Does humor facilitate coping with physical discomfort?

The mediation of superior coping with physical discomfort after humorous stimulation was explored through respondents' exposure to materials varying markedly in their capacity to evoke amusement and joviality. Both male and female respondents were exposed to (a) stand-up comedy, (b) situation comedy, (c) serious drama, (d) instructional material, or (e) tragedy. Discomfort threshold for cuff pressure at the upper arm was ascertained prior to and following exposure. Cognitive and affective responses to the materials were recorded after the postexposure threshold measurement. Compared against exposure to instructional material in the control condition, and compared against pre-exposure threshold measures, exposure to either type of comedy and, unexpectedly, to tragedy significantly elevated the threshold for physical discomfort in both male and female respondents. Serious drama had no such effect. Taken together, the exposure effects on the discomfort threshold could not be attributed to amusement reactions. Nor could they be considered mediated by responses of positive hedonic quality during and after exposure. There was some indication, however, that the capacity of stimuli to evoke humorous reactions (material being deemed funny) and the absorption potential of stimuli (material being deemed captivating) were positively involved in the mediation of postexposure tolerance of physical discomfort.The authors would like to thank Charles Aust, Rahul Biswas, Ted Jones, and John Owens for their assistance in the data collection and in the planning of this investigation.     

Aggression,sex role measures,and Kohut's psychology of the self

Recent controversies concerning the relationship between aggression and sex role development were evaluated in light of Heinz Kohut's psychoanalytic psychology of the self. Masculinity roughly corresponded to grandiose elements of Kohut's bipolar self while femininity was linked to its idealizing sector. As predicted, self-reported aggressiveness reflected an immature grandiosity; and associations of assertiveness with both masculine and grandiose personality styles supported Kohut's claim that adjustment can evolve out of more aggressive forms of self-functioning. Socially desirable forms of femininity had the advantage of being incompatible with aggressiveness, but they also failed to promote assertiveness. Androgynous, masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated sex roles displayed largely predictable parallels with synthetic, internal, external, and archaic narcissistic styles. As in previous research, therefore, Kohut's theory proved useful in examining the mental health implications of traditional sex roles.Data reported in this project were included in the master's thesis of the first author.     

On the misadventures of the sophists: Hegel's tropological appropriation of rhetoric

The author examines Hegel's incorporation of the Sophists into the history of philosophy. The basic argument is that Hegel's history of the Sophists operates along tropological lines, the exact same lines that the truth claims of his philosophy oppose. Using the tropes of metaphor, metonymy and prolepsis, the author shows that when Hegel places the Sophists in the process of the teleological unfolding of reason he employs the very rhetorical mechanisms he denounces.     

Pro-drug-use myths and competing constructs in the prediction of substance use among youth at continuation high schools: a one-year prospective study

Experimentation with drugs among adolescents often is preceded by faulty beliefs (myths) regarding drug effects. The present study provides empirical demonstration of the utility of a drug use myths index in the prediction of subsequent drug use in a prospective study of substance use among high-risk adolescents. Drug use was measured as an index of recent cigarette, alcohol and marijuana use. A belief-type drug use myths index was compared as a predictor of drug use with four other frequently researched correlates of drug use. The other measures were of social influence, outcome expectancies, attitudes toward wrongness of drug use and sensation seeking. The belief-type drug use myths, attitudes toward wrongness and sensation seeking indices were found to be significant predictors of drug use among our sample of 1074 youth when controlling for gender, ethnicity and prior drug use. These findings have implications for understanding factors contributing to individual differences in drug use behaviors and could benefit the development of drug education programs for high-risk individuals.     

Edwards on the Will

Jonathan Edwards' The Freedom of the Will advances an ethical argument concerning the nature of the freedom that a person must have to be considered morally culpable. The view he opposes, that free decisions must be uncaused, is shown to be now common in Western culture, and the results he predicted of that are displayed. His own view, whereby a free decision is one constrained only by moral causes, is shown to be theologically grounded and consistent with ethical responsibility. Mention is made of the virtue ethic he relied upon, and of the predestinarian nature of the account.     

Longitudinal Correlates of Arrest Status Among At-Risk Males

We examined the longitudinal adjustment, from grade 4 to grade 11, of a sample (n = 76) of boys judged to be at-risk for developing antisocial behavior patterns. We also examined subgroups of the sample differentiated by risk status and arrest records at grade 11. Antisocial behavior patterns exhibited by these boys demonstrated considerable stability over time. Differences were noted among high and lower-risk groups who were and were not arrested. In particular, measures of academic and social skills dimensions were related to better overall adjustment as indicated by lower arrest rates. Implications of these results for intervention are presented.     

Type A as a Moderator of Stressors and Job Complexity: A Comparison of Achievement Strivings and Impatience-Irritability

This study examined two components (achievement strivings and impatience-irritability) of the Type A Behavior Pattern as moderators of job stressors and job complexity on health and job satisfaction. It was predicted that achievement strivings would moderate the impact of job stressors and impatience-irritability would impact responses to job complexity. Data from 525 employed adults provided mixed support for the moderator hypotheses. Relations between job stressors and both health and job satisfaction were strongest among employees reporting high levels of achievement strivings. Impatience-irritability had no moderating effect. For job complexity, only one moderator effect was found. Mental demands were positively related to job satisfaction among those reporting low levels of impatience-irritability. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Identifying operant functions for tics in children with mental retardation

Functional analyses were used to assess the effects of environmental consequences on occurrences of repetitive vocal behavior that had been diagnosed as chronic vocal tics in two adolescent males with mental retardation. The functional analyses indicated that one participant's tics were sensitive to positive reinforcement in the form of caregiver attention, while the second participant's tics occurred independent of social consequences. The results are discussed in terms of using functional analysis methodology during assessment, diagnosis, and treatment selection for suspected tics. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.