Engineering Ethics: Looking Back, Looking Forward

The eight pieces constituting this Meeting Report are summaries of presentations made during a panel session at the 2011 Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) annual meeting held between March 3rd and 6th in Cincinnati. Lisa Newton organized the session and served as chair. The panel of eight consisted both of pioneers in the field and more recent arrivals. It covered a range of topics from how the field has developed to where it should be going, from identification of issues needing further study to problems of training the next generation of engineers and engineering-ethics scholars.     

Cognitive Science of Religion: Looking Back,Looking Forward

The cognitive science of religion (CSR) arose out of attempts to “science up” religious studies and the anthropology of religion without eliminating interpretive approaches. While maintaining this historical orientation, CSR holds promise to help bridge to other areas within the scientific study of religion. Particularly fruitful areas of future collaboration and complementary study are evolutionary studies of religion, psychology of religion, sociology of religion, and archeology of religion. In response to an invitation to explore the potential of CSR for the 50th anniversary of this journal, I briefly summarize CSR's history and current state and then offer exemplary future directions that might bring CSR into fruitful connection with other areas in the greater scientific study of religion.     

Crisis Management: Looking Back to Look Forward

Alexander George made a seminal contribution to theories of preventive diplomacy, crisis management, deterrence, and coercive diplomacy. Although he made his contribution in the highly structured environment of the Cold War, his analysis of the close connections between positive and negative inducements, the importance of interests in shaping outcomes, and the dangers of threat-based strategies as substitutes for policy speaks to the central challenges of contemporary global politics.     

Perspectives on Healthcare Provider Well-Being: Looking Back,Moving Forward

Recognizing the impact of healthcare professional (HCP) burnout has led to vigorous interest from organizations and individuals regarding how to most effectively promote HCP well-being. The present paper reviews the literature on HCP well-being and describes factors that impact well-being at various levels (i.e., system, institution, program, interpersonal, and individual). We propose that change must occur at all levels to have the greatest impact. Further, we highlight opportunities to advance research on HCP well-being (e.g., being more inclusive regarding study populations and designing longitudinal intervention studies).     

五台山研究会的工作回顾与展望

五台山研究会是在山西省委、省政府的指导下,由省委宣传部批准,于1985年4月16日正式成立的群众性的学术团体。五台山研究会成立十六年来,在省委、省政府的领导与支持下,省社科院的代管下,在省财政厅、省旅游局和五台山风景名胜区委、区政府的大力支持下,经过全体会员的通力协作,积极努力,为研究、宣传五台山,发展五台山的旅游、经济、文化做了不少工作,归纳起来主要有三个方面：     

Inference Patterns in Theoretical Social Psychology: Looking Back as We Move Forward

An important hallmark of modern social psychology is the central importance of theory and hypothesis testing. The inference structure, however, underlying such tests are rarely acknowledged and may have important implications for the field. In this study, we examine the inference patterns utilized over 20 years of published work in a leading journal of social psychology. We found that verification, in contrast to falsification and crucial tests of alternative hypotheses, was the dominant inference structure utilized. Crucial tests were conducted least of all. These trends were discussed in light of larger issues from the philosophy of science, as well as its potential implications for the field.     

Contemporary Psychotherapy: Looking Backward, Looking Forward

This editorial summarizes the founding of the Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, and its evolution into its current form. Also, the editor provides several recommendations for authors hoping to publish their ideas regarding psychotherapy. Finally, the current editor acknowledges the numerous people who have worked to develop, improve, and strengthen the journal.     

Images - Looking Back

This article is written by an art historian, a person whose job it is to analyse and interpret images. In this case however, the article deals with three cases, where the interpreter confronts images with which she identifies in various ways. She conveys the experience of being strongly involved by the images and their represented worlds and also the feeling of experiencing the borderlines between reality, imaginary being and picture medium. The three cases are connected through the theme of ''mirroring'' and subjectivity.     

The Political Psychology of Liberation: From Politics to Ethics and Back

The origins and development of the psychology of liberation are described, detailing the intellectual and political context in which the concept of liberation emerged in Latin American social sciences. Its constitution as a mode of doing psychology, and the founding ideas of Ignacio Martin Baró, its pioneer, are analyzed. Primary concepts such as problematization, de-ideologization, and de-alienation are discussed, and I explain how they are integrated into a central process characterized as conscientization. The role of relatedness as an epistemological base for knowledge construction and liberation is highlighted. The dynamics in which these processes interact in order to facilitate and catalyze the transformation of negative living conditions through participatory action and reflection, to empower people so they become conscious citizens, and to strengthening civil society and democracy is also discussed. I argue that the ethical, critical, and political character of the liberating actions respond for the participatory, reflexive, and transformative conception of this form of psychology.     

Lessons Learned in Looking Back: Perspectives from Trailblazers

Although this is in many ways a good era for women, many things have yet to improve. Women continue to lag behind men with regard to salaries, are under-represented in position of leadership, and still take on greater responsibility for child rearing and family responsibilities. Careers dominated by women tend to be associated with lower salaries and lower prominence and by the same token, women tend to dominate leadership positions when the field becomes less prestigious. Although women now outnumber men in graduating classes, the feminization of clinical psychology brings new challenges. This special series comes out of the 2009 trailblazer panel held at the ABCT convention in New York City, which explored the experiences faced by pioneering women in behavior therapy and discussed ways to help women overcome the glass ceiling. This introductory paper summarizes the lessons learned by these trailblazers with a view toward helping women in academia today.     

Looking Forward Via Hindsight: A Rationale for Reviewing Our Ideological Roots

This article points to a lack of historical studies and posits a rationale for historical study of personalities, events, and ideas in the growth of guidance and counseling. The rationale proceeds from a focus on definitions of history through a treatise on historical methodology and narrows to reasons and implications for historical studies in the social sciences, especially in counseling and guidance. The purpose of this rationale is to stimulate and refine current developments in the field through increased attention to pioneers, their ideas, and efforts in contributing to the development of guidance and counseling.