The cognitive and affective dimensions of moral conviction: implications for attitudinal and behavioral measures of interpersonal tolerance

The present studies investigate the role of both cognitive and affective dimensions of moral conviction in contributing to negative interpersonal responses. After demonstrating that the cognitive and affective dimensions of moral conviction are distinct constructs, the studies show that the cognitive dimension is sufficient to produce many forms of interpersonal intolerance. Simply believing an issue to be moral (i.e., objectively grounded, non-negotiable) results in greater intolerance for (Study 1), less sharing with (Study 2), and greater distancing from (Study 3) people with divergent attitudes. The emotional intensity with which beliefs are experienced is not alone explanatory. Nonetheless, it interacts with moral beliefs to produce the highest levels of interpersonal intolerance, distancing from dissimilar others, and context insensitivity. This interaction pattern between moral beliefs and affect was specific to emotional intensity and not other measures of attitude strength (Study 3).     

Effects of Performance Context on Processing Speed and Performance Ratings

The present study demonstrated that the presence of evaluatively polarized context performances not only produces contrast and halo effects on judgments of a target performance, but also causes judgments to be made much faster. Processing speed and positive halo were highly correlated, supporting the notion that halo in performance ratings results from raters' recall and use of a single, general impression. Furthermore, regression analyses demonstrated that processing speed mediates the relationship between context and halo. The relationship between these findings, halo, processing speed, and general impressions, as well as implications for performance appraisals, are discussed.     

Evaluation of Two New Scales Assessing Driving Anger: The Driving Anger Expression Inventory and the Driver's Angry Thoughts Questionnaire

This study assessed the validity of the Driving Anger Expression Inventory (DAX) and Driver's Angry Thoughts Questionnaire (DATQ). Scales within the DAX and DATQ appeared to assess separate, correlated constructs. Aggressive forms of thinking and anger expression correlated positively with each other, trait driving anger, aggressive and risky behavior, some crash-related conditions, general trait anger, and general forms of anger expression. Positive, constructive forms of thinking and anger expression correlated positively with each other, but minimally or negatively with other variables. Specific aggressive forms of thinking and anger expression formed stronger links with each other than other forms of expression, supporting the discriminant validity of the DATQ and DAX. Hierarchical regressions with DATQ and DAX scales entered after other variables showed that they added explained variance above and beyond other measures, supporting the discriminant and incremental validity of these scales. It was concluded that the DAX and DATQ have utility for researchers and clinicians interested in angry drivers.     

Practical Guide for Reporting Effect Size in Quantitative Research in the Journal of Counseling & Development

The purpose of this article is to assist researchers in meeting the requirement of reporting effect sizes in quantitative research studies submitted to the Journal of Counseling & Development. This requirement is detailed in the “Guidelines for Authors” included in this issue. The authors provide practical information on generating, reporting, and interpreting effect size estimates for various types of statistical analyses. Information is provided on the meaning of effect sizes within the larger knowledge base.     

Effects of High School Course‐Taking and Other Variables on Choice of Science and Mathematics College Majors

Using a nationally representative sample, the effects of high school course‐taking on subsequent choice of science and math majors in college were examined in the context of background variables, early academic performance, and educational attitudes and behavior in high school. Effects of course‐taking on choice of science and math majors were stronger for women than for men. For women, 8th‐grade math test scores positively influenced math course‐taking in high school, which in turn positively influenced later choice of science and math majors. For men, completing high school physics had a significant positive effect on choice of science and math majors. These and other findings are discussed in terms of career theory and counseling and education practice.     

Hippocampal and extrahippocampal systems compete for control of contextual fear: Role of ventral subiculum and amygdala

Two neural systems, a hippocampal system and an extrahippocampal system compete for control over contextual fear, and the hippocampal system normally dominates. Our experiments reveal that output provided by the ventral subiculum is critical for the hippocampal system to win this competition. Bilateral electrolytic lesions of the ventral subiculum after conditioning, but not before conditioning, impaired contextual fear conditioning. Reversibly inactivating this region by bilateral injections of muscimol produced the same results—no impairment when the injection occurred prior to conditioning but a significant impairment when this region was inactivated after conditioning. Thus, the extrahippocampal system can support contextual fear conditioning if the ventral subiculum is disabled before conditioning but not if it is disabled after conditioning. Our experiments also reveal that the basolateral region of the amygdala (BLA) is where the two systems compete for associative control of the fear system. To test this hypothesis we reasoned that the extrahippocampal system would also acquire associative control over the fear system, even if the hippocampal system were functional, if the basal level of plasticity potential in the BLA could be increased. We did this by injecting the D1 dopamine agonist, {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"SKF82958","term_id":"1156217255","term_text":"SKF82958"}}SKF82958, into the BLA just prior to conditioning. This treatment resulted in a significant increase in freezing when the ventral subiculum was disabled prior to the test. These results are discussed in relationship to the idea that D1 agonists increase plasticity potential by increasing the pool of available extrasynaptic GluR1 receptors in the population of neurons supporting acquired fear.It is generally believed that contextual fear conditioning depends on the hippocampus. However, it is now clear that an extrahippocampal system exists that can also support contextual fear conditioning. The last statement is based on the fact that damage to the hippocampus prior to conditioning has a minor impact on contextual fear (Maren et al. 1997; Frankland et al. 1998; Cho et al. 1999; Wiltgen et al. 2006). In fact, the conclusion that the hippocampus is normally involved in contextual fear conditioning is now based primarily on the finding that damage to the hippocampus after conditioning greatly impairs fear to the context in which conditioning occurs (Maren et al. 1997; Frankland et al. 1998; Anagnostaras et al. 1999; Bannerman et al. 1999; Richmond et al. 1999; Fanselow 2000; Rudy et al. 2004; Wiltgen et al. 2006). Maren et al. (1997) were the first to appreciate the implications of this set of findings. Specifically, they proposed that (1) in the normal animal there is competition between the hippocampal system and an extrahippocampal system for support of contextual fear conditioning, and (2) the hippocampal system normally dominates the extrahippocampal system—preventing it from acquiring the information needed to support fear to the context. This competition hypothesis provides a reasonable account of the lesion data. If the hippocampus is damaged prior to conditioning, then the extrahippocampal system will be able to acquire control over the fear system and generate a fear response at the time of testing. However, if the hippocampal system is functional during conditioning, it will (1) acquire control of the fear system, and (2) prevent the acquisition of control by the extrahippocampal system. Thus, if the hippocampal system is damaged after conditioning, the expression of contextual fear will be impaired, because the information that was acquired by the hippocampal system will not be available and the extrahippocampal system never acquired the relevant information.Maren et al.''s competition hypothesis is accepted by a number of other researchers (Wiltgen and Fanselow 2003; Rudy et al. 2004; Driscoll et al. 2005; Wiltgen et al. 2006). Nevertheless, very little is known about the mediators of this competition. The experiments in this study were aimed at filling some of the gaps in our knowledge of the neural basis of this competition. They are organized around two hypotheses:

• The ability of the hippocampal system to dominate the extrahippocampal system depends on information it provides through the ventral subiculum, a major output region of the hippocampus.
• The locus of the competition is the basolateral region of the amygdala (BLA), which is thought to be critical to the acquisition of conditioned fear and is where information from the hippocampal and extrahippocampal system can converge.

     

Algebraic Biology: Creating Invariant Binding Relations for Biochemical and Biological Categories

The desire to understand the mathematics of living systems is increasing. The widely held presupposition that the mathematics developed for modeling of physical systems as continuous functions can be extended to the discrete chemical reactions of genetic systems is viewed with skepticism. The skepticism is grounded in the issue of scientific invariance and the role of the International System of Units in representing the realities of the apodictic sciences. Various formal logics contribute to the theories of biochemistry and molecular biology and genetics. Various paths of extension are invoked in these formal logics in order to express the information of biological apodicticism. Symbolizing the appropriate notations for invariant relations and for biological extensions of relations is fundamental to the exact generating functions of discrete algebraic biology. Aspects of philosophical perspectives of the relation scientific number systems are contrasted. The deep distinction between physical motion and biological motion is expressed in terms the roles of Aristotelian causes. The interior motion within perplex numbers is contrasted with the exterior motion of physical systems. The need for a new mathematics for biology is suggested.     

Long-term memory for categories and concepts in horses (Equus caballus)

Three horses (Equus caballus) with a history of performing cognitive tasks including discrimination learning, categorization, and concept use were tested to evaluate their long-term memory (LTM) in three experiments. In addition, use of LCD multi-displays for stimulus presentation was incorporated into cognition testing protocol for the first time with horses. Experiment 1 tested LTM for discrimination learning that originally occurred 6 years earlier. Five sets of stimuli were used and the two horses tested showed no decrement in performance on four of the sets; however, both horses did score below chance on one set. Experiment 2 examined long-term categorization recall 10 years after horses had demonstrated the ability to make stimulus selections based on shared characteristics within a given category. The horse tested for LTM after the decade-long interval immediately and consistently applied the previously learned categorization rule to not only familiar but also novel sets of stimuli. Experiment 3 tested another horse for LTM for a relative size concept. This horse had originally demonstrated concept rule use in order to select stimuli based on their relative size to one another. More than 7 years later and without further training, this horse reliably applied the previously established size concept to both familiar and novel sets of stimuli. These findings are the first reports of long-term categorical and conceptual memory in horses and are consistent with observations of domestic and wild horses, which indicate that behavioral and ecological events may be remembered for long periods of time. These studies also demonstrate the adaptive nature of horses with regard to their ability to generalize over several different testing conditions.     

Relative absence of neuropsychological deficit in patients with low grade astrocytomas

Given the current accuracy and precision of modern brain imaging technology, there is presumed to be little utility in neuropsychological assessment procedures in patients with brain tumors. The primary exposure of many clinical neuropsychologists to patients with brain tumors is during their training, in the form of didactic classroom activities, such as reviewing the brain tumor cases of early investigators in the field. Historically, these brain tumors were the more aggressive and destructive tumors, such as grade III and IV astrocytomas, that could be identified with pre CT and pre MRI technology. With current imaging technology, low grade tumors that might previously have gone undiagnosed for years can be detected and patients followed over time. This series of cases represents documentation of the very unique neuropsychological status of patients with relatively slow growing, infiltrative brain tumors classified as grade II astrocytomas. The potential relevance of neuropsychological assessment for such cases is discussed.     

Concepts: a potboiler

An informal, but revisionist, discussion of the role that the concept of a concept plays in recent theories of the cognitive mind. It is argued that the practically universal assumption that concepts are (at least partially) individuated by their roles in inferences is probably mistaken. A revival of conceptual atomism appears to be the indicated alternative.