Differences in startle reactivity during the perception of angry and fearful faces

Emotion researchers often categorize angry and fearful face stimuli as "negative" or "threatening". Perception of fear and anger, however, appears to be mediated by dissociable neural circuitries and often elicit distinguishable behavioral responses. The authors sought to elucidate whether viewing anger and fear expressions produce dissociable psychophysiological responses (i.e., the startle reflex). The results of two experiments using different facial stimulus sets (representing anger, fear, neutral, and happy) indicated that viewing anger was associated with a significantly heightened startle response (p < .05) relative to viewing fear, happy, and neutral. This finding suggests that while anger and fear faces convey messages of "threat", their priming effect on startle circuitry differs. Thus, angry expressions, representing viewer-directed threat with an unambiguous source (i.e., the expresser), may more effectively induce a motivational propensity to withdraw or escape. The source of threat is comparatively less clear for fearful faces. The differential effects of these two facial threat signals on the defensive motivational system adds to growing literature highlighting the importance of distinguishing between emotional stimuli of similar valence, along lines of meaning and functional impact.     

Acting-out and the dynamics of victimization

Conclusion The trauma of child abuse resides not only in the event itself but also arises from dynamics of victimization which causes secondary trauma. Acting-out among adolescents is symbolic of these dynamics. This article has explored an ecological perspective to present a relational model of pastoral care, uplifting the impact of victimization on both the individual and the community, as well as the individual's interaction within the community.Before we nail another acting-out adolescent to the cross, we must admit here and now that the deviance manifested in victimization and its corollary, the conformity of silence, are oppressive social forces which contradict our call to transform blindness into witness, silence into revelation, and separation into reconciliation. Jesus advocated against conformity to social inadequacies, and pointed to something greater as he reconciled the separated, helpless victims to the love of a caring God.     

Continuing problems in exploring the structure of job satisfaction

Job satisfaction ratings-defined as the product (importance) X (what the job should offer, what the job actually offers)-on 29 job dimensions were factor analyzed for two large and randomly drawn samples of management-level males. An identical analysis was also carried out on the perceived discrepancy score alone. Differences between the results of the analyses on the two types of measures indicated that while the importance weighted measure of job satisfaction is more elegant and conceptually appealing, it is embedded in considerable measurement difficulty. Some probable sources of and possible approaches to handling this difficulty were offered.     

Some considerations relating to the choice of an educational program

A random sample of 1098 new freshmen was cross-classified on sex and the extent to which the college major they selected was saturated with natural science and mathematics requirements. The responses of these students on 14 cognitive and 14 goal variables relating to the choice of an educational program were separately analyzed by means of the multivariate analysis of variance. The results of these analyses indicated that students entering natural science/mathematics programs tend to be oriented more towards the concrete and visible outcomes of an education and a career, e.g., training relevant to a career, an above average income, and success and recognition, than are students not choosing this type of program. Non-science students, on the other hand, value the interpersonal and usefulness to society outcomes of their educational and vocational pursuits. The results relating to the cognitive variables were less definitive, although students entering natural science/mathematics programs were more certain of successfully completing their educational program. Contrary to one of the major hypotheses the program groups did not differ with respect to the certainty of their choice of a college major. The results of this study were developed with a decision-making framework for choice of education and career.     

Children's time perception as affected by order of stimulus presentation

Two groups of 5- to 6-yr.-old children estimated the time required to view 15 color slides containing an assortment of familiar objects. In one group, the pictures appeared in categorical order. A second group viewed the same 15 slides in a random order. The results showed that, although picture-recall was similar for the two groups, children in the category group estimated significantly longer durations than subjects in the random condition. The findings were discussed in the context of Ornstein's 1969 storage size hypothesis.