The Y chromosome, social signals, and offense in mice

Offense is one type of aggression in mice (Mus musculus/Mus domesticus). Offense was measured in a panel of testers design for two congenic strains of mice. The two congenic strains were DBA1Bg and DBA1. C57BL10-YBg. These differ in the Y chromosome. Offense was measured for the following dyadic pairs: Group 1 (DBA1 tested against a DBA1 opponent); Group 2 (DBA1 tested against a DBA1.C57BL10-Y opponent); Group 3 (DBA1.C57BL10-Y tested against a DBA1.C57BL10-Y opponent); and Group 4 (DBA1.C57BL10-Y tested against a DBA1 opponent). Group 1 was more aggressive than Group 3, whereas Group 2 was no more aggressive than Group 4. Thus, when the experimental and opponent pairs have the same Y chromosome, the congenics differ in offense, whereas when the experimental and opponent pairs have different Y chromosomes, the congenics do not differ in offense. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that these Y chromosomes affect the display of and response to social or other stimuli for offense of mice. These stimuli may be individual recognition chemosignals in urine.     

Use of the survey of elementary education students' reading instructional beliefs

29 undergraduate majors in elementary education reading instructional beliefs were measured at the beginning and the conclusion of a 15-wk. course on reading methods. Analysis indicated a positive change in the students' beliefs.     

Assessing Counseling Students' Attitudes Regarding Substance Abuse and Treatment

Undergraduate counselors‐in‐training completed the Substance Abuse Attitude Survey, which measures treatment intervention, treatment optimism, and nonstereotypical attitudes. Treatment optimism was positively correlated with nonstereotypical attitudes and treatment intervention. Results indicated that treatment intervention and nonstereotypical attitudes must be addressed in addiction counseling courses.     

Principle of organization: a dynamic-systems view of the archetype-as-such

The personality is a dynamic system. Like all other dynamic systems, it must be self-organized. In this paper I focus upon the archetype-as-such, that is, upon the essential core around which both an archetypical image and a complex are organized. I argue that an archetype-as-such is a pre-existing principle of organization. Within the personality that principle manifests itself as a psychological vortex (a complex) into which we are drawn. The vortex is impersonal. We mediate it through myths and rituals or through consciousness. In this paper I show that Jung's intuition about the archetype-as-such is supported by recent science. I evaluate other concepts of the archetype. My concept is different from that proposed recently by Saunders and Skar. My concept allows each archetype-as-such to be defined precisely in mathematical terms. It suggests a new interpretation of mythology. It also addresses our spiritual experience of an archetype. Because the archetypes-as-such are fundamental to the personality, the better we understand them the better we understand our patients. The paper is grounded with clinical examples.     

Parenting Characteristics Protective Against Substance Use and Deviant Peer Involvement in High-Risk Neighborhoods

Robust research shows that poor parenting practices are related to adverse outcomes among adolescents; however, few have examined the interaction between parenting variables and adolescent outcomes within the context of exposure to relentless crime. The current study examined the combined effects of parental monitoring and discipline on marijuana involvement and deviant peer affiliation among adolescent males living in Los Angeles neighborhoods with concentrated crime. For this study, areas with higher-than-average crime rates were selected based on census data, published statistics, and law-enforcement data. The study included 349 males between 13 and 17 years of age, mostly Latino (70.2%) and African American (28.4%). Data were collected using questionnaires to interview participants and analyzed using logistic regression. Results suggest that among adolescent males in geographic areas of high violence and crime, the interaction between parental monitoring and discipline was significantly related to marijuana involvement and deviant peer affiliation. Follow-up analyses showed parental monitoring was only an effective tool at higher levels of consistent parental discipline. In the absence of consistent discipline, good parental monitoring was ineffective at preventing marijuana involvement and affiliation with deviant peers. Results suggest that if time and resources are limited, clinicians should consider focusing on the use of consistent discipline with parents residing in high-crime neighborhoods.

     

Enhancing memory and imagination improves problem solving among individuals with depression

Recent work has revealed links between memory, imagination, and problem solving, and suggests that increasing access to detailed memories can lead to improved imagination and problem-solving performance. Depression is often associated with overgeneral memory and imagination, along with problem-solving deficits. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that an interview designed to elicit detailed recollections would enhance imagination and problem solving among both depressed and nondepressed participants. In a within-subjects design, participants completed a control interview or an episodic specificity induction prior to completing memory, imagination, and problem-solving tasks. Results revealed that compared to the control interview, the episodic specificity induction fostered increased detail generation in memory and imagination and more relevant steps on the problem-solving task among depressed and nondepressed participants. This study builds on previous work by demonstrating that a brief interview can enhance problem solving among individuals with depression and supports the notion that episodic memory plays a key role in problem solving. It should be noted, however, that the results of the interview are relatively short-lived.     

The role of money in the excitement of gambling

Many gamblers claim that gambling is intrinsically exciting, with money playing only a secondary role. To examine the effects of the expectancy of winning money, the authors randomly assigned 243 male college student gamblers to 1 of 6 experimental or 1 of 3 control conditions. Control participants either simply watched a videotaped horse race or they picked a horse, but without wagering; that horse later turned out to be either the winner of the race or the runner-up. Experimental participants wagered $1 on a horse for a chance of winning either USD 2, USD 7, or USD 15, with half winning and half losing their wagers. Wagering led to increased heart rates and subjective excitement as a function of the expected payoff and of winning as opposed to losing the wager. The study was replicated with 200 female college student gamblers with similar results. These findings support the notion that the excitement of gambling is tied to the expectancy of winning money.     

The influence of the Y-chromosome of Rb/1Bg mice on agonistic behaviors

Males of the Rb/lBg and C57BL/10Bg strains, as well as of the Bl0RblF, and RblBlOF1, reciprocal hybrids, were tested for aggression over three daily trials beginning at 50 days of age. The BlORblF, hybrids were sired by Rb/lBg males, and the RblBlOF, hybrids were sired by C57BL/10Bg males. The mean scores for the agonistic acts of chase, wrestle, flank-bite (but not tail rattle or attack), and the mean “aggression” score (but not mean latencies to first agonistic act or first attack) were significantly higher for BlORblF, than for RblBlOF, hybrids. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that some aspect(s) of the Rb/lBg Y-chromosome strain can influence the occurrence of some of the motor patterns of offense but not defense. The Y-chromosomes of the DBA/1, DBA/2, CBA, and PHH inbred strains have a similar effect on agonistic behaviors.     

Autism,early narcissistic injury and self‐organization: a role for the image of the mother’s eyes?

Holland elucidated the new paradigm of self-organization in complex adaptive systems. This paradigm holds for all living systems, including the personality. In conjunction with the theory of archetypes, self-organization suggests two radical hypotheses, one about early development, the other about the origins of autism. Autism is associated with several medical conditions, with genetic markers, and with infant visual deprivation. However none of these factors is either necessary or sufficient to cause autism. It is hypothesized that each of these factors increases the likelihood of a primary psychological deficit: failure to acquire, or retain, the image of the mother's eyes. This hypothesis was initially derived from analytic work with patients who have early narcissistic injury and with patients who have mild autistic traits. Both diagnoses may arise from the same initial disturbance: Symington argued that autism is an extreme form of infantile narcissism. Indirect evidence for the image-of-the-eyes hypotheses comes from the evolution of primates, from infant-mother observations, from observations of infant vision, and from experiments on vision in other vertebrates. Byrd recently confirmed that the incidence of autism is increasing dramatically. The image-of-the-eyes hypotheses suggest that this increase may be linked to increased use of non-maternal childcare for young infants.