Computers in the training of inquiry

The era of microprocessors provides an opportunity for examination and restructuring of university-level education in psychology. Computers may aid in the development of environments based upon sustained and deepening inquiry on the part of students from their earliest contact with psychology. We have been developing a computerized system for the exercise of skills in psychological inquiry appropriate both as a teaching tool for beginning undergraduates and for the research of permanent and visiting professors. In this paper we discuss our philosophy, some aspects of the organizational and human factors problems involved, and issues of hardware and software design.     

It's all in your head: Feminist and medical models of menopause (strange bedfellows)

The purpose of this article is twofold. First, it addresses the substantive area of menopause. It argues that there has been and continues to be a paucity of literature on the topic, which may be due largely to the stigma associated with aging females in our society. Though some current women's studies literature has addressed itself to this area, menopause is still relatively ignored or poorly researched as compared to menstruation and other feminine physiological issues. Furthermore, the few studies which have emerged from the recent wave of feminist research have tended to perpetuate aspects of the medical model of menopause found in current gynecological textbooks and popular paperbacks, i.e., It's all in your head. This ironic compatibility between medical establishment and feminist models of menopause is the second focus of this article. How such a stance could be shared by two radically different ideological groups is a subject worthy of further analysis because it raises more general questions about the relationship of political ideology to research into human behavior, an issue which is crucial to contemporary studies on sex-role differences.This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the meetings of the American Anthropology Association in Washington, D.C., November 1976. Many thanks to my colleague and friend Judith Katz for her invaluable editorial assistance.     

Neural correlates of emotion regulation in psychopathology

What can psychopathology and its treatment tell us about cognitive emotional interactions? Standard approaches to interactions between emotion and cognition often adopt a variant of the idea that cognitive processes, subserved by dorsal and lateral cortical circuits, exert control and regulation of ventral, limbic brain areas associated with emotional expression and experience. However, it is becoming clear from studies on depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), that a binary, opponent theory of cognitive emotion interaction (CEI) and the dorsal-ventral model of neurocircuitry do not fully describe the data. We summarize recent research to suggest that networks of direct and indirect pathways exist by which cognition can regulate pathological emotion, and the inter-relationships of specific nodes within the networks need to be characterized.     

The Battle over Confucius and Classical Chinese Philosophy in European Early Enlightenment Thought (1670-1730)

A profound split is evident during the period 1670–1730 in the way European scholars and commentators attempted to understand and describe classical Chinese thought. For some, Confucianism acknowledged divine creation and divine governance of the world, immortality of the soul and other elements of Natural Theology. The Radical Enlightenment thinkers, however, and also some Christian scholars denied that Confucianism was based on Natural Theology or pervaded by belief in divine providence, characterizing it rather as monist, naturalist and Spinozist. The disagreement proved fundamental in several respects and proved divisive for the Church, as well as European thought more generally, producing a series of lively disputes that continued over several decades.     

Distinctiveness in flashbulb memory: comparative analysis of five terrorist attacks

The purpose of the present study was to find out whether a series of terrorist attacks, which share some common features, elicit flashbulb memories (of the personal circumstances in which the person first learned about these events) that are usually elicited by a single, unexpected, surprising, and personally important event. A total of 131 participants answered questions regarding details of five terrorist attacks that had taken place in Israel during the years 1995-1997. In addition, they assessed, for each of the five events, the number of overt rehearsals, and the degrees of emotional intensity, surprise, novelty, personal importance, and distinctiveness. Data analyses showed that most variables that are usually associated with the formation of flashbulb memories were also found in memories of the terrorist attacks that were judged by the participants as being distinctive. Distinctiveness may therefore be considered an important factor in the formation of flashbulb memories.