The relationship between pain tolerance and trait aggression: effects of sex and gender role

The literature on pain and aggression has indicated that pain elicits aggression. However, research has generally examined pain as a situational variable and focused less on the dispositional ability of an individual to tolerate pain. The dearth of research on pain tolerance and aggression appears to contradict the existing theory on the aggression‐eliciting effect of pain, in that studies have found a positive relationship between pain tolerance and aggression. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the relationship between pain tolerance and aggression is moderated by sex and whether the positive relationship could be explained by masculine gender role conformity. A sample of 195 collegiate men and women completed trait measures and a laboratory assessment of pain tolerance. Results indicated that correlations between pain tolerance and trait aggression were significant and positive for men but not women. However, when men's conformity to masculine gender role was controlled for, the relationship between pain tolerance and trait aggression was nil and nonsignificant. Results are discussed in reference to socialization and maintenance of masculine status. Aggr. Behav. 35:422–429, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Extended similarity trees

Proximity data can be represented by an extended tree, which generalizes traditional trees by including marked segments that correspond to overlapping clusters. An extended tree is a graphical representation of the distinctive features model. A computer program (EXTREE) that constructs extended trees is described and applied to several sets of conceptual and perceptual proximity data.This research was supported in part by a National Science Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellowship to the first author.A magnetic tape containing both the EXTREE program described in the article and ADDTREE/P program for fitting additive trees can also be obtained from the above address. Requests for the program should be accompanied by a check for $25 made out to Teachers College, to cover the costs of the tape and postage.     

Nearest neighbor analysis of point processes: Applications to multidimensional scaling

A new approach for evaluating spatial statistical models based on the (random) number 0 ≤ N(i, n) ≤ n of points whose nearest neighbor is i in an ensemble of n + 1 points is discussed. The second moment of N(i, n) offers a measure of the centrality of the ensemble. The asymptotic distribution of N(i, n) and the expected degree of centrality for several spatial and nonspatial point processes is described. The use of centrality as a diagnostic statistic for multidimensional scaling is explored.     

The sense-making approach for audience assessment of adolescents

The purpose of the research was to test the methodology used to identify how adolescents approach their nutrition concerns and questions. The methodology was based on Dervin's sense-making theory. Using a time-line interview technique, 305 adolescents 14 to 16 years of age detailed a situation involving their most important nutrition concerns. Other pertinent information was obtained. Cluster analysis was chosen as the appropriate analysis to identify groups of adolescents who responded similarly to the technique. Discriminant analysis was then used to determine which variables maximally separated the groups. Four groups were identified, two of which described action-oriented approaches to dealing with nutrition situations and differed in terms of how much outside help they wanted. The remaining two groups perceived barriers to dealing with situations and also differed in how much help they wanted. A fifth group indicated no nutrition concerns or questions. The results will be used to develop and test the effectiveness of nutrition education when it is focused on the different approaches.     

On the study of statistical intuitions

The study of intuitions and errors in judgment under uncertainty is complicated by several factors: discrepancies between acceptance and application of normative rules; effects of content on the application of rules; Socratic hints that create intuitions while testing them; demand characteristics of within-subject experiments; subjects' interpretations of experimental messages according to standard conversational rules. The positive analysis of a judgmental error in terms of heuristics may be supplemented by a negative analysis, which seeks to explain why the correct rule is not intuitively compelling. A negative analysis of non-regressive prediction is outlined.     

Sex,hypermasculinity, and hyperfemininity in perception of social cues in neutral interactions

Sexual coercion is a prevalent problem on U.S. college campuses. One potential avenue by which it may occur is the misinterpretation of social cues, and such misperception may be mediated by extreme sex role adherence, i.e., hypermasculinity and hyperfemininity. 62 undergraduate students viewed a film of a neutral interaction between a college-aged man and woman. Subsequently, participants indicated which behaviors they remembered the opposite-sex actor performing, offered a prediction as to the outcome of the scenario and what they would do had they been in a similar situation, and then completed either the Hypermasculinity Inventory or the Hyperfemininity Scale. Scores on the former correlated negatively with recall accuracy, and men indicated that they were more likely to date and have sex with the actress than women reported being likely to date or have sex with the actor. Women reported a high perceived likelihood of dating the actor coupled with the expectation that he would have sex with the actress. Likewise, women expected to be sexually coerced by the actor had they been in a similar situation. Social implications of these findings and possible research are discussed.     

Additive similarity trees

Similarity data can be represented by additive trees. In this model, objects are represented by the external nodes of a tree, and the dissimilarity between objects is the length of the path joining them. The additive tree is less restrictive than the ultrametric tree, commonly known as the hierarchical clustering scheme. The two representations are characterized and compared. A computer program, ADDTREE, for the construction of additive trees is described and applied to several sets of data. A comparison of these results to the results of multidimensional scaling illustrates some empirical and theoretical advantages of tree representations over spatial representations of proximity data.We thank Nancy Henley and Vered Kraus for providing us with data, and Jan deLeeuw for calling our attention to relevant literature. The work of the first author was supported in part by the Psychology Unit of the Israel Defense Forces.     

Epistemological controversies in the analytic field elucidated by the theological realm

This article proposes to address certain epistemological controversies in psychoanalysis by elucidating them through the religious field. The theological field serves the author as the repressed, which indicates the latent stakes that continue to do work at the heart of these debates. The goal is to show how debates that take place on the epistemological level bring into confrontation different anthropological concepts and discursive traditions that have their roots in religious discourses. The principal hypothesis of the author is that the dissident theories of psychoanalysis can be understood as a return to a pre‐monotheistic theological conception or to an idolatrous practice that aims, primarily, to undo castration. This hypothesis will be used to elucidate the debates with two authors: Adler and Rank. The author shows how these theorists, by leaving analytical ground, connect their theories to pre‐monotheistic conceptions and highlight conceptual tools that are characteristic to them.