Scratching as a behavioral index of anxiety in macaque mothers.

The aim of this study was to assess the validity of the notion that anxiety influences maternal style in monkeys. To this end, we investigated the correlations between measures of the quality of mother-infant relationship and scratching, a behavior pattern that reflects a state of anxiety. The subjects were seven group-living macaque mothers and their infants observed during the first 12 weeks postpartum. Postpartum scratching by the mothers was positively correlated with both maternal possessiveness and maternal warmth, two composite measures of the quality of mother-infant relationship that reflect a possessive and attentive maternal style. Evaluation of the correlations between maternal rank and scratching before and after parturition indicated that interactions with their infants, not those with other group companions, were the main source of anxiety for the mothers. These results support the notion that anxiety influences maternal style in monkeys and suggest that studies aimed at investigating physiological and social correlates of maternal emotionality in nonhuman primates could use scratching as a useful and simple behavioral measure.     

Is monkey maternal abuse of offspring aggressive behavior?

This study was intended to probe the aggressive nature of monkey infant abuse by comparing the morphology of abusive behavior patterns with that of patterns allocated to both aggression and other categories of behavioral repertoires of macaques. This morphological analysis indicated that most abusive patterns should not be classified in the aggression category as they, at the motor end, differ greatly from macaque aggressive acts. In contrast, they perfectly resemble behaviors that monkeys usually display while manipulating inanimate objects. The implications of this finding for the pathogenic study of monkey infant abuse are discussed.     

Effects of a Peer Engagement Program on Socially Withdrawn Children with a History of Maltreatment

Children with a history of child maltreatment often have limited social interactions with other children and adults. This study examined the effects of a Peer Engagement Program, consisting of peer mentoring and social skills training with positive reinforcement, in three children with low levels of oral and social interaction. A multiple baseline, single-subject research design was used to test whether introduction of the intervention was associated with increased, directly observed oral interaction and engagement in social activities with peers and adults. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Social Skills Rating Scale (SSRS) were administered before and after intervention. All children showed increased levels of oral and social interaction and improved scores on the SSRS and the CBCL.     

How to blow the Whistle and still have a career afterwards

Filing charges of scientific misconduct can be a risky and dangerous endeavor. This article presents rules of conduct to follow when considering whether to report perceived misconduct, and a set of step-by-step procedures for responsible whistleblowing that describe how to do so once the decision to report misconduct has been made. This advice is framed within the university setting, and may not apply fully in industrial settings. Ms. Gunsalus, an attorney, has been responsible for a wide range of compliance issues and academic policy matters at her university including responding to allegations of scientific misconduct. She served on the United States Commission on Research Integrity and spent six years on the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, four of them as chair. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the symposium entitled “Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t: What the Scientific Community Can Do About Whistleblowing” held during the Annual Meeting of the AAAS, Seattle, Washington, 15 February, 1997.     

Recent and emerging trends in marital and family therapy regulation

The number of states in the United States that formally credential marital and family therapists has tripled to 31 during the last decade. This paper reviews and compares the basic licensure and certification requirements in these states, and explores a number of broad issues currently confronting the field of marital and family therapy regulation. Several recommendations for improving the quality of MFT regulation are also provided.president of the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards.     

Discriminative stimulus effects of diazepam and buspirone in normal volunteers.

A within-subject design was used to characterize the effects of dose manipulations on discriminative and self-reported effects of oral diazepam and buspirone. Subjects were trained to discriminate diazepam (10 mg) versus placebo (n = 10), or buspirone (10 or 15 mg) versus placebo (n = 9). The compounds were identified to subjects by letter code before discrimination training began. In later sessions, correct identifications at 2 hr after the oral administration of drug earned money. All subjects showed accurate discrimination performance during the test-of-acquisition phase. In a low-dose generalization phase, diazepam and buspirone produced dose-related increases in drug identifications across a four-fold range of doses. In a subsequent low-dose training phase, in which subjects were trained to discriminate progressively lower drug doses, the median lowest discriminable dose of diazepam and buspirone was 2.5 and 7.5 mg, respectively. Dose-response functions for drug identifications were shifted leftward in the low-dose training phase relative to the low-dose generalization phase, suggesting that reinforcement of progressively lower doses enhances drug discriminability. The self-reported effects of diazepam and buspirone were similar (e.g., both drugs increased ratings of drug strength and clumsy/uncoordinated) and different (e.g., diazepam but not buspirone increased ratings of drowsy/sleepy; buspirone but not diazepam increased ratings of tense/nervous). This study demonstrates discriminative and self-reported effects of diazepam and buspirone at doses lower than previously shown to be behaviorally active, and suggests that at commonly used clinical doses, diazepam is relatively more discriminable than buspirone.     

Young Freud's linkage with Persia

Abstract

Sigmund Freud's hands helped to mutilate a volume containing a series of “colored plates” like the one replicated in Figure 1 in the text. As a young adult, his personal library included a fairytale whose German text was entitled Die Träumleiter: Ein Marchen. No one has yet been able to authenticate the author's identity beyond the following imprint: “S. Andreas (1832).” The poetic play centers upon a celestial meeting featuring Shakespeare, Goethe, and Dschami. It has been translated into English (The dream ladder: A fairy tale), but still awaits a psychoanalytically informed exegesis.