Sex-typical symptoms of depression and the importance of conditioning contexts in Austria

Background: Findings regarding the effect of sex on depression are inconclusive. The aim of this paper is to contribute to clarification concerning this effect by first disentangle the concept of depression and splitting it up into two sub-types. Second, we will address macro-level contexts as conditions of the sex-effect on depression.Methods: This study gives a comparative analysis of sex as a predictor of depression symptoms in various Austrian federal states. It offers a secondary data analysis of data collected from an online survey (CAWI) conducted in Austria as a quota sample of Austrian inhabitants (N=1229). Besides sex as a predictor of depression symptoms (measured by PHQ-9 items) we also consider four dimensions of social support, the retirement status, and the experience of a vocational gratification crisis.Results: By and large, sex is not associated with motivational deficit symptoms, but rather with somatic stress symptoms. Taking into account federal states as conditions, the sex-effect on depression symptoms turn out to be context-dependent.Limitations: Using some items from the PHQ-9 inventory for measuring depression symptoms was arbitrary, findings could be sensitive to operationalization. Furthermore, Austrian federal states are no substantial variables which could condition the sex-effect directly. The actual conditioning variables correlate with the Austrian federal states, but remain unobserved here. Conclusions: Depression symptoms are partly sex-typical, but this association is context-dependent. For diagnostics, therefore, the recommendation arises to take symptomatic sub-types of depression into account, instead of an in itself heterogeneous construct that expresses itself differently under certain conditions.

Meaning and Value Across the Generations

This chapter argues that our relations to our successors are richer, more varied, and more complex than is sometimes recognized. Although we cannot in any straightforward sense interact or form personal relationships with people who will live long after we have died, future generations nevertheless matter greatly to us and in a variety of ways. These facts, which reflect our underappreciated historicist sensibility, must be taken into account in developing an adequate theory of intergenerational ethics. They are also facts of great motivational significance. To ensure the survival of humanity, sufficient numbers of people must be strongly and stably motivated to solve the problems that threaten future generations, and people’s sense of moral obligation may not, by itself, be sufficiently robust or reliable to provide all the necessary motivational support. So one challenge we face, in seeking to address problems like climate change and nuclear proliferation, is to overcome this potentially disabling motivational deficit. Yet once one appreciates the complexity of our attitudes toward future generations, one can see that we have a variety of reasons for caring about the fate of our successors. These reasons provide additional motivational resources that may complement and cooperate with our distinctively moral motivations for addressing threats to future generations.

Variability in Value of Health in Social Fields: Challenges and Incentives for Self-Care Practices

Strong motivation to selfcare is assumed by design of contemporary healthcare policy. However, both western and Russian studies show motivational deficit and inattention to prevention care among population. Actual paper examines the problem of motivation as a relational choice. Opposing to the view on motivation as a part of individual will, we consider motivation as a choice between competing requirements to selfcare among multiple social fields. We collected 27 in-depth interviews with Russians from large cities and analyzed them in abductive logic. In the analysis we focused on health practices performed in the fields of family and career. The results demonstrate that individuals succeed in selfcare when the care of health appears essential for execution of important social roles.

Learned Helplessness Pada Wanita Dewasa Awal Korban Kekerasan dalam Pacaran yang Masih Bertahan dengan Pasangannya

Tujuan penelitin ini untuk mengetahui learned helplessness pada wanita dewasa awal korban kekerasan dalam pacaran yang masih bertahan. Learned helplessness adalah kondisi yang muncul karena ketidakmampuan individu mengatasi atau menghentikan peristiwa negatif yang terjadi terus menerus sehingga menyebabkan penurunan respon. Learned helplessness dibagi menjadi tiga dimensi yaitu penurunan motivasi, penurunan kognitif dan penurunan emosi. Penelitian ini mneggunakan teori learned helplessness milik Seligman (1975). Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif dengan pendekatan studi kasus instrumental, menggunakan analisis tematik theory-driven. Partisipan berjumlah 3 wanita dewasa awal berusia 22-23 tahun yang mengalami kekerasan dalam pacaran dan masih bertahan dengan pasangannya. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ketiga subjek mengalami kondisi learned helplessness. Faktor yang memengaruhi munculnya learned helplessness pada ketiga subjek adalah fase kekerasan, kekerasan psikologis dan faktor power dan kontrol yang dimiliki pelaku. Ketiga subjek mengalami penurunan motivasi, penurunan kognitif dan penurunan emosi. This research aimed to explain learned helplessness in early adult women who were victims of dating violence, yet they still maintain the relationship. Learned helplessness is a condition where individuals are no longer able to cope or stop negative events that occur continuously, promoting response deficit. There are three learned helplessness dimensions: motivational deficit, cognitive deficit, and emotional deficit. This study used Seligman's (1975) learned helplessness theory. This was a qualitative study with an instrumental case study approach. The framework used was thematic analysis using the theory-driven approach. This study involved 3 early adult women aged 22-23 years old who experienced dating violence yet still maintain the relationship. The results showed that all participants experienced learned helplessness. There were three factors that influenced the learned helplessness; there was a cycle of violence, psychological violence, and power and control factor by the perpetrators. All participants demonstrated motivational deficit, cognitive deficit, and emotional deficit.

Impaired expected value computations in schizophrenia are associated with a reduced ability to integrate reward probability and magnitude of recent outcomes

ABSTRACTBackgroundMotivational deficits in people with schizophrenia (PSZ) are associated with an inability to integrate the magnitude and probability of previous outcomes. The mechanisms that underlie probability-magnitude integration deficits, however, are poorly understood. We hypothesized that increased reliance on “value-less” stimulus-response associations, in lieu of expected value (EV)-based learning, could drive probability-magnitude integration deficits in PSZ with motivational deficits.MethodsHealthy volunteers (n= 38) and PSZ (n=49) completed a reinforcement learning paradigm consisting of four stimulus pairs. Reward magnitude (3/2/1/0 points) and probability (90%/80%/20%/10%) together determined each stimulus’ EV. Following a learning phase, new and familiar stimulus pairings were presented. Participants were asked to select stimuli with the highest reward value.ResultsPSZ with high motivational deficits made increasingly less optimal choices as the difference in reward value (probability*magnitude) between two competing stimuli increased. Using a previously-validated computational hybrid model, PSZ relied less on EV (“Q-learning”) and more on stimulus-response learning (“actor-critic”), which correlated with SANS motivational deficit severity. PSZ specifically failed to represent reward magnitude, consistent with model demonstrations showing that response tendencies in the actor-critic were preferentially driven by reward probability. ConclusionsProbability-magnitude deficits in PSZ with motivational deficits arise from underutilization of EV in favor of reliance on value-less stimulus-response associations. Consistent with previous work and confirmed by our computational hybrid framework, probability-magnitude integration deficits were driven specifically by a failure to represent reward magnitude. This work reconfirms the importance of decreased Q-learning/increased actor-critic-type learning as an explanatory framework for a range of EV deficits in PSZ.

An Ethics of Dwelling

Chapter four takes up the dilemma posed by what Simon Critchley calls the motivational deficit that accompanies the disappointment in politics today. It is argued that unlike the politics of the a priori that begins with a metaphysical humanist notion of the political subject, a politics of world-building begins with a being-in-a-world with an existential imperative to dwell. Dwelling is here conceived as being-in-a-world in such a way that one is always open to new possibilities that can emerge from one’s world. When one’s world breaks down and becomes uninhabitable, then one is no longer able to dwell in this world. Some respond to this with what is called an ethics of dwelling, which is the subjective experience of doing a politics of worldbuilding. I consider such an ethics through the experience of some anti-drug war agonists from New York City and Vancouver.

Adaptive capabilities under extreme conditions, depending on motivational orientation of Anesthesiologist

The aim is to identify the level of adaptive capacity anesthesiologists depending on the motivational orientation. Presented survey data 149 anesthesiologists. Testing was conducted on a multi-level personality questionnaire «Adaptability» and on the test Kuhl. The results showed that most physicians have high adaptive capacity, which is highly correlated with the motivational oriented under extreme conditions. The necessity of developing a program of psychological support to the development of non-motivational deficit.