Evidence for the involvement of brain GABA and serotonin systems in the anticonflict effects of chlordiazepoxide in rats

Using male hooded Lister rats the effects of GABAergic and serotonergic treatments alone and with chlordiazepoxide (CDP) were compared with the behavioral effects of CDP in a conditioned conflict procedure with three components; Reward, Time Out, and Conflict. CDP (2.5, 5.0, and 10.0 mg/kg ip) dose- relatedly increased punished and time out responding, but increased rewarded responding in an inversely dose-related manner. Punished responding was enhanced by chronic treatment to a rate which remained stable between 9 and 19 injections. The GABA transaminase inhibitor ethanolamine-O-sulfate (EOS), given chronically in drinking water (5.0 mg/ml), increased punished responding linearly to a high stable level after 2-3 weeks. Rewarded and time out responding were less substantially increased. CDP given with EOS dose- relatedly increased time out and punished responding substantially above the rates found with either treatment alone. The GABA antagonist picrotoxin blocked the increase in punished and time out responding found with EOS and CDP alone. The tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitor p-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA; 100 mg/kg x 3) linearly increased punished responding for the first week of treatment. CDP with PCPA selectively and significantly increased punished responding above the rates for either treatment alone, but the increases were not as substantial as those with EOS + CDP. The serotonin reuptake inhibitor Wy 25093 reduced increases in time out and punished responding under CDP, and the precursor 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) counteracted increases in punished responding under PCPA but also substantially reduced rewarded responding. These results provide evidence that both increased GABA and decreased serotonin transmission are involved in the anticonflict effects of CDP, as EOS and PCPA both mimicked and potentiated effects of CDP, while picrotoxin, Wy 25093, and 5-HTP counteracted them.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Social Capital and Individual Happiness in Europe

This paper explores the relationship between social capital and happiness both in Europe as a whole, as well as in its four main geographical macro-regions—North, South, East and West—separately. We test the hypothesis of whether social capital, in its three-fold definition established by Coleman (Am J Sociol 94:S95–S120 1988)—trust, social interaction, and norms and sanctions—influences individual happiness across European countries and regions. The concept of social capital is further enriched by incorporating Putnam (Making democracy work—civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1993) and Olson (The rise and decline of nations—economic growth, stagflation, and social rigidities. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1982) type variables on associational activity. Using ordinal logistic regression analysis on data for 48,583 individuals from 25 European countries, we reach three main findings. First, social capital matters for happiness across the three dimensions considered. Second, the main drivers of the effects of social capital on happiness appear to be informal social interaction and general social, as well as institutional trust. And third, there are significant differences in how social capital interacts with happiness across different areas of Europe, with the connection being at is weakest in the Nordic countries.     

Prosociality enhances meaning in life

A central feature of meaning in life is a consideration of more than oneself. We extend this logic to suggest that altruistically motivated prosociality – acting in ways that benefit others – is a self-transcending action that may provide meaning in life. Study 1 provided evidence of a relationship between self-reported prosocial behavior and meaning in life, even after statistically controlling for personality traits and self-esteem. Study 2 provided evidence that engaging in a prosocial action, via writing notes of gratitude, increased meaning in life. Study 3 provided evidence that individuals bolster perceptions of prosociality following threats to meaning. Study 4 suggested relationship satisfaction partially mediates the link between prosocial actions and meaning in life. These studies provide initial evidence that prosociality enhances meaning in life.     

Be aware of the rifle but do not forget the stench: differential effects of fear and disgust on lexical processing and memory

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of discrete emotions in lexical processing and memory, focusing on disgust and fear. We compared neutral words to disgust-related words and fear-related words in three experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants performed a lexical decision task (LDT), and in Experiment 3 an affective categorisation task. These tasks were followed by an unexpected memory task. The results of the LDT experiments showed slower reaction times for both types of negative words with respect to neutral words, plus a higher percentage of errors, this being more consistent for fear-related words (Experiments 1 and 2) than for disgust-related words (Experiment 2). Furthermore, only disgusting words exhibited a higher recall accuracy than neutral words in the memory task. Moreover, the advantage in memory for disgusting words disappeared when participants carried out an affective categorisation task during encoding (Experiment 3), suggesting that the superiority in memory for disgusting words observed in Experiments 1 and 2 could be due to greater elaborative processing. Taken together, these findings point to the relevance of discrete emotions in explaining the effects of the emotional content on lexical processing and memory.     

Are Conservatives Less Likely to be Prosocial Than Liberals? From Games to Ideology,Political Preferences and Voting

Do political preferences reflect individual differences in interpersonal orientations? Are conservatives less other‐regarding than liberals? On the basis of past theorising, we hypothesised that, relative to individuals with prosocial orientations, those with individualistic and competitive orientations should be more likely to endorse conservative political preferences and vote for conservative parties. This hypothesis was supported in three independent studies conducted in Italy (Studies 1 and 2) and the Netherlands (Study 3). Consistent with hypotheses, a cross‐sectional study revealed that individualists and competitors endorsed stronger conservative political preferences than did prosocials; moreover, this effect was independent of the association between need for structure and conservative political preferences (Study 1). The predicted association of social value orientation and voting was observed in both a four‐week (Study 2) and an eight‐month (Study 3) longitudinal study. Taken together, the findings provide novel support for the claim that interpersonal orientations, as measured with experimental games rooted in game theory, are important to understanding differences in ideology at the societal level. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.