Preliminary evidence that acute and chronic daily psychological stress affect sexual arousal in sexually functional women

It is assumed that psychological stress may inhibit sexual arousal in women. Research on the effect of (acute and chronic) psychological stressors on genital and subjective sexual arousal, however, is scarce. To investigate whether psychological stressors indeed inhibit sexual responding, sexually functional women were randomly assigned to an experimental condition (n=30) in which acute psychological stress was induced by a frustrating computer task or a control condition (n=29). After the acute psychological stress or control induction women were exposed to an erotic stimulus. Genital sexual arousal was assessed using vaginal photoplethysmography. Self-report ratings of subjective sexual arousal were collected after the erotic stimulus. Furthermore, women were post hoc divided into a 'low' and a 'high' chronic stress group, based on their pre-assessment scores on a chronic daily stress questionnaire. As predicted, it was found that women in the acute stress condition responded with lower levels of genital and subjective sexual arousal to an erotic stimulus than women in the control condition. In addition, women with high levels of chronic stress responded with lower levels of genital sexual arousal to an erotic stimulus than women with low levels of chronic stress. Chronic stress did not affect the level of subjective sexual arousal.     

Secondary control critiqued: is it secondary? is it control? Comment on Morling and Evered (2006)

In an insightful review on secondary control, B. Morling and S. Evered argued that the seminal article spawning the construct (F. Rothbaum, J. R. Weisz, & S. S. Snyder) contained the roots of two distinct conceptualizations focusing on "fit" and "control" and that distinguishing between them clarifies inconsistent research findings. They concluded that the best definition of secondary control focuses on fit. The author of the current commentary agrees with Morling and Evered's premises but draws the opposite conclusion. Herein, it is argued that (a) current control-focused definitions have more valid claims to the term secondary control, and (b) current incarnations that focus on "fit" are important, but they are not secondary and they are not control. Hence, fit-focused constructs should be liberated from the domain of control and studied in their own right, under their own more appropriate label, such as accommodative processes. Moreover, theoretical clarity and depth regarding the functions of fit-focused processes can be gained by examining these processes in relation to other underlying motives, such as belongingness or autonomy, to which they are more closely allied.     

Behavioral consistency in a changed social context in Carolina chickadees

Stable personality-like influences on behavior have been documented in nonhuman animals (S. D. Gosling, 2001), but little is known about such influences within explicitly social contexts. The authors tested whether individuals of a socially complex avian species, Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis), show consistent behavioral profiles when their social context changes. Consistency was tested using 7 groups of chickadees, each group comprising 2 female-male pairs. The 2 pairs from each group were isolated from one another until the male birds were switched between the pairs. The authors made several measures before and after the male switch, including measures of affiliative and agonistic behavior, self-maintenance behavior, and vocalizations. The authors observed strong behavioral consistency despite the major change in social context, suggesting that personality can influence this fundamental social relationship.     

Cognitive Constraints on How Economic Rewards Affect Cooperation

ABSTRACT— Cooperation often fails to spread in proportion to its potential benefits. This phenomenon is captured by prisoner's dilemma games, in which cooperation rates appear to be determined by the distinctive structure of economic incentives (e.g., $3 for mutual cooperation vs. $5 for unilateral defection). Rather than comparing economic values of cooperating versus not ($3 vs. $5), we tested the hypothesis that players simply compare numeric values (3 vs. 5), such that subjective numbers (mental magnitudes) are logarithmically scaled. Supporting our hypothesis, increasing only numeric values of rewards (from $3 to 300¢) increased cooperation ( Study 1 ), whereas increasing economic values increased cooperation only when there were also numeric increases ( Study 2 ). Thus, changing rewards from 3¢ to 300¢ increased cooperation rates, but an economically identical change from 3¢ to $3 elicited no gains. Finally, logarithmically scaled reward values predicted 97% of variation in cooperation, whereas the face value of economic rewards predicted none. We conclude that representations of numeric value constrain how economic rewards affect cooperation.     

Religion and Spirituality in Lonely Planet's India

For years, the authors of the best-selling guide to India, Lonely Planet, has shaped the perspectives of many travellers. This article considers how religion is constructed as a category and how it is made relevant to travellers. I argue that ‘religion’ comes in two versions, one pertaining to the Indian hosts and one to travellers. Religion is based on tradition, faith and historical institutions, whose members, rituals and sacred sites are of interest to travellers. Spirituality has to do with the personal development of travellers and is exclusively referred to as philosophy.     

Adult Attachment Orientations and College Student Distress: The Mediating Role of Problem Coping Styles

In this study, the authors examined relations among adult attachment orientations, maladaptive problem coping styles, and a composite measure of current distress within a sample of 55 undergraduates (17 men, 38 women). Results indicated that each adult attachment orientation and each problem coping style measure was related in expected directions to students' distress. In addition, problem coping styles largely mediated the impact of insecure adult attachment orientations on distress. Implications of our findings to advancing an attachment theory‐informed perspective on college student coping, distress, and intervention are discussed.     

The role of behavioral experience in judging risks.

This study used conditional risk assessments to examine the role of behavioral experiences in risk judgments. Adolescents and young adults (ages 10-30; N = 577) were surveyed on their risk judgments for natural hazards and behavior-linked risks, including their personal experiences with these events. Results indicated that participants who had experienced a natural disaster or engaged in a particular risk behavior estimated their chance of experiencing a negative outcome resulting from that event or behavior as less likely than individuals without such experience. These findings challenge the notion that risk judgments motivate behavior and instead suggest that risk judgments may be reflective of behavioral experiences. The results have implications for health education and risk communication.