Gender: Genetics,Genitality, Generosity (Grace), Gentility

After acknowledging that gender is defined at many levels and that definitions may not be concordant across all of these layers of human development, this essay illuminates how these threads intertwine with one another to produce a final product that we call a person. Gene expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, and anatomic structures are not always coterminus. Arbitrarily assigning an infant child with maldefined genitalia to a socially defined gender role on the basis of surgical convenience may (should) be perceived as an act of violence, and an untruth. A further intent of this article is to help in pastoral settings to respond to events which raise points of anxiety and concern, among persons of faith, which are sometimes associated with instances of discrepancy.     

Metacognitive Therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Nature,Evidence and an Individual Case Illustration

Metacognitive therapy (MCT) is based on over 25 years of research focusing on the processes that contribute to the development and maintenance of psychological disorders. The approach identifies a common set of processes in psychopathology, and MCT shows promising results in effectively treating a range of disorders. This paper presents the central theoretical tenets of MCT and uses a clinical vignette to illustrate the structure and techniques of treatment based on Wells's (2009) manual as they relate to a specific case of generalized anxiety disorder.     

Movement in the ipsilesional hand is segmented following unilateral brain damage

Unilateral stroke results in hemiplegia or hemiparesis of the contralateral side of the body. The ipsilateral side of the body, the so-called "good" side, is often assumed to have no deficit. However, there is increasing evidence that the function of the unaffected limbs, especially the upper extremities, is different from that of normal age-matched controls. In the present study, we examined the motor control of both hands of chronic stroke subjects, 6 with left hemisphere brain damage (LHBD) and 5 with right hemisphere brain damage (RHBD). The control group consisted of 5 normal age-matched subjects. The task of the subject was to move a handle by flexing his/her fingers until the target position was reached. The target position was set as 33% of the range of each subject. No time constraints were imposed. The movements of the normal subjects were basically smooth, with few hesitations. In contrast to this, the movements of both hands in the two stroke groups were segmented and characterized by multiple starts and stops. As compared to normals, the time to reach the target, the number of pauses during the movement, and the percent of time spent in pauses, were significantly greater for both hands of the LHBD group. In the RHBD group, the percent of time spent in pauses was significantly greater than the control group for the ipsilesional hand. The increased segmentation seen in the movements of the ipsilesional, as well as the contralesional. hands of the hemiplegic subjects suggests that the motor deficits in stroke patients may be due to a global inability to correctly plan and carry out movements.     

The scapegoat archetype

Summary Relying on some of the principles of Jung's analytical psychology, the writer has presented a hypothesis of the primordial image of the scapegoat, tracing its origins in antiquity and in the collective unconscious of man, its associations with the God-image and its development in the history of Judaeo-Christian religion, of the administration of justice and of the treatment of mental illness. The conclusion is reached that the scapegoat is an anachronism that the human race has outgrown, a luxury we can no longer afford to keep, and that a realization of this fact is important for the times in which we live.     

Empirical derivation of SVIB-Holland scales and conversion tables

Significant relationships between the Holland Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) and the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) were again empirically demonstrated in this study, and conversion equations were developed to use standard scores of SVIB scales, rather than items, to produce estimates of VPI scores. Cross validation on a limited population yielded supportive evidence that these conversion equations can provide meaningful VPI estimates from SVIB scale scores. The need for validation across a variety of populations was underscored in order to assess further generalizability of these findings.     

The internal representation of numbers

A principle of second-order isomorphism asserts that the functional similarities among internal representations parallel the structural similarities among the external objects to which those representations correspond. In accordance with this principle, subjects were asked to rate the similarities of all pairs of the numbers 0 through 9 in each of 24 conditions distinguished by the forms into which they were to be mentally transformed and then judged-including the visual forms of rows of dots and Arabic numerals, the auditory form of spoken English names, and the amodal form of the abstract concepts of the integers themselves. Similarity ratings were found to depend entirely upon the form in which the numbers were to be judged and not at all upon the form in which they were actually presented. Regardless of the form presented, multidimensional scaling solutions for each of the 24 conditions were readily interpretable in terms of structural properties of the form judged-curvature and closure for visual numerals; number of syllables, initial consonant, and vowel phoneme for auditory names; and numerical magnitude, odd-evenness, etc., for abstract concepts. Reanalyses of chronometric data are presented to illustrate how a fuller understanding of human cognitive processes may be attainable by using such structural models of internal representation in conjunction with studies of overt confusion and reaction time.