Commentary: How Individual and Profession-level Factors Influence Discussion of Disability in Prenatal Genetic Counseling

Hodgson and Weil (Journal of Genetic Counseling, 2011) reports on two interactive workshops in which genetic counselors identified a broad set of counseling issues that may be impediments to promoting an adequate discussion of disability in prenatal genetic counseling. The present commentary discusses two factors that we infer underlie these counseling issues. First, countertransference concerning disability, which is normal and expected, may influence genetic counselors’ decisions about raising and exploring the complex topic of disability in prenatal genetic counseling. Second, the limited involvement of the profession of genetic counseling in the complex social and ethical issues of disability provide little guidance to the individual genetic counselor with respect to discussing disability in prenatal diagnosis counseling. We suggest both factors must be acknowledged and addressed in order to adequately implement the recommendations presented in Hodgson and Weil (Journal of Genetic Counseling, 2011) as well as other efforts to increase discussion of disability in prenatal diagnosis counseling in the service of informed decision making.     

THE ABSTRACT SUBLIME: Life as information waiting to be rewritten

We report here on a series of interaction-intensive, interdisciplinary workshops to foster collaboration among those who teach, study, and engage with the public about scientific developments and social change—the New England Workshop on Science and Social Change. We include one line of thinking that fed into the workshops and present an analysis of how they contribute to participants developing their interest and skills in collaboration. Workshop evaluations suggest that people are moved to develop themselves as collaborators when they view an experience or training as transformative. Four R's—respect, risk, revelation, and re-engagement—point to the important conditions for interactions among researchers to be experienced as transformative. Three considerations lie behind the focus on the process side of the workshops, not the specific workshop topics: (1) how best to fill in for readers what they missed out on by not being there; (2) workshops and meetings are a ubiquitous part of the culture of science and technology studies (STS) so it is valuable to examine this aspect of our own culture with a view to promoting positive changes; and (3) in some scientific fields organized multi-person collaborative processes form a highly valorized aspect of the culture of science, so reflection on experiences of participation and collaboration in STS might inform our analyses of fields that emphasize collaboration and group processes. Indeed, the authors' own involvement in the workshops extends our own STS work on actor networks and ‘heterogeneous engineering’, that is, the mobilization of a variety of resources by diverse agents spanning different realms of social action.     

Vertical and leg stiffness and stretch-shortening cycle changes across maturation during maximal sprint running

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether vertical and leg stiffness, and stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) ability differed in developing athletes of various maturity status during maximal sprint running. Seventy-four male participants between 8 and 16 years of age were categorized into pre-, mid- or post-peak height velocity (PHV) and sprinted for 30 meters on a non-motorized treadmill. Dimensionless vertical stiffness increased significantly (p < .05) from pre-, to mid- and post-PHV state, while dimensionless leg stiffness was significantly higher in post- compared to mid- (18.4%) and pre-PHV participants (44.5%). Eccentric power was significantly lower in pre- compared to the mid- and post-PHV participants. Concentric power increased from pre- to mid- and post-PHV state. An analysis of covariance revealed no significant differences between all groups in dimensionless vertical and leg stiffness, eccentric and concentric time and power when controlling for years from PHV (maturation). Eccentric or concentric power, were found to be the best predictors of maximum velocity across all maturation groups (r² = .37–.68). It seems that maturation affects the ability to absorb and produce power and furthermore these variables are important predictors of maximal running velocity.     

Imagery and strength of craving for eating,drinking, and playing sport

The elaborated intrusion (EI) theory of desire (Kavanagh, Andrade, & May, 2005) attributes the motivational force of cravings to cognitive elaboration, including imagery, of apparently spontaneous thoughts that intrude into awareness. We report a questionnaire study in which respondents rated a craving for food or drink. Questionnaire items derived from EI theory formed a single factor alongside factors for anticipated reward/relief, resistance, and opportunity. In a multiple regression predicting strength of craving, the first three factors accounted for 36% of the variance. Opportunity did not enter the model. In a second study, the difference between individuals’ strong and weak cravings to take part in a sporting activity was shown to be related to visual, auditory, and general imagery, and to anticipated reward or relief from engaging in the activity. Implications for treatment of craving-related disorders are discussed in the light of these results and of other research indicating that interference with imagery can reduce the strength of craving.     

A Treatise vs. An enquiry: Omissions and Distortions by the New Humeans

There is a definite stress on the primacy of An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding over A Treatise of Human Nature by the so-called New Humeans, who in turn, advocate the sceptical/causal realist interpretation of Hume's empiricism. This paper shows how there has been a deliberate attempt by them to omit and distort certain negative aspects of Hume's life in the belief that in order to accept their interpretations we must first acknowledge that, (1) the Enquiry is the superior text and, (2) reject any criticisms suggesting that Hume only wrote it to help promote the Treatise and fulfil his ambitions for literary fame.     

Forgiveness as a moderator of the association between anger expression and suicidal behaviour

Anger is often associated with poor physical and mental health, including suicidal behaviour. Anger expression is typically conceptualised as inward or outward-directed, with each mode of expression having potentially different aetiologies and health manifestations. Individual characteristics such as religion or spirituality may buffer against the effects of anger. One such characteristic, forgiveness, is the voluntary process of changing ones’ beliefs, behaviours, and emotions towards a transgressor from negative to positive. We examined forgiveness of self, forgiveness of others and feeling forgiven by God as moderators of the relationship between anger expression and suicidal behaviours in a sample of 372 ethnically diverse college students. In independent and full models, we found that forgiveness of self was a significant moderator of the association between inward and outward anger and suicidal behaviour. Interventions targeting anger via the promotion of forgiveness may be useful in the prevention of suicide ideation and attempts.     

Centrality Preferences in Choices Among Similar Options

Three explanations were explored for the finding that people prefer the middle option rather than the extremes when choosing from an array of similar options. In Study 1, 68% chose the middle item from a set of three highlighters and three surveys, whereas 32% chose an item from either end, p < .0001. In Study 2, 71% selected the middle chair from a row of three chairs that were either all empty, or had a backpack occupying either one of the two end chairs, p < .0001. These results support a minimal mental effort principle rather than a preference for symmetry rule. In Study 3, 54.2% recalled more graphic items from the center poster of a 3-poster collage, whereas 31.3% and 14.5% recalled more items from the left and right posters, respectively, p < .004. These findings lend additional support to a focus of attention explanation.     

Book reviews

Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars, Traditional Religion in England 1400–1580. New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 1992, 654 pp. ISBN 0–300–053425–8.

Harvey Ferguson, Religious Transformation in Western Society: The End of Happiness. London and New York, Routledge, 1992, xvi, 269 pp. ISBN 0–415–02574–5.

Religiones Latinoamericanas 1 (Religiones: Cuestiones Tcoricometodoiogicas), Mexico City, Asociación Latinoamericana para el Estudio de las Religiones. January‐June 1991.

Revista de Estudios Budistas I, 1, Mexico City, Asociación Latinoamericana de Estudios Budistas. April 1991.

Koichi Shinohara and Gregory Schopen (eds), From Benares to Beijing: Essays on Buddhism and Chinese Religion. Canada, Mosaic Press, 1992, 304 pp. ISBN 0–88962–443–7.

Robert E. Buswell, Jr and Robert M. Gimello (eds), Paths to Liberation: The Mārga and its Transformations in Buddhist Thought. Honolulu: Kuroda Institute, University of Hawaii Press, 1992, ix, 525 pp.

Susan Grossman and Rivka Haut (eds), Daughters of the King: Women and the Synagogue. New York, The Jewish Publication Society, 1992, i‐340 pp. ISBN 0–8276–0395–9.

Akbar S. Ahmed, Resistance and Control in Pakistan. London, Routledge, 1991. 2nd edition, first published in 1983 under the tide Religion and Politics in Muslim Society. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, xx + 207 pp., £12.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–415–05797–3.

Garry Wills, Under God: Religion and American Politics. New York and London, Simon and Schuster, 1990, 445 pp., £17.99 (hardback), £9.99 (paperback).

J. Andrew Overman and Robert S. MacLennan (eds), Diaspora Jews and Judaism: Essays in Honor of and in Dialogue with, A. Thomas Kraabel. South Florida Studies in the History of Judaism 41, Atlanta, GA, Scholars Press, 1992, xviii + 368 pp., no price given. ISBN 1 55540 696 3.

Christine Trevett, Women and Quakerism in the 17th Century. York, Sessions Book Trust, The Ebor Pess, 1991, 171 pp.

Jan Peter Schouten, Revolution of the Mystics: On the Social Aspects of Viraiaivism. Kampcn, The Netherlands, Kok Pharos Publishing House, 1991, xiii + 331 pp. ISBN 90 242 3425 5.

Michael L. Budde, The Two Churches: Catholicism and Capitalism in the World System. Durham, NC, Duke University Press, 1992, 172 pp., £25.00. ISBN 0–8223–1229–8.

Teun Goudriaan (ed.), Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism: Studies in Honor of André Padoux. SUNY Series in Tantric Studies, Albany, NY, State University of New York Press, 1992, xv + 359 pp. ISBN 0–7914–0898–1.

Robert S. Shepard, God's People in the Ivory Tower: Religion in the Early American University. Brooklyn, Carlson, 1991, 174 pp. $50.00. ISBN 0–926019–56–2.     

No Train Paradox

In “The Train Paradox”(Philosophia (2006) 34: 437–438) Gwiazda proposes the use of the relativity of simultaneity to formulate a new paradox. My purpose here is to show that there is no Train Paradox in Gwiazda’s sense.     

Countertransference—Transference seen from the Point of View of Child Psychoanalysis

This paper explores the ‘point of interaction’, that interface where the psyches of the patient and analyst meet. The author examines what is activated in the analytic pair at the point of interaction, with a particular focus on the mental activity of the patient and analyst. This exploration of the mental activity of the patient and analyst is from a theoretical position that combines contemporary Freudian and Kleinian perspectives on the therapeutic process. The author concludes that the capacity for mutuality in both the patient and analyst rests upon a part of the mind that is connected to a certain aspect of the Oedipus complex. Finally, the point of interaction is also discussed as a place where there is a potential meeting of minds around divergent methods and applications of psychoanalytic treatment. Clinical material is presented to illustrate these points.