Fighting experiences and natural killer cell activity in male laboratory mice

There is currently much interest in the potential impact of psychological factors on immune responses. An attempt was made to assess the effects of dominant/subordinate polarity in male mice on the cytotoxic activities of their natural-killer (NK) cells. On the basis of repeated agonistic encounters, categories of subordinate and dominat animals were selected. These animals were compared with manipulated controls (introduced to a novel test cage without an opponent on each occasion) and undisturbed controls (who remained in isolation without manipulation). In terms of NK activity, immunosuppression was observed in both dominant and subordinate categories when compared to undisturbed controls. There were, however, no differences between the fighting exposed subjects and the manipulated controls, suggesting that stress accounts for any changes. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

“心为太极”说在朱子学中的诠释

朱子在《易学启蒙》中曾引用邵雍“心为太极”之说。此说与朱子学的固有观念似乎相矛盾。但“心为太极”说在朱子学的框架内至少曾出现如下三种理解:朱子本人以“心”为易图的中心方位来解释“太极虚中之象”的“环中说”;在朱子后学中具有广泛影响的禀赋说;现代学者所揭示出的“境界说”。三种说法并不矛盾,“环中说”背后所体现的是“太极不离阴阳”的活动性原则,它与“禀赋说”所代表的实体性原则相辅相成,二者的统一就是“境界说”。此外,“心为太极”还有一层工夫的含义,对于提示学者在自家身上体贴太极观念具有重要的意义。     

Evolution and the nonlegal equivalent of aggressive criminal behavior

Within the framework of modern evolutionary theory, arguments are reviewed that the nonlegal equivalent of aggressive criminal behavior may have evolved by natural selection among mammals, particularly primates, as part of their overall approach to reproduction. If so, the commission of aggressive crimes (or their nonlegal equivalent) by humans, and even efforts to prevent fellow social group members from being victimized by aggressive crimes, may also be partially explainable in natural selection terms. The plausibility of this deduction was explored, first, by specifying the three elements that a human act must have to be regarded as an aggressive crime. Summarily, these were that (1) injury to a victim must be a likely result of the act, (2) the act must be intended, and (3) the act must elicit negative responses from those witnessing it. The primate behavior literature was examined for evidence that some behavior of nonhumans met all three conditions. Affirmative results were obtained. Therefore, while further research is in order, human aggressive criminal behavior, as well as human efforts to control it, seem to have close parallels in other primates. This would be consistent with the notion that aggressive criminal behavior (along with its condemnation by fellow group members) is part of a social system produced and sustained by natural selection.     

蒯因和伽登佛斯对绿蓝悖论"解决"思路评析

关于绿蓝问题的讨论一直在持续着。逻辑操作路线更为“本质”的方法,即“自然类’他们的思路。蒯因和伽登佛斯寻求的是比纯粹的语言和和“概念空间”的解决方法,本文试评析     

Auguste Comte on Positivism and Happiness

Auguste Comte (1798–1857) is the founder of a French school of thought that became famous for its encyclopaedic account of the sciences as well as for its exposition of what was designed as a way out of a state of intellectual and moral crisis. This essay demonstrates that there is a linkage between the diagnosis of crisis and the pursuit of happiness in Comte's foundation of positivism. It begins by distinguishing Comte's notion of positivism from that of a value-free science. In analysing Comte's peculiar usage of the term happiness, the essay shows that happiness is understood as the result of the convergence (consensus) of three components: a scientific conception of the world, the feelings of love and veneration, and a wisely ordered activity. The essay then demonstrates that the first of these components is of primary importance inasmuch as it is to frame a new horizon within which man is expected to return to a healthy state of mind, to reshape both his hopes and activities, and to discover his own participation in a supreme order acting through the laws of nature as well as through those of the civilization in which he lives. Conveying this new horizon to citizens of a lasting Republic is the sacred mission of sociology. The essay concludes by pointing out that Comte's conception of happiness can be assessed as unifying some main qualities of life as they are classified in Ruut Veenhoven's fourfold matrix.     

Psychological reactions in Icelandic earthquake survivors

The aim of this study was to explore the psychological consequences of two earthquakes in Iceland in two probability samples of subjects--residents in the exposed area and a control group from an unexposed area. The sample was composed of 52 adults exposed to the earthquakes and 29 adults in a control group. Three months after the earthquakes, both groups were approached with questions from a survey consisting of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), the Trauma Symptom Checklist (TSC), the Coping Styles Questionnaire (CSQ), the World Assumption Scale (WAS), and the Crisis Support Scale (CSS). The results revealed that 24% in the exposed group had Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and none in the control group had PTSD. Earthquake-related anxiety, inability to express one's thoughts and feelings, and emotional coping predicted 81% of the HTQ variance for both groups. Previous life events, low self-worth, and luck attributions, together with numbing and the feeling of being let down, predicted 56% of the symptom variance for both groups. When degree of traumatization and emotional coping were added to the model, another 30% of the variance could be explained.     

论非正常死亡

“非正常死亡”概念带模糊性、悖论性、封闭性和诡辩性,并不科学。现实的死亡率千差万别。中国内地自杀死亡率16．78／10万,事故死亡率57．91／10万,他杀死亡率2．33／10万,自然死亡率535．9／10万,一切原因死亡率612／10万。一切原因死亡率较港澳高,自杀与事故死亡率较港澳低。澳门的一切原因死亡率特低(165．0／10万),自杀死亡率特高(40．9／10万)。     

The Embodiment of Birth

This paper rejects dualism between mind and body toview the self as an embodied biological entity. Rather thanseeing the body operating by passive mechanisms as Descartesargues, it holds it actively moves in and even defines its world. Carrying this perspective to medicine presents an attempt toincorporate or work with internal processes of the body; it issensitive to how patients identify with their bodies. Thecurrent discussion over the extent to which women should try tohave natural childbirths provides a concrete example of thedifferences between mechanistic and embodied approaches tomedicine.     

The affect heuristic,mortality salience,and risk: Domain‐specific effects of a natural disaster on risk‐benefit perception

We examine how affect and accessible thoughts following a major natural disaster influence everyday risk perception. A survey was conducted in the months following the 2004 south Asian Tsunami in a representative sample of the Swedish population (N = 733). Respondents rated their experienced affect as well as the perceived risk and benefits of various everyday decision domains. Affect influenced risk and benefit perception in a way that could be predicted from both the affect‐congruency and affect heuristic literatures (increased risk perception and stronger risk‐benefit correlations). However, in some decision domains, self‐regulation goals primed by the natural disaster predicted risk and benefit ratings. Together, these results show that affect, accessible thoughts and motivational states influence perceptions of risks and benefits.