BIBLICAL POETRY,SPINOZIST HERMENEUTICS,AND CRITICAL SCHOLARSHIP

This article considers a little known chapter in the long history of the question of the nature of biblical poetry. The debate between the Jewish scholar Raffaele Rabeni and the Christian Hebraist Biagio Garofalo (1710–1714) exemplifies shifting attitudes and concerns of eighteenth century Jewish and Christian polemists. Ostensibly, the exchange concerned an apparently innocuous topic, the “Poetry of the Hebrews”, namely, whether Biblical poetry was rhymed or metrical. At a closer look, the two scholars, equally familiar with Spinoza’s biblical critique and the latest philological and critical scholarship, clashed over the textual authority of the Hebrew Bible.

This Italian polemical exchange not only foreshadows emerging developments in the field of biblical studies, but it also differs from previous examples because of its public ramifications. The debate was publicized by the Giornale de’ Letterati, Italy’s foremost scholarly journal of the time, which sided with Garofalo. For his part, Rabeni actively opposed the publication’s “modern” approach to sacred and profane history by supporting the Jesuit Father, Giovan Antonio Bernardi, in the course of a heated controversy over the journal’s historiographical stance and objectivity.

Unlike most cases of early modern Jewish–Christian polemics examined by researchers, the Rabeni–Garofalo affair and its ramifications reflect the birth pangs that accompanied the emergence of the modern study of sacred and diplomatic history in Italy, and is best understood within the context of historical and philological‐critical studies that characterized the early stages of the Italian Enlightenment.     

Effects of Music on Physiological Arousal: Explorations into Tempo and Genre

Two experiments explore the validity of conceptualizing musical beats as auditory structural features and the potential for increases in tempo to lead to greater sympathetic arousal, measured using skin conductance. In the first experiment, fast- and slow-paced rock and classical music excerpts were compared to silence. As expected, skin conductance response (SCR) frequency was greater during music processing than during silence. Skin conductance level (SCL) data showed that fast-paced music elicits greater activation than slow-paced music. Genre significantly interacted with tempo in SCR frequency, with faster tempo increasing activation for classical music and decreasing it for rock music. A second experiment was conducted to explore the possibility that the presumed familiarity of the genre led to this interaction. Although further evidence was found for conceptualizing musical beat onsets as auditory structure, the familiarity explanation was not supported.     

Sad Kids,Sad Media? Applying Mood Management Theory to Depressed Adolescents' Use of Media

Mood management studies typically have found that adults will select media that enhance positive moods and reduce negative moods. In this study, adolescents diagnosed with major depressive disorder and control adolescents without psychiatric disorders were called on customized cell phones up to 4 times a day and asked about their current mood state and media use for five extended weekends across an 8-week period. Mood effects on subsequent media use, mood during media consumption, and media effects on subsequent mood were examined. Results indicated that adolescents who consumed fun media tended to do so in a way that sustained, rather than enhanced their prior positive mood levels during and after consumption-if they turned to media. Adolescents in more negative moods did not often use media to improve their moods. When they did, boys were more likely than girls to use media that ultimately reduced negative mood levels. Findings are discussed in light of the literature on mood management, adolescence, and depression.     

A Test of the Network Models of Political Priming

Extensive media coverage of a political issue has been shown to influence, or prime, the criteria used to judge overall performance of political leaders. This political priming effect is traditionally explained with network models of memory, which identify priming intensity and recency as key factors in determining the strength and endurance of a priming effect. However, these two assumptions of network models have not been directly tested in media studies. The potential of priming valence to influence the priming effect also has had little treatment. This experiment evaluated priming intensity, recency, and valence within a typical political priming context. In support of previous psychological findings, priming effects were apparent immediately following positively valenced primes, dissipating quickly thereafter. For negative primes, the influence of the prime on judgment formation was contingent on the individual's political leaning, in that individuals who would likely agree with the message exhibited priming effects and individuals who would likely disagree with the message exhibited little effect. The adequacy of applying associative memory models to political priming studies is discussed.     

Are anxiously attached women better mindreaders?

This research was aimed at providing first evidence concerning the relationship between adults’ self-reported attachment style and their performance on a standard ‘theory of mind’ task. Based on adult attachment theory, we hypothesized that the two dimensions of self-reported adult attachment, anxiety and avoidance, are differently related to ‘theory of mind,’ and that this relationship is moderated by variables concerning the ‘theory of mind’ stimuli. The ‘Experiences in Close Relationships’ questionnaire and the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ test were administered to 132 young women. In line with our expectations, women’s attachment-related anxiety was associated with better mind reading concerning stimuli that were emotionally neutral or difficult to recognize.     

Technological Resources to Support Adaptive Responding with Persons with Multiple Disabilities

This study assessed technological resources for supporting adaptive responses in 2 men with profound multiple disabilities. The technological resources (an electronic control device connected to optic sensors and pleasant stimuli) ensured the activation of those stimuli contingent on adaptive responses. The responses consisted of putting various objects in a container fitted to a desk. Data showed that both participants reached satisfactory levels of adaptive responses in the intervention and generalization settings. Procedural issues, practical implications of the findings and measures for promoting response maintenance were discussed.     

Meaning Coconstruction in Group Counseling: The Development of Innovative Moments

This study discusses a model of group counseling, the narrative mediation path (NMP), which is a unique narrative, multimodal approach that combines four narrative modes (metaphoric, iconographic, writing, and bodily) and the narrative group. The purpose of the NMP is to foster reflexive processes with underachieving university students and to improve their academic performance. The study analyzes a single case of group counseling for seven underachieving economics students at an Italian university and the process of meaning construction among NMP narrative modes and the follow-up session. It applies the innovative moments coding system, a reliable method for studying change by tracking narrative innovations in sessions. More specifically, we focus on how innovative moments (IMs: action, reflection, protest, and reconceptualization) evolve during the four different narrative modes and the follow-up session. The findings suggest that the NMP fosters narrative innovations, mainly of a reflexive nature (reflection and reconceptualization). Moreover, during counseling and the follow-up session, the pattern of change is primarily characterized by reconceptualization IMs, the most complex form of narrative innovation.     

The Legitimate Name of a Fungal Plant Pathogen and the Ethics of Publication in the Era of Traceability

When more scientists describe independently the same species under different valid Latin names, a case of synonymy occurs. In such a case, the international nomenclature rules stipulate that the first name to appear on a peer-reviewed publication has priority over the others. Based on a recent episode involving priority determination between two competing names of the same fungal plant pathogen, this letter wishes to open a discussion on the ethics of scientific publications and points out the necessity of a correct management of the information provided through personal communications, whose traceability would prevent their fraudulent or accidental manipulation.

     

Give them what they want: The benefits of explicitness in gift exchange

Five studies show that gift recipients are more appreciative of gifts they explicitly request than those they do not. In contrast, gift givers assume that both solicited and unsolicited gifts will be equally appreciated. At the root of this dilemma is a difference of opinion about what purchasing an unsolicited gift signals: gift givers expect unsolicited gifts will be considered more thoughtful and considerate by their intended recipients than is actually the case (,  and ). In our final two studies, we highlight two boundary conditions for this effect: identifying a specific gift and using money as a gift. When gift recipients request one specific gift, rather than providing a list of possible gifts, givers become more willing to purchase the requested gift (Study 4). Further, although givers believe that recipients do not appreciate receiving money as much as receiving a solicited gift, recipients feel the opposite about these two gift options (Study 5).