Self-awareness training associated with personality traits and sex: a pilot study

107 volunteers learning Reiki-Do self-awareness techniques participated in this study. Results indicate that personality traits in healthy participants might be affected by specific self-awareness training, such as Reiki-Do, with participants' sex playing an independent role.     

Protective factors for depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood

Emerging adulthood is characterized by pervasive changes in identity and relationships. These challenges can entail problems for subjective well-being, leading to depressive symptoms. The development of an autonomous-related self is considered crucial for emerging adults’ personal growth and psychological well-being. Autonomous-related self is linked to self-esteem and secure attachment style, which are also protective factors for depression. The current research sought to investigate the relation between autonomous-related self and depressive symptoms, as well as the role of secure attachment style and self-esteem, in a sample of 356 Italian emerging adults. Gender differences were taken into account in preliminary analyses. Gender differences emerged for autonomous-related self and self-esteem, while secure attachment and depression levels were similar across gender. Our results suggest that autonomous-related self, mediated by self-esteem and secure attachment style, is a protective factor for emotional states of depression, controlling for social desirability. These findings emphasize the importance of taking autonomy and relatedness into account in emerging adulthood and represent a starting point for future studies.     

Implicit evidence on the dissociation of identity and emotion recognition

Cognitive Processing - Recognition of identity and of emotional facial expressions of individuals are both based on processing of the human face. While most studies show these abilities to be...     

Arithmetic,set theory,reduction and explanation

Philosophers of science since Nagel have been interested in the links between intertheoretic reduction and explanation, understanding and other forms of epistemic progress. Although intertheoretic reduction is widely agreed to occur in pure mathematics as well as empirical science, the relationship between reduction and explanation in the mathematical setting has rarely been investigated in a similarly serious way. This paper examines an important and well-known case: the reduction of arithmetic to set theory. I claim that the reduction is unexplanatory. In defense of this claim, I offer some evidence from mathematical practice, and I respond to contrary suggestions due to Steinhart, Maddy, Kitcher and Quine. I then show how, even if set-theoretic reductions are generally not explanatory, set theory can nevertheless serve as a legitimate and successful foundation for mathematics. Finally, some implications of my thesis for philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of science are discussed. In particular, I suggest that some reductions in mathematics are probably explanatory, and I propose that differing standards of theory acceptance might account for the apparent lack of unexplanatory reductions in the empirical sciences.     

A multimethod assessment to study the relationship between rumination and gender differences

Rumination is described as the propensity of responding to distress by repetitively and passively focusing on one’s negative emotions, and failures, and their consequences (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991, 1998). Therefore, given that rumination is characterized especially by difficulties in managing and controlling negative emotional states, it is considered as the most common (impaired) emotional regulation strategy, and can be defined as an emotional process related to a repetitive, undesired, and past-oriented negatively inclined thought (Compare, Zarbo, Shonin, Van Gordon, & Marconi, 2014; Smith & Alloy, 2009). Recent evidence suggested that because of problems related to monitoring of negative states, rumination may be associated with exaggerated physiological reactivity relative to demands from the environment, and to some difficulties in attentional control abilities. The current study aimed at deepening our understanding of the role that a maladaptive emotional regulation strategy – such as rumination – might play in physiological response changes and in engaging dysfunctional attentional strategies. We used a multimethod assessment including self-reports (i.e., Rumination and Reflection Questionnaire, and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale), physiological measures, (i.e., Heart Rate Variability recording), and attention tasks (i.e., Stroop Task) in order to examine the multiple aspects of rumination across genders. Sixty-eight individuals (30 males and 38 females) were administered DERS −16, RRQ and, soon after them, the Stroop task. Immediately after completing the Stroop task (T1), participants were exposed to a three-phase, baseline-stress-recovery experimental paradigm while their heart rate variability (HRV) was recorded. After completing the experimental paradigm, Stroop stimuli were presented for the second time (T2), in order to examine possible intra-individual differences between the two performances in the Stroop task. Our findings showed that rumination was higher in females than in males, but in men it appeared to be strongly associated with an overall impaired emotional regulation. However, no gender differences in rumination and emotion dysregulation were found when inspecting physiological data. The current study aims to contribute towards a better understanding which emotion regulation strategies and which physiological mechanisms are associated with rumination.     

Effects of predation risk on the sensory asymmetries and defensive strategies of Bufotes balearicus tadpoles

Animal Cognition - Lateralization consists of the differential use of bilateral organs or limbs and is well described in many taxa and in several contexts. Common ecological frameworks where it can...     

Lonely hearts and angry minds: Online dating rejection increases male (but not female) hostility

The present work explores the hostile tendencies elicited by romantic rejection in the increasingly common context of online dating. To empirically investigate this issue, we created an ad hoc online dating platform in which fictitious online dating partners romantically rejected heterosexual male and female participants. Results revealed that male—but not female—participants who were rejected by desired dating partners displayed increased hostility. This pattern of findings was consistent across different measures, which considered both aggressive tendencies against the rejecting partners and hostile attitudes against the opposite gender. Further, increased feelings of anger explained the relationship between online romantic rejection and increased male hostility. Our work and its findings have both theoretical and methodological implications for the understanding of interpersonal processes in online interactions and the growing body of literature on online dating.     

Free Will,Values, and Narrative Selfhood

Philosophia - Robert Kane’s libertarian theory of freedom is frequently attacked in the free will literature by the “luck objection”. Alfred Mele’s articulation of the...