Loving the Questions, an Exploration of the Nicene Creed – Marianne H. Micks

Book reviewed:
Loving the Questions, an Exploration of the Nicene Creed , Marianne H. Micks, Church Publishing Incorporated 2005 (1-59628-008-5), xii + 115 pp., pb $14.00     

Civil Religion and the Invention of Tradition: The Festival of Saint Ansano in Siena

Every December, in the Italian city of Siena, the civil and religious authorities celebrate the festival of Saint Ansano, an early Christian martyr who became one of the city's first patron saints. Although based upon long-established rituals for the liturgical feast of Saint Ansano, the contemporary celebration of this festival was ‘invented’ as recently as 1968 and represents a striking example of the ‘invention of tradition’ in a contemporary ‘civil religion’. The article examines the origins of the modern and contemporary festival of Saint Ansano, tracing its history and significance for Sienese civil religion from the late 1960s until 2003—the year in which the 1700th anniversary of Ansano's martyrdom was celebrated in Siena. The article concludes by reflecting on the significance of this festival both for the concept of ‘the invention of tradition’ and for the nature of ‘civil religion’ in contemporary Siena.     

Factors associated with antisocial behavior in combat veterans

The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with antisocial behavior in 1,543 Marines who deployed to combat zones in support of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan during 2002–2007. Five factors were associated with antisocial behavior in multivariate analyses: post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, deployment‐related stressors, combat exposure, younger age, and being divorced. PTSD symptoms had a stronger association with antisocial behavior than any other variable. A unique and important finding of this study was the association between deployment‐related stressors and a higher incidence of antisocial behavior. Because deployment‐related stressors are potentially modifiable, the military may be able to address them in concrete ways such as by shortening deployments and improving communication with home. Aggr. Behav. 36:330–337, 2010. Published 2010 by Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Unique Transformation in a Dali Painting of the Female Life Cycle

This brief article examines a painting by the extraordinarily gifted artist Salvador Dali, a prominent exponent of the art termed surrealism, based on the Freudian concepts of subconscious, automatism, and free association. Particular attention is drawn in the painting to the birth canal, symbolized by an open-mouthed fish in the process of “giving birth” to a half-born tiger who is appearing to assault a sleeping female lying on the beach; as well as to a pomegranate representing the female ova.     

Moving the field of prevention from science to service: Integrating evidence-based preventive interventions into community practice through adapted and adaptive models

The article addresses the adaptation of evidence-based prevention and positive youth development programs for community use. Two complementary approaches for adapting programs are described. In the “adapted” approach, programs are modified to accommodate the culture, climate, and operations of the organization delivering the program. In the “adaptive” approach, programs are modified to accommodate the characteristics, needs and preferences of the individual or family receiving the program. Two examples are provided that illustrate how both adapted and adaptive intervention strategies have been incorporated by community practitioners into the implementation of the Early Risers conduct problems prevention program.     

Mood and global-local focus: priming a local focus reverses the link between mood and global-local processing

Positive moods promote a focus on the forest (global focus) and negative moods, a focus on the trees (local focus). Is this well-established link fixed or variable? Does it reflect a direct influence of affect, as usually assumed, or is it frequently observed simply because a global perspective is often dominant? If affect serves as information about the value of currently accessible inclinations, and a global focus is generally the default perspective, then the global focus of positive affect and local focus of negative affect might be variable rather than fixed. Two experiments tested this hypothesis using different mood inductions, different tests of global-local focus, and different methods of inducing global and local perspectives. In each, we discovered that positive affect empowered whatever focus was momentarily dominant. Thus, whether individuals in happy moods saw the forest or the trees depended only on which of the two had been primed.     

When self-help is no help: Traditional cognitive skills training does not prevent depressive symptoms in people who ruminate

A randomized trial was conducted to test the efficacy of three self-directed prevention intervention workbooks for depression. Cognitively at-risk college freshmen were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: traditional cognitive, non-traditional cognitive, and academic skills. Consistent with hypotheses, participants who were high in rumination and experienced stress exhibited significantly greater levels of depressive symptoms after completing the traditional cognitive skills workbook than after completing the other two workbooks. This pattern of results held post-intervention and 4 months later. These findings indicate that rumination may hinder ones ability to identify and dispute negative thoughts (at least without the help of a trained professional). The results underscore the importance of identifying individual difference variables that moderate intervention efficacy. They also raise concerns about the potential benefits of self-help books, an industry that generates billions of dollars each year.