A multivariate counting process with Weibull-distributed first-arrival times

In this paper, we study a method to construct a multivariate counting process with positive dependencies between the event occurrences. Conditional on a random effect with a positive stable distribution, the univariate counting processes are independent non-homogeneous Poisson processes with a power intensity function. The applicability of the model is illustrated in three examples: a horse race model with several dependent channels, a dependent parallel-counter model and an interactive coactivation model.     

Clergy Personality and Collaborative Ministry: The Way Ahead for Stable Extraverts?

A sample of 991 male clergy affiliated to the Evangelical Alliance in the United Kingdom completed the short-form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, together with a scale regarding collaborative ministry. The data demonstrated that effective collaborative ministry was significantly related to the clergy's personality. Effective collaborative ministry was correlated positively with extraversion, correlated negatively with neuroticism, and unrelated to psychoticism. While the model of collaborative ministry may provide an exciting way ahead for clergy who display stable extraversion, this may be a less welcome route for clergy who display neurotic introversion.     

Personality and Preference for Rural Ministry: Replication and Reconsideration

A random sample of 1,057 male stipendiary parochial clergy completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The data demonstrate that clergy serving in rural ministry tend to be more introverted, more socially conforming and less toughminded. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the shape of rural ministry.     

Promoting the symbolic interpretation of scripture among year 7 pupils: evaluating an educational programme by the Loman index of biblical interpretation

Recent research has drawn attention to the way in which during the years of secondary schooling pupils move away from the literal acceptance of biblical narratives to the rejection of these narratives. The Loman Accelerated Symbolic Thinking programme is designed to offer pupils the third option of accepting a symbolic interpretation of biblical narratives. The effectiveness of the programme is assessed among 93 year 7 pupils compared with a control group of 51 pupils. The data demonstrate that the experimental group of pupils increased in their ability to think symbolically about biblical narratives.     

The explanatory power of the substance view of persons.

The purpose of this essay is to offer support for the substance view of persons, the philosophical anthropology defended by Patrick Lee in his essay. In order to accomplish this the author (1) presents a brief definition of the substance view; (2) argues that the substance view has more explanatory power in accounting for why we believe that human persons are intrinsically valuable even when they are not functioning as such (e.g., when on is temporarily comatose), why human persons remain identical to themselves over time, and why it follows from these points that the unborn are human persons; and (3) responds to two arguments that attempt to establish the claim that the early human being is not a unified substance until at least fourteen days after conception.     

Psychological Types of Male Evangelical Church Leaders

A sample of 57 male evangelical church leaders completed a measure of psychological type. The data demonstrated that between one-quarter and one-third (28%) displayed a preference for sensing, feeling, and judging as either ESFJ or ISFJ. This is consistent with findings from other recent studies concerned with the personality profile of clergy.     

Leverpress escape/avoidance conditioning in rats: Safety signal length and avoidance performance

Leverpress escape/avoidance is an excellent model for assessing coping in rats. Acquisition of the leverpress response is determined by the interstimulus (signal-shock) interval, as well as the type and duration of the aversive event. One factor that has received less research attention is the safety or feedback signal. The safety signal presumably negatively reinforces leverpress responding through fear reduction. Here, we present a parametric manipulation of safety signal length and avoidance performance. All rats were trained with a 60-s tone conditioned stimulus and an intermittent 1-s, 1.0-mA footshock. Training was further accomplished with a 1−, 2−, 4−, or 6-min safety signal. Acquisition of the avoidance response was comparable at all safety signal durations. Rats trained with the shortest safety signal (1 min) exhibited more leverpresses during the safe period, a measure of anxiety. Thus, acquisition of the leverpress avoidance response was efficient regardless of safety signal duration, even though shorter periods were associated with greater anxiety.     

Organizing Components into Combinations: How Stage Transition Works

This paper investigates the nature of transition between stages. The Model of Hierarchical Complexity of tasks leads to a quantal notion of stage, and therefore delineates the nature of stage transition. Piaget's dialectical model of stage change was extended and precisely specified. Transition behavior was shown to consist of alternations in previous-stage behavior. As transition proceeded, the alternations increased in rate until the previous stage behaviors were “smashed” together. Once the smashed-together pieces became coordinated, new-stage behavior could be said to have formed. Because stage transition is quantal, individuals can only change performance by whole stage. We reviewed theories of the specific means by which new-stage behavior may be acquired and the emotions and personalities associated with steps in transition. Contemporary challenges in the society increasingly call for transition to postformal and postconventional responses on the part of both individuals and institutions as the examples illustrate.     

A diffusion model decomposition of the practice effect

When people repeatedly perform the same cognitive task, their mean response times (RTs) invariably decrease. The mathematical function that best describes this decrease has been the subject of intense debate. Here, we seek a deeper understanding of the practice effect by simultaneously taking into account the changes in accuracy and in RT distributions with practice, both for correct and error responses. To this end, we used the Ratcliff diffusion model, a successful model of two-choice RTs that decomposes the effect of practice into its constituent psychological processes. Analyses of data from a 10,000-trial lexical decision task demonstrate that practice not only affects the speed of information processing, but also response caution, response bias, and peripheral processing time. We conclude that the practice effect consists of multiple subcomponents, and that it may be hazardous to abstract the interactive combination of these subcomponents in terms of a single output measure such as mean RT for correct responses. Supplemental materials may be downloaded from http://pbr .psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.