Deciding to believe: The ethics and rationality of religious belief

This is the text of an Inaugural Lecture, given at the University of Auckland, 25th July, 1994. I am grateful to Stephen Davies, Fred Kroon and Alastair Anderson for helpful discussion on earlier drafts.     

Emerging Administrative Strategies for College and University Counseling Centers

The current environment in higher education is influencing college and university counseling centers in several new ways. Issues surrounding funding patterns, definitions of service entitlement, and personnel policies have emerged, as have a variety of responses on the part of counseling centers. Administrative and managerial strategiesfor dealing with these issues are described and discussed.     

Jung and the mystical theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church: Comments on common ground

The authors present a comparison of the cosmological, theological, and anthropological assumptions that underlie the mystical traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church and certain of Jung's mystical observations about the universe, God, and humankind. It is argued that, one touchstone of scientific validity being the universality of observations independently made, the common ground of the two divergent systems of Eastern Orthodox and Jungian mysticism suggests a universality and scientific validity in Jung's assumptions about the great unknown.Bishop Chrysostomos is Academic Director of the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies at the St. Gregory Palamas Monastery in Etna, CA. He received his doctorate in psychology at Princeton University.     

Towards a spiritual psychology: The synthesis of the desert fathers

The author presents a model of spiritual enlightenment based on an analysis of the aphorisms and experiences of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th century monastics of the deserts of Egypt contained in the standard 18th century Greek Orthodox compilation of their writings. It is argued that the attainment of a hierarchy of four basic virtues, humility, obedience, repentance, and love, incorporated into the religious system of these early Christian contemplatives exemplifies a sophisticated knowledge of contemporary dynamic and social psychological phenomena. The author identifies three steps in the process of enlightenment proffered by this system, beginning with the practical spiritual life, in which the specific control and understanding of dynamic and social psychological principles come into play; moving on to an intermediate level of action based on natural knowledge, as it is derived from psychological self-understanding; and culminating in a level of personal self-intergration and self-realization that is mystical in nature. Thenovus homo as understood in the Christian West is contrasted with the enlightened person as he emerges from this interactive hierarchy of virtues and levels of self-knowledge in the system of the desert Fathers. The paper is written with a heuristic tone and suggests that further attention be directed toward the interaction between psychological principles and mystical notions in traditional Eastern Christian literature.This paper was originally presented by the author at the invitation of the Theological Institute of Lund University, Lund, Sweden, in the autumn of 1987.     

The component awareness and accuracy of dual- and single-jointed actions

The accuracy with which people execute wrist and elbow movements were measured using three main conditions: (i) single-jointed (wrist or elbow) movements to targets, (ii) dual-jointed (wrist and elbow) movements to targets, and (iii) components of dual-jointed movements to targets, when the task for the subject was to perform the elbow or wrist constituent of the action in isolation, without displacing the second joint. Elbow precision was significantly worse under component than dual conditions, which is compatible with the notion that wrist and elbow activity are conjugately, rather than independently, programmed when a dual-jointed action is performed. The pattern of wrist accuracy was divergent, but possible reasons for this were discussed. In all cases, error was measured in terms of deviation from perfect posture; using this index, the hypothesis that incorporating more moving joints into an action serves to increase movement complexity and jeopardise precision was tested, but the results were ambiguous. Discussion also centered on the problems of using performance data to infer changes in motor programming, and the need for rigorous conceptualisation and research in this area.     

Coping and anxiety in women recalled for additional diagnostic procedures following an abnormal screening mammogram.

This study characterized women's concurrent and subsequent levels of emotional distress associated with a questionable mammogram screening and relationships between women's coping and psychosocial adjustment. State anxiety was assessed in 98 women 1 day after receiving a mammogram screening (Time 1), after notification of a questionable screening result that necessitated additional testing (Time 2), and after being informed of their breast-cancer-free status (Time 3). Key findings include (a) women reported a significant increase in anxiety following notification of the need to return for follow-up testing; (b) significant and positive associations were found between anxiety and behavioral approach, behavioral avoidance, cognitive approach, and cognitive avoidance coping in cross-sectional analyses; and (c) cognitive avoidance coping was a strong predictor of final levels of state anxiety in women. Findings suggest that cognitive avoidance coping plays an important role in reducing anxiety in women recalled to clarify an initially ambiguous screening procedure.     

Calibration of computer-monitored running wheels with adjustable drag

The design of a rodent running wheel with adjustable drag and ability to measure accurately the direction as well as the speed of running is described. A computer program in the C language enables a single microcomputer to monitor several wheels simultaneously. Drag is conveniently calibrated by the rate of deceleration from 1 revolution per second when no animal is present, and the calibration procedure can also assess the smoothness of the drag mechanism. Results of tests of the setability, repeatablility, and durability of the drag are presented. A method is outlined to determine the physical work required to accelerate the wheel and to maintain its rotation against the frictional drag.     

Glucocorticoids are required for extinction of predator stress-induced hyperarousal

Background

The role of glucocorticoids in extinction of traumatic memories has not been fully characterized despite its potential as a therapeutic target for acquired posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The predator stress paradigm allows us to determine whether glucocorticoids mediate the extinction of both context-dependent and context-independent fear memories.

Methods

Male C57BL/6J mice were exposed to a predator (cat) then repeatedly exposed to the predator stress context in the absence of the cat. Context-dependent (associative) fear memory was assessed as suppression of activity during re-exposure to the predator stress context without the cat (extinction trials). Context-independent fear (non-associative) was assessed seven days after extinction trials using measures of hyperarousal and anxiety-like behaviours in environments unlike the predator stress context. To assess the role of glucocorticoids, mice were injected with metyrapone (50 mg/kg) 90 min prior to extinction trials in predator stressed mice and context-dependent and context-independent fear memories were assessed. Finally, metyrapone-treated predator stressed mice were injected with corticosterone (5 or 10 mg/kg) immediately following extinction trials and context-dependent and context-independent fear memories were assessed.

Results

Repeated re-exposure to the predator stress context without the cat present extinguished context-dependent fear memory, and also reduced hyperarousal, a generalized, chronic PTSD-like symptom. We show that extinction of context-independent predator stress-induced hyperarousal is dependent on endogenous glucocorticoids during the extinction trials. Furthermore, the inhibition of extinction by metyrapone on startle amplitude was reduced by exogenous administration of corticosterone following extinction trials. Overall, these data implicate glucocorticoids in the extinction of hyperarousal, a core symptom of PTSD.     

Why Fix What Isn't Broken? A Rejoinder to Ridenour,Daley, & Reich*

Ridenour, Daley, & Reich (2000) suggest that the Family Assessment Device should be reorganized. We disagree and provide further reasons why such a reorganization is unwise.