In defense of Joy: C. S. Lewis and psychoanalysis

The imaginative experience of Joy, as he calls it, was central to the career of C. S. Lewis: it informed his work as literary scholar, writer, and religious thinker. Cognizant that psychoanalytic concepts held implications for the meaning of this experience, Lewis offers a critical commentary on these implications and their presuppositions with regard to literary imagery. His commentary suggests possible conflicts between a view of humankind that is psychoanalytically-derived and one which is aesthetically informed.     

Deciding to believe: The ethics and rationality of religious belief

This is the text of an Inaugural Lecture, given at the University of Auckland, 25th July, 1994. I am grateful to Stephen Davies, Fred Kroon and Alastair Anderson for helpful discussion on earlier drafts.     

Emerging Administrative Strategies for College and University Counseling Centers

The current environment in higher education is influencing college and university counseling centers in several new ways. Issues surrounding funding patterns, definitions of service entitlement, and personnel policies have emerged, as have a variety of responses on the part of counseling centers. Administrative and managerial strategiesfor dealing with these issues are described and discussed.     

Jung and the mystical theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church: Comments on common ground

The authors present a comparison of the cosmological, theological, and anthropological assumptions that underlie the mystical traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church and certain of Jung's mystical observations about the universe, God, and humankind. It is argued that, one touchstone of scientific validity being the universality of observations independently made, the common ground of the two divergent systems of Eastern Orthodox and Jungian mysticism suggests a universality and scientific validity in Jung's assumptions about the great unknown.Bishop Chrysostomos is Academic Director of the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies at the St. Gregory Palamas Monastery in Etna, CA. He received his doctorate in psychology at Princeton University.     

Towards a spiritual psychology: The synthesis of the desert fathers

The author presents a model of spiritual enlightenment based on an analysis of the aphorisms and experiences of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th century monastics of the deserts of Egypt contained in the standard 18th century Greek Orthodox compilation of their writings. It is argued that the attainment of a hierarchy of four basic virtues, humility, obedience, repentance, and love, incorporated into the religious system of these early Christian contemplatives exemplifies a sophisticated knowledge of contemporary dynamic and social psychological phenomena. The author identifies three steps in the process of enlightenment proffered by this system, beginning with the practical spiritual life, in which the specific control and understanding of dynamic and social psychological principles come into play; moving on to an intermediate level of action based on natural knowledge, as it is derived from psychological self-understanding; and culminating in a level of personal self-intergration and self-realization that is mystical in nature. Thenovus homo as understood in the Christian West is contrasted with the enlightened person as he emerges from this interactive hierarchy of virtues and levels of self-knowledge in the system of the desert Fathers. The paper is written with a heuristic tone and suggests that further attention be directed toward the interaction between psychological principles and mystical notions in traditional Eastern Christian literature.This paper was originally presented by the author at the invitation of the Theological Institute of Lund University, Lund, Sweden, in the autumn of 1987.     

The component awareness and accuracy of dual- and single-jointed actions

The accuracy with which people execute wrist and elbow movements were measured using three main conditions: (i) single-jointed (wrist or elbow) movements to targets, (ii) dual-jointed (wrist and elbow) movements to targets, and (iii) components of dual-jointed movements to targets, when the task for the subject was to perform the elbow or wrist constituent of the action in isolation, without displacing the second joint. Elbow precision was significantly worse under component than dual conditions, which is compatible with the notion that wrist and elbow activity are conjugately, rather than independently, programmed when a dual-jointed action is performed. The pattern of wrist accuracy was divergent, but possible reasons for this were discussed. In all cases, error was measured in terms of deviation from perfect posture; using this index, the hypothesis that incorporating more moving joints into an action serves to increase movement complexity and jeopardise precision was tested, but the results were ambiguous. Discussion also centered on the problems of using performance data to infer changes in motor programming, and the need for rigorous conceptualisation and research in this area.     

Coping and anxiety in women recalled for additional diagnostic procedures following an abnormal screening mammogram.

This study characterized women's concurrent and subsequent levels of emotional distress associated with a questionable mammogram screening and relationships between women's coping and psychosocial adjustment. State anxiety was assessed in 98 women 1 day after receiving a mammogram screening (Time 1), after notification of a questionable screening result that necessitated additional testing (Time 2), and after being informed of their breast-cancer-free status (Time 3). Key findings include (a) women reported a significant increase in anxiety following notification of the need to return for follow-up testing; (b) significant and positive associations were found between anxiety and behavioral approach, behavioral avoidance, cognitive approach, and cognitive avoidance coping in cross-sectional analyses; and (c) cognitive avoidance coping was a strong predictor of final levels of state anxiety in women. Findings suggest that cognitive avoidance coping plays an important role in reducing anxiety in women recalled to clarify an initially ambiguous screening procedure.     

Calibration of computer-monitored running wheels with adjustable drag

The design of a rodent running wheel with adjustable drag and ability to measure accurately the direction as well as the speed of running is described. A computer program in the C language enables a single microcomputer to monitor several wheels simultaneously. Drag is conveniently calibrated by the rate of deceleration from 1 revolution per second when no animal is present, and the calibration procedure can also assess the smoothness of the drag mechanism. Results of tests of the setability, repeatablility, and durability of the drag are presented. A method is outlined to determine the physical work required to accelerate the wheel and to maintain its rotation against the frictional drag.     

A Comparative Effectiveness Study of Two High-Frequency Word Interventions: Traditional Drill and WordSheets

Traditional drill and practice (TDP) has been shown to be both effective and efficient for increasing word recognition. WordSheets (WS) is a novel drill procedure similar to TDP with two key differences: (a) WS increases opportunities to respond, which may increase efficiency and (b) WS present instructional stimuli in a context that more closely resembles actual reading passages, which may enhance generalization to connected text. The study sought to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of TDP and WS in a sample of first-grade students (n = 27) identified by their teachers as struggling readers. Results indicated that, although WS led to significantly more opportunities to respond, it was both less effective and efficient than TDP with regard to cumulative retention. However, there were no significant differences across interventions in regard to the maintenance or generalization of treatment gains. Limitations and implications of the current study for school-based professionals are discussed.