Alteration of shock aversion thresholds during the menstrual cycle

Aversion thresholds for electrical shock were obtained from 5 males, 6 females who were taking oral contraceptives, and 12 females who were not. All subjects were volunteers from introductorylevel psychology courses. Measures were repeated 3 times per week for 5 weeks. Males and females taking oral contraceptives showed no cyclic fluctuations in threshold. The other female group had significant (p < .025) fluctuations in threshold, from a maximum at ovulation to a minimum 1 week after the onset of the menses.     

MCMI-II diagnosis of borderline personality disorder: base rates versus prototypic items.

The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-II) profiles of 26 psychiatric inpatients diagnosed as having borderline personality disorders were compared with profiles of 42 patients with no personality disorders. The borderline group scored significantly higher on the following scales: Disclosure (X), Debasement (Z), Passive-Aggressive (8A), Self-Defeating (8B), Borderline (C), and Major Depression (CC). Differences approaching significance were also found on substance abuse measures: the Alcohol Dependence (B) scale and Drug Dependence (T) scale. These findings are consistent with criteria established in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev. [DSM-III-R]; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) and the results of other studies utilizing the MCMI-II. In addition, diagnostic efficiency of Scale C was assessed at various cutoff points defined by either base rate (BR) scores or the number of prototypic items endorsed. The greatest efficiency was found when a cutoff of seven or more prototypic items was utilized, with nearly 80% of the patients correctly classified. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance for further research.     

A SELF-EVALUATION TOKEN SYSTEM versus AN EXTERNAL EVALUATION TOKEN SYSTEM ALONE IN A RESIDENTIAL SETTING WITH PREDELINQUENT YOUTH1

This study compared the effects of self-evaluation and adult-dispensed tokens on room-cleaning behavior of six predelinquent youths in a residential token-economy setting. The self-evaluation token system proved to be as effective as the external adult-administered system in increasing room-cleaning behavior and was more effective in maintaining performance after contingencies were withdrawn. The self-evaluation token system increased resistance to extinction, compared to the external token system, and appeared to be a useful component for a traditional token-economy system.     

The role of hyperdipsia in aggression following septal lesions in rats

Lesions of the septum in animal subjects are known to produce an increase in aggressiveness and an increase in water intake. A series of experiments was carried out to examine the possibility that aggression was secondary to hyperdipsia. When rats with septal lesions were restricted to preoperative levels of water intake, aggression scores declined significantly. When animals without lesions were preloaded, with either water or saline, aggression increased. Neither decreased shock threshold nor increased cell hydration provided a full explanation for the results. It is suggested that the aversive nature of the stomach turgescence caused by increased water intake may be an additional mediating factor in septal aggression.     

Students who self-harm: Coping style,Rumination and Alexithymia

Counsellors working with students or other young adults may encounter individuals who have self-harmed, either with suicidal or non-suicidal intent. Recent US studies reported rates of self-injury of up to 37% of the student population, but studies in the UK have focussed primarily on younger adolescents. This study examined reported self-harm incidents (scratching, cutting, poisoning, overdose etc) from a sample of 617 university students. A total of 27% reported at least one incident of self-harm, with almost 10% having harmed themselves while at university. Gender differences were not significant but psychology students reported significantly more self-harm than other students. Participants reporting self-harm scored significantly higher on maladaptive coping styles, rumination, and alexithymia (specifically difficulty in identifying emotions) and these differences were most marked for students reporting repetitive and recent self-harm. Rumination and Alexithymia factor 1 (difficulty identifying feelings) emerged as the most robust factors predicting self-harm status. Comments from students who self-harmed at university highlighted the importance of accessible services and academic staff support. The implications of these findings for counselling interventions are discussed, including challenging negative rumination tendencies and developing mindfulness skills.     

A film set for the elicitation of emotion in research: A comprehensive catalog derived from four decades of investigation

Emotions are highly influential to many psychological processes. Indeed, research employing emotional stimuli is rapidly escalating across the field of psychology. However, challenges remain regarding discrete evocation of frequently co-elicited emotions such as amusement and happiness, or anger and disgust. Further, as much contemporary work in emotion employs college students, we sought to additionally evaluate the efficacy of film clips to discretely elicit these more challenging emotions in a young adult population using an online medium. The internet is an important tool for investigating responses to emotional stimuli, but validations of emotionally evocative film clips across laboratory and web-based settings are limited in the literature. An additional obstacle is identifying stimuli amidst the numerous film clip validation studies. During our investigation, we recognized the lack of a categorical database to facilitate rapid identification of useful film clips for individual researchers’ unique investigations. Consequently, here we also sought to produce the first compilation of such stimuli into an accessible and comprehensive catalog. We based our catalog upon prior work as well as our own, and identified 24 articles and 295 film clips from four decades of research. We present information on the validation of these clips in addition to our own research validating six clips using online administration settings. The results of our search in the literature and our own study are presented in tables designed to facilitate and improve a selection of highly valid film stimuli for future research.     

The shared and unique genetic relationship between mental well-being,depression and anxiety symptoms and cognitive function in healthy twins

Alterations to cognitive function are often reported with depression and anxiety symptoms, yet few studies have examined the same associations with mental well-being. This study examined the association between mental well-being, depression and anxiety symptoms and cognitive function in 1502 healthy adult monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins, and the shared/unique contribution of genetic (G) and environmental (E) variance. Using linear mixed models, mental well-being was positively associated (p?β?=?0.127), inhibition (β?=?0.096), cognitive flexibility (β?=?0.149), motor coordination (β?=?0.114) and working memory (β?=?0.156), whereas depression and anxiety symptoms were associated (p?β?=??0.134), inhibition (β?=??0.139), cognitive flexibility (β?=??0.116) and executive function (β?=??0.139). Bivariate twin modelling showed well-being shared a small environmental correlation with motor coordination and a small genetic correlation with working memory. Trivariate twin modelling showed well-being shared a small genetic correlation with inhibition, whereas depression and anxiety symptoms shared a small environmental correlation with inhibition. The remaining variance was mostly driven by unique G and/or E variance. Overall, well-being and depression and anxiety symptoms show both independent and shared relationships with cognitive functions but this is largely attributable to unique G or E variance and small shared G/E variance between pairs of variables.