Pastoral counseling among Chinese churches: a Canadian study

This article reports the results of a survey of Canadian Chinese pastors (N 20) regarding their experiences and attitudes related to pastoral counseling. It identifies common concerns encountered during pastoral counseling, as well as key areas of church concerns. Results of the survey indicate that pastoral counseling may be more important than is currently recognized by Chinese pastors, particularly in key areas of marriage, family life, and general relationship issues. The authors discuss possible implications of the survey relative to training and equipping Chinese pastors to engage more in pastoral counseling as an integral part of their parish ministry.     

Direct and Nondirect Communication of Maternal Beliefs to Adolescents: Adolescent Motivations for Premarital Sexual Activity1

Communication between mothers and adolescents about premarital sexual intercourse was studied in the context of a model of maternal influence on the formation of adolescent beliefs about sexual behavior. Two different forms of maternal influence were explored: (a) direct communication, and (b) indirect transmission of maternal orientations. Respondents were 751 inner-city, African American adolescents (ages 14 to 17) and their mothers. Results indicated that adolescent motivations were related to their sexual behavior, and that maternal beliefs about sex were predictive of those motivations, independent of reports of the amount of communication that had taken place. These data are consistent with a model that underscores multiple mechanisms by which parents influence adolescent sexual behavior over and above direct communication.     

USING NUMBER LINE PROCEDURES AND PEER TUTORING TO IMPROVE THE MATHEMATICS COMPUTATION OF LOW-PERFORMING FIRST GRADERS

Recommendations for mathematics instruction frequently include the use of manipulatives as a critical component. There are few experimental analyses of teaching strategies involving the use of manipulatives (e.g., the number line). This investigation used a multiple baseline design across three groups of students to examine the effectiveness of an experimental procedure for improving low-performing children's skills in solving missing addend arithmetic problems using the number line. To address concerns about inadequate time for instruction and insufficient practice in most mathematics instruction, trained peer tutors implemented the procedure. The results suggest that student performance improved when trained tutors taught the students number line procedures and gave them feedback on accuracy. Further, social validation data indicate that the students, their tutors, and their classroom teachers liked the procedures.     

Schrödinger logics

Schrödinger logics are logical systems in which the principle of identity is not true in general. The intuitive motivation for these logics is both Erwin Schrödinger's thesis (which has been advanced by other authors) that identity lacks sense for elementary particles of modern physics, and the way which physicists deal with this concept; normally, they understandidentity as meaningindistinguishability (agreemment with respect to attributes). Observing that these concepts are equivalent in classical logic and mathematics, which underly the usual physical theories, we present a higher-order logical system in which these concepts are systematically separated. A classical semantics for the system is presented and some philosophical related questions are mentioned. One of the main characteristics of our system is that Leibniz' Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles cannot be derived. This fact is in accordance with some authors who maintain that quantum mechanics violates this principle. Furthermore, our system may be viewed as a way of making sense some of Schrödinger's logical intuitions about the nature of elementary particles.The authors very much would like to thank the anonymous referee for his quite interesting suggestions, which contributed significantly to improve the paper.Presented byJan Zygmunt;     

A new formulation of discussive logic

S. Jakowski introduced the discussive prepositional calculus D ₂as a basis for a logic which could be used as underlying logic of inconsistent but nontrivial theories (see, for example, N. C. A. da Costa and L. Dubikajtis, On Jakowski's discussive logic, in Non-Classical Logic, Model Theory and Computability, A. I. Arruda, N. C. A da Costa and R. Chuaqui edts., North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1977, 37–56). D ₂has afterwards been extended to a first-order predicate calculus and to a higher-order logic (cf. the quoted paper). In this paper we present a natural version of D ₂, in the sense of Jakowski and Gentzen; as a consequence, we suggest a new formulation of the discussive predicate calculus (with equality). A semantics for the new calculus is also presented.     

Aggression in dyadic interaction

It is shown that the notions of aggressive behavior as ‘intentional emission of noxious stimulation’ (Buss, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1971) and that of ‘injuriating goal response’ (Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mower and Sears, 1939) are identical. The usefulness of these theories to predict S's reaction to the reception of a given noxious stimulation is questioned. It is suggested that S's reactions to noxious stimulation may or may not be aggressive, depending on whether the noxious stimulation S receives is interpreted as being a behavior justified by the nom in the situation, or as reflecting an aggressive intent of O. It is hypothesized that the norms established in the situation depend on (i) victim's perception of the noxious stimulation received as being instrumental for O's goal attainment, (ii) victim's perception of the value of O's goal, and (iii) the value of victim's own goal. The establishment of norms regulating the exchange of noxious stimulation between Ss is operationalized in two experiments. Aggression, defined as an infringement of these norms, is measured. In Experiment I, participate 56 female students, and in Experiment 2, 80 male students. Subject is alternately victim (he performs a sensorimotor task and receives an electric shock) and aggressor (he shocks the other S). In Experiment I it is found that Ss counteraggress faster and more frequently if they interpret the shock received from the partner as an infringement of the norm. In Experiment 2, Ss do not counteraggress more frequently, but they do counteraggress faster and evaluate O more negatively. It is concluded that the results clearly contradict current positions and favor the authors' cognitive reformulation of the determinants of aggressive behavior.     

Detecting phonemes and letters in text: Interactions between different types and levels of processes

In six experiments, subjects detected phonemes or letters in text presented auditorily or visually. Experiments 1 and 2 provided support for the hypothesis that a mismatch between the phoneme and letter representations of a target leads to detection errors. In addition, visual word unitization processes were implicated. Experiments 3 and 4 provided support for the hypothesis that the Gestalt goodness of pattern affected detection errors when subjects searched for letters. Experiments 5 and 6 demonstrated that the effects of unitization on the detection of letters in common words were decreased by altering the familiar configuration of the test words. The combined results of all six experiments lead to the conclusion that both visual and phonetic processes influence letter detection, that these processes communicate through a type of cross-checking, and that there are at least two levels of visual (and perhaps of phonetic) processing involved in the letter detection task.     

Teaching behavior analysts in an early intensive behavioral intervention setting to conduct a structured mealtime protocol

Children with autism spectrum disorder often display feeding problems, such as consumption of a limited variety of foods. It is also common for these children to be enrolled in early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) services for comprehensive treatment. Combined, these factors make it possible that behavior analysts will have a role in a child's clinical care related to feeding. However, given that the etiology of pediatric feeding disorders is complex and multifactorial, clinicians should ensure they have sufficient training and a setting that is appropriate for assessment and treatment. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training in an EIBI setting to conduct a structured mealtime protocol. Training resulted in increases in procedural integrity, and we replicated these effects for all participants.     

Use of anvils by the Great Kiskadee (Aves,Tyrannidae): a description based on citizen science data

Animal Cognition - The use of anvils to strike prey is a behavior observed in some species of birds around the world. Here, I investigated the use of anvils by the Great Kiskadee (Pitangus...