are offered.     

Substance abuse and violence: A review of the literature

Most alcohol and drug use occurs among persons who are not violent. However, alcohol and, to a lesser extent, illicit drugs are present in both offenders and victims in many violent events. The links between psychoactive substances and violence involve broad social and economic forces, the settings in which people obtain and consume the substance, and the biological processes that underlie all human behavior. In the case of alcohol, evidence from laboratory and empirical studies support the possibility of a causal role in violent behavior. Similarly, the psychopharmacodynamics of stimulants, such as amphetamines and cocaine, also suggest that these substances could play a contributing role in violent behavior. On the other hand, most real-world studies indicate that this relationship is exceedingly complex and moderated by a host of factors in the individual and the environment. In addition to psychopharmacological effects, substance use may lead to violence through social processes such as drug distribution systems (systemic violence) and violence used to obtain drugs or money for drugs (economic compulsive violence).     

Affect and emotions in placebo and nocebo effects: What do we know so far?

Once considered nuisance variance in clinical trials, placebo effects and nocebo effects are now widely recognized as important and mutable psychobiological contributors to mental and physical health. Psychological theory explaining these effects emphasizes associative learning and conscious expectations. It has long been suggested, however, that affective states such as moods, emotions, and distress could play a significant role. In this paper, we draw together and review the empirical data linking affective states to placebo and nocebo effects. To organize this disparate literature, three questions are addressed: (1) Does pre‐existing state and trait affect modulate placebo and nocebo effects? (2) Does administering placebo and nocebo treatments change affective states, and if so, does the resulting affect causally influence placebo and nocebo effects? Finally, (3) Can placebo treatments be successfully employed as a regulation strategy to modulate different affective states? In reviewing the evidence in relation to these three questions, it is clear that affect does play a key role in placebo and nocebo effects in many circumstances, and further, there may be a reciprocal dynamic at play between a treatment event, affect, and placebo/nocebo effects. The paper concludes by discussing implications for theory and intervention and recommends future research priorities.     

Psychological factors and adolescent illicit drug use: ethnicity and sex differences

Of four psychological factors examined in a representative sample of New York State secondary school students, only two, depressive mood and normlessness, show a positive relationship with the use of illicit drugs, especially drugs other than marihuana. The association of depressive mood and normlessness with illegal multiple drug use varies by ethnicity and sex, being consistently stronger among girls and among whites. In addition, depressive mood is negatively related to multiple drug use for black and Puerto Rican boys. These findings suggest that psychological factors play a different role in adolescent drug involvement within various social and cultural groups.     

Phenomenology and psychophysics

Recent philosophy of mind has tended to treat “inner” states, including both qualia and intentional states, as “theoretical posits” of either folk or scientific psychology. This article argues that phenomenology in fact plays a very different role in the most mature part of psychology, psychophysics. Methodologically, phenomenology plays a crucial role in obtaining psychophysical results. And more importantly, many psychophysical data are best interpreted as reporting relations between stimuli and phenomenological states, both qualitative and intentional. Three examples are used to argue for this thesis: the Weber–Fechner laws, the Craik-O’Brien–Cornsweet effect, and subjective contour figures. The phenomenological properties that play a role here do so in the role of data that ultimately constrain theoretical work (in this case theory of vision), and not as theoretical posits.     

Peer Cluster Theory: Drugs and the Adolescent

The authors review several theories advanced to explain adolescent drug use to provide background for describing peer cluster theory. Peer clusters, small subsets of peer groups, including pairs, dictate the shared beliefs, values, and behaviors that determine where, when, and with whom drugs are used and the role that drugs play in defining cluster membership. Peer cluster theory incorporates those psychosocial factors that promote or inoculate against drug use in youth.     

Use of abnormal and health psychology as topics in a classroom format to reduce alcohol and other drug abuse among college students at risk

This study was done to assess whether classes containing topics derived from two college courses, Abnormal Psychology and Health Psychology, could be used in a class room format to reduce alcohol and other drug abuse among at-risk college students. Topics covered included stress and stress management, alcohol and other drug use and abuse, chronic illnesses and psychological disorders that develop from an unhealthy lifestyle, and factors that play a role in good health and well-being. Students were enrolled in a semester-long course for college credit as an alternative to punitive sanctions for on-campus alcohol violations and other drug violations. The Midwest Institute on Drug Use Survey and the CORE Alcohol and Drug Survey were administered on the first and last days of class. Analysis indicated a significant self-reported reduction in drug use and associated negative symptoms and behavioral effects. Women were more likely to report reductions in drug use than men.     

压力性生活事件对工读生毒品使用影响：有中介的调节效应

考察家庭功能对压力性生活事件与工读生毒品使用之间关系的调节效应以及领悟社会支持对此调节效应是否具有中介效应。采用压力性生活事件量表、家庭功能评定问卷、领悟社会支持问卷、毒品使用问卷对514名工读生进行研究。结果表明：（1）家庭功能对压力性生活事件与工读生毒品使用之间关系具有调节效应;（2）这种调节效应以领悟社会支持为中介变量。压力性生活事件对工读生毒品使用的影响是有中介的调节效应。     

How to defend the phenomenology of attitudes

This paper develops a novel defense of the non-sensory phenomenology of desires, and more broadly, of attitudes. I argue that the way to defend this type of phenomenology is to: (i) offer a defense of the view that attitudes are states that realize the causal role of attitude types and (ii) argue that what realizes the causal role of attitudes are, in certain cases, states that possess non-sensory phenomenology. I carry out this approach with respect to desires by developing the view that desires play the causal role of motivating action, and in some cases, the states that play this role are states that possess the non-sensory phenomenology of attraction. I proceed to argue that if this way of defending the non-sensory phenomenology of desires, and more broadly, of attitudes, is unsuccessful, we should be eliminativists about this type of phenomenology.     

Adolescent Substance Use: Preliminary Examinations of School and Neighborhood Context

In considering the influences of microsystems on adolescent substance use, familial and peer contexts have received the most extensive attention in the research literature. School and neighborhood settings, however, are other developmental contexts that may exert specific influences on adolescent substance use. In many instances, school settings are organized to provide educational services to students who share similar educational abilities and behavioral repertoires. The resulting segregation of students into these settings may result in different school norms for substance use. Similarly, neighborhood resources, including models for substance use and drug sales involvement, may play an important role in adolescent substance use. We briefly review literature examining contextual influences on adolescent substance use, and present results from two preliminary studies examining the contribution of school and neighborhood context to adolescent substance use. In the first investigation, we examine the impact of familial, peer, and school contexts on adolescent substance use. Respondents were 283 students (ages 13 to 18) from regular and special education classrooms in six schools. Although peer and parental contexts were important predictors of substance use, school norms for drug use accounted for variance in adolescent use beyond that explained by peer and parental norms. Data from a second study of 114 adolescents (mean age = 15) examines neighborhood contributions to adolescent substance use. In this sample, neighborhood indices did not contribute to our understanding of adolescent substance use. Implications for prevention are presented.     

Alcohol and Drug Use, and Depression Among Hispanic Men in Early Adulthood

Community research and clinical practice have shown that alcohol and drug use and depression are interrelated. Among Hispanics, acculturation may play a role in these relationships. To investigate these relationships as well as alcohol-related problems, we interviewed 288 Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Colombian men in early adulthood. No significant differences emerged in the proportions of abstainers across the three groups. Colombians drank significantly more frequently and had more alcohol-related problems than Dominicans. Dominicans were at least risk for and least likely to have alcohol-related problems. Puerto Ricans were much more likely to use drugs than the other Hispanic men. Drug use was associated with an increased likelihood of heavy drinking which, in turn, increased the risk of drug use and depression. Acculturation decreased the risk of drug use. Results are discussed in terms of implications for community psychology research and interventions.     

Cosmopolitan Justice and Criminal States

Cécile Fabre's monumental work Cosmopolitan Peace offers a thorough investigation of the responsibilities that agents incur through their involvement in armed conflict. However, her analysis fails to acknowledge the central role that states play in initiating and orchestrating acts of war. I argue that states are corporate moral agents, who are morally responsible for their own wrongdoings during an unjust war, and that this argument is compatible with Fabre's cosmopolitan premises. I then suggest that a systematic account of criminal liability in the aftermath of a war should acknowledge the role that states play in orchestrating wars and committing war crimes.     

Women as Ritual Experts,The Religious Lives of Elderly Jewish Women in Jerusalem (Book)

Mystics, religionists, and psychologists have posited a causal link between experi- ences of ecstatic unity and transformations in moral sensibility. This study demon- strates that various functions attributed by psychoanalysis to the positive superego play a prominent role in alternate states of consciousness. Several heuristic and phenomenological categories are formulated based on self-reports of religious ec- stasy: directives and values, truth and perfection, imperative urgency, presence, moral transformation, and bliss. The transformative potential of ecstasy is attribut- able to the way in which alternate states provide uniquely powerful avenues of accessibility to unconscious superego materials, some of which may have been previously unavailable for conscious use due to fixation and defense.     

Contributions of Game Genre and Masculinity Ideologies to Associations Between Video Game Play and Men’s Risk-Taking Behavior

Previous investigations of mainstream video games have documented a high prevalence of risk-promoting content, as well as a positive relation between video game play and participation in risk-taking behaviors such as reckless driving, substance use, and delinquency. In this study, we extend this work by investigating the role of video game genre and masculinity ideology within this relation. A sample of 273 undergraduate men from a large Midwestern university completed online surveys of their video game exposure, masculinity ideology, and participation in a range of high-risk behaviors. Results indicate that playing sports video games is associated with greater alcohol use, drug use, and delinquent behaviors, but action games are only associated with greater delinquency. In contrast, playing online video games was negatively associated with alcohol and drug use. Furthermore, the relation between sports video games and participation in risky behaviors was fully mediated by participants’ adherence to masculinity ideology. These results reveal that the relations between video game play and risk outcomes were strongest for sports video games, and in some cases, were mediated by masculinity ideology.     

Neural correlates of establishing, maintaining, and switching brain states

Although the study of brain states is an old one in neuroscience, there has been growing interest in brain state specification owing to MRI studies tracing brain connectivity at rest. In this review, we summarize recent research on three relatively well-described brain states: the resting, alert, and meditation states. We explore the neural correlates of maintaining a state or switching between states, and argue that the anterior cingulate cortex and striatum play a critical role in state maintenance, whereas the insula has a major role in switching between states. Brain state may serve as a predictor of performance in a variety of perceptual, memory, and problem solving tasks. Thus, understanding brain states is critical for understanding human performance.     

胰岛素：是“天使”还是“魔鬼”？——胰岛素引起血管损伤的哲学思考

随着社会经济和医疗技术的发展进步,胰岛素在2型糖尿病患者的治疗地位越来越高.然而,胰岛素的使用却好比一把＂双刃剑＂,既可以扮演着控制血糖的＂天使＂角色,又有导致血管损伤的＂魔鬼＂一面.那么,如何理解胰岛素的＂天使＂或＂魔鬼＂的这两种截然不同的角色呢？在这里,我们将从哲学的角度来辩证的分析,从理性的角度来合理规范化用药,充分强调整体观念,并为日后临床工作中科学的使用胰岛素提出理性与科学的指导意见.     

Correlates of Marijuana Use Among College Students1

Students who have smoked marijuana are compared with non-users on a variety of attitudinal and demographic characteristics. Approximately 36% of the sample of over 5,000 college students from a national survey report usage of the drug. The major demographic characteristics that separate users from non-users are religious affiliation, region of the country, and sex. With respect to collegiate institutions, the selectivity of the institution, the students' academic aspirations, and grade-point average all prove to play a significant role. Anti-war activities and sentiments also prove highly significant. A Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA), which compares the relative contribution of each variable to drug usage, shows that anti-war protest, religious affiliation, and sex are the most significant predictors of marijuana usage. A variety of mechanisms playing a possible role in fostering drug use are discussed.