The Physiology of Apology: An Investigation into Potential Sex Differences

Current literature on apology indicates that men and women differ in the types of apologies they offer and accept. In a recent study, Whited, Wheat, and Larkin (2010) showed that males and females may also experience differing physiological benefits following an apology. The purpose of the current study was to replicate the experimental study by Whited et al. and extend it by examining two different types of apologies. This study employed a 2 (men, women) X 3 (elaborate apology, simple apology, no apology) between subjects design to determine whether sex of participant and type of apology influenced the rate of cardiovascular and affective recovery from a standard experimental transgression. Seventy-Seven participants performed a mental arithmetic task during which they were verbally harassed by the experimenter. Following the task/verbal harassment, participants received either an elaborate apology, a simple apology, or no apology from the experimenter, followed by a 10-minute recovery period. Blood pressure [systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP), mean arterial (MAP)], heart rate (HR), and heart rate variability (HF-HRV) were measured throughout the experiment. Findings indicated that participant sex and type of apology did not influence SBP, DBP, MAP, or HR recovery. However, a significant type of apology by sex of participant interaction was detected for a measure of parasympathetic nervous system recovery, HF-HRV. Women randomized to the elaborate apology condition recovered more quickly than women in the simple apology condition, and men in the simple apology condition recovered more quickly than women in the simple apology condition. Although findings failed to replicate the work of Whited et al., new clues were discovered regarding how men and women respond to different types of apologies

Dispositional Optimism and Autonomic Reactivity during Difficult and Easy Stress Tasks

Studies examining the association between dispositional optimism and autonomic reactivity to stress have yielded mixed results, with some studies finding associations between optimism and less reactivity, some studies finding no association between optimism and reactivity, and some finding that optimism was associated with greater reactivity. One factor not considered previously in this literature is difficulty of the stressful task employed to elicit autonomic reactivity. The current study was based on Carver and Scheier\u27s Behavioral Self-Regulation Model (Carver & Scheier, 2000), that states that optimists are more likely to persist in overcoming challenging obstacles than pessimists. The current study investigated whether the relation between optimism and autonomic reactivity to stress differed depending on the difficulty of the stressful task. This study employed a quasi-experimental design in which participants were classified as optimists or pessimists based on their score on a validated measure of optimism. Participants were randomized to complete either an easy Raven\u27s Matrices stress task or a difficult Raven\u27s Matrices stress task. Blood pressure (systolic, diastolic, mean arterial), heart rate, and heart rate variability were measured throughout the pre-task rest period, the task period, and a recovery period. It was hypothesized that optimists would exhibit increased cardiovascular reactivity when confronting a difficult stress task compared to pessimists, due to fully engaging their resources to overcome the task. Conversely, pessimists were hypothesized to exhibit less cardiovascular reactivity during the difficult task, because they were not fully engaged in solving the problems. No differences in cardiovascular reactivity between optimists and pessimists were hypothesized during the easy task, because both groups would be equally engaged with the task.;Results revealed that optimists had greater diastolic blood pressure reactivity to both the easy and difficult stress tasks compared to pessimists, suggesting they may have been more engaged with the tasks compared to pessimists. Indeed, optimists reported being more persistent in completing the problems and performing better on them compared to pessimists. Analysis of affective responses to the tasks showed that optimists reported more positive affect and less negative affect than pessimists during the laboratory session. However, there were no differences between optimists and pessimists on task performance, ratings of task self-efficacy, and ratings of task difficulty, stressfulness, discomfort, or perceived effort. Significant task effects were revealed as well, verifying that the easy and difficult tasks were experienced differently. Participants completing the difficult task performed more poorly, reported less positive and more negative affect in response to the task, and rated the task as more difficult, stressful, effortful, and upsetting than participants completing the easy task. Although results of the study failed to confirm study hypotheses, they added credence to the Behavioral Self-Regulation Model because optimists appeared to be engaging more with both easy and difficult versions of the stress task than pessimists, and consequently, experienced greater DBP reactions during the task period than pessimists

Adaptive Behavior in Continuous Time

This research investigates population-level behavioral dynamics, how they affect the emergence of self-enforcing conventions, and how they can aid in the design of mechanisms to better achieve policy goals. It seeks to identify why long-run behavior approaches equilibrium in some environments, and fails to do so in others. This question is important because equilibrium is frequently employed to make policy recommendations, so it is necessary to identify when it provides reliable predictions. Further, many strategic environments only reach equilibrium in the long run, so modeling the short run process from which long run equilibria eventually emerge can help answer important policy-relevant questions. To answer these questions this research experimentally investigates behavioral dynamics in continuous-time strategic environments. We find that adaptive models provide remarkably powerful tools for identifying which strategic environments exhibit convergence to equilibrium and for characterizing disequilibrium dynamics in non-convergent strategic environments

Placing humans and non-humans in a trinitarian and geographical dynamic: Colin Gunton and Bruno Latour on nature, society, and modernity

This thesis is centrally concerned to provide a detailed theological and interdisciplinary account of how the dynamic relationality between humans and nonhumans may be registered and accounted for in a Trinitarian and geographical framework. The method of this study is to establish a mutually critical and enlightening conversation between the fields of Trinitarian theology, science studies, and human geography. The thesis then takes as its primary interlocutors Trinitarian theologian Colin E. Gunton, and science studies theoretician Bruno Latour. A detailed discussion of each author's respective diagnoses of the Enlightenment's cultural, philosophical and theological fallout is offered. The study lends particular focus to the way in which each interlocutor has detailed the modern movement to fragment or distance the realms of God, humans, and nonhumans. Further in this vein, the study then moves to consider a critical comparison of each author's respective positive programs - 'Trinitarianism' and 'nonmodernism' respectively - for navigating our way out ofthe many pitfalls of modern thought.The study concludes with an attempt to bring the insights of Gunton's Trinitarian thought and Latour's 'nonmodern' project into conversation with the human geographical concept of place/placing. Here it is argued that a theological adoption of the geographical concept of place/placing would allow for a more detailed account of nonhuman participation in sociality, nonhuman agency/actancy, and nonhuman participation in human personhood. The culmination ofthese efforts is to be found in the construction of a specifically Trinitarian theo-geographical concept of place/placing that would allow for a theology capable of more fully registering the dynamic relationality that exists between persons and things, humans and nonhumans, culture and nature. By engaging Trinitarian theology in a mutually critical conversation with the fields of science studies and human geography, it is argued that we are better able to construct a distinctly theological means of registering the deep relationality that exists between humans and the multiplicity of nonhumans with whom we share a common world

Coordination and Evolutionary Dynamics: When are Evolutionary Models Reliable?

This study reports a continuous-time experimental test of evolutionary models in coordinated attacker–defender games. It implements three experimental treatment conditions: one with strong coordination incentives, one with weak coordination incentives, and one with zero coordination incentives. Each treatment exhibits identical equilibrium predictions but distinct evolutionary predictions. Observed behavior was tightly clustered around equilibrium under both the zero coordination treatment and the weak coordination treatment but widely dispersed from equilibrium under the strong coordination treatment. This result was anticipated by explicitly dynamic models but not by conventional stability criteria. In contrast to the widely maintained assumption of sign-preservation, subjects frequently switched to lower earning strategies, suggesting that non-sign-preserving evolutionary models may provide a more accurate characterization of human behavior

The Effects of Electronic vs Traditional Cigarette Use on Heart and Lung Function

Abstract Background: Due to the exponential growth in teenage use of electronic cigarettes, it appears that school aged children are starting to smoke at younger ages. It is frightening how many people are using electronic cigarettes and how sparse data exist. In this systematic review, we will illuminate the differences between electronic cigarettes and traditional cigarettes. With the rise in popularity of electronic cigarettes, we will describe the specific effects of electronic cigarettes on the cardiac and pulmonary systems. We sought to understand the long-term effect of using electronic and traditional cigarettes on cardiac and pulmonary systems. Methods: After searching through various articles on Pubmed 38 articles were thoroughly looked into. We narrowed the articles down to 12 articles that focused on the differences between electronic and traditional cigarettes. Results: The long-term effects of smoking traditional cigarettes have been researched extensively, so we will use this research to compare the use of electronic cigarettes and traditional cigarettes. By doing this, the paper will determine which of the two is worse for the body. Findings: We found that smoking electronic cigarettes are less harmful than traditional cigarettes, but it is still not safe for use. Conclusions: Put your conclusions here: In conclusion, smoking both traditional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes are not good for your lungs. Traditional cigarettes are filled with thousands of chemicals and severely damage your lungs. Electronic cigarettes have harsh flavorings and are much easier to smoke. This makes them more convenient and discreet to smoke. Neither of these options are safe for use, so the wisest decision for someone to make is to not start using electronic or traditional cigarettes. Keywords: cardiovascular, pulmonary, electronic cigarettes, traditional cigarette

From Perturbation Theory to Confinement: How the String Tension is built up

We study the spatial volume dependence of electric flux energies for SU(2) Yang-Mills fields on the torus with twisted boundary conditions. The results approach smoothly the rotational invariant Confinement regime. The would-be string tension is very close to the infinite volume result already for volumes of $(1.2 \ {\rm fm.})^3$. We speculate on the consequences of our result for the Confinement mechanism.Comment: 6p, ps-file (uuencoded). Contribution to Lattice'93 Conference (Dallas, 1993). Preprint INLO-PUB 18/93, FTUAM-93/4

Price Signaling and Bargain Hunting in Markets with Partially Informed Populations

Classical studies of asymmetric information focus on situations where only one side of a market is informed. This study experimentally investigates a more general case where some sellers are informed and some buyers are informed. We establish the existence of semiseparating perfect Bayesian equilibria where prices serve as informative signals of quality to uninformed buyers, while informed buyers can often leverage their informational advantage by purchasing high quality items from uninformed sellers at bargain prices. These models provide a rational foundation for the co-existence of bargains, price signaling, and Pareto efficiency in markets with asymmetric information. We test these theoretical predictions in a controlled laboratory experiment where agents repeatedly participate in markets with asymmetric information. We observe long run behavior consistent with equilibrium predictions of price signaling, bargains, and partial-pooling behavior

Deciphering food hawkerpreneurship: Challenges and success factors in franchising street food businesses in Malaysia

This study investigates the challenges and identifies the critical success factors in transforming traditional hawker food into a franchisable business, principally within the context of Malaysia. This study aims to provide guidelines that could support the process of enterprising traditional street food businesses, especially to assist the mobilization and promotion of hawkerpreneurship for existing traditional food hawkers and future adopters. A total of five hawkerpreneurs and four traditional hawkers were qualitatively assessed through semi-structured interviews. As a result, four critical challenges that both hawkerpreneurs and traditional hawkers encountered were identified, namely: (1) exploring the unknown (2) high capital investment for total “make-over” (3) lack of knowledge in brand repositioning, and (4) resistance to automation and standardization, particularly as a way to retain authenticity. By considering these concerns, young entrepreneurs and financial investors can assess the potentiality and feasibility of hawker food, and identify areas to focus on in running a successful traditional street food business. The results of this study could further assist in developing the support mechanisms and start-up strategies that encourage the adoption of hawker food entrepreneurship among Malaysians