Book reviews

The Story of Gotama Buddha (Jatakanidana) translated by N. A. Jayawickrama, Oxford, Pali Text Society, 1990, xvi, 141 pp. ISBN 0 860 293 5, £4.95.

Dan Cohn‐Sherbok, Issues in Contemporary Judaism. London, Macmillan Academic & Professional, 1991. ISBN 0 333 535 37.

Raymond L. Weiss, Maimonides’ Ethics— The Encounter of Philosophic and Religious Morality. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1991. ISBN 0 226 8915 26.

Peter Harrison, ’Religion’ and the Religions in the English Enlightenment. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990, 277 pp. ISBN 0 521 38530 X, £35 (U.K.).

Michael Dames, Mythic Ireland. London, Thames and Hudson, 1992, 272 pp. ISBN 0 500 01530 9, £14.95 (hardback).

Stephen and Robin Larsen. A Fire in the Mind: The Life of Joseph Campbell. New York, Doubleday, 1991, 636 pp. ISBN 0 385 26635 9. $30.00 U.S.     

Equivalent and effective strains during severe plastic deformation (SPD)

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the characteristics of severe plastic deformation (SPD) to estimate its efficacy and to compare different processing techniques. In contrast to effective strains by von Mises and Hencky, the rotation component of the strain rate is included in the analysis as a mode of deformation, which ranges from simple shear to pure shear. Distortions of material elements during a uniform plane plastic flow are calculated using a kinematic approach. For the fixed deformation mode, the current state is defined by the accumulated shears that are identical to the von Mises effective shear strains. In specific cases of pure shear and simple shear, the accumulated shears match the specific distortions of round or square elements prescribed by Hencky or von Mises approach, respectively. The mode of deformation is important to the structural effects of SPD. In general, two separated characteristics, accumulated shear and the coefficient of deformation mode, are necessary to describe strains during SPD.     

Understanding myth: A response to Bryan Rennie

Bringing together a decade of research on religion in prisons, hospitals, universities and, more recently, at the Millennium Dome in 2000, in this paper I look at some of the ways in which sacred spaces in public institutions have changed over time, particularly in terms of how they are produced, designated, and used. The substance of these transformations can be encapsulated in the phrase ‘from Chapel to Prayer Room. Behind the various changes that I outline, I am particularly concerned to explore how the changes in the way sacred space is used contributes to new political struggles, particularly when it comes to issues of ownership, appropriation, and design. I also explore the particular contests that lie behind the separate provision of religious spaces for Muslims.     

Teasdale's differential activation hypothesis: implications for mechanisms of depressive relapse and suicidal behaviour

Teasdale's differential activation hypothesis (DAH) has been proposed as one account of cognitive vulnerability to depression. This view holds that important factors determining whether one's initial depression becomes more severe or persistent are the degree of activation, and content, of negative thinking patterns that become accessible in the depressed state. This phenomenon has been referred to as cognitive reactivity. Empirical support for the predictions of this model derives from a combination of cross-sectional and prospective studies. In this article, we evaluate this evidence with the goal of determining whether mood-induced cognitive reactivity can be considered a risk factor for depressive relapse/recurrence. Our review demonstrates sufficient evidence to consider cognitive reactivity as a potential causal risk factor for depressive relapse/recurrence. Furthermore, we extend the application of this model to the problem of suicidal relapse/recurrence including a review of preliminary support for this approach.     

Mood-induced changes on the Implicit Association Test in recovered depressed patients

A mood induction paradigm was used to examine dysphoria-related changes in two types of cognitive processing in individuals who had previously experienced depression. Formerly depressed patients (n = 23) and never-depressed controls (n = 27) completed the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, a self-report measure of effortful processing, and performed the Implicit Association Test, an automatic-reaction time task that measures evaluative bias, before and after a negative-mood induction. The formerly depressed group showed both an increase in endorsement of dysfunctional attitudes and a more negative evaluative bias for self-relevant information after the induction, relative to controls--however, there was no association between the mood-linked changes observed on these two measures. The shift in evaluative bias shown by the formerly depressed group was similar to that seen in a group of 32 currently depressed individuals. These findings suggest that even a mild negative mood in formerly depressed individuals can reinstate some of the cognitive features observed in depression itself.     

Future events,early experience,and mental health: clinical assessment using the anticipated life history measure

This study's goals were (a) to provide convergent validity for the Anticipated Life History measure (ALH), an instrument prompting participants to describe their future life course from their 21st birthday until their death, and (b) to assess the impact of early experience and early memories on the ALH. The ALH narratives were coded for the presence and/or absence of future life events and for five clinical features (Narrative Integrity, Depression, Fantasy Distortion, Impulsivity, and Malevolence) using a detailed scoring manuaL A sample of 285 young adults completed the ALH and a battery of cognitive, mood, and life events measures. The results confirm the utility of this new instrument: Participants whose ALH scored high on the clinical measures also had higher levels of current depression, lower quality-of-life satisfaction, reported more negative early life experiences, and recounted negative early memories.     

The influence of sex and sex role orientation on sexual coercion

One hundred female and 77 male college students completed a questionnaire in which they indicated whether they had ever used physical or verbal coercive strategies to initiate sexual behavior with a partner, or had ever engaged in sexual behavior in response to a partner's coercive initiatives. Results showed that males are far more likely than females to initiate coerced sexual behavior and females are more likely to be victimized. In addition, masculine persons reported using coercive strategies more than other sex role orientation types. However, this was due principally to the fact that males were masculine types much more frequently than females. Therefore, sex (that is, being male or female) seems a more critical factor in determining, initiating, or responding to sexual coercion than sex role orientation.     

Jung and Gnosticism

Carl Jung interprets Gnosticism the way he interprets alchemy: as a hoary counterpart to his analytical psychology. As interpreted by Jung, Gnostic myths describe a seemingly outward, if also inward, process which is in fact an entirely inward, psychological one. The Gnostic progression from sheer bodily existence to the rediscovery of the immaterial spark trapped in the body and the reunion of that spark with the immaterial godhead symbolize the Jungian progression from sheer ego consciousness to the rediscovery of the unconscious within the mind and the integration of the ego with the unconscious to forge the self. For Jung, Gnostics are the ancient counterpart to present-day Jungian patients. Both constitute a psychological elite. Where most persons are satisfied with traditional means of connecting themselves to their unconscious, Gnostics and Jungians are sensi tive to the demise of those means and are seeking new ones. Where, alternatively, most other persons are oblivious to the existence of the unconscious altogether, Gnostics and Jungians are preoccupied with it. Gnostics project their unconscious onto the cosmos and are therefore striving to connect themselves to something external, not just, like Jungians, to something internal. Interpreting in Jungian terms the Gnostic myth Poimandres, I argue that Jungian psychology makes enormous sense of the myth, but not in the way that Jung envisions. Upon rediscovering his spark, the Gnostic seeks to reject his body altogether rather than to mesh the two. He does strive to reunite with the godhead, but the godhead is immateriality itself rather than, like the body, matter. Indeed, the godhead, taken psychologically, is only a projection of the unconscious onto the cosmos, so that the unconscious is thereby reuniting with itself. The Gnostic's uncompromising rejection of the body and, more, of the whole material world therefore symbolizes not, as Jung assumes, the Jungian ideal of wholeness but the Jungian nemesis of inflation or, worse, psychosis. I suggest that Jung misconstrues Gnosticism because he parallels it to alchemy, which does fit the Jungian ideal.