Approach and avoidance responses of the hysterical personality to sexual stimuli.

Administered a paired-associates learning task and a visual recognition task to 32 female hysterical personalities and 32 nonhysterical personalities. Both tasks included neutral and sexual material. 1/2 the Ss in each group performed under sexually "seductive" conditions, the other 1/2 under neutral conditions. Results showed that (1) hysterics learned sexual material quickly under neutral conditions but relatively slowly under sexual conditions; (2) hysterics had a relatively low visual recognition threshold for sexual words under neutral conditions and a relatively high threshold under sexual conditions; and (3) these threshold differences were maximized when sexual stimuli referred to the self. It was concluded that the characteristic behavior of the hysteric was consistent with an approach-avoidance conflict involving sexual motives and behavior. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of affective assessment in modeling aggressive behavior.

Examined the role of affective assessment, a self-generated influence in learning acquisition, in the A. Bandura et al (1963) modeling-of-aggression procedure. 32 1st- and 2nd-grade children rated toys and televised acts of aggression against an inflated doll according to their personal affective preference. A matched control group of 32 children was yoked to the affective preferences of the experimental Ss. Control Ss were not shown the televised aggression. All Ss were then introduced to a free-play situation in which toys and an inflated doll were present. In line with the Bandura et al findings, it was predicted that observational learning would be demonstrated across conditions. However, in line with logical learning theory, it was predicted that Ss would model affectively preferred aggressive acts and toys more readily than affectively dispreferred acts and toys. Boys and girls differed significantly only in their imitation of positively rated aggressive actions, not in their imitation of negatively rated actions. Ramifications for the TV violence/aggression issue are discussed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between carbon chain length and avoidance responses in rats.

An experiment was performed to ascertain the results of subjecting the conditional twine cutting behavior of 32 white rats to the even members of a homologous series of equimolar solutions of amine hydrochlorides. The Shurrager multipartitioned training cage (5-barrier) was used to train the animals to constant speed on untreated barriers. The middle barriers were later used randomly in a balanced design as test barriers. Results show the order of repellency of the series (from most to least): 12 > 10 > 16 > 18 > 14 > 8 > 6 > 4. Conclusion: increasing carbon chain length produces a maximum repellency at C12, which is significantly different (.02≤p≤.05) from C4, C10, and C16. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquisition of conditioned avoidance responses by hypophysectomized rats.

Maintained hypophysectomized and sham-operated male Wistar rats on a complete high-carbohydrate dietary supplement in addition to ordinary diet to insure a state of good health. Groups so maintained were compared with respect to their ability to acquire the conditioned 2-way avoidance response 2, 3, and 5 wk. after operation. Sham-operated and hypophysectomized Ss both acquired the response with no significant differences. Almost all groups, however, included Ss which did not acquire the response. Hypophysectomized groups contained fewer of these Ss. Examination of a sample from a normal unoperated Wistar population without dietary supplement showed a proportion of Ss which did not acquire the response similar to that found with the sham-operated Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of intentionality in mediating children's responses to inequity.

144 1st and 5th graders worked with a fictitious partner to earn a joint reward of $.10. Work inputs were equal, but the S's share of the reward, distributed by his partner and either given intentionally or determined by chance, was either $.07 or $.03. Ss' allocations of a 2nd $.10 reward revealed a different pattern from that of previously studied 9th graders. The older Ss' allocations had been interpreted in terms of J. S. Adam's equity theory (i.e., that Ss take intentionally distributed, but not chance-determined, 1st rewards into account in balancing inputs and outcomes). The younger Ss disregarded their partners' intentions. Overrewarded Ss consistently returned about $.05, seeming to use a norm of equality; underrewarded Ss consistently returned about $.03, seeming to employ a norm of retaliatory reciprocity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some determinants of aggressive and predatory responses in Betta splendens..

In an initial investigation, the frequency of threat displays by 9 adult male Betta splendens was positively correlated with the size of stimulus guppies, and biting attacks were negatively correlated with guppy size. In 4 subsequent experiments (42 Ss), these results were confirmed and extended. Satiety and food deprivation changed the frequency of biting attacks without affecting threat-display frequency. Conversely, prolonged exposure to a mirror decreased threat-display frequency without affecting biting attacks. It is concluded that aggressive and predatory behaviors are relatively independent with respect to causal factors. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Approach and avoidance coping responses among older problem and nonproblem drinkers.

The Coping Responses Inventory (CRI) was used to study coping among older problem and nonproblem drinkers. The CRI organizes coping efforts according to their focus (approach or avoidance) and method (cognitive or behavioral). Compared with nonproblem drinkers, older problem drinkers were more likely to use cognitive and behavioral avoidance responses to manage life stressors. Problem drinkers who experienced more negative life events and more severe stressors used both more approach and more avoidance coping. Those who had more financial and social resources relied more on approach and less on avoidance coping. Problem drinkers who relied more on avoidance coping tended to have more drinking problems and to report more depression and physical symptoms and less self-confidence. Positive reappraisal was associated with less depression and more self-confidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of manipulation in infants' responses to invariant properties of objects.

Hypothesized that manipulation would enhance 1-yr-old infants' attention to and detection of structural invariants more than nonstructural invariants. In Study 1, 16 Ss were familiarized with 2 series of objects, one in which texture remained invariant while color changed and the other in which pattern remained invariant while shape changed. Within each series, Ss were tested for differential responsiveness to 2 new objects, one with the familiar characteristic and the other with a novel one. In Study 2, 12 Ss were familiarized with another 2 series of objects, one in which shape remained the same while pattern varied and the other in which color remained the same while texture varied. Data from the two studies are consistent in that the structural invariants were more clearly differentiated than the nonstructural invariants. Results of Study 3, in which 12 Ss were familiarized with objects encased in plastic boxes, suggest that Ss in Studies 1 and 2 were using haptic information about shape and texture to enhance their differentiation of objects along those lines. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of olfactory bulbectomy and DSP4 treatment in avoidance learning in the rat.

In 3 experiments with 101 male Sprague-Dawley rats, olfactory bulbectomized Ss and N-(2-chloroethyl)-N-ethyl-2-bromobenzylamine (DSP4)-treated Ss were studied on a 2-way active avoidance task as well as on step-down passive avoidance and fear conditioning and retention tasks. The DSP4-treated, but not olfactory bulbectomized, Ss were impaired in acquiring 2-way avoidance; bulbectomized, but not DSP4-treated, Ss showed notable passive avoidance and fear retention deficits. Bulbectomized Ss treated with DSP4 did not show passive avoidance and fear retention deficits, nor did these Ss evidence the 2-way avoidance impairment of the DSP4-treated Ss. No alteration of dopamine-beta-hydroxylase activity in the frontal cortex and hippocampus as a result of the bulbectomy operation was indicated. The double dissociation between bulbectomized and DSP4-treated Ss is discussed in terms of opponent behavioral processes, influenced by olfactory bulbectomy and DSP4, which may permit insights into experimental investigations of stress, anxiety, and depression. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ontogeny of passive avoidance learning in domestic chicks: Punishment of key-peck and running responses.

Determined the effect of the number of prepunishment acquisition trials on the age dependency of passive avoidance (PA) learning of the chick in keypeck and runway tests. In 9 experiments, 1- and 4-day-old Ss were first trained to respond for heat reward. After a variable number of reinforced acquisition trials (ATs), Ss' responses were punished with aversive wing shocks. Results show that the age dependency of PA learning of the young S is related specifically to the number of reinforced training trials given prior to PA testing. When several prepunishment ATs were given, 1-day-old Ss learned as quickly as 4-day-old Ss to withhold responding when punished. However, when only a few ATs preceded PA testing, 1-day-old Ss showed significantly less response suppression than 4-day-old Ss. Rather, results suggest that the 1-day-old chick, compared with the 4-day-old chick, is deficient in learning or detecting changes in stimulus– and/or response–reinforcement contingencies. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of unconditioned stimulus escape and avoidance in discriminative avoidance learning in the gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus).

Gave separate groups of male gerbils (N = 80) shuttle-avoidance training or classical trials (CS and UCS pairings) in a 100-trial session. The shock UCS was either escapable or inescapable (i.e., of fixed duration-.1-3.0 sec). CRs, intertrial interval responses, and observations of the Ss' reactions to each UCS were recorded. Avoidance learning emerged only in groups exposed to escapable shock or a brief inescapable shock. Based on both the observational data of the nature of the shock-elicited reactions and shuttle performance, it is concluded that response termination of the UCS is not necessary for shuttle-avoidance learning. Results are discussed in terms of a punishment theory of avoidance and the species-specific defense-reaction hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of pituitary-adrenocortical system in mediating avoidance behavior of rats with septal lesions.

3 experiments with a total of 186 male Sprague-Dawley rats examined the hypothesis that the effects of septal lesions and systemic injections of scopolamine on avoidance acquisition could be attributed to the effects of either of these treatments on ACTH secretion. Septal lesions and scopolamine facilitated 2-way conditioned avoidance response acquisition, and the lesions retarded passive avoidance acquisition. However, neither the injections of dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid which inhibited ACTH secretion as did septal lesions, nor injections of ACTH which mimicked the facilitatory effects of scopolamine on basal ACTH secretion, affected avoidance in these paradigms. Thus, the main hypothesis was not supported. The finding that scopolamine did not affect passive avoidance indicates that a cholinergic system may not be involved in mediating the suppressive effects of punishment. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It's the thought that counts: The role of hostile cognition in shaping aggressive responses to social exclusion.

Prior research has confirmed a casual path between social rejection and aggression, but there has been no clear explanation of why social rejection causes aggression. A series of experiments tested the hypothesis that social exclusion increases the inclination to perceive neutral information as hostile, which has implications for aggression. Compared to accepted and control participants, socially excluded participants were more likely to rate aggressive and ambiguous words as similar (Experiment 1a), to complete word fragments with aggressive words (Experiment 1b), and to rate the ambiguous actions of another person as hostile (Experiments 2-4). This hostile cognitive bias among excluded people was related to their aggressive treatment of others who were not involved in the exclusion experience (Experiments 2 and 3) and others with whom participants had no previous contact (Experiment 4). These findings provide a first step in resolving the mystery of why social exclusion produces aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adrenal responses to reinforcement and extinction: Role of expectancy versus instrumental responding.

Measured plasma corticosterone levels during operant conditioning to determine the effect of reinforced and nonreinforced responding (extinction) on adrenal activation; Ss were 44 male Long-Evans rats. The influence of instrumental responding was assessed by comparing trained Ss with yoked Ss that received a matched reward schedule in the absence of an operant task. Reinforcement sessions resulted in a significant decrease in adrenal secretion at 20 min but not at 5 min, whereas extinction caused a rapid increase in corticosterone levels at 5 min and an even greater elevation at 20 min. Comparison of the operant and yoked Ss showed that this effect of reinforcement and extinction was not dependent on instrumental responding, but rather on the receipt or withdrawal of the expected reward. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Basal and stimulated sympathetic responses after epinephrine: no evidence of augmented responses

Delayed facilitation of norepinephrine release through the action of epinephrine (NE) at presynaptic beta-adrenoceptors has been postulated to account for the delayed hemodynamic effects of epinephrine and to be a mechanism causally related to the development of hypertension. To determine whether a short-term increase in epinephrine concentrations resulted in subsequent facilitation of sympathetic responses, 9 healthy subjects (age, 21+/-0.9 years) were studied at rest and during physiological stress on 2 occasions when they received an infusion of either saline or epinephrine (20 ng/kg per minute) in random order. Heart rate, blood pressure, forearm blood flow, epinephrine concentrations, and NE spillover were measured at rest, during mental stress (Stroop test), and during a cold pressor test. Measurements were performed before, during the 1-hour infusion of epinephrine or placebo, and 1 hour after the infusion. A radioisotope dilution method was used to measure NE spillover. Hemodynamic measurements and NE spillover were increased during the infusion of epinephrine, but 1 hour after discontinuation of epinephrine there was no significant augmentation of hemodynamic or sympathetic responses. NE spillover 1 hour after saline or epinephrine infusion was similar (0.85+/-0.2 versus 0. 87+/-0.2 microg/min; P=0.92). In addition, there was no delayed facilitation of stress-induced hemodynamic or NE responses after epinephrine. These findings do not support the hypothesis that epinephrine results in delayed facilitation of NE release.     

Effects of social reinforcement on dependency and aggressive responses of psychopathic neurotic, and subcultural delinquents.

78 male 16-22 yr. old psychopathic, neurotic, and subcultural delinquents were verbally conditioned to dependency and aggressive verbs under conditions of frustration and no frustration. It was hypothesized that neurotics and subculturals, in contrast to psychopaths, would significantly increase socially reinforced verbalizations, especially under frustration. Further hypotheses concerning each delinquent subgroup's selection of dependency and aggressive verbalizations were made. Results support the major hypotheses indicating that (a) neurotics and subculturals significantly increased and psychopaths significantly decreased reinforced responses, (b) neurotics made significantly more dependency verbalizations, (c) subculturals made significantly more aggressive verbalizations, and (d) frustration effects magnified differences in performance among subgroups. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Epithalamic and ventral tegmental contributions to avoidance behavior in rats.

Examined the active- and passive-avoidance performance of male Long-Evans hooded rat controls and Ss with lesions in the interpeduncular nucleus, ventral tegmentum, combined interpeduncular nucleus and ventral tegmentum, and the stria medullaris-habenula (N = 65). Impaired passive-avoidance performance was noted in all groups with lesions, whereas only the groups with lesions in the interpeduncular nucleus and stria medullaris-habenular nucleus had facilitated active-avoidance performance. Results suggest that the stria medullaris tract, habenular nucleus, habenulopeduncular tract, and interpeduncular nucleus serve as significant anatomical pathways concerned with the acquisition of both active- and passive-avoidance performance, whereas pathways traveling in the ventral tegmental area dorsal to the interpeduncular nucleus are involved only in passive-avoidance responding. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of glutamine in immunologic responses

Glutamine has traditionally been thought of as a nonessential amino acid, but laboratory and clinical data suggests that it may be essential during certain inflammatory conditions, such as infection and injury. Glutamine is a necessary nutrient for cell proliferation, serves as a specific fuel for inflammatory cells and enterocytes, and, when present in appropriate concentrations, enhances cell function. During inflammatory states, glutamine consumption may outstrip endogenous production and a relative glutamine deficiency state may exist. Animal and clinical studies suggest that improved outcome may be possible by providing the appropriate dose of this nutrient by the appropriate route to achieve adequate tissue concentrations. Such an approach prevents patients from being exposed to some of the inadequacies of present day conventional nutrition. The overall benefit of providing an appropriate glutamine-supplemented diet to all metabolically compromised patients arises from the multiple anabolic and host protective effects of this amino acid, of which immunomodulation is only one important facet of glutamine's essential nature.     

Approach and avoidance motivation in psychopathic criminal offenders during passive avoidance.

The authors evaluated competing theories that attribute psychopathic individuals' poor passive avoidance to a strong activating system, a weak inhibitory system, or poor modulation of behavioral activation when inhibitory cues appear. In Study 1, the continuous motor task involved a reward phase to elicit the activating system followed by a passive avoidance phase. Study 2 tested the generality of the theories by using an active avoidance phase to elicit the activating system. Heart rate and response speed results from Study 1 best supported the strong activating system and poor response modulation models in low-anxiety psychopathic offenders. Study 2 results did not clearly support any of the models. Further research is needed to determine if excessive activation by reward and poor response modulation are associated with passive avoidance deficits and other characteristics of low-anxiety psychopathic offenders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)