Decision-Making during Games by Professional Handball Coaches Using Regulatory Focus Theory

The main goal of this study, based on regulatory focus theory, is to assess the effects of the reward structure on the defensive strategy of handball teams. The results show that (a) a promotional defensive strategy is more often preferred in the second half of the second half-time than in any other game period and (b) second-division coaches are more likely to put their players in regulatory fit situations than are first-division coaches, and could, thus, be more influenced by affordance situations than first-division coaches, who would be more concerned with the ratio of strength between the teams.     

Toward a multidimensional definition of sportsmanship

Abstract

One major problem with research conducted on sportsmanship is the absence of an accepted definition. The purpose of this study was to attempt to derive a definition of sportsmanship by applying premises from social psychological theories and research. A major assumption of this perspective is that sportsmanship meanings and labels attached to given behaviors are learned through interpersonal interactions with various sport participants and that eventually a consensual agreement develops regarding the nature of sportsmanship. It thus follows that a meaningful definition of sportsmanship should be obtained through the athletes themselves. In this study, 1056 male and female athletes completed a questionnaire which contained various items pertaining to sportsmanship. Results from a factor analysis revealed the presence of 5 factors corresponding to the respect and concern for: a) one's full commitment toward sport participation, b) the rules and officials. c) social conventions, d) the opponent, as well as e) a negative approach toward sport participation. Implications of this multidimensional definition for future sportsmanship research are drawn.     

Attributing and denying humanness to others

We review a programme of research on the attribution of humanness to people, and the ways in which lesser humanness is attributed to some compared to others. We first present evidence that humanness has two distinct senses, one representing properties that are unique to our species, and the other—human nature—those properties that are essential or fundamental to the human category. An integrative model of dehumanisation is then laid out, in which distinct forms of dehumanisation correspond to the denial of the two senses of humanness, and the likening of people to particular kinds of nonhuman entities (animals and machines). Studies demonstrating that human nature attributes are ascribed more to the self than to others are reviewed, along with evidence of the phenomenon's cognitive and motivational basis. Research also indicates that both kinds of humanness are commonly denied to social groups, both explicitly and implicitly, and that they may cast a new light on the study of stereotype content. Our approach to the study of dehumanisation complements the tradition of research on infrahumanisation, and indicates new directions for exploring the importance of humanness as a dimension of social perception.     

Madness in Society

The author discusses briefly ways in which madness has been defined, controlled, appropriated, and treated during the evolution of western civilization. “Grand theories” of the aetiology of madness are considered, including physiological, social, and psycho-social explanations. The work of Michel Foucault is examined for its major impact on the understanding of social factors in the categorization and definition of those deemed to be mad. It is noticeable how the role of the unconscious is omitted from much of contemporary theorizing about madness, including in the work of Foucault, where it is relegated to the status of a cultural artifact. The author argues that by incorporating a genuinely psychoanalytic definition of the unconscious into theories of madness, it becomes possible to identify forms of individuality and constructive resistance that supersede the pessimism of Foucault's assessment of human agency. The paper concludes with a criticism of contemporary psychotherapies, especially in welfare state healthcare systems, that fail to address the objective, maddening circumstances of modern life. The resulting overdetermined location of contradiction and conflict in the human mind promotes illusory strategies of reconciliation and harmony that can betray the lived experience of those seeking help. A further consequence of this political and ethical confusion is to underscore the Cinderella status of psychotherapy in many countries.     

The Personal Significance of Religiousness and Spirituality in Patients With Schizophrenia

Religiousness and spirituality were examined in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Features and subjective significance are described, and associations with psychopathological phenomena are analyzed. The majority of the patients reported that religiousness and spirituality serve a vital positive influence in their ability to cope with their disorder. This positive influence was observed less among those patients with more negative symptoms. The spiritual experience of a divine presence was a common part of spirituality for our respondents, independent of psychopathology, whereas more extraordinary spiritual experiences were associated with certain psychopathological symptoms. Religious patients ruminated less than nonreligious patients did on existential issues, especially regarding the meaning of life, which, together with self-acceptance, was among the key existential issues for these patients.     

Authoritative Parenting and the Transmission of Religion in the Netherlands: A Panel Study

This study was designed to explore the effect of authoritative parenting, over and above the effect of explicitly religious parenting practices, on the juvenile and adult church attendance of offspring. Data were collected as part of a panel study in which 474 Dutch respondents were questioned in 1983 as youths and in 2007 as adults. In 2007 the respondents retrospectively answered questions about how they were raised by their parents. Analyses revealed that juvenile church attendance depends mainly on parental and more specifically on maternal church attendance, whereas adult church attendance is largely an outcome of juvenile church attendance. No effects of an authoritative parenting style, that is, a simultaneous effect of responsiveness, strict control, and the granting of psychological autonomy as the three dimensions of authoritative parenting distinguished in this study, were observed. Only the dimension of strict control turned out to be a negative determinant of adult church attendance.     

Current Approaches to Phenomenology

Tennessen and Naess both assume that we can make meaningful judgments about the value of life but disagree with one another about whether it is obvious, as Tennessen believes, that the more men know the less reason they have to affirm life. It is their common assumption which Nietzsche would question and these notes try to bring out why.     

How parapsychology could become a science

An important methodological argument is outlined in support of general theoretical challenges to the dominant materialist paradigm. The idea is that the empirical inadequacies of a dominant theory can be hidden from view by various factors, and will emerge from the shadows only when viewed from the perspective of a systematic conceptual alternative. The question then posed is whether parapsychology provides a conceptual alternative adequate to this task. The provisional conclusion drawn is that it does not. Some further consequences are drawn from this concerning the experimental side of the parapsychological tradition.     

II. Introduction to a reappraisal of fear and trembling 1

The idea of a knighthood of faith which involves a ‘teleological suspension of the ethical‘ is the most arresting feature of Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling. It amounts to a theological shock treatment. It is therefore understandable that critics and commentators who have discussed Fear and Trembling have focused their attention almost exclusively on this extreme notion of faith. Their preoccupation has been unfortunate, however.     

Differential Reactions of Patients Receiving Group Psychotherapy with Concomitant Somatic and Drug Therapies

The embeddedness of combat aggression, violence, survival, and antiauthority dynamics in the psychic organization of Vietnam veterans in groups shape the treatment enterprise. Inherent in treatment interactions and dynamic processes of the Vietnam therapy group are the reactivations of Vietnam-historical reenactments. These involve strong affective reactions toward superiors and toward fellow combatants (“grunts”), with an attendant sense of group danger, unconsciously reminiscent of Vietnam's guerrilla war terrain. This paper notes that because of the tendency of the group to repeat actual events (as opposed to fantasied events), these groups require divergent conceptualizations and technical management. An innovative model comprising a series of developmental phases is presented. This model, called “the curvilinear regressive-progressive model” of treatment with Vietnam veterans, focuses on both peer- and leader-centered dynamics in working through guilt-driven defenses in members. The leader plays a pivotal function in monitoring levels of affect tolerance in the group, and is expected to manage countertransference reactions, and to have sensitivity to the effects of combat stress on self structure. As the Vietnam therapy group members relive the history of the Vietnam conflict in the group, the leader utilizes a flexible, phase-sensitive system of interventions to reactivate arrested development by creating a healing climate where developmental tasks can be mastered and integrated by group members.