Christ as Chrism,Christ Given Away

This article develops the concept of Christ not as static body but as chrism for bodies. Christ as chrism travels in the matrix of relationality, on a vector toward the benefit of others. Conceptualizing christ as chrism potentially avoids both exclusionary and colonizing tendencies in Christian polity, and frames a Christian ethics that, while vulnerable and risky, marks the sanctity of the one giving Christ away.     

Reorganization of personal identity in the context of motivational dynamics and internal dialogical activity

Identity is constantly constructed and reconstructed. It may be assumed that there are six fundamental motivational goals according to which it is organized: self‐esteem, self‐efficacy, continuity, distinctiveness, belonging, and meaning (Vignoles, 2011 ). Moreover, identity is shaped by its dialogical nature (Hermans, 2003 ; van Halen & Janssen, 2004 ). The longitudinal study was conducted to examine both the motivational and the dialogical basis of identity structure dynamics. The results showed that the more the identity element was connected with a sense of continuity and the more dialogical it was, the greater the perceived centrality of this element was after two months. Furthermore, the more the identity element satisfied the self‐esteem and belonging motives, the more positive was the affect ascribed to it. In the behavioral domain of identity, participants more strongly manifested those identity aspects that were earlier rated as more dialogical and satisfying the motive of belonging. The results showed that the motivational underpinnings of identity along with its dialogical nature explain changes in identity structure.     

Strategies for the Control of Unwanted Thoughts in Adolescents: The Adolescent Thought Control Questionnaire (TCQ-A)

A paucity of research on thought suppression exists among adolescents. The present study describes the preliminary psychometrics of the Adolescent Thought Control Questionnaire (TCQ-A) and its relationships with internalizing symptomatology in adolescents. Adolescents between 12 and 18 years of age completed the TCQ-A and other self-report instruments. Principal components analysis yielded five-factors theoretically derived from an adult measure: distraction, social, re-appraisal, worry, and punishment control strategies. The five-factor structure was well fitted to the data in a confirmatory factor analysis. Adequate evidence of reliability was obtained; however, internal consistency of the punishment factor was not adequate in the sample. The TCQ-A evidenced convergent and divergent validity with internalizing and externalizing symptomatology respectively. Future research applications of the TCQ-A, suggestions for further analyses, and refinement of the instrument are also discussed.     

What Does Children's Spatial Language Reveal About Spatial Concepts? Evidence From the Use of Containment Expressions

Children's overextensions of spatial language are often taken to reveal spatial biases. However, it is unclear whether extension patterns should be attributed to children's overly general spatial concepts or to a narrower notion of conceptual similarity allowing metaphor‐like extensions. We describe a previously unnoticed extension of spatial expressions and use a novel method to determine its origins. English‐ and Greek‐speaking 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds used containment expressions (e.g., English into, Greek mesa) for events where an object moved into another object but extended such expressions to events where the object moved behind or under another object. The pattern emerged in adult speakers of both languages and also in speakers of 10 additional languages. We conclude that learners do not have an overly general concept of Containment. Nevertheless, children (and adults) perceive similarities across Containment and other types of spatial scenes, even when these similarities are obscured by the conventional forms of the language.     

Motor imagery in spinal cord injury patients: Moving makes the difference

Both real action control and execution and motor imagery abilities require knowledge of the spatial location of body parts, in other words efference copy information and feedbacks from the sensory system (Frith et al., 2000, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci., 355, 1771). Spinal cord injuries induce severe motor disability, due to a damage of the descending motor pathways (Cramer et al., 2007, Exp. Brain. Res., 177, 233). Patients' motor imagery competences are variably reported as either normal or defective (Decety & Boisson, 1990, Eur. Arch. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci., 240, 39; Lacourse et al., 1999, Behav. Brain Sci., 104, 73). We explored biomechanical constraint effects in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) patients, as they are considered the most reliable indexes of motor imagery abilities (Parsons, 1987b, Cogn. Psychol., 19, 178). Sixteen spinal cord injuries patients and 16 neurologically unimpaired subjects have been administered with (1) the Hand Laterality Task (HLT), in which subjects were asked to judge the laterality of a rotated hand; and (2) the Mirror Letter Discrimination Task (MLD), in which subjects were asked to judge if a rotated character was in its correct upright position or mirror‐reversed form. Our patients did not present the effect of stimulus orientation, neither did they show any effect related to biomechanical constraints. Based on these data, the hypothesis is that SCI patients' performance may be ascribed to the use of a different strategy to solve the tasks, based on memory rather than on mental rotation.     

The Effects of Social and Physical Functioning and Self-Management Abilities on Well-Being Among Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases,Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease,and Diabetes

To increase our understanding of relationships between well-being and social/physical functioning and self-management abilities (SMAs) among chronically ill patients. The cross-sectional questionnaire-based study included 1,254 patients with cardiovascular diseases, 725 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and 253 with diabetes (total, 2232/4200; 53 % response rate). Social and physical functioning correlated significantly with SMAs and well-being (all p?≤?0.001). After controlling for background characteristics, multiple regression showed that social and physical functioning were still related to SMAs (β?=?0.32–0.12; both p?≤?0.001) and well-being (β?=?0.39–0.14; both p?≤?0.001). The strengths of relationships between well-being and social (β?=?0.39 vs. 0.20) and physical (β?=?0.14 vs. 0.07) functioning declined significantly (both p?≤?0.001) when the SMA mediator was included in the equation. SMAs of chronically ill are related to their social and physical functioning. We found indications that chronically ill patients reporting lower levels of social and physical functioning are worse self-managers than are those with higher levels of functioning. Furthermore, SMAs may mediate the relationships between social and physical functioning and well-being. Self-management interventions aiming to enhance SMAs more broadly than traditional interventions aiming only to prevent functional decline are expected to improve SMAs and enhance well-being among chronically ill patients.     

Cerebral blood flow in 5‐ to 8‐month‐olds: Regional tissue maturity is associated with infant affect

Infancy is marked by rapid neural and emotional development. The relation between brain function and emotion in infancy, however, is not well understood. Methods for measuring brain function predominantly rely on the BOLD signal; however, interpretation of the BOLD signal in infancy is challenging because the neuronal‐hemodynamic relation is immature. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) provides a context for the infant BOLD signal and can yield insight into the developmental maturity of brain regions that may support affective behaviors. This study aims to elucidate the relations among rCBF, age, and emotion in infancy. One hundred and seven mothers reported their infants' (infant age M ± SD = 6.14 ± 0.51 months) temperament. A subsample of infants completed MRI scans, 38 of whom produced usable perfusion MRI during natural sleep to quantify rCBF. Mother‐infant dyads completed the repeated Still‐Face Paradigm, from which infant affect reactivity and recovery to stress were quantified. We tested associations of infant age at scan, temperament factor scores, and observed affect reactivity and recovery with voxel‐wise rCBF. Infant age was positively associated with CBF in nearly all voxels, with peaks located in sensory cortices and the ventral prefrontal cortex, supporting the formulation that rCBF is an indicator of tissue maturity. Temperamental Negative Affect and recovery of positive affect following a stressor were positively associated with rCBF in several cortical and subcortical limbic regions, including the orbitofrontal cortex and inferior frontal gyrus. This finding yields insight into the nature of affective neurodevelopment during infancy. Specifically, infants with relatively increased prefrontal cortex maturity may evidence a disposition toward greater negative affect and negative reactivity in their daily lives yet show better recovery of positive affect following a social stressor.     

Review of Jennifer Morton’s Moving Up Without Losing Your Way

Studies in Philosophy and Education -