The link between depressive symptoms and guilt induction, and the subsequent effects on partner accommodation and tolerance of intimate partner violence

<p>Guilt induction is a behaviour involving exaggeration of hurt feelings to elicit guilt in an intimate partner, and thus elicit a reassuring and loving response. This thesis investigates whether greater depressive symptoms are linked with use of low level, everyday guilt induction. We also examine the possibility that guilt induction elicits commitment-driven maintenance behaviour from partners, including accommodation (e.g., smiling, providing encouragement) but also increased tolerance for intimate partner violence. We tested a mediation model in which higher depressive symptoms predicted greater of guilt induction, which in turn predicted greater partner accommodation (Study 1) and tolerance of intimate partner violence (Study 2). We assessed observer-coded guilt induction behaviours in a dyadic study (Study 1; 152 couples) and experiences of partner guilt induction in self-report questionnaires (Study 2; 217 individuals). Depressive symptoms predicted greater use of guilt induction (Study 1), and perceptions of partner’s depressive symptoms predicted more experiences of partner guilt induction (Study 2), suggesting that individuals higher in depressive symptoms experience insecurities consistent with motivations to guilt induce. Guilt induction predicted greater use of immediate partner accommodation (Study 1), and experiences of guilt induction predicted greater tolerance for one of four forms of intimate partner violence (Study 2). This suggests that guilt induction elicits accommodation of negative behaviours, including tolerance of certain types of intimate partner violence. An additional analysis highlighted a change in partner behaviour from increased accommodation when guilt induction initially occurred, to relatively decreased accommodation at the following time point, 30 seconds later (Study 1). This research supports and expands on prior theory suggesting people higher in depressive symptomology tend to use strategies to gain reassurance and care that can ultimately backfire.</p>

The link between depressive symptoms and guilt induction, and the subsequent effects on partner accommodation and tolerance of intimate partner violence

<p>Guilt induction is a behaviour involving exaggeration of hurt feelings to elicit guilt in an intimate partner, and thus elicit a reassuring and loving response. This thesis investigates whether greater depressive symptoms are linked with use of low level, everyday guilt induction. We also examine the possibility that guilt induction elicits commitment-driven maintenance behaviour from partners, including accommodation (e.g., smiling, providing encouragement) but also increased tolerance for intimate partner violence. We tested a mediation model in which higher depressive symptoms predicted greater of guilt induction, which in turn predicted greater partner accommodation (Study 1) and tolerance of intimate partner violence (Study 2). We assessed observer-coded guilt induction behaviours in a dyadic study (Study 1; 152 couples) and experiences of partner guilt induction in self-report questionnaires (Study 2; 217 individuals). Depressive symptoms predicted greater use of guilt induction (Study 1), and perceptions of partner’s depressive symptoms predicted more experiences of partner guilt induction (Study 2), suggesting that individuals higher in depressive symptoms experience insecurities consistent with motivations to guilt induce. Guilt induction predicted greater use of immediate partner accommodation (Study 1), and experiences of guilt induction predicted greater tolerance for one of four forms of intimate partner violence (Study 2). This suggests that guilt induction elicits accommodation of negative behaviours, including tolerance of certain types of intimate partner violence. An additional analysis highlighted a change in partner behaviour from increased accommodation when guilt induction initially occurred, to relatively decreased accommodation at the following time point, 30 seconds later (Study 1). This research supports and expands on prior theory suggesting people higher in depressive symptomology tend to use strategies to gain reassurance and care that can ultimately backfire.</p>

The effect of animal shelter sound on cat behaviour and welfare

This study assessed how sound affected fear- and maintenance-related behaviour in singly housed cats (Felis silvestris catus) in an animal shelter. Two daily 30-min observation sessions (morning and evening) were made for 98 cats from admittance for ten days or until the cat was removed. Cat behaviour and presence of sound (classified by the source) were recorded by instantaneous and onezero sampling with 15-s intervals. Each 30-min observation session was classified as 'quiet' or 'noisy' if the one-zero score for presence of sound was above or below the median of sessions at that time of day. To ensure that cats had at least two complete days of comparable observations, statistical analysis was restricted to the 70 cats (30 females, 40 males) present for two or more weekdays. Cats varied widely in the amount of fear and maintenance behaviour they performed. Males showed less fear and maintenance behaviour than females. Morning sessions consistently had much more sound than evenings, and cats showed more fear behaviour and less maintenance behaviour in the mornings. Cats showed more fear behaviour in noisy morning sessions than quiet ones, with no comparable difference in maintenance behaviour. Where sessions included a pronounced transition in sound, fear-related behaviour was more common after a transition from quiet to noisy and less common after a transition from noisy to quiet. The results show that shelter cats vary greatly in their responses and suggest that sound in shelter environments can substantially affect their behaviour. Lowering sound levels in shelters may help improve cat welfare.

Environmental Law that Affects the Green Behaviour of Undergraduates at Northeastern University

The objectives of this study were.to study environmental damage, natural resource damage, ecological damage, civil liability, criminal liability, administrative liability, and green behaviour levels and to study the independent variables comprising environmental damage, natural resource damage, ecological damage, civil liability, criminal liability, and administrative liability affecting the dependent variable of the green behaviour of undergraduates. The research instrument was the questionnaire, and it was used for data collection from 400 undergraduates. The inferential statistics that were used was the multiple regression analysis. Research results was revealed that the mean scores of environmental damages, natural resource damage, ecological damage, civil liability, criminal liability, administrative liability, and green behaviour levels were at high levels for all aspects. Moreover, it was found that the criminal liability had the most effect towards people’s air quality maintenance behaviour at a rate of 23.6 percent and was statistically significant at the level of 0.01. It was followed by administrative liability with 17.00 percent, which was statistically significant at the level of 0.01. This might indicate that the undergraduates realized to the important of criminal liability to enforces the people’s air quality maintenance. Therefore, in order to control air quality effectively, the criminal liability is needed to use to accomplish the air quality control.

Phylogenetically-controlled correlates of primate blinking behaviour

Eye blinking is an essential maintenance behaviour for many terrestrial animals, but is also a risky behaviour as the animal is unable to scan the environment and detect hazards while its eyes are temporarily closed. It is therefore likely that the length of time that the eyes are closed and the length of the gap between blinks for a species may reflect aspects of the ecology of that species, such as its social or physical environment. An earlier published study conducted a comparative study linking blinking behaviour and ecology, and detailed a dataset describing the blinking behaviour of a large number of primate species that was collected from captive animals, but the analysis presented did not control for the nonindependence of the data due to common evolutionary history. In the present study, the dataset is reanalysed using phylogenetic comparative methods, after reconsideration of the parameters describing the physical and social environments of the species. I find that blink rate is best described by the locomotion mode of a species, where species moving through arboreal environments blink least, ground-living species blink most, and species that use both environments show intermediate rates. The duration of a blink was also related to locomotion mode, and positively correlated with both mean species group size and mean species body mass, although the increase in relation to group size is small. How a species moves through the environment therefore appears to be important for determining blinking behaviour, and suggests that complex arboreal environments may require less interruption to visual attention. Given that the data were collected with captive individuals, caution is recommended for interpreting the correlations found.

Effects of boldenone undecylenate on growth performance, maintenance behaviour, reproductive hormones and carcass traits of growing rabbits

The present study was done to evaluate the effect of boldenone undecylenate (BOL) on growth performance, maintenance behaviour, reproductive hormones and carcass traits of male rabbits. Sixty apparently healthy New Zealand White male rabbits, 5 weeks of age, were allotted to 3 equal groups. Each group was subdivided into 5 replicates, where the first group is control. The second group (B1) comprised rabbits that received 2 intramuscular injections of BOL (5 mg/kg) with 3 week intervals (9 and 12 weeks of age), while the third group (B2) included rabbits that received 3 intramuscular injections of BOL (5 mg/kg) with 2 week intervals (8, 10 and 12 weeks of age). The end of the trial was after 4 weeks from the last injection (16 weeks of age). The results revealed that the treated groups had a significant increase in total body weight, daily gain and feed efficiency, with a significant decrease in feed conversion ratio (FCR). Ingestive, locomotion and grooming behaviors were significantly higher in treated groups. Lateral pasture and exploratory behaviors were significantly higher in the control group. Administration of BOL resulted in a significant increase in dressing % and a significant decrease in testes %. Groups treated with BOL had a significantly (P<0.05) decreased serum testosterone level, simultaneously with a significantly increased estradiol level. The results indicate that BOL improves performance and carcass traits. Furthermore, there are hormonal-behavioral correlations through enhancement of ingestive and locomotion behaviors of treated animals.