Definitional deficit: a model of senile dementia in context

This article presents some general theoretical concepts that can be used to consider processes of reality construction in interpersonal contexts. I developed a model of family context that taps affective dimensions of reality construction and used this model to explore these processes as highlighted by the labeling of symptoms of senile dementia. Ethnographic observations of 45 families with aged members were used to sketch a dichotomous typology of family-context patterns that promote symptom identification versus patterns that do not. The model suggests that the categorization of behavior as symptomatic or normal in context may be related to the extent to which reality construction processes are shared among members.     

Helping through touch: The embodiment of caring

There is a power to touch, and a magic. Some call it mystery. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the various meanings and uses of touch, particularly within the context of relationship and helping. There will be no attempt to formulate a protocol for touch or to lay claim to a definitive meaning for touch. Reflection about touch may instead clarify some of its meanings and dynamics while encouraging care providers to embrace the experience of helping-through-touch. This paper supports a considered use of empathie touch because of its power and its ability to embody care.     

A sermon from hell: Toward a theology of loneliness

Loneliness as part of the human condition is first explored from an experiential-philosophical perspective. A biblical survey suggests loneliness is normative to the faith experience and may portray a more realistic religiosity. Desert imagery in Scripture indicates a strong association among solitude, spiritual development, and potential dangers of spiritual deception. God's not yet-ness-itself a cause of existential loneliness—is paradoxically the way in which communion with God functions in the here and now. The creative use of solitude may enhance social, psychological, and spiritual well-being, and provide a way to theologize about personal isolation and disorientation.He is also editor of theHarding Journal of Religion and Psychiatry.     

An exploratory study of planning, attention, simultaneous, and successive cognitive processes

Although there has been a considerable amount of research on simultaneous and successive processing (Luria's second functional unit) by Das and others, there have been relatively few investigations into the measurement of attention and planning (the first and third functional units, respectively). The purpose of this investigation was to examine the factorial validity of tasks designed to measure cognitive processing in each of Luria's three functional units. A sample of 112 normal fourth- and fifth-grade students were administered nine experimental tasks chosen or developed according to the theoretical components of planning, attention, simultaneous, and successive processes. Principal factor analyses (orthogonal and oblique) with rotation of four factors resulted in solutions that closely matched the anticipated groupings based on a structural analysis of the tasks. General support for the feasibility of measurement of Luria's cognitive processing model, and the need to further develop and refine these and other experimental tasks, was obtained.     

Effects of aggressive and nonaggressive rock songs on projective and structured tests

The differences between hostility scores on projective and objective tests as a function of listening to aggressive or nonaggressive rock music were studied. While taking the Thematic Apperception Test (Cards 1, 3BM, 4, 9BM, and 10) and the Buss-Durkee (1957) Hostility Scale, subjects (N = 90) randomly assigned to one of three groups listened to a rock song with (a) nonaggressive music and nonaggressive lyrics, (b) aggressive music and nonaggressive lyrics, or (c) aggressive music and aggressive lyrics. TAT stories were scored for aggressive content according to Hafner and Kaplan's (1960) hostility rating scale. Hostility scores did not differ between groups. The findings are congruent with other investigators' reports that subjects do not pay attention to rock lyrics. Previous findings that music affects the emotional quality of TAT stories and hostility scores on the Buss-Durkee scale were not supported.     

Arousal as an explanation for differences in rats selectively bred for differential alcohol sensitivity

A common error made by behavior genetics researchers is breeding two lines for differences in central arousal rather than for a specific behavioral feature. Two lines of rats (Riley, Freed, & Lester, 1976) were selectively bred for locomotor impairment in response to a subhypnotic dose (1.5 g/kg) of ethanol. These lines (designated "most affected" and "least affected") were compared in a variety of tests and showed differences in a number of phenotypic traits in addition to locomotor impairment to ethanol. The published findings have been interpreted in light of a hypothesis suggesting adventitiously selected differences in central arousal between the two lines. This interpretation showed that their usefulness as animal models of alcoholism is seriously compromised.     

Religious celibacy from the celibate's point of view

What do celibates consider the adaptive and maladaptive aspects of their celibate religious lifestyle? What role has celibacy played in understanding the differences between those who persevere and those who choose to resign from celibate religious life and/or ordained ministry? Using data from extensive interviews, this exploratory study begins to focus some of the perceived effects of celibacy upon personal development for both those who persevere in celibate religious life and those who resign.     

On the limits of the matching concept in monkeys (Cebus apella).

Two cebus monkeys, with many years of experience matching a variety of static visual stimuli (forms and colors) within a standard matching-to-sample paradigm, were trained to press a left lever when a pair of displayed static stimuli were the same and to press a right lever when they were different. After learning the same/different task, the monkeys were tested for transfer to dynamic visual stimuli (flashing versus steady green disks), with which they had no previous experience. Both failed to transfer to the dynamic stimuli. A third monkey, also with massive past experience matching static visual stimuli, was tested for transfer to the dynamic stimuli within our standard matching paradigm, and it, too, failed. All 3 subjects were unable to reach a moderate acquisition criterion despite as many as 52 sessions of training with the dynamic stimuli. These results provide further evidence that, in monkeys, the matching (or identity) concept has a very limited reach; they consequently do not support the view held by some theorists that an abstract matching concept based on physical similarity is a general endowment of animals.     

Dependency, self-criticism, and depressive attributional style

Dependency and self-criticism have been proposed as independent factors in depression. Investigated whether depressive individuals characterized by dependency and self-criticism, respectively, differ with regard to internality of causal attributions for negative events. Sixty psychiatric outpatients completed the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, the semantic differential, and the Attributional Style Questionnaire. Dependency and self-criticism correlated positively with internality and with each other (p less than .0001). Findings did not support the specificity of dependency and self-criticism as subtypes of depression.     

Hypnotic blindness, awareness, and attribution

Examined whether performance on a spelling task would be influenced by visual information in the reported absence of hypnotized subjects' awareness of that information. Experiment 1 visually presented uncommon spellings of homophones to subjects before and during a suggestion for hypnotic blindness, and subsequently tested subjects' spelling of the homophones. Words presented during hypnotic blindness influenced subjects' spelling performance. Subjects' attributions of their performance did not involve awareness of the homophones. Experiment 2 used the nonexperiment methodology to examine the impact of demand characteristics and indicated that the performance attributions of subjects of Experiment 1 could not be explained in these terms. The discussion focuses on implicit perception in hypnotic blindness and on the relevance of attributions about behavioral performance on hypnotic phenomena.