TIES that BIND: an introduction to domain mapping as a visualization tool for virtual rehabilitation.

The application of virtual reality (VR) to rehabilitation is a young, interdisciplinary field where clinical implementation very rapidly follows scientific discovery and technological advancement. Implementation is often so rapid that demonstration of intervention efficacy by investigators, and establishment of research and development priorities by funding bodies tend to be more reactive than proactive. An examination of the dynamic unfolding of the history of our young discipline may help us recognize the facilitators of current practice and identify the barriers that limit greater progress. This paper presents a first step towards the examination of the past and future growth of VR-based rehabilitation by presenting the use of concept maps to explore the publication history of application of VR to rehabilitation.     

African and Islamic philosophy: Expanding the horizons of philosophical counselling

Philosophical counselling has traditionally utilized a limited number of philosophical traditions: Existentialism, Stoicism, and the employment of Socratic dialogues being the most common ones. Focusing on a limited number of philosophical views does not exploit the potential therapeutic value of many other philosophical traditions, and may enhance dogmatism. In this paper we illustrate the need for a wider philosophical toolkit by showing the potential value of two rarely-employed philosophical traditions: African and Islamic philosophy. From the plethora of issues in these philosophical traditions, we highlight the relevance of African philosophy to conflicts between social duties and individual desires, and the relevance of Islamic philosophy to conflicts between faith and reason. We then emphasize the relevance of these philosophies in the current social and political situation in the Western world in general, and in Europe in particular.     

Two ways,two steps

Joseph Ratzinger’s theology of religions is structured around a basic choice between “the two ways” of “a personal understanding of God” and “a mysticism of identity.” After clarifying misunderstandings about a possible “third way,” this article examines Ratzinger’s treatment of the two ways with the help of Roman A. Siebenrock’s observation that Ratzinger’s thought proceeds in two steps, the first highlighting differences, the second seeking integration. In the first step, Ratzinger defends the personal understanding of God on the basis of the primacy of love, the inviolable dignity of the human person, and the real distinction between good and evil. In the second step, Ratzinger shows considerable openness toward “interreligious ecumenism” between the two ways, emphasising the decisive importance of the mystical and apophatic aspect of religion. A similar dynamic is seen in the treatment of prayer, although in this case the second step remains underdeveloped. Ratzinger is cautious about multireligious prayer and pessimistic about interreligious prayer. Nonetheless, neither is unconditionally rejected, and the door is left open for further developments and discussion. This article suggests that interreligious families, missionary situations and prayers to saints could provide examples of acceptable instances of interreligious prayer.     

Anxious attachment as an antecedent of people's aversion towards pattern deviancy

Research suggests that people's aversion towards pattern deviancy—distortions of repeated forms or models—contributes to social phenomena, such as prejudice. Yet, the factors motivating pattern deviancy aversion remain unclear. Potentially, anxious attachment, as it entails hypervigilant detection of and reactivity to social inconsistency and unreliability, heightens pattern deviancy aversion. In Studies 1 (N = 137) and 2 (N = 102), anxious but not avoidant attachment predicted aversion towards broken patterns of geometric shapes. In Studies 3 (N = 310) and 4 (N = 470), experimentally inducing anxious versus avoidant and secure attachment (Study 3), and versus a neutral prime (Study 4), heightened pattern deviancy aversion. Controlling for participants’ aversion towards unbroken patterns, novel objects, and negative stimuli did not change these results. Our findings demonstrate that anxious attachment is one antecedent of pattern deviancy aversion, and suggest that pattern deviancy aversion may underlie links between anxious attachment and certain social phenomena.     

Why Barbie feels heavier than Ken: the influence of size-based expectancies and social cues on the illusory perception of weight

In order to examine the relative influence of size-based expectancies and social cues on the perceived weight of objects, two studies were performed, using equally weighing dolls differing in sex-related and age-related vulnerability or physical strength cues. To increase variation in perceived size, stimulus objects were viewed through optical lenses of varying reducing power. Different groups of participants were required to provide magnitude estimates of perceived size, physical strength, or weight, or of expected weight. A size-weight illusion (SWI) was demonstrated, such that smaller objects felt heavier than larger ones, that was entirely accounted for by the mediating role of expected weight. Yet, perceived physical strength exerted an additional and more reactive influence on perceived weight independently of measured expectancies. Results are used to clarify the nature of "embodied", internal sensory-motor representations of physical and social properties.     

The role of competition and knowledge in the Ellsberg task

Ambiguity avoidance denotes people's preference for gambling situations with known over unknown, or ambiguous, probability distributions. In four experiments we provide evidence for the interaction between competitiveness and knowledge in Ellsberg's task, in which people have a choice between a risky box (distribution of balls known) and an ambiguous box (distribution of balls not known). If the situation is perceived as competitive (the experimenter or an opponent is responsible for composing the boxes) people avoid ambiguity by betting on the box with the known probability distribution. If the task is perceived as cooperative (a partner or friend is composing the boxes) people are indifferent toward ambiguity or even ambiguity seeking. In addition, we find that people expect their winning odds to be less than even in the ambiguous box. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.