Heart Rate Changes Accompanying Jaw Movement Pavlovian Conditioning in Rabbits: Concomitant Blood Pressure Adjustments and Effects of Peripheral Autonomic Blockade

Two experiments were conducted to ascertain the cardiovascular accompaniments of differential Pavlovian jaw movement (JM) conditioning. The first examined the blood pressure (BP) changes that accompany the tachycardiac conditioned responses (CRs) associated with JM conditioning. The BP response in all instances consisted of a depressor response that was greater to the reinforced CS+ than CS-, although the magnitude of the CR was quite small. The second experiment determined the effects of peripheral autonomic antagonists on the cardiac accelerations associated with JM conditioning. It was found that the peripheral vagal antagonist methyl scopolamine completely abolished responses to both CS+ and CS-, whereas atenolol, a beta adrenergic antagonist, augmented the response, compared to saline control injections. The JM responses were also affected by the autonomic blockades, with minimal responding occurring in the scopolamine group but slightly more JM CRs in the atenolol group, compared to saline control animals. These results suggest that the major cardiovascular response to an appetitive stimulus, which evokes JM conditioning, consists of cardiac accelerations with the BP depressor responses playing a minimal, if any, role. Moreover, these conditioned cardiac increases appear to be due solely to the release of vagal inhibition.     

Symptoms of depression,relational quality,and loneliness in dating relationships

This study tested the hypothesis that symptoms of depression are negatively related to relational quality, which in turn is negatively related to feelings of loneliness among members of dating couples. Potential sex differences in the magnitude of association between depressive symptoms and relational quality, and potential emotional contagion of depressive symptoms within dyads, were also explored. One hundred and one dating couples completed the Oral History Interview along with other measures of relational quality, depressive symptoms, and loneliness. Results for both males and females indicated that depressive symptoms were negatively associated with relational quality and that relational quality was negatively associated with loneliness. The association between symptoms of depression and poor relational quality was similar for females and males. There was no evidence suggestive of emotional contagion in these dating couples. Implications of these findings and their potential limitations are discussed.     

A comparison of escape and avoidance conditioning in wild and domesticated rats

In the first of two experiments, three cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) and three albino rats were exposed to instrumental escape, unsignaled avoidance, and signaled avoidance, in that order. All subjects learned the escape procedure quickly, with the albino rats having generally shorter latencies, higher response rates, and requiring fewer sessions to reach the criterion. When the avoidance contingency was introduced, the cotton rats continued to respond almost entirely in the presence of the shock, whereas the albino rats responded in its absence, thus displaying effective avoidance behavior. Introduction of a pre-aversive stimulus did not improve the performance of the cotton rats. In the second experiment, five cotton rats and four albino rats were exposed to a free-operant (Sidman) avoidance procedure with a shock-shock interval of 3 sec and a response-shock interval of 20 sec. The cotton rats initiated responding at lower shock intensities than the albino rats, but their asymptotic avoidance responding was far less effective.     

The effects of shock as a punisher for cigarette smoking

An attempt was made to reduce the cigarette smoking of three subjects by means of a special cigarette case that delivered aversive shock when opened. The number of cigarettes smoked was recorded by a counter in the cigarette case. The validity of the counter readings as a measure of smoking was obtained by a specially designed participant-observer technique. It was found that the rate of smoking decreased as a function of the intensity of the shock. Also, the smoking returned to its previously unpunished level after the shock punisher was discontinued. Both of these findings confirm the results of laboratory studies of punishment of simpler responses and extends them to more complex responses in a naturalistic situation. Surprisingly, the duration for which the apparatus was worn also decreased as a function of the intensity of the shock. This finding reveals that this aversive shock technique produced avoidance behavior that prevents the technique from having extensive applicability for eliminating smoking. The same limitation may apply to the use of aversive shock for eliminating other undesirable behaviors.     

Managing Old Age: The Disciplinary Web of Power, Surveillance and Normalization

Health and welfare have emerged as key vehicles used to legitimize and position the identities that older people adopt in contemporary western societies. Both health and welfare contain specific yet continually changing technologies that function to mediate relations between older people and the state. Medico-technical and care management discourses have been presented as adding choice and reducing limitations associated with adult aging. However, they also represent an increase in professional control that can be exerted on lifestyles in older age and thus, the wider social meanings associated with that part of the lifecourse. This article presents a theoretical analysis based on a critical reading of the work of Michel Foucault; identifies the interrelationship between managers and older people in terms of power, surveillance and normalization; and highlights how and why older people remain the subjects of legitimizing professional gazes.     

Why does impression management positively influence interview ratings? The mediating role of competence and warmth

Though interviews assess job applicants' skills and abilities, they can be influenced by extraneous factors, including impression management (IM) tactics. Interviewees’ self‐promotion and ingratiation IM tactics predict higher interview ratings; however, researchers have yet to determine why these tactics work. We assessed whether two fundamental dimensions of social perception, competence and warmth, mediate the relationship between IM tactics and interview ratings. We hypothesized that interviewee competence mediates the relationship between self‐promotion and interview ratings, and interviewee warmth mediates the relationship between ingratiation and interview ratings. Using real employment interviews, we found that competence mediates the relationship between self‐promotion and interview ratings, but warmth did not mediate the relationship between ingratiation and interview ratings in the way we expected.