A tool for measuring stress tolerance in elite athletes

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the nature of pre-performance routines used in golf. Six male international golfers were recruited to participate in this study (Age M = 29; handicap M = +1.5; years playing golf M = 16.25). The golfers were interviewed individually to gain an understanding of participants’ perceptions of the nature and function of their pre-performance routines. The data were thematically analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. In total, 9 super-ordinate themes emerged: allocation of attention, psychological skills, shot selection, routine mind set, routine composition, compulsive behaviors, routine evolution/application, top players, and moderating factors. Results suggest that the development of routines is dependent on the personality, coping resources, and situational appraisals of each individual performer.     

Symmetry, Compact Closure and Dagger Compactness for Categories of Convex Operational Models

In the categorical approach to the foundations of quantum theory, one begins with a symmetric monoidal category, the objects of which represent physical systems, and the morphisms of which represent physical processes. Usually, this category is taken to be at least compact closed, and more often, dagger compact, enforcing a certain self-duality, whereby preparation processes (roughly, states) are interconvertible with processes of registration (roughly, measurement outcomes). This is in contrast to the more concrete “operational” approach, in which the states and measurement outcomes associated with a physical system are represented in terms of what we here call a convex operational model: a certain dual pair of ordered linear spaces–generally, not isomorphic to one another. On the other hand, state spaces for which there is such an isomorphism, which we term weakly self-dual, play an important role in reconstructions of various quantum-information theoretic protocols, including teleportation and ensemble steering. In this paper, we characterize compact closure of symmetric monoidal categories of convex operational models in two ways: as a statement about the existence of teleportation protocols, and as the principle that every process allowed by that theory can be realized as an instance of a remote evaluation protocol—hence, as a form of classical probabilistic conditioning. In a large class of cases, which includes both the classical and quantum cases, the relevant compact closed categories are degenerate, in the weak sense that every object is its own dual. We characterize the dagger-compactness of such a category (with respect to the natural adjoint) in terms of the existence, for each system, of a symmetric bipartite state, the associated conditioning map of which is an isomorphism.     

Kafka's Experiencing in Text: A Person-Centered Reading of Letters to Felice

Franz Kafka's (1967/1999 Kafka , F. ( 1999 ). Letters to Felice (J. Stern & E. Duckworth, Trans.) London , England : Vintage . (Original work published 1967)  [Google Scholar]) Letters to Felice is instructive for the therapist/reader because it provides a first-person narrative of Kafka's immersion in a fundamentally relational-experiential process. It is argued that the underlying We of Kafka's letters implies that their correspondence expressed and constituted their relationship. Significant aspects of his experiencing are discussed from a person-centered perspective. It is argued that his experiences were initially subceived prior to awareness, in the moment, bodily felt, and process-like. The parallels that exist between the experience of reading Letters to Felice and being in a person-centered therapeutic relationship are discussed. Both endeavors are experiential and phenomenological, and from a contemporary person-centered perspective, are based upon a refinement of Carl Rogers’ original formulation.     

Decoding facial blends of emotion: Visual field,attentional and hemispheric biases

Most clinical research assumes that modulation of facial expressions is lateralized predominantly across the right-left hemiface. However, social psychological research suggests that facial expressions are organized predominantly across the upper-lower face. Because humans learn to cognitively control facial expression for social purposes, the lower face may display a false emotion, typically a smile, to enable approach behavior. In contrast, the upper face may leak a person’s true feeling state by producing a brief facial blend of emotion, i.e. a different emotion on the upper versus lower face. Previous studies from our laboratory have shown that upper facial emotions are processed preferentially by the right hemisphere under conditions of directed attention if facial blends of emotion are presented tachistoscopically to the mid left and right visual fields. This paper explores how facial blends are processed within the four visual quadrants. The results, combined with our previous research, demonstrate that lower more so than upper facial emotions are perceived best when presented to the viewer’s left and right visual fields just above the horizontal axis. Upper facial emotions are perceived best when presented to the viewer’s left visual field just above the horizontal axis under conditions of directed attention. Thus, by gazing at a person’s left ear, which also avoids the social stigma of eye-to-eye contact, one’s ability to decode facial expressions should be enhanced.     

Shock tactics to counter AIDS: The australian experience

Abstract

The use of shock tactics to motivate people to learn more about AIDS and to take appropriate protective action characterised the approach adopted by the national health authorities in Australia during 1987. The rationale underlying this approach is critically examined, particularly in the light of results obtained from surveys of community concern and knowledge about AIDS in the state of South Australia before the campaign and after it had been in progress for some five months. Contrary to expectations no significant increases in either personal or social concern were found; in fact, among older respondents personal concern had decreased significantly. Levels of knowledge about AIDS, in general, remained unchanged, apart from an increase in acceptance of the safety of blood transfusions from a very low to a somewhat higher level. Among a minority of respondents (29%) who approved of the campaign and also believed they had been influenced by it, personal and social concern about AIDS, but not knowledge, was significantly greater than among others. The view that fear-inducing techniques can be used to bring about increases in knowledge about AIDS was not supported, although some positive effects on the social attitudes of respondents most affected by the campaign are suggested.     

An adolescent perspective on injury recovery and the return to sport

ObjectivesThe purpose of this investigation was to examine adolescent athletes' injury recovery and return-to-sport experiences. Given previous research highlighting competence, autonomy, and relatedness concerns among returning athletes (Podlog & Eklund, 2006), we sought to examine the extent to which basic psychological needs theory (BPNT: Ryan & Deci, 2007) could be used as framework for interpreting the research findings.DesignA qualitative design was employed in the present investigation.MethodEleven Australian athletes (M age = 15.3) who had incurred a range of severe injuries (e.g., anterior cruciate ligament tears, shoulder dislocations) were interviewed on 2–3 occasions (n = 27 interviews) spanning an 11-month period.ResultsAnalysis of the data revealed the following four key themes: (a) injury stress, (b) coping strategies, (c) experiences with social support, and (d) recovery outcomes. Injury stress provides insights into a range of stressors and strain responses reported by the adolescents across the recovery phases, while the theme on coping highlights the specific strategies used to maintain motivation, reduce uncertainties associated with the injury experience, and to keep focused on future athletic attainment. The third theme, experiences with social support, considers the transactions the adolescents held with members of their social network throughout their recovery. The final theme, recovery outcomes, describes participant perceptions of a successful/unsuccessful recovery and stress-related growth.ConclusionsResults suggest that competence and relatedness issues highlighted in BPNT may be relevant in exploring adolescent athletes' injury experience. Somewhat less evidence for the autonomy dimension of BPNT was apparent in adolescent comments.     

The Action of God in the World—A Synthesis of Process Thought in Science and Theology

A foundational belief of monotheistic religions is that God acts in the world. In this paper, the case is made that divine action has its origins in the molecular world. Within a metaphysical framework of process thought, a hypothesis is constructed in which God's action in the world, God's ‘initial aim’ for all actualities, is divine motivation of chemical becoming.