Chronic psychosocial factors and acute physiological responses to laboratory-induced stress in healthy populations: a quantitative review of 30 years of investigations

This meta-analysis included 729 studies from 161 articles investigating how acute stress responsivity (including stress reactivity and recovery of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal [HPA] axis, autonomic, and cardiovascular systems) changes with various chronic psychosocial exposures (job stress; general life stress; depression or hopelessness; anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect; hostility, aggression, or Type-A behavior; fatigue, burnout, or exhaustion; positive psychological states or traits) in healthy populations. In either the overall meta-analysis or the methodologically strong subanalysis, positive psychological states or traits were associated with reduced HPA reactivity. Hostility, aggression, or Type-A behavior was associated with increased cardiovascular (heart rate or blood pressure) reactivity, whereas anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect was associated with decreased cardiovascular reactivity. General life stress and anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect were associated with poorer cardiovascular recovery. However, regarding the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system, there were no associations between the chronic psychosocial factors and stress reactivity or recovery. The results largely reflect an integrated stress response pattern of hypo- or hyperactivity depending on the specific nature of the psychosocial background.     

Accessing stored information about familiar people

Summary Two experiments investigating access to occupations and names of familiar people are reported, in which the response requirements of occupation and name-categorization tasks were made equivalent. In Experiment 1 matching tasks were used, in which subjects were required to determine whether simultaneously presented pairs of faces, surnames, or full names were those of people with the same or different occupations (politician or nonpolitician) or with same or different first names (Michael or David). Experiment 2 required binary classification of individual faces or surnames in terms of the bearer's occupation (politician or nonpolitician) or first name (Michael or David). In both experiments responses to faces were faster in tasks involving access to occupations than in tasks involving access to first names, whereas for surnames there was no difference in reaction times between occupations and first names in matching or classification tasks. These findings are consistent with the idea that identity-specific semantic codes and name codes are accessed sequentially from faces, but in parallel from written names.     

‘Philosophy is its own time comprehended in thought’

So much philosophy is so unavoidably guided by intuitions, and such intuitions are so formed by examples, and such examples must of necessity present so cropped and abstract a picture of an instance or event or decision, that, left to its traditional methods, philosophy might be ill-equipped on its own to answer a question about the true content of an historical ideal like ``autonomy', or authenticity or ``leading a free life'. One needs to bring so many factors into play at once that one non-traditional but more promising path might be through reflection on the modern novel—or modern drama or poetry or film or even modern painting.     

Conceptualizing Coping: Optimism as a Case Study

Coping involves any effort to deal with difficult or challenging situations, and coping strategies vary, often depending on individual differences and situational circumstances. Research has typically characterized coping as either involving problem‐focused or emotion‐focused strategies, or sometimes approach or avoidance strategies. The current review suggests that a more useful distinction would be found in crossed dimensions, such as problem‐focused approach or avoidance, or emotion‐focused approach or avoidance. For example, the individual difference of dispositional optimism has been found to be positively associated with approach coping strategies seeking to solve or control either problems or emotions, depending on the type of stressor. Although widely used, current coping scales may contribute to a skewed view of coping strategies and may not adequately depict coping dimensions. The current review calls for revisions of current scales or creation of new and better scales.     

Social Costs of Smoking: Effects of Tobacco Smoke on Hostile Behavior1

Male and female undergraduates interacted with a same-sex experimenter and a same-sex assistant of the experimenter. Either the experimenter or the assistant smoked. Subjects were provoked or not provoked by the experimenter and then smoked. Subjects were provoked or not provided by the experimenter and then provided with an opportunity to treat him or her in a hostile manner. Additionally, subjects were classified as smokers or nonsmokers and as supporting or opposing smoking in public places. Tobacco smoke was found to facilitate hostile behavior whether or not subjects were independently annoyed and whether or not it originated from the annoyer or a bystander. No sex differences were observed in this effect. Also, no appreciable difference was observed in the hostile behavior of smokers and nonsmokers. Persons opposed to public smoking reacted more strongly to the provocation than persons supportive of public smoking, but this effect was independent of the presence or absence of smoke.     

Primacy effect in orienting responses to auditory stimuli of tones and music.

This 25 factorial experiment investigated the primacy effect in the orienting response. The type of stimuli (tone or "music"), stimulus intensities (loud or soft), length of adaptation period (same, 5 or 30 sec; or different, 5 min.), interstimulus intervals (5 or 30 sec.), and sex were studied. College students, 32 males and 32 females were randomly assigned to each group. In the same condition, the tone (or music) was soft (or loud) for 5 sec. (or 30 sec.) in adaptation and was then changed alternately without interruption to loud, soft, etc. (or soft, loud, etc.) for 5 sec. (or 30 sec.). The different condition was identical except for the length of adaptation period in which the stimuli sounded continously for 5 min. Analyses of the GSR manifestation of the orienting responses indicated: (a) an over-all primacy effect with the auditory stimuli and (b) the primacy effect occurred in the 5-sec.-same but not in the 30-sec.-same condition as predicted.     

Hormonal basis of sexual differentiation in the Japanese quail.

On the 10th day of incubation, Japanese quail eggs either were injected with testosterone propionate (TP), estradiol benzoate (EB), or oil, or were not injected. When sexually mature, all birds were examined for a variety of sexually dimorphic behavioral and physical characteristics, both masculine and feminine. They were then exposed to a short photoperiod (causing gonadal regression), treated with either TP or EB, and examined again. Either androgen or estrogen administered before hatching demasculinized males, but did not masculinize females or defeminize either sex. In contrast, early sex hormones masculinize and/or or defeminize mammals. This difference is discussed in relation to other differences in avian and mammalian sexuality.     

Contextual memory and skill transfer in category search

In three experiments, we examined transfer and contextual memory in a category search task. Each experiment included two phases (training and test), during which participants searched through category and exemplar menus for targets. In Experiment 1, the targets were from one of two domains during training (grocery store or department store); the domain was either the same or changed at test. Also, the categories were organized in one of two ways (alphabetically or semantically); the organization either remained the same or changed at test. In Experiments 2 and 3, domain and organization were held constant; however, categories or exemplars were the same, partially replaced, or entirely replaced across phases in order to simulate the dynamic nature of category search in everyday situations. Transfer occurred at test when the category organization or domain was maintained and when the categories or exemplars matched (partially or entirely) those at training. These results demonstrate that transfer is facilitated by overlap in training and testing contexts.     

Proving Causal Propositions : The Foundations Of Program And Experiment Design

Although causal propositions cannot be proven to the point of incorrigibility, they can be disproven (aside from instrument validity problems) or corroborated. Just how one proceeds to such disproof or corroboration depends upon what his interest is in the causes of his dependent variables' values. Testing and qualifying or restricting a specific causal proposition, developing a comprehensive or variance exhaustive linear causal proposition (or multiple regression equation), and mapping or describing the efficacy of a specific set of Treatments imply somewhat,different programs of re- search and experiment designs. Programs and designs for these three interests or strategies are differentiated in terms of a Factor Lattice of all the ex ante relevant variables. The terms of this analysis refer to the regional locations in, density of coverage of, and allocation of replicates to the selected Lattice intersects and the factorial completeness of the design which they constitute, as well as to the type of control exercised over the Factors: production, selection, or stochastic.     

Recognition latency for pictures and words as a function of encoded-feature similarity.

In separate trials of a same-different recognition task, a single target item presented as either a picture or a word was followed after a 30-sec delay by a single test item, either a picture or a word. Test items were either nominal matches for the target (same) or one of five related distractor items. Distractors were selected to resemble the target item on one of five dimensions: orthographic, acoustic, conceptual (functional or categorical), schematic (similar in shape), or neutral. Same-different reaction times were found to vary systematically as a function of depiction mode of target and/or test items and by distractor type. Verbally related distractors (orthographic and acoustic) produced longer reaction times when target or test items or both were presented as printed words. When target or test items were presented as pictures, schematic and conceptual distractors produced the longest rejection latencies.     

Effects of causal belief for prior success or failure on preferences to delay gratification in task contingent versus task noncontingent conditions1

This study investigated how causal belief for prior success or failure affected preferences to delay gratifications in task contingent versus task noncontingent conditions. Success or failure on the Treatment Task and belief about the outcome were experimentally induced to lead fourth-and fifth-grade pupils to perceive task performance as resulting from one of four factors (Ability, Task Difficulty, Effort, or Luck). Thereafter, each subject chose between smaller, noncontingent rewards and delayed, larger rewards that were contingent on waiting only or on successful performance on tasks which varied in similarity to the initial task. As predicted, preferences to delay were not differentially affected by success or failure when subjects believed unstable factors of effort or luck caused the outcome. However, delay was affected by prior success or failure when the belief was that the outcome resulted from stable factors of ability or task difficulty, with subjects delaying more after success than following failure. Furthermore, the outcome predicted delay on tasks identical or similar to the Treatment Task whereas belief about causality predicted delay on the Different Task. Delay was greater by subjects with ability or effort inductions than by subjects with a luck induction.     

State of Innovation in Suicide Intervention Research with Military Populations

A systematic search was performed to identify active, externally funded randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that target suicidal ideation or behavior as a primary or secondary outcome among U.S. military service members, guard–reservists, and veterans. Twenty‐three studies were identified, most funded by the U.S. Department of Defense or U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Several innovations were identified based on departures from or modernizations of usual practices and included the targeting of suicide deaths or attempts as primary outcome, delivery of interventions through technology and/or outside clinical settings, and examinations of rarely studied treatments.     

Gender-Linked Differences in Everyday Memory Performance: Effort Makes the Difference

Previous research has found gender differences in everyday memory tasks such as remembering shopping lists or directions, and these findings can be attributed to increased motivation or memory skill resulting from the association of different tasks with masculine or feminine gender roles. To investigate the motivational explanation, the recall of an ambiguous shopping list, labeled as grocery or hardware, was examined under instructions that stated that either women or men are good at the task, or instructions that were neutral. The findings were not consistent with the skill explanation. There was a significant interaction between list label, participant gender, and instructions, which can be explained in terms of the increased or decreased motivation that might arise from particular combinations of label and instruction.     

惠能“心量广大”的文化心理学解读

惠能及其开创的禅宗的核心思想“明心见性”是明白“心量广大”。它包括如下几层含义:(1)“本心”中所包含的估量标准或尺度广大;(2)“心”度量、衡量、审度的对象众多,范围广大;(3)“心”的容量广大;(4)人心的耐受程度和转化能力强大;(5)人心的范围广大和创造力强大;(6)人的心态积极强大。“心量广大”具体体现在平常心、包容心或宽容心、认知力、精神力、心理能量等几个方面。“心量广大”具有浓郁的中国文化特色,蕴含有“自强不息,厚德载物”的中国文化精神,“道德自律和躬身自省”的中国文化伦理与价值追求,“以人为本的人道主义和人文情怀”的中国文化核心思想理念。由此来看,惠能的“心量广大”思想在当代社会仍具有积极的现实价值,对当代文化建设,社会道德构建等有积极作用。     

Elementary School Attendance as an Index of Guidance Needs

The attendance records of 235 second-grade students were studied. Each child was classified by his teacher either into one of two problem groups (Learning-Educational or Personal-Social) or into one of two non-problem groups (Enrichment or Average-Normal). The teachers are represented in one of four groups: either being from a school serving a higher or a lower economic area and as having extended or limited classroom experience. Three types of absences were studied: single day, multiple day, and total days absent. Single day absences were expected to be most closely related to guidance needs. Multiple classification analysis of variance revealed no significant differences in the average number of days absent among the four pupil groups, and the four teacher groups or among their interactions, regardless of whether the data were single day, multiple day, or total days absent. Whether the data were studied in terms of pupil or teacher groups, the average number of days absent was never significantly different from zero. No support was found for the idea that school attendance is an index of pupil achievement or adjustment.     

Delay of gratification in children: The effects of training under fixed,decreasing and increasing delay of reward

The effect of fixed, gradually decreasing, or increasing delay of reward in discimination learning on later delay of gratification was investigated. In discrimination training, employing a correction procedure, a candy reward was delivered either after 0, 10, 20, 40 or 60 sec fixed delay; or after 60 sec in the first block of trials and decreased in successive block; or reward was immediate in the first block of trials and delay was gradually increased to 60 sec. In the delay of gratification tests, subjects could press a button immediately to receive a small reward (one candy or a cheap toy) or delay pressing and receive an increasingly larger reward (more candy or a better toy).Learning was not significantly affected by either fixed or decreasing delays. Increasing delays resulted in faster learning than decreasing delays. The increasing delay group demonstrated superior delay of gratification on both tests. Fixed delay groups did not differ significantly among themselves, nor from the decreasing delay group. The effectiveness of exposure to increasing delays in facilitating delay of gratification was interpreted as due to either the acquisition of coping responses or the extinction of frustration.     

The relationship between guardian certification requirements and guardian sanctioning: a research issue in elder law and policy

This study investigated the relationship between guardian certification requirements and guardian sanctioning in the state of Washington. A total of 377 files were examined. Findings show that 52.4% of guardians with an undergraduate degree or higher education are likely to be sanctioned compared with 42.2% with an Associate of Arts (AA) or Technical (Tech) degree, and 36.9% with a high school diploma (HS) or equivalency (GED). Guardians with an undergraduate or higher education are 1.88 times more likely to be sanctioned compared with GED or HS graduates (p < 0.05). However, 83.3% of GED or HS graduates are likely to have more severe sanctions compared with 76.4% undergraduate or higher education, and 47.7% with an AA or Tech degree, respectively. Guardians with an AA or Tech degree are 0.28 times less likely to have more severe sanctions than guardians with an undergraduate degree or higher education (p < 0.01). The results are discussed with respect to guardian registration, licensing, certification and quality; licensing and regulation of other professions; the limitations of the study; and the need for further research.     

Teasing,rejection, and violence: Case studies of the school shootings

Media commentators have suggested that recent school shootings were precipitated by social rejection, but no empirical research has examined this claim. Case studies were conducted of 15 school shootings between 1995 and 2001 to examine the possible role of social rejection in school violence. Acute or chronic rejection—in the form of ostracism, bullying, and/or romantic rejection—was present in all but two of the incidents. In addition, the shooters tended to be characterized by one or more of three other risk factors—an interest in firearms or bombs, a fascination with death or Satanism, or psychological problems involving depression, impulse control, or sadistic tendencies. Implications for understanding and preventing school violence are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 29:202–214, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Perceptions of male and female success or failure in relation to spouse encouragement and sex-association of occupation

Male and female subjects read four paragraphs portraying successful (experiment 1) or unsuccessful (experiment 2) males or females in masculine or feminine occupations, with a supportive or nonsupportive spouse. The likelihoods of various conflicts, consequences, and causes of the success or failure were rated. Generally, ratings of more negative consequences were associated with lack of spouse support for a career pursuit. Spouse support influenced perceptions of female more than male success. The sex-association of the career proved to be an important determinant of perceptions of conflict, consequences, and attributions for the success or failure. Although male and female occupations had been equated for status, female jobs appeared to be generally devalued relative to male jobs.     

Effects of bars and blanks on recognition of words and nonwords embedded in a row of letters

Solid bars or blank spaces placed before, after, or on both sides of a pronounceable four-letter string embedded in a longer string of letters facilitated recognition of the embedded string. This effect was equal whether bar or blanks were used, and whether the embedded string was a word or a pronounceable nonword. The effect of bars or blanks on pronounceable strings was interpreted in terms of a multiletter processing operation.