SYMBOL AND PSYCHOSOMATIC SYMPTOM IN BODILY SPACE-TIME: THE CASE OF THE YAKA OF ZAIRE

The Northern Yaka see the body as an expanse bounded in time and space. Alimentary traffic, olfactory exchange, and procreation constitute oriented transitions of the body boundaries. They provide a spatiotemporal order (inner-surface-outer, high-middle-low, before-simultaneous-after, etc.) which, by symbolic transference, patterns the semantic integration of the social, natural and bodily domains and which is itself patterned by this integration. The body-self has to do with the body as receptive of, and participating in, the activities of the other: in sensorial interaction, that is, in encounter, exchange, smelling, listening, speaking and seeing, individuals serve as reciprocal points of identification. They pattern, and are patterned by, the relationships between the psychosomatic and the sociocultural, between self and other, ascendant and descendant, male and female, etc. I am concerned with the ways these multidimensional relationships in and through the body acts and the body-self may be symbolic, i.e., when they integrate, by differentiation and mediation in a metaphoro—metonymical process, the bodily, social and natural spheres; these relationships are symptomatic when they are disintegrative, dualistic, or intrusive.     

PEIRCEAN APPROACHES TO EMERGENT SYSTEMS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Cognitive science and religion provides perspectives on human cognition and spirituality. Emergent systems theory captures the subatomic, physical, biological, psychological, cultural, and transcendent relationships that constitute the human person. C. S. Peirce's metaphysical categories and existential graphs enrich traditional cognitive science modeling tools to capture emergent phenomena. From this richer perspective, one can reinterpret the traditional doctrine of soul as form of the body in terms of information as the constellation of constitutive relationships that enables real possibility.     

FEMINIST APPROACHES TO RELIGION AND TORTURE

Feminists look critically at any infliction of pain on others, usually requiring that it be consensual, and often both consensual and for the benefit of the person afflicted. Most torture of women is not recognized under official definitions of torture because it is not performed by or with the consent of (government) officials. Women are, however, also victims of torture under official definitions as military or civilian prisoners or as members of defeated populations in war, and are more often subjected to sexual torture, which until recently has not been understood either as torture or even a war crime. Rape, especially serial gang rape, it is argued, should be understood as torture, as the essence of torture is the use of severe pain to obscure or obliterate the victim's sense of agency.     

ACCESSORIAL AND INCLUSIVE APPROACHES TO MARGINAL PERCEPTUAL PHENOMENA

Since most theories of perception are based on focal data in the phenomenal field, an array of accessorial concepts have to be added in order to account for marginal data. The present paper indicates how both classes of phenomena may be included in the same experimental operation and referred to a unitary, operational model of perception—personality. The core of this model is the assumption that everyday perception is the result of a micro-process which proceeds from stimulus-distal stages to more and more stimulus-proximal ones. The interrelations between this model on the one hand and physiological and genetic frames on the other are also indicated.     

RAINFOREST EMPIRICISM AND QUASI'-RATIONALITY: TWO APPROACHES TO OBJECTIVE BIODATA

Two approaches to objective biodata, designed to achieve the interpretability and stability of rational approaches, yet minimize socially desirable responding, were explored. The first was a quasi-rational attempt to derive biodata analogs to an existing temperament measure, and then use them as rational scales. The second was a theory-based variant of criterion-referenced keying, termed rainforest empiricism. Both were utilized with two consecutive classes of U.S. Military Academy cadets ( n = 2,565) to predict leadership performance over four rating periods. The biodata analogs to the temperament measure added incremental validity over the Academy's current admissions package and had significantly smaller correlations with a social desirability scale than their equivalent temperament scales. Scales developed with the rainforest approach had higher incremental validities and lower social desirability. Both methods demonstrated satisfactory stability upon cross-validation, and provided complementary interpretability. Advantages to each approach, and the implications for their use, are discussed.     

QUANTITATIVE APPROACHES TO JOB CLASSIFICATION: A REVIEW AND CRITIQUE

Job classification decisions underlie nearly all personnel functions (e.g., grouping for test validity generalization, compensation, performance appraisal, training needs analysis, career path and succession planning). Pearlman (1980) performed a comprehensive review of the job-family literature, paying special attention to the problem of forming job families when generalizing aptitude test validities. This review addresses a more specific topic: selecting among and using the numerous quantitative job-classification procedures, with a focus on the decision-making tasks and practical difficulties that confront users of each.     

LEARNING THEORY APPROACHES TO PERSUASION

This review synthesizes relevant research dealing with the processes of learning and suggests its applications to compliance gaining. The two major issues addressed are: (1) to what degree can learning theories explain the acquisition of new attitudes and behaviors, and (2) to what degree are attitudinal and behavioral changes governed by learning theory principles? The learning theories discussed are grouped into three categories: stimulus-response or connectionist approaches; cognitive approaches; and stochastic, mathematical, and cybernetic approaches. The stimulus-response models, which encompass most of the research examined in this paper, are further broken down into four types: (1) classical conditioning, (2) contiguity models, (3) instrumental (or operant) conditioning and (4) models including drive and drive reduction. Principles and major research evidence from numerous learning theories are reviewed and analyzed, and suggestions are made as to how this evidence may aid in the construction of more complete theories of persuasion and attitude change.     

BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH IN PREVENTIVE DENTISTRY: EDUCATIONAL AND CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT APPROACHES TO THE PROBLEM OF PATIENT COMPLIANCE

This study examined the effects of reinforcement on compliance with an oral hygiene education program. Patients 18 years of age or older who enrolled in an ongoing program at a periodontal practice received 3–5 sessions of instruction in preventive dental care. Using a between-subjects design, patients who entered the program during alternating months also had a portion of their fees refunded contingent upon improvements in their dental plaque scores. Pre- and posttreatment data showed that all subjects exhibited lower plaque levels following the program, but that greater improvements were seen in patients who were exposed to the fee reduction contingency. Plaque scores taken at a 6-month follow-up revealed some relapse for the Fee Reduction subjects. However, their scores were still substantially better than pretreatment, and better than those of the Education only subjects, whose data differed little from untreated Controls. Methodological and practical issues related to behavioral research in preventive dentistry are discussed.