SAINTLY SACRIFICE: THE TRADITIONAL TRANSMISSION OF MORAL ELEVATION

Abstract This paper combines the social psychology concept of moral elevation with the evolutionary concept of traditions as descendant‐leaving strategies to produce a new explanation of the role of saints in Christianity. Moral elevation refers to the ability of prosocial acts to inspire people to engage in their own acts of charity and kindness. When morally elevating stories and visual depictions become traditional by being passed from one generation to the next, they can produce prosocial behavior advantageous to survival and reproduction among many generations of descendants. Traditions that increase the number of descendants in future generations can be seen as descendant‐leaving strategies. Stories and visual depictions of the sacrifices of saints appear to be designed to produce states of moral elevation, and they have been transmitted from one generation to the next for many centuries. We propose that this ability of sacrificing saints to inspire future generations to engage in prosocial acts has contributed to the continuation and spread of Christianity.     

Measuring Parental Treatment Adherence in a Multimodal Treatment Program for Children with ADHD: A Preliminary Investigation

This study evaluated the clinical significance of measuring between session parental adherence on child and parent outcomes for 51 children (age 4 to 8.5 years) with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a multimodal group training program. Three group treatment conditions: (a) child-only treatment (C1), (c) child and parent training (C2), and (c) C2 + Parent Adherence Measure [PAM (C3)] were compared to assess the clinical significance of measuring parental adherence on child behavioral problems, socialization skills, and parental efficacy. Parents administered the PAM (C3) displayed, in general, better outcomes on child and parent measures than the other two conditions. Results suggest that a multimodal group training program for young children with ADHD is favorable to child group training only. This study offers preliminary support for the clinical utility of measuring parental adherence in a child ADHD multimodal group training program.     

Perceptual experience and seeing that p

I open my eyes and see that the lemon before me is yellow. States like this—states of seeing that $p$ —appear to be visual perceptual states, in some sense. They also appear to be propositional attitudes (and so states with propositional representational contents). It might seem, then, like a view of perceptual experience on which experiences have propositional representational contents—a Propositional View—has to be the correct sort of view for states of seeing that $p$ . And thus we can’t sustain fully general non-Propositional but Representational, or Relational Views of experience. But despite what we might initially be inclined to think when reflecting upon the apparent features of states of seeing that $p$ , a non-propositional view of seeing that $p$ is, I argue, perfectly intelligible.     

Beautiful faces in pain: Biases and accuracy in the perception of pain

Abstract

The impact of appearance-based information on judgments about the psychological functioning of pain patients was investigated. Video-tapes of low back pain patients experiencing pain were used as stimulus materials. Subjects viewed silent video clips and photographs of the patients' faces and made judgments about the functioning of these patients. These judgments were affected both by patient physical attractiveness and gender. Physically attractive patients and male patients were judged to be functioning better than physically unattractive and female patients. The judgments were reasonably described as biased because the perceived differences about patients varying in attractiveness and sex were not associated with measures of actual patient functioning.     

Tao Psychotherapy: Introducing a New Approach to Humanistic Practice 1

This article introduces a relatively new and unknown approach to humanistic psychotherapy, called Tao Psychotherapy that was founded by a Korean psychiatrist, Dr. Rhee Dongshick, in 1974. Today, Tao psychotherapy is a synthesis of Eastern and Western psychotherapies seeking to integrate psychoanalytic, existential, humanistic, and transpersonal, and Eastern perspectives in a single coherent approach. The article opens with a brief overview of the Tao and Taoism. A sample of writings attributed to Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu is presented as a prelude to a discussion of the meaning of the Tao itself. Following this, the author, a daseinsanalytic psychotherapist who has been studying Tao psychotherapy in South Korea for over two years, presents an overview of this approach, introducing Rhee Dongshick and the Korean Academy of Psychotherapists as well as the distinctive character of this new approach to humanistic practice. The article closes with a reflection on the ancient allegory of the ox herder, as seen in the famous ten ox herder pictures, discussing it from Taoist and Heideggerian perspectives, especially as it is relevant to the process of psychotherapy. Throughout the article the author reflects on the cultural sources of Tao psychotherapy and on the implications of the approach for humanistically attuned, depth psychological thought and practice.     

A Brief Overview of Existential Depth Psychotherapy

Abstract

This article introduces the special issue of The Humanistic Psychologist, entitled “Depth, Death, and Dialogue: New Inquiries in Existential Depth Psychotherapy.” It begins by identifying several commitments that existential psychotherapists tend to hold in common and that distinguish their approach to depth psychotherapy from others. These commitments include, among others, the meaning, ownership, there-ness, everydayness, phenomenology, and wholeness of human existence, as well as its possibility for authenticity. The article then distinguishes among different kinds of approaches to existential depth psychotherapy, using the criteria of the degree to which they harken to the intellectual Zeitgeists of America or Europe and, with this, the manner in which they address everyday (ontic) and/or philosophical (ontologic) concerns. A brief discussion of the author's understanding of the ontical and the ontological foundations for existential psychology ensues before the article closes with a crucial challenge facing existential depth psychotherapy and brief introduction to the articles in the special issue.     

Are age-related changes in cognitive function driven by age-related changes in sensory processing?

Although there has been keen interest in the association among measures of sensory function and cognitive function for many years, in general, measures of sensory function have been confined to one or two senses and measures of threshold sensitivity (acuity). In this study, rigorous psychophysical measures of threshold sensitivity, temporal gap detection, temporal order identification, and temporal masking have been obtained, in hearing, vision, and touch. In addition, all subjects completed 15 subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 3rd edition (WAIS–III). Data were obtained from 245 adults (18–87 years old) for the WAIS–III and for 40 measures of threshold sensitivity and temporal processing. The focus in this report is on individual differences in performance for the entire data set. Principal-components (PC) factor analysis reduced the 40 psychophysical measures to eight correlated factors, which were reduced further to a single global sensory processing factor. Similarly, PC factor analysis of the 15 WAIS–III scores resulted in three correlated factors that were further reduced to a single global cognitive function factor. Age, global sensory processing, and global cognitive function were all moderately and significantly correlated with one another. However, paired partial correlations, controlling for the third of these three measures, revealed that the moderate correlation between age and global cognitive function went to zero when global sensory processing was controlled for; the other two partial correlations remained intact. Structural models confirmed this result. These analyses suggest that the long-standing observation of age-related changes in cognitive function may be mediated by age-related changes in global sensory processing.     

Collaborative false recall in the DRM procedure: Effects of group size and group pressure

Basden, Basden, Thomas, and Souphasith (1998) demonstrated that false recall in collaborative trios is enhanced when group members feel under pressure to output items. In the present study, individuals, pairs, trios, and quartets were presented with lists of words drawn from the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. Memory was tested under high or low group pressure conditions. It was found that false recall increased in proportion to group size regardless of group pressure, but that groups experiencing the most pressure to output items made a greater number of errors. Furthermore, on a surprise later individual recall test, participants who experienced the most pressure during collaboration retained an equivalent level of critical lures. Collectively these findings demonstrate that group pressure can increase collaborative false recall, and that these false memories can be retained beyond group testing.