Functional organization of the rat amygdala with respect to avoidance behavior.

Bilateral electrolytic lesions in the periamygdaloid piriform cortex of female albino rats produced marked disruptive effects on the acquisition of active avoidance responses in a 1-way as well as a 2-way test situation, significantly impaired passive avoidance behavior, and inhibited feeding in a novel environment. Lesions in each of the 6 major subdivisions of the amygdala (cortical, medial, central, intercalated, lateral, and basolateral nuclei) consistently produced facilitatory effects on active avoidance behavior in 1-way as 2-way situations. Passive avoidance behavior was impaired in animals with lesions in the central, intercalated, and basolateral nuclei. Damage to the anterior amygdaloid area or the the nuclei of the lateral olfactory tract did not reliably affect active or passive avoidance behavior.     

Forgetting in retarded and nonretarded persons under conditions of minimal strategy use

Short-term memory processes of mentally retarded (mild, moderate, and severe) and nonretarded persons were compared in a delayed matching-to-sample task that minimized the use of verbal rehearsal. In addition to trials with delays up to 20 s, the inclusion of trials on which the sample and comparison stimuli occurred simultaneously made it possible to isolate memory and discriminability. Forgetting was most pronounced between the simultaneous and 0-s conditions, and nonretarded subjects forgot less than retarded subjects between these conditions. There were no group differences beyond the 0-s delay. Ease of strategy use failed to account for individual differences, and reported strategy use was not related systematically to performance. These findings are incompatible with the hypothesis that normal-retarded differences occur only on tasks involving effortful cognitive strategies. Differences between nonretarded and retarded groups in this study may be due to a failure in automatic encoding processes in retarded persons.     

A categorical analysis of the social attributions of learning-disabled children

The social attributions of learning-disabled and control children with either similar or higher social acceptance ratings were assessed within an open-ended interview format. In addition, measures of social self-esteem and expectation of social success were obtained. The learning-disabled group used luck more frequently and personality interaction less frequently as explanations for social outcomes than did the other two groups. Learning-disabled children also had the lowest expectation of social success and, like the low acceptance group, had a poorer social self-image. Possible explanations for the development of these attributions and the implications for holding them were discussed.     

Shortcomings of the psychomedical research of John Money and co-workers into sex differences in behavior: Social and political implications

This article discusses recent psychomedical research and the underlying biological basis of theories which it uses to explain sex differences in behavior. We criticize the lack of consideration of sociological factors both in the experimental design and in the interpretation of the results in this research, with a focus on the studies of John Money and his co-workers. The social and political implications of this research are also discussed.     

Symbiosis and Confirmation Between the Parents of the Schizophrenic

Parents of schizophrenics (N = 17 ) were compared with parents of nonschizophrenic hospitalized patients (N = 14 ) and parents of normals (N = 15 ) on the degree of symbiotic enmeshment and confirmation of individuality in the parental relationship. Symbiosis was divided into six component variables: undifferentiation, dependency, intervention, disapproval of other relationships, separation difficulty, and injunctions. Confirmation was bifurcated into acknowledgment and accommodation. Projective tests (TAT and Make-A-Picture-Story) and interviews were used to measure both variables. The results suggest that mothers of schizophrenics tend to be symbiotically attached to their husbands and view their husbands as forming the same type of attachment to them. Fathers of schizophrenics do not tend to be symbiotically involved with their wives but fail to confirm them. The implications of the results for the family system of the schizophrenic are discussed.     

The consistency of scores and configural patterns between the MMPI and MMPI-2

This article is an extension of the Ben-Porath and Butcher (1989a) study, investigating the claim that the scores and configural patterns of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) are consistent with those of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). College students (200 men and 200 women) were randomly assigned to either the original to original condition (O-O), in which they took the MMPI twice, or the original to revised condition (O-R), in which they took the MMPI and the MMPI-2. Correlations and configural patterns of the O-O condition were compared to those of the O-R condition. Results suggest some score changes between the MMPI and MMPI-2, particularly on Scales L, 5, and 8 for men and Scales L and 5 for women.     

Eating disorders in the DSM-IV

The guiding principles and operating procedures of the Eating Disorders Work Group are described. Provisional diagnostic criteria for the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are listed, together with an explanation of how and why they differ from the revised 3rd edition (American Psychiatric Association, 1987). Consideration of a possible new diagnosis is noted.     

Self-esteem and sexual behavior: Exploring gender differences

Previous studies have shown that the relationship between sexual permissiveness and self-esteem fluctuates with the social climate. The present study found that high self-esteem males and females had a significantly greater number of sexual partners than low self-esteem subjects. The relationship is particularly strong for males. The greatest difference in self-esteem levels was found between male virgins and nonvirgins. Self-esteem levels did not differ between female virgins and nonvirgins. Sensation seeking, marital status, and age were also found to be significantly related to number of coital partners.