Behavior Of Recipients Research Articles

Lack of social exploratory activation in male μ-opioid receptor KO mice in response to playback of female ultrasonic vocalizations

The opioid system controls social behavior and it was hypothesized that it therefore plays a role in neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism that are characterized by social and communication deficits. Mice communicate via ultrasonic vocalizations. As pups, they produce ultrasonic vocalizations when isolated from dam and littermates. These calls serve an important biological purpose, since they elicit search and retrieval behavior in the mother. Administration of μ-opioid-receptor-agonists diminishes such isolation-induced ultrasonic vocalizations and μ-opioid-receptor knock-out mouse pups (Orpm –/–) emit fewer ultrasonic vocalizations during isolation than intact controls (Orpm +/+). In adulthood, male and female mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations during social interactions. However, little is known about occurrence and function of ultrasonic vocalizations produced by adult females. Here, we conducted a playback experiment in order to assess whether female ultrasonic vocalizations elicit changes in the recipient's behavior and whether a possible change in behavior is dependent on a functioning opioid system by comparing Orpm –/– mice with Orpm +/+ controls. Our results showed that female ultrasonic vocalizations elicit exploratory activity in male recipients and that elicitation of exploratory activity in response to female ultrasonic vocalizations is dependent on an intact opioid system, since such a response was not seen in Orpm –/– mice. Lack of exploratory activation seen in Orpm –/– mice is unlikely due to hearing deficits as shown by an auditory cued fear-conditioning-task. Hence, these findings support the phenotypic relevance of Orpm –/– mice for the study of autism.

Assessment and management of psychosocial challenges in pediatric liver transplantation

Assessment and management of psychosocial challenges in pediatric liver transplantation

The socio-cultural context of family caregiving and psychological distress: A comparison of immigrant and non-immigrant caregivers in Israel

The study aimed to examine the differences in caregiving context and psychological distress outcome between non-immigrant and immigrant caregivers; to investigate these differences by relationship type; and to examine the factors related to psychological distress. Spouse or adult child caregivers (213 non-immigrants and 206 immigrants from the Former Soviet Union) were interviewed. Based on stress and appraisal conceptual framework, caregiving stressors, primary appraisal, psychosocial resources, secondary appraisal and psychological distress were measured. A series of two-way MANOVA, followed by ANOVA, was used to examine the differences by immigration status, by relationship type and their interaction. Hierarchical multiple linear regression was conducted to examine variables associated with psychological distress. Negligible differences in caregiving stressors, but significant differences in caregiving primary and secondary appraisal, psychosocial resources and psychological distress were found by immigration status and by relationship type, and significant interactions only in caregiving primary appraisal. The regression models showed that the differences in psychological distress by immigration status and by relationship type were fully explained by caregiving stressors (care recipient's problem behavior), psychosocial resources (mastery) and caregiving secondary appraisal (role overload, captivity, economic difficulties). The results suggest that socio-cultural background and role relationship shape caregiving appraisal and psychosocial resources, and that these factors explain psychological distress outcomes.

Systematic review of the effect of psychological interventions on family caregivers of people with dementia

Background Caregivers of people with dementia are at high risk of psychological morbidity and associated breakdown in care. Many psychologically based interventions have been designed to help caregivers of people with dementia. More work is needed to identify which, if any, are helpful for such caregivers. Method We conducted a systematic review of the immediate and long term efficacy of different types of psychological interventions for the psychological health of caregivers of people with dementia, using standardized criteria, to assist clinicians in implementing rational, evidence-based management recommendations. We reviewed studies examining the effects of any therapy derived from a psychological approach that satisfied pre-specified criteria. Using the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine criteria we rated the quality of each study, extracted data and gave overall ratings to different types of intervention. Results We identified 244 references in our search of which 62 met our inclusion criteria. Limitations Our findings are limited by lack of good quality evidence, with only ten level 1 studies identified. Conclusions We found excellent evidence for the efficacy of six or more sessions of individual behavioral management therapy centered on the care recipient's behavior in alleviating caregiver symptoms both immediately and for up to 32 months. Teaching caregivers coping strategies either individually or in a group also appeared effective in improving caregiver psychological health both immediately and for some months afterwards. Group interventions were less effective than individual interventions. Education about dementia by itself, group behavioral therapy and supportive therapy were not effective caregiver interventions.

Predicting Receptiveness to Advice: Characteristics of the Problem, the Advice-Giver, and the Recipient

Research on advice in supportive interactions indicates that receptiveness to advice (the extent to which advice is wanted) has a strong influence on how advice is evaluated. The current study examined situational and trait predictors of advice receptiveness, including characteristics of the advice-giver (expertise, closeness to the recipient, history of influence on the recipient's behavior), characteristics of the problem for which the advice is received (problem seriousness, responsibility for the problem), and characteristics of the advice recipient (sex, expressivity, instrumentality). Participants (N = 280) completed questionnaires reporting on a recent instance of receiving advice with regard to a personal problem. Results indicated that closeness had the strongest impact on receptiveness to advice, followed by expertise and expressivity. Women were more receptive to advice than men but the difference was small and mediated by expressivity.

Zur textstrategischen Funktion von naprotiv und naoborot

In this article the lexical units naprotiv and naoborot are treated as operators of antonymy. It is shown that they are very important for textual coherence and text meaning. It is also shown that they play a significant role for the argumentative structure of the text. As elements of the textual strategy they open up various possibilities of manipulating the recipient's behaviour. The article deals with the semantic structure and the pragmatic functions of these discourse operators.

Employment Behaviors Among Drug Using Welfare Recipients

The goal of this study was to examine how drug using welfare recipient's employment behaviors (i.e. expectations, employment commitment, job search self-efficacy, job-seeking support from friends, economic hardship and anxiety) effected employment-seeking behavior and its effect on their welfare to work mandate. Regression analyses were used to estimate the effect of the above seven psychosocial domains on employment-seeking behaviors and job search intensity on a sample of 222 welfare-to-work recipients. The results show that psychological domains affected drug users and non-drug users differently as they searched for employment. Specifically, the results showed that self-efficacy and anxiety were negatively related to job seeking behaviors, but economic hardship was positively related to job seeking behavior. In addition, job expectations and economic hardship were both positively related to job-search intensity. This paper has shown that psychosocial domains such as motivation and job search efficacy a...

Social status and group norms: Indirect reciprocity in a repeated helping experiment

In the economic literature, reciprocity is typically studied in situations of repeated interaction between two individuals. It refers to one individual rewarding kind acts of the other or punishing hostile acts. In contrast, this paper studies indirect reciprocity, where a cooperative action is rewarded by a third actor, not involved in the original exchange. We provide experimental evidence on indirect reciprocity. The experiment is based on the ‘repeated helping game’ developed by Nowak and Sigmund (J. Theoret. Biol. 194 (1998) 561; Nature 393 (1998) 573), involving random pairing in large groups. Pairs consist of a donor and a recipient. Donors decide whether or not to provide costly ‘help’ to the recipients they are matched with, based on information about the recipient's behavior in encounters with third parties. We observe clear evidence of indirect reciprocity. Many decision-makers respond to the information about previous decisions (whether or not to help others) of the recipients. In our experiments, this indirect reciprocity is largely based on norms about how often the recipient should have helped others in the past. We show that these norms develop similarly within groups of interacting subjects, but distinctly across groups. This leads to the emergence of group norms.

Positive aspects of Alzheimer's caregiving: the role of race.

We examined differences in positive aspects of caregiving (PAC) among 275 African American and 343 Caucasian caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease from the National Institutes of Health Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Care Health (REACH) study sites in Birmingham, Memphis, and Philadelphia. African Americans reported higher scores on PAC than did Caucasians. African Americans' higher religiosity partially mediated the relationship between race and PAC. Additional variables that contributed to their higher PAC scores were African Americans' lower anxiety, lower feelings of bother by the care recipient's behavior, and lower socioeconomic status.

The relationship between care-recipient behaviors and spousal caregiving stress.

This study examines gender differences in spousal caregiver stress associated with care-recipient problem behaviors and helping behaviors. Using data from the National Long-Term Care Survey, we examined bivariate and multivariate relationships between the behaviors of care recipients and the stress experienced by their spouses. Gender differences in caregiver stress emerged with respect to problem behaviors and helping behaviors of the care recipient. Helping behaviors had a moderating effect on the relationship between care-recipient problem behaviors and stress for caregiving husbands, but not for caregiving wives. As practitioners attempt to reduce spousal caregiving distress, they should assess the extent to which care recipient's problem behaviors and efforts to be helpful contribute to caregiver stress.

Behavioral change in persons with dementia: relationships with mental and physical health of caregivers.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects that changes in behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia of persons with Alzheimer's disease have on their caregivers' mental health and physical health. The research design was a prospective, longitudinal follow-up study conducted in a major medical center and in participants' homes. Longitudinal analysis linking change in behavior to caregiver outcomes was based on 64 cases. Care recipients were assessed at the time of diagnosis with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). To provide information on the care recipient's behaviors, caregivers participated in an interview with the Modified Neuropsychiatric Inventory at diagnosis and at follow-up. Caregivers also completed a battery of established instruments to measure stress appraisal, mental health, and perceptions of their physical health at follow-up. Results showed that increases in problem behaviors among persons living with dementia, along with residence status, were significant predictors of caregivers' mental health and also their physical health. However, these relationships were mediated through stress appraisal. Variables such as MMSE score of the person with dementia, number of years caregiving, relationship status, and education level were not significant predictors of caregivers' health when behavior change was in the model.

Contexts and behavioral correlates of trill vocalizations in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus).

Primate vocalizations that appear to occur independently of specific contexts typically are considered to be contact calls. However, results from several recent studies indicate that these calls function to facilitate social interactions. White-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) emit a high-frequency vocalization, termed a "trill," in social interactions and during travel. In this study, immatures emitted most trills, but adult females also trilled; by contrast, adult males rarely trilled. Infants emitted the majority of trills, and they trilled at significantly higher rates than adult females. Infants trilled most when approaching other individuals. Furthermore, infants emitted proportionately more trills than other age classes when approaching other individuals. I therefore focused on the detailed context and immediate behavioral correlates of trilling by infants. Infants that trilled when approaching others tended to interact affiliatively with them subsequently (i.e., climbing on, touching, receiving grooming, and performing food inspection) more than infants that did not trill when approaching. Therefore, infant trilling may have had an immediate effect on the recipient's behavior.

Electronic mail versus printed text: the effects on recipients

Experiment 1 examined power of email communications, compared to equivalent printed communications, to influence a recipient's behaviour. 160 people were sent requests to volunteer for an experiment. Half received these requests through email and half on printed media through the internal mail. These groups were further subdivided into those who replied by internal or electronic mail. There was no evidence that an email message has less weight in persuading people to reply positively. The pattern of reply frequencies is completely explained by the relative effort required to reply. Experiment 2 examined recipients' reactions to email and print communications using rating scales. An email and printed text group were asked to rate two documents, a job application and a thank you note, on various qualities. While the content of the document had a significant effect on ratings, there was no evidence that recipients rate messages or their senders differently depending on the medium used. It is concluded that for this student population email has taken on many of the characteristics previously expected of print.

Threat appeals in social marketing: death as a ‘special case’

AbstractDeath is commonly used as a threat, both by fear‐appeal researchers and by social marketing and health promotion practitioners (eg ‘Quit smoking or you'll die’). Fear (or threat) appeal researchers have frequently used death to arouse fear, and particularly in the ‘high’ fear condition. It is argued here that death is a ‘special case’ threat, and that the introduction of death in high fear conditions is a confounder in that death is a qualitatively different negative outcome from the non‐death negative outcomes used in low fear conditions. The use of death in threat appeals requires attention in its own right for a number of reasons. First, death will occur eventually regardless of the message recipient's behaviour. Hence, messages that threaten death may arouse defensive responses in the target audience (eg ‘you've got to go sometime’), and unresolvable anxiety in the general population. Secondly, death can vary on a number of attributes (eg age at death, sudden versus prolonged, etc), and, while most threat appeals imply premature death, few studies have made this point explicit. Thirdly, the fear of death is multidimensional and some dimensions are more readily acknowledged as fearful than others. For example, a threat specifying the effect of one's death on loved ones might have more impact than a threat of death to oneself. Fourthly, people may fear death differently, or, for religious or other reasons, may not fear death at all. Furthermore, there may be age and gender differences in response to threat appeals using death. It is concluded that systematic research is required to determine whether and for whom death threats are effective. Copyright © 1999 Henry Stewart Publications

Persuasive communication: Marketing health promotion

How can nurses become more effective health educators? The message-learning approach to persuasive communication provides useful strategies for direct patient education and, when integrated with other teaching techniques, helps health educators promote change in the health behavior of their patients. IIIIIII N urses and physicians, in their role as helping professionals, serve as both educators and persuaders. ~ Persuasion is inherent in the efforts of these professionals to promote health. One means of enhancing the effectiveness of educators is to integrate specific persuasive communication strategies based on theories of social marketing and consumer behavior with other health education approaches. Persuasive communication is an interaction between the recipient of the message and the source of the message, who consciously tries to influence the recipient's attitudes or behaviors by means of a specifically designed persuasive message, z This article explores strategies based on the message-learning approach to persuasive communication that are applicable to nursing.

A model of the international arms market∗

Sales of arms are a significant component of international trade and raise a range of pressing policy issues. After a short review of the market, this paper provides a formal model of the trade which allows for competing forward‐looking suppliers whose welfare depends on both the economic benefits from the sales and the security repercussions of recipient behaviour. The recipient's behaviour depends on its military capability, a function of the stock of arms it has acquired. We first examine a myopic recipient, whose behaviour depends on current stocks, then a forward looking recipient for whom questions of the time‐consistency and the credibility of supplier threats to embargo or promises to resupply become crucial. Finally we examine the impact of supplier cooperation of the sort currently being discussed in the UN Security Council.

The Effects of Foreign Investment Upon Political Protest and Violence in Underdeveloped Societies

n recent years, scholarly attention increasingly has centered upon the political implications of the many economic linkages that evolved rapidly and multiplied since World War II. Keohane and Nye (1977) argue that these linkages created an interdependent world that structures: (1) the conduct of foreign policy and the exercise of power in international politics, and (2) the domestic political environment and the incidence of local political conflict. A considerable body of empirical research has developed to concentrate upon the first of these problems, with a number of scholars devoting their attention to the constraints that dependence places upon foreign policy behavior.' For example, Armstrong (1981) and Richardson (1978) examined the relationship between trade linkages and foreign policy conflict, Dolan et al. (1982) and Dolan and Tomlin (1984) studied the effects of dependence upon relations between dominant and subordinant states, Moon (1983, 1985) has focused upon the effects of foreign aid upon the recipient's behavior toward donor nations, and Rothgeb (1987) has investigated the role played by direct foreign investments in foreign policy making. The issues surrounding how dependence structures domestic politics been explored less and not led to much empirical research. This especially has been true of the study of the impact of dependence on domestic political conflict (Snyder 1978; Rogowski 1987). As Zimmermann (1983: 204-205) notes, external linkages have only begun to gain close attention as predictors of [domestic] political violence and instability. Stohl (1980: 325) and Gurr and Lichbach (1986: 32) con-

The Calls of the Red Squirrel: a Contextual Analysis of Function

I examined the context of occurrence of five calls used by adult red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) in the field, in an attempt to 1) determine whether rattles and screeches function as threat displays in the context of territorial defence; and 2) identify the possible function of those calls not involved in territorial defence. Focal squirrels were much more likely to approach aggressively, attack, or chase their opponents, and the latter much more likely to retreat, after the focal squirrels had screeched than when they did not screech. I interpret the screech as a threat call that honestly signals a territory owner's intention to chase out an intruder. The rattle, which SMITH (1978) considered to function in territorial defence, was not associated with aggression from the caller when used independently of the screech. It was significantly associated with courting approaches by males towards females during the mating season. In addition, the rattle occurred in association with screeches more often than expected, and the screech almost never occurred without rattles, suggesting that the functions of the two calls are linked. I discuss the evidence that the rattle is a self-advertisement signal, or signature. On the other hand, squirrels were less likely to be aggressive when they rattled and screeched if they also barked than if they did not; and recipients were concomitantly less likely to retreat, but not more likely to show aggression. I suggest that callers emitted barks after rattles and screeches in response to the other squirrel's not leaving after being threatened, rather than to signal a lower probability of aggression. Barks not accompanied by rattles or screeches had no predictable effect on either the caller's or the recipient's subsequent behaviour. I tentatively interpret the call as a signal emitted in motivational conflict situations, to elicit a change in the recipient's behaviour that would help the caller decide what to do next (HINDE, 1981). The growl was a defensive threat call that accompanied close-range aggression by the caller, but that was not followed by the immediate retreat of the opponent. Finally, the buzz was associated with non-aggressive approaches by the caller. I discuss the function of the screech in the light of the theory of animal conflicts, and suggest that it may convey information contingent upon the recipient's response (WILEY, 1983), rather than unconditional information.

Effects of Employment Relationship, Response of Recipient and Sex of Rater on Perceptions of Sexual Harassment

The effects of the employment relationship (superior vs coworker), recipient's response (positive vs negative), and sex of the rater (male vs female) on perceptions of sexual harassment, appropriateness of the initiator's behavior, and appropriateness of the recipient's behavior were investigated. Subjects were 82 female and 76 male undergraduate students. The results of a 2 × 2 × 2 multivariate analysis of variance indicated main effects for response of the recipient and sex of the rater. Univariate analyses indicated that women rated the initiator less favorably than men, that men perceived the situation as more harassing and approved of the recipient more than women when the recipient's responses were positive, although there was no difference between men and women when the recipient's responses were negative.

COMMUNICATOR-RECIPIENT SIMILARITY AND DECISION CHANGE.

municator is perceived to have had with an object, the more likely it is that the recipient's behavior with respect to the object will be modified by the communicator's influence attempts. The second hypothesis followed the aforementioned research on communicator- recipient similarity: to the extent that the recipient perceives that he and the communicator share an attribute, that is, have a similar relationship to an object, to that extent is the recipient's behavior with respect to the object likely to be modified by the communicator's influence attempts. The two forces, perceived communicator expertise and perceived communicator similarity, were pitted against one another by conducting a field experiment in which the communicator, for half the recipients, was perceived as similar but inexperienced while for the other half, he was perceived as dissimilar but experienced. METHOD