Assuming a Position: Women and Men as Moral Critics in Their Own War Zone

In their search for an authentic moral self, women and men may at some time in their lives assume a position of resistance. Men are most likely to assume this position in the sphere of war. It is not clear, however, where or when women would be expected to assume such a position or what the nature of that position might be, and how far it could be likened to that of the resisting man. This paper explores the idea that choosing to be a single mother can be a position by and from which women can voice their moral criticism. Such position is comparable to the (known and well-studied) position taken by men who show their moral criticism by refusing to participate in a specific battle during a morally controversial war. The paper begins with an examination of the philosophical and psychological concepts of separate and connected moral positions available to resisting men and women in the spheres of war and family. The conclusions are based on data from two samples of resisters in the spheres of war and the family: 36 soldiers (30 years old on average) who decided to take a stand as selective conscientious objectors (SCOs) during a morally controversial war and 50 (biologically) mature single women (over age 30) who chose to become pregnant and to remain unwed mothers. The conceptual and methodological questions regarding this comparison are discussed.     

Acceleration and suppression of rats' responding to avoid foot shock and tail shock

Signalled response-independent shocks were superimposed on rats' wheel-turn responding to avoid shock administered to their feet through a grid floor or to their tails through fixed electrodes. In Experiment I, a tone paired with response-independent foot shock increased responding in three of four rats; a tone paired with tail shock increased responding in only one of four rats and suppressed responding in two rats. In Experiment II, a tone presented randomly with respect to response-independent shock had no reliable effect on responding to avoid foot shock or tail shock. In Experiment III, tail shock and foot shock were compared in a within-subject design while the temporal pattern of responding during conditioned stimuli was recorded. Responding during the conditioned stimulus preceding foot shock was characterized by initial suppression of responding at tone onset, followed by increased responding just before response-independent shock. Responding was suppressed throughout the conditioned stimulus preceding tail shock. Foot shock elicited bursts of responding, but tail shock did not.     

听力正常人与聋人短时记忆的比较研究

以视觉系列呈现,自由回忆的方法比较了听力正常人与聋人对分别被强化的厂类相似性汉语字表的短时记忆获得量。从总的平均获得量来看,两组结果没有显著差异,而从每一编码维量在短时记忆的加工过程中的作用来看,两组被试都显示出了形、义两维编码维量的作用最强,而音码的作用相对比较弱。两组被试也都显示出了明显的系列位置效应,但聋人组的次级记忆容量明显地低于听力正常组,而初级记忆容量两组没有显著差异。并对可能的机制进行了讨论。     

Anogenital distance and dominance status in male house mice (Mus domesticus)

Factors influencing the tendency to be aggressive were investigated in male house mice using a series of paired encounters. Body size, body lenght, body temperature, age, and anogenital distance were measured on all males. Paired encounters were conducted using a standard mouse cage as an arena. Across 64 males involved in 224 encounters, the tendency to be dominant and win encounters was significantly correlated only with anogenital distance (r = 0.383). These findings suggest that there are significant behavioral effects in male mice that could parallel the intrauterine position and related prental hormone effects that have been elucidated in female house mice and other rodents. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Symbolic conceptions: the idea of the third

The idea of the third which appears in Jung's concepts of the transcendent function and the coniunctio also occurs in several psychoanalytic theories concerning the emergence of reflective and symbolic thought in childhood development (defined here as the development of 'imaginal capacity'). Noting the way this process is often conceived in terms of the metaphor of sexual intercourse leading to 'conception', this paper suggests that such images need to be understood as symbolic conceptions of the meaning-making functions of the human mind. This leads to a different view of psychoanalytic theories that attempt to account for the development of imaginal capacity in terms of the Oedipus complex. It is suggested that a) these functions must be operative in the mind before the Oedipal situation can become meaningful and b) that psychoanalytic theories are themselves symbolic conceptions which, like mythological narratives, seek to communicate and comprehend psychic reality through imaginal forms.     

Tactile order memory: evidence for sequence learning phenomena found with other stimulus types

We examine serial order memory for sequences of tactile stimuli and investigate whether established characteristics of order memory, namely serial position effects, error distributions, and Hebb repetition learning, are observed with tactile memory. Visually obscured participants received six tactile stimulations: one to each of six fingers. At test, participants lifted the six fingers in the order of stimulation. For every third trial participants received the same order of stimulation (i.e. the Hebb sequence). Serial recall accuracy produced the canonical bowed serial position function found for immediate serial recall. In addition, recall for the Hebb sequence improved relative to the filler sequences, providing the first demonstration of the Hebb repetition effect with tactile stimuli. Analysis of errors revealed close similarities to that reported with verbal and visual stimuli. This experiment further generalises established features of order memory to tactile memory, supporting the utilisation of an analogous order memory mechanism across stimuli.     

Can this be evil? Evilness seen as intention or drive

This article was originally read as an introductory plenary paper at the German-Nordic Clinical Conference, September 2015 in Berlin. The heading of the conference was ‘On Cruelty and Destructiveness’. The paper takes as its starting point the composite figure of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It discusses the meaning of intentionality, or the lack of a conscious intention of being evil, in comparison to evil deeds caused by uninhibited drive satisfaction. Evilness is put into a social and a psycho-developmental context. Examples of contemporary atrocities are discussed, leading up to a formulation of a multi-factorial explanatory model of evil, taken from Michael Stones book ‘The Anatomy of Evil’.     

Exercises focusing on rotator cuff and scapular muscles do not improve shoulder joint position sense in healthy subjects

Proprioception is essential for shoulder neuromuscular control and shoulder stability. Exercise of the rotator cuff and scapulothoracic muscles is an important part of shoulder rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of rotator cuff and scapulothoracic muscle exercises on shoulder joint position sense. Thirty-six healthy subjects were recruited and randomly assigned into either a control or training group. The subjects in the training group received closed-chain and open-chain exercises focusing on rotator cuff and scapulothoracic muscles for four weeks. Shoulder joint position sense errors in elevation, including the humerothoracic, glenohumeral and scapulothoracic joints, was measured. After four weeks of exercise training, strength increased overall in the training group, which demonstrated the effect of exercise on the muscular system. However, the changes in shoulder joint position sense errors in any individual joint of the subjects in the training group were not different from those of the control subjects. Therefore, exercises specifically targeting individual muscles with low intensity may not be sufficient to improve shoulder joint position sense in healthy subjects. Future work is needed to further investigate which types of exercise are more effective in improving joint position sense, and the mechanisms associated with those changes.     

愤怒emoji位置对发送者愤怒感知的影响

emoji自出现以来在世界范围内受到广泛欢迎。研究关注消费者评论中的emoji, 并着重探讨负面消费者评论中, 愤怒emoji如何影响消费者对发送者愤怒感知。研究共进行了3个实验室实验, 研究结果表明: (1)与句尾愤怒emoji相比, 句中愤怒emoji会使人们感到发送者更强的愤怒; (2)在愤怒emoji位置与对发送者愤怒感知关系中, 愤怒emoji位置突出感知和情感加强感知承担连续中介角色; (3)文字评论极性调节了愤怒emoji位置对发送者愤怒感知的影响作用。     

Quand le genre s’en mêle : quelle conciliation entre vie professionnelle et vie privée ?

Declarations of conciliation between private life and professional life based on three factors (sex, gender and positions) are studied in this paper. Our goals were (i) to show that conciliation between the different life spheres need to be considered both in terms of conflict and of life enrichment; (ii) and to demonstrate that the gender variable has combined effects with sex variables, as well as with positions variables, over the perception of work in relation to family interferences in terms of nature (conflict/enrichment), intensity and direction (family over work versus work over family). The study, conducted with 240 employees of low or high professional positions, based on SWING and BSRI scales, shows the moderating effect of gender on the perceptions of conciliation, whether enriching or conflicting. Our results also allow us to conclude that congruent adjustment (masculine domination) of the levels of our three factors constitute a protecting factor for employees, while an incongruent adjustment can constitute a risk factor, this being especially verified for women.