Catholic/Jesuit Values in an Introductory Religious Studies Course

A growing interest in the communication to students of the mission and identity of a higher education institution prompted this study about the presence of Catholic, Jesuit values in the introductory religious studies course at a faith‐based university. To conduct this study a survey instrument was developed, piloted, further refined, and then administered again to about four hundred and fifty students. The study's results showed that the introductory course had a positive effect on the majority of students surveyed, namely, those who had no Catholic schooling or only had a Catholic elementary school education. Statistically significant advances in several areas of knowledge about Catholic teachings endorsed by Catholic bishops and the pope occurred. Although less extensive, knowledge of Jesuit values also advanced in the course.     

Cooperation in social dilemmas: free riding may be thwarted by second-order reward rather than by punishment

Cooperation among nonrelatives can be puzzling because cooperation often involves incurring costs to confer benefits on unrelated others. Punishment of noncooperators can sustain otherwise fragile cooperation, but the provision of punishment suffers from a "second-order" free-riding problem because nonpunishers can free ride on the benefits from costly punishment provided by others. One suggested solution to this problem is second-order punishment of nonpunishers; more generally, the threat or promise of higher order sanctions might maintain the lower order sanctions that enforce cooperation in collective action problems. Here the authors report on 3 experiments testing people's willingness to provide second-order sanctions by having participants play a cooperative game with opportunities to punish and reward each other. The authors found that people supported those who rewarded cooperators either by rewarding them or by punishing nonrewarders, but people did not support those who punished noncooperators--they did not reward punishers or punish nonpunishers. Furthermore, people did not approve of punishers more than they did nonpunishers, even when nonpunishers were clearly unwilling to use sanctions to support cooperation. The results suggest that people will much more readily support positive sanctions than they will support negative sanctions.     

Delayed signal detection, differential reinforcement, and short-term memory in the pigeon.

In two discrete-trial delayed-detection experiments, six pigeons were trained on dependent concurrent variable-interval schedules. Pecking a red side key was reinforced when the brighter of two white lights (S1) had been presented on the center key, and pecking a green side key was reinforced when the duller of two white lights (S2) had been presented on the center key. Incorrect responses were red side-key pecks following S2 presentations and green side-key pecks following S1 presentations; these resulted in three-second blackouts. In Experiment 1, the time between presentation of S1 or S2 on the center key and the onset of the red and green side keys was varied nonsystematically from 0.06 seconds to 19.69 seconds across experimental conditions. Stimulus discriminability decreased as the stimulus-choice delay increased. A rectangular-hyperbolic function better described this decrease in discriminability over time than did a negative-exponential function. In Experiment 2, at each of three stimulus-choice delays (0.06, 3.85, and 10.36 seconds), relative reinforcer frequency for correct responses to the red and green side keys was varied by changing the values of the dependent concurrent variable-interval schedules. The sensitivity of choice to relative reinforcer frequency was independent of the decrease in stimulus discriminability with increasing stimulus-choice delay.     

Meeting the Standard? A Sample of Christian Schools Libraries/Media Centers in Texas

This article reports a study using structured interviews of librarians of Christian schools in Texas. The study focuses on the librarian, the collections, the financial support and the selection policies, both written and assumed. Standards related to accreditation are also reviewed. Several denominations are included as well as varying size of schools. The libraries range in size from 3,000 to 25,000 volumes with the majority of holdings fewer than 10,000. Issues relating to censorship and selection of materials are discussed. We call for all accreditation agencies for our nation's private schools to investigate whether requiring specific standards for library/media center collections, budget, and their professional staff would make a significant impact on student performance. Also included in the article is a list of recommendations for a private school library selection policy.     

Indeterminacy and consciousness in the creative process: What quantum physics has to offer

The quantum view of creativity, based on Goswami's idealistic interpretation of quantum physics, is presented. It provides a resolution for two controversial areas of creativity theory and research: the “aha”; experience and the role of consciousness. According to the quantum model, the mind‐brain consists of classical and quantum functions and structures. The source for creative ideation lies in the quantum realm in the form of unlearned coherent superpositions or states of simultaneous multiple possibilities. While access of coherent superpositions (CohS) are susceptible to interference from classical domain functions, such as attention, the CohS itself is experienced as an altered state, facilitating creative ideation. The relationships among attention, self‐awareness, context, ambiguity, uncertainty, and conscious and unconscious perception in creative ideation are proposed to be experienced discontinuously due to an indeterminate element inherent in nature. Theoretical and empirical investigation of the above propositions is possible through quantum physics.     

What Do Genetic Counselors Learn on the Job? A Qualitative Assessment of Professional Development Outcomes

Professional development is an important goal for professionals in human service fields such as counseling, teaching, and nursing. However, there are relatively few published papers on this topic specific to genetic counselors, and no studies systematically examine the outcomes of their professional development. This study was designed to investigate genetic counselors’ perceptions of their post-degree learning and to compare themes in their learning to those of psychotherapist professional development models. Two hundred ninety-three genetic counselors completed the demographics portion of an anonymous online survey, and of these, 185 also responded to at least one of two open-ended items: What is the most important thing you have learned about yourself in your practice as a genetic counselor? and What advice would you give to genetic counseling students just starting their career? An interpretative content-analysis method was used to extract three major themes: Intrapersonal lessons, Interpersonal lessons, and Professional lessons. Training and practice implications and research recommendations are provided.     

Concerns of South Korean Patients and Family Members Affected with Genetic Conditions: A Content Analysis of Internet Website Messages

The genetic counseling profession is expanding globally, and many countries, such as South Korea, are in the early stages of developing programs to prepare healthcare professionals specifically trained as genetic counselors. However, little research has investigated the concerns of South Korean patients and family members that have genetic conditions. The present study assessed their concerns by accessing and analyzing messages posted to websites devoted to genetic conditions. Eighteen websites were accessed—1 website concerns general genetic conditions, and 17 concern specific conditions. A sample of 700 messages was translated into English and analyzed using grounded theory analysis. Three major themes and 30 categories were extracted. The themes are: 1) Medical Concerns (e.g., clinical symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, recurrence risk, prevention, inheritance); 2) Psychosocial Concerns (e.g., emotions, social stigma, social support); and 3) Management Concerns (e.g., therapy and alternative treatments, education, financial support, nutrition, medical facilities, folk remedies). The findings provide insight into the types of information and genetic counseling services that might benefit South Korean individuals and family members.