Can we really do without self-esteem? Comment on Crocker and Park (2004)

Because self-esteem plays a central role in managing anxiety and provides a superordinate goal that organizes much human behavior, the authors conclude that it would be extremely difficult and probably impossible for people to stop pursuing self-esteem. Although they agree that investment in others' welfare may circumvent some of the negative consequences of self-esteem pursuit, the authors argue that the self-esteem implications of other-oriented behavior will inevitably be a powerful motivating force. Finally, the authors propose that self-esteem derived from self-determined standards of value may reduce defensiveness, closed-mindedness, and indifference to others, as well as promote personal growth, but they acknowledge the daunting barriers to the attainment of such self-determined bases of self-worth.     

Shared spatial representations for numbers and space: the reversal of the SNARC and the Simon effects

In 4 experiments, the authors investigated the reversal of spatial congruency effects when participants concurrently practiced incompatible mapping rules (J. G. Marble & R. W. Proctor, 2000). The authors observed an effect of an explicit spatially incompatible mapping rule on the way numerical information was associated with spatial responses. The authors also observed an effect of an incompatible numerical mapping rule (if smaller than 5, press right; if larger than 5, press left) on the Simon effect. This effect was observed only when both tasks used the same effectors. The results point to a shared spatial representation for explicit spatial information (locations) and implicit spatial information (numbers).     

The Priesthood of No Believer: On the Priesthood of Christ and his Church

This article seeks to begin to rebalance the relative neglect over the past fifty years of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, a doctrine which is central to non‐episcopal forms of Protestantism. However, in so doing, the article seeks to offer a corrective to traditional accounts of the doctrine. Critiquing the tendency for the priesthood of all believers to enter discussion in relation to ecclesial polity rather than more fundamental theological concerns, the article advocates that the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers needs to be considered theologically in terms of what it says about the nature of the church, not the polity of the patterns of its ministry. The article traces the evolution of the idea of priesthood through the Levitical priesthood and New Testament to the early church. It then considers the recovery of the idea of priesthood belonging to the whole church at the Reformation; but argues that even here the magisterial Reformers' ecclesial‐political setting determines that they largely treat the priesthood of all believers as a negative doctrine about church order, and, indeed, that the relation of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers to issues of ecclesial polity and governance continues in contemporary ecclesiological discussion. This is to the detriment of the positive theological content that identifying the church as a priesthood might offer. Thus, the concluding section of this article sketches what positive theological content might be provided in speaking of the church as a priesthood.     

Empowerment,Leadership, and Sustainability in a Faith-Based Partnership to Improve Health

Community-based participatory research is a noted approach for improving community health and reducing health disparities. Community partnerships can serve as a catalyst for change in public health efforts. This article will apply empowerment theory and sustainability principles to an existing faith-based partnership. BRANCH Out is a partnership among 13 African American churches, the City of Milwaukee Health Department—Community Nutrition, and the Medical College of Wisconsin. The partnership goal was to change inaccurate perceptions, knowledge and negative attitudes, and behaviors about chronic disease and promote healthy youth leadership. Faith-based empowerment can occur at the individual, organizational, and community level. BRANCH Out demonstrates how partnerships can be sustained in multiple ways. The partnership also highlights the unique contributions of churches to community health outcomes.     

Reaction-anticipation transitions in human perception-action patterns

We investigated the hypothesis that reaction and anticipation in human perceptual-motor performance are two coordinative modes of a single pattern-forming dynamical system, rather than separate behaviors. Subjects coordinated the onset of finger flexions with visual metronome flashes in each of three patterns: reactive, synchronized, or syncopated. The stimulus frequency was progressively increased (0.125–1.375 Hz) or decreased (1.375-0.125 Hz) in small steps (0.125 Hz) every 10 cycles. We observed qualitative transitions in both the time interval between stimulus and corresponding action (Δt) and their relative phase (ø) at critical values of the stimulus frequency, corresponding to changes from ‘reactive-to-anticipatory’ and ‘anticipatory-to-reactive’ performance. Such transitions provide evidence of a single, multifunctional system, which can be adequately described by the dynamics of collective variables characterizing the respective perception-action patterns.     

Merleau-Ponty,Marx, and Marxism: The problem of history

At the present time, Europe, particularly eastern Europe, is still immersed in a major political transformation, the most significant such change since the Second World War, arising out of the rejection of official Marxism. This unforeseen rejection requires meditation by all those concerned with the relation of philosophy to the historical context. Marxism, that follows Marx’s insistence on the link between a theory and the context in which it arises, cannot be indifferent to the rejection of Marxist theory in practice. In respect to the usual tendency to pass rapidly over practice for a theoretical analysis of social theory, Merleau-Ponty stands out for his concern to evaluate the theoretical claims of Marx and Marxism against practice.     

Types produce types—Especially fathers

Employing a larger sample and a more stringent statistical criterion, this study replicated an attempt by T. G. Grandy and R. F. Stahmann (Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1974, 5, 231–239.) to test Holland's hypothesis that parents' personality types foster similar offspring personality development. The relationships between paternal and offspring personality types were consonant with the findings of Grandy and Stahmann but the role of maternal personalities remained unclear. An explanation was offered that fathers' personality types carry more weight in the development of offspring types.