Deconstructing Dispositional Bias in Clinical Inference: Two Interventions

In this study, the authors examined the effectiveness of instruction in attribution processes and practice in empathic perspective taking in deconstructing dispositional bias of counselor trainees. Videotaped stimulus cases and a clinical attribution scale were used to assess the treatment effects when compared with a placebo control condition. Results revealed significant differences among groups. Counselor trainees receiving either of the 2 interventions showed significantly lower dispositional bias in responding to videotaped clinical cases than did their counterparts in the placebo condition. The study points to a need for a paradigm shift from a person-focused to a system-focused approach in counseling practice. Implications also point to the need for including critical thinking and empathic experiencing in clinical training     

Evolutionary skepticism

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

Response to John Beebe

This paper briefly describes the history of the professional interaction between psychoanalysts and analytical psychologists in the United States. There has been little public contact between the two groups since the personal feud between Freud and Jung has beer carried forth to the present generation of analysts. The relationship between Otto Rank and Freud and his circle demonstrated many of the same dynamics that were activated between Freud and Jung, who had broken off their relationship ten years earlier; this paper highlights the similarities between Jung's, then Rank's, exile from the psychoanalytic group, Jung's interest in spiritual matters, including his interest in the nature of religious experience, and his questionable dealing with the Nazis during the 1930s have been the stated reason for the taboo set against Jung's writings. Presently there seems to be a growing realization that there are large areas of mutual interest, and both the similarities and differences between the schools need further exploration.     

I am not a Crook: Effects of Denials on Perceptions of a Defendant's Guilt, Personality, and Motives

Two studies were conducted to explore the effects of a defendant's overinformative denials (i.e., denials not prompted by an accusation or specific request) in a courtroom trial. Subjects read the testimony of a defendant who either did or did not deny several negative propositions (Study I) or whose denials either were or were not in response to the prosecutor's questions (Study 2). The denials had little effect on subjects' beliefs regarding the denied propositions. However, the defendant who provided the overinformative denials was perceived as being less trustworthy, more nervous, more concerned with presenting a positive image, and more likely to believe that others believed the negative propositions. Subjects who read the testimony of this defendant also generated more negative and fewer positive thoughts, and they perceived the defendant as being more guilty. The results illustrate the importance of the conversational context for determining the pragmatic meaning of a speaker's remarks.     

AN EXPLOSION OF DAZZLING FLASHES: TEILHARD'S UNITY OF FAITH AND SCIENCE

Abstract. Science and revelation have been presented as two books with the same “author,” their reconciliation being called “concordism.” Teilhard opposed concordism, insisting that supposed “revelations” be treated as scientific hypotheses to be verified or not in experience. Applying his criterion for truth (Does it bring “coherence and fecundity” to the phenomena?) to Christian revelation, he told of finding “an explosion of dazzling flashes.” So Teilhard spoke of the hypothesis as the supreme spiritual act wherein the dust of experience takes on form and is kindled at the fire of knowledge.     

The psychology of christian prayer: a review ofempirical research

This paper presents, discusses and evaluates empirical studies concerned with Christian prayer. These studies are classified within four main areas. The first area concerns what is known about the practice of prayer from empirical surveys and demonstrates that a much higher proportion of people pray privately than attend public places of worship. The second area concerns what is known about changing patterns of prayer during childhood and adolescence and argues that these changes need to be interpreted within the context of both developmental and social psychology. The third area concerns the subjective effects of prayer, beginning with Galton's early observations concerning the comparative longevity of the clergy (who are regarded as praying people) and including more recent studies of the psychological correlates of self-reported prayer, like personal well-being and purpose in life. It is concluded that, while such studies may demonstrate the beneficial nature of prayer, they cannot demonstrate the causal efficacy of prayer. The fourth area concerns the objective effects of prayer, beginning with Galton's early observations concerning the absence of comparative longevity among royalty (who are regarded as prayed for people) and including more recent studies of the growth correlates of prayer for pot plants. It is concluded that such studies currently provide contradictory evidence. It is recommended that further research in the field needs both to observe the strict criteria of objective empirical research and to be alert to theological nuances regarding the actual claims made for the efficacy of prayer within the community of believers.     

Book reviews

Gott ist schön und Er liebt die Schönheit: God is Beautiful and He Loves Beauty. Alma Giese and J. Christoph Bürgel, 1994. Bern, Peter Lang. 474 pp., hb. n.p., ISBN 3–906750–90–6.

The Concept of Islamic International Criminal Law. Farhad Malekian, 1994. London, Graham & Trotman. 213 pp., £55.00, $92, ISBN 1859660851.

Religion in Europe: contemporary perspectives. S. Gill, G. D'Costa, and U. King (Eds), 1994. Kampen, Kok Pharos. 213 pp., pb., Fl 49.90, ISBN 90–390–0508–7.

Religious Freedom and the Position of Islam in Western Europe. W. A. R. Shadid and P. S. van Koningsveld, 1995. Kampen, Kok Pharos. 229 pp., pb., Fl 64.90, ISBN 90–390–0065–4.

Christianity in the Arab World. HRH Crown Prince El Hassan Bin Talal, 1994. Amman, Arabesque. 120pp., hb.

Holymen of the Blue Nile: the making of an Arab‐Islamic community in the Nilotic Sudan 1500–1850. Neil MHugh. Evanston Illinois, Northwestern University Press. 280pp., hb., $54.95, ISBN 0–8101–1069–5.