Facilitation of fear extinction by D-cycloserine: theoretical and clinical implications

Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychological disturbances in the industrialized world. Current behavioral therapy procedures for these disorders are somewhat effective, but their efficacy could be substantially improved. Because these procedures are largely based on the process of extinction, manipulations that enhance extinction may lead to improvements in treatment effectiveness. We review the evidence that D-cycloserine (DCS), a partial NMDA agonist, facilitates extinction of learned fear in rats. Although only a few studies have examined the effects of DCS on extinction of learned fear, this work suggests that this drug may have a number of potential clinical benefits. In addition, attempts at interpreting this research illustrate our limited understanding of the processes involved in extinction.     

Loci of signal probability effects and of the attentional blink bottleneck

To investigate the locus of signal probability effects and the influence of stimulus quality on this locus, the authors manipulated probability in Task 2 of a psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm. The effect was additive with stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) when the target was not masked but underadditive with decreasing SOA when the target was masked. Even with masking, however, a range of probabilities had effects additive with SOA. The results suggest loci of stimulus probability before the PRP bottleneck as well as at or after the bottleneck. A second issue addressed was the locus of interference in the attentional blink (AB). The AB was larger when the probability of the first of 2 targets was lower. The results lead to the conclusion that one cause of the AB effect is a locus at least as late as the PRP bottleneck.     

Existential Family Trauma Therapy

In this article the process of existential family trauma therapy is outlined and described. This process includes the treatment elements of holding, telling, mastering and honoring the family's trauma experiences and trauma pain. Case illustrations are provided and previous research is reviewed.     

Ego Integrity in the Lives of Older Women: A Follow-Up of Mothers From the Sears,Maccoby, and Levin (1951) Patterns of Child Rearing Study

Ego integrity, Erik Erikson's (E. H. Erikson, 1963) concept of psychological maturity in later life and the pinnacle of 8 stages, has been one of the least studied of all his stage constructs. This paper explores the meaning of ego integrity (as assessed by C. D. Ryff & S. G. Heincke, 1983) in the lives of a sample of older women, by examining the predictors and concomitants of ego integrity (EI), using data from interviews conducted with the same women in 1951 and 1996 and a questionnaire administered in 1996. A 3-step regression model revealed that “identity” assessed in 1951 predicted generativity in 1996; the level of educational attainment and marital status were also significant predictors. In step 2, generativity alone predicted ego integrity, which in turn predicted depression. Ego integrity was associated with higher marital satisfaction in the mothers' lives, both in the past and in the present; it was implicated in better relationships with their adult children, in the mothers' willingness to both give and receive help, and in several dimensions of psychological well-being.     

Tho Press Release: Symbolic Communication In Life History Interviewing

ABSTRACT This study describes and analyzes the apparently misleading, irrelevant, and sterotyped initial self-report statements that were obtained in an in-depth multiple case study of women changing careers Using assumptions from the fields of hermeneutics (interpretation) and phenomenology about how meaning is constructed and interpreted, these initial accounts are understood as symbols which can be decoded and can also reveal larger meaning when read in different contexts This study shows how these accounts concealed connections between current behavior and personal history and prevented appropnate refer-ence to personal expenence. The reasons for these distortions are understood by placing them in a sociocultural context These women's initial accounts are interpreted as a response to their perceived violation of cultural mandates preventing development of work roles The damaged symbolic language they used to explain themselves is seen as an example of mistaken cultural assumptions about the “self” The demonstrated necessity of interpreting these initial accounts as symbolic communication alerts researchers relying on self-report statements to the pitfalls of taking such statements at face value     

Influence tactics as a function of gender,insult, and goal

A laboratory procedure evaluated three theoretical frameworks commonly used to explain gender differences in influence behaviors: the intrapersonal, which predicted main effects for gender; social context, which predicted main effects for situational variables; and sex stratification, an extension of expectation states theory, which predicted gender by situation interactions. Results supported the latter theory, indicating that goals (self-interest or altruism) and target behavior (insulting or not insulting) differentially affected women's and men's behavior. The relative use of reward, coercion, and request influence strategies was examined. Males and females increased their use of each strategy type differentially across trial blocks. Females used request and males used reward increasingly across trial blocks. Only males who were insulted showed an increase in coercion. Contrary to stereotypes, results suggest that males and females may hold similar preferences for strategies they use most to least often, but may switch their choices at different rates.The assistance of the UNCG Research Council and Statistical Consulting Center is acknowledged. Appreciation is expressed to Jacqueline Goodchilds and Barbara Wallston for comments on an earlier draft. This article is dedicated to the memory of Barbara Wallston, who believed in the importance of research on power and gender.     

Rethinking the gender identity crossover hypothesis: A test of a new model

Both self-report and projective assessment techniques were used to examine whether there exists a gender identity crossover at midlife such that men develop a communal or affiliative orientation and women become more interested in agency and power. A sample of 150 predominantly Caucasian men and women ages 24–84 were divided into three age groups for comparison: (1) young (ages 20–39); (2) middle-aged (ages 40–65); and (3) old (ages 66–84). Measures included six pictures from the Thematic Apperception Test, which were coded for achievement, power, intimacy, and affiliation needs, and the Goldberg 50-Bipolar, from which items were selected to derive agency and communion scales. Middle-aged men were lower in the need for power and higher in the need for affiliation than were younger men; there were no age differences in self attributions of agency and communion. Results are discussed in terms of the traditionality of the men and the nontraditionality of the women with respect to work and family roles.This research was supported in part by grants to Margie Lachman from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development and the National Institute on Aging (AG06038).     

INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE PERPETRATED BY COLLEGE WOMEN WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF A HISTORY OF VICTIMIZATION

Using a longitudinal design, the current study explored intimate partner violence perpetration among 1,300 college women within the context of one's history of physical and sexual victimization across 4 years of college. Structural equation modeling indicated that sexual victimization does not predict concurrent use of women's intimate partner violence but does predict subsequent use of women's intimate partner violence during the later years of college. In contrast, physical victimization is associated positively with concurrent use of women's intimate partner violence but is negatively associated with subsequent use of women's intimate partner violence for women. Furthermore, the negative relationship of victimization to subsequent perpetration primarily is due to those with high levels of victimization histories. The present study provides the first model of intimate partner violence within the context of victimization history using longitudinal data. The findings indicate that women's intimate partner violence perpetration is not context-free, but rather is influenced by their own physical and sexual victimization histories.     

Manufacturing Mistrust: Issues in the Controversy Regarding Foster Children in the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials

The use of foster children as subjects in the pediatric HIV/AIDS clinical trials has been the subject of media controversy, raising a range of ethical and social dimensions. Several unsettled issues and debates in research ethics underlie the controversy and the lack of consensus among professional researchers on these issues was neither adequately appreciated nor presented in media reports. These issues include (1) the tension between protecting subjects from research risk while allowing them access to the possible benefits of research; (2) the blurring of the potentially conflicting roles of investigator and physician and the boundaries between research and therapy; (3) the adequacy of Institutional Review Board oversight; and (4) trust and the relationships among physicians, investigators and industry. The media controversy about the pediatric HIV/AIDS clinical trials can be seen as a means of “manufacturing mistrust” in health care, research and social services that have not always met the needs and expectations of the public. In an era of emerging infections, it is critical to the public’s health that people understand the role of rigorous and ethical research in the development of safe and effective care. Investigators, journalists and the public need to become knowledgeable about major ethical issues in the conduct of research in order to engage in dialogue about balancing research risks and benefits and to be able to distinguish fact from distortion in an era of multiple and rapid transmission of information.     

BECOMING WHO WE ARE: A THEORETICAL EXPLANATION OF GENDERED SOCIAL STRUCTURES AND SOCIAL NETWORKS THAT SHAPE ADOLESCENT INTERPERSONAL AGGRESSION

A conceptualization of gendered interpersonal aggression that is grounded in the social ecological framework is presented to explicate factors in adolescents' gendered environments that give rise to aggression and victimization. The focus is on gendered social structures and social networks. Our framework for prevention suggests that violence prevention requires that we move our culture from one that continually recreates gendered structures that reinforce power and authority as masculine and that confer opportunities and constraints in ways that favor men over women. It will require deliberate action to legitimize the feminine in our culture and develop laws and practices that abolish gender inequities.