Transformational Travel for Seminarians: Reading James in Haiti

How will we teach the Bible in the twenty‐first century? This essay is intended to contribute to that larger discussion in three ways: after a brief introduction, I will, first, state some general working assumptions about the present situation of the church and about teaching the New Testament in the context of a seminary or divinity school; second, I will describe the course “Reading James in Haiti” which I designed and taught in the Spring of 1902; finally, and much more briefly, I will comment on the implications of transformational travel experiences like this one for the ability of seminarians to understand New Testament texts more deeply than the classroom setting allows.     

Maternal self‐efficacy beliefs,competence in parenting,and toddlers' behavior and developmental status

This study was designed to examine parenting self‐efficacy beliefs as correlates of mothers' competence in parenting toddlers and as predictors of toddlers' behavior and development. Sixty‐eight predominantly middle‐class mother–toddler pairs participated in this study. Mothers completed questionnaires, toddlers were administered the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID‐II), and each dyad participated in the Crowell Procedure, which is designed to observe parent and toddler behaviors in a semistructured laboratory context. Although domain‐general and domain‐specific parenting self‐efficacy beliefs were not associated with parenting competence, domain‐specific beliefs were significantly related to toddlers' scores on the Mental Scale of the BSID‐II and several behaviors observed during the Crowell Procedure (Affection Towards Mother, Avoidance of Mother, Compliance, Enthusiasm, and Negativity). Implications of the findings are discussed. ©2003 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Adolescent Ego-Development Trajectories and Young Adult Relationship Outcomes

Adolescent ego-development trajectories were related to close-relationship outcomes in young adulthood. An adolescent sample completed annual measures of ego development from ages 14 through 17. The authors theoretically determined and empirically traced five ego-development trajectories reflecting stability or change. At age 25, the sample completed a close-relationship interview and consented for two peers to rate the participants'ego resiliency and hostility. Participants who followed the profound-arrest trajectory in adolescence reported more mundane sharing of experiences, more impulsive or egocentric conflict-resolution tactics, and less mature interpersonal understanding in their young adult relationships, and their young adult peers described these participants as more hostile. Participants who attained or maintained higher levels of ego development in adolescence reported more complex sharing of experiences, more collaborative conflict-resolution strategies, and greater interpersonal understanding, and their young adult peers rated them as less hostile and as more flexible.     

Psychological Type: A 32-Year Follow-Up

This study is a follow-up to three previous studies of psychological type published in this Journal in 1964, 1976 and 1978 by Bradway, Bradway and Detloff, and Bradway and Joseph Wheelwright. Participants in all of our studies were limited to Jungian analysts and candidates. Participants of the first two studies and of the current study were from California; participants of the 1978 study included the participants from the previous study plus persons attending the 1974 International Congress in London. In 1993 we sent letters to the 232 current analysts and candidates in the San Francisco and Los Angeles C.G. Jung Institutes, as well as to the nine participants in our 1974 study who were no longer members of the Institutes but could be located, asking them to fill out a questionnaire that included self-typing, and to self-administer the Gray-Wheelwrights Jungian Type Survey (GW). The response rate was high: 196 or 81% of the 241 persons to whom we sent letters returned filled-in questionnaires and GWs; all 67 or 100% of the participants in the 1974 study who could be located returned the filled-in material. Eight of those 67 had also been in the 1961 study. The current study provides data on the changes in psychological type over time, in some instances over a period of 32 years. It added for the first time a consideration of analysts' rating of themselves as primarily clinically or symbolically orientated, and a survey of analyst opinions as to the determinants of psychological type. Summarizing the results: A smaller percentage of analysts typed themselves as intuitive thinking than in 1961; the percentages of congruence between self-typing and the Gray-Wheelwrights scores in the three dimensions (introvert/extravert, sensation/intuition, and thinking/feeling) in 1961, 1974 and 1993 are between 76% and 96%; changes in typology from 1961 to 1993 occur more frequently in the younger age group than in the older age group; 65% of the participants considered the distinction between clinical and symbolic important, but only 41% rated themselves as either primarily clinically oriented or symbolically oriented with essentially no relationship between that orientation and typology; a sub-study of typology of partners within this study does not support the concept that opposites marry; according to the opinion of this group of analysts and candidates as to the determinants of adult typology, genetics (chromosomes) is distinctly the strongest contributor with family dynamics a not-very-close next contributor.     

Individual and combined effects of noncontingent reinforcement and response blocking on automatically reinforced problem behavior

Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) and response blocking are 2 common interventions for problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement. We implemented NCR and blocking with 1 boy and found this combined intervention to be effective at decreasing high rates of automatically reinforced pica. With another child, we compared the effects of blocking alone to the combined intervention. With the third child, we compared NCR alone and blocking alone to the combined intervention. Results showed that the combined intervention was effective at reducing automatically reinforced problem behavior while moderate to high levels of item engagement maintained. When evaluated individually, neither NCR nor blocking was sufficient to reduce problem behavior to clinically significant levels.     

Mechanisms Mediating Children’s Perceived Maternal Nonsupportive Reactions to Sadness and Children’s Social and Emotional Functioning

This study examined whether children’s perceptions of maternal nonsupportive reactions to sadness (active discouragement and non-response) influenced children’s loneliness and classroom popularity indirectly through their effects on children’s sadness inhibition and self-perception of social competence. Participants were children in grades 3–6 from a university affiliated public elementary school (N = 175; 53 % females; 37 % racial/ethnic minority). Children reported on the frequency of their mother’s active discouragement and non-response of their sadness, as well their own sadness inhibition, self-perceived social competence, and loneliness. Classroom peers reported on children’s popularity. Results indicated that perceived maternal non-response to sadness was indirectly related to classroom popularity and loneliness through the effect on children’s self-perception of social competence. In contrast, perceived maternal active discouragement of sadness was indirectly related to children’s classroom popularity through the effect on children’s sadness inhibition. These results support the consideration of active discouragement and non-response as distinct constructs and indicate the likelihood of different pathways of influence in predicting emotional and social outcomes such as loneliness and classroom popularity.