The effects of negative reinforcement for irritable aggression on resident-intruder behavior

This experiment demonstrated that rats trained to display elevated levels of shock-induced aggression in a negative reinforcement paradigm displayed more boxing behavior than yoked control groups in a later test in which intruder rats were placed in the home cage of resident rats. Resident or intruder status did not affect the influence of the negative reinforcement procedure on the observed resident-intruder behavior of trained animals; however, naive intruders paired with trained residents displayed increased defensive behavior, suggesting that negative reinforcement for shock-induced aggression affected the behavior of these residents.     

Aggressive Behavior and Peer Social Status of Elementary School Children

The relation between aggression and peer social status was investigated in a group of 238 third-through fifth-grade children. Peer social status refers to the degree to which a child is accepted by his or her peer group. By asking children to nominate peers they “like most” and “like least,” one can identify children who are popular, rejected, neglected, or viewed as average within their peer group. Results indicated low to moderate correlations between peer-nominated aggression and global indices of social acceptance. More specifically, it was found that aggressive children largely comprised the rejected and average social status groups, but not the popular or neglected groups. Furthermore, analyses indicated that according to both peers and teachers, aggressive/rejected children showed academic and social-skill deficits, whereas aggressive children of average peer status exhibited adequate adjustment similar to that of nonaggressive/average-status children. These results suggest the importance of considering peer social status when identifying aggressive children in need of intervention and in determining which skill deficits to address. In addition, knowledge of an aggressive child's peer status might be useful in enhancing the predictability of adult adjustment.     

Autoradiography of hypothalamic regions after acute hyperosmolarity in mice

Many regions around the third ventricle of the brain are thought to participate in the regulation of water intake. In this study we have visualized in acutely hyperosmolar mice the hypothalamic regions by using autoradiography and [14C]deoxyglucose as marker. By applying a recently published, inexpensive, calibrated photographic method for the analysis of the autoradiographs, we can show that the medial parts of the hypothalamus near the third ventricle increased their uptake of deoxyglucose in comparison with the lateral parts. Densitometric measurements confirmed the results. The results also indicate that parts of the medial hypothalamus, even those that are more caudal than the paraventricular nuclei, react to hyperosmolarity.     

Interaction between catecholaminergic and opioid systems in an active avoidance task

Male NMRI mice were given intravenous injections of the noradrenergic neurotoxin DSP4 or the vehicle 24 to 72 h prior behavioral testing. Animals were given 2 days of training on a one-way active avoidance task. Naloxone was given in one of three doses prior to training on Day 1 and Day 2 or prior to training on Day 1 only (saline was given prior to training on Day 2). There was a dose-dependent impairment of acquisition by naloxone in the vehicle-pretreated groups; 10 mg/kg naloxone produced a significant impairment of acquisition. Naloxone also modulated retention (Day 2) performance of the active avoidance task. For vehicle-pretreated mice, 1 mg/kg naloxone facilitated and 10 mg/kg naloxone-impaired performance on Day 2. DSP4 alone produced an impairment of acquisition of this task but had no effect on retention; Day 2 scores were slightly higher in the DSP4-pretreated group than in the vehicle-pretreated group. Naloxone produced somewhat different effects in DSP4-pretreated animals than in vehicle-pretreated animals. Naloxone (1 mg/kg) ameliorated the DSP4-induced impairment of acquisition; 10 mg/kg naloxone did not significantly alter the acquisition performance of this group. For the DSP4-pretreated mice that received naloxone before training on both days, the dose-response characteristics for retention scores were similar to those of vehicle-pretreated mice; 1 mg/kg naloxone was the facilitatory dose. However, for DSP4-treated mice that received naloxone before training on Day 1 only, there was a shift to the right in the effective facilitatory dose of naloxone. For these animals, 10 mg/kg naloxone but not 1 mg/kg naloxone significantly enhanced retention performance. We discuss these results in the context of a possible state-dependent modulation by naloxone in the DSP4-treated animals.     

Male-related chemical cues promote sexual receptivity in the female musk shrew

The role of conspecific chemical cues in the activation of sexual behavior was investigated in the female musk shrew (Suncus murinus). In Experiment 1, virgin female musk shrews were exposed to either clean cages or cages recently vacated by an adult male. Regardless of whether the male used for the sexual behavior test was "familiar" to the female (having spent the 24 h exposure in his vacant cage) or "unfamiliar," females exposed to male-related cues received mounts from males significantly sooner than females exposed to clean cages. In Experiment 2, females housed for 24 h in a cage soiled by an adult male allowed males to mount significantly sooner than females housed in a cage soiled by a castrated male, another female, or a clean cage. These results demonstrate that chemical cues, produced exclusively by adult males, promote sexual receptivity in female musk shrews.     

Delayed-onset sensitization emerges after dishabituation in developing Aplysia.

A recent study of the development of nonassociative learning in the siphon withdrawal reflex of Aplysia showed that dishabituation (facilitation of an habituated response) and sensitization (facilitation of a nonhabituated response) emerge according to different developmental timetables: dishabituation precedes sensitization by approximately 60 days (Rankin & Carew, 1988). Both forms of facilitation of the reflex were observed within 90 s of an electrical shock to the tail. However, more recent work by Marcus and colleagues (1988) in adult animals revealed that sensitization can have a delayed onset of 20-30 min after a strong tail shock. Since the developmental study of Rankin and Carew (1988) only tested the reflex for 10 min after tail shock, it is possible that sensitization was in fact present at earlier developmental stages, but was undetected. To examine this question, in the present study we utilized a longer (40-50 min) post-shock observation period to determine whether delayed-onset sensitization is exhibited in juvenile Aplysia, and if so, when it is expressed during development. In our first experiment, we found that Early Stage 12 juveniles (80-95 days after metamorphosis) showed significant delayed-onset sensitization 30-50 min after a strong tail shock. In a second experiment, we found that delayed-onset sensitization was absent in Stage 11 animals (20-70 days after metamorphosis). Thus delayed-onset sensitization emerges in Early Stage 12. The fact that the birthdate of delayed-onset sensitization is at least 30 days after that of dishabituation (Rankin & Carew, 1987, 1988) supports the hypothesis that these two forms of nonassociative learning may have at least partly different underlying mechanisms.     

Four Dimensions of Criticism Against Gender-Fair Language

Sex Roles - The gender-neutral third-person pronoun singular hen was recently introduced in Swedish as a complement to she (hon) and he (han). The initiative to add hen initially received strong...     

A hermeneutic study of integrating psychotherapist competence in postnatal Child Health Care: Parents’ perspectives

A child's emotional and social development depends on the parents’ provision of optimal support. Many parents with perinatal distress experience difficulties in mastering parenthood and seek help from professionals within primary healthcare. A clinical project was launched in Stockholm, where psychodynamic psychotherapists provided short-term consultations at Child Health Centers. This study qualitatively explored parents’ experiences of perinatal distress and of receiving help by nurses and therapists in the project. Thirteen parents were interviewed, and their responses were analyzed with a hermeneutical method. Three main themes crystallized; accessibility of psychological help and detection of emotional problems; experiences of therapy at the Child Health Center; and the therapists’ technique. Parents were also clustered into three so-called ideal types: the insecure; parents in crisis; and parents with lifelong psychological problems. Parents experienced obstacles in accessing psychological care within primary healthcare. Psychotherapists with a holistic family perspective and who managed to oscillate between insight-promoting and supportive interventions were especially appreciated. Patient categories who benefitted from insight promotion and support, respectively, were identified.     

A combination of combat experience,early abduction,and severe traumatization fuels appetitive aggression and violence among abductees of rebel war in Northern Uganda

Individuals who perpetrate violence may likely perceive violence as appealing and infliction of violence to derive pleasure is termed as appetitive aggression. Individuals who were abducted as children into an armed group often experience a higher number of traumatic event types, that is traumatic load and are usually socialized in a violence-endorsing environment. This study aims to investigate the interaction between age at initial abduction with that of traumatic load, and their influence on appetitive aggression along with perpetration of violent acts by former members of an armed rebel group of both sexes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among a target group of formerly abducted rebel-war survivors (including participants with and without combat experience) from Northern Uganda. Participants included 596 women and 570 men with N = 1,166 (M_age = 32.58, SD_age = 9.76, range: 18–80 years). We conducted robust linear regression models to investigate the influence of age at initial abduction, traumatic load, combat experience, and biological sex on appetitive aggression as well as their perpetrated violent acts. Our study shows, appetitive aggression and the number of perpetrated violent acts were specifically increased in individuals who were abducted young, experienced several traumatic events in their lifetime, and with previous combat experience. For perpetrated violence men showed increased levels whereas for appetitive aggression the association was independent of biological sex. Therefore, early abducted individuals with a higher traumatic load, who have combat experience, need to be given special intervention to prevent any further violence.     

Gender Attitudes and Public Opinion Towards Electoral Gender Quotas in Brazil

Research on public opinion towards affirmative action shows that citizens often support the principle of equality while simultaneously rejecting policies that promote it in a pattern described as the “principle-policy puzzle.” The scholarship also shows that ideology and prejudice towards the targeted group explain the puzzle with respect to racial affirmative action. In this article, we use unique survey questions included in the 2014 round of the AmericasBarometer in Brazil to show that citizens tend to support electoral gender quotas while rejecting gender-based egalitarianism in a reversed version of the “principle-policy puzzle.” We argue that a different type of gender attitudes, namely benevolent sexism, shapes support for gender quotas as well as for the principle of equality. While benevolent sexists tend to reject gender equality based on views about gender complementarity and stereotypes about women's purity, they also support quotas as policies to foster such values. Our findings suggest that even though the political and scholarly debates can provide sound normative reasons for the adoption of quotas across different contexts, public support for them often relies on paternalistic views and expectations about the role of women in politics.