Wisdom as Parental Teaching in Proverbs 1–9

It is the contention of this article that Proverbs chs. 1–9 is a literary unity in which wisdom has the denotation of the parental household teaching. Teachings which have other contexts in other parts of the Old Testament have in Pr. 1–9 a parental teaching context. Besides denoting the parental teaching, personified speaking Wisdom has the personal features of a teacher. Both Wisdom's features and her message serve to reinforce the parental teaching. Personified Wisdom also denotes the teaching of the entire Book of Proverbs. Through the device of personified Wisdom, the wisdom of Solomon enshrined in the Book of Proverbs is re-located from the royal court to the individual Israelite household. This is evident in the literary design of the book. It also reflects the situation of the book's redaction in post-exilic Judaism.     

BEHAVIORAL CUSPS: A DEVELOPMENTAL AND PRAGMATIC CONCEPT FOR BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

Most concepts of development explain certain behavior changes as products or markers of the invariable succession of emerging periods, stages, refinements, or achievements that define and order much of an individual's life. A different but comparable concept can be derived from the most basic mechanisms of behavior analysis, which are its environmental contingencies, and from its most basic strategy, which is to study behavior as its subject matter. From a behavior-analytic perspective, the most fundamental developmental questions are (a) whether these contingencies vary in any systematic way across the life span, and thus make behavior change in a correspondingly systematic way; and (b) whether some of these contingencies and their changes have more far-reaching consequences than others, in terms of the importance to the organism and others, of the behavior classes they change. Certain behavior changes open the door to especially broad or especially important further behavior change, leading to the concept of the behavioral cusp. A behavioral cusp, then, is any behavior change that brings the organism's behavior into contact with new contingencies that have even more far-reaching consequences. Of all the environmental contingencies that change or maintain behavior, those that accomplish cusps are developmental. Behavior change remains the fundamental phenomenon of development for a behavior-analytic view; a cusp is a special instance of behavior change, a change crucial to what can come next.     

Ethnocentrism and Authoritarianism in the Police: Challenging Stereotypes and Reconceptualizing Ingroup Identification1

Reports of community alienation and high ingroup identification in the police suggest that they are a particularly ethnocentric group. To empirically test this hypothesis, a sample of urban police officers was surveyed to ascertain their social identity pattern. Results indicated a high level of peer solidarity, community alienation differentiated on the basis of race and social class, and the perception that the source of alienation lies more with the community than with the officers themselves. A central finding was that those officers who identified most strongly with peers also tended to report lower levels of alienation from the community groups. This finding, in conjunction with unremarkable levels of authoritarianism and perceived stress in the sample, challenges the stereotype of the ethnocentric, authoritarian, and stressed out police officer. Results are placed within a novel framework for understanding the police solidarity phenomenon, and implications for police-community relations are discussed.     

A course in hypnosis for chaplains

Understanding the mental processes involved in suffering has always been the best basis for communication between patients and caretakers. In this paper we are concerned first with acknowledgment of the existence, generally unknown, and the effects, generally unrecognized, of the hypnotic processes that occur in many forms of suffering, and second with developing our thesis that the understanding and use of hypnotic principles can greatly enrich the chaplain's capacity to alleviate suffering. In this brief presentation we will confine our discussion to the teaching of hypnosis as a virtual necessity in modern clinical training for chaplains. Comments and considerations will precede and follow an outline of the course presently offered at Lenox Hill Hospital [but we cannot here attempt to discuss or explain the fundamentals of hypnotic process or any other aspects of the course content itself]. A basic bibliography is appended for those who wish to know more about hypnosis itself.     

SOMETHING TO OFFEND EVERYONE: TIPLER'S VISION OF IMMORTALITY

Abstract. Frank Tipler's The Physics of Immortality provides abundant cause for intellectual offense—including challenges to physics, to theology, and, seemingly, to common sense. Few philosophical conundrums remain unaddressed. Still, the book is stimulating and well presented.     

The Doctoral Degree in Counselor Education and Supervision

The doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision (CES) is a terminal or final degree in the field of counseling. This article, provides an abbreviated look at the development of the CES doctoral degree, reviews the development of accreditation standards, reports on current status of the doctoral degree, and comments on the possible future of the CES doctoral degree.     

An investigation of the effects of comorbid Axis II pathology on outcome of inpatient treatment for unipolar depression

DSM-based research on comorbidity has suggested thatdepression andpersonality disorder frequently occur together and that the combination of syndromes is associated with a poor response to treatment for depression. The present study was designed to explore the effect of comorbid Axis II pathology for a sample of 45 inpatients who received treatment for major depression. Both categorical and dimensional ratings of personality disorder were used in the statistical analysis. Positive categorical diagnosis of Cluster C (anxious-avoidant) disorder, as well as higher dimensional rating of Cluster A (odd-eccentric) pathology, was predictive of a poor response to treatment (p<.05), as measured by change in pre-post clinical ratings on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale. These results were construed as indicative of a significant Axis II comorbidity effect in the context of an inpatient, multimodal treatment setting for depression. The results also spotlight the influence of techniques of measurement in determining the outcome of statistical analysis.     

Critical incidents for refugee counsellors: An investigation of indigenous human resources

The mental health of refugees is increasingly being recognized as an important dimension of refugee welfare. In 1992 the Finnish Refugee Council established one of the first aid programmes to provide a therapeutic intervention to traumatized refugees. In an attempt to establish the necessary therapeutic ski& to work with this client group, we investigated the experiences of 15 refugee counsellors, using the technique of Critical Incidents Analysis. All of these counsellors were themselves refugees. Key features of their work are identified and the pros and cons of employing refugees as counsellors are discussed.     

Self-concept of African-American male youth: Self-esteem and ethnic identity

The role of perceived efficacy, parent support, and community involvement in the self-esteem and ethnic identity of 68 African-American male youth were investigated in this research. The results provided support for the distinctiveness of ethnic identity and self-esteem. A sense of mastery was positively associated with both self-esteem and ethnic identity. Parent support was associated with self-esteem, while community involvement and an appreciation of African-American heritage were positively related to ethnic identity. Implications for future research and the evaluation of prevention and support programs for youth are discussed.     

Aggressivity,inattention, hyperactivity,and impulsivity in boys at high and low risk for substance abuse

Aggressivity, inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are cardinal dimensions of externalizing behavior problems of childhood. They are diagnostic and clinical features of childhood disorders, and are thought to be linked to the subsequent development of adult disorders such as substance abuse (SA). Little is known, however, about the convergent and discriminant validity of these four constructs. We used multiple measures to develop indices of aggressivity, inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity in a sample of 10- to 12-year-old boys (N=183) with and without a family history of SA. Data were taken from mother reports, child reports, teacher reports, and laboratory tasks. The study aims were (1) to test the convergent and discriminant validity of aggressivity, inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity; (2) to examine whether the data were consistent with a model specifying the four constructs as indicators of one superordinate factor; and (3) to differentiate boys with and without a family history of SA in construct scores. The results supported the convergent and discriminant validity of the four constructs. Although discriminable, the constructs covaried strongly and were consistent with a model specifying them as indicators of a single superordinate factor. Boys with a family history of substance abuse scored higher than control boys on aggressivity, inattention, and impulsivity scores, but the groups did not differ on hyperactivity scores. The results are discussed in terms of the role of childhood behavior problems in vulnerability to SA.This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse grant No. DA 05605.