THE STAR OF CHRIST IN THE LIGHT OF ASTRONOMY

Abstract Centuries of both theologians and astronomers have wondered what the Star of Bethlehem (Matt 2:2, 9) actually was, from miracle to planetary conjunction. Here a history of this search is presented, along with the difficulties the various proposals have had. The natural theories of the Star are found to be a recent innovation, and now almost exclusively maintained by scientists rather than theologians. Current problems with various theories are recognized, as well as general problems with the approach. The interactions between the sciences and religion are categorized and explored.     

A Systematic Review of the Factors Associated with Post-Traumatic Growth in Parents Following Admission of Their Child to the Intensive Care Unit

This systematic review aims to identify the demographic, clinical and psychological factors associated with post-traumatic growth (PTG) in parents following their child’s admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). Papers published up to September 2021 were identified following a search of electronic databases (PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL, PTSDpubs and EMBASE). Studies were included if they involved a sample of parents whose children were previously admitted to ICU and reported correlational data. 1777 papers were reviewed. Fourteen studies were eligible for inclusion; four were deemed to be of good methodological quality, two were poor, and the remaining eight studies were fair. Factors associated with PTG were identified. Mothers, and parents of older children, experienced greater PTG. Parents who perceived their child’s illness as more severe had greater PTG. Strong associations were uncovered between PTG and post-traumatic stress, psychological well-being and coping. PTG is commonly experienced by this population. Psychological factors are more commonly associated with PTG in comparison with demographic and clinical factors, suggesting that parents’ subjective ICU experience may be greater associated with PTG than the objective reality.

     

Apraxia in corticobasal degeneration.

Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) is a degenerative disease that often presents with an asymmetric progressive ideomotor limb apraxia. Some apraxic subjects may fail to perform skilled purposive movements on command because they have lost the memories or representations that specify how these movements should be performed (representational deficit). In contrast, other apraxic subjects may have the movement representations but are unable to utilize the information contained in them to execute skilled purposive movements (production-execution deficit). To learn if the apraxic deficit in CBD is induced by a representational or a production-execution deficit, we tested three nondemented subjects with CBD on tasks requiring production of meaningful or meaningless gestures to command, gesture imitation, gesture discrimination, and novel gesture learning. A fourth subject with incomplete data also is presented. The results suggest that the apraxia associated with CBD is initially induced by a production-execution defect with relative sparing of the movement representations.     

Psychological factors in hiv testing among sexually transmitted disease clinic patients: An exploratory study

Abstract

Substantial numbers of persons at risk for HIV infection do not seek HIV testing and factors influencing testing decisions are not well understood. To identify psychological characteristics of persons who remain unwilling to receive HIV testing, we surveyed patients of an inner-city sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic (n = 181). Participants completed an anonymous survey and were grouped on the basis of HIV testing history and compared on measures of testing perceptions, attitudes, and decision making influences. Results showed that untested participants feared testing and had a sense of not knowing if they needed to be tested. In contrast, participants who were getting tested believed that testing would help them feel better about their health. Results also showed that participants lacked accurate information about some HIV testing procedures. We conclude that identifying concerns which inhibit seeking HIV testing can be useful in developing effective methods of promoting HIV testing.     

A reexamination of the faithful subject role

Fillenbaum (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1966, 4, 532–537; Fillenbaum & Frey, Journal of Personality, 1970, 38, 43–51) has proposed that a relatively large number of subjects within certain experiments will adopt a faithful subject role, that is, they will intentionally avoid basing their behavior on any suspicions they may have regarding the experimenter's hypothesis. However, examination of the studies on which this conclusion was based casts doubt on whether Fillenbaum's subjects were truly faithful or whether they may have become aware of the nature of the deception after all opportunity for awareness to influence their responses had passed. To test this hypothesis, awareness measures were administered to subjects either before they took an incidental learning test or (as in Fillenbaum's studies) after the test. As predicted, fewer subjects were classified as faithful in the first condition than in the second. It was concluded that, in fact, very few if any subjects are actively faithful. Discussion also concerned the problems associated with role analyses of subject behavior.     

The explosion of knowledge,references, and citations. Psychology's unique response to a crisis

The knowledge explosion has created enormous difficulties for researchers to be aware of, access, and process the volume of new literature. Electronic literature retrieval systems and specialization on narrow topics have been strategies used to cope with these problems. In this study, the authors examined the additional effects of the knowledge explosion on researchers' writing, referencing, and citing. Counts of references within sampled empirical journal articles in sociology, physics, biology, and experimental and social psychology revealed impacts of the knowledge explosion in all disciplines but the greatest effects within psychology. Detailed analyses indicated that substantial changes in the numbers of references and citations and in their format and use within the research article are psychology's unique response to the knowledge explosion.     

Playing Smart: The Mating Game and Mating Intelligence

Current work investigated the extent to which mating intelligence was related to one’s own mate value as well as the value of one’s mate. We hypothesized that (1) mating intelligence is positively correlated with measures of self-perceived mate value, (2) greater mating intelligence is associated with greater partner mate value, (3) greater mating intelligence is associated with less mate settling, and according to Parental Investment Theory, females are predicted to have significantly higher mean mate value than males. Along with the adoption of the Mate Value Inventory and Mating Intelligence Scale, a method was developed to assess a more objective rating of self and partner’s physical attractiveness. A large sample (N > 500) was obtained for this study via internet survey. As predicted, mating intelligence appeared to be a valid predictor of one’s own value in the mating market, as well as the quality of mates that one can attract. High mating intelligence also corresponded to lower mate value discrepancy within a mateship. That is, high MI tended to go with a relatively small gap between the mate value of oneself and the mate value of ones partner, or less mate settling. Moreover, the positive relationship between objective and subjective ratings of self and partner’s physical attractiveness suggests that participants were able to judge themselves and their partners through the eyes of another. In all, evidence from the current work suggests that mating intelligence has important implications for individuals’ mating behavior within the mating market.     

Adynamic Aphasia: A Transcortical Motor Aphasia with Defective Semantic Strategy Formation

Adynamic aphasia is a form of transcortical motor aphasia characterized by sparse but otherwise normal spontaneous speech that may improve when concepts are introduced by external stimuli. Akinesia, impaired concept formation, inertia of concept generation, a defective semantic network, damage or impaired access to the verbal output lexicon, and defective semantic strategy formation have been proposed to account for this disorder. We studied a patient with adynamic aphasia and frontal lobe systems dysfunction due to bilateral striatocapsular infarctions. The patient was not akinetic but did demonstrate inertia of concept generation that could be overcome with prompting. However, prompting did not improve the number of concepts generated. He demonstrated a generally intact verbal lexicon and semantic network and normal lexical priming. However, his ability to sort closely related items into different classes without prior cuing regarding the nature of the classes was defective. Although his verbal memory was normal, he appeared to use a serial rather than a semantic strategy to recall items. Finally, despite normal lexical priming, he was impaired on a letter fluency task. These results most clearly demonstrate a defect in semantic strategy formation but indicate an additional and possibly related deficit in concept formation and a partial deficit in lexical strategy formation. All of these deficits appear to reflect impairment in the hierarchical organization of knowledge specific to the task at hand. This appears to be a key component of executive functions supported by frontal lobe systems.