The impact of a new emotional self-management program on stress, emotions, heart rate variability, DHEA and cortisol

This study examined the effects on healthy adults of a new emotional self-management program, consisting of two key techniques, “Cut-Thru” and the “Heart Lock-In.” These techniques are designed to eliminate negative thought loops and promote sustained positive emotional states. The hypotheses were that training and practice in these techniques would yield lowered levels of stress and negative emotion and cortisol, while resulting in increased positive emotion and DHEA levels over a one-month period. In addition, we hypothesized that increased coherence in heart rate variability patterns would be observed during the practice of the techniques. Forty-five healthy adults participated in the study, fifteen of whom acted as a comparison group for the psychological measures. Salivary DHEA/DHEAS and cortisol levels were measured, autonomic nervous system function was assessed by heart rate variability analysis, and emotions were measured using a psychological questionnaire. Individuals in the experimental group were assessed before and four weeks after receiving training in the self-management techniques. The experimental group experienced significant increases in the positive affect scales of Caring and Vigor and significant decreases in the negative affect scales of Guilt, Hostility, Burnout, Anxiety and Stress Effects, while no significant changes were seen in the comparison group. There was a mean 23 percent reduction in cortisol and a 100 percent increase in DHEA/DHEAS in the experimental group. DHEA was significantly and positively related to the affective state Warmheartedness, whereas cortisol was significantly and positively related to Stress Effects. Increased coherence in heart rate variability patterns was measured in 80 percent of the experimental group during the use of the techniques. The results suggest that techniques designed to eliminate negative thought loops can have important positive effects on stress, emotions and key physiological systems. The implications are that relatively inexpensive interventions may dramatically and positively impact individuals’ health and well-being. Thus, individuals may have greater control over their minds, bodies and health than previously suspected.     

Quantifiers and 'If'-Clauses

Stephen Barker ( The Philosophical Quarterly , 47 (1997), pp. 195–211) has presented a new argument for a pure material implication analysis of indicative conditionals. His argument relies crucially on the assumption that general indicatives such as 'Every girl, if she gets a chance, bungee-jumps' are correctly analysed as having the formal structure (for all x)(if x gets a chance, x bungee-jumps). This paper argues that an approach first proposed by David Lewis must be pursued: the 'if'-clause in these sentences restricts the quantifier. Only the Lewis-style analysis can deal with sentences involving non-universal quantifiers such as 'Most letters are answered if they are shorter than 5 pages'. I show that Barker's reasons for rejecting the restrictor analysis are not cogent and that the restrictor analysis connects widely with recent work in natural language semantics.     

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a Consequence of a Toxic Spill in Northern California

This study examined the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and associated features in residents of Dunsmuir, California, following a toxic spill. Classification of PTSD was based on a cutoff score from the Impact of Event Scale. It was predicted that greater exposure to the spill would increase the risk of PTSD and associated symptoms among spill residents; that those classified with PTSD would report more symptoms than would those without PTSD and controls; and that litigants would be classified with PTSD more than would nonlitigants. Results suggest that spill residents classified with PTSD had greater levels of tension, depression, anxiety, anger, fatigue, and confusion than did spill residents without PTSD and control residents with and without PTSD. Spill residents with PTSD reported more memory problems and sleep disorders than did those without PTSD and control residents with and without PTSD. Measures of physiological arousal showed that spill residents had higher systolic blood pressure several hours after a stressful interview than did control residents without PTSD. Pulse rates several hours after a stressful interview were higher for spill residents with and without PTSD than for control residents with PTSD. Results suggest that exposed residents are at risk for developing PTSD and associated symptoms.     

Relation of Family Problems to Patterns of Delinquent Involvement Among Urban Youth

The relation of patterns of family problems and patterns of delinquent behavior over time was evaluated among a sample of inner-city minority adolescent males. Empirically derived groups were identified and included: nonoffenders, chronic minor offenders, escalators, and serious chronic offenders. Patterns of family problems were also identified and differentially related to delinquency groups. Members of the group involved in serious chronic offending were more likely to have families characterized by multiple problems including disruption, conflict, and lack of parental involvement, sometimes so extreme as to meet the legal requirement of neglect. They were also more likely to have families characterized by deviant behavior and attitudes. The finding of specific relations between types of family problems and patterns of delinquent behavior has important implications for intervention and prevention. Rather than assuming a general relation between family functioning and delinquent involvement, specific aspects of family functioning may need to be targeted to affect different patterns of delinquent involvement.     

Rational-emotive therapy: A discussion of its applicability for deaf clients

This review was conducted to explore the feasibility of Rational-Emotive therapy as an approach to addressing the problems of providing mental health services to persons who have a severe hearing impairment. Informational resources dealing with the topics of Rational-Emotive Therapy and counseling with persons who are hearing impaired were reviewed. References indicated that RET is reasonably well suited to the task of counseling with clients who are hearing impaired, provided that appropriate modifications are incorporated. Specific modifications of RET are recommended and discussed.     

Effects of Positive and Negative Behavioral Feedback on Subsequent Attitude-Related Action

ABSTRACT This study examined the effect of positive and negative behavioral feedback on subsequent behavior The results indicate that positive and negative feedback concerning how well individuals have acted on their attitudinal in the past have different effects on subsequent behavior These effects are moderated by individual differences in self-monitoring and in the frequency with which an individual has acted on his or her attitude in the past–variables which can be seen as reflecting differences in the extent to which individuals see themselves as persons who act on their attitudes, either in general or in regard to a specific attitudes domain Implications of the findings for understanding the literature on labeling and on feedback about energy use are discussed, as are the practical implications for using behavioral feedback in an effort to increase attitude-related action     

When category learning is holistic: A reply to Ward and Scott

A reply is presented to Ward and Scott’s (1987) recent reservations about the evidence for Kemler Nelson’s (1984) claims about when category learning is likely to be holistic. Focusing on the effect of intention, this paper suggests that: (1) contrary to Ward and Scott’s contention, a reanalysis of a critical set of original data continues to support Kemler Nelson’s claim of more holistic learning under unintentional conditions; (2) there is converging evidence for that claim; (3) Ward and Scott’s incidental learning data may diverge because of the inclusion of many weak learners; (4) Ward and Scott’s counterproposal makes some implausible and unsupported predictions; and (5) some of Ward and Scott’s reaction-time data are difficult to interpret. Still, a final discussion identifies some significant points of agreement with Ward and Scott.     

Sex role development as a function of college experiences

The purpose was to evaluate the effect of college experiences on androgyny. One hundred and thirty-nine freshman and 57 senior women completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) as well as measures to assess precollege variables, including a biographical questionnaire, a life experience survey, a measure of parental identification, and parental sex role inventories. In addition, seniors completed measures that assessed college experiences. Almost all of the scales on the two precollege questionnaires that measured parental variables were found related to student's sex role. Consequently, all remaining relationships with sex role were examined with and without controlling for these parental scales. None of the variables that measured college experiences were found to be significantly related to sex role. The results did not support the hypothesis that seniors would assume a more masculine sex role than freshmen. However, the seniors did obtain significantly lower scores than freshmen on the BSRI Femininity scale.     

Covariation assessment in rank order data

Two experiments were conducted to investigate how individuals assess covariation with rank order data. In both studies, subjects were given sets of rank order data, each set consisting of ten items ranked on two characteristics, and were asked to estimate the degree of relationship for each set. Contrary to previous research, subjects' estimates of covariation in this task were quite sensitive to actual levels of correlation in the data and remained unaffected by simple variations in the way rank order data were presented. More importantly, it appeared that this sensitivity to covariation was due likely to the use of a simple heuristic referred to here as the total discrepancy heuristic. These findings are discussed in terms of the availability of simple heuristics in rank-ordered versus other types of data and the consequences of using such heuristics in decision-making contexts.