Successful aging: Social theory,scripture, church teaching

ABSTRACT

Thanks to medical progress and better overall living conditions, a greater number of people are living well into old age, many more than in previous generations. However, we feel instinctively that there must be more to life than longevity and merely living longer. Religious communities and social scientists are both interested in what makes for “successful aging.” The dialogue between them can be enriched by fostering a mutual appreciation for biblical norms and stories, and a better working knowledge of the models and methods of the social sciences. To that end, I offer a sketch of four models of aging: disengagement, activity, continuity, and Tornstam’s theory of gerotranscendence. This sketch serves as a prelude to a discussion of three biblical stories: (1) the story of Barzillai and King David in 2 Samuel, which shows how the elderly can make a positive contribution to the common good, in spite of their limitations; (2) the intertwined stories of Jacob and Joseph in Genesis, which can help us understand the theological significance of life review, forgiveness, reconciliation, and life review in the aging process; and (3) the third phase of the encounter considers John Paul II’s Letter to the Elderly, and builds on several suggestions he makes concerning the life of Moses and successful aging.     

Maternal Reports of Play Dates of Clinic Referred and Community Children

Recent interventions have focused upon play dates as a means to improve friendships. However, no measures have been published which quantify play date quality. An important characteristic of play dates in this regard may be the amount of conflict. We present the development of such a measure. We compare maternal reports of play dates for 112 community subjects with 48 subjects referred for peer problems (mean age = 8.7 years). We found that clinic–referred subjects had significantly fewer hosted and invited play dates than the community subjects. The mean conflict on play dates was significantly lower for the community subjects than for the clinic-referred subjects. We obtained significant correlations between conflict on play dates and measures of problem behaviors. Our results support the position that conflict on play dates is an important area to target in social skills training programs. The scale may prove useful to clinicians and researchers by facilitating screening and assessing interventions directed towards improving play dates.     

NSF programs in the behavioral and neural sciences

The National Science Foundation’s new Division of Behavioral and Neural Sciences supports basic research and related activities in psychology, ethology, anthropology, linguistics, and the neurosciences. Research equipment and facilities can be provided either through a grant supporting a research project or through a separate grant. The scientific importance and soundness of the research to be conducted, as evaluated by reviewers from the research community, are the main criteria for support. Preparation of proposals is briefly discussed, and sources of further information are noted.     

Figural goodness and internal structure in perceptual discrimination

The time required for 24 Ss to sort four decks of cards composed of 5-dot figures (Garner & Clement, 1963) was measured. A deck consisted of 32 cards: 4 each of 8 patterns. There were 4 sets of figures: Sets A1 and A2 had identical amount and form of redundancy; so also did B1 and B2. Sets B1 and B2, having more uncertainty in simple contingencies and having negative interaction terms, required significantly more time to sort than Sets A1 and A2. All sets differed in mean ratings of figural goodness, (Garner & Clement, 1963). Even when amount and form of redundancy are held constant, the figural goodness of the individual figures constituting the set influence the discriminability. Sets consisting of good or simpler figures are easier to sort.