Sex differences in language first appear in gesture

Children differ in how quickly they reach linguistic milestones. Boys typically produce their first multi‐word sentences later than girls do. We ask here whether there are sex differences in children’s gestures that precede, and presage, these sex differences in speech. To explore this question, we observed 22 girls and 18 boys every 4 months as they progressed from one‐word speech to multi‐word speech. We found that boys not only produced speech + speech (S+S) combinations (‘drink juice’) 3 months later than girls, but they also produced gesture + speech (G+S) combinations expressing the same types of semantic relations (‘eat’ + point at cookie) 3 months later than girls. Because G+S combinations are produced earlier than S+S combinations, children’s gestures provide the first sign that boys are likely to lag behind girls in the onset of sentence constructions.     

Online usage of theory of mind continues to develop in late adolescence

The development of theory of mind use was investigated by giving a computerized task to 177 female participants divided into five age groups: Child I (7.3–9.7 years); Child II (9.8–11.4); Adolescent I (11.5–13.9); Adolescent II (14.0–17.7); Adults (19.1–27.5). Participants viewed a set of shelves containing objects, which they were instructed to move by a ‘director’ who could see some but not all of the objects. Correct interpretation of critical instructions required participants to use the director’s perspective and only move objects that the director could see. In a control condition, participants were asked to ignore objects in slots with a grey background. Accuracy improved similarly in both conditions between Child I and Adolescent II. However, while performance of the Adolescent II and Adult groups did not differ in the control condition, the Adolescent II group made more errors than the adults in the experimental condition. These results suggest that theory of mind use improves between late adolescence and adulthood. Thus, while theory of mind tasks are passed by age 4, these data indicate that the interaction between theory of mind and executive functions continues to develop in late adolescence.     

Terror management among Taiwanese: Worldview defence or resigning to fate?

Terror management theory (TMT) proposes that people who are reminded of their mortality should be motivated to defend their cultural worldview. Studies 1 and 2 examined whether the TMT worldview defence‐buffering effect found in Western cultures could be generalized to Asians in Taiwan. No such effect was found in the present studies. This non‐significant result was robust when either a stronger distraction task was used (study 1) or when a subliminal manipulation of mortality salience was utilized (study 2). A meta‐analysis, including 24 TMT experiments in East Asia, was also conducted (study 3). The average effect size (d = 0.11, r = 0.055) of worldview defence among these experiments was not significantly different from zero. Study 4 found that mortality salience manipulation also did not change Taiwanese participants' view of reincarnation; however, it did make them more inclined to resign to fate, suggesting that they might be using this symbolic means to defend their anxiety of death. The issue of the generality of TMT to Asians was discussed.     

Three Reviews of For Life Abundant: Practical Theology,Theological Education,and Christian Ministry,edited by Dorothy C. Bass and Craig Dykstra, 2008

For Life Abundant, the fruit of sustained reflection among systematic theologians, practical theologians, and pastors, is an important new work that deserves attention. The volume provokes creative and critical thinking about practical theology. Its contributors conceptualize the field as a disciplined practice of imagination and skill residing at the confluence of Christian tradition and living ecclesial communities, and ask what such a construal of practical theology might mean for theological education. Given the significance of For Life Abundant, Teaching Theology and Religion asked three theological educators who are located in different regions, types of institutions, and fields, to review and respond to it. Rebecca Slough describes the volume's central questions and organization, and considers how it might contribute to the deliberations of a seminary faculty regarding a school's curriculum. Martha Stortz shows how the process and structure of For Life Abundant are in themselves illustrative of the conceptualization of practical theology for which it argues. Kwok Pui‐lan notes the volumes strengths and goes on to probe its lacunae, particularly with regard to global, gender, and multi‐cultural considerations relevant to a robust construal of pastoral theology in our time. While the authors of these three reviews and responses to the volume did not interact as they wrote them, together they comprise a conversation that should be on‐going. TTR invites further responses to the volume.     

Counselors' Role in Preventing Abuse of Older Adults: Clinical,Ethical, and Legal Considerations

Mistreatment of older adults is commonplace. These individuals are subjected to abuse, financial exploitation, and neglect. The authors present an overview of the literature concerning mistreatment, with an emphasis on clinical, ethical, and legal considerations. Methods are proposed for prevention, including counselor education, advocacy, and counseling opportunities.     

Using Technology to Enhance Adult Learning in the Counselor Education Classroom

The authors present a study that used a conceptual framework of adult learning and differentiated learning styles with graduate students in a counselor education classroom. Students in a hybrid course had higher midterm, group proposal, and posttest scores than did students in a face‐to‐face course taught by the same professor.     

What makes a meaningful life? Examining the effects of interpersonal harmony,dialectical coping,and nonattachment

Past cross‐cultural research on well‐being has tended to base Eastern construction of well‐being on the interdependent self‐construal, mainly as an offshoot of Confucius relationalism. However, other influential philosophical traditions in East Asian societies (i.e., Taoism and Buddhism) that portray a different picture of well‐being have received scant scholarly attention. We aim to foreground the distinctiveness of three well‐being constructs salient to Chinese culture, namely, interpersonal harmony, dialectical coping, and nonattachment, by providing experimental evidence on their differential effects on perceived meaning in life. Participants were 173 Taiwanese college students. Using priming procedures, participants primed with interpersonal harmony and dialectical coping reported higher levels of meaning in life as compared to those in the nonattachment and neutral control conditions. In addition, comparisons among the three well‐being constructs revealed that although the effects of interpersonal harmony and dialectical coping on meaning in life were similar in strength, they were both significantly stronger than that of nonattachment. The findings attest to the importance of recognizing within‐culture differences when conducting research on well‐being. Results were considered in terms of their methodological and theoretical implications.     

Rapid figure-ground responses to stereograms reveal an advantage for a convex foreground

Convexity has long been recognised as a factor that affects figure - ground segmentation, even when pitted against other factors such as symmetry [Kanizsa and Gerbino, 1976 Art and Artefacts Ed.M Henle (New York: Springer) pp 25-32]. It is accepted in the literature that the difference between concave and convex contours is important for the visual system, and that there is a prior expectation favouring convexities as figure. We used bipartite stimuli and a simple task in which observers had to report whether the foreground was on the left or the right. We report objective evidence that supports the idea that convexity affects figure-ground assignment, even though our stimuli were not pictorial in that depth order was specified unambiguously by binocular disparity.     

Object-based selection in the Baylis and Driver (1993) paradigm is subject to space-based attentional modulation

Three experiments re-examined Baylis and Driver's (1993) strong evidence for object-based selection, that making relative apex location judgments is harder between two objects than within a single object, with object (figure-ground) segmentation determined solely by color-based perceptual set. Using variations of the Baylis and Driver paradigm, the experiments replicated a two-object cost. However, they also showed a large part of the two-object cost to be attributable to space-based factors, though there remained an irreducible cost consistent with 'true' object-based selection.