Motivational Systems and Stress-Related Cardiovascular Reactivity

This study examined the relation of motivational systems to patterns of autonomic responses to stress. Specifically, we examined patterns of physiological response resulting from differential activation of motivational systems for behavioral approach and behavioral inhibition. We also examined the relation of these motivational systems to threat and challenge responses to potential stress. Self-report, cardiac measures (i.e., pre-injection period, or PEP, and heart rate, or HR), and blood pressure (i.e., systolic blood pressure, or SBP, and diastolic blood pressure, or DBP) measures reliably distinguished between an experimental condition facilitating behavioral approach and an experimental condition facilitating coactivation of behavioral approach and behavioral inhibition systems. Vascular (e.g., total peripheral resistance, or TPR) and electrodermal (e.g., electrodermal response, or EDR) measures, however, did not vary by condition. We discuss the results in relation to other research on motivational factors as they relate to stress and cardiovascular reactivity.     

Delivering the last blade of grass: Aspects of the bodhisattva ideal in the Mahāyāna

The ideal of the bodhisattva was crucial in the development of the Mahāyāna branch of the Buddhist tradition. It provided a meeting ground for cardinal Mahāyānist doctrines concerning prajñã (wisdom), karunā (compassion) and ?ūnvatā (voidness), as well as introducing into Buddhism more overtly religious elements which help to account for its popular appeal in those areas where the Mahāyāna took hold. The vow of the bodhisattva to forego entry into nirvāna until all beings “down to the last blade of grass” have been delivered raises several apparent contradictions and condundrums; these disappear in the light of a proper understanding of the pivotal Mahāyānist doctrine of ?ūnvatā. This paper examines the relationship of the bodhisattva ideal to the metaphysic of sunyata and discusses the place of this ideal in the spiritual economy of the Mahāyāna.     

Book reviews

Enlightenment East and West Leonard Angel, 1994 Albany, State University of New York Press 388 pp.

Visions of Power: Imagining Medieval Japanese Buddhism Bernard Faure, trans, by Phyius Brooks, 1996 Princeton, Princeton University Press 329 pp.

Pāli Buddhism. Curzon Studies in Asian Philosophy Frank J. Hoffman & Deegaixe Mahinda (Eds), 1996 Richmond, Curzon Press xiii + 233 pp., ISBN 0 7007 0359 4, hb £40

Friendship East and West: philosophical perspectives Oliver Leaman (Ed.), 1996 Richmond UK, Curzon Press ix + 288 pp., ISBN 0 7007 0358 6, hb £40

Heidegger's Hidden Sources: East Asian Influences on his work Reinhard May, trans, by GRAHAM PARKES, 1996 London, Routledge xviii+ 121 pp., hb £35.00, pb £11.99

The Social Self in Zen and American Pragmatism Steve Odin, 1996 Albany, SUNY Press xvi + 482 pp., ISBN 0 9714 2492 8, pb $24.95

The Art of living. Aesthetics of the Ordinary in World Spiritual Traditions Crispin Sartwell, 1995 Albany, State University of New York Press xiv+ 163 pp., hb

East‐West Encounters in Philosophy and Religion Ninian Smart & B. Srinivasa Murthy (Eds), 1997 London, Sangam Books xxiii + 411 pp., ISBN 0 8613 2375 0, hb £24.95

Confucianism and Christianity: a comparative study of Jen and Agape Xinzhong Yao, 1996 Brighton, Sussex Academic Press viii+ 164 pp., ISBN 1 8987 2325 7, hb £35 and $55     

Social influence on attitudes and on anchoring of congeneric attitude scales

Criteria for distinguishing between attitude and response scale effects in “after-only” studies of source-recipient discrepancy were developed and applied in two experiments. These criteria refer to congeneric scales (i.e., multiple measures of the the same property, which may differ in origin, unit, and reliability). Persuasive information may function as a scale anchor, in which case it is expected to affect only that response scale to which it directly pertains. Alternatively, it may convice recipients to change attitudinal positions, and produce effects on all congeneric scales. In one experiment, the self-proclaimed leniency-sternness of a presiding judge in a manslaughter case was varied along with the sentence he imposed and his trustworthiness. In the second study, only the sentence was manipulated, while both leniency ratings and sentencing were measured as dependent variables. Both analyses revealed support for the response scale interpretation, in that effects were observed only on those scales that were directly manipulated.     

Control of CRT intensity via Apple II software

An inexpensive, easy-to-build device for the Apple II microprocessor is described. The modification permits software control of four levels of relative screen intensity (contrast) settings for any video monitor. The relationship of the technology to choice reaction time and perception research is briefly indicated. Principles governing operation of the modification are also discussed. Finally, a set of step-by-step instructions for building the device is provided.     

The salience of the self in responses to inequity

Previous research has shown that people strive to conform with the standards of significant others in distributive justice. The present research was concerned with the role of attention to the self in the same paradigm. If people are motivated to personally evaluate their own behavior as fair, then self-focus should result in heightened attempts to redress an overpayment inequity. After the subject's criterion of a fair wage was assessed, they were paid either that amount or double it. Orthogonal to this manipulation, subjects were either made objectively self-aware (OSA) or not, by the presence or absence of a mirror. Consistent with the hypothesis, overpaid OSA subjects did more work, but of a poorer quality, than overpaid not-OSA subjects. This was taken as evidence of more zealous attempts to restore a sense of equity, implicating a greater personal need to eliminate the injustice when the discrepancy between pay level and a personal standard of fairness was made more prominent to the self.     

Background and Focal Environmental Conditions of the Home and Attention in Young Children1

A conceptual distinction is drawn between two aspects of the perceptual field, focal features which the individual selectively engages and extraneous background conditions which serve as a context within which these activities occur, and a study is described which examined the relationship between these aspects of the home environment and attentional skills in young children. Ninety-four families with kindergarten age children participated in the project. Interviews and observations were conducted in the homes in order to assess background conditions (e.g., noise and activity levels) and variation and patterning of focal features (e.g., furnishings), and tasks designed to assess attentional skills were administered to the children. The results indicated that children from homes with high noise levels had longer response latencies on a visual search task and also subsequently recognized fewer incidental aspects of the task than did children from quieter homes. Furthermore, the former group appeared to be less distractible, i.e., less responsive to an auditory distractor. Neither variation nor patterning of focal features was found to be associated with task performance. In general, the findings are interpreted as indicating the adverse effects of high noise levels in the home on attentional skills in spite of apparent adaptation, i.e., lower distractibility, to these conditions.