The social sources of the current religious revival

Conclusion It has been contended that the current revival of interest in religion cannot be explained only in terms of the search for meaning and security in the face of the anxieties associated with social disruption. Other social forces of our time seem also to have stimulated the current revival and seem to be operative in its maintenance. Four of these forces have been specified, examined, and analyzed in this paper. It has not been intended through the drawing of these interpretations to suggest that, in his rediscovery of religion, the individual may not also be influenced by more universal and, depending upon one's values, possibly more appealing motives.     

Fostering learner autonomy and critical reflection through digital video-journals in a university foreign language course

Many studies have documented the benefits of incorporating reflective journals into foreign language education at university level, though the pedagogic tendency has been to utilise these valuable learning resources to enhance students’ written language skills. This study focuses on how the production of a digital reflective journal in video format can assist in the improvement of oral language abilities in tertiary students of Spanish as a foreign language. With spoken language as the driving vehicle for this assessment task, the course coordinator and educator in charge aimed to promote the development of learner autonomy and self-reflection. In addition, to foster students’ agency in this process, the task incorporated the use of modern digital technologies, which are part of the repertoire of communication channels used by today’s university language learners. Findings suggest that completing this self-reflection assessment task afforded creative teaching and learning experiences, and generated opportunities for learners to improve critical thinking skills, written language proficiency and oral communication. It also heightened their motivation to engage with language-related cultural knowledge, and minimised feelings of anxiety towards communicating verbally in a foreign language.     

Reconsolidation of appetitive memories for both natural and drug reinforcement is dependent on {beta}-adrenergic receptors

We have investigated the neurochemical mechanisms of memory reconsolidation and, in particular, the functional requirement for intracellular mechanisms initiated by beta-adrenergic signaling. We show that propranolol, given in conjunction with a memory reactivation session, can specifically disrupt the conditioned reinforcing properties of a previously appetitively reinforced conditioned stimulus (CS), whether the stimulus had been associated with self-administered cocaine or with sucrose. These data show that memories for both drug and nondrug CS-US associations are dependent on beta-adrenergic receptor-mediated signaling for their reconsolidation, with implications for the potential development of a novel treatment for drug addiction and some forms of obesity.     

Psychiatric Patients' Responses to MMPI Religion Items

Responses of Jewish and Protestant psychiatric Ss to 10 MMPI religion items were found to differ in the manner expected on the basis of Jewish and Protestant normals' ratings of the unfavorability of item endorsement. Education and private vs. public hospitalization were independently associated with item rejection rate. However, sex of S and psychotic vs. non-psychotic diagnosis were not related to item rejection. The differential response rate of Jewish and Protestant patients provides validity generalization for Gynther, Gray and Strauss' (1970) conclusion that social desirability values of MMPI items vary with relevant subject background characteristics as well as with item content.     

Edwards Personal Needs: The Choice of Comparable Groups

The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule was administered to a group of men seeking help with their marriages, as well as to a comparable group of men who reported having stable marriages. When the scores of men seeking help and those of men with stable marriages are compared to Edwards' Adult Males, the number and extent of the differences are quite similar. The comparison of the men with stable marriages versus those seeking help shows relatively few differences. This study highlights the need of having an appropriate group for comparison purposes before attributing differences found to selected group variables.     

Abuser and abused: Perverse solutions following childhood abuse

This paper addresses the relationship between severe childhood physical abuse and both perverse states of mind and frank perversion in women. The psychic necessity for the perversion in these circumstances is discussed, together with the wide range of forms it may take. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy may pose great technical difficulties in such cases. This is because of both the strains the therapist must bear in the countertransference, and also the constant pressure on the therapist to enact with the patient her perverse internal object relationships.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Treatise on Nature and Grace by Nicolas Malebranche, translated with an introduction and notes by Patrick Riley Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. Pp. xviii + 226. £30.00. ISBN 0–19–824832–6

Queen Christina of Sweden and Her Circle. The Transformation of a Seventeenth‐century Philosophical Libertine by Susanna Akerman, Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 21 Leiden, E. J. Brill 1991, Pp. xv + 339. $82.86

John Locke: A Letter Concerning Toleration in Focus edited by John Horton and Susan Mendus, London: Routledge, 1991. Pp. viii + 196. Cloth £35.00 ISBN 0 415 02205 3. Paperback £10.99 ISBN 0 415 06082 6

The Pillars of Priestcraft Shaken: The Church of England and its Enemies, 1660–1730 J. A. I. Champion Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History, Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. 268. £35.00 ISBN 0–521–40536 X.

Philosophy, Religion and Science in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries edited by John W. Yolton, Rochester, New York: Rochester University Press, 1990. Pp. xx + 539. ISBN 1–878822–02–2.

Philosophy, Science and Religion in England 1640–1700 Edited by Richard Kroll, Richard Ashcraft and Perez Zagorin Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xv + 287. £37.50 ISBN 0–521–41095–9.

Opinion and Reform in Hume's Political Philosophy by John B. Stewart Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992. ISBN 0–691–08626–5.

The Enlightenment by Roy Porter (Studies in European History) London: Macmillan, 1990. Pp. xi + 95.

Adam Smith and His Legacy for Modern Capitalism by Patricia H. Werhane New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Pp. xiv + 219. £27.50.

D'Artagnan und die Urteilstafel: über ein Ordnungsprinzip der Europäischen Kulturgeschichte (1, 2, 3/4) by Reinhard Brandt Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1991. ISBN 3–515–05905–0

Frege Philosophy of Mathematics by Michael Dummett London: Duckworth, 1991. Pp. xiii + 331. Price £35. ISBN 0 7156 0886 X.

Pierre Duhem: Philosophy and History in the Work of a Believing Physicist By R. N.’D. Martin La Salle: Open Court, 1991. ISBN 0–8126–9160–1. (Paper) $19.95. ISBN 0–8126–9159–8. (Cloth) $44.95.