疼痛恐惧的形成、泛化与消退

疼痛恐惧源于把疼痛等同于伤害的灾难化信念及对疼痛的负性解释, 它在慢性疼痛和能力丧失的发生和发展过程中起着重要作用。疼痛恐惧可以通过联合学习和观察学习等方式获得, 并且在具有相似特征的刺激中存在泛化现象。通过教育干预和等级暴露疗法等可以成功消退疼痛恐惧, 在消退过程中要控制安全信息等因素的不良影响。在疼痛恐惧的获得与消退中, 主要有杏仁核, 脑岛和前扣带皮层等脑区参与。未来的研究可以集中在深入探讨疼痛恐惧形成中的泛化及消退后的恢复、再巩固等现象, 加强其临床上的应用, 并综合心理、生物和认知神经科学, 研究疼痛恐惧的获得、泛化与消退的深层机制。     

An exploratory analysis of the contexts and circumstances of filicide‐suicide in Chicago, 1965–1994

Filicide is the killing of a ward by a parent. Relative to many other types of homicide, filicide is an infrequent event. Filicide followed by the offender's suicide is less frequent still. The contexts and circumstances surrounding filicide‐suicide may nevertheless provide insight into parental psychology. Some research suggests, for example, that filicidal genetic parents are more likely to commit suicide than are filicidal stepparents. Five hypotheses are tested for this study, using a database that includes incident‐level information on over 22,000 homicides committed in Chicago during the years 1965–1994. Findings do not support the hypothesis of differential risk of suicide following filicide by genetic parents and stepparents. Previous work is replicated, indicating that: (1) filicides that include multiple victims are more likely to end in the offender's suicide than are filicides that include a single victim, (2) parents are more likely to commit suicide following a filicide of an older child than a filicide of a younger child, (3) older parents, relative to younger parents, are more likely to commit suicide following filicide, and that (4) fathers, relative to mothers, are more likely to commit suicide following filicide. Discussion suggests future directions for research that can inform our understanding of filicide and of filicide‐suicide. Aggr. Behav. 00:000–000, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Lesbian and bisexual women’s interpretations of lesbian and ersatz lesbian pornography

The purpose of the current study was to examine non-heterosexual women’s interpretations of “lesbian” material contained in pornography targeting male viewers and pornography made by and for lesbian women. Four focus groups were conducted (N=17) in which participants saw two pornographic sequences; one ostensibly for heterosexual males and the other for lesbian women. Participants then engaged in a semi-structured discussion for approximately 90 minutes. Conversations were tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for themes. Stated briefly, results indicated that participants differentiated between the two sequences on a variety of dimensions including performers’ bodies, the emphasis on penetration, and the presence or absence of intimacy. The implications of these findings and ideas for subsequent research are outlined.     

A transactional approach to social anxiety and the genesis of interpersonal closeness: Self, partner, and social context

It remains unclear whether social anxiety interferes with the generation of closeness during initial encounters. We addressed the question of whether perceived closeness between strangers differs as a function of dyad characteristics (i.e., self and partner levels of social anxiety) and social context. We conducted an experiment with 90 participants randomly assigned to either a 45-minute personal disclosure or small-talk dyadic conversation. Multilevel modeling results yielded a 3-way interaction, such that the effect of social anxiety on closeness generated during the interaction was moderated by social anxiety reported by interaction partners and social context. In the personal disclosure condition, perceived closeness was greatest when the most socially anxious individuals interacted with each other. In the small-talk condition, perceived closeness was greatest when the least socially anxious individuals interacted with each other. Across conditions, partners with substantial differences in social anxiety (i.e., mixed dyads) reported relatively less closeness than partners with similar levels of social anxiety. Social anxiety effects were not attributable to depressive symptoms or physical attraction to partners. These findings suggest that neglecting specific qualities of interaction partners and social situational factors may lead to spurious conclusions in understanding interpersonal outcomes related to social anxiety.     

Sexual Ethics Training in Seminary: Preparing Students to Manage Feelings of Sexual Attraction

Pastoral Psychology - Sexual boundary violations by clergy have received heightened media attention in recent years with far reaching implications for the long-term well-being of the Church as an...     

Probability matching, accuracy maximization, and a test of the optimal classifier’s independence assumption in perceptual categorization

Observers completed perceptual categorization tasks that included 25 base-rate/payoff conditions constructed from the factorial combination of five base-rate ratios (1:3, 1:2, 1:1, 2:1, and 3:1) with five payoff ratios (1:3, 1:2, 1:1, 2:1, and 3:1). This large database allowed an initial comparison of the competition between reward and accuracy maximization (COBRA) hypothesis with a competition between reward maximization and probability matching (COBRM) hypothesis, and an extensive and critical comparison of the flat-maxima hypothesis with the independence assumption of the optimal classifier. Model-based instantiations of the COBRA and COBRM hypotheses provided good accounts of the data, but there was a consistent advantage for the COBRM instantiation early in learning and for the COBRA instantiation later in learning. This pattern held in the present study and in a reanalysis of Bohil and Maddox (2003). Strong support was obtained for the flat-maxima hypothesis over the independence assumption, especially as the observers gained experience with the task. Model parameters indicated that observers’ reward-maximizing decision criterion rapidly approaches the optimal value and that more weight is placed on accuracy maximization in separate base-rate/payoff conditions than in simultaneous base-rate/payoff conditions. The superiority of the flat-maxima hypothesis suggests that violations of the independence assumption are to be expected, and are well captured by the flat-maxima hypothesis, with no need for any additional assumptions.     

Effects of Lipopolysaccharide on Consolidation of Partial Learning in the Y-Maze

Research on consolidation of long-term memory suggests that acute immune system activation induced by endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) may disrupt consolidation of newly acquired learning. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to perform a simple Y-maze task and were immediately afterwards administered LPS (15 microg/kg) or saline. After a seven-day interval, subjects were returned to the Y-maze and were retrained to criterion. It was found that subjects treated with saline required significantly fewer trials to relearn the task relative to the LPS group and a no-partial-learning control group, which themselves did not differ. These results are most readily explained in terms of a disruptive effect of acute immune system activation on consolidation of newly induced acquired memories.     

Evaluating validity and test-retest reliability in four drive for muscularity questionnaires

The current study assessed relationships among four commonly used drive for muscularity questionnaires, along with their 7 and 14 day test-retest reliability. Sample 1 was comprised of young British adult males (N=272; M(AGE)=20.3) who completed the questionnaires once. Sample 2, a group of young British adult males (N=54, M(AGE)=19.3), completed the questionnaires three times spaced 7 and 14 days apart. Correlations among Sample 1 ranged from .20 to .82 providing evidence for concurrent and discriminant validities. Evidence for test-retest reliability emerged with intraclass correlations ranging from .78 to .95 (p<.001) and generally nonsignificant t-tests (p>.05). Overall, the data support the psychometric properties of the drive for muscularity inventories; however, the shared variance (35-67%) hints that refinement is possible.     

Are visual features of a looming or receding object processed in a capacity-free manner?

Numerous experiments have examined whether moving stimuli capture spatial attention but none have sought to determine whether visual features of looming and receding objects are extracted in a capacity-free manner. The current experiment (N = 28) used the task-choice procedure originated by Besner and Care (2003) to examine this possibility. Stimuli were presented in 3D space by manipulating retinal disparity. Results indicate that features of an object are extracted in a capacity-free manner for both looming and receding objects for participants who consciously perceive motion but not for participants who do not consciously perceive motion. These results suggest that the cognitive system is biased to process potentially animate objects, perhaps because of the evolutionary advantage this cognitive ability may provide.