Reflections on change in science and religion

Science and the Catholic church are both conservative, slow-to-change institutions. However, science has institutionalized procedures that ensure that ample amounts of criticism of currently accepted theories and methodologies will always be present. This arrangement of continuous conjectures and refutation in science ensures often slow but steady change. Because supporters often think of religions as trafficking in timeless truths, criticism of church beliefs and practices (even when intended to stimulate reflection and improvement) is frequently seen as being disloyal to the institution. Because of the growing crises caused by world overpopulation, I argue that the Catholic church's opposition to all artificial methods of birth control now lacks whatever moral force it might have had when originally promulgated. By highlighting theological perspectives that might be appropriate for the ecological realities of the 21st century, I hope the church will see the wisdom of reevaluating many of its positions in the light of rapidly approaching ecological imperatives.     

Too Close to Quit: The Role of Project Completion in Maintaining Commitment1

Conlon and Garland (1993) demonstrated that information about the degree of project completion, as compared with information about sunk costs, seemed to be the driving force behind continued investment in an R&D project. In the present paper, we replicate and extend this work. In studies with experienced bank managers, Chinese graduate students, and advanced-level MBA students, we find overwhelming support for the importance of project completion on investment intentions, with no indication of typical sunk cost effects. We argue that our results support a goal substitution explanation for many escalation phenomena where, as progress moves forward on a project, completion of the project itself takes increasing precedence over other goals (e. g., economic profit) that may have been more salient at the time the project was initiated.     

Burnout and Leisure

The purpose of this study is to determine whether leisure behavior, leisure satisfaction, leisure attitude, and self-determination are associated with decreased burnout. A systematic stratified random sample of 438 clergy (55% return rate) was used to collect the data. In path analysis, results indicate that leisure behavior and leisure satisfaction had an inverse effect on all 3 components of burnout, while leisure attitude had no effect. Self-determination predisposition contributed inversely to 2 components of burnout. Similarly, age and years in ministry had a direct, inverse relationship with the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization dimensions of burnout. Number of years employed with the present church was also negatively related to emotional exhaustion. All 3 variables (age, years in ministry, and years with the present church) were positively associated with leisure behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Requiem for “schizophrenia”

In this article a brief overview of the treatment of chronic psychosis for the last two centuries is covered, with particular emphasis on many scientifically demonstrated causes of chronic organic psychosis and their medically successful treatment, including recent neurotransmitter manipulations. With respect for the important contributions of Bleuler, the term “schizophrenic” is considered as an unscientific and unprovable nosological construct, which has hampered the successful resolution of chronic psychosis and has outlived its usefulness in the lexicon of modern psychiatry.     

Role of optical flow field asymmetry in the perception of heading during linear motion

During linear translation through a stationary environment, the pattern of optical flow generated on each retina is symmetrical when the head is aligned with the heading, but during lateral gaze the optical flow is asymmetric. We assessed whether human subjects could use the magnitude of this asymmetry to determine the direction of heading during passive translation through a 3-D environment. When allowed to move their heads in order to look in the direction of self-motion, subjects indicated their heading precisely and accurately. When the head was locked in alignment with the misaligned body, and gaze adjustments were not allowed, responses were quite precise, but showed a large bias which increased with increasing heading angle.     

A cognitive mediation theory of task goals and human performance

A theory is proposed to explain the linkages between individual task goals and performance. Two cognitive constructs are postulated to mediate between task goals and performance:performance expectancy and performance valence. It is asserted that an individual's task goal has a positive influence on performance expectancy and a negative influence on performance valence. Performance expectancy is proposed to have a positive influence on performance while performance valence is proposed to have a negative influence on performance. Task ability is hypothesized to influence performance both directly and indirectly through its influence on performance expectancy. A laboratory experiment was designed to test the causal model proposed by the theory. A path analysis on the data from this experiment provides strong support for the model, with performance expectancy, performance valence, and task ability predicting 63% of the variance in performance on the laboratory task.     

Philosophy of medicine and other humanities: Toward a wholistic view

A less analytic and more wholistic approach to philosophy, described as ‘best overall fit’ or ‘seeing how things all hang together,’ is defended in recent works by John Rawls and Richard Rorty and can usefully be applied to problems in philosophy of medicine. Looking at sickness and its impact upon the person as a central problem for philosophy of medicine, this approach discourages a search for necessary and sufficient conditions for being sick, and instead encourages a listing of “true and interesting observations” about sickness which reflect the convergence of a number of different viewpoints. Among the relevant viewpoints are other humanities disciplines besides philosophy and the social sciences. Literature, in particular, provides insights into the meaning and the uniqueness of episodes of sickness in a way that philosophers may otherwise fail to grasp.     

Interviewer evaluations of interviewee nonverbal behavior

Personnel representatives (N = 52) were shown one of four videotaped job interviews in which the verbal content of the 16-min interview was identical, but the interviewee's nonverbal behavior was manipulated. A “low nonverbal” interviewee was defined by minimal eye contact, low energy level, lack of affect and voice modulation, and a lack of speech fluency. The “high nonverbal” interviewee demonstrated the opposite behavior on each of these components. The subjects were asked to rate the videotaped candidates on dimensions previously identified as critical in influencing a job interviewer's decisions. Nonverbal behavior was found to have a significant effect on almost every rating made by subjects in this study. After reviewing the entire 16-min interview, 23 of the 26 subjects who saw the “high nonverbal” candidate would have invited him/her for a second interview. All 26 of the subjects who saw the “low nonverbal” candidate would not have recommended a second interview.