No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / A new method for the empirical study of the Freudian concept of repression is proposed based on an implicit memory paradigm and a procedure of bringing current test stimuli into association with individualized conflictual material, some of which was previously repressed, such that the new stimuli, in turn, become subject to repression themselves. Implicit memory is revealed when there is enhanced performance on a task related to a previously exposed stimulus without explicit memory or conscious recall of that stimulus. Ninety-two college undergraduates were exposed to a list of matched sexual, "upset", and neutral words and then tested for their memory of those words using word stem completion and free recall. During the exposure phase, the experimental group was asked to think about an early sexual memory, in order to activate conflictual material, and to bring it into association with the stimulus words, while the control group thought about a neutral memory. The hypothesis is that there would be a diminished implicit memory effect for sexual words that had been brought into association with previously repressed material by the experimental procedure. Contrary to the hypothesis, implicit memory was significantly greater for the sexual words compared with the "upset" and neutral words. There was also a significant correlation between implicit memory and subjects' rating of the early memory, such that more unpleasant sexual memories were associated with increased implicit memory for sexual words and more unpleasant neutral memories were associated with increased implicit memory for upset words. Several explanations are offered for the results but it is suggested that the priming and word stem completion procedure offered subjects a relatively conflict-free avenue for discharge of loaded material and thus repression was unnecessary. The general methodology of using individualized conflictual material, that affects current stimuli, to study repression merits further investigation but efforts need to be made to minimize ways in which subjects can bypass the conflict. In addition, if subtle stimulus words and minimal cuing techniques are used, implicit memory remains a fruitful arena for the study of repression. / 2031-01-01

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Kaiso is a POZ-ZF transcription factor initially identified as an interaction partner for the cell adhesion co-factor p120^ctn. Kaiso-DNA binding is inhibited by p120^ctn, implicating p120^ctn in the regulation of Kaiso transcriptional activity. In this study, Kaiso repressed transcription of a luciferase reporter carrying four copies of the sequence-specific Kaiso-binding site (4xKBS) in artificial promoter assays. Mutation of the 4xKBS which is known to disrupt Kaiso-DNA binding also abrogated Kaiso-mediated transcriptional repression. Moreover, p120^ctn inhibited Kaiso-mediated transcriptional repression via the 4xKBS, yet neither the p120^ctn deletion mutant ΔR3-ll (lacking the Kaiso binding site) or p120^ctn NLS mutant (which cannot enter the nucleus) inhibited transcriptional repression. Furthermore, in NIH 3T3 cells (which do not demonstrate a Kaiso-pl20ctn interaction), pl20ctn failed to inhibit transcriptional repression. Many POZZF transcriptional repressors recruit an HDAC complex via their POZ domain to repress transcription. To investigate the mechanism of Kaiso-mediated transcriptional repression, the POZ domain of Kaiso was deleted, which abrogated transcriptional repression. Kaiso immunoprecipitates contained HDAC activity, and the HDAC co-repressor Sin3A co-immunoprecipitated with Kaiso, implying that Kaiso recruits Sin3A to repress transcription in an HDAC-dependent manner. Lastly, Kaiso repressed transcription via a human 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑛 promoter fragment. This suggests that the KBS element is functionally relevant and implicates 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑛 as a Kaiso target-gene. Collectively, these data establish Kaiso as a sequence-specific, HDAC-dependent transcriptional repressor that is regulated by the adhesion co-factor p120^ctn. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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This dissertation draws attention to the interaction between insurgents and the target state as the appropriate context for explaining the motivations of suicide bombers, the rationales of the organizations that support them, and the popularity in certain societies of suicide bombing. Based mainly on data collected from 88 interviews conducted in 2006 with senior leaders of six Palestinian political organizations and close relatives and friends of a 25 percent representative sample of Palestinian suicide bombers during the second intifada, it demonstrates the following: (1) During the second intifada, changes in the political opportunity structure, especially extreme state repression, were chiefly responsible for growing public support for suicide bombing, the development of organizational rationales justifying suicide bombing, and the crystallization of suicide bombers’ motivation to act. State repression produced a widespread desire for revenge at all levels of Palestinian society. (2) Cultural forces, notably the growing popularity of fundamentalist Islam and its embodiment in the political culture of certain militant organizations, were of secondary importance in causing the spread of suicide bombing. (3) Strategic calculations (“rational choice”) aimed at speeding the liberation of occupied territory were of tertiary importance in motivating suicide bombers but they figured more prominently at the level of organizational rationales. (4) While the literature often invokes creative agency, psychopathology, and material deprivation to explain the rise of suicide bombing, little or no effect was discovered for these variables.

This dissertation draws attention to the interaction between insurgents and the target state as the appropriate context for explaining the motivations of suicide bombers, the rationales of the organizations that support them, and the popularity in certain societies of suicide bombing. Based mainly on data collected from 88 interviews conducted in 2006 with senior leaders of six Palestinian political organizations and close relatives and friends of a 25 percent representative sample of Palestinian suicide bombers during the second intifada, it demonstrates the following: (1) During the second intifada, changes in the political opportunity structure, especially extreme state repression, were chiefly responsible for growing public support for suicide bombing, the development of organizational rationales justifying suicide bombing, and the crystallization of suicide bombers’ motivation to act. State repression produced a widespread desire for revenge at all levels of Palestinian society. (2) Cultural forces, notably the growing popularity of fundamentalist Islam and its embodiment in the political culture of certain militant organizations, were of secondary importance in causing the spread of suicide bombing. (3) Strategic calculations (“rational choice”) aimed at speeding the liberation of occupied territory were of tertiary importance in motivating suicide bombers but they figured more prominently at the level of organizational rationales. (4) While the literature often invokes creative agency, psychopathology, and material deprivation to explain the rise of suicide bombing, little or no effect was discovered for these variables.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the phenomenon of repression and to study its relationship to optimism/pessimism as measured by a subjective and an objective measuring instrument.