Parapsychology and biblical religion

Pastoral Psychology -     

Bayesian analysis of mixtures in structural equation models with non‐ignorable missing data

Structural equation models (SEMs) have become widely used to determine the interrelationships between latent and observed variables in social, psychological, and behavioural sciences. As heterogeneous data are very common in practical research in these fields, the analysis of mixture models has received a lot of attention in the literature. An important issue in the analysis of mixture SEMs is the presence of missing data, in particular of data missing with a non‐ignorable mechanism. However, only a limited amount of work has been done in analysing mixture SEMs with non‐ignorable missing data. The main objective of this paper is to develop a Bayesian approach for analysing mixture SEMs with an unknown number of components and non‐ignorable missing data. A simulation study shows that Bayesian estimates obtained by the proposed Markov chain Monte Carlo methods are accurate and the Bayes factor computed via a path sampling procedure is useful for identifying the correct number of components, selecting an appropriate missingness mechanism, and investigating various effects of latent variables in the mixture SEMs. A real data set on a study of job satisfaction is used to demonstrate the methodology.     

Can Religion Help Prevent Obesity? Religious Messages and the Prevalence of Being Overweight or Obese Among Korean Women in California

This research examines the influence of messages from religious leaders and congregants on whether Korean women are overweight or obese. Data were drawn from telephone interviews with a probability sample (N = 591) of women of Korean descent living in California. Overweight or obese prevalence was measured using World Health Organization standards for Asians (BMI > 23). Respondents reported the frequency of messages discouraging “excessive eating” or encouraging “exercise” from religious leaders and congregants during a typical month. When conditioned on leaders’ messages, the frequency of congregants’ messages was associated with a significantly lower probability of being overweight or obese, although messages from either in the absence of the other were unassociated with being overweight or obese. At least for Korean women, religion may help prevent obesity via religious-based social mechanisms.     

妊娠合并结核临床诊治的决策

妊娠合并结核是一种对母婴健康危害极大的妊娠期疾病。在妊娠期结核病中,多数患者无明显症状,早期症状与妊娠期某些生理反应相似,加之妊娠与结核病的相互影响,x线、CT等重要的影像学检查受限,致使本病易被误诊或误治。某些抗结核药物对母婴的不良影响,使其治疗难以实施,由于结核病本身及治疗后可能对胎儿的影响,在临床上是否终止妊娠往往难以决策。本文就妊娠合并结核诊治过程中的相关问题进行综述,以期为临床诊治决策提供帮助。     

间隔时间及记忆负荷对信息缺失错误记忆的影响

现场中的信息缺失会影响人类对事件的记忆,这对证人证言研究是非常重要的,但以往对之却鲜有研究.本研究以大学生为被试,运用信息缺失范式,采用视频录像材料,通过2个实验探讨了间隔时间和记忆负荷对错误记忆的影响.结果表明:(1)间隔时间没有影响真实记忆和错误记忆,但信心水平却随着间隔时间的延长而变化;(2)记忆负荷高低没有影响真实记忆却影响了错误记忆,在关键信息呈现条件下,降低记忆负荷可以减少错误记忆的发生;(3)信息性质会影响人们的记忆,关键信息呈现条件下的错误记忆和真实记忆均高于关键信息缺失的条件.     

“Shrink Rap” on the Air,Mentalizing in the Last Frontier

This paper highlights the author's approach to expand the process of mentalizing in a rural Alaskan town. Limited resources and a steady flow in cases of trauma, loss, and abuse prompted the question, “What treatment approach would facilitate healing and the promotion of security?” The author illustrates how a unique culture and independent, frontier-minded individuals influenced her use of a systems and psychoeducational approach. Psychoanalytic concepts, attachment research, and mentalization became the guiding principles for weekly broadcasts of Shrink Rap, a radio show including “relational scenarios” acted and analyzed by the author and community participants.     

Gaze cueing as a function of perceived gaze direction

Previous studies have found that attention is automatically oriented in the direction of other people's gaze. This study directly investigated whether the perceiving gaze direction modulates the orienting of observers' attention. Gaze perception was manipulated by changing the face context (head orientation) of the gaze cue: the perceived gaze angle was increased (or decreased) when the head and gaze are congruent (or incongruent), while the local‐feature information of the eye region was preserved for all stimuli. The results showed that gaze‐cueing effects were enhanced when the perceived gaze direction was averted more toward left or right, and reduced when the perceived gaze direction was closer to direct gaze. The results suggest that gaze‐cueing effects are based on mechanisms specialized for gaze perception, and the magnitude of gaze‐cueing effects was probably a function of the perceived gaze direction.     

Pautas de adquisición y uso del pronombre personal en lengua española. Un estudio longitudinal

Resumen

El estudio sobre los pronombres personales, constituye también una manera de investigar la adquisición del lenguaje y su desarrollo, dado que son categorías lingüísticas. El niño no adquiere el dominio de estas categorías tan pronto como lo hace con otros aspectos del lenguaje, aunque los usa desde muy temprana edad. De esta manera suponemos que al comienzo el niño utiliza las formas pronominales únicamente como deícticos. Esto es, sólo puede comprenderse el significado de estos términos en las expresiones infantiles con referencia al tiempo y al contexto comunicativo presente y concreto. Por esta razón autores como Clark, (1974, 1978), Charney (1980), afirman que le pronombre personal, en su sentido lingüístico, no es adquirido por los niños hasta los ocho o nueve años de edad.

En el presente estudio intentamos poner de manifiesto cómo adquieren los niños españoles estos términos y cómo evolucionan en su desarrollo. Para ello, se realizó un análisis de la producción verbal de varios niños, en sus aspectos: sintáctico, semántico y pragmático. Dicha producción se recogió a través de observación natural. Los sujetos de este estudio de medios ambientales diferentes.