Affiliative vocalizations in infant rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta).

In Experiment 1, infant rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were separated and then reunited with mothers, united with a male, or placed in an empty cage. Infants girned more when with mothers or the male than when alone. Girns declined over time when infants were united with the male. Coo rates were high when the infant was alone or with the male. Shrieks, barks, and fear-related behavior were higher with the male. In Experiment 2 the vocalizations of infants were examined during separation when alone or when mothers or a male were in the same room. Infants cooed more when mothers or a male were present. Cooing increased over time, with a greater increase in the mothers' presence. Girns were given to both mothers and males, but more were given to mothers. Coos and girns are both affiliative vocalizations but are differentially modulated as infants cease cooing when they receive contact comfort.     

Mirrors, Clocks, Maps, and Music: A South African Response to Family Therapy Supervision/Training

Once upon a time a training unit embarked upon a Journey. The Journey was to encompass a year's training and supervision in family therapy. Bags were packed to the brim with theory and training methods. One day the Unit left the bags behind to see what would happen if they travelled light and let the students bring their own luggage to the examination. Students were expected to describe their relationships with the interviewed families, and their training through a story. The great exam day came. Inspired students used innovative ideas and metaphors to describe the Journey. This article tells the story about these stories and the Unit's learning from them.     

Deficits in lexical and semantic processing: implications for models of normal language

The investigation of language processing following brain damage may be used to constrain models of normal language processing. We review the literature on semantic and lexical processing deficits, focusing on issues of representation of semantic knowledge and the mechanisms of lexical access. The results broadly support a componential organization of lexical knowledge—the semantic component is independent of phonological and orthographic form knowledge, and the latter are independent of each other. Furthermore, the results do not support the hypothesis that word meaning is organized into modality-specific subcomponents. We also discuss converging evidence from functional imaging studies in relation to neuropsychological results.     

Fear-Arousing and Empathy-Arousing Appeals to Help: The Pathos of Persuasion

An experiment tested the proposition that the components of a fear appeal which persuade us to protect ourselves are the Same components that persuade us to protect others. The results confirmed this hypothesis for the two components examined: noxiousness of the threatened danger and efficacy of coping response. Films showing noxious scenes of industrial whaling and films showing a pro-environmental action organization successfully saving whales from whalers strengthened intentions to help this endangered animal species. Taken together, available data indicate that fear appeals can persuade us to protect ourselves, other people, and even infrahuman animals. The social psychological paradigm used to investigate attitude change was merged with a paradigm employed to examine prosocial behavior. As predicted, an empathy-arousing appeal facilitated attitude change. Three implications for promoting ecological actions were discussed. First, empathy-arousing appeals can be applied to mass media campaigns. Second, the concept of response-efficacy in persuasive appeals can be extended from direct, individual action to activity requiring the mediation of social organizations. Finally, pro-environmental campaigns can be effective when the potential beneficiaries are not the ones shown, but who symbolize the many others in the same plight.     

Were the “Pioneer” Clinical Ethics Consultants “Outsiders”? For Them,Was “Critical Distance” That Critical?

“Clinical ethics consultants” have been practicing in the United States for about 50 years. Most of the earliest consultants—the “pioneers”—were “outsiders” when they first appeared at patients' bedsides and in the clinic. However, if they were outsiders initially, they acclimated to the clinical setting and became “insiders” very quickly. Moreover, there was some tension between traditional academics and those doing applied ethics about whether there was sufficient “critical distance” for appropriate reflection about the complex medical ethics dilemmas of the day if one were involved in the decision making. Again, the pioneers deflected concerns by identifying and instituting safeguards to assure professional objectivity in clinical ethics consultation services. One might suggest that in moving inside and establishing normative practices, the pioneer clinical ethics consultants anticipated adoption of their routines and professionalization of the field.     

Perimenopausal mental disorders: epidemiology and phenomenology

Perimenopause, the interval of irregular menstrual activity which directly precedes menopause, is characterized by widely fluctuating hormone levels amidst a large-scale decline in circulating estrogen. This phase in a woman's life is typically accompanied by physical discomforts including vasomotor symptoms, such as headaches, insomnia, and hot flushes, as well as genital atrophy. Not surprisingly, studies suggest a significant increase in mood lability for women during this time. While some evidence points toward an exacerbation of bipolar mood symptoms and an increase in schizophrenic psychosis during perimenopause, the majority of research conducted on perimenopausal mental disorders has focused on unipolar depression. Studies vary widely in methodology, definitions of menopausal status, and degrees of depression among subjects; however, the majority of findings indicate an increased susceptibility to depression during the perimenopausal transition. This greater susceptibility may be due to neuroendocrine effects of declining estrogen levels, the subjective experience of somatic symptoms resulting from this hormonal decline, and/or the more frequent occurrence of "exit" or "loss" events for women during this stage of life. At this time, more research is needed to address questions of prevalence, risk, and etiology for depression and other major mental disorders as related to the physiological and psychosocial changes associated with perimenopause.     

Superordinate identity and intergroup roommate friendship development

A common ingroup identity promotes positive attitudes and behavior toward members of outgroups, but the durability of these effects and generalizability to relationships outside of the laboratory have been questioned. The present research examined how initial perceptions of common ingroup identity among randomly assigned college roommates provide a foundation for the development of intergroup friendships. For roommate dyads involving students who differed in race or ethnicity, respondents who were low on perceived intergroup commonality showed a significant decline in friendship over-time, whereas those high on perceived commonality showed consistently high levels of friendship. Similarly, participants in these dyads demonstrated a significant decline in feelings of friendship when their roommate was low in perceived commonality but not when their roommate was high in perceived commonality. These effects were partially mediated by anxiety experienced in interactions over-time. The implications of a common identity for intergroup relationship development are discussed.