Drivers' knowledge, attitudes, and behavior: a cross-sectional study

A cross-sectional survey was conducted by random duster sampling in the city of Tehran. Knowledge of the drivers was assessed with 6 questions about national traffic laws. Attitude was assessed on a 7-item scale of drivers' perceptions. Behavior was observed by a police officer on 13 areas of assessment. Correlations were low among these three scores. Drivers with advanced education had higher scores on behavior. Knowledge, attitude, and behavior of these drivers did not seem associated.     

A qualitative investigation of Muslim and Christian women's views of religion and feminism in their lives

This qualitative investigation explored a relatively understudied aspect of cultural diversity: feminism and religion in the lives of religiously diverse women. More specifically, structured interviews were used to investigate views of religion, women's issues, gender roles, culture, and feminism for a small group of Muslim and Christian women living in the United States. The data were analyzed using consensual qualitative research methods (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997). Findings indicated a complex relationship between feminism, gender roles, culture, and religion for these women with the majority of the Muslim women reporting that their religion supports feminist principles and identifying themselves as feminist. Christian women were less willing to endorse the feminist label. Implications for multicultural feminist practice are discussed.     

Religion,Ethnicity, Culture,Way of Life: Jews,Muslims, and Multicultural Counseling

Jews and Muslims represent 2 unique cultural groups that have been relatively under‐examined by multicultural counseling scholars. In this article, the authors review the recent literature on Jews and Muslims, synthesize and discuss the commonalities across these 2 groups, provide some recommendations for counseling members of these populations, and offer suggestions for future research.     

Empathy deficits and trait emotional intelligence in psychopathy and Machiavellianism

This study investigated the relationships between psychopathy (primary and secondary), Machiavellianism, trait emotional intelligence and empathy, using an image task that required an appropriate empathic response to the emotional displays of others (happy, sad and neutral). Results indicated that primary psychopathy and Machiavellianism were positively associated with the experience of positive affect from sad stimuli, while secondary psychopathy and Machiavellianism were positively associated with the experience of negative affect in response to neutral stimuli, and the opposite pattern was found for trait emotional intelligence. Regressional analyses demonstrated that secondary psychopathy, Machiavellianism, trait emotional intelligence and state anxiety are important predictors when stimuli are ambiguous.     

How Scientific Is Scientific Essentialism?

Scientific essentialism holds that: (1) each scientific kind is associated with the same set of properties in every possible world; and (2) every individual member of a scientific kind belongs to that kind in every possible world in which it exists. Recently, Ellis (Scientific essentialism, 2001; The philosophy of nature 2002) has provided the most sustained defense of scientific essentialism, though he does not clearly distinguish these two claims. In this paper, I argue that both claims face a number of formidable difficulties. The necessities of scientific essentialism are not adequately distinguished from semantic necessities, they have not been shown to be necessities in the strictest sense, they must be relativized to context, and they must either be confined to a subset of scientific properties without warrant or their connection to causal powers must be revoked. Moreover, upon closer examination (1) turns out to be a trivial thesis that can be satisfied by non-kinds, and (2) is inapplicable to some of the most fundamental kinds in the basic sciences.     

婚姻冲突、应对策略及其与婚姻满意度的关系

探讨婚姻冲突、应对策略、婚姻满意度的特点及其关系。采用方便取样,选取辽阳市已婚完整家庭1～10年的夫妻620对进行问卷调查。结果表明：1）夫妻报告的前三项冲突是：家务琐事、不良习惯和交流解决问题方面。在家务琐事、交流解决问题和孩子方面,妻子报告的冲突显著多于丈夫;妻子报告的双方回避应对显著多于丈夫;2）人际关系冲突和工作方面的冲突分别对妻子和丈夫的婚姻满意度有显著预测作用;双方都报告人际关系方面的冲突对对方婚姻满意度有显著预测作用,但妻子报告的人际关系冲突对丈夫婚姻满意的预测作用更大;3）自己和对方的应对策略在妻子报告的冲突与婚姻满意中起完全中介作用,在丈夫报告的冲突与婚姻满意中起部分中介作用。     

Post-training administration of corticosterone enhances consolidation of contextual fear memory and hippocampal long-term potentiation in rats

This study was designed to examine the effect of corticosterone on consolidation of contextual fear memory and hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) in rats. In Experiment 1, dose–response effects of corticosterone on consolidation of contextual fear memory were determined. Immediately after training in contextual fear conditioning task, rats received different doses of corticosterone. Testing 24 h later, it revealed that corticosterone enhanced memory consolidation in an inverted U shape as evidenced in increased freezing behavior of corticosterone-treated animals. The most effective dose was 3 mg/kg. In Experiment 2, LTP was examined in rats whose memory consolidation has been enhanced with corticosterone. The rats were trained as the above and received corticosterone (3 mg/kg) immediately after training. Immediately or up to one day after retention test, rats were anesthetized with urethane for LTP experiments. For LTP induction, three episodes of high frequency stimuli, 30 s apart, were delivered to the perforant path, each consisting of 10 stimuli at 250 Hz. LTP was assessed by measuring the increase in the initial slope of the population excitatory post-synaptic potentials and the amplitude of the population spikes. Data indicated that animals whose memory has been enhanced by corticosterone, also displayed enhanced hippocampal LTP. The above findings suggest that glucocorticoids may enhance contextual fear memory consolidation via enhancing hippocampal LTP.     

National (dis)identification and ethnic and religious identity: a study among Turkish-Dutch muslims

National (dis)identification is examined in three studies among Turkish-Dutch Muslim participants. In explaining national (dis)identification, the first study focuses on ethnic identity, the second on ethnic and religious identity, and the third on three dimensions of religious identity. Many participants show low commitment to the nation, and many indicate national disidentification. In addition, there is very strong ethnic and religious identification. Ethnic and Muslim identifications relate negatively to Dutch identification and, in Study 3, to stronger Dutch disidentification. Furthermore, perceived group rejection is associated with increased ethnic minority and religious identification but also with decreased national Dutch identification. In addition, in Studies 1 and 2 the effect of perceived rejection on Dutch identification is (partly) mediated by minority group identification. The findings are discussed in relation to social psychological thinking about group identification, dual identities, and the importance of religion for intergroup relations.     

Reliability and factorial validity of a Farsi version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale with a sample of Iranian students

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Farsi version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale for 587 undergraduate students (349 women and 238 men) at the University of Tehran. All participants were asked to complete the Farsi version of the TAS-20, the Emotional Intelligence Scale, and the Mental Health Inventory. Findings supported the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, and three-factor structure of the Farsi version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. The factors found in the Farsi version of this scale are similar to the three factors found previously and were accordingly labeled as Difficulty Identifying Feelings, Difficulty Describing Feelings, and Externally Oriented Thinking. The results provide evidence for applicability of the TAS-20 and its cross-cultural validity.     

The effects of acute stress and pubertal development on metabolic hormones in the rat

A dramatic change in stress responsiveness occurs during pubertal development such that stress-induced corticosterone secretion in prepubertal animals takes 45-60 min longer to return to baseline compared to adults. Though corticosterone is known to influence energy mobilization, it is presently unknown whether stressors affect other hormones important in energy utilization and metabolism differentially in animals before and after pubertal development. Therefore, we exposed prepubertal (28 days of age) and adult (77 days of age) male rats to a single 30 min session of restraint stress in either the light or dark phase of the animals' light-dark (LD) cycle and measured plasma glucose, insulin and thyroid hormones (thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3)). We found similar stress-induced increases in plasma glucose levels in prepubertal and adult animals in the LD phase of the LD cycle. We also found that prepubertal animals have lower circulating insulin and total and free T4 levels, but higher total and free T3 levels compared to adults in both the light and dark phases (LD). Interestingly, insulin and thyroid hormone levels were unaffected by acute stress at either age or time of day. These data indicate that, despite prepubertal animals showing an extended glucocorticoid stress response after a single acute exposure to stress, glucose levels are similarly affected by acute stress in prepubertal and adult animals. Furthermore, though stage of development significantly affects the levels of peripheral metabolic hormones such as insulin, T4 and T3, acute stress does not appreciably influence their secretion before or after puberty.