Do Inferences about Age Differences in Emotional Experience Depend on the Parameters Analyzed?

Age differences in emotional experience are assessed through self-report scales or questionnaires referring to a specific period of varying length, and examining different parameters of emotional response. A recent meta-analysis suggests that the type of instrument and parameter used could account for some of the inconsistencies in the results. The present study shows comparisons between emotional experience in samples of younger (N = 120, aged 20–27) and older (N = 103, aged 55–75) participants. An Emotional Self-Monitoring record was administered every day for a week. The results show that emotional expression was highly stable over time. However, they also show that some theoretical assumptions about individual age differences in emotional experience and age depend on the parameters on which the analysis is based (occurrence, frequency and intensity, and emotional balance).     

Tumor necrosis factor-associated protein 1 (TRAP-1) protects cells from oxidative stress and apoptosis

TRAP-1 is a mitochondrial heat shock protein (HSP), recently identified in Saos-2 osteosarcoma cells adapted to mild oxidative stress induced by diethylmaleate (DEM). TRAP-1 mRNA expression is increased in DEM-adapted cells as well as in tumor cells resistant to 5-fluorouracil and to platin derivatives. Since a strong decrease of TRAP-1 protein levels, upon cisplatin treatment, is observed only in controls but not in the DEM-adapted counterpart, a possible role for this protein in the development of resistant phenotypes could be hypothesized. To characterize the protective role of TRAP-1 against oxidative stress and apoptosis, stable transfectants were generated and characterized for their response to different stress types. These stable clones expressing constitutively high TRAP-1 levels: (i) are more resistant to H2O2-induced DNA damage and to apoptosis by cisplatin; (ii) contain higher reduced glutathione (GSH) levels than control cells; and (iii) do not release the apoptosis-inducing factor into the nucleus upon cisplatin treatment. Furthermore, high TRAP-1 levels interfere with caspase 3 activation. These results confirm the anti-apoptotic role of TRAP-1, and suggest that increased expression of this mitochondrial HSP in DEM-adapted and chemoresistant cells could be part of a pro-survival signaling pathway aimed to evade toxic effects of oxidants and anticancer drugs.     

Enactive appraisal

Emotion theorists tend to separate “arousal” and other bodily events such as “actions” from the evaluative component of emotion known as “appraisal.” This separation, I argue, implies phenomenologically implausible accounts of emotion elicitation and personhood. As an alternative, I attempt a reconceptualization of the notion of appraisal within the so-called “enactive approach.” I argue that appraisal is constituted by arousal and action, and I show how this view relates to an embodied and affective notion of personhood.

THE MYTH AND HISTORY OF SOME PSYCHOANALYTIC CONCEPTS: THOUGHTS INSPIRED BY A READING OF ORANGE ET AL., WORKING INTERSUBJECTIVELY

In this paper the author gives her reactions to a book on the intersubjective approach that deals with major issues such as the analyst's role in the psychoanalytic process, neutrality, technique and self-disclosure. Noting that the book often adopts an antagonistic and innovative stance towards Freud, she draws attention to aspects of his theories that deal with concepts deemed by the intersubjective school to be of fundamental importance. Chief among these is the influence of the analyst on the analytic process, in terms both of his 'defects' and of his individuality in general. In opposition to the 'myth of the isolated mind' attributed by the book to Freud, the author presents some selected passages from his works that emphasise the structuring function of the object and the influence of various groups on the individual. The aim of the paper is not only to counter the oversimplified view of Freud that emerges from the book but also to put forward a theoretical position with respect to a school that is exerting an increasingly powerful attraction on both sides of the Atlantic. The author's argument is based mainly on a discussion of the detailed clinical sequences featuring in the book. She also considers some possible cultural and social determinants of the development of the intersubjective trend.     

Social conditioning and its proper control procedures.

In Expt I, eight infants received response-contingent social stimulation, while another eight infants received response-independent social stimulation. Both groups' vocalization rates similarly increased from baseline to stimulation periods and decreased from stimulation to extinction periods. In Expt II, 12 infants were given continuous social stimulation (elicitation treatment) for one period, and, in a second period, stimulation was withheld for 5 sec contingent upon each vocalization (omission treatment). Response rates were similar for both periods, and rates decreased when social stimulation was removed (mobile treatment). In both studies social stimulation increased vocalization rates and rate of responding was insensitive to the programmed contingency. There were, however, fewer “bursts” of responses with the negative and positive contingencies as compared with response-independent stimulation.     

Experience of agency and sense of responsibility

The experience of agency refers to the feeling that we control our own actions, and through them the outside world. In many contexts, sense of agency has strong implications for moral responsibility. For example, a sense of agency may allow people to choose between right and wrong actions, either immediately, or on subsequent occasions through learning about the moral consequences of their actions. In this study we investigate the relation between the experience of operant action, and responsibility for action outcomes using the intentional binding effect (Haggard, Clark, & Kalogeras, 2002) as an implicit, quantitative measure related to sense of agency. We studied the time at which people perceived simple manual actions and their effects, when these actions were embedded in scenarios where their actions had unpredictable consequences that could be either moral or merely economic. We found an enhanced binding of effects back towards the actions that caused them, implying an enhanced sense of agency, in moral compared to non-moral contexts. We also found stronger binding for effects with severely negative, compared to moderately negative, values. A tight temporal association between action and effect may be a low-level phenomenal marker of the sense of responsibility.