Interactions between conditioned stimuli for food and water in the rat

In two experiments rats were initially trained with one conditioned stimulus (CS) signalling food and another CS signalling water. The main purpose of the experiments was to examine the effects of presenting these stimuli in compound. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the level of conditioned responding to this compound was equal to that of a group for which the compound was composed of elements that had separately signalled the same reinforcer. Moreover, the level of this responding was greater than for a group that had received only compound conditioning. In the second experiment it was found that after the initial training, repeatedly pairing the compound with a single reinforcer resulted in an equivalent loss of conditioned responding to both elements. These findings suggest that the interaction between conditioned stimuli for food and water is facilitatory rather than inhibitory.     

Definition and Measurement of Sexual Orientation

Measurement and definition of sexual orientations have increasingly become a central focus in both research design and public policy debates. This paper reviews major methods, and their theoretical underpinnings, for the definition and measurement of sexual orientations, highlighting their limitations and pitfalls, both practical and conceptual. The increasing politicization of this area is discussed and cautioned against. Recommendations, both general and geared toward measurement concerns with adolescent populations, are made. A specific measurement strategy, which can be utilized at a number of different levels, is detailed.     

Associations between emotional avoidance,anxiety sensitivity,and reactions to an observational fear challenge procedure

Research has shown that emotional avoidance and anxiety sensitivity are associated with more self-reported fear and distress in response to laboratory fear challenge procedures. The present study aimed to expand upon this work and examined how emotional avoidance and anxiety sensitivity are related to emotional and physiological responses to an observational fear challenge procedure. To accomplish this aim, a carefully screened, non-clinical sample (N = 43) was administered the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ), a measure of emotional avoidance, and the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI). Participants then engaged in an observational fear challenge paradigm. During the fear challenge, participants watched mock panic attacks while emotional (e.g., fear and panic) and skin conductance levels were assessed. Consistent with expectation, emotional avoidance and anxiety sensitivity were positively associated with more self-reported fear and more severe panic symptoms to the challenge procedure. However, anxiety sensitivity was more highly associated with self-reported fear and panic symptoms in response to the challenge procedure than emotional avoidance. Emotional avoidance and anxiety sensitivity were not associated with levels of physiological arousal to the observational fear challenge procedure. Discussion focuses on the interplay between emotional avoidance, anxiety sensitivity, and the development of vicarious fear responses and how these constructs may contribute to the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders.     

The Practicality of Ancient Virtue Ethics: Greece and China

Virtue ethics has been charged with being unable to provide solutions to practical moral issues. In response, the defenders of virtue ethics argue that normative virtue ethics exists. The debate is significant on its own, yet both sides of the controversy approach the issue from the assumption that moral philosophy has to tell us what we should do. In this essay, I would like to examine the question regarding the practicality of virtue ethics in a different way. Virtue ethics is an ancient approach shared by both ancient Greek philosophers and classic Chinese Confucians, and indeed, ancient Greeks call ethics “practical science.” How, then, do the ancients themselves view the issue of practicality? This essay shows that there is a notion of practicality which is prominent in both ancient Greek and ancient Chinese virtue ethics but is neglected in today’s ethics. According to this notion, ethics is to transform one’s life. The essay also raises a prospect of the revival of this notion.