A survey of recent publications in pastoral psychological fields

The author calls attention to a number of recent publications to assist pastors in selecting titles which will prove most helpful to them. He discusses books of general interest on religion and ministry, books on counseling and psychotherapy, books on psychology and personality, and books in theology, ethics and philosophy.Dr. Hunter is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, and serves as Book Review Editor ofPastoral Psychology.     

Voluntary euthanasia and the right to die: a dialogue with Derek Humphry

Both the terminally ill and those responsible for their care may experience conflict and limited freedom of choice with respect to the right to die. Derek Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society, shares his personal experience, as well as his efforts to educate the public and stimulate legal reform. He has dedicated more than a decade of prime professional years to this highly charged universal problem.     

Explaining and Explaining Away in Cosmology and Theology

Modern cosmology raises two significant questions that potentially relate to theology: does the universe have a beginning, and why is the universe so apparently fine tuned for life? In a significant paper, Mark McCartney and David Glass ask whether science can explain away, or at least explain away in part, such features of the universe in cosmology and other sciences that may alternatively invite a theological explanation. In this paper I argue that two proposals made by cosmologists fail to explain away the universe's beginning, and that science is powerless to explain away the more fundamental question as to why there is a universe at all. I argue similarly that scientific, or quasi-scientific, proposals such as the multiverse fail to explain away the fine tuning.     

EFFECTS OF RESPONSE CARDS DURING LESSON CLOSURE ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY STUDENTS IN AN EARTH SCIENCE COURSE

This study evaluated the effects of two review techniques on secondary students' recall of science lesson content: (a) an active review condition in which students used response cards to answer questions, and (b) a passive review condition in which students looked and listened while the teacher projected and read key lesson points. Scores on next-day and weekly tests were higher on lesson content reviewed with response cards.     

Cardiovascular Responses to Television-Mediated Nonverbal Approach1

Two studies are reported which examined physiological responsiveness to changes in level of nonverbal intimacy cues expressed by a partner during an interview conducted across interactive television. Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 separately examined the effects of decreasing apparent interactive distance (produced by alteration of image size) and increasing eye-contact on subjects' heart rate and pulse amplitude. The findings suggest that shifts in these nonverbal approach cues are related to cardiovascular changes including bradycardia and a modest compensatory increase in pulse amplitude. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of the hypothesized relationship between cardiovascular functioning and information processing and practical considerations for the use of interactive television.     

The aggression-inhibiting influence of nonhostile humor

Forty undergraduate students participated in an experiment designed to investigate the hypothesis that prior exposure to nonhostile humor would markedly reduce the level of aggression directed by angry individuals against the person who had previously provoked them. In order to examine this suggestion, subjects were first angered or not angered by a confederate of the experimenter, then exposed to either humorous cartoons or nonhumorous pictures, and finally provided with an opportunity to aggress against this individual by means of electric shock. Results indicated that exposure to the nonhostile cartoons significantly reduced the duration of the shocks delivered to the confederate by subjects in the angry condition, but failed to influence the level of aggression demonstrated by subjects in the nonangry group. These findings were discussed in terms of the elicitation, by the cartoons, of responses and emotional states incompatible with anger or overt aggression. Possible implications of the aggression-inhibiting influence of humor for the prevention and control of human violence were also considered.     

Assertive training: An adjunct to fluency shaping

“Assertive Training” has been utilized as an adjunct therapy in a six week residential program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The speech pathology staff in conjunction with the psychology staff determined that a persistent problem with long term success after patients were dismissed from therapy was largely due to a “behavioral deficit” in their interpersonal verbal confrontations. The anxiety resulting from such communication failure simply chips away at the self confidence needed to maintain a working level of fluency, resulting in a “snowballing” effect back to dysfluency.

Thus, the goals and procedures of assertive training for stutterers are discussed as a means to shape more effective skills in relating to others in difficult situations. Pre, post and six month follow-up data are presented.     

The noninvasive measurement of regional cerebral circulation

A brief introduction to the history and development of the noninvasive regional cerebral blood flow technique is presented. The procedures and apparatus are described in a nontechnical manner to provide a resource background for the other papers in this issue.