Family patterns leading to learning disability: A cognitive approach

Traditional treatment of the learning disabled child seeks to offer an individualized remediation. The authors offer as an alternative the innovative use of the family therapy modality for treatment of the learning dysfunction. This approaches the source of the learning dysfunction embedded in the faulty communication patterns within the family. The child has the opportunity to experience and more accurately comprehend the communication patterns, become more adept at interpretation of implicit meanings, and to transfer these developing skills to the formal learning situation.     

Child abuse: Prognostic factors in therapy effectiveness

We have attempted to define the problem of child abuse by separating the abusers into two categories. Pattern abusers seem to be primarily a social issue in that the abuse is an outgrowth of the parental charge to control her/his child. However, another abuser is seen as a borderline or psychotic individual when the abuse is an outgrowth of a transferential distortion on the part of the parent. It was suggested that family therapy for the latter may be the preferential mode of intervention.     

Cross-category revenue spillover in brand extensions: The role of within-category experience

Building on signaling theory, the current research proposes an empirical framework to help firms understand the degree to which cross-category purchases affect the revenue generated for each category and how within-category purchases influence the cross-category spillover effects. The framework is applied to novel individual-level, cross-sectional, and time-series transaction details from a leading lifestyle conglomerate in the Middle East. The empirical results provide strong support for the presence of revenue spillover across multiple categories of brand extensions, with the spillover being more pronounced in categories in which customers have infrequently purchased and thus had less within-category experience. These results add to the ongoing stream of research on brand extensions by offering evidence that both within- and cross-category learning play a significant role in revenue generation from brand extensions for multi-product or service firms.     

Some contributions of a psychological approach to the study of the sacred

ABSTRACT

This paper examines some of the contributions psychology is making to the study of the sacred and its role in human functioning. The focus here is not on the ontological reality of the sacred, but rather perceptions of the sacred. We suggest that psychological theory and research on this topic offers: a clarification of the meaning of the sacred; new knowledge about sanctification – the process through which people come to perceive the sacred in daily life; a response to criticisms about the scientific study of the sacred; a sharper perspective on the meanings of religion and spirituality; a method for measuring sanctification; knowledge about the ways perceptions of the sacred predict important aspects of human behavior, and; an understanding of the sacred as a product of psychological, social, institutional, cultural, and situational forces. We conclude that the sacred represents a vital phenomenon of interest for religious and spiritual study.     

Dual-task interference effects on cross-modal numerical order and sound intensity judgments: the more the louder?

In the current study, cross-task interactions between number order and sound intensity judgments were assessed using a dual-task paradigm. Participants first categorized numerical sequences composed of Arabic digits as either ordered (ascending, descending) or non-ordered. Following each number sequence, participants then had to judge the intensity level of a target sound. Experiment 1 emphasized processing the two tasks independently (serial processing), while Experiments 2 and 3 emphasized processing the two tasks simultaneously (parallel processing). Cross-task interference occurred only when the task required parallel processing and was specific to ascending numerical sequences, which led to a higher proportion of louder sound intensity judgments. In Experiment 4 we examined whether this unidirectional interaction was the result of participants misattributing enhanced processing fluency experienced on ascending sequences as indicating a louder target sound. The unidirectional finding could not be entirely attributed to misattributed processing fluency, and may also be connected to experientially derived conceptual associations between ascending number sequences and greater magnitude, consistent with conceptual mapping theory.     

Auditory statistical learning: predictive frequency information affects the deployment of contextually mediated attentional resources on perceptual tasks

Statistical learning is a general phenomenon in which environmental regularities are implicitly acquired through repeated exposure to those environments. Sometimes, that information can be utilised to affect various aspects of cognitive performance (e.g. reaction time) on tasks that utilise selective attention (e.g. visual search). In the current study, we examined the effect of passively listening to predictive auditory contexts in facilitating attention to a certain frequency or frequency range. In doing so, we found that there is a general tendency for attentional resources to be negatively affected when the context sequences are made novel after context–target associations have been formed (Experiment 1), and when the context no longer reliably cues the previous target (Experiment 2). The experiments are framed to contrast Associative Learning and Memory Hypothesis perspectives.     

Altered vision near the hands

The present study explored the manner in which hand position may affect visual processing. We studied three classic visual attention tasks (visual search, inhibition of return, and attentional blink) during which the participants held their hands either near the stimulus display, or far from the display. Remarkably, the hands altered visual processing: people shifted their attention between items more slowly when their hands were near the display. The same results were observed for both visible and invisible hands. This enhancement in vision for objects near the hands reveals a mechanism that could facilitate the detailed evaluation of objects for potential manipulation, or the assessment of potentially dangerous objects for a defensive response.     

Politics,lack of career progress,and work/home conflict: Stress and strain for working women

This study examines the stress experienced by working women in terms of politics, lack of career progress, and work/home conflicts, the symptoms of distress and satisfaction associated with these stressors, and the organizational resources available for managing these demands. Subjects were 195 female personnel professionals. A different pattern of results emerged for politics and lack of career progress in contrast to work/home conflicts. Specifically, politics and lack of career progress were associated with greater strain symptoms and reduced satisfaction, and organizational resources were associated with lower levels of these stressors. Work/home conflicts were associated with greater strain symptoms, but were unrelated to satisfaction and organizational resources. This suggests that organizations identify the most effective targets of their resources to achieve beneficial results.     

EVOLUTION,CONTINGENCY, AND CHRISTOLOGY

Christopher Southgate has made important contributions to theodicy and the theory of divine action in light of the contingency in evolution and the suffering of creation. What happens then when one thinks through the implications of contingency for Christology? One can admit that aesthetic and moral judgments are products of a contingent history and yet affirm that they really are valid. Similarly, we argue, one can acknowledge the contingency of Jesus’ existence, actions, and subsequent impact and still maintain that his will was uniquely united with the divine will. Following a critical engagement with the recent work of Keith Ward, we argue that a high Christology is compatible with the actual contingencies of evolutionary and social history, without the necessity of interventionist divine action.