Where has hope gone? Toward an understanding of hope in pastoral care

This paper questions the lack of a conceptual model or psychology of hope for pastoral theology and proceeds to develop such a psychology by surveying the theology of hope, by reviewing the dynamics of hoping of some contemporary philosophers and psychologists, and by proposing a hypothesis that hope is difficult to conceptualize because the mode of hoping is nonabstract, relational, nonlinear, and imaginative, all right-lobe brain functions more characteristic of Eastern than Western consciousness. Six implications of this hypothesis for pastoral care are suggested.Research for this paper and work on hope as it relates to pastoral care and counseling was made possible by a year's sabbatical leave from St. Paul School of Theology.     

Comments on “the measurement of factorial indeterminacy”

Guttman's index of indeterminacy (2² – 1) measures the potential amount of uncertainty in picking the right alternative interpretation for a factor. When alternative solutions for a factor are equally likely to be correct, then the squared multiple correlation ² for predicting the factor from the observed variables is the average correlation _AB between independently selected alternative solutionsA andB, while var ( _AB )=(1 – ²)²/s, wheres is the dimensionality of the space in which unpredicted components of alternative solutions are to be found. When alternative solutions for the factor are not equally likely to be chosen, ² is the lower bound for E( _AB ); however, E( _AB ) need not be a modal value in the distribution of _AB . Guttman's index and E( _AB ) measure different aspects of the same indeterminacy problem.     

Transformation of a three-mode multidimensional scaling solution to indscal form

Relations between Tucker's three-mode multidimensional scaling and Carroll and Chang's INDSCAL are discussed. The possibility is raised that it may be profitable to attempt to transform a three-mode solution to the general form of an INDSCAL solution. Operationally, this involves transforming the three-mode core matrix so that each section is, as nearly as possible, a diagonal matrix. A technique is developed for accomplishing such a transformation, and is applied to two sets of data from the literature. Results indicate that the process is both feasible and valuable, providing useful information on the relative appropriateness of the two models.     

Parents as therapeutic agents: The usefulness of filial therapy in a community mental health center

Filial Therapy, a program training parents as play therapists for their own children, has been found an effective part of the functioning of a child unit in a community mental health center. The basic philosophy and principles of Filial Therapy are identified. The use of parents as therapists is viewed as consistent with the growth of the community mental health movement and the concept of treating the context in which the child resides. The structure and flexibility of this model are delineated to provide the reader with a basis to introduce Filial Therapy in his/her own setting.     

Comparison of the WISC and WISC-R on a psychiatric adolescent inpatient sample

The present study compared the WISC and WISC-R on a group of psychiatric adolescent inpatients. The results indicated high intercorrelations between the two test versions but with the correlations linearly related to the changes in content and administration rules of the WISC-R. Analyses of variance indicated that, on the basis of the Full Scale IQ, the WISC is an easier test than the WISC-R.The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Ms. Kathleen Lennox for her aid in data analysis and computer programming.     

Ursachen der gegenseitigen Verdeckung von taktil dargebotenen Buchstaben: Unterbrechung,Summation oder Verzögerung?

Zusammenfassung Für die Erklärung der Verdeckung von Reizen in verschiedenen Sinnesmodalitäten mit einfacher Struktur wurden in der Literature bisher im wesentlichen zwei verschiedene Erklärungskonzepte diskutiert: Die Summationshypotheses behauptet, daß die Eindrücke von schnell aufeinanderfolgenden Reizen sich zu einer Gesamtrepräsentation überlagern, aus der die Einzelreize erschwert herauszuanalysieren sind, die Unterbrechungshypothese dagegen nimmt an, daß die Verdeckung auf eine Störung der Verarbeitung des einen Reizes durch die kurzzeitig folgende Darbietung eines weiteren Reizes zurückgeht. Zur Erklärung der gegenseitigen Verdeckung von taktil dargebotenen Buchstaben sind beide Hypothesen ungeeignet, weil sie die unterschiedliche Beeinträchtigung von Form- und Positionserkennung der Buchstaben nicht erfassen können. Deshalb wurde eine neue Hypothese aufgestellt: Die Repräsentation eines Reizes im sensorischen Register wird durch die Merkmalsanalyse des vorangegangenen Reizes kaum behindert, aber dessen Übertragung aus dem analysierenden System in das Kurzzeitgedächtnis eine bestimmte Zeit verzögert. Diese Verzögerungshypothese wurde mit einem Experiment überprüft, in dem 3 Vpn je etwa 12 Versuchsstunden lang die Erkennung von Buchstabenpaaren übten. Da die Diskrimination zwischen den Buchstaben bei taktiler Darbietung sehr viel schwieriger als bei visueller ist, wurden nur 5 Buchstaben im Experiment verwendet. Die Ergebnisse des Experiments werden durch ein mathematisches Modell beschrieben. Bezüglich der numerischen Werte der freien Parameter machen die 3 Hypothesen unterschiedliche Vorhersagen. Die Parameterschätzung ergab eine gute Übereinstimmung des Modells mit den Daten und zeigte eine Überlegenheit des Konzeptes Verzögerung für die Erklärung der gegenseitigen Verdeckung taktil dargebotener Buchstaben.

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Sources of mutual masking of tactile presented letters: Interruption, summation or delay?

Summary Two different explanations of the masking phenomenon with simple structured stimuli have been discussed in the literature: The summation hypothesis and the interruption hypothesis. The summation hypothesis maintains that the images of quickly succeeding stimuli superimpose and build up one unified representation from which the single stimuli are difficult to analyse. In contrast the interruption hypothesis assumes that masking is caused by the successive stimulus disturbing the processing of its predecessor. Both hypotheses are unacceptable for an explanation of the mutual masking of tactile presented letters where a different impairment of form and position recognition is observed. Therefore a third hypothesis was tried: The processing of a preceding stimulus hardly affects the representation of the successive one in the sensory register. Rather the transfer from the analysing system to short-term memory is delayed by a certain time. This delay hypothesis was tested by an experiment in which three subjects practiced to recognize pairs of letters for a total of 12 sessions. Since discrimination between letters is much more difficult with tactile compared to visual presentation only five letters were used as stimuli. The results are described by a mathematical model. The three hypotheses predict discrepant numerical values for the free parameters. Parameter estimation revealed a close fit between the general model and the data and showed a superiority of the delay hypothesis as an explanation of mutual masking of tactile presented stimuli.

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Für die wertvolle Beratung bei der Erstellung des endgültigen Textes danken wir besonders Herrn Professor Dr. K. F. Wender und Herr Dr. K. Nippert.     

Die historisch-hermeneutischen Disziplinen im System der Wissenschaften

Gegen einheitswissenschaftliche Nivellierung sind Grundlagen-, Natur- und Kulturwissenschaften zu unterscheiden (weniger als Unterschied von Gegenständen als von Fragestellungen und Vorgehensweisen). Zu den Kulturwissenschaften gehören die historisch-hermeneutischen Disziplinen, und zwar als handlungsverstehende Wissenschaften unter erschwerten Bedingungen. Die Geschichtswissenschaft soll die verborgenen Gründe und Zwecke vergangener Handlungen aufklären, die Textwissenschaften in Form problematischer Texte vorliegende Sprachhandlungen. Texte können in verschiedener Hinsicht problematisch sein: für ein Verstehensinteresse an begründeten Behauptungen oder an subjektiver Bekundung (in selbstdarstellender oder motivierender Absicht). Entsprechend ist hier methodisch zwischen apophantischer und ästhetischer Texthermeneutik zu unterscheiden. Ziel aller historisch-hermeneutischen Fächer sollte kritische Gegenwartsorientierung sein.     

Changes in step variability of new walkers with typical development and with Down syndrome

Models of human gait are based on adult locomotion. C. E. Bauby and A. D. Kuo (2000) proposed that adults rely on passive mechanisms at the spinal level to control motion in the anteroposterior direction and rely on direct monitoring of postural control in the lateral direction. The authors' purpose in this study was to determine if that model applies to control at the onset of walking in typically developing toddlers (n = 9) and in toddlers with Down syndrome (n = 6). Their longitudinal data suggested that toddlers control gait in a distinctly different manner than adults do. An adult pattern of control emerges with experience. In addition, the effect of experience on the emergence of that pattern is magnified by task-specific early intervention. The present data support the emergence and discovery of efficient patterns of control in this fundamental human behavior.     

Early changes in muscle activation patterns of toddlers during walking

Early locomotor behavior has been the focus of considerable attention by developmentalists over several decades. Few studies have addressed explicitly patterns of muscle activity that underlie this coordination pattern. Our purposes were to illustrate a method to determine objectively the onset and offset of muscle firings during early walking and to investigate the emergence of patterns of activation of the core locomotor muscles. We tested eight toddlers as they walked overground at walking onset (max. of 3-6 independent steps) and after three months of walking experience. Surface electrodes monitored activity of the gastrocnemius, tibialis anterior, quadriceps, and hamstrings. We reduced EMG signals to a frame-by-frame designation of "on-off," followed by muscle state and co-contraction analyses, and probability distributions for each muscle's activity across multiple cycles. Our results clearly show that at walking onset muscle activity was highly variable with few, if any, muscles showing recurring patterns of behavior, within or among toddlers. Variability and co-activation decreased with walking experience but remained inconsistent, in contrast to the significant increase in stability shown for joint coordination and endpoint (foot placement) parameters. We propose this trend emerges because of the high number of options (muscle combinations) available. Toddlers learn first to marshal sufficient force to balance and make forward progress but slowly discover how to optimize these resources.