AMICAI: A Method Based on Risk Analysis to Integrate Responsible Research and Innovation into the Work of Research and Innovation Practitioners

Science and Engineering Ethics - The integration of ethics into the day-to-day work of research and innovation (R&I) is an important but difficult challenge. However, with the Aachen method...     

Hoarding in a compulsive buying sample

Previous research has indicated that many compulsive buyers also suffer from compulsive hoarding. The present work specifically examined hoarding in a compulsive buying sample. Sixty-six treatment-seeking compulsive buyers were assessed prior to entering a group therapy for compulsive buying using the Compulsive Buying Scale (CBS), the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS)-Shopping Version, the Compulsive Acquisition Scale (CAS), the German-CBS, the Saving Inventory-Revised (SI-R), the Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (MOCI), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I (SCID). Inclusion criteria were current problems with compulsive buying according to the proposed diagnostic criteria for compulsive buying by McElroy, Keck, Pope, Smith, and Strakowski [(1994). Compulsive buying: A report of 20 cases. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 55, 242-248]. Our results support the assumption that many but not all compulsive buyers suffer from compulsive hoarding. A significant association between the SI-R and the compulsive buying measures CBS, Y-BOCS-SV, German-CBS, and the CAS-Buy subscale was found, which is mostly caused by the SI-R subscale acquisition. The SI-R subscales clutter and difficulty discarding were more closely associated with the CAS-Free subscale and with obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Hoarding compulsive buyers reported more severe buying symptoms and obsessive-compulsive symptoms and presented with a higher psychiatric co-morbidity, especially any current affective, anxiety and eating disorder. Specific therapeutic interventions for compulsive buyers who also report compulsive hoarding appear indicated.     

Factor structure of the brief symptom inventory--18 in adult survivors of childhood cancer: results from the childhood cancer survivor study

The factor structure of the Brief Symptom Inventory--18 (BSI-18; L. R. Derogatis, 2000) was investigated in a sample of adult survivors of childhood cancer enrolled in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS; N = 8,945). An exploratory factor analysis with a randomly chosen subsample supported a 3-factor structure closely corresponding to the 3 BSI-18 subscales: Depression, Anxiety, and Somatization. Confirmatory factor analysis with structural equation modeling validated this 3-dimensional structure in a separate subsample, though an alternative 4-factor model also fit the data. Analysis of the 3-factor model showed consistent fit in male and female participants. Compared with available community-based norms, survivors reported fewer symptoms of psychological distress. Together, results support the hypothesized 3-dimensional structure of the BSI-18 and indicate the measure may be useful in assessing psychological distress in this growing population of cancer survivors.     

Fear expression and return of fear following threat instruction with or without direct contingency experience

Prior research showed that mere instructions about the contingency between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) can generate fear reactions to the CS. Little is known, however, about the extent to which actual CS–US contingency experience adds anything beyond the effect of contingency instructions. Our results extend previous studies on this topic in that it included fear potentiated startle as an additional dependent variable and examined return of fear (ROF) following reinstatement. We observed that CS–US pairings can enhance fear reactions beyond the effect of contingency instructions. Moreover, for all measures of fear, instructions elicited immediate fear reactions that could not be completely overridden by subsequent situational safety information. Finally, ROF following reinstatement for instructed CS+s was unaffected by actual experience. In summary, our results demonstrate the power of contingency instructions and reveal the additional impact of actual experience of CS–US pairings.     

The contextual malleability of approach-avoidance training effects: approaching or avoiding fear conditioned stimuli modulates effects of approach-avoidance training

Previous research showed that the repeated approaching of one stimulus and avoiding of another stimulus typically leads to more positive evaluations of the former stimuli. In the current study, we examined whether approach and avoidance training (AAT) effects on evaluations of neutral stimuli can be modulated by introducing a regularity between the approach-avoidance actions and a positive or negative (feared) stimulus. In an AAT task, participants repeatedly approached one neutral non-word and avoided another neutral non-word. Half of the participants also approached a negative fear-conditioned stimulus (CS+) and avoided a conditioned safe stimulus (CS?). The other half of the participants avoided the CS+ and approached the CS?. Whereas participants in the avoid CS+ condition exhibited a typical AAT effect, participants in the approach CS+ condition exhibited a reversed AAT effect (i.e. they evaluated the approached neutral non-word as more negative than the avoided non-word). These findings provide evidence for the malleability of the AAT effect when strongly valenced stimuli are approached or avoided. We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of our findings.     

Interaction of memories and expectancies as mediators of choice behavior

The interaction of food-based memories and food-event outcome expectancies in pigeons was assessed using a simultaneous, delayed-symbolic-matching-to-sample procedure. The components of the compound sample were presented in sequence, and consisted of a food-based event (food or no-food) followed by a color cue (red or green). Choice of a pattern of horizontal lines was "correct" following presentation of the red cue, while choice of a vertical line pattern was "correct" after green. In all but a control condition, the food-based event with which a trial began, or the food-event outcome with which a trial concluded, or both, were also correlated with the correct pattern. Of particular interest was the relative accuracy of two groups for whom both memories and expectancies were correlated with the correct choice-pattern. For one group, the memories and expectancies corresponding to the pre- and postchoice food-related events were similar, whereas for the other they were dissimilar. Outcome expectancies supported a higher level of performance than food-based memories, and subjects with both outcome expectancies and food-based memories chose more accurately than those with memories or expectancies only. In addition, subjects with dissimilar food-based memories and outcome expectancies chose more accurately than those with similar memories and expectancies. The implications of the above findings for the nature of event representation in pigeons are discussed.