Something to Shout About: A Simple,Quick Performance Enhancement Technique Improved Strength in Both Experts and Novices

In sports where an explosion of power or strength is necessary (e.g., weight lifting, tennis), athletes often yell or grunt to increase force production. Martial artists have used a similar technique for centuries called a kiap, but scientific evidence of its effectiveness is scarce. This study examined the effect of kiaping on strength and whether expertise influenced its effectiveness. Fifty (25 novices, 25 experts) martial artists completed a handgrip strength test under no kiap and kiap conditions. Performance for all participants was significantly better with the kiap (437.1 Newtons ± 94.9) than without (408.0 Newtons ± 90.6; p < .001).     

The Spiritual Formation of Walter: An Illustrated Meta-Model of Spiritual Formation Using the Film The Visitor

This article describes a meta-model of spiritual formation comprised of salient and consistent components from developmental psychology models. The model is comprised of six “spaces” and is illustrated using the film The Visitor. This article provides a brief overview of spirituality and differentiates it from religion. The meta-model presented here is intended to be used by pastoral counselors and spiritual directors as a heuristic framework for understanding and facilitating an individual’s spiritual formation.     

Trust in God and Trust in Man: The Ambivalent Role of Religion in Shaping Dimensions of Social Trust

We use data from the National Election Study (2000) to analyze relationships among measures of religious orientation and commitment and three aspects of social trust. Results from OLS and ordered logistic regression models indicate that individuals affiliated with specific denominations (e.g., Pentecostal and other Christian) tend to display significantly lower levels of certain types of social trust than members of mainline Protestant denominations, once a variety of controls have been applied. This pattern is reversed, however, among respondents who attend church more frequently and who report that religion provides them substantial guidance in their daily lives.     

The effect of perspective-taking on reasoning about strong and weak belief-relevant arguments

This study investigated whether perspective-taking reduces belief bias independently of argument strength. Belief bias occurs when individuals evaluate belief-consistent arguments more favourably than belief-inconsistent arguments. Undergraduates (n = 93) read arguments that varied with respect to belief-consistency (i.e., belief-consistent or belief-inconsistent) and strength (i.e., strong or weak) about the topic of climate change. After participants read each argument, those in the perspective-taking condition rated the argument's strength from a perspective of a climate scientist and then from their own perspectives, whereas those in the no perspective-taking condition only rated the arguments from their own perspectives. Perspective-taking eliminated belief bias for weak arguments, but not for strong arguments. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed, and directions for future research are provided.     

Rethinking Revision

We sketch a broadening of the Gupta-Belnap notion of a circular or revision theoretic definition into that of a more generalized form incorporating ideas of Kleene’s generalized or higher type recursion. This thereby connects the philosophically motivated, and derived, notion of a circular definition with an older form of definition by recursion using functionals, that is functions of functions, as oracles. We note that Gupta and Belnap’s notion of ‘categorical in L’ can be formulated in at least one of these schemes.

     

Two Careers, One Employer: Couples Working for the Same Corporation

Advances in career development research require scholars to move from analysis of the career paths of individuals to a life course approach to the interlocking career paths of couples. Increasingly, not only are U.S. workers married to other workers, but significant numbers of couples work for the same employer. Drawing on a subsample of employees in dual-earner households in five corporations in upstate New York (and their spouses), this study examines both the direct and indirect effects of being a coworker on career development, work circumstances, and spillover. Being part of a coworking couple positively predicts men's job prestige, tenure, and commitment to work (in terms of working long hours, heavy workload, etc.). These effects, as well as spillover, are most pronounced for younger men without children. For wives, coworking corresponds with increased income and increased spillover between work and family, especially for younger coworking women without children.