Vanderbilt University

About: Vanderbilt University is a education organization based out in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Cancer. The organization has 45066 authors who have published 106528 publications receiving 5435039 citations. The organization is also known as: Vandy.

Happiness and stereotypic thinking in social judgment.

Abstract: Four experiments examined the effects of happiness on the tendency to use stereotypes in social judgment. In each experiment, individuals who had been induced to feel happy rendered more stereotypic judgments than did those in a neutral mood. Experiment 1 demonstrated this phenomenon with a mood induction procedure that involved recalling life experiences. Experiments 2 and 3 suggested that the greater reliance on stereotypes evident in the judgments of happy individuals was not attributable to cognitive capacity deficits created by intrusive happy thoughts or by cognitively disruptive excitement or energetic arousal that may accompany the experience of happiness. In Experiment 4, happy individuals again were found to render more stereotypic judgments, except under conditions in which they had been told that they would be held accountable for their judgments. These results suggest that although happy people's tendency to engage in stereotypic thinking may be pervasive, they are quite capable of avoiding the influence of stereotypes in their judgments when situational factors provide a motivational impetus for such effort. Discovering the conditions under which group stereotypes are likely to be applied in forming impressions of and making judgments about individuals has been an issue of perennial interest in social psychology. Factors such as information overload (Pratto & Bargh, 1991; Stangor & Duan, 1991) and task difficulty (Bodenhausen & Lichtenstein, 1987), for example, have been shown to increase the social perceiver's reliance on stereotypic preconceptions (for a review, see Hamilton & Sherman, in press). In the present research, we investigated the role of emotion, specifically happiness, in the application of stereotypes during social information processing. Does being happy have any impact on the likelihood of stereotyping others? If so, what is the mechanism involved? It was these questions that we sought to address. Interest in the relationship between emotion and stereotyping is certainly not new. However, previous attempts to understand the role of affective experience in prejudice and stereotyping have focused almost exclusively on the impact of negative emotions. Conventional wisdom indicates that it is during times of stress, anxiety, or hostility that prejudice and stereotypes are most likely to emerge and exert their influence on social perception. Psychological research lends credence to the idea that anger, conflict, frustration, and anxiety are indeed associated with

A Unique Metalolic Sysdrone Causes Obesity in the Melanocortin-3 Receptor-Deficient Mouse

Abstract: The central melanocortin system is critical for the long term regulation of energy homeostasis. Null mutations of the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4-R) are associated with hyperphagia, obesity, and accelerated longitudinal growth in mice and humans. However, little is known about the function of another central melanocortin receptor, the MC3-R. To assess the role of the MC3-R in energy homeostasis, the majority of the mc3r coding sequence was deleted from the mouse genome. In contrast to the MC4-R knockout, which exhibits increased food intake, increased somatic growth, and defects in metabolism, mc3r-/- mice exhibit an exclusively metabolic syndrome. Homozygous null mc3r mice, while not significantly overweight, exhibit an approximately 50% to 60% increase in adipose mass. Mc3r-/- mice also exhibit an unusual increase in respiratory quotient when transferred onto high fat chow, suggesting a reduced ratio of fat/carbohydrate oxidation. Furthermore, male mc3r-/- mice also exhibit an approximately 50% reduction in locomotory behavior on the running wheel, suggesting reduced energy expenditure.

The vascular depression hypothesis: mechanisms linking vascular disease with depression.

Abstract: The 'Vascular Depression' hypothesis posits that cerebrovascular disease may predispose, precipitate or perpetuate some geriatric depressive syndromes. This hypothesis stimulated much research that has improved our understanding of the complex relationships between late-life depression (LLD), vascular risk factors, and cognition. Succinctly, there are well-established relationships between LLD, vascular risk factors and cerebral hyperintensities, the radiological hallmark of vascular depression. Cognitive dysfunction is common in LLD, particularly executive dysfunction, a finding predictive of poor antidepressant response. Over time, progression of hyperintensities and cognitive deficits predicts a poor course of depression and may reflect underlying worsening of vascular disease. This work laid the foundation for examining the mechanisms by which vascular disease influences brain circuits and influences the development and course of depression. We review data testing the vascular depression hypothesis with a focus on identifying potential underlying vascular mechanisms. We propose a disconnection hypothesis, wherein focal vascular damage and white matter lesion location is a crucial factor, influencing neural connectivity that contributes to clinical symptomatology. We also propose inflammatory and hypoperfusion hypotheses, concepts that link underlying vascular processes with adverse effects on brain function that influence the development of depression. Testing such hypotheses will not only inform the relationship between vascular disease and depression, but also provide guidance on the potential repurposing of pharmacological agents that may improve LLD outcomes.

The Effectiveness of Correctional Rehabilitation: A Review of Systematic Reviews

Abstract: The effects of correctional interventions on recidivism have important public safety implications when offenders are released from probation or prison. Hundreds of studies have been conducted on those effects, some investigating punitive approaches and some investigating rehabilitation treatments. Systematic reviews (meta-analyses) of those studies, while varying greatly in coverage and technique, display remarkable consistency in their overall findings. Supervision and sanctions, at best, show modest mean reductions in recidivism and, in some instances, have the opposite effect and increase reoffense rates. The mean recidivism effects found in studies of rehabilitation treatment, by comparison, are consistently positive and relatively large. There is, however, considerable variability in those effects associated with the type of treatment, how well it is implemented, and the nature of the offenders to whom it is applied. The specific sources of that variability have not been well explored, but some princ...