Effect of Prenatal Androgen on Adult Personality: Greater Openness with More Female-Typical 2D:4D Digit Ratios

One hundred seven university community participants (71 female, 36 male) were evaluated on the five personality factors (NEO-FFI), and finger lengths were measured to determine the ratio of the second to fourth digit (2D:4D). It is well-established that 2D:4D ratios are an index of prenatal androgenic activity. Sex differences were found such that the men had lower 2D:4D ratios than the women for both the left and right hands, and the women indicated greater Neuroticism than the men, as reported by others. Most interestingly, greater Openness was significantly associated with more female-typical (higher) 2D:4D ratios for the entire sample. This was significant for the male sample alone, and was found at a trend level in the female sample alone.     

Veterinary use of exposure techniques in the treatment of phobic domestic animals

Exposure techniques as a treatment for human phobias are reviewed, as well as exposure's use in the extinction of avoidance behavior in laboratory animal studies. A third arena in which exposure is employed is reconsidered--in the veterinary treatment of phobic domestic animals. Veterinary use of exposure is illustrated, and the advantages and disadvantages of the veterinary study of exposure are discussed.     

Extinction of a conditioned emotional response: massed and distributed exposures

Using the lick-suppression methodology of Jacobs, Buttrick & Kennedy (Pavlovian Journal of Biological Science, 23, 29-34, 1988), a conditioned emotional response (CER) was established in 24 rats using off-the-baseline pairings of a light (the conditional stimulus) and brief footshock (the unconditioned stimulus). Following conditioning, the rats were assigned to one of three extinction groups differing in whether they received massed or distributed off-the-baseline exposure to the conditional stimulus. The effects of differential treatment were assessed on-the-baseline on test days, when the extinction of the CER was monitored. Rats receiving a single, long exposure to the conditional stimulus showed greater resistance to extinction than the rats in the distributed groups. They also showed a difference pattern of CER extinction. The results were discussed and compared to similar studies that have explored the massed vs distributed dimension, both in CER and avoidance-extinction (using response prevention or flooding). The relation of animal studies to parallel human studies using exposure therapy was also discussed.     

Sources of meaning through the lifespan

185 men and women representing five developmental ages ranging from younger to older adulthood (17 to 96 yr) completed several measures to assess the amount and origins of most meaningful events in a person's life. As assessed by a modification of the Purpose-in-Life Test, the amount of purpose did not vary per se with age or sex. Similarly, the sources of meaning did not alter across time or sex. Themes of involvement emerged as the salient sources of meaning and included love, work, births of children, independent pursuits, accidents, illnesses, deaths, separations, or divorces, and to a lesser extent major purchases. The common sources and their timing are discussed within the context of a lifespan developmental model.     

The correlation-based law of effect

It is commonly understood that the interactions between an organism and its environment constitute a feedback system. This implies that instrumental behavior should be viewed as a continuous exchange between the organism and the environment. It follows that orderly relations between behavior and environment should emerge at the level of aggregate flow in time, rather than momentary events. These notions require a simple, but fundamental, change in the law of effect: from a law based on contiguity of events to a law based on correlation between events. Much recent research and argument favors such a change. If the correlation-based law of effect is accepted, it favors measures and units of analysis that transcend momentary events, extending through time. One can measure all consequences on a common scale, called value. One can define a unit of analysis called the behavioral situation, which circumscribes a set of values. These concepts allow redefinition of reinforcement and punishment, and clarification of their relation to discriminative stimuli.     

Waiting for a crowd: the behavioral and perceptual effects of anticipated crowding.

An experiment was conducted in which subjects were convinced that crowding was imminent. It was hypothesized that the arousal of expectations of crowding would cause subjects to behave in ways suggesting that they were preparing for the experience of crowding by taking steps to reduce the impact of crowding before its onset. Similarly, it was predicted that anticipation of crowding would influence subject perceptions of the experimental room, interpersonal affect, and general levels of discomfort. Data collected indicated that these predictions were accurate; subjects anticipating crowding chose more socially isolated seat positions, avoided contact with others, experienced crowding and discomfort, and rated others in the setting as well as the room in ways generally consistent with definitions of crowding.     

Situational and Arousal-Based Messages and the Reduction of Crowding Stress

In an anticipatory crowding context, an attempt was made to assess the effects of various control-relevant messages for ameliorating crowding stress. Two informational foci (i.e., situational and emotional) were employed, and it was found that situational information was more effective in relieving discomfort associated with anticipated high-density than emotionally-focused information. In addition, an exploratory attempt was made to evaluate the effectiveness for relieving crowding stress of control-relevant information highlighting different aspects of density (i.e., overload, spatial intrusion, and interference). In general, it was found that such messages were effective in relieving discomfort to the extent that they accurately described the characteristics of the setting that subjects were anticipating.