Effects of initial choices in the prisoner's dilemma

In the two‐person prisoner's dilemma game (PDG), there is considerable evidence that the tit‐for‐tat (TFT) strategy is most effective in inducing the other person to cooperate. One of the important features of the TFT strategy is that it cooperates on the first trial. We varied the initial choices of a simulated other, and tested the effects of (a) initial choices (cooperation or defection), and (b) persistence of initial choices: unilateral cooperation (or defection) on the first trial, first two trials, or first four trials. Results showed that a cooperative strategy—one that starts with cooperative choices—induced greater cooperation than a strategy that started with defections. The results of this study clearly show that (a) a cooperative strategy—one that initiates unilateral cooperation at the outset and then adopts a TFT strategy—is very effective in inducing subsequent cooperation from the other party, (b) the effectiveness of a cooperative strategy varies directly with the cooperative orientation of the other party (a cooperative strategy is more effective against a cooperative than a competitive person), and (c) initial cooperation is more effective if it is repeated more than once. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spermine improves recognition memory deficit in a rodent model of Huntington’s disease

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder associated with motor and cognitive impairment. Intrastriatal administration of quinolinic acid (QA) causes neurodegeneration, glial proliferation and cognitive impairment in animals, which are similar to these seen in human HD. Since polyamines improve memory in cognitive tasks, we now tested if the post-training intrastriatal administration of spermine, an agonist of the polyamine site at the NMDA receptor, reverses the deficits in the object recognition task induced by QA. Bilateral striatal injections of QA (180 or 360 nmol/site) caused object recognition impairment, neuronal death and reactive astrogliosis. A single injection of spermine (0.1 and 1 nmol/site), 5 days after QA injection, reversed QA-induced impairment of object recognition task. Spermine (0.1 nmol/site) also inhibited QA-induced reactive astrogliosis measured by a semi-quantitative determination of GFAP immunolabelling, but did not alter neuronal death, measured by a semi-quantitative determination of fluoro-Jade C staining. These results suggest that polyamine binding sites may be considered a novel therapeutic target to prevent reactive astrogliosis and mnemonic deficits in HD.     

The divine dreams of a sample of South African children: the gateway to their spirituality

As part of a research project on religion, spirituality and education, the authors attended to the role that children's divine dreams could play in religious education (RE). They contend that such dreams can indeed be used by RE teachers as the gateway to understanding the spirituality of their learners. They defend their claim by firstly developing a conceptual‐theoretical framework with respect to religion, spirituality and children's divine dreams, and then presenting the results of an explorative quantitative‐qualitative investigation in three schools. They find their claim to have been vindicated, and suggest that although RE teachers should not necessarily teach divine dreams per se, they should, nevertheless, explore the possibility that (at least some of) the contents of children's divine dreams may be useful for the purpose of teaching them RE from religion itself, rather than teaching them only about religion.     

Similarity attraction and actually selecting similar others: How cross-societal differences in relational mobility affect interpersonal similarity in Japan and the USA

Several studies have demonstrated that similarity between friendship partners is higher in the West than in East Asian countries. We hypothesized that these differences could be explained by relational mobility, or the number of opportunities to form new relationships in a given society. Through two studies, we confirmed that whereas the preference for similarity did not differ, similarity between friendship partners was higher in the USA than in Japan. Furthermore, a measure of relational mobility mediated the cultural difference in similarity, supporting our hypothesis. The effectiveness of considering socio-ecological factors when interpreting cultural differences in behaviour is discussed.     

Its own reward: lessons to be drawn from the reversed-reward contingency paradigm

This is a review of the reversed-reward contingency (RRC) paradigm in animals and the cognitive functions on which it is founded. I shall present the RRC basic paradigm and the ensuing modifications it underwent, the animals tested, the results obtained and the analyses offered within the literature. Then I would the claim that RRC is a case of a compound cognitive behavior, one that is the result of interactions between three other cognitive functions: crude numerical assessment and economic choice (uniting value assignment and behavioral inhibition). I will present data concerning these three fields and will demonstrate how they are both affecting and affected by the findings of the RRC scheme. RRC is treated here as a test case for a broader type of analysis, one which, hopefully, will show that in order to fully understand composite and complex behavior we need to meticulously explore its building blocks and their dynamic interplay.

Grasping psychoanalysts’ practice in its own merits1

The central objective of this presentation is to reflect on the obstacles involved in the task proposed by the Chicago Congress, which is to explore convergences and divergences in psychoanalytic practice. The author discusses two major obstacles. First, the epistemological and methodological problems in relation to the construction of theory in psychoanalysis and especially the inaccessibility, in any reliable way, of what psychoanalysts really do in the intimacy of their practice. He proposes to separate, at least in part, theory from practice in psychoanalysis, in an attempt to grasp psychoanalysts' practice in its own merits. He then outlines a phenomenology of the practice of psychoanalysis, which reveals that, in their work with patients, analysts are guided more by practical reasons than theoretical reasons; that is, their interventions are predictions rather than explanations. Since these practical reasons need to be validated constantly in the analytic relationship based on their effects, he discusses the subject of validation in the clinical context of the core theory of therapeutic change in psychoanalysis, that is, the conditions required for clinical practice to satisfy the thesis of an inseparable union between gaining knowledge and cure. He ends by challenging the core of the psychoanalytic theory of change, arguing that it neither does justice to the practice of psychoanalysts nor to contemporary knowledge of processes and mechanisms of therapeutic change. Finally, he proposes that we detach practice from theory, in order to study the former in its own merits, utilising a plurality of methods ranging from systematic investigation to the recent methodology of the Working Party.     

Généralisation de propriétés biologiques, physiques et comportementales chez l’enfant de cinq à neuf ans

This study is designed to examine how biological knowledge is organized and structured in children. Five- to nine-year-old children's interpretations of biological phenomena are studied by examining to what extent the transmission of different kinds of properties is perceived as being causally related to birth origins. A property generalization task is used, in which biological relations (birth origins) are pitted against adoptive relations. The characteristics to be generalized correspond to non-obvious biological characteristics, visible physic characteristics or behavioural characteristics. Our results show that five-year-old children do not understand the origin of these characteristics. A conceptual change seems to be at work by the age of seven but the delimitation of biological categories remains imperfect.     

Le JCR facteur d’impact (IF) et le SCImago Journal Rank Indicator (SJR) des revues françaises : une étude comparative

One of the major functions of academic journals is to contribute to the evaluation of research activities and scientists. Invented more than 50 years ago, the ISI impact factor (IF) became the most important indicator of the quality of journals, in spite of well-known problems and critics such as the over-representation of English-language journals. This is a specific problem for French publishers and scientists; publishing in French is not valorising. Since 2007, the new SCImago Journal Rank Indicator (SJR) offers an alternative to the IF. SJR applies the Google algorithm (PageRank) to the journals of the SCOPUS bibliographic database that indexes more journals than ISI Web of Science. The goal of our study is to compare the two indicators for French academic journals, with three questions: Which is the coverage of French journals by ISI and SCOPUS (title number, scientific disciplines)? Which are the differences of the two indicators IF and SJR for the ranking of French journals? How do they cover the French academic journal publishing market (representativity)? The results of our study of 368 French journals with IF and/or SJR are in favour of the usage of the new indicator, at least as a complement to the IF. (1) Coverage: 166 journals are indexed by ISI (45%), 345 journals are indexed by SCOPUS (94%), 143 journals are indexed by both (39%). 82% of the journals are from STM, 18% are from SS&H. In particular, SCOPUS covers much better the medical and pharmacological sciences. (2) Ranking: The correlation of IF and SJR for the 143 journals with both indicators is high (0.76). The IF better differentiates the journals than the SJR indicator (155 vs. 89 rankings). On the other side, because of the larger source database, more French titles become visible on an international level through SJR than through IF. (3) Representativity: The SJR is more interesting and representative of the French academic journal publishing market than the IF (19% vs. 9%), especially for STM titles (38% vs. 19%), much less for SS&H titles (6% vs. 2%). Nevertheless, ISI (Web of Science) and SCOPUS index journals from only a small part of the French academic publishers (10%–20%). Again, SCOPUS is more representative than the ISI dababase (17% of the publishers vs. 10%). Methodological problems and perspective of a multidimensional evaluation are discussed. Our study compares the ISI impact factor (IF) with the new SJR for 368 French academic journals with IF and/or SJR. The results: The SJR coverage is better than of the IF (94% vs. 45%), especially in medical sciences. The correlation of IF and SJR for journals with both indicators is high (0.76). The IF better differentiates the journals than the SJR indicator (155 vs. 89 rankings). The SJR coverage is more representative of the French academic journal publishing market than ISI/IF (19% vs. 9%), especially for STM titles (38% vs. 19%), less for SS&H titles (6% vs. 2%).     

Attachement père-cadet et qualité des relations fraternelles cadet-aîné

The aim of this study is to establish a link between the father-child attachment and the quality of the sibling relationships for school-age children, by taking into account the theoretical and methodological evolution of this specific attachment. Fifty-seven fathers answered the Questionnaire of Opening up to the World [Défi jeunesse, 8 (2002) 6–12], which defines the father-child attachment (or activation) on two axes: the stimulation (social, cognitive and emotional) and the paternal control exercised over the child. The Questionnaire “Sibling Relationships in Young Children” [Troupel, O., 2006. Attachement fraternel, styles de relations et des interactions de tutelle au sein des fratries de jeunes enfants : effet modulateur de la représentation des relations fraternelles de l’aîné. Thèse de doctorat nouveau régime, université de Toulouse–Le-Mirail] gives insight into the quality of sibships. Children, with a secure attachment to their father, demonstrate a higher level of cooperation with their elder sibling than the other children, in particular those which receive excessive control and little stimulation from their fathers. The hypothesis that the stimulation of the second-born child by the father on the peer side is directly linked to the quality of the sibships is not confirmed. Other results on father-child attachment and sibships are discussed.