Gender-specific social experiences and the development of aggressive and sexual behavior in male mice

This study examined influences of gender-specific social experiences on the development of aggressive and sexual behavior in male mice. To determine the effects of gender-specific social experience three different types of groups were constituted after the animals had been weaned. The subjects were randomly assigned to different treatments. Female groups were composed of one experimental male and three female cohabitants. Male groups were composed of five experimental males each, and the mixed-sex groups were composed of two experimental males and of two females. The experimental subjects stayed in these groups until the age of approximately three months, when the testing for sexual and aggressive behavior commenced. For the sexuality tests, a receptive female was placed in the home cage of the experimental male for ten minutes. A nonaggressive male was placed in the home cage of the experimental male for seven minutes for the aggression tests. The experimental males were administered both sexuality and aggression tests, the sequence of testing sexual and aggressive behavior was systematically varied in order to control the influence of the two different types of behavioral tests. The results showed that males with only male social experiences showed fewer responses and were less active in both the aggression and sexuality tests than the males from the two other types of groups. Significant positive correlations between activity during aggression and sexual tests were obtained for all three groups. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Effects of early exposure to mating on adult sexual behavior in male mice varying in their genetic disposition for aggressive behavior

This study examined whether the sexual behavior of adult male mice is influenced by exposure in early postnatal life to brief episodes of mating. Another focus of interest was the interplay between a genetic disposition for aggressive behavior and the early exposure experiences. The subjects used in the study were male mice of the fiftysixth generation of selection for high (Turku aggressive, TA) and low (Turku non-aggressive, TNA) levels of aggressiveness. Moderately aggressive males of the parental strain (normal, N) were also used. Subjects of each strain were exposed from 21 to 32 days of age to mating mice behind a wire mesh screen. Control subjects were placed in a comparable enclosure, but were exposed to nothing. The results showed that male mice exposed to mating early in life showed a higher rate of activities in the sexuality tests, including aggressive responses. A genetic potential for aggressive behavior was related to a higher degree of sexual activity, and the early exposures optimized the hereditary attributes. The relation between sexual and aggressive behavior is discussed. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Familiarity increases the accuracy of categorizing male sexual orientation

Although individual differences are known to influence numerous aspects of social perception, such as person memory and individuation, little is known about how such variations may affect social categorization. Extending prior research, the present study tested one potential moderator: familiarity with group members. Specifically, straight participants (n = 84) reported their real-life experiences with gay men and categorized faces as gay or straight. Results showed that participants who reported greater familiarity with gay men were significantly more sensitive, or accurate, in judging the sexual orientations of men from their faces. These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for social perception and future research directions are outlined.     

The impact of spouse monitoring on target behavior and recorder satisfaction

The objectives of this study were (a) to determine the impact of a spouse monitoring procedure on the target's (husband's) behavior and the recorder (wife's) view of the marriage and (b) to assess the relationship between the target's positive behaviors and the recorder's marital satisfaction rating. In one condition, husbands were informed that their behavior was being observed, whereas in a comparison group, husbands were kept unaware of the observation procedure. In both conditions, wives kept daily recordings of (a) positive behaviors emitted by their husbands and (b) perceptions of their marital relationships. No differences were found in rates of husbands' behavior or in wives' perceptions of their marriages as a function of the awareness manipulation. Analyses examining the relationship between spouse behavior and daily satisfaction ratings indicated a statistically reliable association, although the majority of variance in satisfaction ratings was attributable to unique subject variables.This article is based on a thesis submitted by the first author to the Department of Psychology of the University of Pittsburgh. The described research was supported in part by a Faculty Research Grant from the University of Pittsburgh awarded to the second author.     

Effects of isolation during development on reactivity and home-cage agonistic behavior in rats

This experiment was designed to determine whether isolation during two developmental periods would contribute to differences in home-cage agonistic behavior and whether altered reactivity was a mediating variable. While early isolation (16–41 days) was shown to have a significant and sustained impact on agonistic behavior, isolation during a later developmental period (41–68 days) did not result in altered occurrences of agonistic behavior. While isolation did result in increased reactivity to both footshock and dorsal tactile stimuli, the pattern of these data suggested that hyperreactivity to tactile stimulation was not a satisfactory account of the increased agonistic behavior of rats raised in isolation.     

Effects of reactivity to dorsal stimulation and social role on aggressive behavior in laboratory rats

Rats were selected on the basis of reactivity to dorsal tactile stimulation and then tested in a resident-intruder paradigm. While reactivity of residents did not influence the occurrence of agonistic behaviors or wounding of residents and intruders, reactivity of intruders did affect offensive and defensive patterns of interactions and the wounds sustained by residents and intruders. Subsequent to resident-intruder testing, rats were tested for shock-induced aggression. The pattern of the results and the results of additional experiments demonstrated that resident-intruder experience could affect subsequent shock-induced aggressive behavior.     

Effects of alpha and beta adrenergic antagonists on aggressive behavior in male mice

The effects of a variety of alpha and beta adrenergic antagonists were examined on the social encounters of isolated male mice with anosmic male partners. A range of alpha antagonists, including phentolamine, prazosin, and yohimbine, all suppressed social aggression. A range of beta antagonists, including propranolol, atenolol, metaprolol, and ICI 118, 551, also reduced this type of attack. Ethological assessment of the lowest effective dose of these adrenergic antagonists revealed a marked inhibitor action on offensive, social, and nonsocial behavior, while defensive responses and immobility were enhanced. It is concluded that the noradrenergic system has a significant non-specific role in mediating intermale aggression via both alpha and beta adrenergic receptor subtypes. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Conditioning of appetitive and consummatory sexual behavior in male Japanese quail.

Two different types of stimulus objects, a live female quail artificially adorned with bright orange feathers and an inanimate toy dog, served as conditioned stimuli. For subjects in experimental groups, the conditioned stimuli were presented shortly before access to a sexually receptive normal female quail. For subjects in control groups, exposure to the conditioned stimuli was unpaired with copulatory opportunity. Subjects in the experimental but not in the control groups quickly came to approach the location of the conditioned stimulus objects. When an adorned female quail served as the conditioned stimulus, the conditioned approach behavior was controlled by a combination of the presence of the orange adornments and the visual cues of the head and neck of the female bird, and the approach behavior persisted as the adorned female moved to new locations. When the toy dog served as the conditioned stimulus, the conditioned approach behavior was limited to the spatial cues that surrounded the toy dog during conditioning trials. Although both types of stimulus objects evoked conditioned approach behavior, only the adorned female stimulus supported copulatory behavior. This last finding indicates that copulatory behavior can become redirected toward novel stimuli as a result of conditioning, but only under special circumstances. The results are consistent with the suggestion that appetitive components of reproductive behavior are more susceptible to conditioning than consummatory components. Possible reasons for this are discussed, together with implications of the results for the contribution of conditioning processes to sexual selection.     

A comparison of methods to combine speed and accuracy measures of performance: A rejoinder on the binning procedure

In cognitive research, speed and accuracy are two important aspects of performance. When analyzed separately, these performance variables sometimes lead to contradictory conclusions about the effect of a manipulation. To avoid such conflicts, several measures that integrate speed and accuracy have been proposed, but the added value of using such measures remains unclear. The present paper compares the relative utility of seven integrated performance measures, namely four variations on a binning procedure that weights response times of correct and incorrect trials differently, and three measures that combine averaged speed and accuracy scores. The properties of these integrated measures were explored in three simulation studies. The first study compared three binning measures and showed that one measure failed to grasp the performance difference between two conditions. The second study showed that the sampling distributions of the measures were symmetric, except for a strong skewness on the rate correct score. The third study varied the trade-off and the effect sizes of speed and accuracy in four different combinations of size and direction of speed and accuracy effects. These studies highlighted some further shortcomings of the binning measures. The combination measures performed well, but linear integration of speed and accuracy and rate correct score were most efficient in detecting effects and accounting for a larger proportion of the variance. The paper concludes that these combination measures are useful provided that the speed and accuracy data are also inspected.     

Mood induced cognitive and emotional reactivity, life stress, and the prediction of depressive relapse

This study examined a group of participants who were fully remitted from a previous episode of major depressive disorder, and evaluated the role of cognitive and emotional reactivity to a mood challenge, and life stress in the prediction of relapse. Fifty-two participants were evaluated during remission, and their reactivity (i.e., change in dysfunctional attitudes and emotional state) to a depressed mood induction was evaluated. The cohort was followed up 12 months after the initial assessment. Thirty-five percent of the sample experienced a relapse during the follow-up period. Relapse was predicted by higher rates of life stress, and lower levels of emotional reactivity (specifically less reduction in happiness) to the mood induction during the initial assessment. Cognitive reactivity to the mood induction did not predict relapse, nor did the interaction between cognitive reactivity and life stress. These findings are discussed in terms of recent literature suggesting that depression is associated with insensitivity to emotion context, such that depressed individuals display blunted emotional responses to affective stimuli, including sadness-inducing stimuli. These findings suggest that insensitivity to emotional context may also be a characteristic of euthymic individuals at risk of relapse.     

Embodying sexual subjectivity after cancer: A qualitative study of people with cancer and intimate partners

Research has increasingly recognised the profound impact that cancer can have upon embodied subjectivity. However, there has been little acknowledgement of the centrality of sexuality to subjectivity, and marginalisation of the experiences of intimate partners of people with cancer. This Australian qualitative study explores the post-cancer experiences of embodied sexual subjectivity for 44 people with cancer (23 women and 21 men) and 35 partners of people with cancer (18 women and 17 men) across a range of cancer types and stages. Semi-structured interviews were analysed with theoretical thematic analysis, guided by a post-structuralist approach to sexual subjectivity as a dynamic process of becoming that can change over time, and by Williams’ [(1996). The vicissitudes of embodiment across the chronic illness trajectory. Body and Society, 2, 23–47] framework on post-illness embodiment. Participants took up the following post-cancer subject positions: ‘dys-embodied sexual subjectivity’ – characterised by bodily betrayal, sexual loss, lack of acceptance, depression, and anxiety; ‘re-embodied sexual subjectivity’ – characterised by greater sexual confidence, acceptance, the exploration of non-coital sexual practices and increased relational closeness; and ‘oscillating sexual subjectivity’ – involving a shift between states of sexual dys-embodiment and sexual re-embodiment. The findings point to the importance of focusing on the sexual health of people with cancer and partners across the cancer trajectory.     

A comparison of the efficiency and accuracy of BILOG and LOGIST

Comparisons are made between BILOG version 2.2 and LOGIST 5.0 Version 2.5 in estimating the item parameters, traits, item characteristic functions (ICFs), and test characteristic functions (TCFs) for the three-parameter logistic model. Data analyzed are simulated item responses for 1000 simulees and one 10-item test, four 20-item tests, and four 40-item tests. LOGIST usually was faster than BILOG in producing maximum likelihood estimates. BILOG almost always produced more accurate estimates of individual item parameters. In estimating ICFs and TCFs BILOG was more accurate for the 10-item test, and the two programs were about equally accurate for the 20- and 40-item tests.I am grateful to Robert J. Mislevy, Martha L. Stocking, and Marilyn S. Wingersky for many helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. I would also like to thank Hamid Kamrani and Bongmyoung Park for getting LOGIST and BILOG running and keeping them running under changing computer systems at CTB/McGraw-Hill.     

Effects of question format and collection mode on the accuracy of retrospective surveys of health risk behavior: a comparison with daily sexual activity diaries.

OBJECTIVE: To use prospective diaries to assess the effects of alternative survey question formats and data collection modes on the accuracy of retrospective self-reports of sexual behavior for the same time period. DESIGN: Over a 3-month period, 493 adults completed and returned by mail daily diaries of their sexual activities. Participants then returned to complete a retrospective survey of their sexual activities during the same 3-month time period. Participants were randomized to 1 of 6 retrospective experimental survey conditions that represented the combinations of 2 question formats (in aggregate and by partner) and 3 collection modes (paper questionnaire, computer-assisted self-interview [CASI], and audio-enhanced CASI). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Frequencies of sexual activities and condom use reported in surveys were compared with what participants had recorded in their prospective daily diaries. RESULTS: Relative to activity recorded in daily diaries, participants more often underreported than overreported (61% vs. 28%, p < .05) sexual behavior in retrospective surveys. Greater survey-to-diary consistency in reported behavior was achieved with by-partner question format (p < .032) and CASI collection modes (p < .05) used in surveys. However, median rates of error in survey-to-diary comparisons of reported behavior were as high as 40%. CONCLUSION: Even after refinements in survey question format and use of CASI techniques, there remained substantial error in participants' retrospective reports of sexual practices. These error rates may be comparable to, or even larger than, the expected effect size of some intervention studies. Further research is needed to improve the accuracy of sexual behavior reports.