Student Perceptions of Salient Indicators of Integration of Faith and Learning (IFL): The Christian Vocation Model

This article presents findings from a qualitative study of 120 undergraduate students from seven schools in the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Using in-depth individual and focus group interviews, we explored participants' perceptions of salient indicators of integration of faith and learning (IFL) in the classroom. Findings highlight two main categories of indicators: 1) faculty relationships with God and with students, and 2) faculty competence, including specific IFL curriculum coverage and academically safe classroom settings. All indicators contributed to IFL experiences resonating with most students. We then set forth the Christian vocation model from our analysis to describe the interconnections between the two main categories. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Feminist Archeology: Uncovering Women's Philosophical History

A History of Women Philosophers, Volume I: Ancient Women Philoophers, 600 B.C. - 500 A.D., edited by Mary Ellen Waithe, is an important but somewhat frustrating book. It is filled with tantalizing glimpses into the lives and thoughts of some of our earliest philosophical foremothers. Yet it lacks a clear unifying theme, and the abrupt transitions from one philosopher and period to the next are sometimes disconcerting. The overall effect is not unlike that of viewing an expansive landscape, illuminated only by a few tiny spotlights.     

TOPICAL EPISTEMOLOGIES

Abstract: What is the point of developing an epistemology for a topic—for example, morality? When is it appropriate to develop the epistemology of a topic? For many topics—for example, the topic of socks—we see no need to develop a special epistemology. Under what conditions, then, does a topic deserve its own epistemology? I seek to answer these questions in this article. I provide a criterion for deciding when we are warranted in developing an epistemological theory for a topic. I briefly apply this criterion to moral epistemology and argue that some approaches to moral epistemology should be abandoned. I also argue that we can develop an epistemology for a topic without committing ourselves to a specific substantive theory of justification, such as reliabilism or coherentism, if we work within a suitably neutral framework.     

Communication With Older Adults The Influence of Age Stereotypes,Context, and Communicator Age

Forty young, 40 middle-aged, and 40 older adults rated their beliefs about the vocal style that they would use in addressing two older targets—one fitting a negative (Despondent) and one a positive (Golden Ager) stereotype. Participants also gave oral messages to the two targets in either a hospital or community context. Supporting a stereotype-sensitive model of the communication and aging process, participants' beliefs and messages revealed a greater tendency to use patronizing talk with the Despondent target than with the Golden Ager. In addition, the extent and type of patronizing talk (overly nurturing or directive) to the targets was affected by the context in which the target was presented and the age of the communicator. In particular, the number of directive/patronizing messages to Golden Ager targets increased significantly in the hospital context. Finally, older participants were less likely to give patronizing messages to all targets than were younger participants.     

AFFECTION AND RECIPROCITY IN SELF-DISCLOSING COMMUNICATION

Affection for and reciprocated disclosure by the other are generally thought to increase a person's willingness to engage in self-disclosing communication. The relationship between affection and disclosure is not consistently supported by the data, however, and the relationship between reciprocity and disclosure may well be an artifact of a confounded conceptualization of dyadic relations. Wright's model of same-sex friendships is proposed as more adequate than simple affection as a conceptualization of interpersonal relationships, and an adapted form of Chaffee and McLeod's coorientational paradigm is employed as a model of reciprocated disclosure. The hypotheses that affection accounts for less variance in disclosure than other criteria of friendship and that disclosure varies as a function of perceived rather than actual similarity were strongly supported. Although male and female subjects disclosed differently, hypotheses about sex differences in disclosure were not supported, failing to replicate previous findings. The implications of these data for further studies of self-disclosing communication are discussed.     

The Effect of Tomm's Therapeutic Questioning Styles on Therapeutic Alliance: A Clinical Analog Study

10 suggests that circular and reflexive questions tend to elicit feelings of freedom/acceptance whereas lineal and strategic questions usually trigger feelings of judgment/constraint. Employing an analog methodology, each of Tomm's four questioning styles was portrayed in the form of a 5-minute videotaped intake scenario. Forty family triads with a mother, father, and adolescent son were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions with ten families each. Each condition involved viewing one of four questioning style scenarios. All participants (N = 120 individuals — 40 mothers, 40 fathers, and 40 adolescent sons) completed the Family Therapy Alliance Scale (FTAS; 9 ) and a validity-check instrument. The results indicated that circular and reflexive questioning styles elicited significantly higher (p < .001 ) alliance scores on the FTAS than did either lineal or strategic questions. Implications for the use of different types of questions in family therapy are discussed.