Where are we coming from versus who we will become: The effect of priming different contents of European identity on cooperation

In two experiments, we investigated how priming European identity as common project versus common heritage affects participants' cooperation in a social dilemma; an additional aim was to explore the mediators involved in the process. In the first experiment, 82 students played a public good dilemma with a European bogus partner and then completed self‐report measures of identification with the European Union (EU), group‐based trust and collective interest. Results showed that priming a common project‐based but not a common heritage‐based European social identity fostered cooperative behaviour; this effect was mediated by two sequential mediators: the common project prime increased participants' strength of identification with EU (mediator 1) which, in turn, positively affected group‐based trust (mediator 2), fostering greater cooperation. Experiment 2 was conducted with a similar procedure on a sample of 124 students, using a different measure of trust and changing the order of mediators. Results supported those of previous experiment: Priming a project‐based EU identity content (compared to heritage‐based one) had significant direct and indirect effects on cooperation.     

Happy but unhealthy: The relationship between social ties and health in an emerging network

Social connections are essential to health and well‐being. However, when pursing social acceptance, people may sometimes engage in behavior that is detrimental to their health. Using a multi‐time‐point design, we examined whether the structure of an emerging network of students in an academic summer school program correlated with their physical health and mental well‐being. Participants who were more central in the network typically experienced greater symptoms of illness (e.g., cold/flu symptoms), engaged in riskier health behaviors (e.g., binge drinking), and had higher physiological reactivity to a stressor. At the same time, they were happier, felt more efficacious, and perceived less stress in response to a strenuous math task. These outcomes suggest that social ties in an emerging network are associated with better mental well‐being, but also with poorer physical health and health behaviors. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Allegations of sexual abuse in Satanic rituals

H. L. Seneviratne. The Work of Kings: The New Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1999, xvi+358 pp., $49 (hardback) ISBN 0 226 74865 0, $22 (paperback) ISBN 0 226 74866 9.

Michael W. Myers. Brahman: A Comparative Theology. Richmond, Curzon, 2001, xiii+268 pp., £45 ISBN 0 7007 1257 7.

Todd T. Lewis, in collaboration with Subarna Man Tuladhar and Labh Ratna Tuladhar. Popular Buddhist Texts from Nepal: Narratives and Rituals of Newar Buddhism. Foreword by Gregory Schopen. Albany, State University of New York Press, 2000, xviii+236 pp., $59.50 (hardback) ISBN 0 7914 4611 5, $19.95 (paperback) ISBN 0 7914 4612 3.

Walter Burkett. Savage Energies: Lessons of Myth and Ritual in Ancient Greece. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2001, xiv+110 pp., $28.00, £18.00 ISBN 0 226 08085 4.

Text by Massoud Fourouzandeh and Alain Brunet. Photos by Abbas Tahvildar. Baptists of Iran. Les baptistes d'Iran. Tehran, Key Press, 2001, 173 pp. (with 5 pages in Farsi), n.p. ISBN 964 90645 5 9.     

Legacies of Srebrenica: The Dutch Factor in EU‐Serbian Relations

Having been traumatized by the actions of the Bosnian Serb army and its primary supporter Serbia in Srebrenica, the Netherlands insisted on applying strict EU conditionality criteria for Belgrade's candidacy. The Dutch determination to repeatedly stall the process of EU‐Serbian negotiations and to snub the preferences of the rest of the EU members cannot be adequately explained without taking into account the role of self‐conscious affect. The article not only provides a fresh perspective of the enlargement process, but it also offers revisions to the habituated‐deliberative choice hypothesis, which to date has not taken into account the role of self‐conscious affect.     

The Carnales

Once, and only once, I had to fight for my life. The experience catapulted me to an edge of my being that I am glad to have found but don't want to visit too often–an edge others may seek by climbing a glacier, trekking in Nepal, or fasting for a week to induce visions. I am not a thrill-seeker, but a lazy quester content to make do with the ample shocks life has brought me unsought.     

Reminiscence and hypermnesia in children's eyewitness memory

Three experiments examined reminiscence and hypermnesia in 5- and 6-year-olds' memory for an event across repeated interviews that occurred either immediately afterward (Experiment 1) or after a 6-month delay (Experiments 2 and 3). Reminiscence (recall of new information) was reliably obtained in all of the experiments, although the numbers of new items recalled were fewer after a delay than when the interviews occurred immediately afterward. Hypermnesia (increasing total recall over repeated recall attempts) was obtained only in Experiment 1 when interviews occurred immediately and 24 h after the event.     

(-)-9-Dehydrogalanthaminium bromide,a new cholinesterase inhibitor,enhances place and object recognition memory in young and old rats

In a previous study, we showed that (-)-9-dehydrogalanthaminium bromide, a synthetic galanthamine derivative, was more potent than galanthamine in inhibiting acetylcholinesterase. We studied here the action of this new compound on recognition memory in young and old rats, using a two-trial recognition task designed to test both place and object recognition. (-)-9-dehydrogalanthaminium bromide was injected (0.3, 1, and 3 mg/kg, i.p.) in young and old rats before the acquisition phase, immediately after it, or before the retrieval phase of the task, in order to determine the stage of information processing affected by the compound. (-)-9-dehydrogalanthaminium bromide improved both place and object recognition in young rats, via an enhancement of acquisition (3 mg/kg: place recognition; 1 and 3 mg/kg: object recognition) and consolidation (1 and 3 mg/kg) information processing. In old rats, (-)-9-dehydrogalanthaminium bromide improved performance by acting on the acquisition processes of place (0.3, 1, and 3 mg/kg) and object (1 and 3 mg/kg) recognition. These results provide information on the profile of activity of (-)-9-dehydrogalanthaminium bromide on memory processes, and suggest that this new compound could have utility in the treatment of cognitive dysfunction occurring in Alzheimer's disease or in the normal course of aging.     

Testosterone and occupational choice: actors, ministers, and other men

Occupational differences in testosterone concentrations, focusing on actors and ministers, were explored in 3 studies. The 1st examined salivary testosterone in 7 occupational groups and an unemployed comparison group and found actors and football players higher than ministers but no other significant differences. The 2nd examined salivary testosterone in 2 kinds of actors (stage actors and comedians) and 2 kinds of ministers (pastoral ministers and missionaries) and found actors high and ministers low but no differences between subgroups within each occupation. The 3rd examined serum testosterone in entertainers and ministers in an archival sample of military veterans and found entertainers high and ministers low. The results are interpreted in terms of dominance and antisocial tendencies, with the conclusion that these variables are complex and can affect occupational preference in subtle ways.     

Reducing color-color interference by optimizing selection for action

Color-color interference refers to the finding that the naming of a target color is hampered by the simultaneous presentation of an incongruent distractor color somewhere else in the visual field. This interference effect has been attributed to an imperfect input selection (selection-for-processing). We test an alternative account in which it is assumed that (a) target and distractor are identified in parallel without mutual interference, (b) the identified target color has to be selected to control the naming response (selection-for-action), and (c) this selection process takes more time and is less accurate in the incongruent condition than in the control conditions. Experiment 1 shows that color-color interference is obtained when a target color, presented at the point of fixation, is flanked by incongruent colors. In Experiments 2 and 3, the central target position is indicated by an additional exogenous selection cue. The results show that an abrupt-onset cue, presented at the central target position 160 ms after the onset of the target and distractors, reduces the interference effect. This finding is interpreted as supporting evidence for a selection-for-action account of color-color interference.