辩证思维方式与中国古典建筑审美特征

辩证思维方式是中国古代哲学思维方式之一,它深刻地影响了中国古典建筑审美特征的形成,使其在有无相生、虚实相资,中庸为道、和美为贵,情理并重、礼乐相成三个方面体现出中国传统文化的特色。     

21世纪中国老年心理学研究:现状与未来

本文回顾了近40年中国老年心理学的研究成果,并从研究主题角度与美国老年心理学研究进行了比较。发现中国老年心理学主要聚焦于老年人心理健康研究,同时也在老年人家庭人际关系和社会支持领域研究有较为丰富的研究成果。但国内对老年人的认知能力、人格、情绪情感探讨较少,既缺少前沿的基础研究,也缺少对复杂能力、复杂情感等的系统研究。结合中国人口老龄化现实,本文提出了21世纪中国老年心理学的未来研究取向：基础研究和应用服务研究的双向结合,中国文化特色取向,个体-环境交互作用取向和个体差异取向。     

文学阅读如何影响读者的心理理论

文学阅读不但能提高读者的文学修养, 还能影响其心理状态。然而, 文学阅读经验是否一定能提高读者的心理理论仍然存有争议。近年来有关文学阅读与心理理论关系的实验性探讨不断增加。鉴于此, 作者从文本体裁、测量手段和个体差异角度分析了争议产生的原因。在此基础之上, 归纳了文学阅读影响心理理论的潜在机制, 即镜像神经系统和默认网络很可能是文学阅读促进心理理论提高的重要神经基础。     

Why? Versus Why Not?: Potentialities of Aging in Shaw's Back to Methuselah

Bernard Shaw's critique of society's sacred cows, as well as his participation in the social, cultural and political marketplace in which he lived, resemble the new historical/cultural materialism of contemporary theory. In Back to Methuselah, Shaw examines the notions of aging and illuminates the degree to which our chronological standards of old age are sociological not biological constructs. This tour de force on aging both dramatizes age as a function of societal and/or individual choice, not as a biological given, and juxtaposes opinions toward aging in such a way that flexible attitudes toward the subject emerge.     

The placebo effect in popular culture

This paper gives an overview of the placebo effect in popular culture, especially as it pertains to the work of authors Patrick O’Brian and Sinclair Lewis. The beloved physician as placebo, and the clinician scientist as villain are themes that respectively inform the novels, The Hundred Days and Arrowsmith. Excerpts from the novels, and from film show how the placebo effect, and the randomized clinical trial, have emerged into popular culture, and evolved over time. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an international conference, “Placebo: Its Action and Place in Health Research Today,” held in Warsaw, Poland on 12–13 April, 2003.     

Something from nothing: exploring dimensions of children's knowing through the repeated reading of favourite books

Witte‐Townsend and DiGiulio explore some of the dimensions of knowing that children, teachers and parents may engage together during story‐time. They reflect on some of their own long‐term relationships with children and children's books, especially Phoebe Gilman's Gilman P 1992 Something from nothing (New York, NY, Scholastic Inc)  [Google Scholar] Something from nothing (published in 1992) and Simms Taback's Taback S 1999 Joseph had a little overcoat (New York, NY, Viking‐Penguin)  [Google Scholar] Joseph had a little overcoat, published in 1999. The authors probe issues such as why children ask to hear a favourite story over and over and why they suddenly abandon all interest and move on to a new book. They explore the meaning of the silences that sometimes arise during story‐time, pooling around the young listeners as the last words of the book are read. Witte‐Townsend and DiGiulio remind us of the value of literature in the lives of children and they affirm that the reading and re‐reading of favourite stories enables the understanding of complex human issues and contributes significantly to social, emotional and spiritual growth.     

Differential mastication kinematics of the rabbit in response to food and water: Implications for conditioned movement

Analysis of naturalistic chewing patterns may provide insight into mapping the neural substrates of jaw movement control systems, including their adaptive modification during the classically conditioned jaw movement (CJM) paradigm. Here, New Zealand White rabbits were administered food and water stimuli orally to evaluate the influence of stimulus consistency on masticatory pattern. Chewing patterns were recorded via video camera and movements were analyzed by computerized image analysis. The mandibular kinematics, specifically the extent of dorsal/ventral, medial/lateral, and rostral/caudal movement, were significantly larger in food-evoked than water-evoked chewing. Water-evoked chewing frequency, however, was significantly higher than that of food-evoked movements. In light of known cortical mastication modulatory centers, our findings implicate different neural substrates for the responses to food and water stimuli in the rabbit. A detailed delineation of jaw movement patterns and circuitry is essential to characterize the neural substrates of CJM.     

The transfer of respondent eliciting and extinction functions through stimulus equivalence classes

Two studies investigated the transfer of respondent elicitation through equivalence classes. In Experiment 1, match-to-sample procedures were used to teach 8 subjects two four-member equivalence classes. One member of one class was then paired with electric shock, and one member of the other class was presented without shock. All remaining stimuli were then presented. Using skin conductance as the measure of conditioning, transfer of conditioning was demonstrated in 6 of the 8 subjects. In Experiment 2, similar procedures were used to replicate the results of Experiment 1 and investigate the transfer of extinction. Following equivalence training and conditioning to all members of one class, one member was then presented in extinction. When the remaining stimuli from this class were then presented, they failed to elicit skin conductance. In the final phase of the experiment, the stimulus that was previously presented in extinction was reconditioned. Test trials with other members of the class revealed that they regained elicitation function. These results demonstrate that both respondent elicitation and extinction can transfer through stimulus classes. The clinical and applied significance of the results is discussed.