Responses Of Others Research Articles

Induction of cognate and non-cognate T-cell help for B-cell IgE production in relation to CD40 ligand expression.

Nonactivated, fixed peripheral blood T cells (PBT) from healthy donors or patients with X-linked-hyper-IgM (HIGM) syndrome, or cloned T cells provided effective help for tonsillar B lymphocytes for induction of IgE or other immunoglobulin (Ig) isotypes. Helper activity was mediated by staphylococcal superantigens adsorbed to the T cells prior to fixation and required presence of IL-4 in the cultures. We demonstrated that the T cells neither expressed detectable CD40 ligand at the beginning of the superantigen treatment nor 24 h later. Phorbol ester (PMA) plus Ca-ionophore treatment efficiently induced CD40L. Such T cells did not, however, provide any help for B-cell activation in some experiments or stimulated only low responses in others. Antibodies against CD2, CD3 and ICAM-1 adsorbed to fixed T cells prior to coculturing inhibited helper activity. A soluble CTLA4 construct was also inhibitory. Our results suggest a pathway of B-cell activation independent of CD40L expressed on T cells.

The third person effect: Social distance and perceived media bias

AbstractTwo studies were conducted to determine the conditions under which the third person effect (Davison, 1983) operates. It was hypothesized that the effect would be accentuated as target groups of others became more remote from the self. A second objective was to determine whether the effect operates in the absence of overtly persuasive intent in the media. Television programmes concerned with moral themes were employed as stimuli. The results further support Davison's claim that overestimation of media effects is greater when people imagine the responses of others whom they do not know than those of familar individuals. The results also indicate that the third person effect does operate in the absence of perceived persuasive intent, but is accentuated when bias is perceived by viewers.

Mothers' Solutions to Childrearing Problems: Conditions and Processes

Parenting style is the constellation of parental perspectives about childrearing that create a context in which parenting behaviors are expressed (Smetana, 1995). Much has been written about parenting styles and their consequences for a child's academic and social competence and adaptive behavior (Baumrind, 1971, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1994; Clark, 1983; Dornbusch, Ritter, Leiderman, Roberts, & Fraleigh, 1987; Dumas & LeFreniere, 1993; Maccoby Martin, 1983; Panzarine, 1989; Smetana, 1995; Steinberg, Lamborn, Darling, Mounts, & Dornbusch, 1994). However, little is known about parental behaviors that are likely to be components of parenting styles. When one of these styles, labeled authoritative by Baumrind (1971), is operative, the parent is responsive to the child, encourages and firmly supports a child's striving for autonomy, and guides the child's activities. Another parenting style, labeled authoritarian by Baumrind, is characterized by attempts to control the child's behavior and to curb autonomy when the child's actions conflict with the parent's standards of acceptable behavior. A parent's handling of childrearing problems is one type of behavior that is likely to underlie parental styles. Childrearing problems are common, everyday occurrences, and tend to be generated, from a parent's perspective, by the child's behavior or the responses of others to the child's behavior in home, neighborhood, or school activities. A childrearing problem provides a setting in which a mother enacts a style of parenting and, in the process, instigates and shapes the child's cognitive and personal-social development (Bronfenbrenner, 1993). The problem-solving processes a mother uses and the solutions she generates in response to a childrearing problem can be viewed as components of parenting style. These processes and solutions structure the child's learning and ultimately shape how the child problem solves interpersonal problems (Bronfenbrenner, 1993; Rogoff & Garner, 1984). The purpose of this article is to explore the problem-solving processes and solutions that a mother generates in response to childrearing problems and the links among processes and solutions. In particular, we are interested in types of solutions that are consistent with a parenting style that nurtures and supports a child' s personal and cognitive development. QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF SOLUTIONS Two aspects of solutions generated for everyday problems -- quantity and quality -- are associated with clinically important outcomes. Both aspects of solution generation are likely to be dimensions of parenting styles. The quantity of solutions generated for practical, everyday problems, such as childrearing problems, has consistently predicted adaptive behavioral and emotional responses for the problem solver and positive relationships with others (Heppne & Krauskopf, 1987; Nezu, Nezu, & Perri, 1989; Shure, 1988). Azar, Robinson, Hekinans, and Twentyman (1984) found that mothers who maltreated their children did not generate as many solutions to typical childrearing problems as mothers who did not maltreat their children. Generation of a number of solutions to a problem indicates flexibility of thought and resourcefulness, supports persistence in problem solving, and increases the chances of success in resolving the problem (Nezu, Nezu, & Perri, 1989; Shure, 1988). Furthermore, generation of a number of solutions may underlie a style of parenting that is responsive to the child and supportive of the child's development, whereas generation of only one or a few solutions may be a marker of a parenting style that controls the child's behavior and limits autonomy. The quality of a mother's solutions to childrearing problems may be gauged by whether or not the solution potentially assists the child in understanding the mother's expectations, in learning approaches to and gaining experience in problem solving, and in gaining a sense of efficacy and worth as a member of the family and community. …

Perception, expression, and social function of pain: a human ethological view.

Pain has important biomedical, socioanthropological, semiotic, and other facets. In this contribution pain and the expression of pain are looked at from the perspective of evolutionary biology, utilizing, among others, cross-cultural data from field work in Melanesia. No other being cares for sick and suffering conspecifics in the way humans do. Notwithstanding aggression and neglect, common in all cultures, human societies can be characterized as empathic, comforting, and promoting the health and sell-being of their members. One important stimulus triggering this caring response in others is the expression of pain. The nonverbal channel of communication, particularly certain universal--i.e., culture-independent facial expressions, gestures, and body postures, convey much of the message from the pain-stricken person to the group. These behaviors signal the person's physical and psychical pain, sadness, grief, and despair in ways very similar to the signs given by infants and small children: the body loses tonus and sinks or drops to the ground, the gestures are those of helplessness. Pain and grief may be so strong that control is lost not only over the body's posture but also over the mind's awareness. In such cases the afflicted person may carry out actions endangering himself or others. In general, these behavior patterns resemble those of infants in situations of distress and danger, and it is not surprising that the response of the members of the group is basically parental: taking care, assisting and consoling. Perceptive and behavioral patterns which developed in the course of avian and mammalian phylogeny to serve the well-being of the young have proven, as was shown by Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1989), to be powerful building blocks for actions in other spheres of human interaction. Love is one such field, the reactions to a conspecific suffering pain is another.

Personal therapy: a disorder-relevant psychotherapy for schizophrenia.

While the long-term care of ambulatory schizophrenia patients requires highly effective interpersonal treatment skills among clinicians, there is little evidence to support an empirically validated individual psychotherapy of schizophrenia. Personal therapy (PT) attempts to address the apparent limitations of traditional psychotherapy by modifying the "model of the person" to accommodate an underlying pathophysiology, minimizing potential iatrogenic effects of maintenance antipsychotic medication, controlling sources of environmental provocation, and extending therapy to a time when crisis management has lessened and stabilization is better ensured. By means of graduated, internal coping strategies, PT attempts to provide a growing awareness of personal vulnerability, including the "internal cues" of affect dysregulation. The goals are to increase foresight through the accurate appraisal of emotional states, their appropriate expression, and assessment of the reciprocal response of others. The strategies are supplemented by phase-specific psychoeducation and behavior therapy techniques. Practical issues in the application of this new intervention are discussed. Preliminary observations from two samples of patients, one living with and the other living independent of family, suggest differential improvement over time among PT recipients.

Burnout, Uncertainty, and the Desire for Social Comparison Among Nurses

A study was conducted among 295 nurses to examine the interest in social comparison information, that is, the desire to learn more about the feelings and responses of others facing a similar situation. Occupational burnout, in particular emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment and uncertainty, had independent relationships with the interest in social comparison information. Comparison preferences were strongly upward; there was in general a stronger preference for information about others who were better off than for affiliation with such others. There was also a stronger preference for comparison with more experienced than with more competent others. However, better‐off others were avoided relatively more by those high in burnout, especially by those high in reduced personal accomplishment. The results are discussed in the context of social comparison as a way of coping with stress, and self‐improvement and self‐protection as motives for social comparison.

Actual Causes of Death in the United States-Reply

In Reply. —The letters published here and the direct responses of others have been helpful in broadening the look at actual causes of death. Drs Tyson and Detmer point out the problems with death certificate classifications' obscuring true etiologies. In addition, fashions change making it even more difficult to interpret time trends. We support efforts to improve death certificate classifications. Dr Blackman points out the problem of determining how much of the firearm-related death tragedy in this country is actually alcohol-related. In the absence of good alcohol data, we decided we could not disaggregate the two risks in a meaningful way. His comment that most premature deaths would still have occurred, simply by other means is contradicted by all of the death trend data. It is the decline in premature mortality that has dramatically increased life expectancy both in developed and developing countries. Mr Lincoln questions the relationship of tobacco

Healthy Older Women-

Health in older women in this discussion is considered from four perspectives of fitness: (a) physical, (b) intellectual, (c) social and (d) purpose. The important point is that it is not health, per se, which is so crucial in women's later lives, but rather their attitudes and their coping strategies to meet new situations, losses and crises. In addition, the responses of others, including professionals, are important in enabling older women to live productive lives in spite of adversity. Examples of positive models of women growing old with varying degrees of health problems are provided.

Caught in the Crossfire: Depression, Self-Consistency, Self-Enhancement, and the Response of Others

We proposed and tested an integration of Coyne's (1976b) interpersonal theory of depression with work on the interplay between self-enhancement and self-consistency theory (e.g., Swann, Griffin, Predmore, & Gaines, 1987). Students' levels of depressive symptoms, reassurance-seeking, and negative feedback-seeking were assessed at Time 1 and their same-gender roommates' appraisals of them were assessed five weeks later. In line with our conceptualization, we found that depressed students reported engaging in more self-enhancing reassurance-seeking and more self-consistent negative feedback-seeking than nondepressed students at Time 1

Attachment and Perceived Social Support in Late Adolescence

Research has shown that self-perceptions are associated with perceived social support. Attachment theory suggests that perceptions of social support are afunction of two types of internal working models: model of self (beliefs about self-worth) and model of others (beliefs about the availability and responsiveness of others). This study investigated the relationship between models of self and others and perceived social support. Undergraduates (143 females, 73 males) completed questionnaires assessing attachment to parents andfriends and perceived social support. Analyses confirmed that individuals reporting positive models of both self and others (secure attachment) also reported the highest levels of perceived social supportfrom parents andfriends and attachment tofriends. A negative model of self or other (insecure attachment) had a negative impact on perceived social support and attachment to friends. A negative model of self had a particularly negative impact on attachment to friends for males.

A Scheme and Variations for Studies of Social Influence in an Experimental Social Psychology Laboratory

This article describes a research paradigm for use in undergraduate laboratory experiments on social influence. The method is adapted from White (1975), who compared the responses of control subjects on a survey question to those of experimental subjects who were first exposed to the contrived responses of others to the same question. I review how students in an undergraduate social psychology laboratory use this method, demonstrate the reliability of the influence effect obtained, and discuss the educational value of this research paradigm.

On the strategic inconsistency of the meta-rights approach

Among many attempts to circumvent Sen's impossibility result Gibbard's theory of alienable rights has attracted attention of many researchers. Basu's (1984) theorem essentially depends on a Nash-type equilibrium concept. In this paper we introduce an alternative behavioral assumption where individuals have “conjectures” about the responses of others and investigate the robustness of Basu's result under this new solution concept. We also examine a possibility of coalition formation and cooperation under the “meta-rights approach.”

A direct proof of the existence of pure strategy equilibria in games with a continuum of players

In this note we provide a direct and simple proof of the existence of pure strategy Nash equilibria in large finite action games when the payoffs depend on own action and the average response of others. The result is then extended to the case where the action set of each player is a compact subset of ℜn.

Identification of target antigens for the human cytotoxic T cell response to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV): implications for the immune control of EBV-positive malignancies.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a human herpes virus with oncogenic potential, persists in B lymphoid tissues and is controlled by virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) surveillance. On reactivation in vitro, these CTLs recognize EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) in an HLA class I antigen-restricted fashion, but the viral antigens providing target epitopes for such recognition remain largely undefined. Here we have tested EBV-induced polyclonal CTL preparations from 16 virus-immune donors on appropriate fibroblast targets in which the eight EBV latent proteins normally found in LCLs (Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen [EBNA] 1, 2, 3A, 3B, 3C, leader protein [LP], and latent membrane protein [LMP] 1 and 2) have been expressed individually from recombinant vaccinia virus vectors. Most donors gave multicomponent responses with two or more separate reactivities against different viral antigens. Although precise target antigen choice was clearly influenced by the donor's HLA class I type, a subset of latent proteins, namely EBNA 3A, 3B, and 3C, provided the dominant targets on a range of HLA backgrounds; thus, 15 of 16 donors gave CTL responses that contained reactivities to one or more proteins of this subset. Examples of responses to other latent proteins, namely LMP 2 and EBNA 2, were detected through specific HLA determinants, but we did not observe reactivities to EBNA 1, EBNA LP, or LMP 1. The bulk polyclonal CTL response in one donor, and components of that response in others, did not map to any of the known latent proteins, suggesting that other viral target antigens remain to be identified. This work has important implications for CTL control over EBV-positive malignancies where virus gene expression is often limited to specific subsets of latent proteins.

School-aged children's interpretation of their experience with acute surgical pain.

This study examined the intensity of pain children experience following surgical procedures, the relationship between analgesic administration patterns and perceived level of pain, and children's affective, cognitive, and sensory interpretation of their experiences with pain. The sample included 24 children between 7 and 11 years of age who were hospitalized after abdominal, orthopedic, or urologic surgery. Children rated the intensity of their pain on a visual analog scale three times on the day after surgery. A chart review examined analgesic administration. On the third day after surgery, children were interviewed about their experiences with pain. The findings provide insight into the content of children's fears and concerns when they have postoperative pain, and how they interpret their responses and the responses of others in the management of their pain experience.

Human T cell responses to purified pollen allergens of the grass, Lolium perenne. Analysis of relationship between structural homology and T cell recognition.

The in vitro proliferative response to purified allergens of the grass, Lolium perenne pollens was studied using PBMC from individuals allergic to grass pollens and Ag-specific T cell lines and T cell clones derived from them. The PBMC from all 10 subjects studied showed a strong response to Lol p I and most of them (8 of 10) also responded to Lol p III. Although Lol p II induced a moderate response in 4 of 10 individuals, it did not induce any response in others at all the Ag concentrations tested. However, one of the subjects (JH) responded to, besides Lol p I, both Lol p II and Lol p III equally well. Analysis of Ag-specific T cell lines and clones derived from three individuals showed varied pattern of reactivity to the Lol p allergens. Some of the Lol p III-specific T cell lines and clones were also stimulated by Lol p I and similarly, some of the Lol p I-specific T cell clones (derived from four other subjects) were stimulated by Lol p III; thus showing a two-way cross-reactivity between those T cells. In both cases, the cross-reactivity to Lol p II, when observed, was lower than that seen with Lol p I and Lol p III. Comparison of amino acid sequences of the three Lol p proteins revealed a significant level of structural similarity among them, including several segments of identical sequences. Although one of the synthetic peptides of Lol p III sharing appreciable sequence homology with other proteins stimulated PBMC from two subjects, three other peptides did not. Nevertheless, these studies indicated the possible existence of cross-reactive T cell epitope(s) among the grass pollen allergens. Based on these results, the relationship between amino acid sequence homology among the Lol p proteins and their recognition by T cells is discussed.

Embracing the Bitter “Truth”: Negative Self-Concepts and Marital Commitment

We propose that because self-concepts allow people to predict (and thus control) the responses of others, people want to find support for their self-concepts. They accordingly gravitate toward relationship partners who see them as they see themselves. For people with negative self-views, this means embracing relationship partners who derogate them. Our findings confirmed this reasoning. Just as persons with positive self-concepts were more committed to spouses who thought well of them than to spouses who thought poorly of them, persons with negative self-concepts were more committed to spouses who thought poorly of them than to spouses who thought well of them.

Supportive and unsupportive responses of others to rape victims: Effects on concurrent victim adjustment

Evaluated the impact that actions of significant others have on adjustment following rape. Significant other behavior is conceptualized as having two dimensions--supportive behavior and unsupportive behavior--and each dimension was measured using multiple items. Unsupportive behavior, but not supportive behavior, was found to bear a significant association to victim adjustment. Implications for those who work with victims are discussed.

WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS?

This article examines the process of role-making for volunteers who work with teenage mothers. The volunteer role provides an illustration of how the interaction of organizational and individual factors affects the construction of roles. This study seeks to discover the relationship between role definitions and role enactments by focusing on the actors' starting role definitions and the events that influence their subsequent behavior. The author studied volunteers, who were known as family friends, in one program, through participant observation as a volunteer and through 25 in-depth interviews with other volunteers and program personnel. It was found that while the organization had a rather static definition of the family friend role, based on the program's ideology and its original conception of what family friends should do, the volunteers adapted the role to their own experiences. Those who felt that they had fulfilled the role satisfactorily were able to develop close relationships with the young mothers. Those who were not satisfied with their role-making had encountered various barriers that inhibited the development of friendships. The role-making process is thus interactional, shaped not only by structural and organizational conditions but by the responses of others within the setting.

The Effects of Newspaper Reports on the Public's Response to a Natural Hazard Event

The literature on environmental hazards suggests that media reports constitute a major source of information upon which people base their responses. However, the effect of media reports on responses is neither direct nor simple. Variables such as prior experience, the responses of others, selectivity in attention, and various characteristics of the content of media reports interact to influence responses. On the basis of the extant literature on media and hazards, we construct a model of the effect of media reports on the public's response to a natural hazard event. We test various hypotheses derived from this model by examining a salt water intrusion in the Mississippi River that affected drinking water in the New Orleans metropolitan area in the summer of 1088. Using time series analysis, we examine the effect of various characteristics of local newspaper stories on bottled water sales throughout the intrusion period. The results suggest that in the absence of personal experience, people are more likely to respond to media reports regardless of personal relevance or seriousness of the consequences of the hazard events reported by the media. When people possess personal experience, they are more selective in their attention and response to media reports. The results also suggest that people use media reports of others’ behaviors as cues to appropriate responses. We discuss the conceptual and methodological implications of these results for future research.