A constructive approach to frustration in the practice of ministry

Conclusion The original frustration-aggression hypothesis was stated in very strong terms—every frustration produces an aggressive tendency and every aggression can be traced to a frustration. We know now that there can be other responses to frustration—aregression to childish behavior, apathetic withdrawal, or, even, quietly effectiveproblem-solving behavior. A person who learns how to use his frustration in problem-solving will not only be effective in his work, but will enjoy it.By organizing our time and planning our activities we eliminate those oppressing feelings of guilt, failure, and frustration. We are free to enjoy our work and play. Someone has said that the problem most people have is that they think about playing while working and think about working while playing, and do not do either one well. The minister who is thinking about a pastoral call while preparing his sermon or thinking about his sermon while visiting a parishioner does not do either one very well.A frustrated person cannot accomplish much because frustration blocks creativity, wastes time and energy as it divides the individual. To accept the challenge of dealing with frustration creatively is to make life a much more exciting and productive venture. It makes a minister an effective leader of people as he displays self-discipline, expresses concern, and shares the Gospel through the many activities of his life and church.     

Vocal reaction times to tachistoscopically presented high- and low-frequency verbs: some evidence for selective minor hemisphere linguistic analysis

The current study investigated the capacity of the right hemisphere to process verbs using a paradigm proven reliable for predicting differential, minor hemisphere lexical analysis in the normal, intact brain. Vocal reaction times of normal subjects were measured to unilaterally presented verbs of high and of low frequency. A significant interaction was noted between the stimulus items and visual fields. Post hoc tests showed that vocal reaction times to verbs of high frequency were significantly faster following right visual-field presentations (right hemisphere). No significant differences in vocal reaction time occurred between the two visual fields for the verbs of low frequency. Also, significant differences were observed between the two types of verbs following left visual-field presentation but not the right. These results were interpreted to suggest that right-hemispheric analysis was restricted to the verbs of high frequency in the presence of a dominant left hemisphere.     

Effects of auditory masking by white noise on variability of fundamental frequency during highly similar productions of spontaneous speech

Six adults (3 men, 3 women) produced highly similar spontaneous speech utterances during quiet and 90-dB SPL white noise. Although subjects' fundamental frequency (fo) was significantly increased when speaking in noise, their fo variability (coefficients of variation) throughout the utterance was not affected by the auditory disruption. This indicated that their ability to vary fo for linguistic stressing was preserved under short-term disturbed auditory feedback. These findings further supported the hypothesis that fo is under open-loop regulation.     

“No,You're Playing the Race Card”: Testing the Effects of Anti-Black,Anti-Latino,and Anti-Immigrant Appeals in the Post-Obama Era

Despite a sizable literature on racial priming, scholars have failed to account for the shifting nature of racial appeals. First, theories of racial priming have not yet been widely applied to increasingly common anti-immigrant and anti-Latino political appeals. Second, theories of racial priming have not adequately accounted for both an increasingly racialized political climate and increased tolerance for explicit anti-minority appeals. In two survey experiments fielded both before Trump's rise and after his presidential victory, we find the Implicit-Explicit (IE) model always fails for anti-black appeals, sometimes fails for anti-immigrant appeals, but consistently holds for anti-Latino appeals. While we find the null effects of implicit versus explicit anti-black and anti-immigrant appeals are partly driven by tolerance for the explicit appeals, we also find evidence that white Americans are adept at recognizing the racial content of appeals featuring widely used, congruent issue-group pairs. Our findings shed light on conditions under which the IE model does and does not hold in the current political era.     

Ritualistic,Theistic, and Existential Spirituality: Initial Psychometric Qualities of the RiTE Measure of Spirituality

An expanded model to conceptualize sacred human experiences is discussed wherein the term Spirituality is broadened to include: (1) Ritualistic Spirituality, (2) Theistic Spirituality, and (3) Existential Spirituality. However, a measure incorporating this expanded model does not yet exist. A 67-item self-report questionnaire was developed and data were collected from 1,301 undergraduate students. A series of factor analytic procedures yielded a three-factor structure consistent with the guiding theoretical model and refinement produced three 10-item subscales. Evidence for construct validity and sound psychometric properties was indicative of a reliable, valid, and unique tool to assess the multidimensional nature of spirituality.     

Gender differences in patterns of emotional distress following heart transplantation

The study provides the first empirical evaluation of gender differences in psychological symptomatology and DSM-III-R major depressive disorder (MDD) across the first year following heart transplantation. An important goal was to identify physical health-related and psychosocial factors that could account for, or mediate, any association between gender and psychological distress. The sample for the present analyses was drawn from a larger cohort of 172 heart recipients and included all 28 women in the cohort plus 118 men who were matched demographically with the group of women. Detailed patient assessments were completed at 2, 7, and 12 months posttransplant. As expected, women's symptom levels were consistently higher than men's. However, while men's symptom levels in all areas declined with time posttransplant, women's distress in the area of depression initially improved but then worsened by the 12-month assessment. The distribution of episodes of MDD showed a temporal pattern of gender differences similar to that of depressive symptoms. The most important mediators of the gender-depression relationship were factors related to early posttransplant daily functional limitations: women reported more impairments in daily activities. Higher levels of such impairments, in turn, predicted subsequently higher depression levels by 12 months posttransplant. Several additional variables pertaining to transplant-related concerns and a low sense of personal mastery—while not serving as mediators—exerted their own independent effects on 12-month depression levels. The findings are relevant to the tailoring of educational and clinical interventions to the individual needs of women and men who receive heart transplants.Roberta G. Simmons, Ph.D., died on February 15, 1993, during data collection for this paper.