Faith Beyond Nihilism: The Retrieval of Theism in Milbank and Taylor

This article examines the thought of John Milbank and Charles Taylor, taking them as case studies which suggest, from a philosophical perspective, what a post-metaphysical conception of the religious might look like. It highlights, firstly, how their work takes on board many features of the Nietzschean critique of religion, eschewing foundationalism and absolutism, while retaining a positive notion of faith, as dogmatic theology for Millbank and as one viable form of meaning in modernity for Taylor. It identifies, secondly, the alternative grounding for such reconceptions as broadly communitarian in character, lying in the cultural and historical consitions of spiritual meanings and practices. This entails an immanent turn which removes the need for absolutist justifications and so undercuts claims for religious superiority. Milbank's postmodern Christian apologetics exemplifies such a position and yet at the same time involves exclusivist claims for the superiority of the Christian faith which, I argue, forecloses a genuine engagement with a pluralist reality. In contrast, Taylor's more tentative diagnosis of the state of Western culture and faith involves an openness to change and to the legitimacy of other accounts of moral reality, and signals how a new conception of the problem of faith and pluralism might emerge out of a refigured theism.     

Imitation and social responsiveness in autistic children

Fifteen autistic children, ages 4–6 years, participated in the present study. Imitation and object permanence skills were assessed. Language and social behaviors were observed during free play. Children were also exposed to three interactive procedures that differed in developmental sophistication. The experimenter either (1) simultaneously imitated the child's actions, (2) modeled a familiar action, or (3) modeled a novel action. It was found that the autistic children who had a low level of imitative ability (Piaget's Stages 2–3) were more socially responsive, showed more eye contact, and played with toys in a less perseverative manner when the experimenter imitated their behavior than when the experimenter modeled either a familiar or a novel action. When the experimenter modeled a familiar as opposed to a novel action, these children were more likely to spontaneously imitate the experimenter. The autistic children with more highly developed imitation skills, however, responded similarly to all conditions. They also were generally more socially and verbally responsive. These results suggest that developmental status is an important variable in designing intervention programs for severely impaired children.We would like to express our appreciation to the autistic children who participated in the study, and to their parents, and to the staff of the T.E.A.C.C.H. Division, University of North Carolina for their help and cooperation. We would also like to thank Karen Cotten, Pete Giordano, Vickie Hall, Lee Hendrix, Shari Jernigan, Kevin Lumley, Cindy Seagroves, Sheryl Solomon, Kathy Stetson, and Jeannie Teasley for their assistance in data collection and coding, and Mary Lynn Eckert and Anne Stanford for their secretarial assistance. Cathy Dent provided helpful suggestions on earlier drafts of the paper. Support was provided by UNC Research Council.     

Stress,coping, and resources in mothers of adults with developmental disabilities

This study examined the relationship of various stressors, coping resources, and coping strategies on the level of stress reported by 147 mothers of adults with delayed development. A sense of mastery and the mother's health as well as financial well-being were significantly negatively related to stress. Coping behaviours of reframing of the problem and acquisition of social support were also significantly negatively related to stress. Implications of the results of this study for service providers are discussed.     

Newborn behavioral observations system in rural Pakistan: A feasibility and acceptability study

The Newborn Behavioral Observations (NBO) system is a relationship-based tool that helps parents recognize their infant's competencies and learn their behavioral cues, with the goals of enhancing parental responsiveness and satisfaction in the infant-parent relationship. In our study, a pediatrician integrated the NBO into 44 pediatric health care visits of infants in rural Pakistan villages, under the remote guidance of two U.S.-based child psychiatrists. A clinician then gave the mothers a survey about their experience of the NBO and found that the mothers were highly satisfied, reporting greater appreciation of their infant's strengths, greater understanding of their infant's behavioral cues, stronger attachment to their infant, and greater self-confidence as a mother. In their consideration of these results, the authors explore cultural reasons for the mothers’ responses and generate hypotheses to inform an outcome study of a similar intervention. This was a feasibility and acceptability study and was not randomized, had no control group, and did not use objective measures of outcome.     

Emergent control for play responses following instructive feedback for children with autism spectrum disorder

Play provides children learning opportunities in the natural environment to acquire communication skills. While working to establish skills that may lead to additional leisure and social opportunities of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), procedures need to be both effective and efficient. One way to increase efficiency of teaching is through the use of instructive feedback (IF). Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to systematically replicate and extend previous research by examining if play behaviors emerge when using IF to teach conceptually related primary (i.e., tacts) and secondary targets (i.e., play skills). The results of the present study extend previous research by demonstrating the effectiveness of teaching tacts to individuals with ASD, and that using IF during tact training can help promote the acquisition of play skills.     

Men’s Lived Experiences with Breast Cancer: The Double Consciousness of Marginal Men

The present study investigated men’s experiences with their breast cancer diagnosis and post-mastectomy lives. It is based on the sociological tradition of investigating the “marginal man” who lives in two not merely different but incompatible cultures (e.g., the pink ribbon culture of breast cancer and the everyday ideals of masculinity and the male body). Seventeen mature and aging U.S. men who all lived with a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, including a mastectomy, were interviewed. The principle finding reveals that they saw themselves as men and remain seen by others in terms of their gender, not their atypical illness. Two meta-themes underlying men’s breast cancer stories were identified: body talk and embodiment of their breast. Each of these themes had subthemes. Noticeable was how the historical era when diagnosed and men’s aging experiences influenced their illness journey and stories. For all, even the recently diagnosed, their journey was a lonely one. No man had known another man with breast cancer to consult. Only a few men felt their breast cancer was a stigma, and they too did not feel emasculated. Instead, in the process of embodying their breast cancer, they amended their identities and practiced softer, hybrid forms of masculinities.

     

Reflections on the process of psychotherapeutic change as applied to medical situations

This article takes the basic ideas on the process of changing implicit knowledge put forward in this special issue, and extends them beyond psychotherapy to include other therapeutic relationships that occur in medicine. One vignette, from an encounter between a medical student and a dying patient, illustrates how a “moment of meeting” changes the student as well as the patient. The second shows how therapeutic interventions for new mothers with their newborn infants involve “moments of meeting” that alter the mother's implicit knowledge of her baby and of herself as a mother. © 1998 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Differential parent-child relationships and adolescent externalizing symptoms: cross-lagged analyses within a monozygotic twin differences design

Research has indicated that differential parental treatment is linked to differences in externalizing symptomology (EXT) across siblings, even those siblings who are genetically identical. However, the direction of causation and longitudinal significance of this relationship remains unclear. Thus, in the present study, the authors examined 486 monozygotic twin pairs, assessed at ages 11, 14, and 17 years, within a cross-lagged twin differences design. Results revealed that differential parent-child conflict at age 11 years uniquely contributed to differential sibling EXT 3 years later but only in the most discordant twin pairs. In the full, unselected sample, this relationship was not significant. These results suggest that markedly different parent-child conflict has an environmentally mediated impact on child behavior through mid-adolescence, findings that yield insights into environmental influences on behavior.     

Interaction between transient change in local muscle structure and segmented leg motor responses

We investigated the interaction between transient change in the local structure of gastrocnemius muscle fibers and the segmented leg motor responses elicited by toes-up rotation of the support surface. The gastrocnemius muscle in healthy young subjects underwent a sustained 2-min, isometric stretch (Prestretch group), followed immediately by the rotations. Analysis showed that the prestretch affected the amplitude of the monosynaptic but not the automatic components of the medial gastrocnemius muscle responses (monosynaptic response: 93 +/- 20% of the mean of the last three rotations in the Prestretch group compared to 174 +/- 42% in the Control group; automatic response: 128 +/- 18% in the Prestretch group versus 123 +/- 31% in the Control group). The shortened tibialis anterior muscle response and the onset latencies of responses were not affected by prestretching the gastrocnemius muscle. The prestretch effect on the amplitude of the monosynaptic (mediated by group Ia afferents) but not the automatic gastrocnemius muscle response (mediated by group II afferents) suggests that the automatic component of the muscle response to platform rotations has a stronger supraspinal influence than the monosynaptic response and is thus less affected by local events such as prolonged stretching.