Stress,Sex Differences,and Coping Strategies Among College Students

The sources of stress (academics, financial, family, social, and daily hassles) and coping strategies (self-help, approach, accommodation, avoidance, and self-punishment) of 166 college students were examined. The relationship between sex, specific sources of stress, and coping strategies was also investigated. Students completed a stress assessment inventory and a stress coping inventory based on a 5-factor revised COPE model (Zuckerman and Gagne Journal of Research in Personality, 37:169–204, 2003). Results found that college women reported a higher overall level of stress and greater use of emotion-focused coping strategies than college men. College men and women also reported different coping strategies for different stressors; however the use of emotion-focused coping strategies dominated over problem-solving strategies for both men and women. These results have implications for designing stress reduction workshops that build on the existing adaptive emotion-focused strategies of college students.     

Sex differences in response to an observational fear conditioning procedure

The present study evaluated sex differences in observational fear conditioning using modeled “mock” panic attacks as an unconditioned stimulus (UCS). Fifty-nine carefully prescreened healthy undergraduate participants (30 women) underwent 3 consecutive differential conditioning phases: habituation, acquisition, and extinction. It was expected that participants watching a confederate display mock panic attacks (UCS) paired with a previously neutral stimulus (CS⁺) would learn to respond fearfully to the CS⁺, but not to the CS⁻ (i.e., a stimulus never associated with displays of panic). Women also were expected to report more distress and ratings of panic to the CS⁺ than the CS⁻ compared to men, but no sex differences were anticipated on autonomic indices of conditioning (i.e., electrodermal responses). Consistent with expectation, aversive conditioning was demonstrated by greater magnitude electrodermal and verbal-evaluative (e.g., subjective units of distress scale, panic ratings) responses to the CS⁺ over the CS⁻, with women reporting more distress to the CS⁺ over the CS⁻, but not greater autonomic conditioning, compared to men. Overall, the results support the notion that modeled panic attacks can serve as a potent UCS for both men and women. Discussion focuses on sex differences in observational fear conditioning and its relation to the clinical presentation of anxiety disorders.     

音乐训练促进诗句韵律整合加工的神经过程

本研究采用ERP技术, 考察音乐训练组和对照组完成诗句押韵判断任务时, 在绝句末对韵律信息(含声调和韵母两个维度)的整合加工过程。结果发现, 在100~300 ms, 仅音乐训练组在声调/韵母合适条件下, 对韵母/声调的一致性进行深入分析, 并诱发了更大的正波; 在韵母违反条件下, 声调违反相比声调合适诱发了更小的正波。在300~750 ms, 两组被试均在绝句末对诗句内出现的韵母和声调违反进行整合分析并诱发了广泛分布的负波。不过, 对照组仅在声调/韵母合适条件下进行, 而音乐训练组则在声调/韵母违反条件下完成此过程。综上, 音乐训练组和对照组均会在诗句末完成押韵信息的整合加工, 但是音乐训练组对韵律信息(尤其是声调)的加工更敏感和快速, 并且对不同类型的违反有更精细的差异性反应     

I3模型视角下个体行为的表达机制

I³模型塑造了一个解释个体行为的理论框架, 认为所有的行为都来自刺激、驱力和抑制三个因素的组合, 任何一个因素都可以独立于其余两个而变化, 其结构是由一个结果(行为)、一个中介(行为倾向)和三个因素(刺激、驱力和抑制)组成的12条路径的综合模型。这12条路径通过描述18个问题来预测个体在具体背景下的行为机制, 比如攻击行为、进食行为等。为有效促进该理论的应用, 文章对该理论的合理性、科学性、独特价值, 以及存在的问题进行评价, 并进一步提出未来的研究方向。     

TREATING WOMEN AS SEX-OBJECTS

In this paper we have two related aims. First, we aim to present an account of what it is to treat women as sex-objects.¹ Like other philosophical writers in the field, we hold that the central idea in an account of such treatment is the failure to treat women with proper respect in sexual behavior. This idea has been cashed out in terms of using,² and in terms of dehumanization or failure to accord equal rights to freedom and welfare.³ However, we believe that there is a central deficiency in most such philosophical accounts of treating women as sex-objects, namely, a failure to outline in any detail a theory of interpersonal norms so that one can grasp in more concrete terms what it is to avoid treating a woman as a sex-object. We aim to rectify this deficiency by presenting a model of interpersonal norms based on the work of the social psychologist Chris Argyris.⁴     

THE DEFEAT OF VIJÑ'PTIMATRAT' IN CHINA: FA-TSANG ON FA-HSING AND FA-HSIANG

The major Yog'ch'ra school in China was the one introduced by the pilgrim Hsüan-tsang^a (ca596-664) from Nalanda to Ch'ang-an in 645. Being based on his translation of Dharmap'la's Vijñ'ptim'trat'-siddhi (Ch 'eng wei-shih lun ^b1. It was developed into the Wei-shih (Consciousness Only) school by his student, Kuei-ch'i^c (632–682), who wrote the two major works of Fa-yüan-i-lin-chang ^b2 and the Wei-shih-shu-chi ^{e 3}.     

THE MIND AND THE 'SHEN-MING'a IN XUNZI

In Plan 21 of the Xunzi , the essay Dubs titles "The Removal of Prejudices"¹ and Watson calls "Dispelling Obsession"², there is a sentence one's eyes slide over rather easily until one tries to fit it into its context and that of the Xunzi generally. Dubs translates it "The mind is the ruler of the body and the master of the spirit" (p. 269); Watson shows a slight discomfort with the second clause when he gives "The mind is the ruler of the body and the master of its god-like intelligence" [whatever that is] (p. 129) Koester³ raises a few more doubts with his "Das Herz nimmt im Koerper die Stelle des Herrschers ein, es ist der Gebieter ueber die shen-ming (Geister, die im Koerper wohnen)" (p. 277). Interestingly enough, the commentatorial tradition seems to have felt no difficulties: Yang Liang's comment is merely a paraphrase of the sentence following, and Wang Xian-jian and Liang Qi-xiong simply quote him⁴.     

LI CH'UN-FU'S THEORY OF HARMONIZATION OF THE THREE TEACHINGS

The importance of Li Ch'un-fu^a (or Li P'ing-shan) (1185–1231), a scholar-official of the Chin Dynasty, in the discussion of the relationship among the Three Teachings—Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism—has long been recognized by Japanese scholars such as Takao Giken, Tokiwa Dago, Nogami Shunjo and Kubota Ryoon about half a century ago, and more recently by Professor Jan Yun-hua in the West¹ While Li in the capacity of an harmonizer² of the Three Teachings has been alluded to by these scholars, his theory of harmonization has not been analysed nor has his position as an harmonizer been properly evaluated and appreciated. Up to now, Li Ch'un-fu has been better known as a defender of Buddhism and this for three reasons. First, Li was presented as such by Yeh-lu Ch'u-ts'ai^c (1189–1243), the one who propagated Li's major works after the latter's death³ Second, the Fo-tsu li-tai t'ung-tsar ^d (A Complete Record of Buddhas and Patriarchs Through the Ages ), by its biased selection of quotations from the Ming-tao-chi shuo^e (Discussions of the "Plaints on Too" ), Li's masterpiece and the only major extant work, again casts Li in the role of a defender of Buddhism⁴ For some time, this material from the Fo-tsu li-tai t'ung-tsai was the only easily accesible record of Li's writings and this succeeded in throwing scholars on a wrong trail. Third, the fact that Li was praised by Buddhists but ignored or belittled by Confucians contributed to the impression that he was a partisan of the Buddhists⁵.     

Decision Workshops for the Improvement of Decision-Making Skills and Confidence

This article describes the development and evaluation of a workshop program to help people become more confident and effective as decision makers. The workshops, based on conflict theory, consisted of five 2-hour sessions, in which participants learned about the major decisional coping patterns and the critical steps of decision making. Participants also practiced decision-making skills and learned how to use decisional balance sheets, future diaries, and other aids to vigilant decision making. The 76 participants were classified as “problem clients” (N = 44, “learners” (N = 30), and “others” (N = 2). A follow-up questionnaire administered 3 months after the final session revealed that the workshops had promoted increased confidence in decision making and less reported use of maladaptive patterns of decision making.     

An evaluation of the associative strength of a partially reinforced serial CS

Three experiments examined the factors that are responsible for producing a high rate of autoshaped keypecking in pigeons when the conditioned stimulus is followed by varying consequences. In the first experiment, a single group received three serial conditioning schedules presented on different keys. The AB⁺ schedule consisted of trials in which A was followed by B, which, in turn, was followed by food. The CD⁺C° schedule consisted of reinforced CD pairings plus presentations of C alone. The EF^+/0 schedule consisted of a mixture of reinforced and nonreinforced EF pairings. It was found that responding was most rapid during C, slowest during E, and at an intermediate rate during A. In spite of this ordering A was chosen in preference to C, when these stimuli were presented simultaneously. In Experiments 2 and 3 the schedules AB⁺A° and AB^+/0 were presented to separate groups. The rate of responding during A was substantially greater in the former schedule, yet it was found that this stimulus was equally ineffective as a conditioned reinforcer in both groups. We propose that autoshaped keypecking is composed of two types of response, a conditioned response and an orienting response, which are governed by different processes.     

DOES THE THREAT OF AIDS CREATE DIFFICULTIES FOR LORD DEVLIN'S CRITICS?

Although over twenty years have passed since the Hart-Devlin exchange, the controversy over society's right to punish homosexuals remains alive, as is shown by recent concern over the spread of AIDS and the recent announcement of the Supreme Court that "majority sentiments about the morality of homosexuality" constitute an adequate justification for sodomy statutes under the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment.¹ Lord Devlin's moral justification for punishing homosexual conduct seems to follow a similar line of reasoning. The one argument to which his critics have paid the most attention begins with the assertion that society consists of a seamless web of ideas and values, the content of which is determined by whether the ordinary, reasonable person is disgusted by a particular type of conduct.² Among the types of conduct that disgust the ordinary person, he continues, is homosexual conduct.³ Therefore, Devlin concludes, society may punish homosexual conduct, even if it is consensual.     

Why Basic Knowledge is Easy Knowledge

The problem of easy knowledge arises for theories that have what I call a "basic knowledge structure". S has basic knowledge of P just in case S knows P prior to knowing that the cognitive source of S's knowing P is reliable.¹ Our knowledge has a basic knowledge structure (BKS) just in case we have basic knowledge and we come to know our faculties are reliable on the basis of our basic knowledge. The problem I raised in "Basic Knowledge and the Problem of Easy Knowledge"² (BKEK) is that once we allow for basic knowledge, we can come to know our faculties are reliable in ways that intuitively are too easy. This raises a serious doubt about whether we had the basic knowledge in the first place.
In "Easy Knowledge", Peter Markie argues that BKS theories do not face any problem concerning easy knowledge.³ I argued that the problem arises in two forms, and Markie takes issue with both. I will argue that Markie's defense of BKS theories fails.     

Cognitive processes underlying coping flexibility: differentiation and integration

This study investigates how individuals formulate flexible coping strategies across situations by proposing differentiation and integration as two stress-appraisal processes. Results showed that participants who coped more flexibly adopted the dimensions of controllability and impact in differentiating among different stressful situations. They also deployed an integrated strategy: the deployment of more monitoring in situations perceived as controllable but less of this strategy in situations perceived as uncontrollable. Participants who coped less flexibly did not adopt any given dimensions and tended to use more monitoring regardless of situational characteristics. These results suggest that individuals with different extents of coping flexibility differ in the cognitive processes. Individuals who cope more flexibly display a greater extent of differentiation and integration than do those who cope less flexibly. These findings are translated into strategies for stress management workshops.     

Moore's Problem with Iterated Belief

G.E. Moore's problem is to explain what is odd about sentences such as 'It is raining but I do not believe it'. This sentence is unbelievable whether read commissively as ' p & B ^{˜/sup> p ', or omissively as ' p} & ^{˜/sup> B p '. However, this symmetry is broken when the belief operator is iterated many times. Whereas the commissive ' p & BBBBBBBBBB˜} p ' preserves the oddity Moore first noted, ' p & ^˜BBBBBBBBBB p ' is believable and assertable. The usual explanations of what is odd about Moore's sentences use recursive rules. Hence they uniformly extend the prediction of oddity when the belief operator is iterated. My project is to show how the asymmetry of the iterated version can be respected.     

Exploring the Relationships Between Object Relations/Reality Testing Functioning, Coping Styles, and Somatic Tension

In view of the importance of coping and of the apparent impact of individual differences on coping styles, it seems appropriate to examine relationships of coping with deeper and more complex psychological constructs such as those described in object relations psychology. Discovery of psychological predispositions to coping should have significant implications for both organizational and interpersonal intervention mechanisms. This study examined the relationships among six object relations/reality testing constructs and the coping styles of positive thinking coping, interpersonal coping, avoidance coping, direct action coping, and symptom-management coping, as well as somatic tension. Several significant relationships were evidenced. Implications and suggestions for future research are presented.     

JOINING THE DISPUTATION: Taking Graham Seriously on Taking Chinese Thought Seriously

"…the understanding of Chinese philosophy depends …on philosophizing for oneself. Taking Chinese thought seriously is not simply a matter of acknowledging the rationality of some of it (and perhaps denying the name 'philosophy' to the rest), nor of discovering something valuable to oneself in the poetry of Lao-tzu ^a or the diagrams of the Yi. ^b Its study constantly involves one in important contemporary issues in moral philosophy, the philosophy and history of science, the deconstruction of established conceptual schemes, the problem of relating thought to linguistic structure, and correlative thinking to logic."¹
"To approach Chinese philosophy trusting to the dictionary and one's instinct for the language is to fail to take it altogether seriously, and the practice has been a perpetual drag on progress in discovering how much or how little that we call philosophyizing is actually there."²     

Monitoring/Blunting and Social Support: Associations with Coping and Affect

The present study examined the associations of personal factors and social resources with coping and affective reactions to simulated stressful encounters. The study tested coping strategies and assessments of affect in the context of 'health' and 'work' threats described in 2 vignettes in a sample of 147 community residents. They also completed the Monitor-Blunter Style Scale (MBSS) and a perceived social support scale. The results showed positive associations between active coping and positive affect, and negative associations between avoidant coping and negative affect, replicating previous findings. Most interestingly, neither monitoring/blunting nor social support were directly related to either negative or positive affect, but were differentially related to coping strategies. Monitoring and social support were positively correlated with active coping and support-seeking in both vignettes, while blunting was related positively to avoidant coping, and social support was related negatively to this coping strategy. These results suggest that personal factors and social resources affect the use of coping strategies, rather than the affective reactions to threats, and contribute to our understanding of the stress and coping process.