Distressful Empathy in Reading Literature: The Case for Terror Management Theory?

This article will investigate the extent to which predictions of Terror Management Theory also hold on reading literature. Indeed, death is ubiquitous in fiction. But does reading about it cause the same reactions as those predicted by Terror Management Theory? To answer this question, five reading experiments were carried out. The hypothesis, developed in the framework of Terror Management Theory, that direct confrontation with one’s mortality strengthens both prejudices against outsiders and enhances in-group values, was tested. Contrary to initial expectations, the results did not confirm the predictions, casting a shadow over the hypothesis of distressful empathy. This raises the question whether mortality salience in literary texts is different from other such confrontations. This leads us to the question why people indulge in such distressful emotions. It will be argued that confrontation with death in literature may actually relieve the tension produced by mortality reminders. This perspective may be linked to Aristotle’s notion of catharsis.Статтю присвячено вивченню ступеня придатності висновків теорії керування страхом смерті до читання художнього тексту. Насправді, у літературі опис смерті є непоодиноким, але чи викликає читання про смерть ті ж самі реакції, про які постулюється у теорії керування страхом смерті? Щоб отримати відповідь на таке запитання авторами було проведення п’ять експериментів, у яких перевірялася гіпотеза, розроблена у межах теорії керування страхом смерті, про те, що безпосереднє зіткнення із смертністю підсилює упередженість по відношенню до чужинців і підвищує внутрішньогрупові цінності. На відміну від наших очікувань, результати експериментів не підтвердили таке припущення, і це ставить під сумнів гіпотезу про трагічну емпатію. Постає питання про те, чи відрізняється усвідомлення власної смертності, яке викликає художня література, від інших випадків зіткнення зі смертю, і це викликає запитання, чому читачі прагнуть зануритися у настільки трагічні емоції. Автори статті роблять припущення про те, що зіткнення зі смертю у художньому тексті може зменшити психологічне напруження, яке зазвичай викликають інші нагадування про смерть, і така перспектива може бути пов’язана із аристотелівським поняттям катарсису

Experimenting with Cigarettes and Physical Activity Among Mexican Origin Youth: A Cross Sectional Analysis of the Interdependent Associations Among Sensation Seeking, Acculturation, and Gender

Sensation seeking tendencies tend to manifest during adolescence and are associated with both health-compromising behaviors and health-enhancing behaviors. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between sensation seeking and physical activity, a health-enhancing behavior, and between sensation seeking and experimenting with cigarettes, a health compromising-behavior, among a cohort of Mexican origin adolescents residing in the United States with different levels of acculturation. Methods: In 2009, 1,154 Mexican origin youth (50.5% girls, mean age 14.3 years (SD = 1.04)) provided data on smoking behavior, physical activity, linguistic acculturation, and sensation seeking. We conducted Pearson's chi(2) tests to examine the associations between categorical demographic characteristics (i.e. gender, age, country of birth and parental educational attainment) and both cigarette experimentation and physical activity and Student's t-tests to examine mean differences on the continuous variables (i.e. sensation seeking subscale) by the behaviors. We examined mean differences in the demographic characteristics, acculturation, and both behaviors for each of the sensation seeking subscales using analysis of variance (ANOVA). To examine relationships between the sensation seeking subscales, gender, and both behaviors, at different levels of acculturation we completed unconditional logistic regression analyses stratified by level of acculturation. Results: Overall, 23.3% had experimented with cigarettes and 29.0% reported being physically active for at least 60 minutes/day on at least 5 days/week. Experimenting with cigarettes and being physically active were more prevalent among boys than girls. Among girls, higher levels of sensation seeking tendencies were associated with higher levels of acculturation and experimentation with cigarettes, but not with physical activity. Among boys, higher levels of sensation seeking tendencies were associated with higher levels of acculturation, experimenting with cigarettes and being physically active. Conclusions: Our results suggest that interventions designed to prevent smoking among Mexican origin youth may need to address social aspects associated with acculturation, paying close attention to gendered manifestations of sensation seeking.National Cancer Institute CA105203, CA126988Caroline W. Law Fund for Cancer PreventionDan Duncan Family Institute for Cancer Prevention and Risk AssessmentCenter for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Population

Literature as Mortality Salience?

The term ‘empathy’ is associated with positive values in western cultures: it is generally thought good if people feel empathetic, and children are standardly brought up to take feelings of other people into consideration. But what if empathy is distressful? Literary authors are often quite adept at describing situations or events which may evoke extremely strong empathetic emotions. Concerning such emotions, two questions will be raised in this paper. First, why is it that people seek out such powerful yet distressing emotions? Secondly, what are the effects of being exposed to such literary descriptions evoking distressful empathy? To answer the latter, the results of a reading experiment will be presented. The hypothesis, developed in the framework of Terror Management Theory, that direct confrontation with one’s mortality strengthens both prejudices against outsiders and in-group values, will be tested. The results will be compared with earlier work, in which this hypothesis, contrary to the bulk of work in Terror Management Theory, could not be confirmed. This raises the question whether mortality confrontation in literary texts is different from other such confrontations. This leads back to the first question, namely why people indulge in such distressful emotions. It will be argued that art and literature indeed provide special outlets for the ‘terror’ created by the consciousness of one’s mortality. Whereas such reminders of one’s finality may indeed strengthen prevailing world views within a culture (and the concomitant rejection of outsiders’ values), in literature such confrontation may actually relieve the tension produced by mortality reminders. This perspective on literature as an outlet for distressful empathy may be linked to Aristotle’s notion of catharsis, which, however, may be in need of a new specification

Distressful Empathy: The Case for Terror Management Theory?

The talk will investigate the extent to which predictions of Terror Management Theory can be corroborated through reading literature. Concerning such emotions, two questions will be raised. First, why is it that people seek out such powerful yet distressing emotions concerning the description and evocation of death? Secondly, what are the effects of being exposed to such literary descriptions evoking distressful empathy, especially whether they can be predicted through the use of Terror Management Theory

The challenges of hypervolemic therapy in patients after subarachnoid haemorrhage

Purpose The triple-H therapy is widely used for cerebral vasospasm (CV) prevention and treatment in patients after subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). However, this practice is based on low level evidence. Aim of this study was to evaluate errors in fluid administration, fluid balance monitoring and bedside charts completeness during a trial of triple-H therapy. Materials and methods An audit of the SAH patient charts was performed. A total of 508 fluid measurements were performed in 41 patients (6 with delayed cerebral ischaemia; DCI) during 14 days of observation. Results Underestimating for intravenous drugs was the most frequent error (80.6%; 112), resulting in a false positive fluid balance in 2.4% of estimations. In 38.6% of the negative fluid balance cases, the physicians did not order additional fluids for the next 24h. In spite of that, the fluid intake was significantly increased after DCI diagnosis. The mean and median intake values were 3.5 and 3.8l/24h respectively, although 40% of the fluid balances were negative. The positive to negative fluid balance ratio was decreasing in the course of the 14 day observation. Conclusions This study revealed inconsistencies in the fluid orders as well as mistakes in the fluid monitoring, which illustrates the difficulties of fluid therapy and reinforces the need for strong evidence-based guidelines for hypervolemic therapy in SAH

The Iowa Homemaker vol.22, no.7

Keeping Up With Today, Virginia Brainard, page 2 Dear Homemaker Staff, Ensign Eleanor White, page 3 American Schools Hit Wartime Stride, Joyce Curley, page 5 Vicky Dame Fashion… and You, Mary Lou Springer, page 6 What’s New in Home Economics, Helen Horton, page 8 Who’s Who on the Campus, Grace Brown, page 10 We Recommend, Eileen Dudgeon, page 11 I’m a Homemaking Jill-of-all-trades, Anna Keppy, page 12 Notions Department, Marian Loofe, page 14 Across Alumnae Desks, Mary Ellen Sullivan, page 1

Jugend 2016: Mediales Freizeitverhalten

van Bebber-Beeg K, Blümke L, Budak M, Grod A-M, Kröger E-T, Springer N. Jugend 2016: Mediales Freizeitverhalten. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld, Fakultät für Erziehungswissenschaften; 2017

Mobile Air Quality Studies (MAQS) - an international project

Due to an increasing awareness of the potential hazardousness of air pollutants, new laws, rules and guidelines have recently been implemented globally. In this respect, numerous studies have addressed traffic-related exposure to particulate matter using stationary technology so far. By contrast, only few studies used the advanced technology of mobile exposure analysis. The Mobile Air Quality Study (MAQS) addresses the issue of air pollutant exposure by combining advanced high-granularity spatial-temporal analysis with vehicle-mounted, person-mounted and roadside sensors. The MAQS-platform will be used by international collaborators in order 1) to assess air pollutant exposure in relation to road structure, 2) to assess air pollutant exposure in relation to traffic density, 3) to assess air pollutant exposure in relation to weather conditions, 4) to compare exposure within vehicles between front and back seat (children) positions, and 5) to evaluate "traffic zone"- exposure in relation to non-"traffic zone"-exposure. Primarily, the MAQS-platform will focus on particulate matter. With the establishment of advanced mobile analysis tools, it is planed to extend the analysis to other pollutants including including NO2, SO2, nanoparticles, and ozone