Humor Reconsidered: The Cultivation of “Accurate Perception” as a Contribution to the Care of Souls

Cultivating a sense of humor that has redemptive possibilities for the soul in a post-Christendom era is an important but nonetheless risky act of pastoral ministry. Humor, like the soul, involves ambiguity, incongruity and paradox. Insufficient appreciation of the paradoxical nature of humor contributes to views that are both overly suspicious as well as insufficiently cautious where humor is concerned. A redemptive sense of humor is explored as a virtue analogous to the Greek virtue of eutrapelia in tension with bomocholia (buffoonery/flippancy) and agroikia (boorishness/excessive seriousness). The work of Erik and Joan Erikson on the needed tension between the syntonic and dystonic further clarifies how humor best serves the soul. I conclude that the willingness to cultivate a sense of humor is an act of faith.     

Perceptions of campus climate, academic efficacy and academic success among community college students: an ethnic comparison

The present study examined whether there are ethnic differences in perceptions of campus climate, social support, and academic efficacy among community college students, and whether student perceptions were associated with academic success. A total of 475 community college students completed a questionnaire that measured students’ perceptions of cultural congruity, college environment, mentoring, peer social life and academic self efficacy. Ethnic differences were observed, as African American and Caucasian students reported higher levels of cultural congruity than Asian students and higher academic self efficacy than Asian and Latino students. There were also ethnic differences in the relationship between the students’ perceptions and GPA. Cultural congruity and efficacy correlated with GPA among Latino students, academic efficacy correlated with GPA among Asian students, peer social support and college environment correlated with GPA among Caucasians, however, none of the perceptions scales correlated with GPA among African American students. The lack of relationship between academic efficacy and GPA among African American and Caucasians students is discussed.     

The utility of the AusEd driving simulator in the clinical assessment of driver fatigue

Several driving simulators have been developed which range in complexity from PC based driving tasks to advanced "real world" simulators. The AusEd driving simulator is a PC based task, which was designed to be conducive to and test for driver fatigue. This paper describes the AusEd driving simulator in detail, including the technical requirements, hardware, screen and file outputs, and analysis software. Some aspects of the test are standardized, while others can be modified to suit the experimental situation. The AusEd driving simulator is sensitive to performance decrement from driver fatigue in the laboratory setting, potentially making it useful as a laboratory or office based test for driver fatigue risk management. However, more research is still needed to correlate laboratory based simulator performance with real world driving performance and outcomes.     

Gender differences in the effectiveness of coping with dysphoria: A longitudinal study

This study examined whether men use more eflective means of coping with dysphoria on their own than do women. Forty-four male and female college students who reported feeling dysphoric were evaluated on their coping styles at three intervals in a six and a half week time span. The findings suggest that men and women do not use significantly different appraisal and coping techniques. For both sexes, problem-focused coping was associated with less dysphoria over time, whereas emotion-focused coping was associated with more dysphoria over time. Keeping anger in was associated with more dysphoria over time for women. In addition, the way in which the situation was appraised influenced the level of dysphoria over time for both sexes.     

Empowerment praxis in community coalitions

Community coalitions address a wide variety of community problems, espousing a community development processes that promotes individual and collective self-determination. They offer a promising venue for the study of empowerment of individuals and organizations. This study utilizes data from members of 35 community coalitions organized for the prevention of alcohol and other drug problems to address the following questions: What individual characteristics are related to the psychological empowerment of coalition members? What organizational characteristics are related to the collective empowering of members? What organization characteristics are related to a coalition being organizationally empowered to succeed in achieving its objectives? At the individual level, psychological empowerment was most strongly related to individuals' participation levels, sense of community, and perceptions of a positive organizational climate. At the group level, the strongest predictors of collective empowering (our operationalization of the empowering organization) were net benefits of participation, commitment, and positive organization climate. Psychological empowerment and positive organizational climate were the two predictors of organizational effectiveness (the empowered organization). Implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.