Erikson's life cycle theory and images of God

Human life is a God-ordained pilgrimage by which persons travel toward ever-expanding images of God that emerge from the universal pattern of developmental crises. Using the work of Erik Erikson on the human life cycle and the work of Donald Capps on human sin, the author presents a way to conduct pastoral diagnosis and to provide pastoral care. By accurately tracing a person's images of God back to their potentially unresolved developmental crises, the pastoral caregiver can reopen opportunities for further and healthier resolution of the crises.     

Structural alterations of an ambiguous musical figure: the scale illusion revisited.

The scale illusion (Deutsch, 1975) shows the importance of frequency range in the perceptual organization of a sequence of notes. This paper includes three experiments on the scale illusion. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that if the structure of the pattern of notes used in the original scale illusion study is altered slightly, by adding or subtracting a pair of notes from the ends of the sequence, there is a significant decrease in the rate of frequency-based responses, suggesting a weaker illusion. Experiment 3 investigated two features of the note patterns that may have led to this change. Specifically, it asked whether the decrease in the strength of the illusion is due to (1) the nature of the notes at the extremes of the frequency range and/or (2) the nature of the notes at the crossing point of the two scales. While both sources were found to affect the strength of the scale illusion, the former had a greater influence.     

The concept of sin in pastoral counseling

The concept of sin seems to have virtually disappeared from the pastoral counseling literature, and this likely reflects the possibility that it has virtually disappeared from the practice of pastoral counseling. This article presents a case for returning the concept of sin to pastoral counseling and does so by discussing the psychospiritual importance of addressing sin, defining sin in a pastorally useful way, discussing four capital sins in light of a contemporary understanding of sin, and drawing some pastoral implications.     

Brain-Age quotient: age and education correlates.

The Brain-Age Quotient (BAQ) of Reitan has been proposed as a means of studying age-related cognitive differences. This study examined age and education correlates of the BAQ and a BAQ short form. A heterogeneous group of 100 subjects were selected from the neuropsychological testing case records published by Golden, Osmon, Moses, and Berg in 1981, Boll (undated), and Reitan (undated). Results suggest the BAQ and the BAQ short form are not significantly correlated with age and education.     

THE INFLUENCE OF ASSESSEE PERFORMANCE VARIATION ON ASSESSORS'JUDGMENTS

Assessors evaluated assessees'performances in one of three performance conditions in an assessment center simulation: a consistent performance condition, a within-assessee performance variation condition, or a between-assessee performance variation condition. Contrast effects influenced ratings of assessees when there was variation in performance within assessees. For each assessee, the low target performance was rated lower when the assessee's prior performance had been dissimilar (high) than when the assessee's prior performance had been similar (low). Contrast effects also infiuenced assessors'ratings of the target assessee when there was variation in performance among assessees. The low performing target assessee was rated significantly lower when he was evaluated with two high performers than when he was evaluated with two low performers. In addition, ratings obtained when there was performance variation among assessees were more accurate than those obtained when there was no performance variation, suggesting that under some circumstances contrast effects may not lead to inferior judgments.     

INTERVIEWER DECISION PROCESSES AND EFFECTIVENESS: AN EXPERIMENTAL POLICY-CAPTURING INVESTIGATION

Using a policy-capturing approach, 29 corporate interviewers evaluated 64 hypothetical candidates for a position in a financial services organization. Six selection criteria were manipulated in a balanced factorial design. Interviewers evaluated candidates' qualifications and made hiring recommendations. The results revealed substantial individual differences in interviewers' decision strategies, as well as their insight into their own decision processes. Data on the effectiveness of the 29 interviewers were collected from 427 hiring managers and the decision processes of effective and ineffective interviewers were compared. The findings indicated that the decision strategies used by effective interviewers were quite similar to one another and relied heavily on two selection criteria. Also, effective interviewers were more likely than ineffective interviewers to use selection criteria in a manner that mirrored their self-reports of the importance of these criteria. Effective interviewers were more aware of their decision processes than ineffective interviewers.     

Haptic probing: perceiving the length of a probe and the distance of a surface probed.

Knowing about the properties of objects by wielding them and knowing about the distances of surfaces by striking them with objects as probes are examples of dynamic or effortful touch. Six experiments focused on the invariant mechanical parameters that couple the time-varying states (displacements, velocities) of hand-held rods to the time-varying torques and forces imposed upon them by wielding and probing. There were three major conclusions. First, when a probe is wielded without contact, perceived probe length is a function of the probe's rotational inertia; however, with contact, perceived probe length is affected by the rotational inertia and the distance of the point of contact from the probe's center of percussion. Second, when a surface is struck with a probe, perceived surface distance is affected by the probe's rotational inertia and the angle of inclination of the probe at contact. Third, under seemingly identical conditions of probing, either probe length or surface distance can be perceived selectively without confusion. Results were discussed in terms of haptic information, haptic attention, and the dynamics of probing.     

The detection of surface curvatures defined by optical motion.

The detectability of surface curvatures defined by optical motion was evaluated in three experiments. Observers accurately detected very small amounts of curvature in a direction perpendicular to the direction of rotation, but they were less sensitive to curvatures along the direction of rotation. Variations in either the number of points (between 91 and 9) or the number of views (from 15 to 2) had little or no effect on discrimination accuracy. The results of this study demonstrate impressive visual sensitivity to surface curvature. Several characteristics of this sensitivity to curvature are inconsistent with many computational models for deriving three-dimensional structure from motion.