Reaching Our 75th Anniversary: A History of AGPA 1992–2017—Part 3

This is the third in a series of three articles that chronicle and examine the 25-year history of the American Group Psychotherapy Association from 1992 to 2017. This time period has been divided into three naturally occurring eras: the pre–9/11 era, the 9/11 era, and the post–9/11 era. To permit meaningful comparisons across time, an effort has been made to contextualize events and to examine each era using the same set of seven facets/dimensions: (1) mission(s); (2) structure and administration; (3) jewels in the crown; (4) membership; (5) financial health; (6) organizational tensions and family dynamics; (7) relationships with the outside world.

This account while based on objective data, like all such histories, is inherently subjective. Choices about which specific events to chronicle, as well as their meaning and significance, are filtered through the authors’ perceptual and conceptual lenses.

This third section focuses on the post–9/11 era.     

Reaching Our 75th Anniversary: A History of AGPA 1992–2017—Part 1

This is the first in a series of three articles that chronicle and examine the 25-year history of the American Group Psychotherapy Association from 1992 to 2017. This time period has been divided into three naturally occurring eras: the pre–9/11 era, the 9/11 era, and the post–9/11 era. To permit meaningful comparisons across time, an effort has been made to contextualize events and to examine each era using the same set of seven facets/dimensions: (1) mission(s); (2) structure and administration; (3) jewels in the crown; (4) membership; (5) financial health; (6) organizational tensions and family dynamics; and (7) relationships with the outside world. This account, while based on objective data, like all such histories, is inherently subjective. Choices about which specific events to chronicle, as well as their meaning and significance, are filtered through the authors’ perceptual and conceptual lenses. This first section focuses on the pre–9/11 era.     

What Kind of Reformation?: The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation and Today

While Luther did not intend to start a Reformation with his 95 Theses, the increasingly sharp conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities led to a separation between Luther and his followers and the Catholic Church of the time. Nevertheless, while the focal point for the 500th anniversary commemorations is Germany, even in the 16th century the Reformation had more centres than Wittenberg, such as Zürich, where Zwingli was active, and particularly Geneva. From here the impulse of Calvin's Reformation together with Free Church traditions prepared the way for the development of the culture of modernity in its various social and political manifestations. In view of the contemporary cultural conflicts in the globalized world, the churches of historic Protestantism should use the anniversary celebrations as an occasion to reappropriate the Protestant principle as a dynamic force, to search for a transformed embodiment of grace in the contemporary situation of cultural conflict, and to contribute to the shaping of a new culture of life.     

Between the Horns: A Dilemma in the Interpretation of the Running of the Bulls–Part 2: The Evasion

This second part of the essay deals with the horns of the dilemma at the conceptual level and ‘on the street’. The first part ended with that quandary where a deep understanding was precluded no matter which way one turned, whether an inadequate comprehension based on individual and partial notions, a perplexing pluralist path or a relinquishment of the hermeneutic enterprise altogether. The philosophical solution of existential overtones presently put forward deftly avoids the sharp ends of the predicament by means of a three-tiered phenomenological analysis of the event. First, death is considered via Heidegger's and Sartre's existential examination; next, risk and related concepts, such as fear, are scrutinised; and third, Nietzsche's and Ortega y Gasset's life-affirming views lead us to the liberating conclusion: facing danger and death are means to an enhanced and joyful experience of life. As in the first part, this one also presents several photographs that complement the text at different levels. Once several objections are disposed of, readers are left with a philosophical elucidation of a sense of joy predicated on the ability to face daring challenges willingly undertaken for the fun of it.     

History of halakhah — methodological issues: A review essay of I. Twersky'sRabad of Posquières

Revel Graduate School Yeshivah University     

A History of “Behavior” and “Mind”: Use of Behavioral and Cognitive Terms in the 20th Century

The Psychological Record - If we assume that the terms used in a book tend to reflect its orientation, this provides a way to compare the relative trajectories of the influences of cognitivism and...     

Cooperation in repeated interactions: A systematic review of Centipede game experiments, 1992–2016

Cooperation is a fundamental form of social interaction, and turn-taking reciprocity one of its most familiar manifestations. The Centipede game provides a formal model of such alternating reciprocal cooperation, but a backward induction (BI) argument appears to prove logically that instrumentally rational players would never cooperate in this way. A systematic review of experimental research reveals that human decision makers cooperate frequently in this game, except under certain extreme conditions. Several game, situational, and individual difference variables have been investigated for their influence on cooperation. The most influential are aspects of the payoff function (especially the social gain from cooperation and the risk associated with a cooperative move), the number of players, repetitions of the game, group vs. individual decisions, and players’ social value orientations (SVOs). Our review of experimental evidence suggests that other-regarding preferences, including prosocial behavioural dispositions and collective rationality, provide the most powerful explanation for cooperation.     

Reaching around barriers: the performance of the great apes and 3–5-year-old children

Inhibitory control has been suggested as a key predictive measure of problem-solving skills in human and nonhuman animals. However, there has yet to be a direct comparison of the inhibitory skills of the nonhuman apes and their development in human children. We compared the inhibitory skills of all great ape species, including 3–5-year-old children in a detour-reaching task, which required subjects to avoid reaching directly for food and instead use an indirect reaching method to successfully obtain the food. We tested 22 chimpanzees, 18 bonobos, 18 orangutans, 6 gorillas and 42 children. Our sample included chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans housed in zoos (N = 27) and others housed in sanctuaries in their native habitats (N = 37). Overall, orangutans were the most skilful apes, including human children. As expected older children outperformed younger children. Sanctuary chimpanzees and bonobos outperformed their zoo counterparts whereas there was no difference between the two orangutan samples. Most zoo chimpanzees and bonobos failed to solve the original task, but improved their performance with additional training, although the training method determined to a considerable extent the level of success that the apes achieved in a transfer phase. In general, the performance of the older children was far from perfect and comparable to some of the nonhuman apes tested.     

Between the Horns: A Dilemma in the Interpretation of the Running of the Bulls – Part 1: The Confrontation

The essay, divided in two parts, examines the event of the running of the bulls (encierro in Spanish). The phenomenon of the encierro, a complex cultural activity of deep historical roots, demands to be understood: What drives people to risk injury or death at the horns of untamed bulls? How should we make sense of this, subjective and objectively? To answer these questions, I use a framework that relies on explanation and assessment of popular views on the way to arguing for a philosophical alternative. This arrangement is readily adaptable to many other sporting (and non-sporting) activities where risk and/or mass participation are key factors. Its unorthodox format – organised around an opening narrative of a paradigmatic, skilled and lucky run with the bulls, as well as hors texte (direct appeals to the reader) – brings the reader straight into the fray, philosophical and otherwise. Part I begins by presenting the history of the encierro. It also explains the dynamics of the event, often via images with pedagogical and critical side-commentaries. It proceeds to introduce and critically engage with prevalent explanations, most with ethnological tendencies, that conceive the running as tradition, rite, ritual and sport. This part ends with a dilemma whereby we either try to explain matters by resorting to particular and partial interpretations, or a ‘democratic’ conglomerate of superficial and confusing boundaries, or in the end we simply concede our inability to understand the phenomenon of the running of the bulls in toto. This philosophical impasse will be evaded in part 2 (Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 2, 1) via existentialist and phenomenological analysis.     

The History of Science as a Graveyard of Theories: A Philosophers’ Myth?

According to the antirealist argument known as the pessimistic induction, the history of science is a graveyard of dead scientific theories and abandoned theoretical posits. Support for this pessimistic picture of the history of science usually comes from a few case histories, such as the demise of the phlogiston theory and the abandonment of caloric as the substance of heat. In this article, I wish to take a new approach to examining the ‘history of science as a graveyard of theories’ picture. Using JSTOR Data for Research and Springer Exemplar, I present new lines of evidence that are at odds with this pessimistic picture of the history of science. When rigorously tested against the historical record of science, I submit, the pessimistic picture of the history of science as a graveyard of dead theories and abandoned posits may turn out to be no more than a philosophers’ myth.     

Replacement—A theory of stereotypy: A review

Three forms of stereotypy are described and an outline given of previous theories of simple stereotypy in the retarded and autistic. An alternative theory is put forward in which stereotypy is characterized as a replacement of unpalleatable stimuli and/or responses that are overloading the system in a way with which the individual cannot cope. Although the theory derives from cognitive psychology, it can also be expressed behaviorally or experientially without loss of impact. The manner in which replacement theory applies to the three types of stereotypy is described. Testable hypotheses are derived, predictions made, and implications considered. Finally, the more general ramifications of the theory are explored.     

Changes in the Composition of the Homeless Population: 1992–2002

This study examines changes in the characteristics of the homeless population before and after a period of extended economic expansion (1992–2002). Data from other sources suggest that, during this 10-year period, the size of the overall population of homeless persons may have declined slightly, though not significantly, both in the city studied and nationally. In-depth surveys of representative samples of homeless adults (N = 249 in 1992–94; N = 220 in 2000–2002) revealed significant differences in the composition of the homeless population across the time period, consistent with queuing theory. Persons experiencing homelessness after the expansion appeared to be a more “chronic,” less readily employable population than those interviewed at the start of the expansion: Those interviewed after were older, spent more time living on the streets, had more health symptoms, were more likely to have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and had more restricted social networks and social support. Policy, research, and service provision implications of the findings are discussed.     

Feminism’s Flip Side: A Cultural History of the Pickup Artist

This paper provides a historical account of the ‘pickup artists’ (PUA) phenomenon, tracing the origins back to the early 1970s when more liberal attitudes towards sexuality were on the rise in the West. Today PUA advice not only includes information about seduction techniques, but also programs about self-improvement or so-called ‘inner game’. Seduction and dating gurus can be found across the internet—from individual bloggers to dating coaches and relationship experts—all providing niche services and products on how to seduce and/or have fulfilling relationships with women. By addressing the moral panics around the PUA discourse, the paper seeks to illustrate the connection between second wave feminism, as a discourse increasingly interested in the idea of ‘gender egalitarianism’ and the popularity of seduction techniques for men based on emerging scientific research.     

History and Method of Charles V. Gerkin’s Pastoral Theology: Toward an Identity-Embodied and Community-Embedded Pastoral Theology,Part I. History

The purpose of this article is to explore the legacy of Charles V. Gerkin’s pastoral theology and to construct a method of pastoral theology. In Part I, I will trace within a larger context of pastoral theology the history of Gerkin’s pastoral theology since his early clinical praxis. In Part II, I will explore his method of developing pastoral theology and construct a renewed critical and constructive method of pastoral theology, reflecting on the implications of exploring the history and method of his pastoral theology.     

A “Manual” for Escaping Our Vicious Cycles: The Political Relevance of Enemy-Love

In his 2017 World Day of Peace message, Pope Francis made a subtle yet stunning move when he called the Sermon on the Mount the Church’s “manual” for peacemaking at every level. Continuing the “fresh reappraisal” of war that the Second Vatican Council launched, Francis's choice of a term associated with the “Manualist” tradition of natural-law casuistry signaled the Catholic magisterium’s growing commitment both to rooting its teaching on peace and war in biblical sources instead, and to active nonviolence in pursuit of just peace. Given centuries of dismissal of Jesus’s teaching as irrelevant to real-world politics by both Catholics and Protestants, reception of Francis’s signal will benefit both from fresh biblical exegesis and new insights into natural law. Informing the biblical side is the groundbreaking work by Glen Stassen on the triadic structure of Jesus’s teachings in Matthew 5-7, and its practical implications for just peacemaking. Informing the natural-law side are recent findings from social psychology and neuroanthropology on the role of mimesis in human formation. The two fields join in underscoring the creative power of what Stassen called transforming initiatives for breaking cycles of violence.