Individual Differences as Predictors of Illicit Drug Use Among Turkish College Students

ABSTRACT

Although the prevalence of drug use in the young adult population in Turkey is still far below the figures reported for most European Union countries and the United States, there seems to be a noteworthy increase in drug use, especially among high school and college students. The purpose of the present study was to examine the extent of drug use among college students in Turkey and to identify some of the individual-difference variables associated with drug use. Participants were 781 college students. A survey package including (a) measures of sensation seeking–risk taking, self-esteem, affectivity level, global mental health, overall life satisfaction, and the rate and nature of substance use and (b) demographic questions was administered to the participants during regularly held class meetings. A logistic regression analysis revealed that sensation seeking?risk taking, parental education level, smoking, and frequency of alcohol use predicted illicit drug experience. Implications of the findings and limitations of the study are discussed using the context of the study as a framework.     

An inexpensive and automated method for presenting olfactory or tactile stimuli to rats in a two-choice discrimination task

An inexpensive and automated method for presentation of olfactory or tactile stimuli in a two-choice task for rats was implemented with the use of a computer-controlled bidirectional motor. The motor rotated a disk that presented two stimuli of different texture for tactile discrimination, or different odor for olfactory discrimination. Because the solid olfactory stimuli were placed outside the chamber in metal pods with a mesh at front for odor sampling, "washout" of odors between trials was not necessary. To avoid differential auditory cues from motor rotation, the stimuli were arranged such that on each trial the motor always rotated exactly one quarter revolution (in 1 s), left or right, to present the next stimulus at trial start. To illustrate the use of the equipment, 2 rats were trained on tactile discrimination and 2 rats on olfactory discrimination. The rats sampled the stimulus on the disk through a port on the back wall by sniffing at it (olfactory) or touching it (tactile). The task was a go-left/go-right discrimination with the stimulus on the disk being discriminative for which lever provided reinforcement. The rats reached a stable level above 90% correct after 21 and 32 training sessions for tactile and olfactory discrimination, respectively. The article outlines how the equipment was constructed from low-cost components. Inputs from and outputs to the equipment were implemented through the parallel port of a personal computer without the use of a commercial interface board. The method of automated and low-cost presentation of olfactory or tactile stimuli should be of use for a variety of experimental situations such as matching-to-sample and cross-modal discrimination.     

感觉寻求对工读生病理性网络使用的影响机制

采用感觉寻求量表、压力性生活事件量表、非适应性问卷和病理性网络使用量表对519名工读生进行调查,考察了工读生病理性网络使用的情况以及感觉寻求对工读生病理性网络使用的影响及作用机制。结果表明：（1）工读生病理性网络使用的比例为51.1%,工读生病理性网络使用的问题很严重;（2）感觉寻求对工读生病理性网络使用的影响是有中介的调节效应,具体而言,感觉寻求会增加工读生病理性网络使用;压力性生活事件对感觉寻求与工读生病理性网络使用之间关系具有调节作用;压力性生活事件的调节效应以非适应性认知为中介变量。研究结果对工读生病理性网络使用的预防和干预具有重要价值。     

Associations between sexual sensation seeking and AIDS-related knowledge,attitudes and behaviors among young men who have sex with men in China

Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) have become high risk groups for HIV infection in China. Recent researches suggest that sexual sensation seeking is significantly associated with AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, but the relationship is not clear in the field of YMSM in China. The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between sexual sensation seeking and AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among YMSM in China. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Wuhan, China from May to November 2013. 403 YMSM were recruited and 373 of them completed the questionnaire. Regression analyses indicated that YMSM with high sexual sensation seeking score are more likely to have low awareness of knowledge and negative attitude about condom use, as well as more risky sexual behaviors.     

The link between sensation seeking and aggression: a meta-analytic review

Substantial empirical evidence supports low resting heart rate (HR) as the best replicated psychophysiological correlate of aggression [Ortiz and Raine, 2004]; however, researchers continue to debate the explanatory mechanisms of the phenomenon. Sensation seeking has been proposed as a possible outcome of low resting HR that may lead to aggressive tendencies but findings have been inconsistent in terms of showing a relationship between sensation seeking and aggression. A meta-analysis was conducted on 43 independent effect sizes, from studies with a total of 32,217 participants, to test the hypothesis that sensation seeking would be positively related to aggression across studies. A significant overall effect size was found (d = .1935, P<.001), supporting the hypothesis. Moderator analyses revealed that the relationship differed based on participant and methodological characteristics, such as participant age and the nature of the aggression measurement; however, these conclusions are limited by the uneven number of studies in many of the moderator classes. Overall, the findings provide support for higher levels of aggression in high sensation seekers and have theoretical implications for arousal theory. Further research on the links between arousal, sensation seeking and aggression can inform clinicians about potential interventions.     

Academic Cheating in Disliked Classes

Academic dishonesty occurs at alarming rates in higher education. In the present study, we examined predictors of academic cheating behaviors, and beliefs in the acceptability of cheating, in disliked courses at two large universities, using structural equation modeling. Perceived mastery and extrinsic goal structures were related to beliefs about cheating but not cheating behaviors. Beliefs in the acceptability of cheating were more likely to be endorsed in math and science courses. College students were more likely to cheat and to believe in the acceptability of cheating when they reported a high need for sensation.     

荣格与《易经》

荣格在《易经》的影响下提出了具有重大理论价值的"同时性原理",这是一种与因果律完全不同的普遍性联系。本文介绍了荣格的这一原理,依据《易传》的相关论述对其作了深入剖析,并进一步用"同气相求"同类相动"的道理,对同时性现象,包括占筮过程作了新的解释。文章认为,荣格在肯定《易经》科学价值的同时,正确地指出了《易经》所代表的中国科学与西方科学在思维方式和认识方法上的根本区别。     

Odor Semantics and Visual Cues: What We Smell Impacts Where We Look,What We Remember,and What We Want to Buy

The current research uses eye‐tracking technology in a consumer context to explore the interactive effects of olfactory and visual cues on consumers' eye gaze patterns. We manipulate the semantic correspondence between pictorial objects depicted in print advertisements and odors smelled (or not) while looking at the ads. The results indicate that smelling a scent that shares learned semantic associations with an object in the advertisement diverts consumers' eye gazes to the semantically related object in the ad, with positive downstream effects on advertising recall and purchase intent. This is the first study we are aware of demonstrating multisensory integration of odors and pictures on consumer eye gaze patterns with clear implications for consumer choice. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stimulus control and compounding with ambient odor as a discriminative stimulus on a free-operant baseline

Previous experiments have demonstrated that the simultaneous presentation of independently established discriminative stimuli can control rates of operant responding substantially higher than the rates occasioned by the individual stimuli. This "additive summation" phenomenon has been shown with a variety of different reinforcers (e.g., food, water, shock avoidance, cocaine, and heroin). Discriminative stimuli previously used in such studies have been limited to the visual and auditory sensory modalities. The present experiment sought to (1) establish stimulus control on a free-operant baseline with an ambient olfactory discriminative stimulus, (2) compare olfactory control to that produced with an auditory discriminative stimulus, and (3) determine whether compounding independently established olfactory and auditory discriminative stimuli produces additive summation. Rats lever pressed for food on a variable-interval schedule in the presence of either a tone or an odor, with comparable control developed to each stimulus. In the absence of these stimuli responding was not reinforced. During stimulus compounding tests, the tone-plus-odor compound occasioned more than double the responses occasioned by either the tone or odor presented individually. Thus, the current study (1) established stimulus control with an ambient olfactory discriminative stimulus in a traditional free-operant setting and (2) extended the generality of stimulus-compounding effects by demonstrating additive summation when olfactory and auditory discriminative stimuli were presented simultaneously.