The human stress response has been characterized, both physiologically and behaviorally, as "fight-or-flight." Although fight-or-flight may characterize the primary physiological responses to stress for both males and females, we propose that, behaviorally, females' responses are more marked by a pattern of "tend-and-befriend." Tending involves nurturant activities designed to protect the self and offspring that promote safety and reduce distress; befriending is the creation and maintenance of social networks that may aid in this process. The biobehavioral mechanism that underlies the tend-and-befriend pattern appears to draw on the attachment-caregiving system, and neuroendocrine evidence from animal and human studies suggests that oxytocin, in conjunction with female reproductive hormones and endogenous opioid peptide mechanisms, may be at its core. This previously unexplored stress regulatory system has manifold implications for the study of stress.

Important features of the self-concept can be located outside of the individual and inside close or related others. The authors use this insight to reinterpret data previously said to support the empathyaltruism model of helping, which asserts that empathic concern for another results in selflessness and true altruism. That is, they argue that the conditions that lead to empathic concern also lead to a greater sense of self-other overlap, raising the possibility that helping under these conditions is not selfless but is also directed toward the self. In 3 studies, the impact of empathic concern on willingness to help was eliminated when oneness-a measure of perceived self-other overlapwas considered. Path analyses revealed further that empathic concern increased helping only through its relation to perceived oneness, thereby throwing the empathy-altruism model into question. The authors suggest that empathic concern affects helping primarily as an emotional signal of oneness.

When pressure to perform is increased, individuals commonly perform worse than if there were no pressure ("choking under pressure'). Two mechanisms have been proposed to account for this effect-distraction (cognitive load), wherein pressure distracts attention from the task, and self focus, wherein attention shifts inward interfering with performance. To distinguish between these two competing explanations, the current experiment manipulated pressure by offering performance-contingent rewards. For half the participants, cognitive load was increased by requiring participants to count backward from 100. Additionally, adaptation to self awareness was manipulated by videotaping half the participants during practice trials. Results show that pressure caused choking when participants were not distracted and had not been adapted to self awareness. This effect was attenuated when cognitive load was increased or when self-awareness adaptation had occurred. These results support self focus mediated misregulation as the mechanism for choking and disconfirm the distraction hypothesis.

Important features of the self-concept can be located outside of the individual and inside close or related others. The authors use this insight to reinterpret data previously said to support the empathy-altruism model of helping, which asserts that empathic concern for another results in selflessness and true altruism. That is, they argue that the conditions that lead to empathic concern also lead to a greater sense of self-other overlap, raising the possibility that helping under these conditions is not selfless but is also directed toward the self. In 3 studies, the impact of empathic concern on willingness to help was eliminated when oneness--a measure of perceived self-other overlap--was considered. Path analyses revealed further that empathic concern increased helping only through its relation to perceived oneness, thereby throwing the empathy-altruism model into question. The authors suggest that empathic concern affects helping primarily as an emotional signal of oneness.

This study was designed to investigate whether post-exercise analgesia occurs following an ad lib exercise routine. All of the 17 male participants exercised on a regular basis. In an exercise setting (student gymnasium) they participated in 20 min of self-selected exercise, while in the neutral setting (laboratory) they rested quietly for 20 min. Pain was induced via the gross pressure device. Pain threshold and pain tolerance were measured twice, with an interval of 20 min, in both the exercise and the neutral setting. Pain threshold was stable in the exercise setting. A significant increase in pain tolerance followed the 20 min bout of exercise, indicating a post-exercise analgesic response. These results support the prediction that the analgesic effect of exercise is not limited to controlled experimental conditions, but generalizes to naturally occurring situations.

This study was undertaken to identify and test a model of the cognitive antecedents to condom use stage of change in low-income, single, urban women. A convenience sample of 537 women (M=30 years old) attending two urban primary health care settings in western New York State anonymously completed questionnaires based primarily on two leading social-cognitive models, the transtheoretical model and the information-motivation-behavioral skills model. We used structural equation modeling to examine the direct and indirect effects of HIV-related knowledge, social norms of discussing HIV risk and prevention, familiarity with HIV-infected persons, general readiness to change sexual behaviors, perceived vulnerability to HIV, and pros and cons of condom use on condom-use stage of change. The results indicated two models that differ by partner type. Condom-use stage of change in women with steady main partners was influenced most by social norms and the pros of condom use. Condom-use stage of change in women with "other" types (multiple, casual, or new) of sexual partners was influenced by HIV-related knowledge, general readiness to change sexual behaviors, and the pros of condom use. These findings suggest implications for developing gender-relevant HIV-prevention interventions.

Early theories of stress obscured differences in how men and women respond to threat. The tend-andbefriend model attempted to partially redress that oversight by identifying biological and behavioral patterns of stress responses distinctive to females, responses that are markedly social. Although men's behavior under stress may also be social, at least under certain circumstances, extending the tend-andbefriend model to men is premature and potentially flawed, from the vantage points of the underlying biology and the behavioral stress responses it may help to foster. D. C. Geary and M. V. Flinn ( 2002) have offered a commentary on our tend-and-befriend theory that provides intriguing extensions to the stress responses of men. We concur with some of their ideas and disagree with others. Nonetheless, we believe this debate will spark constructive attention to the limitations of previous models of stress for understanding the many ways in which both men and women respond socially and biologically to stress.

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