No abstract

Self-esteem and death anxiety instruments were administered to a total of 383 undergraduates; black and white, males and females were included in the sample. Consistent with previous data, higher scores on death anxiety were shown by female subjects. Black males displayed significantly higher self-esteem scores. An analysis of subgroups low and high in self-esteem produced support for a negative relationship between level of self-esteem and death anxiety.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if there were specific odor components in the goalbox of a straight alleyway following reward and nonreward trials. Behavioral research has convincingly demonstrated that, unless the goal box is cleaned between animals, a pattern of slow running on nonreward trials and fast running on reward trials soon develops. It has been proposed that the rat emits an odor in the goalbox following nonreward which allows following conspecifics to predict the upcoming goal event before reaching the goalbox. Behavioral research has been unable to determine if there are specific odors associated with reward and nonreward, or if there is only one odor of varying concentration, or if only one odor is present and the cue for the other condition is merely the absence of that odor. The results of this study strongly suggest that there are specific odors in the goalbox as a result of nonreward and reward. They further suggest that these "reward" and "nonreward" odors are different from the odors of food and urine, and that the "reward" and "nonreward" odors, although different, may possibly be similar in chemical structure.

Two studies were conducted to assess the effects of rapid eye movement (REMl sleep deprivation on shock-elicited aggression. REM deprivation periods of 0, 24, 48, and 72 h were used in the first study, while 48-, 72·, 96·, and 120·h periods were used in the second study. Both studies indicated that increases in REM deprivation (up to 96 h) resulted in increases in the number of aggressive responses. A decrease was shown by the 120·h group. A drive-energization or motivational-effects model is suggested.

Two experiments are reported in which rats traversed a straight runway in the presence of odor cues from startbox-placed odor-donor rats. Experiment 1 investigated the importance of odor-donor and run-subject odor redundancy in determining appropriate start-and run-measure double-alternation patterning in the runway-trained animals. Patterning failed to develop when odor-donor and run-subject reinforcement schedules (i.e., odors) were inversely related (Phase I), but was shown when the donor schedule was shifted to coincide with that of the run animals (Phase 2). The daily sequence of reward and nonreward events was randomized in Experiment 2. As patterning developed in all measures when donors were present and was selectively eliminated in the start and run measures when the donors were removed, it would appear that a fixed trial sequence is not a crucial factor in the production and utilization of these odor cues.