Conceptual similarity promotes generalization of higher order fear learning

We tested the hypothesis that conceptual similarity promotes generalization of conditioned fear. Using a sensory preconditioning procedure, three groups of subjects learned an association between two cues that were conceptually similar, unrelated, or mismatched. Next, one of the cues was paired with a shock. The other cue was then reintroduced to test for fear generalization, as measured by the skin conductance response. Results showed enhanced fear generalization that correlated with trait anxiety levels in the group that learned an association between conceptually similar stimuli. These findings suggest that conceptual representations of conditional stimuli influence human fear learning processes.     

The effect of induced anxiety on cognition: threat of shock enhances aversive processing in healthy individuals

Individuals with anxiety disorders demonstrate altered cognitive performance including (1) cognitive biases towards negative stimuli (affective biases) and (2) increased cognitive rigidity (e.g., impaired conflict adaptation) on affective Stroop tasks. Threat of electric shock is frequently used to induce anxiety in healthy individuals, but the extent to which this manipulation mimics the cognitive impairment seen in anxiety disorders is unclear. In this study, 31 healthy individuals completed an affective Stroop task under safe and threat-of-shock conditions. We showed that threat (1) enhanced aversive processing and abolished a positive affective bias but (2) had no effect on conflict adaptation. Threat of shock thus partially models the effects of anxiety disorders on affective Stroop tasks. We suggest that the affective state of anxiety—which is common to both threat and anxiety disorders—modulates the neural inhibition of subcortical aversive processing, whilst pathologies unique to anxiety disorders modulate conflict adaptation.     

Has cyber technology produced a new group of peer aggressors?

Cyber technology provides a new venue for the expression of aggression. However, whether cyber technology has produced a new group of peer aggressors or simply allowed aggressive peers new tools to victimize others is unclear. This study sampled 1,672 adolescents to assess their engagement in cyber aggression. Although "cyber," "overt," and "relational" represent distinct subtypes of aggressive behavior, our results indicate that adolescents' behaviors clustered according to their frequency-not type-of aggression. Thus cyber technology provides new tools for youth who already engage in aggressive behaviors in the physical world to victimize peers in cyberspace.     

Assessing women's responses to sexual threat: validity of a virtual role-play procedure

This study evaluated the validity of a role-play procedure that uses virtual reality technology to assess women's responses to sexual threat. Forty-eight female undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either a standard, face-to-face role-play (RP) or a virtual role-play (VRP) of a sexually coercive situation. A multimethod assessment strategy was used to evaluate the efficacy of the role-play procedure in creating a realistic and immersive situation. Consistent with our hypotheses, women in the VRP condition exhibited greater negative affect and immersion than women in the RP condition. In addition, the level of assertive refusal in the VRP, but not the RP, condition differentiated between women with and without a prior history of sexual victimization. These findings provide evidence of the validity of a virtual role-play procedure for assessing women's responses in sexually threatening situations.     

Functional analysis and treatment of human-directed undesirable behavior exhibited by a captive chimpanzee

A functional analysis identified the reinforcer maintaining feces throwing and spitting exhibited by a captive adult chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). The implementation of a function-based treatment combining extinction with differential reinforcement of an alternate behavior decreased levels of inappropriate behavior. These findings further demonstrate the utility of function-based approaches to assess and treat behavior problems exhibited by captive animals.     

The relations of daily task accomplishment satisfaction with changes in affect: a multilevel study in nurses

Focusing on a sample of nurses, this investigation examined the relationships of daily task accomplishment satisfaction (for direct and indirect care tasks) with changes in positive and negative affect from preshift to postshift. Not accomplishing tasks to one's satisfaction was conceptualized as a daily workplace stressor that should increase daily negative affect and decrease daily positive affect from preshift to postshift. Further, because of the greater centrality of direct care nursing tasks to nursing work role identities (relative to indirect care tasks), we expected that task accomplishment satisfaction (or lack thereof) for these tasks would have stronger effects on changes in affect than would task accomplishment satisfaction for indirect care tasks. We also examined 2 person-level resources, collegial nurse-physician relations and psychological resilience, as moderators of the relationships among these daily variables, with the expectation that these resources would buffer the harmful effects of low task accomplishment satisfaction on nurse affect. Results supported almost all of the proposed effects, though the cross-level interactions were observed only for the effects of indirect care task accomplishment satisfaction on affect and not for direct care task accomplishment satisfaction on affect.     

The relation between early mother–infant skin‐to‐skin contact and later maternal sensitivity in South African mothers of low birth weight infants

The relation between early mother–infant skin‐to‐skin contact (SSC) and mothers' subsequent sensitivity to their low birth weight infants was investigated in a study of 12 mother–infant dyads who participated in a South African randomized control study of early SSC. The dyads were visited in the home when infants were under 1 year. Amounts of SSC were taken from hospital records and home interviews. Videotapes of mother–infant interactions in the home were scored for maternal sensitivity on the Maternal Behavior Q‐Sort (D.R. Pederson, G. Moran, & S. Bento, 1999) and the Maternal Behavior subscale of the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (G. Sumner & A. Spietz, 1994). Amount of SSC in infants' first 24 hr correlated with amount of SSC through the first month. Amount of SSC in infants' first 24 hr independently accounted for maternal sensitivity on both measures, indicating that early mother–infant SSC predicted subsequent maternal sensitivity.     

Measurement of Preoperative Anxiety in Young Children: Self-report Versus Observer-rated

The utility of the self-report Children’s Anxiety and Pain Scale Anxiety subscale (CAPS-A) in comparison to the widely used, observer-rated Modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPAS) in assessing anxiety in children undergoing day surgery procedures was examined. The CAPS-A test-retest reliability, concurrent validity with the Modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPAS), and sensitivity to expected increases in anxiety at stressful times during the preoperative period were examined. Levels of observer-rated (mYPAS) and self-reported anxiety (CAPS-A) were obtained from 61 children (3 to 6 years) undergoing day surgery procedures. The CAPS-A demonstrated adequate test-retest reliability. Concurrent validity between the CAPS-A and mYPAS scores was poor. The CAPS-A failed to show sensitivity to the expected increases in anxiety at stressful time-points. Thus, an alternative scoring strategy for the CAPS-A was proposed (i.e., child’s refusal to point was scored as high anxiety). Post-hoc analyses demonstrated good concurrent and adequate convergent validity with the alternative scoring strategy.     

Transculturals: Identifying the Invisible Minority

Transculturals spend their formative years in countries other than their country of origin. Specific issues addressed in this article are unique characteristics, prevalence rates, and developmental outcomes of transculturals. The author provides a culturally sensitive treatment model for transculturals, based on G. Roysircar's (2009) Multicultural Relationship Model. Los individuos transculturales pasan sus años formativos en un país distinto a su país de origen. Los asuntos específicos tratados en este artículo son sus características únicas, índices de prevalencia, y resultados de su desarrollo. El autor proporciona un modelo de tratamiento culturalmente sensible hacia los individuos transculturales, basado en el Modelo de Relaciones Multiculturales de G. Roysircar (2009).     

The Social Nature of Engineering and its Implications for Risk Taking

Making decisions with an, often significant, element of risk seems to be an integral part of many of the projects of the diverse profession of engineering. Whether it be decisions about the design of products, manufacturing processes, public works, or developing technological solutions to environmental, social and global problems, risk taking seems inherent to the profession. Despite this, little attention has been paid to the topic and specifically to how our understanding of engineering as a distinctive profession might affect how we should make decisions under risk. This paper seeks to remedy this, firstly by offering a nuanced account of risk and then by considering how specific claims about our understanding of engineering as a social profession, with corresponding social values and obligations, should inform how we make decisions about risk in this context.