Stereotypes and beliefs about different ethnic groups in Spain. A study with Spanish and Latin American children living in Madrid

96 Spanish and Latin American children from 3 grades in Madrid reported their knowledge of positive and negative stereotypes regarding Spaniards, Gypsies, Latin American and Chinese people. Their personal beliefs about these four ethnic groups were also assessed. Stereotypes about Spaniards were perceived as overwhelmingly positive and least negatively while stereotypes about Gypsies were rarely positive and often negative. Spanish children attributed more positive and fewer negative stereotypes to Chinese immigrants than Latin American children did. Older children reported more positive stereotypes about Gypsies than younger children and older Spanish children reported fewer positive stereotypes for their own group than their younger counterparts. Older children's personal beliefs about Gypsies were less consistent with negative stereotypes than younger children's. Older children also showed greater discrepancy of their personal beliefs with positive stereotypes of Spaniards than younger children did. Findings are discussed within the context of socio-cognitive approaches.     

Antiaggressive Effects of Zolpidem and Zopiclone in Agonistic Encounters Between Male Mice

The effects of benzodiazepines on various types of aggression have been extensively studied. These substances produce their pharmacological effects by allosterically modulating the action of GABA via specific recognition sites on the GABA_A receptor called omega 1 and omega 2. The antiaggressive profile of non‐benzodiazepine compounds that also act at omega sites, such as zopiclone (a non‐selective omega 1 and 2 ligand) and zolpidem (a selective omega 1 ligand) has been scarcely explored. In this study, we examined the action of zolpidem (0.75‐3 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) and zopiclone (1.5‐6 mg/kg), administered acutely or subchronically for 10 days, on agonistic behavior elicited by isolation in male mice. Individually housed mice were exposed to anosmic “standard opponents” 30 min after drug administration, and the encounters were videotaped and evaluated using an ethologically based analysis. Acute treatment with zopiclone produced a marked antiaggressive effect, reducing offensive behaviors (threat and attack) at all doses used (1.5, 3, and 6 mg/kg) without affecting immobility. Likewise, the intermediate dose of zolpidem (1.5 mg/kg) significantly decreased aggression in a specific manner, without altering immobility, whereas the highest dose (3 mg/kg) provoked a reduction of aggression accompanied by a weak (but significant) increase of immobility. With repeated treatment, no tolerance to the antiaggressive effects of zopiclone and zolpidem was developed. It is concluded that omega sites at the GABA_A receptor could be involved in the control of aggression. Aggr. Behav. 28:416–425, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Median decision techniques as an alternative to the classical statistical inference test

In the research area, the criterion to test a hypothesis is frequently the distance of each subject from the mean of the distribution. This concept of distance is constantly used and re-used as a source of evidence in the search for significant contrasts with respect to models of theoretical probability. This paper proposes a number of ideas regarding the use of new distance indicators related to statistics that rely less heavily on parametric assumptions, in particular, the use of median confidence intervals. We have simulated via EXCEL different data samples for a design of two independent groups under 15 different conditions in two different situations: mean equality and mean differences. The results showed the high sensitivity of the comparison of the confidence intervals, especially if a strict decision criterion is used. However, we did not obtain good results for sensitivity. In fact, in some cases, the comparison of the confidence intervals of the mean worked better than those of median.     

To Watch is to Work: a Review of NeuroImaging Data on Tool Use Observation Network

Neuropsychology Review - Since the discovery of mirror neurons in the 1990s, many neuroimaging studies have tackled the issue of action observation with the aim of unravelling a putative homolog...     

Luck and Risk

This paper advances new theses about the relationship between luck and risk, using recent work by Duncan Pritchard (2014, 2015, 2016) as its foil. Once Pritchard’s views are introduced in section 1 , the rest of the paper completes two different tasks, one critical and one constructive. By focussing on some epistemological cases that Pritchard’s model would fail to identify, section 2 shows that it relies on a difference that is in fact inessential: the one between the occurrence and the non‐occurrence of an event. Section 3 sketches and defends an alternative account of the luck/risk distinction, based on the consideration of situations (instead of events) from different temporal perspectives: luck assessments track a situation’s past, considering it the actual outcome of some previous event, whereas risk assessments look at the situation’s future, regarding it as the initial condition of some unsettled event.     

Anticipating seizure: pre-reflective experience at the center of neuro-phenomenology

The purpose of this paper is to show through the concrete example of epileptic seizure anticipation how neuro-dynamic analysis (using new mathematical tools to detect the dynamic structure of the neuro-electric activity of the brain) and "pheno-dynamic" analysis (using new interview techniques to detect the pre-reflective dynamic micro-structure of the corresponding subjective experience) may guide and determine each other. We will show that this dynamic approach to epileptic seizure makes it possible to consolidate the foundations of a cognitive non pharmacological therapy of epilepsy. We will also show through this example how the neuro-phenomenological co-determination could shed new light on the difficult problem of the "gap" which separates subjective experience from neurophysiological activity.     

Exercise motivation in university community members: a behavioural intervention

The purpose of this study was to examine how exercise level, exercise motives, and barriers changed from the baseline phase to the follow-up phase after a behavioural and cognitive intervention aimed at increasing exercise. Seventy-five members of our university community (43 subjects in the control group and 32 in the experimental group), all of whom received cognitive feedback, agreed to complete the baseline phase. Only the experimental group received behavioural feedback and a free-access gym ticket with personal training in order to facilitate their adherence to exercise. The results suggest that a combination of behavioural and psychological techniques is an efficient strategy for increasing exercise level. In addition, the results showed that extrinsic motivation predominates the early stages of change-of-exercise behaviour, and that intrinsic motivation is important for progression towards maintenance. Subjects who decreased their exercise level increased their extrinsic exercise motivation and subjects who increased their exercise level decreased the barriers related to intrinsic motivation. These findings indicate that, in order to facilitate exercise adherence, feedback about motives for undertaking exercise is needed, combined with advice about how to improve physical condition. This combination could help eliminate certain barriers that hinder engaging in an active and healthy life-style.     

Evaluating effects in short time series: alternative models of analysis

In the applied context, short time-series designs are suitable to evaluate a treatment effect. These designs present serious problems given autocorrelation among data and the small number of observations involved. This paper describes analytic procedures that have been applied to data from short time series, and an alternative which is a new version of the generalized least squares method to simplify estimation of the error covariance matrix. Using the results of a simulation study and assuming a stationary first-order autoregressive model, it is proposed that the original observations and the design matrix be transformed by means of the square root or Cholesky factor of the inverse of the covariance matrix. This provides a solution to the problem of estimating the parameters of the error covariance matrix. Finally, the results of the simulation study obtained using the proposed generalized least squares method are compared with those obtained by the ordinary least squares approach. The probability of Type I error associated with the proposed method is close to the nominal value for all values of rho1 and n investigated, especially for positive values of rho1. The proposed generalized least squares method corrects the effect of autocorrelation on the test's power.     

Preliminary validation of a Spanish version of the Sport Motivation Scale

The Sport Motivation Scale was developed in French and later translated into English and validated by Pelletier, et al. in 1995. It is based on the principles of self-determination theory. In this study the scale was translated into Spanish to assess and validate it for a sample of 275 athletes (78 women and 197 men) whose mean age was 21.3 yr. (SD=3.8) and who represented eight sports (track and field, tennis, swimming, waterpolo, soccer, basketball, handball, and volleyball). The Spanish version showed satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach alpha of .70 to .80) and temporal stability (test-retest r = .69 to .74) over a 4-wk. period. A confirmatory factor analysis partially supported the seven-factor structure. Correlations among the subscales indicated a simplex pattern supporting the construct validity of the scale. Sex differences were found. Taken together, these findings support use of the Spanish version for assessment of motivation in sport.