States Of Self Research Articles

Repetitions and cycles in stratigraphy

Stratigraphic sections show repetitions of similar or identical conditions on all scales from millimeters to many hundreds of meters, representing time intervals from possibly seconds to many millions of years. Any such repetitions have been called cycles. To understand the reason why cycles occur, a time scale is essential. Beds can be with or without time information: the latter are known as event stratifications. The event, which triggers the formation of beds or any succession of sediments, could be a random effect, or it could be part of a mechanism in which cyclic behaviour is due to an oscillating physical system. Such systems are dynamic systems, which means that they involve the transport of masses over distances and in definite time intervals. Cycles generated by such systems can be used as time units. A special example is the earth solar system which can generate cycles from daily periods to orbital variations of thousands and millions of years. Orbital variations are known as Milankovitch cycles and they are the subject of cyclostratigraphy proper. The recognition of Milankovitch cycles or of any other cycle associated with oscillating systems, rests on the regularity or time periodicity of such patterns. The correct ways of analysing such cycles are the methods of time series analysis. Repetition patterns representing time intervals of millions and possibly many hundreds of millions of years, are known from sequence stratigraphy. We know as yet very little about the mechanisms which generate such long periods of repetition. It has been suggested that the earth's crust has reached a state of self organized criticality (Bak, P., 1996. How nature works. Springer, New York, 212 pp.), in which case sequence formation could be part of the complexity which undoubtedly is an attribute of the earth's crust and history.

ATTACHMENT AND BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER: A Theory and Some Evidence

An attachment theory approach to severe personality disorder is described. Evidence is presented that suggests that representations of attachment relationships and attachment behaviors of patients with this diagnosis are commonly disorganized in character. It is argued that the capacity to develop mental representations of mental states in self and other (reflective function) develops in the context of attachment relationships and that disorganization of attachment undermines this process. Such disorganization can be associated with trauma but may also be linked to other biological and psychosocial deficits. Many of the clinical characteristics of patients with borderline personality disorder may be seen as consequences of disordered self-organization and a limited rudimentary capacity to think about behavior in mental state terms. The relevance of this model for the practice of psychotherapy with this group of patients is discussed.

Attachment and reflective function: their role in self-organization.

The paper traces the relationship between attachment processes and the development of the capacity to envision mental states in self and others. We suggest that the ability to mentalize, to represent behavior in terms of mental states, or to have "a theory of mind" is a key determinant of self-organization which is acquired in the context of the child's early social relationships. Evidence for an association between the quality of attachment relationship and reflective function in the parent and the child is reviewed and interpreted in the context of current models of theory of mind development. A model of the development of self-organization is proposed which has at its core the caregiver's ability to communicate understanding of the child's intentional stance. The implications of the model for pathological self-development are explored, with specific reference to the consequences of maltreatment.

A study on the developmental process of personal and social orientedness in relation to changes in loneliness types

The main purpose of this study was to examine the developmental process of personal and social orientedness in young adults in relation to changes in loneliness types. Two hundred and sixty-two male and 416 female college students completed the loneliness, personal and social orientedness, and self-esteem scales. They were classified into four loneliness types (by Ochiai, 1983), and Type A (Loneliness from conformity to others) and D (Loneliness from independence) were compared, in accordance with a previous finding that youths tend to change from the former to latter. Although students of the two types scores was high for Type A, but was not significant for Type D. Second, self-esteem was correlated with only personal orientedness for Type A, but with both scores of orientedness for Type D. It is argued from the results that in the development of personal and social orientedness in young adults, the stage where the self emerges from a fused state of self and other, evolves on the basis of self-other independence, to the stage where both personal and social orientedness become important after only personal orientedness has played a central role.

Cognitive influences on perceived change in social support, motivation, and symptoms of depression

AbstractIn settings ranging from informal conversation to medical interviews and surveys, people are often asked to judge changes in subjective states that are important to them, such as perceived social support, motivation to cope with a negative life event, and symptoms of depression. How accurate are such reports, and are there theories of cognitive processes that can predict the most likely types of misperception? To address these questions, self‐report survey data were collected from 224 recently unemployed adults. The measures assessed current subjective states of self and social environment at two times, separated by 4 months. Among the results, persons with high self‐esteem were particularly likely to underestimate changes for the worse between the two survey waves–evidence of an optimistic response bias. When the dimension being judged was unstable and ambiguous, people were more likely to overestimate improvement–evidence of an optimistic response style. The findings were evaluated in terms of alternate theories of cognitive bias and in terms of implications for subsequent studies and application.

Knowledge of the psychological states of self and others is not only theory-laden but also data-driven

Knowledge of the psychological states of self and others is not only theory-laden but also data-driven

Oestrogen receptor of mammary gland. Inhibition of aggregation and characterization of receptor from lactating gland in the presence of sodium bromide.

1. When NaBr, a chaotropic salt, is added, in concentrations ranging from 0.5m to 2m, to low-salt mammary cytosol, (i) age-dependent aggregation of oestrogen receptor is inhibited, (ii) the receptor sediments as a sharp peak at 4.2S on sucrose-gradient centrifugation, with complete disappearance of heavier forms, and (iii) on gel filtration with Sephadex G-200, the receptor is included in the gel matrix. On a calibrated column, the receptor has a Stokes radius of 3.7nm (+/-6%). 2. Because NaBr inhibits interaction of receptor with other components of cytosol, the values of the sedimentation coefficient, measured by sucrose-gradient sedimentation, and of the Stokes radius, measured by gel filtration, can be accepted with confidence. From these values, it can be computed that the oestrogen-receptor form in NaBr has a mol.wt. of 64000, with a frictional ratio of 1.4. 3. Also, inhibition of aggregation by NaBr allows a 30-90-fold purification of oestrogen receptor. Analysis of this partially purified receptor by sucrose-gradient sedimentation and gel filtration in NaBr gives the same results as for receptor in crude cytosol. On electrofocusing on a pH5-8 gradient, the partially purified oestrogen receptor focuses at pH6.2. On removal of NaBr, receptor aggregates even in this partially purified state. It seems likely that at the protein and ionic concentrations of cytoplasm in vivo, the 64000-mol.wt. receptor form is part of higher states of self- and/or hetero-association with other cytoplasmic components. 4. NaBr up to a concentration of 2m does not inhibit binding of oestrogen by receptor, nor does it decrease the affinity of the interaction (K(D) approximately 8.9x10(-10)m). The total number of binding sites in cytosol, however, decreases by approx. 10%, but this decrease may actually be the result of elimination of lower-affinity binding by non-receptor components of cytosol. 5. NaSCN, another chaotropic salt, was also tested but gave less satisfactory results with the mammary cytosol than with uterine cytosol. EDTA was omitted from the buffers because it favours aggregation of mammary oestrogen receptor. KCl (0.4m), sucrose (15%) and ZnSO(4) (3mm) did not prevent aggregation of receptor.

Color Center Formation and Bleaching in KCl and NaCl by Electron Pulse at 15°K

Primary effects of ionizing radiation in alkali halides have been studied by the pulsed electron beam. In KCl, F and H centers are produced mainly by a fast process as reported previously. The half width of the F band, however, was ∼0.3 eV at ∼20 ns after the electron shot and decreased to ∼0.18 eV at ∼10 µS. The fast process as well as the wide half width of the F band suggest that the primary products are not negative ion vacancies and charged interstitials, but F and H centers. In NaCl most F centers are produced by a slow process within about 1 µS due to the trapping of an electron at a negative ion vacancy. Absorption bands considered to originate from triplet states of self trapped excitons are observed at 660 mµ and 610 mµ in KCl and NaCl, respectively. In connection with the decay time of these bands and with the growth time of the F band, mechanism of the F center formation is discussed.