Anger,Aggression, and Risky Behavior on the Road: A Preliminary Study of Urban and Rural Differences1

This study explored the relationship of gender and urban/rural driving to anger, anger expression, aggression, and risky behavior while driving. Some small gender effects were found. Men and women did not differ on anger or forms of anger expression, but men reported more aggressive and risky behavior. There were no urban/rural differences, except for one interaction. Urban males reported less overall driving anger than did other groups. Results are discussed in terms of absence of urban/rural differences and the need to explore potential differences in larger, more powerful designs that employ more diversified measures of anger and the impact of driving anger on a person's life.     

Losing sight of oneself in the above-average effect: When egocentrism, focalism, and group diffuseness collide

Four experiments examined the relative influence of three causal processes in the above-average effect (AAE) and related comparative biases: (a) egocentrism, (b) focalism, and (c) referent group diffuseness. By manipulating the inclusion or exclusion of the self from the referent group (Experiments 1-3) or target group (Experiment 4), the relative contributions of each influence were assessed. In direct comparisons, single peers were systematically judged more favorably relative to groups including the self, suggesting that egocentrism plays a lesser role than focalism or group diffuseness. Thus, in response to the question such as “How friendly is Nancy compared to the rest of us?” the answer tends to be “More friendly.”     

当前医患纠纷解决模式的法律与道德评价

我国医患纠纷的最终解决是通过传统的民事诉讼途径,然而,这种模式并不符合医疗案件本身的特点。从法律和道德的角度而言,我们必须对医疗诉讼的制度设计重新进行反思,并在此基础上进行变革。     

关于正义的不同认识

“正义”(justice)是西方政治哲学中的一个核心概念,与“公正”基本同义。时至今日,对它的理解主要经历了三个不同的认识发展阶段,即从苏格拉底、柏拉图、亚里士多德对正义的肯定性的原初认识,到霍布斯对正义的否定,再到罗尔斯在社会契约论基础上对正义的新的肯定。一关于正义的原初认识最早开始思考正义问题的是苏格拉底,而最早比较完整地界定正义范畴的是柏拉图。他在其著名论著《理想国》一书中,明确地将正义规定为每一部分都各司其职,不介入其他部分的事务。在柏拉图那里,正义者最终被证明是哲学家。生意人和武士即使在正义城邦中也不真…     

The Pique Technique: Overcoming Mindlessness or Shifting Heuristics?

An unusual request can increase compliance in situations in which the typical response to the request is refusal. This procedure, called the pique technique, is said to be effective because the unusual request causes people to give mindful consideration to it. We tested this explanation in 2 studies. Passersby were asked for either a common amount of change or 37 cents. Participants who inquired about the unusual amount were given either a specific or an uninformative reason. The pique technique increased compliance, but only when participants stopped to ask about the request. These participants gave more money, regardless of the reason provided. The findings failed to support the notion that an unusual request leads to a mindful consideration of it.     

Comparison of two exercise protocols on fitness score improvement in poorly conditioned Air Force personnel

A 12-wk. study was conducted to contrast the effects of a longer and more frequent aerobic exercise protocol with a shorter and less frequent circuit strength-training protocol for improving U.S. Air Force physical fitness test scores of subjects who previously failed to achieve a passing point total. 83 men and women of the U.S. Air Force (M age = 32.7 yr.) participated in either the unsupervised standard conditioning program, which recommended approximately 60 min. of aerobic activity 4 to 5 days per week (n=26), or the supervised circuit strength-training program, which required approximately 25 min. of alternating strength and endurance exercises 3 days per week (n=57). Subjects were assessed on a 2400-m (1.5-mile) run, abdominal circumference, push-ups completed in 1 min., and abdominal crunches completed in 1 min. Dependent t tests with Bonferroni adjustment indicated that significant improvements were attained by the circuit strength-training group only on each of the aforementioned measures. Significantly more participants in the circuit strength-training group (26%) achieved a passing point total than in the standard conditioning group (19%) at Wk. 12 (chi1(2) =3.96, p = .05). Implications for enhancing physical fitness in poorly conditioned adults were discussed.     

Family Functioning and Self-Differentiation: A Cross-Cultural Examination

This study examined the degree to which self-differentiation as related to family functioning is valued differently by Korean and European-American university students. The main findings confirm that the level of family functioning reported by European Americans is greater than for their Korean counterpart; family functioning is associated with differentiation measures (total score, emotional reactivity, and emotional cutoff) to a different extent across the two groups; and controlling for the effect of family functioning, the added contribution of a country variable explained further variance in self-differentiation. The importance of addressing the issue of similarities and differences between cultures in the assessment and treatment of individuals with problems related to their families of origin is discussed.     

从肝脏移植手术治疗原发性肝癌的辩证思考

肝癌的手术治疗中肝切除和肝移植在适应证的选择、手术方式、围手术期的管理上有很大的不同,但在治疗目的、手术和解剖技术上又有共同之处。这种对立统一的关系对指导临床工作有重要意义。结合我国实际,用辩证的方法和发展的观点选择恰当的方法是手术治疗肝癌的关键。     

Implicit self-esteem in the context of trait models of personality

Although the basic dimensions of personality are strongly associated with individual differences in (explicit) self-esteem, the relations between personality and implicit self-esteem have not been systematically researched. In three studies, implicit self-evaluations (measured both with the Name-Letter Test and the self-esteem IAT) were generally independent of personality self-reports (Studies 1–3) and peer-reports (Study 3). Moreover, the implicit measures were also independent of one another. Discussion centers on the problems and promises of implicit measures as indicators of individual differences in self-esteem and their relation to personality.     

Context representations,context functions,and the parahippocampal–hippocampal system

Psychologists and neurobiologists have a long-standing interest in understanding how the context surrounding the events of our lives is represented and how it influences our behavior. The hippocampal formation emerged very early as a major contributor to how context is represented and functions. There is a large literature examining its contribution that on the surface reveals an array of conflicting outcomes and controversy. This review reveals that these conflicts can be resolved by building Nadel and Willner''s dual-process theory of context representations. Two general conclusions emerge: (1) There are two neural systems that can support context representations and functions—a neocortical system composed primarily of perirhinal and postrhinal cortices and a hippocampal system that includes perirhinal, postrhinal, entorhinal cortices, and the hippocampal formation. (2) These two systems are not equivalent—some context representations and functions are uniquely supported by the hippocampal system. These conclusions are discussed in the context of canonical ideas about the special properties of the hippocampal system that enable it to make unique contributions to memory.Everything we experience happens somewhere. The term “context” is often used to denote this “somewhere.” In the analysis of learning and memory, the context is like the setting for a stage play (Medin and Reynolds 1985). It provides the background for the real action in the drama—the main events. More importantly, as a consequence of learning and memory processes, the context often helps to select appropriate behaviors and determine the explicit and implicit content of our thoughts. Thus, it is not surprising that psychologists have a long-standing empirical and theoretical interest in understanding just what makes up a representation of context and how context representations interact with the main events of our lives to influence our behavior (see Balsam and Tomie 1985).More recently, neurobiologists have increased their interest in the problem of linking context representations and functions to brain systems. The hippocampal formation emerged quite early as a major focal point among many researchers. As a result, there is a substantial literature linking the hippocampal formation and context. However, on the surface, this research yields a dismaying set of conflicting results, with many findings that the hippocampal formation plays a critical role in supporting the influence of context on memory and behavior and many other findings that it does not.The goal of this article is to bring some clarity and order to this state of affairs. I start by providing a working definition of “context” that implicitly underpins its experimental analysis. I then describe several different functions of context that have been studied in the laboratory and are assumed to be theoretically important. I then introduce and build on a dual-process theory of context representations that was put forth several years ago by Lynn Nadel, Jeffrey Willner, and colleague (Nadel and Willner 1980; Nadel et al. 1985) and more recently by my colleagues and me (Rudy and O''Reilly 2001; Rudy et al. 2002). I then apply this framework to a wide range of outcomes from experiments that examined the role of the hippocampal formation in ways in which context influences memory and behavior. Two general conclusions emerge from this exercise. First is that two systems can support context representations and functions: (1) a neocortical system composed primarily of perirhinal and postrhinal cortices and (2) a hippocampal system that includes parahippocampal cortices; perirhinal, postrhinal, and entorhinal cortex; and the hippocampal formation. The second is that these two systems are not equivalent—some context representations and functions are uniquely supported by the hippocampal system. These conclusions are discussed in the context of long-standing ideas about the special properties associated with the hippocampal system that support its unique contributions to memory.