The Strange New World in the Church:

Hauerwas's refusal to translate the argument displayed in With the Grain of the Universe (his recent Gifford Lectures) into language that “anyone” can understand is itself part of the argument. Consequently, readers will not understand what Hauerwas is up to until they have attained fluency in the peculiar language that has epitomized three decades of Hauerwas's scholarship. Such fluency is not easily gained. Nevertheless, in this review essay, I situate Hauerwas's baffling language against the backdrop of his corpus to show at least this much: With the Grain of the Universe transforms natural theology into “witness.” In the end, my essay may demonstrate what many have feared, that Hauerwas is, in fact, a Christian apologist—though of a very ancient sort.     

Rule-Consequentialism and Obligations Toward the Needy

Most of us believe morality requires us to help the desperately needy. But most of us also believe morality doesn't require us to make enormous sacrifices in order to help people who have no special connection with us. Such self-sacrifice is of course praiseworthy, but it isn't morally mandatory. Rule-consequentialism might seem to offer a plausible grounding for such beliefs. Tim Mulgan has recently argued in Analysis and Pacific Philosophical Quarterly that rule-consequentialism cannot do so. This paper replies to Mulgan's arguments.     

Detecting meaning in RSVP at 13 ms per picture

The visual system is exquisitely adapted to the task of extracting conceptual information from visual input with every new eye fixation, three or four times a second. Here we assess the minimum viewing time needed for visual comprehension, using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of a series of six or 12 pictures presented at between 13 and 80 ms per picture, with no interstimulus interval. Participants were to detect a picture specified by a name (e.g., smiling couple) that was given just before or immediately after the sequence. Detection improved with increasing duration and was better when the name was presented before the sequence, but performance was significantly above chance at all durations, whether the target was named before or only after the sequence. The results are consistent with feedforward models, in which an initial wave of neural activity through the ventral stream is sufficient to allow identification of a complex visual stimulus in a single forward pass. Although we discuss other explanations, the results suggest that neither reentrant processing from higher to lower levels nor advance information about the stimulus is necessary for the conscious detection of rapidly presented, complex visual information.     

The binding pool: A model of shared neural resources for distinct items in visual working memory

Visual working memory (VWM) refers to the ability to encode, store, and retrieve visual information. The two prevailing theories that describe VWM assume that information is stored either in discrete slots or within a shared pool of resources. However, there is not yet a good understanding of the neural mechanisms that would underlie such theories. To address this gap, we provide a computationally realized neural account that uses a pool of shared neurons to store information about one or more distinct stimuli. The binding pool model is a neural network that is essentially a hybrid of the slot and resource theories. It describes how information can be stored and retrieved from a pool of shared resources using a type/token architecture (Bowman & Wyble in Psychological Review 114(1), 38–70, 2007; Kanwisher in Cognition 27, 117–143, 1987; Mozer in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 15(2), 287–303, 1989). The model can store multiple distinct objects, each containing binding links to one or more features. The binding links are stored in a pool of shared resources and, thus, produce mutual interference as memory load increases. Given a cue, the model retrieves a specific object and then reconstructs other features bound to that object, along with a confidence metric. The model can simulate data from continuous report and change detection paradigms and generates testable predictions about the interaction of report accuracy, confidence, and stimulus similarity. The testing of such predictions will help to identify the boundaries of shared resource theories, thereby providing insight into the roles of ensembles and context in explaining our ability to remember visual information.     

I Cannot Afford to Have a Life: Employee Adaptation to Feelings of Job Insecurity

This study examines the links between employee perceptions of job insecurity, the work–nonwork interface, and stress‐related outcomes. Drawing on an adaptation perspective, we expect employees feeling greater job insecurity to engage in adaptive work behaviors including less use of work–nonwork support programs and greater willingness to let work permeate into one's personal life, which in turn will associate with greater work–nonwork conflict and emotional exhaustion. Data were collected from employees within a large energy company at 2 points in time. Results support the model, offering important insights into employee behavioral responses to job insecurity and key mechanisms through which insecurity may foster diminished employee well‐being.     

Effects of violent and nonviolent sexualized media on aggression-related thoughts,feelings, attitudes,and behaviors: A meta-analytic review

Women are often depicted as sex objects rather than as human beings in the media (e.g., magazines, television programs, films, and video games). Theoretically, media depictions of females as sex objects could lead to negative attitudes and even aggressive behavior toward them in the real world. Using the General Aggression Model (Anderson & Bushman, 2002) as a theoretical framework, this meta-analytic review synthesizes the literature on the effects of sexualized media (both violent and nonviolent) on aggression-related thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. Our sample includes 166 independent studies involving 124,236 participants, which yielded 321 independent effects. Overall, the effects were “small” to “moderate” in size (r = .16 [.14–.18]). Significant correlations were found in experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal studies, indicating a triangulation of evidence. Effects were stronger for violent sexualized media (r = .25 [.19–.31]) than for nonviolent sexualized media (r = .15 [.13–.17]), although the effects of nonviolent sexualized media were still significant and nontrivial in size. Moreover, the effects of violent sexualized media on aggression were greater than the effects of violent non-sexualized media on aggression obtained in previous meta-analyses. Effects were similar for male and female participants, for college students and non-students, and for participants of all ages. The effects were also stable over time. Sensitivity analyses found that effects were not unduly influenced by publication bias and/or outliers. In summary, exposure to sexualized media content, especially in combination with violence, has negative effects on women, particularly on what people think about them and how aggressively they treat them.     

Describing Spiritual Growth in an Online Religious Education Course

This research examined the phenomenon of spiritual growth in students taking an online religious education course at Brigham Young University–Idaho. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 students who reported positive gains in spirituality as a result of the course. Students described their experience in the online course and the factors that contributed to their success.

Results suggest participants took a great deal of ownership in their own spiritual growth. Although it seems likely participants were already highly self-directed, aspects of the online experience appeared to encourage self-direction. The course design was flexible enough for research participants to explore ideas on their own while also being structured enough to provide a guided experience. Online instructors acted as guides and facilitators, playing a less prominent role than face-to-face instructors. Frequent engagement in and reflection through writing appeared to be important for students’ spiritual growth, whereas online interactions with other students seemed to have minimal impact. However, some responses suggested online interaction with peers was an area with potential for greater influence.     

Longitudinal Effects of Reading Intervention on Below Grade Level,Preadolescent, Title I Students

Some claim that good and poor readers continue their trajectories despite intervention. This quasi-experimental study examined whether the READ 180 program helps general education, below-grade-level, Title I preadolescent readers improve. Participants included 82 students, grades 4–8, in public Title I elementary and middle schools. Results showed that below grade-level readers improved after intervention and attained grade-level status. Differences remained between participants and their nonintervention peers during follow-up testing. However, when examining growth trajectories, a reversal in performance between the two groups was manifested. The below-grade-level students’ mean growth between years 1 and 2 after intervention was actually greater than that of their on-grade-level peers with no intervention. The performance trajectory narrowed over time after successful intervention.