Cardiac arrhythmias in the monkey during classically conditioned fear and excitement

Rhesus monkeys(Macaca mulatto) were tested in classic aversive and appetitive conditioning paradigms following complete coronary artery occlusion (CO) to test the hypothesis that “emotional stress” induces ventricular arrhythmias. Findings were based upon conditioning trials conducted for one or more weeks after occlusion in 13 animals. When all data from each animal for the week following CO were considered, there was no demonstrable tendency for arrhythmias to increase during “fear” conditioned to unavoidable electric shock or during “excitement” in anticipation of food. However, selected trials from six monkeys did reveal instances when changes in the frequency of occurrence of arrhythmias were coupled with behavioral conditioning. While analysis of these trials did not reveal any simple relationship between emotional stress and the development of ventricular arrhythmias after myocardial infarction, certain of the behavioral situations may be more potentially arrhythmogenic than others. For these selected trials, with respect to control, the number of arrhythmias may have increased or decreased upon presentation of the conditional stimulus; the exact response appears to depend upon the immediate physiologic status of the animal as well as on the behavioral condition. “More stressful” situations, such as aversive conditioning, are not necessarily associated with greater numbers of arrhythmias than were “less stressful” situations, such as appetitive conditioning. Arrhythmias appear to occur more frequently when an animal’s heart rate is within a given range; this may reflect underlying cardiac sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activity.     

A Defense of a Particularist Research Program

What makes some acts morally right and others morally wrong? Traditionally, philosophers have thought that in order to answer this question we must find and formulate exceptionless moral principles—principles that capture all and only morally right actions. Utilitarianism and Kantianism are paradigmatic examples of such attempts. In recent years, however, there has been a growing interest in a novel approach—Particularism—although its precise content is still a matter of controversy. In this paper I develop and motivate a new formulation of particularism as a research program and I show that my formulation is not vulnerable to the most common objections to particularism. Moreover, I argue that the particularist research program shows enough promise to warrant further exploration.     

Direct Risk Aversion: Evidence From Risky Prospects Valued Below Their Worst Outcome

ABSTRACT— Why would people pay more for a $50 gift certificate than for the opportunity to receive a gift certificate worth either $50 or $100, with equal probability? This article examines three possible mechanisms for this recently documented uncertainty effect (UE): First, awareness of the better outcome may devalue the worse one. Second, the UE may have arisen in the original demonstration of this effect because participants misunderstood the instructions. Third, the UE may be due to direct risk aversion, that is, actual distaste for uncertainty. In Experiment 1 , the UE was observed even though participants in the certainty condition were also aware of the better outcome; this result eliminates the first explanation. Experiment 2 shows that most participants understand the instructions used in the original study and that the UE is not caused by the few who do not. Overall, the experiments demonstrate that the UE is robust, large (prospects are valued at 65% of the value of the worse outcome), and widespread (at least 62% of participants exhibit it).     

Moral advice and moral theory

Monists, pluralists, and particularists disagree about the structure of the best explanation of the rightness (wrongness) of actions. In this paper I argue that the availability of good moral advice gives us reason to prefer particularist theories and pluralist theories to monist theories. First, I identify two distinct roles of moral theorizing—explaining the rightness (wrongness) of actions, and providing moral advice—and I explain how these two roles are related. Next, I explain what monists, pluralists, and particularists disagree about. Finally, I argue that particularists and pluralists are better situated than monists to explain why it is a good idea to think before we act, and that this gives us reason to favor particularism and pluralism over monism.     

Diehard singles: Bachelorhood as a terror management strategy among avoidant men

This research examines the motivational underpinnings of late bachelorhood through the lens of terror management and attachment theory. It was hypothesized that, although close relationships reduce existential concerns for most people, for avoidantly attached singles, thoughts of marriage may increase existential concerns. These hypotheses were tested in two studies among Israeli men. In Study 1, thoughts about getting married increased death thought accessibility (DTA) among avoidant singles compared to thoughts about being alone or a neutral control condition. For nonavoidant singles, thinking about future marriage reduced DTA. In Study 2, mortality salience reduced motivations for being in a relationship among avoidant singles and increased such motivation among those low in avoidant attachment. Results suggest that marriage may cause angst among avoidant single men.     

Stroop effect in words that differ from color words in one letter only

In two experiments, participants named the color of a colored word, which was a Hebrew color word or a word in Hebrew that was different from a color word in one letter only. The magnitude of the Stroop effect increased with the location of the changed letter. It was smallest when the first letter of the color word was replaced, resulting in a noncolor word, and it was largest when the last letter was replaced. These results challenge the assumption that automatic reading, as indicated by the Stroop effect, can be explained exclusively by memory retrieval accounts of automaticity. The results also have implications for the sources of facilitation and inhibition in the Stroop effect.     

Empowering chronic headache sufferers

Chronic headache pain affects sufferers and their families. Many headache sufferers lack self-discipline in controlling their headache pains. Although preventive medication is a must, medical treatment which excludes psychotherapeutic intervention reduces its effectiveness. Sufferers report increased tensions and stress with members of their families. This article reports on a program which includes headache sufferers' involvement in both family and individual therapy activities in a clinical setting. The role of the family therapist is primarily to encourage and empower sufferers to become involved in activities which can promote and increase communication, trust and self-confidence, leading toward a development of skills which can enable sufferers to utilize positive coping strategies in their effort to control headaches.     

Brief consultation with headache sufferers

Abstract

This paper describes the author's efforts at involving chronic headache sufferers in brief consultations with individual, family, and group therapy programs in an inpatient medical treatment facility. A variety of difficult issues facing chronic headache sufferers are presented, including the rationale for utilizing each therapeutic modality and the role and strategies that the therapist undertakes in each program. The author provides some case vignettes and discusses the importance of communication between the therapist, the primary physician, and the medical staff members.