The centrality of the female body in Brazilian culture: Evangelical and Muslim responses

This article aims to analyse how both Evangelical and Islamic religions deal with a central aspect of the construction of the Brazilian national identity: the body. The Brazilian religious field is exposed to this cultural value and reacts to it in different ways. While Islam preaches female modesty, involving the ‘concealment’ of the body and its forms, Evangelicals reinforce part of the Brazilian culture of appreciation and care for physical attributes, albeit using the rhetoric of doing so with moderation and modesty. The data presented here were collected through interviews with religious leaders and through participant observation in the Baptist Church of Lagoinha, in Belo Horizonte, and the Islamic Youth League, in São Paulo, Brazil.     

Righteous Rhetoric: Sex,Speech and the Politics of Concerned Women for America

Abstract

This article considers the Catholic Church's rejection of female sexed bodies as capable of symbolizing Christ in the Eucharist of God's agency in the world. The theories of René Girard provide a useful resource for analyzing the fear of female sexuality within Catholicism. They reveal that an obsessive focus upon sex has been the means through which the male tendency towards sacrificial violence, forbidden within Christianity, has continued to exert a powerful influence. A recognition of this substitutory process would not only enable a revisioning of the roles women and men might play within the Church, but also enable the Church to more effectively oppose the ‘culture of death’ which endangers us all.     

Cultural Adaptation and Sexual Harassment in the Lives of Asian American Women

ABSTRACT

Despite the prevalence of both historical and current race- and gender-based stereotyping of Asian American women, little is known about their experiences and attitudes regarding sexual harassment. In this study, 109 Asian American women enrolled in a state university or a 2-year community college responded to questionnaires about cultural orientation, experiences of sexual harassment, and sexual harassment attitudes. Asian cultural orientation was associated with sexual harassment attitudes. Specifically, among women with low White cultural orientation, there was a statistically significant positive association between Asian cultural orientation and acceptance of sexual harassment. Results from this study have important implications for clinical practice with Asian American women, including issues of migration, cultural orientation, and the intersection of racism and sexism in the United States.     

The Middle Passage,Trauma and the Tragic Re-Imagination of African American Theology

African American Christian consciousness developed in response to the traumatic field in which African American subjectivity took shape. The expression of the faith in the African American tradition is fundamentally tragic as a consequence. The Middle Passage is the existential and symbolic nodal point of this experience. There is a sense in which African Americans remain very much on the water; marginalized and suspended between worlds. There is a deeper sense in which the African American situation and response reflects the condition of modernity and post-modernity in the sense that it is hardly more than modernity becoming conscious of itself. A thorough examination and exploration of its significance is essential to developing a theology that adequately expresses African American Christian consciousness. This paper is an attempt to lay out, what I think, are some of the basic components of the experience and the bare outlines or orientation of such a theology grounded in it.     

Internalization of U.S. female beauty standards as a mediator of the relationship between Mexican American women's acculturation and body dissatisfaction

The relationships among acculturation, internalization of U.S. sociocultural standards of female beauty, and body dissatisfaction were examined in a sample of 211 Mexican American college women. Structural equation modeling was used to identify the paths among these three factors. Results demonstrated that there are two distinct types of body dissatisfaction: global evaluations and composite site-specific evaluations. The relationships between acculturation toward dominant U.S. culture and both types of body dissatisfaction were found to be fully mediated by internalization of U.S. standards of female beauty. There were no relationships between Mexican orientation and any of the study variables. The results from this study imply that it is important for therapists working with Mexican American female clients to assess the client's level of acculturation, examine the cultural (U.S. and Mexican) messages the client receives, and explore how these messages impact her body image.     

Pragmatic Theology and the Natural Sciences at the Intersection of Human Interests

This paper elicits a twentieth-century American story that is deeply rooted in the legacy of American philosophical pragmatism, its impact on a particular school, and its reconstruction of American theology. The paper focuses on three generations of American theologians, and it centers on how these theologians reconstruct theology in light of the science of their day and how they maintain a true plurality of insights about human life in the world. The pragmatic theologian regards the creative exchange between theology and natural science as an opportunity for renewing our understanding of religious life and appreciating the various commitments of scientists and theologians as they meet at the juncture of human interests. The first voice is that of the early Chicago School of Theology represented by Shailer Mathews, Gerald Birney Smith, and George Burman Foster. The second voice is that of Henry Nelson Wieman, a second-generation theologian at Chicago. The final theologian discussed is James M. Gustafson, former Professor of Theological Ethics at Chicago.     

Racial and Sexual Objectification of Asian American Women: Associations with Trauma Symptomatology,Body Image Concerns,and Disordered Eating

ABSTRACT

Sexism and racism often imbue Asian American women’s socialization experiences. Operating from an objectification theory framework, the present article (a) examines the conceptual relevance of racial and sexual objectification in describing Asian American women’s oppressive experiences, (b) reviews empirical studies linking racial and sexual objectification with Asian American women’s mental health issues, specifically in the areas of trauma symptomatology, body image concerns, and disordered eating, (c) offers critiques of existing research and points to directions for future research, and (d) discusses clinical implications for therapy work with Asian American women based on available literature. In essence, the present review highlights how Asian American women may experience body image concerns, disordered eating, and trauma symptomatology through processes ethnoculturally and socioculturally distinct to them via experiences of racial and sexual objectification. This review calls for a more nuanced and precise understanding of Asian American women’s racial and sexual objectification experiences and associated mental health difficulties. This understanding can only occur through increased empirical research and clinical practice, as informed by feminist scholarship situated in a culturally expanded objectification framework.     

Towards the Postmodernization of Aging: The Body and Social Theory

This article reviews the significance of postmodernism as applied to understanding social gerontology. We begin by looking at the disciplinary dominance of biomedical models to understanding bodily change through later life. We then move our analysis to the lack of theoretical models within social gerontology which have not attempted to analyze or develop social explanations of the body. The article introduces the concept of postmodernism and reviews the work of major theorists who have impacted postmodern gerontology. We conclude by arguing for an interface between social theory and social gerontology by drawing on recent examples of the mask of aging thesis, biotechnologies, and new technologies that impact aging identity and understanding the self.     

The shame of being undone by illness and the power of support through the body of Christ

This paper examines shame that arises from living with a body that has been undone by cancer or other serious illness. It draws on first-person narratives and social-scientific studies of cancer patients to explore how bodies undone by illness often cease to conform to cultural standards of health as well as gendered expectations of bodies, and how experiences of shame arise from those shifts in how sick bodies appear and perform. Analysis of narratives by and qualitative data about those who are seriously ill also reveals how the undoing of the body by illness often precipitates an undoing of one's sense of self that leads to experiences of shame over an inability to fill roles and expectations in ways that were possible in life before serious illness. The paper then utilizes biblical and theological resources to explore ways religious communities can make space for those living with serious illness to lament what it's like to be undone by illness, to hold them up amid their experiences of vulnerability through public lament and acts of accompaniment, and to affirm their worth in the eyes of God and in the body of Christ.     

Children's and Adults' Acquisition of Spatial Information: Actual and Simulated Environmental Experience

Undergraduate students were presented with word pairs (e.g., egg-yolk) and were timed as they decided whether one word named part of the thing named by the other word. In Experiment 1, “no” responses to nonpart pairs (e.g., fish-flaps) were slowed by the similarity of the stimulus part (flaps) to a part that the stimulus object did possess (fins). This suggested that decisions were made by retrieving parts of the stimulus object from memory and comparing them to the stimulus part. Whereas the parts used as stimuli in Experiment 1 were nonspecific, belonging to several different types of object (e.g., wheel), those selected for Experiment 2 were specific to a single type of object (e.g., thumb). In Experiment 2, “no” responses to nonpart pairs (e.g., foot-thumb) were slowed by similarity of the stimulus object (foot) to an object that the stimulus part (thumb) belonged to (hand). This suggested that decisions were made by retrieving the object to which the stimulus part belonged and comparing it to the stimulus object. The results support a hybrid model of part-whole decisions that includes directed retrieval of relational knowledge from memory and a comparison process.     

The Institute of Spirituality and Aging: Identifying and Promoting Spiritual Values of Elders

ABSTRACT

This study examined the constructions of aging through the eyes of the elders on Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Classical ethnographic field techniques were used to collect data during 1800 hours of fieldwork on the Pueblo. In Zuni, indigenous constructs of aging are firmly rooted in their traditions. Most elders found it essential to stay on a traditional path, although, it was undeniable that Western constructions also existed in their cosmos. Zuni traditions triangulate with perspectives from the West to form a fluctuating middle that stays within prescribed boundaries of a “box” bounded by the four directions and the zenith and nadir planes. The degree to which an elder remains oral vs. literal, ages in the “Zuni way,” and within a sacred domain greatly affects decision-making, as well as action and or inaction in aging behaviors. Understanding perspectives rooted within an “inside-the-box” paradigm, valuing the old, the ancestors, sacredness, and the “Zuni way” will assist in deriving relevant theories and programs for these American Indian elders.     

Sister Friends: A Reflection and Analysis of the Therapeutic Role of Sisterhood in African American Women's Lives

Research with ethnically diverse women has found that friendships can enhance women's health and mental wellbeing (Greif & Sharpe, 2010 Greif , G. L. , & Sharpe , T. L. ( 2010 ). The friendships of women: Are there differences between African Americans and Whites? Journal of Human Behavior In The Social Environment , 20 ( 6 ), 791 – 807 . doi: 10.1080/10911351003751892 [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Sister friends can be crucial in assisting African American women and women of ethnically diverse backgrounds to face, address, and overcome, major transitions including stress and traumatic stress. Through a reflection and analysis of the relationship with a sister friend, the author explores the strength and challenges of sister friendship as well as therapeutic value. Recommendations are provided for sisterhood as a clinical intervention as well as for women therapist's self care. A case study of an African American woman in need of mutual sister friends is summarized. This exploration is shared through a womanistic psychology.     

The effect of aging on the memory enhancement of the survival judgment task

This study investigated whether or not aging affected the benefit of a survival judgment task. Sixteen young adults and 16 older adults participated in this experiment. In the survival task, participants were requested to judge whether a word was necessary or not in a survival situation. In the self‐referent judgment task, participants were requested to judge how easily the word brings to mind an important personal experience. Participants in each condition were presented 18 concrete nouns at 4‐s intervals. Our results showed that even though the survival judgment task enhanced the memory performance in both the young adults and the older adults, the young adults outperformed the older adults in the survival and self‐referent judgment tasks.     

语言认知老化机制及其神经基础

老龄化个体出现的认知障碍在某种程度上是由于语言的认知老化所导致,因此,了解语言认知老化的具体表现、老化机制及其神经基础对于延缓语言认知老化、矫正老年痴呆有重要意义。首先基于理解和产生两个维度,分别从词汇、句子和文本三个层面分析了语言认知老化的表现,而后着重从工作记忆的角度分析了语言认知老化的认知机制,在此基础上,进一步从词汇加工、语义提取、句法分析三个方面分析了语言认知老化的神经基础,并指出半球不对称性减弱和脑区的弥散性激活是语言认知老化的主要神经表现。最后,围绕着语言认知老化的"发展进程、领域表现形式、干预矫正方法"三个必须解决的问题展开讨论,为该领域未来的发展做出理论上的铺垫。     

The effects of aging on the working memory processes of multimodal information

Normal aging is associated with deficits in working memory processes. However, the majority of research has focused on storage or inhibitory processes using unimodal paradigms, without addressing their relationships using different sensory modalities. Hence, we pursued two objectives. First, was to examine the effects of aging on storage and inhibitory processes. Second, was to evaluate aging effects on multisensory integration of visual and auditory stimuli. To this end, young and older participants performed a multimodal task for visual and auditory pairs of stimuli with increasing memory load at encoding and interference during retention. Our results showed an age-related increased vulnerability to interrupting and distracting interference reflecting inhibitory deficits related to the off-line reactivation and on-line suppression of relevant and irrelevant information, respectively. Storage capacity was impaired with increasing task demands in both age groups. Additionally, older adults showed a deficit in multisensory integration, with poorer performance for new visual compared to new auditory information.     

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging and Culture

ABSTRACT— Research into the cognitive neuroscience of aging has revealed exciting and unexpected changes to the brain over the lifespan. However, studies have mostly been conducted on Western populations, raising doubts about the universality of age-related changes. Cross-cultural investigation of aging provides a window into the stability of changes with age due to neurobiology, as well as into the flexibility of aging due to life experiences that impact cognition. Behavioral findings suggest that different cultures process distinct aspects of information and employ diverse information-processing strategies. The study of aging allows us to identify those age-related neural changes that persist across cultures as well as the changes that are driven by culture-specific life experiences.     

Ambiguity,the Trinity,and Naturalism: From the Methodology of Pannenberg to the Phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty

Abstract

Through an interpretation of Wolfhart Pannenberg's trinitarian methodology, this article presents the argument that theology and naturalism are ambiguously intertwined and that we once again have to determine how to methodologically address the relationship between theology and science. This study contends that Pannenberg's theology is important for our conception of the dialog between theology and science. However, I wish to offer a fundamentally new interpretation of Pannenberg which locates the ambiguous character of his methodology primarily in the substantive issue with which it deals. This redirects the dialogue between theology and science through Pannenberg's hermeneutic of history towards the contemporary phenomenology of the body and ultimately to the suggestion of a trinitarian-phenomenological approach beyond the methodology of Pannenberg.     

The importance of impaired physical health and age in normal cognitive aging

The objective of this study was to investigate the importance of impaired physical health and age in normal cognitive aging. In our cross-sectional, clinical and explorative study, medical and neuropsychological data from 118 voluntary healthy controls aged 26-91 years were collected from five recruitment occasions. Health was assessed according to a criterion reflecting clinical and subclinical severity. The examinations included a clinical investigation, brain neuroimaging, and a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. Regression analyses showed a significant incidence of clinical and subclinical medical disorders that explained 10.8% of the variation in cognitive performance, while age-related impairment explained 5.6%. Findings of the central nervous system were important but various other medical findings explained about half of the health-related variation. Cognitively demanding tasks were more susceptible to impaired physical health while tasks comprising salient motor- and visual spatial elements were more prone to be impaired by age. Our findings suggest (1) that impaired physical health is more important than chronological age in accounting for cognitive impairment across the adult lifespan, (2) that age and health dissociate with regard to cognitive functions affected, and (3) that selection for so-called "super healthy" elderly people might be justified in cognitive research. Because the prevalent diseases in normal aging are potentially preventable, the present findings promise good prospect for prevention of future cognitive disability among elderly people.     

Television Viewers' Ideal Body Proportions: The Case of the Curvaceously Thin Woman

Dozens of studies have linked ideal-body media exposure to the idealization of a slim female figure, but none have examined the proportions of this figure. College women's and men's exposure to ideal-body images on television was correlated with their perceptions of the ideal female bust, waist, and hip sizes and their approval of surgical body-alteration methods. For women, exposure to ideal-body images on television predicted the choice of a smaller waist and hips, and either a larger bust (for those who perceived themselves to be smaller-busted) or a smaller bust (for those who perceived themselves to be larger-busted). For both women and men, exposure to ideal-body images on television predicted approval of women's use of surgical body-alteration methods such as liposuction and breast augmentation.