Darwin's views on various psychological behaviors were significant. Basing his conclusions on empirical research, he wrote extensively on the phylogeny of behavior, emotional expression, sexual selection, instincts, evolution of morals, ontogeny of behavior, and genetics of behavior. (PS)

Results of this study showed generally low correlations between the behavioral test and the self-report measures of specific fear. This finding is consistent with the proposal that fear is not organized in a unitary way but has several components. (Author)

While certain forms of sex behavior may serve as a clue to the existence of mental illness, care must be taken not to view such behavior outside the overall context of a person's particular life situation, since sex behavior is a reflection of the totality of human existence. (Author)

While depression often interferes with sexual feelings, the author suggests that sexual feelings and sexual activity can be used to help prevent or overcome depression. (BY)

Shoppers completed the Beck Hopelessness Scale, the Edwards Social Desirability Inventory, and a survey of past suicidal behavior. Results indicated hopelessness and social desirability were reliably related to reports of past suicidal behavior, to frequency of current suicidal ideation, and to subjects' predictions of future suicide potential.…

Discusses behaviors which culminate in suicide attempts and relates these to the biological concept of conservation-withdrawal. Clinical advantages to this conceptualization are presented. (Author/JMF)

To explore the link between interparental hostility and adolescent problem behaviors, the current study examines four important maternal parenting dimensions as potential mediators: acceptance, harshness, inconsistency, and psychological intrusiveness. With a primary sample of 1,893 sixth-grade students, the measures included adolescent and…

Examines the relationship between resistence to interference and personality disturbance. Concludes that resistance to interference can be used as a diagnostic dimension in assessing the likelihood of personality disturbance. (HMV)

This study examined the relationship between the severity of negative consequences of a blameworthy behavior and attribution of responsibility for that behavior. (Author)

The psychological effects of exercise training are difficult to study in humans, but analogous emotionality changes in animals can be studied using simple measurements employed in emergence and open-field tests. The basis of these tests is that animals that are more emotional are more fearful when placed in a novel situation and will exhibit less…

Patterns of psychoactive drug usage of students at a heterogeneous university were surveyed in 1968, and the Class of 1972 was twice resurveyed. Changes included increases in use of all drugs within the Class of 1972 and between juniors of 1968 and 1970 for popular drugs other than alcohol. Later starting students were somewhat less likely to be…

Fixation and regression were considered complementary by Freud. You tend to regress to a point of fixation. They are both opposed to progression. In the general area, Anna Freud has written (The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence. London: Hogarth and the Psycho-Analytic Institute, 1937), Sears has evaluated (Survey of Objective Studies of…

Denial was a mechanism that Sigmund Freud worked with in his clinical practice and in his formulation of personality. He considered denial, e.g., in his papers on Repression (1915) and on Fetishism (1927) in Collected Papers, Volumes IV and V respectively (London: Hogarth and The Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1925 and 1950 respectively). It would…