Psychosocial predictors of natural killer cell mobilization during marital conflict.

This study examined how specific emotions relate to autonomic nervous and immune system parameters and whether cynical hostility moderates this relationship. Forty-one married couples participated in a 15-min discussion about a marital problem. Observers recorded spouses' emotional expressions during the discussion, and cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and immunologic parameters were assessed throughout the laboratory session. Among men high in cynical hostility, anger displayed during the conflict was associated with greater elevations in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, cortisol, and increases in natural killer cell numbers and cytotoxicity. Among men low in cynical hostility, anger was associated with smaller increases in heart rate and natural killer cell cytotoxicity. These findings suggest that models describing the impact of stress on physiology should be refined to reflect the joint contribution of situational and dispositional variables.     

Combining binocular and monocular curvature features.

A study is reported of the perception of visual surfaces in wire-frame stimuli generated by combinations of monocular surface contours and binocular disparity that provide differing information about 3-D relief. Observers vary considerably in the relative contribution made by the binocular and monocular cues to the perception of overall 3-D form. Without training, many observers may entirely fail to perceive surface curvature from the binocular disparity patterns, interpreting the form of the surface only according to the monocular information. For other observers, both cues contribute to the end percept, with the monocular interpretation dominating where the disparity information indicates planarity and with disparity dominating where disparity information suggests curvature and the monocular interpretation suggests planarity. Where stereo and monocular interpretations indicate inconsistent surface curvature features at a common location, more complex resolution strategies are suggested.     

Practicing mind-body medicine before Freud: John G. Gehring,the “Wizard of the Androscoggin”

This article describes the psychotherapy practice of physician John G. Gehring and places it in historical context. Forgotten today, Gehring was a highly sought-after therapist from the 1890s to the 1920s by prominent figures in the arts, sciences, business, and law. He practiced a combination of work therapy, suggestion, and autosuggestion that has similarities to Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Behavioral Activation. Using biographies, memoirs, and archival records, the details of Gehring's work are reconstructed and the reasons for its success are analyzed. His invisibility in the history of psychiatry is attributed to the later dominance of Freudianism within the field.     

An Existential Foundation for an Ethics of Care in Heidegger’s Being and Time

Martin Heidegger’s existential account of care in Being and Time (2010) provides us with an opportunity to reimagine what the proper theoretical grounding of an ethic of care might be. Heidegger’s account of care serves to deconstruct the two primary foundations that an ethic of care is often based upon. Namely, that we are inevitably interdependent upon one another and/or possess an innate disposition to care for fellow humans in need. Heidegger’s account reveals that both positions are founded upon an ontic (meaning factual existence), as opposed to an ontological (which refers to the nature of being), understanding of care. The distinctions between an ontic and ontological understanding of care are significant. Yet, I maintain that they are not completely incompatible. Both Heidegger and care ethicists contend that our existence with others is understood through a relational ontology. Furthermore, there are certain ontological structures from Heidegger which resonate with an ethic of care. Two key existential structures are leaping-ahead and being-guilty. These existential structures are latent in care ethics, and by explicitly revealing them I reinforce the connection between Heidegger’s account and care theory. Lastly, I develop the theoretical foundations of care ethics by proposing an existential ethic of care.