Neuroticism and responses to social comparison among cancer patients

The present study examined how the effects of three audiotapes containing different types of social comparison information on the mood of cancer patients depended on the level of neuroticism. On the procedural tape, a man and woman discussed the process of radiation therapy, on the emotion tape, they focussed on emotional reactions to their illness and treatment, while on the coping tape they focussed on the way they had been coping. A validation study among 115 students showed that the tapes were perceived as they were intended. The main study was conducted among 226 patients who were about to undergo radiation therapy. Compared to patients in the control group, as patients were higher in neuroticism, they reported less negative mood after listening to the procedural and the coping tape. Furthermore, as patients were higher in neuroticism, they reported less negative mood after listening to the coping tape than to the emotion tape. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

解决“乙肝”问题亟须“四化”

乙型病毒性肝炎是一个严重的社会问题,而不是简单的医患之间的医疗和接受医疗的问题,它涉及到医疗机构、制药厂家以及社会、家庭、婚姻、就业等很多问题。要想从根本上解决乙型病毒性肝炎所带来的诸多问题需要全社会共同努力,形成一种“社会监督法制化、诊疗方案规范化、社会关爱人性化、具体施治个性化”的格局。     

超常儿童实验班的建立——关于学生筛选的研究

本研究根据鉴别超常儿童要采取多指标、多途径、多种方法以及与常态儿童进行动态比较的原则探讨了对超常儿童实验班的筛选方法。先由教师和家长推荐,再用八项测查指标综合考察。并设立了同龄对比班。为今后大范围筛选超常儿童作了有效的尝试。同时.对超常儿童认知能力特点、学业成绩、教师评价、家庭背景等方面作了分析研究。     

新疆维吾尔、哈萨克、回族519名男青年试用EPQ问卷的初步报告

本文报告以维吾尔(简称维)、哈萨克(简称哈)、汉语EPQ问卷对新疆维、哈、回族519名16～29岁男青年的测查结果。表明EPQ各量表间相关情况和总趋势与英国、龚氏常模相似,P量表分均为最低;L量表分与龚氏常模一样均为最高。维、哈族个性特征显著外倾,尤以哈族突出。提出民族的历史发展、社会文化传统、劳动生活方式等因素是形成维、哈族个性特征的基础,认为龚氏常模及其划界分需进一步修订和完善。     

Development of visuomanual tracking in 5- to 9-year-old boys

Visuomanual sinusoidal tracking is investigated in 5- to 9-year-old children. The proportion of successful performances steadily increases with age, but adult proficiency is never attained even by those who can perform the task. Moreover, the progress in proficiency—as measured by systems analysis techniques—is not monotonic and suggests the presence of distinct stages in the development of visuomotor coordination. Qualitative analysis of unsuccessful performance demonstrates that failures cannot be ascribed only to insufficient motor coordination and emphasizes the role of cognitive and representational factors even in such a simple task.     

Jung’s Axioms: An Introduction to Jung’s “Note on Number”

This article is an introduction to C. G. Jung’s handwritten note on natural numbers (in this issue), which became the basis of Marie-Louise von Franz’s book Number and Time. I present the historical background of Jung’s note and discuss part of its content using mostly Jung’s own words.     

Doping in sport and enhancement medicine

The reason that gives doping in sport a deeper philosophical and ethical dimension is the emergence of a new medical paradigm: enhancement medicine. The question of enhancing performance in sport has become part of a broader societal debate on human enhancement. The gradual blurriness of the boarders between therapeutic medicine and enhancement medicine constitutes the most spectacular and the most troublesome form of these modifications. In the contemporary biomedicine, the new medicines and technologies can be used not only to cure the patients but also to enhance human capacities. This evolution represents a paradigmatic change in the medical practice: it is not the mere restoration of health which is expected anymore, nor the promotion of health. What is required is the improvement of performance and the perfectibility of the human being, including in the field of sport. Competitive sport could become the main laboratory of enhancement medicine. The intersection of science and sport raises fundamental philosophical, ethical and policy issues that cannot be answered easily. The prohibition and the war on doping is not the only solution.     

Contextual conditioning in rats as an animal model for generalized anxiety disorder

Animal models of psychiatric disorders are important translational tools for exploring new treatment options and gaining more insight into the disease. Thus far, there is no systematically validated animal model for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), a severely impairing and difficult-to-treat disease. In this review, we propose contextual conditioning (CC) as an animal model for GAD. We argue that this model has sufficient face validity (there are several symptom similarities), predictive validity (it responds to clinically effective treatments), and construct validity (the underlying mechanisms are comparable). Although the refinement and validation of an animal model is a never-ending process, we want to give a concise overview of the currently available evidence. We suggest that the CC model might be a valuable preclinical tool to enhance the development of new treatment strategies and our understanding of GAD.     

Cognitive and affective Theory of Mind in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease

Theory of Mind (ToM) allows one's own and others' cognitive and emotional mental states to be inferred. Although many patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) display impaired social functioning as their disease progresses, very few studies have investigated ToM in AD. Those that have done so suggest that patients' ToM deficits are the consequence of other cognitive impairments. The aim of this study was thus to investigate changes in both the cognitive and the affective dimensions of ToM in AD, using tasks designed to circumvent the patients' comprehension difficulties. Sixteen mild to moderate AD patients and 15 healthy controls matched on age, sex and education level underwent cognitive (preference judgment and first‐ and second‐order false belief) and affective (Reading the Mind in the Eyes) ToM assessments. Comprehension of false belief stories was verified and an additional neuropsychological examination was undergone. We observed impaired performances by AD patients on all the ToM tasks. While working memory and executive functioning impairments contributed to the deterioration in the more complex aspects of cognitive ToM abilities as highlighted by a correlation analysis, we failed to observe any comprehension difficulties in patients who performed poorly on simple cognitive ToM tasks, which suggests that AD truly affects cognitive ToM.