Seeking the Pathos of God in a Secular Age: Theological Reflections on Mystical Experience in the Twentieth Century

Our current context is a “moving” and unstable one. We are facing not only a time of change, but what Pope Benedict XVI terms “an epochal change.” The impact of this transformation upon religion is unmistakable. In this article I reflect on one aspect of this impact: the one that affects and transforms the experience of God, also called mystical experience. I explore the concept of experience, trying to give a more precise idea of what we understand by mystical experience. I then reflect on the importance of mystical biographies and narratives to theology, including the particular characteristics that emerge when this narrative is about the mystical experiences of twentieth‐century people of faith. I present the specific “case” of Dorothy Day as an exemplification of mystical experience. I conclude with several reflections about how human beings find the way towards God in our secular.     

The Contribution of Individualism vs. Collectivism to Cross-national Differences in Display Rules

Despite the fact that display rules are an important concept of theories of emotion and contemporary psychology, relatively little cross-cultural research has been done on them. This study examined cross-national differences in display rules of emotion, and investigated the degree to which those differences could be attributed to Individualism and Collectivism (IC) measured on the individual level. Participants in the US, Japan, South Korea, and Russia completed a comprehensive measure of display rules assessing behavioral tendencies for seven universal emotions in four social contexts in two rating domains. They also completed Matsumoto et al .'s (1997) Individualism–Collectivism Interpersonal Assessment Inventory. The results confirmed the existence of cross-national differences in IC and display rules, and indicated that IC and display rules were correlated. Significant differences between the countries remained even after IC was controlled for, and effect size analyses comparing cross-national differences when IC was controlled and not indicated that IC accounted for approximately 30% of the effect sizes related to cross-national differences. This study is unique in that it not only used the concept of IC to explain and predict differences; it also quantitatively assessed the degree to which IC contributed to those differences. These findings are discussed in terms of the utility of the IC concept to understanding cross-cultural and cross-national differences in emotion.     

O „dobrej” I „złej” indukcji

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On „good” and „bad” induction

     

Exteroceptive control of response under delayed reinforcement

Three white rats, after 50 continuous reinforcements, were exposed successively, under dim illumination, to reinforcement delays of 1, 3, 5, 7.5, 10, 15, and 20 sec, with prolonged training at the 20-sec level. Behavior was maintained at each level, and an increase in interval was accompanied by an increase in post-reinforcement pause. Subsequently, under both 20- and 30-sec delays, the animals were tested during half of each daily session to determine the effect of introducing darkness during each delay interval. The result of this stimulus “support” was to regularize and increase response rate for each animal at both interval values.     

A test for conditional independence between response time and accuracy

An important distinction between different models for response time and accuracy is whether conditional independence (CI) between response time and accuracy is assumed. In the present study, a test for CI given an exponential family model for accuracy (for example, the Rasch model or the one‐parameter logistic model) is proposed and evaluated in a simulation study. The procedure is based on the non‐parametric Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests. As an illustrative example, the CI test was applied to data from an arithmetics test for secondary education.     

The Influence of Retention,Turnover, and Alliance on Process and Outcomes in Rolling Group Psychotherapy for Cocaine Disorder

A longitudinal repeated measures design was used to investigate the influence of treatment retention, and membership turnover on individual outcomes, and the relationship between individual-level and group-level therapeutic alliance in rolling group psychotherapy for individuals with cocaine abuse disorder. Eighteen patients were studied; data were collected prior to therapy and then monthly for 24 months. Patient outcomes and process were assessed. Improvements in symptoms and psychological functioning were associated with retention in psychotherapy. Membership turnover had a negative influence on symptoms. Development of an individual alliance was affected by the development of group-level therapeutic alliance, but not by time spent in therapy.