A Projection Caliper for Measuring at a Distance

(Frankl, Viktor E. The Doctor and the Soul. New York: Knopf, 1955. Pp. 280.) Reviewed by Robert M. Allen.     

Bias in the use of base rates: Racial prejudice in decision-making

Two studies investigated biases in the use of base rate information when assessing the probability of a witness' accurate identification of a white or West Indian as a burglar. An adapted version of the Kahneman-Tversky cab problem was used, to provide a social decision in which biases could be measured against some normative standard. Ethnicity of youth (white/West Indian) and nature of base rate (incidental/causal) were manipulated in a 2 × 2 between-subjects design. A significant interaction effect revealed that subjects took no account of the base rate for a West Indian subject, but used the base rate only when it was causal and the youth was white. This ‘prejudice effect’ against a West Indian youth and ‘exoneration effect’ for a white youth were replicated in a second study, using a microcomputer and chronometric analyses. Results are discussed in terms of heuristic decision-making, social schemata, and the cognitive versus motivational bases of bias in the use of base rates.     

Effects of reinforcement schedules on rats' choice behavior in extinction.

The effects of reinforcement schedules on rats' choice behavior in extinction were studied. In a free-operant chamber equipped with two retractable bars, the experimental animals were trained to press the bars separately for a food reward. One bar delivered the reward on a continuous reinforcement (CRF) schedule, and the other delivered the reward on a partial reinforcement (PRF) schedule. Control animals earned the reward from both bars with the same reinforcement schedule, either a CRF or a PRF. When both bars were simultaneously available during extinction, the experimental animals responded more frequently to the CRF than to the PRF alternative, demonstrating a reversed within-subjects partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE). A conventional between-subjects PREE was replicated in the control subjects. The results of this study were inconsistent with both Amsel's (1962, 1967) frustration hypothesis and Capaldi's (1966, 1967) sequential hypotheses.     

Situations and specific coping strategies associated with clinical and nonclinical panic attacks.

The present paper reports the results of further comparisons between clinical and nonclinical panickers. Both panic disorder patients and nonclinical panickers reported a variety of situational contexts associated with panic attacks, and differed markedly in their attempts to cope with panic. Nonclinical panickers tended to use more 'positive' coping strategies in response to panic. Conversely, one of the most commonly used and subjectively effective coping strategies reported by panic disorder patients was to escape the situation.     

The borderline hypertensive rat (BHR): A new model for the study of environmental factors in the development of hypertension

While many studies have attempted to produce hypertension through the use of various environmental Stressors, few have succeeded in producing chronic elevations in blood pressure beyond levels considered to be borderline hypertensive (140–160 mm Hg systolic). The problem with most studies stems from the use of genetically normotensive animals and the selection of Stressors to which animals readily adapt. A new approach is suggested, which recognizes the role of genetics in human essential hypertension. Animals with one hypertensive parent do not develop spontaneous hypertension but show a more sensitive cardiovascular response to environmental Stressors than animals with normotensive parents. Preliminary studies revealed that animals with a mixed genetic history of hypertension develop spontaneous borderline hypertension. When subjected to shock-shock conflict, these borderline hypertensive rats (BHR) developed permanent hypertension that failed to abate even after a ten-week, shock-free recovery period. The hypertension was accompanied by elevated heart weight to body weight ratios and by significant cardiac pathology. Subsequent work has demonstrated that these animals also become hypertensive when fed a high-sodium diet. Finally, in a series of exercise studies, we found that BHRs subjected to a shock stressor were protected against stress-induced hypertension if they exercised daily. The potential of this model for studies of the mechanisms by which environmental variables produce permanent hypertension is discussed.     

“Aunt Grace can't have babies”

One of the most necessarily sensitive areas of pastoral care is dealing with perinatal death. This case study grows from a need for care providers to understand better the feelings of a mother in the loss of her baby. This particular exploration evolved from a taped interview with the writer's aunt (now in her seventies) and her dealings with the multiple losses she experienced over fifty years ago. Her conversation in the interview gives credibility to many coping skills that we endeavor to teach today and that she developed for herself out of a need to survive....it was as if the birds would never sing again.-Aunt Grace     

Three problems for the evolutionary debunking argument

In attempting to debunk moral realism through an appeal to evolutionary facts, debunkers face a series of problems, which we label the problems of scope, corrosiveness, and post-hoc justification. To overcome these problems, debunkers must assume certain metaphysical or epistemological positions, or otherwise pre-establish them. In doing so, they must assume or pre-establish the very conclusion they seek in advancing the argument. This means that such debunking arguments either beg the question against the moral realist or are undermined as standalone metaethical arguments.