Critical Voices: The Reactions of Rahner and Ratzinger to “Schema XIII” (Gaudium et Spes)

Schema XIII (eventually Gaudium et Spes) occasioned somewhat of a split within the “progressive majority” at Vatican II. This article considers one side of this divide via the contributions and objections of Karl Rahner and Joseph Ratzinger, two of the text's most salient critics. After reviewing the history of Schema XIII, I demonstrate that both theologians reacted to it with very similar concerns which centered upon the issue of nature and grace. However, their differing approaches to anthropology and Christology caused their proposed remedies for the schema's shortcomings to diverge significantly.     

Of needles and skinned knees: children's coping with medical procedures and minor injuries for self and other.

Children participated in four role-plays designed to assess what the children themselves would do and what they would suggest a friend should do when encountering a medical procedure and a minor injury. Open-ended responses were coded into an empirically derived continuum suggested by past research. Similar responses were given to cope with medical procedures and injuries. However, children suggested more reactive coping strategies (e.g., cry, pull away) for themselves and more proactive responses (e.g., think of something fun, take deep breaths) for friends. This finding questions the assumption that children choose the most effective coping strategy in their repertoire when they themselves confront an aversive stimulus, suggesting that preparation for invasive procedures should include motivational components.     

Computational Evidence for the Subitizing Phenomenon as an Emergent Property of the Human Cognitive Architecture

A computational modeling approach was used to test one possible explanation for the limited capacity of the subitizing phenomenon. Most existing models of this phenomenon associate the subitizing span with an assumed structural limitation of the human information processing system. In contrast, we show how this limit might emerge as the combinatorics of the space of enumeration problems interacts with the human cognitive architecture in the context of an enumeration task. Subitizing‐like behavior was generated in two different models of enumeration, one based on the ACT‐R cognitive architecture and the other based on the principles of parallel distributed processing (PDP). Our results provide good qualitative fits to results obtained in a variety of empirical studies.     

Suicidality,Self‐Harm,and Body Dissatisfaction in Transgender Adolescents and Emerging Adults with Gender Dysphoria

Prevalence of suicide attempts, self‐injurious behaviors, and associated psychosocial factors were examined in a clinical sample of transgender (TG) adolescents and emerging adults (n = 96). Twenty‐seven (30.3%) TG youth reported a history of at least one suicide attempt and 40 (41.8%) reported a history of self‐injurious behaviors. There was a higher frequency of suicide attempts in TG youth with a desire for weight change, and more female‐to‐male youth reported a history of suicide attempts and self‐harm behaviors than male‐to‐female youth. Findings indicate that this population is at a high risk for psychiatric comorbidities and life‐threatening behaviors.     

Looking at the past through a telescope: adults postdated their earliest childhood memories

ABSTRACT

Our previous studies have consistently shown a telescoping error in children’s dating of earliest childhood memories. Preschool children through adolescents systematically date their earliest memories at older ages, in comparison with the age estimates provided by their parents or by themselves previously. In the current study, we examined the dating of earliest childhood memories in two samples of college adults and collected independent age estimates from their parents. Consistent with our findings with children, adults significantly postdated their earlier memories by approximately 12 months (Study 1) and 6 months (Study 2). The actual age of earliest memories was 2.5 years after adjusted for telescoping errors, 1 year earlier than what is commonly believed at 3.5 years. These findings challenge commonly held theoretical assumptions about childhood amnesia and highlight critical methodological issues in the study of childhood memory.