Perceived self-efficacy and pain control: Opioid and nonopioid mechanisms.

In this experiment, we tested for opioid and nonopioid mechanisms of pain control through cognitive means and the relation of opioid involvement to perceived coping efficacy. Subjects were taught cognitive methods of pain control, were administered a placebo, or received no intervention. Their pain tolerance was then measured at periodic intervals after they were administered either a saline solution or naloxone, an opiate antagonist that blocks the effects of endogenous opiates. Training in cognitive control strengthened perceived self-efficacy both to withstand and to reduce pain; placebo medication enhanced perceived efficacy to withstand pain but not reductive efficacy; and neither form of perceived self-efficacy changed without any intervention. Regardless of condition, the stronger the perceived self-efficacy to withstand pain, the longer subjects endured mounting pain stimulation. The findings provide evidence that attenuation of the impact of pain stimulation through cognitive control is mediated by both opioid and nonopioid mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation.

Human differentiation on the basis of gender is a fundamental phenomenon that affects virtually every aspect of people's daily lives. This article presents the social cognitive theory of gender role development and functioning. It specifies how gender conceptions are constructed from the complex mix of experiences and how they operate in concert with motivational and self-regulatory mechanisms to guide gender-linked conduct throughout the life course. The theory integrates psychological and sociostructural determinants within a unified conceptual structure. In this theoretical perspective, gender conceptions and roles are the product of a broad network of social influences operating interdependently in a variety of societal subsystems. Human evolution provides bodily structures and biological potentialities that permit a range of possibilities rather than dictate a fixed type of gender differentiation. People contribute to their self-development and bring about social changes that define and structure gender relationships through their agentic actions within the interrelated systems of influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cluster-based computational portal for control over computations on a supercomputer complex

A conception of control over computational processes in a supercomputer complex and some tools (such as GUI) for its support and implementation are described. The realization of the Web portal for the supercomputer complex SKIT at the V. M. Glushkov Cybernetics Institute of NASU is described.     

An integrated high-performance beam optics-nuclear processes framework with hybrid transfer map-Monte Carlo particle transport and optimization

An integrated beam optics-nuclear processes framework is essential for accurate simulation of fragment separator beam dynamics. The code COSY INFINITY provides powerful differential algebraic methods for modeling and beam dynamics simulations in absence of beam-material interactions. However, these interactions are key for accurately simulating the dynamics of heavy ion fragmentation and fission. We have developed an extended version of the code that includes these interactions, and a set of new tools that allow efficient and accurate particle transport: by transfer map in vacuum and by Monte Carlo methods in materials. The new framework is presented, along with several examples from a preliminary layout of a fragment separator for a facility for rare isotope beams.     

Self-evaluative and self-efficacy mechanisms governing the motivational effects of goal systems.

Tested the hypothesis that self-evaluative and self-efficacy mechanisms mediate the effects of goal systems on performance motivation. These self-reactive influences are activated through cognitive comparison requiring both personal standards and knowledge of performance. 45 male and 45 female undergraduates performed a strenuous activity with either goals and performance feedback, goals alone, feedback alone, or without either factor. The condition combining performance information and a standard had a strong motivational impact, whereas neither goals alone nor feedback alone effected changes in motivation. When both comparative factors were present, the evaluative and efficacy self-reactive influences predicted the magnitude of motivation enhancement. The higher the self-dissatisfaction with substandard performance and the stronger the perceived self-efficacy for goal attainment, the greater was the subsequent intensification of effort. When one comparative factor was lacking, the self-reactive influences were differentially related to performance motivation, depending on the nature of the partial information and on the type of subjective comparative structure imposed on the activity. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapy as a learning process.

If one accepts the view that psychotherapy is a learning process, then greater efforts should be made to develop treatment methods derived from our knowledge of learning and motivation. The learning mechanisms of counterconditioning, extinction, discrimination, reward, punishment, and social imitation are discussed as well as the pertinent research in which these principles were applied to psychotherapy. Some of the more prevalent criticisms of the learning approach to psychotherapy are answered. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2IF43B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Efficacy of participant modeling as a function of response induction aids.

Tested the efficacy of participant modeling as a function of the amount of response induction aids employed. 36 adult snake phobics (4 males, 32 females) received participant modeling with either a low, a moderate, or a high number of aids. Marked changes in behavior and attitudes were rapidly induced when a wide array of performance aids was available, whereas progress was retarded and attainments were substantially lower given limited auxiliary options. Therapeutic efficacy, however, was not monotonically related to number of performance facilitators. Modeling with moderate induction aids generally yielded comparable results to the more highly aided treatment and, on some measures, produced greater generalization effects. Supplementary findings indicated that generalized changes are best achieved by using aided participant modeling to restore inhibited behavior, followed by self-directed practice to extinguish residual fears and to reinforce personal mastery. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavior theory and the models of man.

Explores several interpretations of behavior theory and traces the evolution of psychological thought from simple external reinforcement to a current concept of reciprocal interaction of external circumstances with personal determinants. Learning by observing and evaluating the actions of others, informed reinforcement where the S is aware of the desired outcome, the extent to which restraints of conscience are operative, and recent developments in the analyses of memory and cognition also are discussed. Growing public concern over manipulation and control by psychological methods, and the possible misuse of improved means of influence, frequently articulated by popular writers and by theorists themselves, is refuted by the empirical facts of human behavior. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)