Day-to-Day Variability in Empathy as a Function of Daily Events and Mood

Despite broad agreement that understanding a personality construct requires integrating trait and state levels of analysis, few studies have explicitly attempted such an integration. The present study did this by examining the relationships between trait and state measures of empathy. State measures were taken daily, with a focus on the day level (within-person) covariation between empathy and daily mood and events. Twice a week for up to 10 weeks, 103 participants provided measures of their daily empathy and mood (NA and PA) and described the events that occurred each day. Multilevel random coefficient modeling analyses found that daily empathy covaried positively with the impact of daily positive and negative social events and with daily positive and negative affect. Empathy did not covary with achievement-related events. Analyses that simultaneously included empathy, mood, and events suggested that daily NA mediated relationships between daily empathy and daily negative social events. Although mean daily empathy was positively related to trait empathy, trait empathy did not moderate relationships between daily empathy and events nor between daily empathy and mood. Moreover, daily empathy did not covary with daily depressogenic thinking, need for cognition, nor self-esteem, suggesting that empathy is distinct from these constructs. Possible mechanisms linking social events and empathy, such as emotional contagion, are discussed.     

Selection or Training? A Two-Fold Test of the Validity of Job-Analytic Ratings of Trainability

Decisions to use selection devices or training are typically based on subject matter expert (SME) judgments concerning the trainability of job components, including tasks and knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs). The studies reported here examined the validity of SME trainability judgments from two perspectives. We found that (1) different SME groups' judgments related differently to actual learning changes in KSAOs covered in a training program and (2) sources of variability thought to be unrelated to the job influenced trainability ratings. Implications for the selection of SMEs in job analysis applications intended to determine the trainability of various job components are outlined.     

Impact of pre-existing levels of hostility and aggression on substance abuse treatment outcome

The impact of the change in level of hostility and aggression on subsequent substance abuse (drug, alcohol, or combined) recovery was investigated. One hundred and thirty-two dually diagnosed veterans completed an inpatient treatment programme at a large DVA Medical Centre. Results showed significant decreases in addiction severity over 3 month and 12 month following-up. At 3 months, pretreatment severity was predictive of drug, alcohol, and drug/alcohol severity whereas change in hostility and aggression scores were not. At 12 months, however, pretreatment severity was predictive only of drug severity whereas change in hostility and aggression were predictive of alcohol and combined drug/alcohol severity. Implications for changes in substance abuse correlates over time are discussed.     

Problem-Solving Appraisal and Psychological Adjustment of Persons with Chronic Low-Back Pain

To examine the role of self-appraised problem-solving ability in the prediction of psychosocial impairment, depression, hopelessness, average pain unpleasantness, and current pain ratings among persons with chronic low-back pain. A second purpose was to enhance theoretical understanding of the mechanisms by which problem-solving appraisal influences adjustment. Correlational and regression procedures were used to test the hypothesized relations procedures between elements of self-appraised problem-solving ability and each criterion variable. Seventy-eight persons enrolled in an inpatient multidisciplinary chronic pain management program. The psychosocial subscale of the Sickness Impact Profile, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, the McGill Pain Questionnaire, and Visual Analogue Scales of Pain Sensory Intensity and Affective Response were the main outcome measures. After first controlling demographic characteristics, elements of self-appraised problem-solving ability assessed by the Problem-Solving Inventory were significantly predictive of depression, hopelessness, psychosocial impairment, and average pain unpleasantness (accounting for 20, 26, 29, and 11% of the respective variance in these constructs). Results indicate complex relations among the elements of problem-solving appraisal, suggesting that the Approach–Avoidance link to psychological adjustment was mediated by Problem-Solving Confidence. Comprehensive problem-solving interventions may be beneficial to persons with chronic pain     

The "God Module" and the Complexifying Brain

Recent reports of the discovery of a "God module" in the human brain derive from the fact that epileptic seizures in the left temporal lobe are associated with ecstatic feelings sometimes described as an experience of the presence of God. The brain area involved has been described as either (a) the seat of an innate human faculty for experiencing the divine or (b) the seat of religious delusions.
In fact, religious experience is extremely various and involves many parts of the brain, including some that are prehuman in their evolutionary history and some that are characteristically human. In the continuing integration of such experiences, spiritual formation takes place. Thus the entire human brain might be described as a "God module."
Such a process is only possible because of the brain's complexity. The human brain is the most complex entity for its size that we know of. As used here, complexity is a specialized term denoting the presence of a web of interlinked and significant connections—the more intricate the web, the more complex the entity. Complex systems develop only in a milieu that provides both lawfulness and freedom, and they tend to be self-organizing, becoming more complex and more effective as a result of both inward and outward experience. The evidence suggests that both personal growth and spiritual growth are processes of complexification of character, and of the brain itself. This thesis is tested in light of the work of William James and James W. Fowler.     

Blurring Emotional Safety With Physical Safety in AIDS and STD Risk Estimations: The Casual/Regular Partner Distinction1

Research on the sexual behavior of young adults has documented a casual/regular partner distinction in terms of condom use and perceived risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). How this population distinguishes between the 2 partner types has not been known, making it impossible to assess the rationality of this strategy. In the present study, college students' conceptions of casual vs. regular partners were explored and used to create 3 sexual partner scenarios: casual, regular with insufficient risk information (regular emotionally safe), and regular with sufficient risk information (regular objectively safe). Participants rated the target partner in terms of emotional safety, AIDS/STD risk, and likelihood of condom use. Results showed participants to be blurring emotional with physical safety; i. e., employing an emotionally based strategy in rating perceived risk.     

A Mere Idea

In response to Khin Zaw's pragmatic model of reason, I argue for a normative,Kantian account in which reason actively impels thought andunderstanding towards transcendental ideals. Reason is neither constructedout of what is ready to hand, nor imposes moral laws from a transhistorical content. Reason's role is to provide the formof our ideas of the good in accordance with which we may shape thecontent in any particular culture. I argue that the well-rehearseddebate between nature and culture cannot be advanced without recourseto metaphysics. Since metaphysics in transcendental, not transcendent,what emerges from metaphysics must be revealed, interrogated andcriticised, never assumed.     

Examining the core: Relations among reading curricula, poverty, and first through third grade reading achievement

Policy changes at the federal and state level are endeavoring to improve student achievement at schools serving children from lower-SES homes. One important strategy is the focus on using evidence-based core reading curricula to provide a consistent framework for instruction across schools. However, rarely have these curricula undergone rigorous comparative testing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the effects of six core reading curricula on oral reading fluency growth, while appraising whether these effects differ by grade level and for children living in lower socioeconomic (SES) households. Over 30,000 students in first through third grade Florida Reading First classrooms comprise this academically and economically diverse cross-sectional. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to model latent growth curves for students' reading fluency scores over the school year. Growth curves revealed differences across curricula as well as between students of lower and higher SES, suggesting that reading fluency growth trajectories for curricula varied depending on student SES and grade level. Findings indicate that while there are similarities among curricula, they sometimes differ in their ability to promote reading skill growth. Differences by grade level and SES were also detected. However, many of these differences were small. Implications for the use of curriculum as a conduit for improving reading instruction are discussed.     

When “Living Stories” Encounter the Living Word

This article focuses on biblical forms (psalms, proverbs, and parables) and story genres (inspirational, paradoxical, and miraculous) that inform the pastoral counseling process in ways that make the stories of our lives become more vivid. It does so primarily by examining Donald Capps’ contributions in Living Stories and Biblical Approaches to Pastoral Counseling by studying the living stories in juxtaposition to the biblical forms.