Attachment, self-esteem, worldviews, and terror management: evidence for a tripartite security system

On the basis of prior work integrating attachment theory and terror management theory, the authors propose a model of a tripartite security system consisting of dynamically interrelated attachment, self-esteem, and worldview processes. Four studies are presented that, combined with existing evidence, support the prediction derived from the model that threats to one component of the security system result in compensatory defensive activation of other components. Further, the authors predicted and found that individual differences in attachment style moderate the defenses. In Studies 1 and 2, attachment threats motivated worldview defense among anxiously attached participants and motivated self-enhancement (especially among avoidant participants), effects similar to those caused by mortality salience. In Studies 3 and 4, a worldview threat and a self-esteem threat caused attachment-related proximity seeking among fearful participants and avoidance of proximity among dismissing participants. The authors' model provides an overarching framework within which to study attachment, self-esteem, and worldviews.     

Adolescent girls' perceived barriers to participation in physical activity

Research shows a decline in physical activity levels during adolescence, particularly among girls. This study explored perceived barriers to participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity among adolescent girls who live in a large ethnoracially and socioeconomically diverse city. A total of 73 adolescent girls in Toronto participated in 1 of 7 focus group sessions which were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim, and qualitative software was used to facilitate data analysis. A constant comparison approach was used to inductively develop themes. Participants' perceived barriers to participating in physical activity included: lack of time; involvement in technology-related activities; influence peers, parents and teachers; concern about safety; inaccessibility of facilities and cost of using them; competition; and body-centered issues. The results suggest that strategies to address specific intrapersonal, social-environmental, and physical-environmental barriers to physical activity participation should be used in physical activity promotion programs for adolescent girls.     

Perception of biological motion from limited-lifetime stimuli

The visual perception of human movement from sparse point-light walkers is often believed to rely on local motion analysis. We investigated the role of local motion in the perception of human walking, viewed from the side, in different tasks. The motion signal was manipulated by varying point lifetime. We found the task of coherence discrimination, commonly used in biological motion studies, to be inappropriate for testing the role of motion. A task requiring temporal information showed a strong performance drop when fewer points were used or when the image sequence was sampled and displayed at a reduced frame rate. Irrespective of the frame rate, performance did not vary with point lifetime. We concluded that local motion is not required for the perception of tested biological movements, suggesting that the analysis of biological motion does not benefit from examining local motion. The reliance of perception on the number of displayed points and frames supports the idea that biological motion is perceived from a sequence of spatiotemporally sampled forms.     

I am not an animal: mortality salience, disgust, and the denial of human creatureliness

The present research investigated the need to distinguish humans from animals and tested the hypothesis derived from terror management theory that this need stems in part from existential mortality concerns. Specifically, the authors suggest that being an animal is threatening because it reminds people of their vulnerability to death; therefore, reminding people of their mortality was hypothesized to increase the need to distance from animals. In support, Study 1 revealed that reminders of death led to an increased emotional reaction of disgust to body products and animals. Study 2 showed that compared to a control condition, mortality salience led to greater preference for an essay describing people as distinct from animals; and within the mortality salient condition but not the control condition, the essay emphasizing differences from other animals was preferred to the essay emphasizing similarities. The implications of these results for understanding why humans are so invested in beautifying their bodies and denying creaturely aspects of themselves are discussed.     

Just Say No: Japanese and American Styles of Refusing Unwanted Sexual Advances1

To determine whether cultural and gender differences in directness of communication are reflected in styles of refusing unwanted sexual advances, we surveyed American college students and Japanese international college students about direct and indirect ways of saying “no” in dating relationships. While both American and Japanese students said they would rather use indirect refusal tactics than direct ones, Americans rated direct strategies as more likely to be effective than did Japanese participants. Further, American students interpreted direct strategies as clearer refusals than indirect strategies, whereas Japanese respondents did not make this distinction. Men and women responded similarly in both cultural groups, so the findings point primarily to possible cultural differences in the meaning of direct refusals of sexual advances.     

Delineating generalized anxiety: A preliminary investigation

The present study examined the nature of generalized anxiety, which was defined as the constellation of symptoms listed as diagnostic criteria for generalized anxiety disorder in DSM-III-R. Generalized anxiety was assessed by means of a questionnaire that was especially constructed for this study. Although multidimensional scaling of symptoms reported by a clinically anxious sample produced orthogonal anxiety and panic dimensions, many symptoms were common to both dimensions. Whereas worry was found to be the cardinal feature of generalized anxiety, respiratory symptoms were found to associate closely with panic. These dimensions were replicated in a student sample. It is argued that while generalized anxiety symptoms constitute a unique dimension in the field of anxiety disorders, both panic and generalized anxiety may be linked with a basic anxiety response system. The findings also indicated that worry associated more closely with generalized anxiety than did apprehensive expectations. The heuristic value of the findings are discussed in light of the issue relating to an anxiety-panic continuum.     

Neuroscience and Whitehead I: Neuro-ecological Model of Brain

Neuroscience has made enormous progress in understanding the brain and its various neuro-sensory and neuro-cognitive functions. However, despite all progress, the model of the brain as well as its ontological characterization remain unclear. The aim in this first paper is the discussion of an empirically plausible model of the brain with the subsequent claim of a neuro-ecological model. Whitehead claimed that he inversed or reversed the Kantian notion of the subject by putting it back into the ecological context of the world, the so-called reformist subjectivist principle. Based on empirical evidence about the experience-dependence of the brain’s spontaneous activity, I argue for an analogous inversion or reversion with regard to the model of brain: empirical evidence is well compatible with a neuro-ecological model which extends beyond and integrates both Humean neuro-sensory and Kantian neuro-cognitive models. I conclude that a neuro-ecological and process-based model of brain and its relationship to the world may offer a novel model of brain that carries major ontological implications as they shall be discussed in the second paper.