A Broader Understanding of Moral Distress

On the traditional view, moral distress arises only in cases where an individual believes she knows the morally right thing to do but fails to perform that action due to various constraints. We seek to motivate a broader understanding of moral distress. We begin by presenting six types of distress that fall outside the bounds of the traditional definition and explaining why they should be recognized as forms of moral distress. We then propose and defend a new and more expansive definition of moral distress and examine how it can enable the development of a taxonomy of moral distress.     

Ecumenical and Inter‐religious Engagement of Asian Pentecostals and Charismatics

The Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) has been a significant platform for all ecumenical organizations and churches in Asia to collaborate. However, although Pentecostal and charismatic churches have been growing rapidly in Asia and a number of megachurches have been founded, none of them have become members of the CCA. This article sets out the official ecumenical engagements of Asian Pentecostals with other Protestant churches and the Roman Catholic Church in recent years, before discussing the ecumenical impact of the charismatic renewal in several Asian countries. Finally, since Asia is the birthplace of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, and ecumenism is also concerned with inter‐religious relations, it discusses the development of Pentecostalism in the countries dominated by those three religions.     

Older Workers and Bridge Employment: Redefining Retirement

The authors present a qualitative study that explored the transition experiences of older workers who retired from long‐term careers and who were working in bridge jobs (i.e., transitional work between career employment and retirement). Using grounded theory methodology, the authors interviewed 24 older workers to learn why they decided to pursue a bridge job, how they made the transition, and what challenges they faced and benefits they received. The core theme from the study is that bridge employment redefines retirement. The authors present the findings of the study along with recommendations for career counselors and implications for future research.     

Threshold estimation in two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) tasks: The Spearman-Kärber method

The Spearman-Kärber method can be used to estimate the threshold value or difference limen in two-alternative forced-choice tasks. This method yields a simple estimator for the difference limen and its standard error, so that both can be calculated with a pocket calculator. In contrast to previous estimators, the present approach does not require any assumptions about the shape of the true underlying psychometric function. The performance of this new nonparametric estimator is compared with the standard technique of probit analysis. The Spearman-Kärber method appears to be a valuable addition to the toolbox of psychophysical methods, because it is most accurate for estimating the mean (i.e., absolute and difference thresholds) and dispersion of the psychometric function, although it is not optimal for estimating percentile-based parameters of this function.     

How to Apply Mathematics

This paper presents a novel account of applied mathematics. It shows how we can distinguish the physical content from the mathematical form of a scientific theory even in cases where the mathematics applied is indispensable and cannot be eliminated by paraphrase.     

Spezifische psychoanalytische Interventionen

It is held that specific ingredients are responsible for the effectiveness of various psychotherapies and it is supposed that for this reason particular therapeutic approaches are more efficient than others. First, this article presents Bruce E. Wampold’s research on psychotherapeutic efficacy, which gives evidence that psychotherapies efficiency is due to general, not to specific factors. It is shown that in the end the common factors like alliance, compliance, empathy and the fact, that therapists generally make best use of their personality, are interpersonal factors. The impact of these empirical results on psychotherapy, on theory and practice is described in the light of two metatheories, the “medical modell”and the “contextual model”. The author delineates some consequences, for instance that in psychotherapeutic practice the diagnosis-based indication for therapy has to be replaced by fitting-indication. Regarding outcome research, the randomized goldstandard research design has to be replaced by a fitting indication concerning therapist /patient and patient/paticular treatment. Further it is shown that although specific ingredients in a strict sense are not active, therapists have to realize that they are nessessary even if active only as a component of the healing context. How specific ingredients might be realized within a healing context is shown with regard to the adaptive approach to psychoanalysis.     

The time-course of recovery from interruption during reading: eye movement evidence for the role of interruption lag and spatial memory

Two experiments examined how interruptions impact reading and how interruption lags and the reader's spatial memory affect the recovery from such interruptions. Participants read paragraphs of text and were interrupted unpredictably by a spoken news story while their eye movements were monitored. Time made available for consolidation prior to responding to the interruption did not aid reading resumption. However, providing readers with a visual cue that indicated the interruption location did aid task resumption substantially in Experiment 2. Taken together, the findings show that the recovery from interruptions during reading draws on spatial memory resources and can be aided by processes that support spatial memory. Practical implications are discussed.     

Intentional suppression of unwanted memories grows more difficult as we age

People often encounter reminders to memories that they would prefer not to think about. When this happens, they often try to exclude the unwanted memory from awareness, a process that relies upon inhibitory control. We propose that the ability to regulate awareness of unwanted memories through inhibition declines with advancing age. In two experiments, we examined younger and older adults' ability to intentionally suppress retrieval when repeatedly confronted with reminders to an experience they were instructed to not think about. Older adults exhibited significantly less forgetting of the suppressed items compared to younger adults on a later independent probe test of recall, indicating that older adults failed to inhibit the to-be-avoided memories. These findings demonstrate that the ability to intentionally regulate conscious awareness of unwanted memories through inhibitory control declines with age, highlighting differences in memory control that may be of clinical relevance in the aftermath of unpleasant life events.     

Reevaluation of Piaget’s concept of egocentrism: New perspectives on a misunderstood idea

The paper states the goal of this special issue and briefly summarizes the topics of the papers addressed in this issue.