Traces of Reduction: Marion and Heidegger on the Phenomenon of Religion

In his work, Being Given, Jean‐Luc Marion calls for a phenomenological investigation of the givenness (donation) of the phenomenon. As a phenomenologist of religion, Marion aims to give a philosophical account of the possibility of revelation, something which by definition is unconditionally given. In Being Given, he contends that his phenomenological reduction to unconditional givenness (in the figure of the saturated phenomenon) can account for religious phenomena in a way that respects the subject matter, all the while remaining philosophically neutral. In this paper I argue that Marion's aim to maintain strict philosophical neutrality interferes with his attempt to respect the subject matter of his own investigation, i.e., the givenness of revelation, since revelation is recognizably given, even as possibility, only in the non‐neutral context of an interpretive tradition. I establish the latter claim with recourse to Heidegger's early hermeneutic sketches of ‘primordial Christian religiosity.’ In turn, I call for a phenomenological Destruktion of Marion's work in order to release its potential as a non‐neutral investigation of a distinctively Catholic religiosity.     

Channeling Power Across Ecological Systems: Social Regularities in Community Organizing

Relational and social network perspectives provide opportunities for more holistic conceptualizations of phenomena of interest in community psychology, including power and empowerment. In this article, we apply these tools to build on multilevel frameworks of empowerment by proposing that networks of relationships between individuals constitute the connective spaces between ecological systems. Drawing on an example of a model for grassroots community organizing practiced by WISDOM—a statewide federation supporting local community organizing initiatives in Wisconsin—we identify social regularities (i.e., relational and temporal patterns) that promote empowerment and the development and exercise of social power through building and altering relational ties. Through an emphasis on listening-focused one-to-one meetings, reflection, and social analysis, WISDOM organizing initiatives construct and reinforce social regularities that develop social power in the organizing initiatives and advance psychological empowerment among participant leaders in organizing. These patterns are established by organizationally driven brokerage and mobilization of interpersonal ties, some of which span ecological systems. Hence, elements of these power-focused social regularities can be conceptualized as cross-system channels through which micro-level empowerment processes feed into macro-level exercise of social recommendations for theory and designpower, and vice versa. We describe examples of these channels in action, and offer of future action research.     

A comparative investigation of seven indirect attitude measures

We compared the psychometric qualities of seven indirect attitude measures across three attitude domains (race, politics, and self-esteem) with a large sample (N?=?23,413). We compared the measures on internal consistency, sensitivity to known effects, relationships with indirect and direct measures of the same topic, the reliability and validity of single-category attitude measurement, their ability to detect meaningful variance among people with nonextreme attitudes, and their robustness to the exclusion of misbehaving or well-behaving participants. All seven indirect measures correlated with each other and with direct measures of the same topic. These relations were always weak for self-esteem, moderate for race, and strong for politics. This pattern suggests that some of the sources of variation in the reliability and predictive validity of the indirect measures is a function of the concepts rather than the methods. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) and Brief IAT (BIAT) showed the best overall psychometric quality, followed by the Go–No-Go association task, Single-Target IAT (ST-IAT), Affective Misattribution Procedure (AMP), Sorting Paired Features task, and Evaluative Priming. The AMP showed a steep decline in its psychometric qualities when people with extreme attitude scores were removed. Single-category attitude scores computed for the IAT and BIAT showed good relationships with other attitude measures but no evidence of discriminant validity between paired categories. The other measures, especially the AMP and ST-IAT, showed better evidence for discriminant validity. These results inform us on the validity of the measures as attitude assessments, but do not speak to the implicitness of the measured constructs.     

Threats to the Internal Validity of Spinal Surgery Outcome Assessment: Recalibration Response Shift or Implicit Theories of Change?

A recalibration response shift will cause the patient to think about a self-report measure’s response options differently after a health state change. Commonly assessed using the retrospective-pretest design (“then-test”), recent guidelines suggest adjusting then-test estimates for competing explanations. This prospective longitudinal study investigated recalibration response shift after adjusting for implicit theories of change in patients undergoing spinal surgery. The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Short Form-36 (SF-36) were collected before surgery and at 6 weeks and 3 months after spinal decompression surgery. Then-tests of the measures were also collected at all post-tests. Recalibration response shift was operationalized as the then-minus-pre difference score on the evaluative SF-36. Implicit theories of change were operationalized as the then-minus-pre difference score on the perception-based ODI. Improved vs. No-Effect patient groups were compared using the Minimally Important Difference (±15 points) as a cut-off on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) items for back and leg pain. Logistic regression analyses investigated whether recalibration response shift had an independent effect distinguishing patient groups, after adjusting for implicit theories of change. The sample (baseline n?=?169, mean age 52, 39 % female) was well-educated, and 1/3 were working. All then-minus-pre difference scores were non-zero at each time point and were stable over time. In the adjusted models distinguishing Improved versus No Effect groups, then-minus-pre ODI difference scores were significant in the majority of the adjusted models at all timepoints, but only one then-minus-pre SF-36 difference score—for physical functioning recalibration—was significant and only at 6-weeks post-surgery. This suggests that implicit theories of change bias the estimation of post-surgical outcomes, but that recalibration response shift biased only the estimation of physical functioning and only at 6 weeks post-surgery. Recalibration response shift and implicit theories of change can both be sources of bias in patient-reported outcome assessment. Our findings suggest that implicit theories of change are a greater threat to validity in this patient sample. Future research using the then-test should control for implicit theories of change to minimize misspecification of effects.     

A National Survey of Trauma Training in Psychology Internships

Directors from psychology internship programs across the United States were asked to participate in a survey regarding their sites’ provision of services to traumatized populations and didactic and supervisory training offered to interns. All totaled, 259 training directors completed the survey. Using a point system, an impact score of training saturation was determined based on the content and frequency of training offered in didactic, supervision, or combined formats. Of these, all reported at least one trauma training opportunity in either didactic or supervision format. More than half indicated that they offered at least 1 to 3 hours of didactics on trauma per week (62.2%) and slightly less offered supervision-specific training opportunities (54.5%). However, only 30.8% identified training opportunities in trauma/posttraumatic stress disorder that reached a high level of saturation in training, meaning they offered training activities above the median impact score. The most commonly reported barrier to offering trauma training was related to being busy meeting other specialty or program requirements. Findings provide a preliminary overview of current training practices that can be useful to students seeking trauma internship placements and administrators and faculty who are looking to revise their curriculum.     

Life of the Second-Order Patient: Factors Impacting the Informal Caregiver

Informal caregivers (ICs) are forced to make adaptive lifestyle changes to meet the significant demand of caring for loved ones who are terminally ill. Open-ended questions were administered with 26 ICs who cared for loved ones diagnosed with terminal illnesses whose prognosis was less than six months. The results add substantive information to parsimonious literature and demonstrate a correlation with existing studies that coincide with the debilitating effects that caregiving has on the informal carer. The study clarifies the complexities of the caregiving role characterized by the involvement that may adversely affect socialization, physical health conditions, and marital dynamics, among other areas of the IC’s personal life.     

Claremont Purpose Scale: A Measure that Assesses the Three Dimensions of Purpose among Adolescents

The 12-item Claremont Purpose Scale (CPS) was designed for use with adolescents, and it gauges all three dimensions of the purpose construct, including goal-directedness, personal meaning, and a beyond-the-self orientation. Repeated administration reveals promising psychometric properties. For instance, the CPS demonstrates excellent internal consistency (α = .916?.935) and convergent validity. In exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, items fell onto the three dimensions, and the measure accounted for variance on indicators of a beyond-the-self orientation above and beyond the PIL. In addition to discussing the measure’s creation and validation, suggested uses of the CPS are also addressed.     

Youth Subgroups who Receive John F. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program Services

To date over two billion dollars have been invested in the John F. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) to help youth who are transitioning out of foster care to achieve self-sufficiency through an array of independent living services. Although states are required to report CFCIP service provision to the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD), the degree of heterogeneity of the aging out population from the service receipt perspective and state implementation is unknown. The CFCIP calls for a deeper understanding of the underlying patterns of services receipt to prepare for youth’s successful transition to adulthood. Based on the population of 68,057 first-time youth who received CFCIP services in FY2011-FY2013 from the NYTD, we used multi-level latent class analysis (MLCA) to identify underlying combinations of service receipt that may be influenced by youth-level and state-level characteristics. We identified the most preferred model based on interpretability, fit statistics, and split-half replication. The optimal model was a three-class, MLCA solution characterized by a high-service receipt profile, an independent living assessment and academic support receipt profile, and a limited service receipt profile. Among male and female youth, age, education level, and whether states serve youth aged 18 or above were significant characteristics associated with LCA profile membership. States could benefit from understanding existing service receipt patterns and gaps to optimize decisions on service delivery in order to meet youth needs and to identify specific services that may prepare youth aging out of foster care towards positive outcomes.