Social transmission of flavor preferences in two species of hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus and Phodopus campbelli)

Golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) and dwarf hamsters (Phodopus campbelli) interacted with a conspecific demonstrator that had recently consumed a flavored food. When given a choice between their demonstrator's flavor and another flavor, the dwarf hamsters preferred the flavor their demonstrator had eaten. Golden hamsters did not prefer their demonstrators' diets when the demonstrators were unrelated adults or littermates, but they did when the demonstrator was their mother. Videotaping the interactions between demonstrators and observers revealed that adult golden hamsters did not investigate foods hoarded by their demonstrators whereas dwarf hamsters did. These results are interpreted in terms of the stimuli that activate feeding behavior systems in these 2 hamster species.     

Acceleration and delay of sexual maturation in female house mice (Mus domesticus) by urinary chemosignals: mixing urine sources in unequal proportions

Urine from male mice, from estrous female mice, and from pregnant or lactating female mice accelerate first vaginal estrus in females, whereas urine from grouped female mice delays first estrus. Nine experiments were used to test the effects of treatment of young female mice with urinary chemosignals that influence the onset of first estrus using unequal proportions of urine from the different sources. At ratios of 10-20 parts acceleratory chemosignal to 1 part delay chemosignal the acceleratory effect overrides the delay chemosignal, and the mice attain first estrus at earlier ages than controls. Ratios of about 4 to 1 up to 7 to 1 result in mean ages for puberty that are not accelerated or delayed relative to controls. Over a modest range of actual dose amounts of urine, the ratio effects are the same regardless of the actual quantities of urine employed in treating test females.     

Social effectiveness therapy for children: five years later

Social Effectiveness Therapy for Children (SET-C) is a comprehensive behavioral treatment combining social skills training, peer generalization experiences, and individualized in vivo exposure for the treatment of social phobia in youth. SET-C results in positive treatment outcome and its effects are maintained at least 3 years later. In this investigation, maintenance of treatment gains 3, 4, and 5 years later was examined using a multidimensional assessment strategy consisting of self-report, parental report, clinician ratings, and direct behavioral assessment. Furthermore, the overall functioning of adolescents treated with SET-C 5 years earlier was compared with that of a group of adolescents who never suffered from psychological disorders. All posttreatment gains were maintained 5 years later, and the general functioning of SET-C treatment responders was not significantly different from those who never had a disorder. The data indicate that SET-C results in long-term positive effects for youth suffering from social phobia.     

Social organization predicts nature of infant-adult interactions in two species of wild guinea pigs (Cavia aperea and Galea monasteriensis)

The authors compared interactions of infants with mothers and unfamiliar females in a novel environment in 2 caviomorph rodent species: the harem-living Cavia aperea, the probable progenitor of the domestic guinea pig; and the pair-living Galea monasteriensis. In C. aperea, interactions with mothers and unfamiliar females were largely similar; in G. monasteriensis, interactions with the mother, but not unfamiliar female, were characterized by physical closeness and sociopositive behavior. In G. monasteriensis, plasma cortisol levels were lower when with the mother than when with the unfamiliar female. Results are consistent with the species' social organizations and suggest that behavioral interactions of pups with mothers and other females in domestic guinea pigs reflect primarily the social organization of the progenitor species rather than domestication.     

社会知识论(下)

三　戈德曼的社会知识论戈德曼为社会知识论提出的问题域 ,包含在他所谓的“求真知识论” (ｖｅｒｉｔｉｓｔｉｃｅｐｉｓｔｅｍｏｌｏ ｇｙ)名下。求真的知识论 (不论是个体的还是社会的 )关注的是知识的生产 ,这里“知识”被理解为弱的意义上的“真信念”。更准确地说 ,它关注的是知识及其反面———错误 (虚假信念 )与无知 (真信念的缺乏 )。它所研究的主要问题是 :什么样的实践对于知识 (与错误、无知相比 )具有相对有利的影响 ?个体的求真知识论在非社会的实践中寻找有关的答案 ,社会的求真知识论则在社会的实践中寻求解答。在戈德曼那…     

Discriminant validity of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI), the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS)

Three measures commonly used in assessment of social phobia, the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI [Turner, S. M., Beidel, D. C. & Dancu, C. V. (1996). Social phobia and anxiety inventory: manual. Toronto, Ont.: Multi-Health Systems Inc.), the Social Phobia Scale (SPS [Mattick, R. P. & Clarke, J. C. (1998). Development and validation of measures of social phobia scrutiny fear and social interaction anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 455-470] and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS [Mattick, R. P. & Clarke, J. C. (1998). Development and validation of measures of social phobia scrutiny fear and social interaction anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 455-470], were compared for their ability to discriminate between social phobia and other anxiety disorders (panic disorder with or without agoraphobia). Participants were 117 patients attending a specialized anxiety disorders unit for treatment. While all three measures were able to detect differences between social phobic patients and patients with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, a logistic regression analysis showed that the SPAI, but not the SPS and SIAS, was a significant predictor of membership of the social phobia group. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis also showed that the SPAI was the better measure for discriminating between social phobia and panic disorder with and without agoraphobia. Analysis of the sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive power of the measures at the optimum cutoff scores produced by the ROC analysis are presented.     

Social criticism in the process of interpretation (discussion)

Abstract

The author comments on Horst Petri's case presentation and gives reasons why he sees social criticism within the process of interpretation as inappropriate. Firstly he contradicts Petri's view of the severity of his patient's illness. He thinks a supportive therapy was not appropriate and he would have treated her by using conflict centered interpretations. Secondly he assumes that the analyst's social criticism forms an alliance with the analysand which excludes essential issues from the analytic work. And thirdly he reminds us that psychoanalysis doesn't spare a supposedly progressive attitude from criticism. Within the framework of psychoanalytic theory, the relativity of all value judgements forbids the analyst to tie himself down in the way Petri suggests.     

Social learning in Cartilaginous fish (stingrays Potamotrygon falkneri)

Social learning is considered one of the hallmarks of cognition. Observers learn from demonstrators that a particular behavior pattern leads to a specific consequence or outcome, which may be either positive or negative. In the last few years, social learning has been studied in a variety of taxa including birds and bony fish. To date, there are few studies demonstrating learning processes in cartilaginous fish. Our study shows that the cartilaginous fish freshwater stingrays (Potamotrygon falkneri) are capable of social learning and isolates the processes involved. Using a task that required animals to learn to remove a food reward from a tube, we found that observers needed significantly (P < 0.01) fewer trials to learn to extract the reward than demonstrators. Furthermore, observers immediately showed a significantly (P < 0.05) higher frequency of the most efficient “suck and undulation” strategy exhibited by the experienced demonstrators, suggesting imitation. Shedding light on social learning processes in cartilaginous fish advances the systematic comparison of cognition between aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates and helps unravel the evolutionary origins of social cognition.     

Visual discrimination of species in dogs (Canis familiaris)

In most social interactions, an animal has to determine whether the other animal belongs to its own species. This perception may be visual and may involve several cognitive processes such as discrimination and categorization. Perceptual categorization is likely to be involved in species characterized by a great phenotypic diversity. As a consequence of intensive artificial selection, domestic dogs, Canis familiaris, present the largest phenotypic diversity among domestic mammals. The goal of our study was to determine whether dogs can discriminate any type of dog from other species and can group all dogs whatever their phenotypes within the same category. Nine pet dogs were successfully trained through instrumental conditioning using a clicker and food rewards to choose a rewarded image, S+, out of two images displayed on computer screens. The generalization step consisted in the presentation of a large sample of paired images of heads of dogs from different breeds and cross-breeds with those of other mammal species, included humans. A reversal phase followed the generalization step. Each of the nine subjects was able to group all the images of dogs within the same category. Thus, the dogs have the capacity of species discrimination despite their great phenotypic variability, based only on visual images of heads.     

Factor solutions of the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) in a Swedish population

Culturally validated rating scales for social anxiety disorder (SAD) are of significant importance when screening for the disorder, as well as for evaluating treatment efficacy. This study examined construct validity and additional psychometric properties of two commonly used scales, the Social Phobia Scale and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, in a clinical SAD population (n?=?180) and in a normal population (n?=?614) in Sweden. Confirmatory factor analyses of previously reported factor solutions were tested but did not reveal acceptable fit. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) of the joint structure of the scales in the total population yielded a two-factor model (performance anxiety and social interaction anxiety), whereas EFA in the clinical sample revealed a three-factor solution, a social interaction anxiety factor and two performance anxiety factors. The SPS and SIAS showed good to excellent internal consistency, and discriminated well between patients with SAD and a normal population sample. Both scales showed good convergent validity with an established measure of SAD, whereas the discriminant validity of symptoms of social anxiety and depression could not be confirmed. The optimal cut-off score for SPS and SIAS were 18 and 22 points, respectively. It is concluded that the factor structure and the additional psychometric properties of SPS and SIAS support the use of the scales for assessment in a Swedish population.     

The Emerging (Social) Neuroscience of SES

Social scientists have long been interested in understanding how socioeconomic status (SES) affects the way people think, feel, and behave. Neuroscience has provided new tools (fMRI, EEG, and ERP) to allow us to answer these questions, demonstrating, for example, that lower SES is linked to stronger mirror neural responses, greater mentalizing, enhanced vigilance to threat, and lesser likelihood to spontaneously infer traits based on limited information. The present paper (i) reviews evidence that SES affects neural responses involved in a wide range of psychological processes, (ii) highlights the value of neural methods in investigations of SES, (iii) discusses cultural neuroscience as a potential framework to understand why SES has the effects it does on the brain, (iv) considers previous developmental neuroscience findings regarding SES and attention in light of cultural neuroscience, and (v) discusses future challenges, opportunities, and questions for this emerging field.     

Social olfaction in male brown lemmings (Lemmus sibiricus = trimucronatus) and collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus): I. Discrimination of species, sex, and estrous condition

When tested in a Y-maze olfactometer, sexually experienced and sexually naive brown and collared lemmings (Lemmus sibiricus = trimucronatus and Dicrostonyx groenlandicus) preferred the odor of conspecific females to the odor of females of another species. Both experienced and naive males also preferred the odor of conspecific females to that of conspecific males. Only sexually experienced males showed a significant preference for estrous over nonestrous conspecific females. Sexually experienced males also discriminated between estrous and nonestrous heterospecific females of a familiar (lemming) and unfamiliar (meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus) species. In conjunction with the results of earlier studies of the development of species-specific olfactory preferences, these findings suggest that two olfactory cues mediate a male's attraction to receptive females: a species-specific odor that is learned during early development and a sexual attractant whose saliency is established as a result of adult experience with a receptive female.     

Social communication about unpalatable foods in tamarins (Saguinus oedipus)

Many monkeys show social facilitation in sampling novel, palatable foods but not in avoiding unpalatable foods. Cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) socially learned to avoid a preferred food when it was made unpalatable but showed no aversion toward a food not made unpalatable. Only 33% sampled unpalatable tuna, and few sampled it again. In 3 of 8 groups, the socially induced aversion was long lasting, at least 15 weeks after food was made palatable again. Potential cues include facial reactions of disgust, alarm-call vocalizations, and reduction in food-associated calls. Behavioral coordination in cooperative infant care, communication about food, and well-established social relationships may explain social avoidance of unpalatable foods in tamarins and the absence of social avoidance in less cooperative species.     

Social learning in captive African elephants (Loxodonta africana africana)

Social learning is a more efficient method of information acquisition and application than trial and error learning and is prevalent across a variety of animal taxa. Social learning is assumed to be important for elephants, but evidence in support of that claim is mostly anecdotal. Using a herd of six adult female African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana africana) at the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park, we evaluated whether viewing a conspecific’s interactions facilitated learning of a novel task. The tasks used feeding apparatus that could be solved in one of two distinct ways. Contrary to our hypothesis, the method the demonstrating animal used did not predict the method used by the observer. However, we did find evidence of social learning: After watching the model, subjects spent a greater percentage of their time interacting with the apparatus than they did in unmodeled trials. These results suggest that the demonstrations of a model may increase the motivation of elephants to explore novel foraging tasks.