Selection and Predictive Success

By means of a citation analysis I aim to determine which scholarly journals are most important in the sub-field of philosophy of science. My analysis shows that the six most important journals in the sub-field are Philosophy of Science, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Journal of Philosophy, Synthese, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, and Erkenntnis. Given the data presented in this study, there is little evidence that there is such a field as the history and philosophy of science (HPS). Rather, philosophy of science is most properly conceived of as a sub-field of philosophy.     

Centering Prayer as a Healing Response to Everyday Stress: A Psychological and Spiritual Process

Eastern forms of meditation have been widely studied for their effectiveness in stress management (Walsh and Shapiro American Psychologist 61:227–239, 2006). Yet few empirical studies have been conducted on the health effects of Judeo-Christian contemplative prayer practices. This study contributes to research in this underdeveloped area by exploring the outcome of a contemporary form of Christian meditation called Centering Prayer (Keating 1986) on everyday stress and on Christians’ approach to communicating with God. The impact of 10 weekly 2-hour group sessions and individual practice of Centering Prayer 2-times daily by 15 Roman Catholic congregants was hypothesized to decrease participants’ stress and increase their collaborative relationship with God (Pargament et al. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 27:90–104, 1988). Pre-post quantitative and qualitative data on Centering Prayer versus comparison groups supported the hypothesis.     

What if the elephant speaks? Kant's Critique of Judgment and an Übergang problem in John Hick's philosophy of religious pluralism

In the Critique of Judgment, Kantattempts to unravel the problem of Übergang that threatens his CopernicanRevolution. Having opened up a ``chasm' betweensensible and supersensible, betweenepistemological and ontological, Kant facesboth the specter of empirical chaos in whichthe noumenal refuses to conform to theunderstanding's attempts to legislate over themanifold of intuition, and the problem offinding a place for freedom to have effectswithin the seamless phenomenal realm ofefficient causality. Central to Kant's attemptto overcome these problems is his notion of theheautonomy of reflective judging, in whichjudgment subjectively legislates its ownactivity. The net effect of this strategy isto preserve the integrity of the architectonicby permitting judgment use of ontologicalprinciples in regulating its own activity, butalways placing these ontological principlesunder an epistemological ``as if' that cannot becarried over into the noumenal realm (e.g.,judgment can subjectively operate under theprinciple that the world appears ``as if' it haspurpose, but this cannot be thought to apply tothe noumenal). Kant shields his architectonicby allowing it to encounter onlyepistemologically neutered noumena. This paperargues that Hick faces an analogousÜbergang problem, explores his``heautonomous' attempt to blunt the problem,and concludes that the attempt fails, leavingHick with an unresolved problem of``onto-ethical discontinuity.'     

Hypochondriacal concerns and the five factor model of personality

Using data from two studies (Ns = 205 and 161), this article examines the associations between the domains of the five factor model of personality and hypochondriacal concerns (HCs). These associations are explored once covariation due to other related traits (somatosensory amplification) and comorbidity factors (anxiety, depression, and somatic symptom reporting) have been controlled. As predicted, emotional stability was associated with most criteria related to HCs and agreeableness was negatively associated with the perceived inadequacy of a physician's explanation. Conscientiousness was negatively associated with HCs. These associations remained after partialing the comorbidity factors and somatosensory amplification. The discussion focuses on the particular role of agreeableness and conscientiousness in relation to HCs.     

Children's conceptions of characteristic features of category members

The authors investigated children's conceptions of the characteristic features of category members and found that their conceptions underwent qualitative developmental changes. They hypothesized that (a) children initially tend to perceive category members in terms of individual characteristics (i.e., internal dispositions and behavioral patterns) and (b) only later do they conceive of category members in terms of their shared beliefs and values. They explored these hypotheses in 2 studies: In Study 1, they investigated how Protestant and Catholic children in Northern Ireland understood the religious intergroup context in their own country; in Study 2, children in Italy were presented with a fictional scenario of intergroup conflict and asked to explain the causes of the conflict. The results of both studies confirmed the 2 hypotheses.     

Is the Catholic Church in America Experiencing Internal Secularization? Priests’ Assessments of Pope Francis and the Condition of the Church

This study addressed internal secularization in the Catholic Church by testing the role of several factors in priests’ assessments of the state of the Church in the United States, priests’ views of whether the Church's situation is getting better or worse, and their attitudes toward Pope Francis. Comparisons with identical questions fielded in 2002 revealed a striking pessimistic turn among priests over the last two decades. In addition, regression analyses using the 2021 Survey of American Catholic Priests revealed that “in-house” factors—namely, attitudes toward Pope Francis and perceptions of how well bishops have restored confidence in the Catholic Church following the sexual abuse crisis—most powerfully predicted priests’ current pessimism. On top of this, politically conservative priests and priests ordained more recently tended to be most critical of how Francis is handling his duties, signaling a pronounced tension inside the Catholic Church over religious authority, a defining feature of internal secularization.     

Impaired face detection may explain some but not all cases of developmental prosopagnosia

Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is defined by severe face recognition difficulties due to the failure to develop the visual mechanisms for processing faces. The two‐process theory of face recognition (Morton & Johnson, 1991) implies that DP could result from a failure of an innate face detection system; this failure could prevent an individual from then tuning higher‐level processes for face recognition (Johnson, 2005). Work with adults indicates that some individuals with DP have normal face detection whereas others are impaired. However, face detection has not been addressed in children with DP, even though their results may be especially informative because they have had less opportunity to develop strategies that could mask detection deficits. We tested the face detection abilities of seven children with DP. Four were impaired at face detection to some degree (i.e. abnormally slow, or failed to find faces) while the remaining three children had normal face detection. Hence, the cases with impaired detection are consistent with the two‐process account suggesting that DP could result from a failure of face detection. However, the cases with normal detection implicate a higher‐level origin. The dissociation between normal face detection and impaired identity perception also indicates that these abilities depend on different neurocognitive processes.     

In situ Training for Increasing Head Start After-Care Teachers’ Use of Praise

This study tested the effects of the direct behavioral consultation in situ training procedure for increasing Head Start teachers’ praise during an after-school program. Participants included four Head Start teachers in one Head Start center. A multiple baseline design across teachers was employed to test the effects of in situ training on teachers’ praise rate. Maintenance of the training procedure was evaluated 1 week following termination of training and again at 1-month follow-up. Results indicated that all teachers delivered praise below the expected rate (i.e., 1 praise statement per minute) during baseline, and in situ training resulted in an immediate and substantial increase in praise for all four teachers. Three of four teachers maintained increased praise during the maintenance phase and again at 1-month follow-up. One teacher’s praise decelerated during maintenance, and that teacher received additional in situ training. However, for that teacher, praise rate again decelerated following the second in situ training phase, and additional consultation procedures were necessary for increasing praise rate. Results are discussed in terms of the consultation research and applied practice.     

From Victim to Perpetrator of Trauma: Lived Experiences of Gang-Involved Urban Refugee Youth in Kenya

Somali children and youth in displacement are exposed to prolonged trauma and chronic violence. In spite of a striking link among trauma, gang activities, victimization, and perpetration of violence, however, few studies have been conducted with Somali refugee youth in low-resource urban settings. This qualitative study demonstrates how prolonged trauma shapes ecological conditions of refugee life that induce vulnerable youth to forge support systems through gang membership and violence. The accession of the challenges, from loss of family, to discrimination and police brutality, and to chronic impoverishment, forces the high-risk refugee youth to replicate the various forms of violence to which they have been exposed to survive. Undergoing such chronic and cumulated trauma, these youth continue to normalize and become further desensitized to violence. The systems perspective of this study expands understanding of the intersection of trauma and gang membership and implies the need for an expanded approach to trauma and understanding of the complexities of gang involvement, beyond posttraumatic stress disorder treatment and clinical intervention.