The Effects of Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms on Daily Positive Emotion Regulation

Individuals with anxiety and depressive symptoms exhibit disturbances in positive emotion regulation, which may hinder full recovery. By comparison, individuals with strong beliefs regarding their capacity to “savor” or maintain positive emotions (i.e., savoring beliefs) display more adaptive positive emotion regulation. The present daily diary study explores three momentary processes involved in positive emotion regulation, namely positive emotion reactivity, regulatory goals, and regulatory effectiveness, and examines the comparative effects of baseline anxiety and depressive symptoms versus savoring beliefs on such processes in real-life contexts. A sample of 164 nonclinical undergraduates provided baseline measures of anxiety and depressive symptom severity and savoring beliefs prior to completing 14 daily assessments of positive emotions and emotion regulatory responses to daily positive events. Results indicated that higher baseline anxiety and depressive symptom severity were associated with decreased positive emotion reactivity and increased down-regulation of positive emotions; higher baseline savoring beliefs were associated with increased positive emotion reactivity, decreased down-regulation and increased up-regulation of positive emotions. Potential clinical implications are discussed.     

Antiphasis as Homonym in Aristotle

Antiphasis is a case of core-dependent homonymy, and has three significations in Aristotle's philosophy: (1) antiphasis as an opposition between propositions (a propositional signification); (2) antiphasis as the opposition between ‘subject’ and ‘not a subject’ in coming-to-be and perishing (an ontological signification); and (3) antiphasis as the opposition between possession and privation (an ontological signification). Argument based on the fifth type of priority described in Cat. 12 shows that, for Aristotle, the ontological significations are prior to the propositional.     

Giving Thanks is Associated with Lower PTSD Severity: A Meta-Analytic Review

Journal of Happiness Studies - A rising interest in the psychological community in resilience has spurred research examining psychological resources that promote resilience to psychopathologies...     

The contribution of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to the presurgical assessment of language function in children

Before performing neurosurgery, an exhaustive presurgical assessment is required, usually including an investigation of language cerebral lateralization. Among the available procedures, the intracarotid amobarbital test (IAT) was formerly the most widely used. However, this procedure has many limitations: it is invasive and potentially traumatic, especially for children. To overcome these limitations, neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have been used. Again, these methods are difficult to use with children, who must remain motionless during data acquisition. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a noninvasive functional imaging technique that is easily applied to pediatric and cognitively limited patients. It has been used recently in epileptic children for presurgical assessment of expressive and receptive language brain lateralization. The aim of this review is to present the contribution of fNIRS to the presurgical assessment of language function in children with neurological diseases.     

Student Learning Outcomes for Biblical Studies in the Liberal Arts

What is the role of biblical studies in a liberal arts curriculum? At the 2009 North American Society of Biblical Literature conference, a panel of seven Bible scholars provided brief analyses and arguments about the appropriate goals of teaching biblical studies in undergraduate contexts in this historical moment. They consider and critique the notion of specific Student Learning Outcomes or Objectives (SLOs) for courses about the Bible. In the process they address questions such as: what is the relative importance of “coverage” (biblical literacy, disciplinary knowledge and methods, and the historical creation of the biblical texts) versus modern and historical reception and uses of these texts? In their contributions, the authors analyze ways that a biblical studies course can develop the critical reading and writing skills that are the hallmark of undergraduate education. Some authors find these skills furthered by not bracketing from study the normative truth claims in the texts and instead strategically and critically encouraging the identity work and religious seeking associated with religious uses of these texts. Others call attention to the institutional and classroom power dynamics which inform and are constituted by the current student learning outcomes movement.