Fear generalization in humans: Impact of prior non-fearful experiences

Fear generalization lies at the heart of many anxiety problems, and is therefore an important target for prevention and/or treatment. Here, we investigated whether fear generalization towards a specific stimulus can be weakened by prior non-fearful experiences with that stimulus. Using the standard human fear conditioning procedure, all participants received paired presentations of a geometric figure and an electric shock. This was followed by a test phase in which a similar but different figure was presented. Electrodermal responding and ratings of shock-expectancy measured the level of fear generalization towards this test stimulus. Crucially, half of the participants had been preexposed to that stimulus (without shock). The results show significantly less generalization in this group, suggesting that prior non-fearful experiences can protect against fear generalization. These results may inspire novel ways to prevent the development of clinical anxiety.     

A Comparative Study of Mystical Experience Among Christian,Muslim, and Hindu Students in Tamil Nadu,India

Hood developed a Mysticism Scale based on the theoretical work of Stace. The scale was tested by Hood and others in a comparative perspective. Using an abridged version of Hood's Mysticism Scale, we join the debate with a study of a much larger number of Christian, Muslim, and Hindu respondents (1,920 college students) living in Tamil Nadu, India. Our empirical analysis yields a moderately reliable model of mystical experience that permits comparison between the three religious traditions. We argue for the usefulness of a comparative model of vertical mysticism that combines with the complementary common characteristics of noetic quality and ineffability. Vertical mysticism has a revelatory, ineffable character and is comparable in the experience of adherents of the Christian, Islamic, and Hindu traditions.     

African American Muslims: Intersectionality and Cultural Competence

Although African American Muslims constitute 40% of all American‐born Muslims (Pew Research Center, 2011), they are virtually absent from the literature. Increasing the presence of African American Muslims in the literature may improve counselors' cultural competence when working with them. Using intersectional theory, the authors outline the rich history of African American Muslims and highlight ways counselors can improve their cultural and spiritual competence when working with African American Muslims.     

Community psychology,digital technology,and loss: Remembrance activities of young adults who have experienced the death of a close friend

We argue for community psychology to include digital communications technology in research on ways that the social environment shapes fundamental human experiences. We present a qualitative study that examined the narrative accounts of 20 young adults who experienced the death of a close friend to describe both traditional and digital forms of remembrance in coping with loss. Findings suggest that young adults' activities both online and offline were intended to acknowledge the loss, exchange social support, create and sustain memories of their deceased friend, and facilitate continued communication with the deceased. Participants described both costs and benefits to their real and virtual remembrance activities. Findings illustrate ways that the study of digital technology adds to our understanding of grief and bereavement and contributes to dominant cultural narratives about coping with death. Implications of findings for research in community psychology are discussed.     

I’ll just watch: Do the pro-social effects of coordination really generalize to non-actors?

ABSTRACT

Moving in time together has been shown to cultivate pro-social effects in co-actors, such as cooperation and helping. But less is known about who these effects apply to – whether they are restricted only to co-actors, or whether they generalize to those not involved in the coordination. One difference between past work finding generalized vs. restricted effects is whether these “outsiders” were present for the coordination or not. The present study explores whether the pro-social effects of coordination are seen towards observers as well as co-actors, and whether the absence or presence of observers during the coordination is a determining factor. Results show that greater cooperation following coordination is only seen amongst co- actors, regardless of whether the observers were present during the task or not. Findings are discussed in the context of the literature and alternative explanations for research showing generalized effects are suggested.     

Who Leaves Suicide Notes? A Six‐Year Population‐Based Study

Popular culture insists on the significance of suicide notes, but research has yielded conflicting results about who leaves notes. Utilizing 6 years of suicides from a comprehensive statewide data surveillance system, differences were examined between cases with suicide notes and those without in terms of demographics, circumstances of the suicide, and precipitating circumstances. Of the 2,936 suicides, 18.25% included a note. Demographics and circumstances did not differ for cases with a note compared to cases with no note. Results have implications for working with people bereaved by suicide in helping understand that the notes are uncommon and not systematic. However, it is also possible that for some individuals, the content of a note is meaningful and can help or hinder their course of bereavement.     

Automatic affective processing

Abstract

Semantic and emotional priming below objective detection threshold was investigated using a binocular pattern masking procedure. In the first experiment lexical decision time to emotionally aversive target stimuli was significantly faciliated by the presentation of emotionally aversive primes and primes semantically related to the target, thus replicating the emotional and semantic priming effects found supraliminally in Hill and Kemp-Wheeler (1989). In Experiment 2, a significant semantic priming effect was again found but the subliminal emotional priming effect of Experiment 1 did not replicate.     

Automatic affective priming of recently acquired stimulus valence: Priming at SOA 300 but not at SOA 1000

In a recent series of studies, it was demonstrated that originally neutral stimuli that were predictive of an electrocutaneous stimulus in a differential aversive conditioning procedure not only acquired “signal-value” but also acquired a negative affective valence. These affective changes were not only evident from the evaluative ratings scales, but also from the data of an affective priming procedure. This response-latency based priming procedure has recently been employed as an indirect and unobtrusive index of stimulus valence (attitudes) (e.g., Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, & Williams, 1995). In the present experiment, the use of the affective priming procedure as an indirect measure of stimulus valence was further explored. Results showed that aversively conditioned stimuli revealed their newly acquired valence in this priming procedure. As predicted, this effect was obtained at the short SOA (300 ms) but not at the long SOA (1000 ms). The significant SOA X Priming interaction suggests that the affective priming procedure is less or not affected by demand effects and (self-presentational) response strategies. This makes the affective priming effect and excellent and unobtrusive measure of affective valence and an interesting alternative to subjective rating scales in situations where demand effects might otherwise influence responding. The results are also related to recent research on conditioning models of the acquisition of anxiety disorders, and to research on the co-occurrence of expectancy learning and affective learning within these models.     

A multidimensional phenomenal space for pain: structure,primitiveness, and utility

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - Pain is often used as the paradigmatic example of a phenomenal kind with a phenomenal quality common and unique to its instantiations. Philosophers have...