Refocusing on the Learning in “Integration of Faith and Learning"

The purpose of this study was to assess student perceptions of the faith-learning integration process in instructional methods courses taught by a single professor. Thirty-one students were asked by the professor to complete an open-ended questionnaire at the end of their course experience. Results indicated that students in this study described or defined the integration of faith and learning in ways reflective of the content of the courses, which was teaching methods. While not all students said integration of faith and learning occurred in the classes, all students did provide examples of integrative moments. Most students described faith-learning integration in terms of teacher actions rather than student actions. Thus, it appears that these students were describing integration of faith and teaching more so than integration of faith and learning.     

Reliability and Validity of the Dyadic Observed Communication Scale (DOCS)

We evaluated the reliability and validity of the Dyadic Observed Communication Scale (DOCS) coding scheme, which was developed to capture a range of communication components between parents and adolescents. Adolescents and their caregivers were recruited from mental health facilities for participation in a large, multi-site family-based HIV prevention intervention study. Seventy-one dyads were randomly selected from the larger study sample and coded using the DOCS at baseline. Preliminary validity and reliability of the DOCS was examined using various methods, such as comparing results to self-report measures and examining interrater reliability. Results suggest that the DOCS is a reliable and valid measure of observed communication among parent-adolescent dyads that captures both verbal and nonverbal communication behaviors that are typical intervention targets. The DOCS is a viable coding scheme for use by researchers and clinicians examining parent-adolescent communication. Coders can be trained to reliably capture individual and dyadic components of communication for parents and adolescents and this complex information can be obtained relatively quickly.     

Competing for Reality

In this article, we will apply aspects of Rychlak's philosophy of science to some of the most important issues in psychology today (issues of brain versus behavior, genetic destiny, the nature of scientific investigation, ecopsychology, and artificial intelligence). In our discussion of these issues, we attempt to show the ways that an appreciation of Rychlak's views can help conceptualize the bases of the disagreements in the field as well as explain why so many psychologists tend to “talk past” as opposed to “talk to” one another. We believe that a greater appreciation of Rychlak's major theses could allow psychologists to respect the work of others instead of trying to assert politically their favorite truth claims.     

When soft voices die: auditory verbal hallucinations and a four letter word (love)

Understandings of auditory verbal hallucinations (also referred to as “hearing voices”), and help for people distressed by them, are dominated by a biomedical framework. Yet, many people who have sought help for the distress and/or impairment caused by hearing voices express dissatisfaction with treatment solely within this framework, highlighting the need for a more rounded, biopsychosocial-spiritual approach. This paper examines the neglected role of a fundamental part of human experience, love, in the experience of hearing voices. First, we argue a lack of love is likely to play a causal role in voice-hearing experiences. Second, we demonstrate that a lack of love is central to the distress and dysfunction often caused by hearing voices. Finally, we show that love plays a core role in recovery. Given this centrality of love, we argue that an interdisciplinary approach to hearing voices involving the mind sciences and theology/religion may be fruitful. The relevance of this for psychotherapeutic interventions for people who hear voices is discussed.     

How working memory and cognitive modeling functions of the cerebellum contribute to discoveries in mathematics

A theory of how connections between working memory (Science 255 (1992) 556; in: G. Bower (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Vol. 8, Academic Press, New York, p. 47) and cognitive functions of the cerebellum (Trends Neurosci 16(11) (1993) 448; Curr. Opinion Neurobiol. 9 (1999) 718; Behav. Neurosci. 100 (1986) 443, Behav. Neurosci. 103 (1989) 998) lead to mathematical discovery is presented. It is proposed that (a) patterns of repetitious working memory processing are formed in the cerebellum, and (b) when these cerebellar patterns are subsequently fed back to control processing in working memory, they may become cognized in visuospatial imagery and language as the concepts and axioms that underlie mathematical discovery. It is concluded that a neurophysiological explanation of the cognitive origins of mathematics (L. English (Ed.), Mathematical Reasoning: Analogies, Metaphors, and images, Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, p. 21, where Mathematics comes from: How the embodied mind brings mathematics into being, Basic Books, New York) can be based upon how conceptual constructions arise from the collaborative interactions of working memory and the cognitive functions of the cerebellum.