Mathematics and Theology: A Stroll through the Garden of Mathaphors

Mathematics has long been considered the language of science and has even been acknowledged as the universal language of the future. Yet mathematics also plays a less-recognized religious role in that metaphors drawn from mathematics (mathaphors) can influence our spiritual perspectives by helping us to entertain new religious ideas and to challenge old ones. Mathaphors are therefore useful tools in matheology (the study of mathematics and theology). This essay explores ten ways in which contemporary mathaphors affect our spiritual lives. Specifically, mathaphors are: changing our metaphors for God; challenging our human role in the universe; helping us accept ambiguity; revamping our understanding of the one and the many; revising our thoughts about free will and determinism; moving us toward pluralistic, multi-world views; pushing the envelope on what consciousness is; altering our expectations for afterlife; offering the hope of a more compassionate future; encouraging faith perspectives that are always incomplete and in process.     

A few thoughts about the mind,the brain,and a child with early deprivation

Infant brain research is having an increasing impact on child psychotherapy and our understanding of the neurobiological effects of trauma and neglect. This paper outlines the 'experience-dependent' nature of brain development in infancy and the concept of critical periods in such development. The effects of deprivation on child development are illustrated and case material from a child who was institutionalized during his second year is used as a basis for posing questions about the nature of the mind and the brain. In spite of his deprivation, he was able to communicate imaginatively. Schore's proposal for the use of early interventions is put forward to counter discouragement that can be engendered by work with severely deprived children.     

The 'body–container': A new perspective on the 'body–ego'

Psychoanalytic theory and practice tend to focus on metaphorical and symbolic mental representations in a way that often pushes aside the importance of a bodily 'presence' possessing qualities that can not and should not be subordinated to the representational structure. By introducing the 'body – container' model, this paper reintroduces the concrete physical body into the psychoanalytic discourse in a more direct way. This clinical – theoretical model links the 'body-ego' ( Freud, 1923 ) to the container idea ( Bion, 1962 ) aiming to creates a new integrative psyche-soma scheme. The 'body – container' experience is available as a subjective realization through a priori psycho-physical forms structured as an envelope and a central vertical axis. These forms are the outcome of our given bodily structure experienced under the 'magnetic' force of object relation. The mental envelope is already discussed in psychoanalytic theory ( Anzieu, 1989, 1990 ; Bick, 1968 ) and I wish to introduce the characteristics of the vertical axis which I call 'the frontal spine', emphasizing its constitutional reciprocity with the skin envelope. The proposed model offers new insights into the psycho-physical organization in primitive mental states and may contribute to the understanding of the complementary structural relation between embodied and represented in human experience. Two clinical examples illustrate the therapeutic work relevant to disturbances in the primal psycho-physical space organization at different developmental levels.     

论合理功利意识下的奉献精神——新世纪革命军人奉献观探究

把祖国、人民的利益视作高于一切,为了它甘愿献出自己的全部,甚至不惜牺牲生命的奉献精神是每一名革命军人所应有的品质。但是,随着改革开放的深化、市场经济的发展和价值观念的转换,这种奉献精神逐渐被赋予了新的时代内涵。正确认识并合理分析反映现代市场经济关系的合理功利意识下的奉献精神,不仅是新世纪继承与弘扬革命军人奉献精神的需要,更是推进我军现代化建设、实现我军思想政治工作创新发展的需要。     

Shared practices,understanding, language and joint attention

In responding to the commentaries from Hobson (2007) , Moore (2007) and Rakoczy (2007) , we first discuss the commonalities our approach has with other theories and then elaborate on the nature of shared practices and their relationship with language and understanding. We then address views of representation, arguing against an empiricist approach and for a constructivist, action‐based account of knowledge and development. Finally, we briefly discuss implications following from our approach regarding how existing research would be reinterpreted and directions for new research.     

Potential consequences of abandonment in preschool-age: Neuropsychological findings in institutionalized children

Objective: Several longitudinal studies had shown that early deprivation and institutionalization during the first six months of life affects the emotional, cognitive, social and neurophysiologic development. Nevertheless, our understanding of possible similar effects of delayed institutionalization, in preschool-age remains unclear to this day. The goal of this study is to evaluate the cognitive performance of institutionalized children with history of preschool-age physical abandonment. Method: 18 male institutionalized children with history of abandonment during the preschool-age (2-5 years old) and comparison group matched by age, handedness, gender, educational and socioeconomic level were tested on multiple tasks of attention, memory and executive functions. Results: We found a cognitive impairment in the institutionalized children in several measures of attention, memory and executive functions. This is the first report of cognitive impairment related to late abandonment and institutionalization effects (after 2 years old), extending the already known effects on early institutionalization. Conclusions: This preliminary study suggests that environmental factors including abandonment and institutional care, can affect not only the infancy period, but also the preschool period providing new insights into our understanding of neurocognitive development.     

An era of webs: Technique,technology and the new cognitive (r)evolution

This paper explores the relationship between technology and technique in the use of computers as tools and how it is leading cognitive sciences into to an era of “webs.” Ernst Kapp suggested that it is humans who determine the “appropriate form” of any tool through the way they use and think about it; Douglas Engelbart, a pioneering computer researcher suggested that tools change to meet our expectations pushing us to understand the world in different ways. These two interrelated observations about technology are especially salient for our burgeoning information age. The current intersection of technologies leads to two competing visions of the computer – both deeply influenced by the concept of human–computer symbiosis – and to very different conceptions of human thinking. The vision of computer as recreation of human thinking, heavily influenced by the development of tools such as the personal computer and object-oriented programming, leads to viewing ideal human thinking as efficiently designed, well organized, and locally regulated by executive functions. The second vision of computers, as augmenting the human mind by extending brain activity out into the information universe, leads to web or trails related themes that focus on non-linear, non-hierarchical inter-linking of information into cohesive patterns. This paper suggests that because of the pace of tool development in these two computer capabilities the theme of the central processing unit dominated early, but we are now entering a new, more complex “age of webs.”     

论美容医学专业教育的体系结构

我国美容医学专业教育体系于20世纪90年代初期建立并日趋成熟。论述五年制美容医学、三年制美容医疗技术两个专业方向的培养目标与课程设置,对促进美容医学教育事业的发展具有极其重要的意义。     

Moral Dilemmas,Collective Responsibility,and Moral Progress

Ruth Marcus has offered an account of moral dilemmas in which the presence of dilemmas acts as a motivating force, pushing us to try to minimize predicaments of moral conflict. In this paper, I defend a Marcus-style account of dilemmas against two objections: first, that if dilemmas are real, we are forced to blame those who have done their best, and second, that in some cases, even a stripped down version of blame seems inappropriate. My account highlights the importance of collective responsibility in understanding dilemmas, and I suggest that it sheds light on understanding moral progress.     

NO ONE IS GUILTY: CRIME, PATRIARCHY, AND INDIVIDUALISM*

Let us begin with a fundamental realization: No amount of thinking and no amount of public policy have brought us any closer to understanding and solving the problem of crime. The more we have reacted to crime, the farther we have removed ourselves from any understanding and any reduction of the problem. In recent years, we have floundered desperately in reformulating the law, punishing the offender, and quantifying our knowledge. Yet this country remains one of the most crime-ridden nations. In spite of all its wealth, economic development, and scientific advances, this country has one of the worst crime records in the world.
With such realization, we return once again—as if starting anew—to the subject of crime, a subject that remains one of our most critical indicators of the state of our personal and collective being. If what is to be said seems outrageous and heretical, it is only because it is necessarily outside the conventional wisdom both of our understanding of the problem and of our attempt to solve it.     

The Psychology of Future-Oriented Thinking: From Achievement to Proactive Coping,Adaptation, and Aging

Contributions to this special issue examine multiple aspects of how people think about and prepare for desired and undesired future outcomes, including the processes that link thoughts about one's present situation to possible future outcomes and those that promote the balanced pursuit of long-term vs. short-term goals. They also identify new distinctions among widely studied future-oriented thoughts and feelings (e.g., optimism versus hope). Several contributions examine proactive efforts to prevent adverse effects or reduce their impact in such challenging contexts as being discriminated against, aging and becoming disabled, preparing for potential disasters, or coping with terrorist attacks. Two final contributions examine the implications of temporal factors for advance decision-making in medicine and business. This introductory article highlights the central issues addressed by the contributions and discusses ways in which studying future-oriented thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the contexts of stress and lifespan development may extend our understanding of future-oriented phenomena beyond the achievement domain.     

SOMETHING BORROWED,SOMETHING NEW: TEACHING IMPLICATIONS OF DEVELOPMENTAL SPELLING RESEARCH

Traditional spelling theory and practice are contrasted with the instructional implications derived from recent research in developmental spelling. After a brief historical explication of previous views of spelling, the nature of the developmental spelling continuum is described. Then, the common instructional concerns of word selection, yearly and weekly routines, and organizing to meet the needs of poor spellers are considered against the developmental backdrop. This paper hinges on the premise that the last fifteen years of spelling research have irrevocably set us on a new path in our understanding of spelling development. Consequently new understandings about instruction are not only timely, but necessary.     

A Social-Ecological Perspective on Vulnerable Youth: Toward an Understanding of Sexual Development Among Urban African American Adolescents

The authors employ a social-ecological framework to aid our understanding of the complex array of factors in the immediate and broader environment that influence adolescent sexual development. Further, sexual development is viewed as normative and critical to positive growth. The authors provide an overview of the Two-Cities Study, a multi-stage qualitative investigation that aims to contribute to an understanding of sexual development and to illuminate gender differences in sexuality. The current studies focus on urban African American youth living in low-income neighborhoods, offering new data on sexual development among these youth.     

An Intricate Dance: Life Experience,Multisystem Resiliency,and Rate of Telomere Decline Throughout the Lifespan

Accumulation of life stressors predicts accelerated development and progression of diseases of aging. Telomere length, the DNA‐based biomarker indicating cellular aging, is a mechanism of disease development, and is shortened in a dose response fashion by duration and severity of life stressor exposures. Telomere length captures the interplay between genetics, life experiences and psychosocial and behavioral factors. Over the past several years, psychological stress resilience, healthy lifestyle factors, and social connections have been associated with longer telomere length and it appears that these factors can protect individuals from stress‐induced telomere shortening. In the current review, we highlight these findings, and illustrate that combining these ‘multisystem resiliency’ factors may strengthen our understanding of aging, as these powerful factors are often neglected in studies of aging. In naturalistic studies, the effects of chronic stress exposure on biological pathways are rarely main effects, but rather a complex interplay between adversity and resiliency factors. We suggest that chronic stress effects can be best understood by directly testing if the deleterious effects of stress on biological aging processes, in this case the cell allostasis measure of telomere shortening, are mitigated in individuals with high levels of multisystem resiliency. Without attending to such interactions, stress effects are often masked and missed. Taking account of the cluster of positive buffering factors that operate across the lifespan will take us a step further in understanding healthy aging. While these ideas are applied to the telomere length literature for illustration, the concept of multisystem resiliency might apply to aging broadly, from cellular to systemic health.     

Brain development, plasticity, and behavior

Damage to the infant brain is associated with a complex array of behavioral and anatomical effects. Recent research is leading to a new understanding of the nature of, and mechanisms underlying, recovery from brain damage.     

Boundary Work,Associative Argumentation and Switching in the Advocacy of Agricultural Biotechnology

Some scientists argue that we face a worldwide reproductive crisis known as ‘endocrine disruption’, a term used to encompass the effects of hormonally active chemicals in our environment. Everyday chemicals such as plastics, pesticides and flame retardants can mimic hormones and thereby disrupt the reproductive, neurological and immunological development of humans and other animals. This surprising discovery is causing consternation in scientific, policy, academic and corporate arenas as they attempt to define, assess and control for this understudied phenomenon. How can the social sciences participate in understanding and solving the problem generated by endocrine disruption? First, there is an early history of endocrine disruption; the development of insect hormone mimics as pesticides, that has yet to be brought to bear in contemporary discussions of endocrine disruption. Second a social science analysis of the mishaps resulting from the 1970s' development of insect hormone mimics as pesticides offers a new way of thinking scientifically about mimesis. Employing the social science insight that mimesis is productive of social change sheds light on how insect hormone mimicking pesticides produced a number of scientific surprises. By analyzing the outcome of using mimesis in the laboratory, this paper participates in the discussion of endocrine disruption by arguing for a re-evaluation of the predominance of laboratory based sciences when dealing with epigenetic phenomena.     

Learning to remember: Social-communicative exchanges and the development of children’s memory skills

For more than three decades, the question “What is memory development the development of?” has guided research on children’s memory. As theories and methodologies have evolved, so too has our knowledge of the mnemonic competencies of young children, and of age-related differences in memory performance. Unfortunately, however, current understanding of the development of memory is seriously limited, largely because the bulk of the literature is based on cross-sectional experiments. From our perspective, in order to increase our understanding of the development of children’s skills for remembering, it is necessary to conduct longitudinal studies that illuminate mechanisms underlying developmental change. In addition, experimental methods must be used to explore further the operation of these potential mediators of change. In this article, we review our own recent longitudinal and experimental research to illustrate how we are addressing a new call—to study both memory development and the development of memory.     

Temperament, Development, and Personality

ABSTRACT— Understanding temperament is central to our understanding of development, and temperament constructs are linked to individual differences in both personality and underlying neural function. In this article, I review findings on the structure of temperament, its relation to the Big Five traits of personality, and its links to development and psychopathology. In addition, I discuss the relation of temperament to conscience, empathy, aggression, and the development of behavior problems, and describe the relation between effortful control and neural networks of executive attention. Finally, I present research on training executive attention.     

Coaching of Insolvent Entrepreneurs and the Change in Coping Resources,Health, and Cognitive Performance

As coaching becomes an established learning and development tool, it expands to new work contexts and relevant populations. Exploring coaching outcomes in insolvent entrepreneurs is a new and promising field. Business failure is a devastating experience for entrepreneurs, associated with negative emotions and adverse psychological and physiological reactions. Our study is the first to examine if coaching can help improve the coping resources, health, and cognitive performance of insolvent entrepreneurs. The results of our pre-post-test-within-subject analyses based on 19 participants show a positive improvement in psychological well-being, vital exhaustion, and vigilance. By contrast, no improvements were found with regard to coping resources and biomarkers such as stress hormones concentrations in hair. Unexpectedly, the working alliance between client and coach did not increase the improvements following coaching. Our findings contribute to the growing literature on the effects of coaching; however, our results should be interpreted cautiously as unfortunately we had no opportunity to include a control group in our research design.     

Integral Spirituality, Deep Science, and Ecological Awareness

There is a growing understanding that addressing the global crisis facing humanity will require new methods for knowing, understanding, and valuing the world. Narrow, disciplinary, and reductionist perceptions of reality are proving inadequate for addressing the complex, interconnected problems of the current age. The pervasive Cartesian worldview, which is based on the metaphor of the universe as a machine, promotes fragmentation in our thinking and our perception of the cosmos. This divisive, compartmentalized thinking fosters alienation and self‐focused behavior. I aim to show in this essay that healing the fragmentation that is at the root of the current world crises requires an integrated epistemology that embraces both the rational knowledge of scientific empiricism and the inner knowledge of spiritual experience. This “deep science” transcends the illusion of separateness to discern the unity, the unbroken wholeness, that underlies the diverse forms of the universe. Our perception of connectedness, of our integral place in the web of life, emerges as an attribute of our connection with the eternal, beatific source of all existence. This awakened spiritual vision “widens our circle of understanding and compassion, to embrace all living creatures in the whole of nature” (Einstein, quoted in Goldstein [1976] 1987). Our behavior, as it emerges naturally out of our perception of the sacredness of the natural world, will naturally embody love and respect for all life forms. This vision promotes the healing of our long‐standing alienation from the natural world and offers hope for renewal in the midst of widespread cultural deterioration and environmental destruction.