Chronic passive exposure to aggression escalates aggressiveness of rat observers

Previous studies have documented that exposure to aggression increases aggressiveness of human witnesses. However, the question of whether passive exposure to aggression can exclusively cause a risk of aggressive inclination for observers through a learning process, rather than mimicry effect, has not been readily addressed in the clinical literature. This study aimed to investigate this question by using a simple animal model to test the behavioral effect of chronic passive exposure to aggression. Our results indicate that observer rats that had been passively exposed to aggression for 10 min per day for 23 consecutive days exhibited more aggressive behavior than controls or those groups undergoing a single exposure to passive aggression. Furthermore, aggression levels in the group of 23‐day chronic exposure to aggression lasted 16 days after the recovery from exposure to aggression. These data suggest that the development of aggression in this model occurred through a learning process because only chronic exposure to aggression resulted in this behavioral outcome in the long run. Aggr. Behav. 36:54–66, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Operational Sequence in Group Therapy with Young Offenders

Abstract

Attachment has increasingly been identified as central to therapy process and outcome. Attachment theory proposes that an individual’s prior interactions with attachment figures develop into templates that will guide the way they form connections and perceive their relationships with others. This study examined clients’ ratings of their relationship with the therapist as well as their ratings of group climate at multiple discrete points during treatment. These variables were examined in relation to attachment classification prior to therapy. Participants were 62 women attending the Women Recovering from Abuse Program (WRAP), a primarily group-based day-treatment program for childhood interpersonal trauma, at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Results demonstrated that clients’ perceptions of relationships in group therapy varied as a function of attachment classification.     

Level of Perceptual Development as Reflected in Responses to the Holtzman Inkblot Technique

To investigate the relationships between chronological age and scores on 10 variables from the Holtzman Inkblot Technique, 586 normal Ss comprising five criterion age-groups ranging from 5.2 to 19.5 years were tested. Each group had an equal number of males and females. Following a statistical correction for number of rejections, a sex-by-age analysis of variance revealed no significant sex differences or sex-by-age interactions. However, significant age-group differences were found for all 10 variables, six of them resulting in steadily increasing means across the five groups. These age trends are consistent with the sequence of perceptual change outlined by developmental theory, and are interpreted as indicating a developmental shift in the dominance of perceptual functions.     

The psychotic wavelength

In this paper I have endeavoured to draw attention to what is meant when we refer to a patient as psychotic. It is argued that it is not enough just to be ordinarily sensitive to our patients; we need to tune into the psychotic wavelength with all its implications for understanding and management. Illustrative case-histories are presented from everyday psychiatric work.     

“PERHAPS YOU ONLY KISSED HER?”: A Contrapuntal Reading of the Penalties for Illicit Sex in the Sunni Hadith Literature

The goal of this essay is to illustrate how Ebrahim Moosa's method of “contrapuntal reading” can be applied fruitfully to the Sunni hadith literature. My case study is the set of penalties (hudud) for illicit sex, which include flogging, stoning, and banishment. I propose a fresh reading of these sacred texts that brings to the fore the ethical dimension of Prophet Muhammad's conduct, especially his strong reluctance to apply these measures. I conclude by identifying four ethical problems that the stoning penalty raises and suggest how the hadith literature can be read to argue against the validity of this specific punishment.     

Transcendental Tense: J.R. Lucas

Mellor's argument from Kant fails. The difficulties in his first Antinomy are due to topological confusions, not the tensed nature of time. Nor are McTaggart's difficulties due to the tensed nature of time. The ego-centricity of tensed discourse is an essential feature of communication between selves, each of whom refers himself as 'I', and is required for talking about time as well as experience and agency.
Arguments based on the Special Theory are misconceived. Some rest on a confused notion of 'topological simultaneity'. In the General Theory a cosmic time is defined, as also in quantum mechanics, where a natural present is defined by a unique hyperplane of collapse into eigen -ness.     

Behavioral techniques in the treatment of obesity: A comparative analysis

The relative efficacy of the major techniques typically used in behavioral treatment programs for weight reduction was investigated using obese adult volunteers. Study 1 compared the effects of self-monitoring, self-control procedures, monetary rewards, aversive imagery and relaxation training. These procedures resulted in significantly greater weight reduction than either a no treatment group or subjects who graphed and recorded daily weight. Self-monitoring of daily caloric intake was as effective as the other methods, both singly and combined, over a 4 week treatment period. Study 2 compared the long-term effects of self-monitoring vs the full complement of behavioral techniques used in Study 1. The full behavior management program was significantly more effective, both during the treatment period and at 3 and 12 week follow-ups, although self-monitoring again produced substantial weight loss.     

Artists, architects, and engineers--three contrasting modes of visual experience and their psychological correlates

Over a period of five years, 31 architects, 28 artists, and 26 engineers, a total of 85 outstanding individuals in their respective fields, were studied intensively with a psychological test battery consisting of the Holtzman Inkblot Technique, Time Estimation measures, the Stroop Color-Word Test, the Embedded Figures Test, the Autokinetic Effect, Byrne's Repression-Sensitization Inventory, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, and the Welsh Figure Preference Test. Each subject in the study was chosen by a panel of faculty members as the most outstanding advanced students in nonrepresentational abstract art, architecture, and engineering drawing Highly significant differences were found between the three groups for a number of variables that had been predicted on the basis of previous research and theoretical considerations. These results served to validate the meaning of the perception variables while also giving additional insight into the differences between these three contrasting modes of visual experience as exemplified by the three occupational groups     

Grabbing Your Bootstraps: Threats to Economic Order Boost Beliefs in Personal Control

Individuals are motivated to maintain perceptions of order and predictability in the social environment. Compensatory control theory proposes that when an individual’s perception of her or his own control is threatened, the individual can turn to external systems that may provide a perception of control (e.g., organized government). Conversely, the theory also predicts that when external systems of control are threatened, individuals may respond by exaggerating perceptions of personal control, although this effect has received relatively little empirical support. In the present study, we examined how a threat to an external system of economic control affects individual perceptions of personal control. Specifically, we found that a threat to the perceived distribution of economic resources based on hard work and effort (i.e., meritocracy) led to greater perceptions of personal control. Moreover, this increase in personal control directly increased participants’ optimism about their future economic outcomes. This study provides important insight into the broad influence of external systems on individuals' perceptions of personal control and assessment of future action.