Clinical pastoral education and social structures

Since the contemporary church no longer reflects the simple and clear attitudes to social structure evident in the creeds and confessions, is it possible for clinical pastoral education (CPE) and the insights and understandings it represents to contribute to the quest for new structures? In the areas of motivation, power, confrontation, and conflict management, the possibility for contribution seems real. At the same time, CPE must take social structures more seriously and broaden its understanding of the minister's role.     

Positive und negative Rückmeldung bei Alternativdiskriminationen

Zusammenfassung Die Untersuchungen befassen sich mit dem Einfluß der verbalen Rückmeldungen richtig und falsch auf das Erlernen von Alternativdiskriminationen in Blank-trial-Experimenten. Dabei wird insbesondere die Wechselwirkung der Rückmeldungskombinationen (richtig/fehlende Rückmeldung vs. falsch/fehlende Rückmeldung) mit der Rückmeldungsproportion untersucht. Die Rückmeldungsproportion ist definiert als das Verhältnis der Anzahl der S-R-Verbindungen einer Lernliste, auf die eine verbale Rückmeldung erfolgt, und der Anzahl der S-R-Verbindungen, bei denen die verbale Rückmeldung fehlt. Die Rückmeldungsproportion wird zwischen 119 und 191 systematisch variiert. Unsere Experimente ergeben u. a., daß bei kleiner Rückmeldungsproportion die Kombination richtig/fehlende Rückmeldung und bei großer Rückmeldungsproportion die Kombination falsch/fehlende Rückmeldung die Lernleistung erhöhen. Dieser Befund wurde nach theoretischen Annahmen über die Lernstrategie der Vpn erwartet. Eine alternative theoretische Interpretation der Befunde wird nach einem Zusatzexperiment verworfen. Insgesamt bestätigen die Untersuchungen, daß (a) die relative Wirksamkeit von Rückmeldungskombinationen stark von den jeweiligen experimentellen Randbedingungen abhängt, daß (b) von einer automatischen Wirksamkeit verbaler Rückmeldung keine Rede sein kann und daß (c) theoretische Annahmen über die kognitive Verarbeitung verbaler Rückmeldungen und über entsprechende Lernstrategien für die Interpretation der untersuchten Lernvorgänge erfolgversprechend sind.

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Positive and negative feedback in discrimination between alternativesFeedback proportion and learning strategy

Summary This study is concerned with the influence of the verbal feedback modes of right and wrong on the acquisition of alternative discriminations in blank-trial experiments, with special reference to the interaction between the feedback combinations (right/non-feedback as against wrong/non-feedback) and feedback proportion is investigated. Feedback proportion is defined as the ratio of the S-R connections of a learning list succeeded by verbal feedback to the S-R connections succeeded by non-feedback. Feedback proportion was systematically varied between the ratios of 119 and 191.Results showed that at a low feedback proportion learning score is increased with the combination right/non-feedback while in contrast at a high feedback proportion learning score is increased with the combination wrong/non-feedback. These results are in accordance with theoretical expectations on learning strategies of Ss. An alternative interpretation was not confirmed by the results of an additional experiment.In general, our investigations showed that (a) the relative effectiveness of feedback combinations is strongly dependent on the particular experimental conditions; (b) an automatic effect of verbal feedback cannot be assumed; (c) a cognitive interpretation of verbal feedback effects in terms of learning strategies seems very promising.

     

Beauty, A Road To The Truth

In this article I give a naturalistic-cum-formal analysis of therelation between beauty, empirical success, and truth. The analysis is based on the onehand on a hypothetical variant of the so-called `mere-exposure effect' which has been more orless established in experimental psychology regarding exposure-affect relationshipsin general and aesthetic appreciation in particular (Zajonc 1968; Temme 1983; Bornstein 1989;Ye 2000). On the other hand it is based on the formal theory of truthlikeness andtruth approximation as presented in my From Instrumentalism to Constructive Realism (2000).The analysis supports the findings of James McAllister in his beautifulBeauty and Revolution in Science (1996), by explaining and justifying them.First, scientists are essentially right in regarding aesthetic criteria useful for empiricalprogress and even for truth approximation, provided they conceive of them as less hard thanempirical criteria. Second, the aesthetic criteria of the time, the `aesthetic canon', maywell be based on `aesthetic induction' regarding nonempirical features of paradigms of successfultheories which scientists have come to appreciate as beautiful. Third, aestheticcriteria can play a crucial, schismatic role in scientific revolutions. Since they may well be wrong, they may, in the hands of aesthetic conservatives, retard empirical progress and hence truth approximation, but this does not happen in the hands of aesthetically flexible, `revolutionary' scientists. We may find totallyopposite things beautiful: a simplemathematical principle as well as a series of unrepeatable complex contingencies. It is a matter of psychology.(Stephen Jay Gould, translated passage from (Kayzer 2000, 30)).     

Smells like sib spirit: kin recognition in three-spined sticklebacks (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gasterosteus aculeatus</Emphasis>) is mediated by olfactory cues

The ability to recognise kin has been demonstrated in several animal species. However, the mechanisms of kin recognition often remain unknown. The most frequently discussed sensory modalities to recognise kin are visual, olfactory and acoustical cues. Three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) are able to differentiate between kin and non-kin when presented visual and olfactory cues combined. To elucidate, which cues they use to recognise kin female sticklebacks were given the choice between two identical computer animations of courting stickleback males. Next to one animation, water conditioned by a brother was added, while near the other, water from an unrelated male was added. In half of the experiments, the brother was familiar while in the other half he was unfamiliar to the female. Both scenarios were carried out with both outbred and inbred fish. The results showed that the females adjusted their choice behaviour according to relatedness. Furthermore, they were able to recognise both familiar as well as unfamiliar brothers. Inbreeding did not affect this ability. Hence, three-spined sticklebacks are able to recognise their relatives using olfactory cues alone. The cognitive mechanisms underlying this ability were independent from familiarity and not impaired by inbreeding.     

Mental fatigue and the control of cognitive processes: effects on perseveration and planning

We tested whether behavioural manifestations of mental fatigue may be linked to compromised executive control, which refers to the ability to regulate perceptual and motor processes for goal-directed behaviour. In complex tasks, compromised executive control may become manifest as decreased flexibility and sub-optimal planning. In the study we use the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the Tower of London (TOL), which respectively measure flexibility (e.g., perseverative errors) and planning. A simple memory task was used as a control measure. Fatigue was induced through working for 2 h on cognitively demanding tasks. The results showed that compared to a non-fatigued group, fatigued participants displayed more perseveration on the WCST and showed prolonged planning time on the TOL. Fatigue did not affect performance on the simple memory task. These findings indicate compromised executive control under fatigue, which may explain the typical errors and sub-optimal performance that are often found in fatigued people.     

A stage is a stage is a stage: a direct comparison of two scoring systems

L. Kohlberg (1969) argued that his moral stages captured a developmental sequence specific to the moral domain. To explore that contention, the author compared stage assignments obtained with the Standard Issue Scoring System (A. Colby & L. Kohlberg, 1987a, 1987b) and those obtained with a generalized content-independent stage-scoring system called the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System (T. L. Dawson, 2002a), on 637 moral judgment interviews (participants' ages ranged from 5 to 86 years). The correlation between stage scores produced with the 2 systems was .88. Although standard issue scoring and hierarchical complexity scoring often awarded different scores up to Kohlberg's Moral Stage 2/3, from his Moral Stage 3 onward, scores awarded with the two systems predominantly agreed. The author explores the implications for developmental research.     

Adolescents’ Conflict Resolution Styles Toward Mothers: The Role of Parenting and Personality

In the present research, we examined associations between contextual and individual factors and adolescents’ conflict resolution with mothers. In Study 1, we explored links between maternal responsiveness and psychological control and adolescent conflict resolution styles (positive problem solving, conflict engagement, withdrawal, and compliance) with two informants. In Study 2, we examined the unique contribution of adolescents’ personality above and beyond perceived parenting in the prediction of conflict resolution styles. Results of both studies indicated that responsiveness was related positively to problem solving and negatively to withdrawal. Psychological control was positively associated with destructive resolution styles. Study 2 indicated that extraversion predicted more problem solving and conflict engagement, and less withdrawal. Agreeableness predicted more problem solving and less conflict engagement. Finally, certain personality traits moderated associations between parenting and conflict resolution, indicating that some adolescents are more sensitive to these parenting dimensions than others.