The Social and Communal Aspects of Urban Spirituality: See-Judge-Act and the urban context

With reference to the urban context and the pastoral method of See-Judge-Act, this article explores the social and communal aspects of Christian spirituality. Subsequent to introductory remarks concerning urban passivity and privatised spirituality, the See-Judge-Act method is contextualised with reference to community experiences in Anfield, Liverpool. The contribution of See-Judge-Act to the development of an urban spirituality is further explored through the themes of spiritual depth and self-esteem. The work concludes that a relevant and vibrant urban spirituality must be grounded within 'contemplation-as-reflection-upon-everyday-experience'.     

Deviations in the emergence of representations: a neuroconstructivist framework for analysing developmental disorders

A common way of studying developmental disorders is to adopt a static neuropsychological deficit approach, in which the brain is characterized in terms of a normal brain with some parts or ‘modules’ impaired. In this paper we outline a neuroconstructivist approach in which developmental disorders are viewed as alternative developmental trajectories in the emergence of representations within neural networks. As a concrete instantiation of the assumptions underlying this general approach, we present a number of simulations in an artificial neural network model. The representations that emerge under different architectural, input and developmental timing conditions are then analysed within a multi‐dimensional state space. We explore alternative developmental trajectories in these simulations, demonstrating how initial differences in the same parameter can lead to very different outcomes, and conversely how different starting states can sometimes result in similar end states (phenotypes). We conclude that the assumptions of the neuroconstructivist approach are likely to be more appropriate for analysing developmental deviations in complex dynamic neural networks, such as the human brain.     

Managed Care, Catholic Vision, and the Claims of Justice

There are numerous challenges posed to Roman Catholic healthcare institutions by recent developments in health care delivery.Some are practical, involving the acceptable limits of accommodationto and collaboration with secular networks of health care delivery.Others, quite often implicated in the first set, are explicitlytheological. What does it mean to be a distinctively Roman Catholichealth care institution? What are the nature and the scope ofRoman Catholic institutional identity? More broadly, what isthe moral relevance of themes in Roman Catholic social teachingto the provision of health care? This issue of Christian Bioethicsaddresses these questions with a spirited exchange among itsauthors. They offer noticeably different perspectives on thegeneral cogency of Roman Catholic social teaching and differentstrategic recommendations for Roman Catholic institutions tomaintain, or recover, their distinctive presence in health caredelivery.     

Trait anxiety, defensiveness and selective processing of threat: an investigation using two measures of attentional bias

Attentional biases for threat were examined in a non-clinical sample (N=60), with each participant tested on both the modified Stroop colour-naming and dot probe tasks. Three groups were selected on the basis of trait anxiety and social desirability scale (SDS) scores: “low anxiety” (LA: low trait, low SDS), “repressor” (REP: low trait, high SDS) and “high anxiety” (HA: high trait, low SDS). Results from the colour-naming task suggested that high levels of defensiveness (in combination with low trait anxiety) were associated with greater avoidance of threat. The REP group showed less interference in colour-naming threat than neutral words; whereas the HA group showed increased interference due to threat words. On the dot probe task, there was a general tendency for this non-clinical sample as a whole to show avoidance of social threat relative to neutral words, but there was no bias for physical threat words. Avoidance of social threat was significant only within the REP group. No relationships were found between the measures of cognitive bias from the two tasks, suggesting different underlying mechanisms. Results are discussed in relation to previous findings and theoretical views of the effects of anxiety and defensiveness on the processing of threat.     

Identity processing style and cognitive attributional strategies: similarities and difference across different contexts

Identity processing style refers to the manner in which individuals approach or manage to avoid identity relevant problems and decisions. Two studies were designed to investigate the relationship between identity style and the specific cognitive and attributional strategies youth deploy in achievement and affiliative contexts. In Study 1, 198 American late adolescents filled in the revised Identity Style Inventory and a Strategy and Attribution Questionnaire. In Study 2, 109 Finnish late adolescents filled in the same measures. Study 1 revealed that diffuse/avoidant‐oriented American youth relied on maladaptive strategies in both contexts. Information‐oriented youth engaged in more strategic planning than did their normative and diffuse/avoidant counterparts. Study 2 indicated an identical pattern of associations among the identity processing styles and cognitive and attributional strategies for Finnish youth in achievement but not in interpersonal settings. The results are discussed in the context of a social–cognitive theory of identity development. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A facilitative effect of punishment on unpunished behavior

The key pecking of two pigeons was reinforced on a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement during the presentation of each of two stimuli. In various phases of the experiment, punishment followed every response emitted in the presence of one of the stimuli. In general, when the rate of punished responding changed during the presentation of one stimulus, the rate of unpunished responding during the other stimulus changed in the opposite direction. This sort of change in rate is an example of behavioral contrast. When punishment was introduced, the rate of punished responding decreased and the rate of unpunished responding increased as functions of shock intensity. When the rate of previously punished responding increased after the termination of the shock, the rate of the always unpunished responding decreased. When the procedure correlated with a red key was changed from variable-interval reinforcement and punishment for each response to extinction and no punishment, the rate of reinforced responding during presentations of a green key decreased and then increased while the rate of the previously punished responding during red first increased and then decreased during extinction.     

Obsessive intrusive thoughts in nonclinical subjects. Part I. Content and relation with depressive, anxious and obsessional symptoms

The present study reports on the development and preliminary validation of a 52 item self-report instrument designed to assess intrusive thoughts, images and impulses that are similar to the aggressive, sexual and disease-related thinking characteristic of clinical obsessions. Two hundred and ninety-three students completed the Obsessive Intrusions Inventory (OII) as well as standard self-report measures of negative cognitions and obsessive, anxious and depressive symptoms. Regression analysis revealed that intrusive thinking was a significant and unique predictor of obsessional but not anxious or depressive symptoms. Furthermore, intrusive thinking showed a moderate correlation with anxious but not depressive cognitions. The results indicate that the intrusive thoughts assessed by the OII are distinct from other forms of negative thinking and may, in fact, constitute an analogue form of clinical obsessions in nonclinical populations.