Genetic and environmental contributions to general cognitive ability through the first 16 years of life

The genetic and environmental contributions to the development of general cognitive ability throughout the first 16 years of life were examined using sibling data from the Colorado Adoption Project. Correlations were analyzed along with structural equation models to characterize the genetic and environmental influences on longitudinal stability and instability. Intraclass correlations reflected both considerable genetic influence at each age and modest shared environmental influence within and across ages. Modeling results suggested that genetic factors mediated phenotypic stability throughout this entire period, whereas most age-to-age instability appeared to be due to nonshared environmental influences.     

Nature and Eros: an Educational Process for Engaging With a Living Universe

Nature and Eros is an integral educational process offered to graduate students at the California Institute of Integral Studies. This course was developed in response to the illusion, operative throughout Western industrialized culture, that we are separate selves living upon the earth. Across many disciplines we are awakening to the knowledge that we are living organisms intricately woven into the ever-evolving vibrant web of life. The central aim of Nature and Eros is to support a shift in our perception of this larger web and activate the lived recognition of our deepest identity as an inextricable part of cosmic evolution.     

EVOLUTION AND SPECIAL CREATION

Abstract. The logical relationships between the ideas of evolution and of special creation are explored here in the context of a recent paper by Alvin Plantinga claiming that from the perspective of biblical religion it is more likely than not that God acted in a "special" way at certain crucial moments in the long process whereby life developed on earth. I argue against this thesis, asking first under what circumstances the Bible might be thought relevant to an issue of broadly scientific concern. I go on to outline some of the arguments supporting the thesis of common ancestry, and argue finally that from the theistic perspective, special creation ought to be regarded as, if anything, less rather than more likely than its evolutionary alternative.     

On commerce,institutions, and underdevelopment: A comparative perspective

There are ample sources on the exuberance of economic life and the organization of society. Eventually the Middle East and China lost ground to Western Europe and Japan. This has been subject to much work and scholarly activity. Considering the multiplicity of explanations, in this paper I focus on the interactions among power dimensions, activities of various social actors, cultural forces, and how these interactions influenced formation of certain institutions and inhibited others. In particular, I allude to the role of the political center in inhibiting land and commerce-based foci of power in the East, and how this inhibition prevented formation of institutions conducive to economic development. In addition to international economics, he is interested in medieval history and its impact on modern institutions of economic and political life. Dr. Dibooglu was the co-Guest Editor of the KT&P theme issue “Endo/Exogenous,” Volume 13, Number 4, Winter 2001. He may be reached at 〈dibo@siu.edu〉. He would like to thank Richard Grabowski for his helpful comments on an earlier draft but states that all errors or omissions are his own.     

Humiliation and human rights in diverse societies: Forgiveness and other solutions from cross-cultural research

Living in a multicultural society like the United States leads to sampling a range of experiences that vary from being extremely delightful to excessively stressful, with many types of experiences in between. I present cases of positive experiences of immigrants that provide positive feelings of freedom, equality, fairness and due process. I also discuss negative experiences of minorities that vary from having their names mispronounced and their accent criticized to outright racial discrimination and hate crimes. How should the individuals navigate through this minefield of humiliating experiences? I present four theoretically meaningful strategies — Learning to Make Isomorphic Attributions, Learning to Extract Help from the System, Developing a Shared Network, and Using the Acculturating Strategy of Integration — that are derived from cross-cultural research that may help a society’s minority members to maintain human dignity in a multicultural society without feeling excessively cynical. I conclude the paper with a suggestion that, perhaps, we need to use our spiritual strength in dealing with humiliating situations and that forgiveness is the ultimate ointment, which allows us to heal from the wounds of humiliation.     

Late‐ but not early‐onset blindness impairs the development of audio‐haptic multisensory integration

Integrating different senses to reduce sensory uncertainty and increase perceptual precision can have an important compensatory function for individuals with visual impairment and blindness. However, how visual impairment and blindness impact the development of optimal multisensory integration in the remaining senses is currently unknown. Here we first examined how audio‐haptic integration develops and changes across the life span in 92 sighted (blindfolded) individuals between 7 and 70 years of age. We used a child‐friendly task in which participants had to discriminate different object sizes by touching them and/or listening to them. We assessed whether audio‐haptic performance resulted in a reduction of perceptual uncertainty compared to auditory‐only and haptic‐only performance as predicted by maximum‐likelihood estimation model. We then compared how this ability develops in 28 children and adults with different levels of visual experience, focussing on low‐vision individuals and blind individuals that lost their sight at different ages during development. Our results show that in sighted individuals, adult‐like audio‐haptic integration develops around 13–15 years of age, and remains stable until late adulthood. While early‐blind individuals, even at the youngest ages, integrate audio‐haptic information in an optimal fashion, late‐blind individuals do not. Optimal integration in low‐vision individuals follows a similar developmental trajectory as that of sighted individuals. These findings demonstrate that visual experience is not necessary for optimal audio‐haptic integration to emerge, but that consistency of sensory information across development is key for the functional outcome of optimal multisensory integration.     

A Shamanic Journey under the Wildebeest Skin

Journeys taken in both the outer world as well as the inner world can become experiences of initiation. These adventures speak to us, and when we later decipher their meaning, they give our life purpose, value, and direction. By focusing on the compelling images and symbols that appear repeatedly over one's lifetime, the thread of one's myth can be revealed.

Inspired by an animal scar that appeared on my body, I traveled to Africa and embarked on two safaris. I returned home to process the meaning of my African pilgrimages by way of an inner safari wherein I reflected on the images and insights that came to me during and after these two outer journeys. In this article I include the dynamics of my totem animal (the wildebeest, a herd animal), and what was born out of my dialogues with them in active imaginations when I lay under a wildebeest skin. I came to realize that what I was participating in was a shamanic initiation process. My soul and “bush soul” seemed to have merged together and were lodged in the wildebeest as a symbol for their existence in my life. The integration of animal symbolism, dreams, and active imaginations can lead to an unanticipated renewal. Reflecting psychologically on my travels, I became increasingly aware that these inner and outer peregrinations were essential ingredients in my individuation process. This whole venture evolved into a shamanic endeavor and resulted in a psychological and spiritual rebirth.     

From Many into One: Attention,Energy, and the Containing of Multitudes

This paper is an effort to describe and express and the tension between the observing mind and the “wisdom mind,” which has its taproots in the deep and unformulated experience of connectedness. Nominally about the process of writing as a psychoanalyst, it is more like my personal “Credo” in relation to the work of psychoanalysis, the work of writing, and the work of living with contradictions—life. In it I try to bring together disparate reflections, to illustrate in the writing itself the process of making “many into one.” Because so much of this essay relates to themes in Mannie Ghent's work, including his work on surrender and his “Credo,” it seemed to be appropriate to offer it to readers of this issue dedicated to his memory.     

The Fragility of Evolution: Part Two

This essay argues for a shift in evolutionary metaphor-away from natural selection and the elimination of the less fit, to a focus on the fragility of biological change. Three biological arenas, in which the organism and environment more obviously interpenetrate, will be examined. The vulnerable and exceptionally plastic neural system of organisms makes possible subtle capacities such as learning and memory. Behavior, as it often precedes morphological change, emerges as an evolutionary axis. Synergisms between organisms lead to novelty on a macroevolutionary scale-multicellularity, coloniality, sociality, and eusociality. Although fragile due to competitive tensions, novel cohesions have repeatedly emerged throughout evolution. Ecology involves the flow of energy between organisms and the biophysical realm, which life has increasingly shaped. Radical spatial heterogeneity and varying levels of temporal disturbances serve to enhance biodiversity, and restrict the dominance of any single species. The atypical event of evolution can occur relatively suddenly and on varied scales. Paradoxically, evolution can be prompted by novel stresses and spaces protected from harsh competitive stress. As life moves to a greater total complexity, fragility increases. In conclusion, this essay discusses the protection of "less fit" human populations.     

The construction of meaning: Kegan,Piaget, and psychoanalysis

Kegan's theory is discussed in terms of its relationships to Piaget and to psychoanalysis. Basing himself on Piaget's genetic epistemology, Kegan formulates a theory of human development extending throughout the life cycle. The theory postulates that individuals alternate between periods of concern with intimacy and concern with autonomy. For Kegan, what is conceived by the individual as part of the self (subject) at one stage becomes object at the next. While his work is considered to be an important contribution, Kegan is criticized on the grounds of conceptual vagueness and an overemphasis on developmental universals at the expense of the consideration of idiosyncratic aspects of individual development. Kegan is also criticized for appearing to believe that there is only one correct therapeutic approach.     

Not Seeing is Believing: the Role of Invisibility in Human Lives

Our life is full of invisibility that exerts power on our acts, relationships, and construction of the self. This paper discusses psychological processes in which invisibility plays an essential role, and constructs a typology of invisibility in society and in our lives. After a brief look at the crucial role of invisibility in prevailing theories of psychology, I first show how invisibility works in children’s meaning constructions, the process in which their selves become clear for observers (the presentational self, Komatsu 2010). The development of children’s meaning making is led by different types of invisibility concerning the children themselves. Second, I extend the discussion from the development of individuals to the role of socially regulated invisibility that controls our acts and relationships with others, introducing examples concerning religious belief in history. After these discussions, I present a hierarchical classification of invisibility from a simple spatial-temporal separation of concretely existing objects and ourselves to an abstract aspect of invisibility in which the object and its meaning are unclear.     

Exploring the Emotional Side of Job Search Behavior for Younger Workforce Entrants

Using a sample of 332 younger (ages 18–23) workforce entrants broken into subsamples, Study 1 found empirical support for 2 distinct types of job search behavior, detached and interactive. These 2 dimensions seemed to represent different levels of emotional involvement in the job search process. Significant correlates for each dimension of job search behavior were found. Using a separate sample of 117 working college students, Study 2 found that extroverted individuals favored interactive job search behaviors, whereas introverted individuals favored detached job search behaviors. The implications of these results are discussed and future areas of research are identified.     

A child of a Lesser God

This paper describes work with a man who was severely disabled physically. It taught me the profound emotional effects of such disability; but the effects of his feeling that he had not been loved because of his disability seemed even more important and farreaching. Everything was much worse because of the development stage at which it had all occurred. It is important to make known the use which he made of analytical psychotherapy, for others like him could be helped.

I refer to some of the psychoanalytical literature which proved relevant to my work with this patient, give a report of his case, and describe the incidence of his sessions. After describing the beginning stage, I write selectively of work around the two main themes which can be identified: one, when he seemed locked in the closed system which constituted his inner world (Fairbairn 1958) from which he could gain relief only by sabotaging himself and the therapy; the other, when little by little the system began to open and gradually some investment in life began to emerge. There is then a brief account of the ending planned to a known date. The paper ends with some reflections on the work.     

Divine freedom and creaturely suffering in process theology: A critical appraisal

The suffering of creatures experienced throughout evolutionary history provides some conceptual difficulties for theists who maintain that God is an all-good loving creator who chose to employ the processes associated with evolution to bring about life on this planet. Some theists vexed by this and other problems posed by the interface between religion and science have turned to process theology which provides a picture of a God who is dependent upon creation and unable to unilaterally intervene in the affairs of the world and avert suffering. In the present paper I seek to critique process theism, focusing on divine action and the aforementioned problem posed by evolutionary suffering. I show that the promise of a more compelling account of a loving God who suffers with creation advanced by the process theist is illusory. Rather, the process God is less dynamic than promised. And on such an account the freedom of both God and the world are significantly more circumscribed than one may find in other forms of theism.     

Reflexivity in the medical encounter: contributions from post‐modern systemic practice

In this article, I attempt to identify the forms of reflexivity that take place in the medical encounter and the possible contributions that the understanding of reflexivity in systemic thinking can make to medical practice. I start by reviewing some of the literature on the doctor–patient relationship as the necessary foundation to think about and understand reflective practice in medicine. I then argue that, as the medical profession comes under scrutiny from a variety of different individuals and groups, as well as from itself, a process of reconciliation between modern and postmodern thinking, as it has been suggested in the systemic literature, might help get a better grasp of the complex predicament and dilemmas of doctors in modern society. The notion of reflexivity, the ability of any system to critically think about itself by promoting a conversation between the experts and the subject of their expertise is probably the essence of the critical momentum of postmodernism and should be an essential professional attribute for all doctors.     

Religions in a Secular World

The task of astrotheology is to speculate on the theological, cultural, and ethical implications of space exploration, especially the exploration of astrobiologists into the (1) origin of life; (2) a second genesis of life; and (3) expansion of life beyond earth. When assumptions within the field of astrobiology are examined, we find that the Darwinian model of evolutionary development is imaginatively projected onto extrasolar planets; and this model includes a built-in doctrine of progress. The assumption of progress within evolution permits astrobiologists to look forward to contact with an extraterrestrial civilization that is more intelligent and more advanced than that on earth. Such an extraterrestrial civilization will allegedly have an advanced science that can save earth from its primitive and under-evolved propensity for violence. However, no empirical evidence for a more highly evolved or advanced civilization currently exists, despite these beliefs. The theologian labels the constellation of scientific assumptions here the “ETI myth.” Astrotheology celebrates hard-nosed empirical science and even encourages space exploration; but the mythical assumptions regarding the doctrine of progress within evolution are here given critical analysis.     

Brief report: Changing perspectives on aging and intelligence: An empirical update

This study updated the examination of a four-phase, chronological progression model of published research perspectives on aging and intelligence. Phase I research emphasized the inevitable decline of intelligence during adulthood. Phase II research described aging intelligence as a complex multidirectional process with different functions increasing, decreasing, or remaining stable across the life span. Phase III research entailed interventions to enhance aging intelligence. Phase IV research viewed intelligence as continuing to develop and improve throughout adulthood. It was hypothesized that Phase I and Phase II research would decrease during 1986–1995 compared to 1966–1975 and 1976–1985, while Phase III and Phase IV research production would increase in 1986–1995 compared to the previous two decades. A review of 277 articles and 50 dissertations supported the predicted evolution from the unidirectional inevitable decline model toward perspectives describing the plasticity of adult intelligence and the further development and improvement of intelligence across adulthood.     

AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGINS OF LIFE ON EARTH— A SYNTHESIS OF PROCESS THOUGHT IN SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY

An initiating event in the development of life on earth is thought to have been the generation of self‐replicating catalytic molecules (SRCMs). Despite decades of work to reveal how SRCMs could have formed, a chemically detailed hypothesis remains elusive. I maintain that this is due, in part, to a failure of metaphysics and question this research program's ontologic foundation of materialism. In this essay I suggest another worldview that may provide more adequate ontologic underpinnings: Whitehead's process philosophy of dynamic, relational becoming. Here we come to see molecules not as unchanging objects but rather as processes that possess the capacity for subjective experience. Molecular transformation is driven by experience, both internal and external. Process thought accounts for the world's creative impulse by positing a God who lures the becoming of all entities toward greater complexity and value. Chemical evolution is now seen as divine motivation of molecular becoming and, as such, possesses the potential for introducing true novelty into the world. The “causal joint” between God and world is hypothesized to be an energy transduction at the molecular level that allows divine action without violation of chemical principles or physical laws.     

Western Buddhism: Tradition and Modernity

The idea of a fragmented, de-traditionalized society has been much discussed over recent years. While Anthony Giddens has suggested that the issues surrounding postmodernism and postmodernity do not constitute the end of modernism and modernity, there has been a significant disjunction in the modernist narrative. Indeed, the project of modernity has been instrumental in the perceived de-traditionalization of society through an intensification of globalization where local contexts are invaded by abstract systems. In this paper, using the existence of Buddhism in the West as an example, I argue that this does not signify the end of tradition as such. Introducing certain aspects of Theravada Buddhist philosophy as a means of comparison, I further argue that it is possible to reclaim a place for religion by suggesting that traditions may exist in their own cultural niches which appear throughout society; as well as at various times during the life of an individual. This I call a de-universalized society in which religious tradition persists, albeit not in an inclusive form.     

Western Buddhism: Tradition and Modernity

The idea of a fragmented, de-traditionalized society has been much discussed over recent years. While Anthony Giddens has suggested that the issues surrounding postmodernism and postmodernity do not constitute the end of modernism and modernity, there has been a significant disjunction in the modernist narrative. Indeed, the project of modernity has been instrumental in the perceived de-traditionalization of society through an intensification of globalization where local contexts are invaded by abstract systems. In this paper, using the existence of Buddhism in the West as an example, I argue that this does not signify the end of tradition as such. Introducing certain aspects of Theravada Buddhist philosophy as a means of comparison, I further argue that it is possible to reclaim a place for religion by suggesting that traditions may exist in their own cultural niches which appear throughout society; as well as at various times during the life of an individual. This I call a de-universalized society in which religious tradition persists, albeit not in an inclusive form.