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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Validation of the French version of a pleasure scale for children (The Pleasure Scale for Children, PSC, Kazdin, 1989) in 214 hospitalized children in pediatrics].

UNLABELLED: The aim of this study was to determine the metrological parameters of a french version of the Pleasure Scale for Children (PSC): 214 (121 males and 93 females) with a mean age of 8.69 years (sd: 1.95) ranging from 6 years to 12 years were included in the study. The children were inpatients presenting various somatic disorders. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: First a principal component analysis was done on the 39 items of the correlation matrix. Several guidelines were used to limit the number of factors (Kaiser criteria, Cattell scree test, Horn parallel analysis). Secondly the construct validity was studied using the alpha Cronbach coefficient and by calculing the Pearson correlation coefficient between each item and the total score. Thirdly the concurrent validity was determinated using two items of the Children Depression Rating Scale--Revised (CDRS-R) measuring pleasure (social withdrawal and enjoyment capacity). Fourthly the discriminant validity of the PSC was studied by comparing non depressive children (score lower than 30 to the CDRS-R) and depressive children (score higher than 30 to the CDRS-R). RESULTS: The principal component analysis showed a one factor solution with 33 items among the 39 having a higher than 0.3 saturation. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.84. All the items correlated with the total score. The mean value was 0.37. The correlations between the total score of the scale and the CDRS-R enjoyment capacity and social withdrawal items were respectively -0.37 (p < 0.01) and -0.38 (p < 0.01). PSC score were significantly lower in depressive children (m = 86.96; sd = 8.33) than in non depressive children (m = 94.67; sd = 10) (t = 5.32; df = 212; p < 0.001).

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Female sexuality. The pleasure of secrets and the secret of pleasure.

Why are secrets so fascinating and pleasurable, especially for little girls? A review of the psychoanalytic literature suggests that the ability to keep a secret represents an important developmental step. This paper proposes that secrets are integral features of female sexuality and that the sharing of secrets is important in how females relate to each other throughout development. It examines the role of sharing secrets in the psychoanalytic process and presents case material of female patients who cherished secrets and for whom the novel The Secret Garden was a favorite during childhood.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

The effect of interval tubal sterilization on sexual interest and pleasure.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if interval tubal sterilization leads to a change in female sexual interest or pleasure and to identify predictors of a positive or negative effect. METHODS: Our study population comprised 4576 women enrolled in a prospective, multicenter cohort study between 1978 and 1983. Potential demographic, clinical, and surgical predictors of sexual outcome were tested for significant variation from the overall pattern of unchanged, increased, and decreased sexual interest and pleasure. RESULTS: Over 80% of the 4576 study women reported no consistent change in either sexual interest (80.0%) or pleasure (81.7%) after interval tubal sterilization. Among women with consistent change, positive effects were reported ten and 15 times more often than negative effects for sexual interest and pleasure, respectively. All subgroups of women, except for those with poststerilization regret, were significantly (P <.05) more likely to experience increased rather than decreased interest or pleasure. Women with poststerilization regret were the subgroup most likely to have a negative effect; in multivariate analyses, poststerilization regret was the only factor to be a predictor for decreased interest (odds ratio 4.0) and decreased pleasure (odds ratio 5.1). Similarly, women reporting regret were significantly less likely to report increased interest or pleasure. Whether the regret or the decreased sexual interest or pleasure occurred first is unclear. CONCLUSION: Interval tubal ligation is unlikely to result in changed sexual interest or pleasure. Among those with change, the majority experienced positive sexual effects.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Human factors for pleasure in product use.

Traditionally, human factors have tended to concentrate on making products 'usable'--focusing on utilitarian, functional product benefits. This paper reports an interview-based study looking at the issue of 'pleasure' in product use. The study was a 'first pass' at addressing the hedonic and experiential benefits and penalties associated with product use, and at identifying the properties of a product that influence how pleasurable or displeasurable it is to use. Feelings associated with using pleasurable products included security, confidence, pride, excitement and satisfaction. Displeasurable products, meanwhile, were associated with feelings that included annoyance, anxiety, contempt and frustration. The properties of products that were salient in terms of influencing the level of pleasure/displeasure with a product included features, usability, aesthetics, performance and reliability. Responses to questions investigating behavioural correlates to pleasure in product use suggested that pleasurable products were used more regularly and that future purchase choices would be affected by the level of pleasure in product use. It is concluded that the issue of pleasure in product use involves more than usability alone. As the user's representative in the product creation process, the human factors specialist should consider many other factors in order to ensure that the user's experience of product use is maximised.

Consumer Behavior↗
PubMed1996

The heterosexual singles scene: putting danger into pleasure.

The juxtaposition of pleasure and danger has engaged many feminist theorists and researchers in the field of sexuality. This article presents a theoretical analysis of the ambiguous and complex relationship between 'pleasure', 'danger' and contemporary feminist theory. In doing so, it offers an understanding of the ways in which the categories of pleasure and danger operate within the discourses of heterosexuality to construct perceptions of risk in the context of HIV/AIDS. Data were collected from a study of the sexual attitudes and practices of 112 sexually-active, single, heterosexual adults (58 men and 54 women), aged 20 to 40 years (mean = 27 years) who agreed to be interviewed when approached at night-clubs and public "singles' bars around Melbourne, Australia. The qualitative analysis presented here is consistent with a poststructuralist feminism. First, we discuss how sexuality cannot be cast solely as pleasurable or dangerous. Second, we demonstrate how heterosexualized notions of pleasure and danger operate to provide misperceptions of risk from HIV/AIDS transmission. Third, we identify the ways in which the logic of identity functions to obscure risk within the discourse of heterosexuality, and finally we attempt to forge new ways of practising pleasure which disrupt heterosexist discourses and allow for pleasures which incorporate danger.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Sensory pleasure.

In response to a stimulus, a sensation is tridimensional: qualitative, quantitative, and affective. The affective part of sensation, pleasure or displeasure, depends on the qualities of the stimulus. Within a narrow range of intensity, chemical, thermal, and mechanical stimuli are able to arouse pleasure. In addition, pleasure depends on the internal state of the subject. This is easily observed in the case of temperature: pleasure is aroused by a warm stimulus in a hypothermic subject and by a cold stimulus in a hyperthermic subject. This property of a given stimulus to arouse pleasure or displeasure according to the internal state of the subject is termed alliethesia. Alliesthesia is also produced by chemical and mechanical stimuli. Acquired preferences or aversions for alimentary stimuli represent a case of alliesthesia. In the same way, the capacity of any indifferent stimulus to become rewarding, or punishing, by association with some reward or punishment, is also a case of alliethesia. In all cases, pleasure is a sign of a stimulus useful to the subject; displeasure a sign of danger. Usefulness and danger are judged by the central nervous system with reference to homeostasis and the set point of the implied regulation. Pleasure and displeasure thus appear to motivate useful behaviors.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Preferring for pleasure.

Recent review articles have confirmed that pleasure is a potent drive inducing forms of behavior adapted to physiological needs, especially in the case of temperature regulation and food-and-water intake. This point is accepted in the present article. The hypothesis of the usefulness of pleasure is pushed one step further by examining the results of experiments on conflicting motivations. In a conflict of fatigue vs thermal discomfort human subjects in a first series of sessions rated their fatigue and their thermal discomfort while walking on a treadmill placed in a climatic chamber. In further series of sessions the subjects could select either the treadmill slope or the ambient temperature. During these sessions the subjects behaved in such a way as to maximize the two-dimensional pleasure (or minimize the two-dimensional displeasure). Rats placed in a conflict of motivations of palatability vs cold discomfort behaved in a way that can also be interpreted as a tendency to maximize pleasure. It is therefore suggested that sensory pleasure is an incentive to useful behavior, and maximization of pleasure the answer to physiological conflicts.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Pleasures of the brain.

How does the brain cause positive affective reactions to sensory pleasure? An answer to pleasure causation requires knowing not only which brain systems are activated by pleasant stimuli, but also which systems actually cause their positive affective properties. This paper focuses on brain causation of behavioral positive affective reactions to pleasant sensations, such as sweet tastes. Its goal is to understand how brain systems generate 'liking,' the core process that underlies sensory pleasure and causes positive affective reactions. Evidence suggests activity in a subcortical network involving portions of the nucleus accumbens shell, ventral pallidum, and brainstem causes 'liking' and positive affective reactions to sweet tastes. Lesions of ventral pallidum also impair normal sensory pleasure. Recent findings regarding this subcortical network's causation of core 'liking' reactions help clarify how the essence of a pleasure gloss gets added to mere sensation. The same subcortical 'liking' network, via connection to brain systems involved in explicit cognitive representations, may also in turn cause conscious experiences of sensory pleasure.

Affect↗
PubMed1989

Evaluation of the Pleasure Scale in the assessment of anhedonia in children.

The Pleasure Scale for Children, a measure developed to assess anhedonia in school-age children, was evaluated. Psychometric properties and concurrent validity of the scale were evaluated with 232 child psychiatric inpatient children (ages 6-13) and their parents. Based on prior research with adults, predictions were made that children with a diagnosis of major depression would evince greater anhedonia on the scale and that anhedonic children (low Pleasure Scale scores) would show a negative attributional style in relation to rewarding experiences. The results indicated that the Pleasure Scale was internally consistent, yielded moderate to high item-total score correlations, appeared to reflect a single dimension, and correlated positively and significantly with other measures of pleasurable affect. Depressed children showed greater anhedonia, as reflected in lower total Pleasure Scale scores and in their pattern of responding to individual items on the scale. Children high in anhedonia, independently of their diagnosis, showed less active involvement in seeking rewards, were higher in their expectations of negative outcomes, and were more likely to attribute unrewarding outcomes to their own behavior than to external causes. Overall, the results provide initial support for the construct validity of the scale. Further research to evaluate nonclinic samples, to develop alternative assessment strategies, to examine developmental differences in reporting pleasurable experiences, and to study the relation of anhedonia to subtypes and clinical course of depression is briefly discussed.

Child↗
PubMed2002

Pleasure in decision-making situations.

BACKGROUND: This study explores the role of pleasure in decision making. RESULTS: In Experiment 1, 12 subjects were presented with a questionnaire containing 46 items taken from the literature. Twenty-three items described a situation where a decision should be made and ended with a suggested solution. The other items served as filler items. The subjects were requested not to make a decision but to rate the pleasure or displeasure they experienced when reading the situation described in the item. The subjects' ratings were then compared to the decisions on the same situations made by the other subjects of the studies published by other workers. The ratings of pleasure/displeasure given by our subjects correlated significantly with the choices published by other authors. This result satisfies a necessary condition for pleasure to be the key of the decision making process in theoretical situations. In Experiment 2, a new group of 12 subjects rated their experience of pleasure/displeasure when reading various versions of 50 situations taken from daily life where an ethical decision had to be made (Questionnaire I) including 200 items. This was followed by a multiple-choice test with the 50 situations (Questionnaire II) using the same 200 items and offering the various behaviors. Subjects tended to choose ethical and unethical responses corresponding to their highest pleasure rating within each problem. In all cases the subjects' behavior was higher than chance level, and thus, followed the trend to maximize pleasure. In Experiment 3, 12 subjects reading 50 mathematical short problems followed by correct and incorrect versions of the answer to the problem (Questionnaire III), including 200 items. This was followed by a multiple-choice mathematical test with the 50 problems (Questionnaire IV) using the same 200 items and offering the correct and incorrect answers. In questionnaire IV, subjects tended to choose correct as well as incorrect responses corresponding to their highest hedonic rating within each problem. In all cases the subjects' behavior was higher than chance level, and thus, followed the trend to maximize pleasure. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the three experiments support the hypothesis according to which decisions are made in the hedonic dimension of conscious experience.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The Pleasure-Displeasure Scale. Use in the evaluation of depressive illness].

The Pleasure-displeasure Scale is a self-report instrument consisting of 82 items for measuring the intensity of subjects' affective responses to usually pleasant and unpleasant situations. 81 depressed inpatients were compared to 120 normal subjects. The responses of the depressed patients to the Pleasure sub-scale (French translation of the Fawcett-Clark's Pleasure Scale) are more anhedonic than those of the normal subjects; but the difference did not reach statistical significance. Pleasure scores in the depressive group are bimodally distributed; a distinct subset (11% of depressives) is characterised by an extremely anhedonic Pleasure score. The sensitivity to unpleasant stimuli is significantly greater in the depressive group; however this difference seems to be related rather to a low cultural level than to depression itself. Finally pleasure and displeasure scores are closely correlated: this could possibly imply that anhedonia is not an independent symptom but rather belongs to the wider constellation of affective anesthesia.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Interrelationships and correlates of four measures of pleasure deficit.

Compared the utilities of four measures currently used to assess pathological deficit in the ability to experience pleasure (N = 56). The Watson Anhedonia Interview scale was less reliable than the others, but was correlated as often with measures of pleasure-seeking as they were after correction for attenuation. It was more heavily correlated with measures of psychopathology than the others. The Chapman, Chapman, & Raulin (1976) Social and Physical Anhedonia scales demonstrated superior reliability and more correlations with pleasure-seeking ratings than the other scales, at least before correction for attenuation. However, their relatively modest relationships with measures of psychopathology suggested that the pleasure-deficits they measure best may not be as characteristic of psychiatric conditions as that reflected by the Anhedonia Interview. The Zuckerman General Sensation Seeking scale showed less reliability than the Chapman scales and fewer correlations with both pleasure-seeking and psychopathology than the others.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Pleasure and preference in a two-dimensional sensory space.

A matrix of 25 gustatory stimuli combined five sucrose concentrations (0.15 to 2.35 mole/l) with five temperatures (10 to 50 degrees C) or sournesses (pH 1.8 to 5.7). On four different days at the same time of day ten healthy young men served as subjects. Sweet pleasure/displeasure vs. temperature pleasure/displeasure was studied in four subjects and sweet pleasure/displeasure vs. sourness pleasure/displeasure in six subjects. Throughout the first session the 25 stimuli were presented for 5 s each and the subject gave a magnitude estimate of his pleasure or displeasure in response to one dimension of the matrix (e.g. sweetness) regardless of the other. Similarly, throughout the second session, the same stimuli were presented and the subject rated his pleasure or displeasure in response to the second dimension of the matrix (e.g. sourness or temperature) regardless of the first. For the third session however, the subject himself was invited to mix samples, this to allow a behavioural choice in one dimension of the matrix the other being imposed (e.g. he could mix sucrose and water ad libitum for five imposed temperatures). For the last session the subject could adjust the previously imposed dimension, the other previously adjustable dimension being now imposed (e.g. he could modify temperature for five imposed sucrose concentrations). The results of the first two sessions showed that pleasure/displeasure resulted from a two-dimensional combination of the taste modalities offered. The results of the last two sessions showed that the subjects tended to maximize their sensory pleasure. The operant choices coincided with the ratings obtained in the first two sessions. Whether a dimension of the matrix was imposed or operantly adjustable made no difference on the results; the subjects tended to maximize sensory pleasure in the imposed dimension as well as in the adjustable dimension. The subjects therefore maximized their pleasure in the two-dimensional space offered.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Primitive pleasure as the basic human state.

Physiological homeostasis as a goal for much of nursing practice is put into question. The goal of primitive pleasure is substituted as a goal of nursing in that nurses assist people in returning to a basic state of pleasure. This basic human state is further specified as primitive pleasure, primitive in that it is sensory, sensual, and carnal as compared to cognitive or esthetic in nature. Propositions related to primitive pleasure as the basic human state are identified, described, illustrated, and discussed. This beginning conceptualization of an ideal human state was developed without examination of or relation to existing theories such as arousal, stimulation response, Freud's pleasure principle, or developmental theories.

Body Image↗
PubMed1984

Is capacity for pleasure associated with executive career success?

Executives with a low capacity for pleasure were examined to determine if they evidence less occupational and social success than those with normal or high capacity. Data on pleasure capacity and depressive symptoms were collected from 88 senior executive officers, and scores were compared with independent ratings of career success. The 11% of executives with serious work-related or personal problems showed significantly higher pleasure scores than the rest. It is hypothesized that the relatively high pleasure scores of the least successful executives reflect a defensive process of denial or reaction formation rather than an excessively joyful personality trait. A longitudinal study of executives is proposed to clarify whether the high pleasure capacity scores of the least successful executives change situationally over time.

Adult↗