Mission,Reconciliation, and the Politics of Place

Through the retelling of some familiar biblical stories – Jonah, Acts 1, Acts 10 – and gospel narratives of inclusion, this paper looks at the transformation of politics and identities made possible by the sending of the Holy Spirit and the mission of reconciliation to which Christians are called. Through an examination of the themes of power, prejudice, partnership, and identity, the paper aims to offer a concrete approach to rethinking the spaces and places where a reconciling mission can be enacted. Central to an understanding of reconciliation are the disruption and transgressing of boundaries in which Jesus engaged. In addition to this, Jesus creates these unique spaces for reconciliation around his very person, and the Spirit leads the church into these same contexts. Finally, selections of John 17 are examined through a biographical lens in order to offer a new understanding of the politics of identity and the surprising contexts where God’s Spirit reconciles all things in Christ.     

Developmental patterns of emotion regulation in toddlerhood: Examining predictors of change and long‐term resilience

Emotion regulation is critical for optimal functioning across a wide range of domains and may be even more important for individuals in high‐risk environments. While evidence suggests that childhood is generally a period of emotion regulation growth and development, research is needed to examine factors that may contribute to deviations from a typical trajectory. In a prospective study of 1,905 children, latent class growth analysis (LCGA) was used to identify trajectory groups of emotion regulation across toddlerhood (age 14–36 months), examine predictors of those trajectory groups from child temperament, parenting behaviors, and environmental risk, and explore predictions of resilience in 5th grade from the identified groups. LGCA supported a three‐class model, with a Stable Incline group, a Decline group, and a Catch‐Up group. Child negative emotionality, positive and negative parenting, and environmental risk predicted group membership. These trajectory groups in toddlerhood were predictive of child resilient functioning in the 5th grade. Our findings highlight the importance of utilizing developmental models of emotion regulation and provide implications for prevention and early intervention services to enhance emotion regulation development in early childhood.     

The Boston Naming Test: Norm data and cue utilization in a sample of normal 6- and 7-year-old children

The object-naming abilities of 83 normal children were examined using the Boston Naming Test developed by E. Kaplan, H. Goodglass, and S. Weintraub (1976, The Boston Naming Test (experimental edition), unpublished test, Veterans Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts). There is currently a lack of available norms for this instrument, especially for populations of younger children. Cue utilization in this sample is explored and attention is focused upon possible gender differences in naming performance and cue strategies. Seven summary scores derived from the test are presented in this report. Results indicate that the Boston Naming Test can discriminate within a normal population sample of young children and provides a relatively normal distribution for six of seven derived scores. Boys were found to have a significantly greater number of items correctly named but no gender differences in cue utilization were evident. A major proportion of the children in this sample of 6- and 7-year-olds used phonological cues almost exclusively, rather than semantic cues also provided. Cue use was not related to age or spontaneously given responses, and none of the children were found to be highly proficient at using both types of cues.     

Developing referential communication skills: The interaction of role-switching and difference rule training

Although both substantive knowledge and enabling skills are important to the development of referential communication, deficits in procedural knowledge may account for a significant portion of preschoolers' communicative failures. The results of this training study with 5-year-olds revealed that they lack two major procedural skills. They do not know the importance of differentiating referents from nonreferents. They also are unaware that the speaking and listening roles are, at least in part, complementary; that is, certain rules are applicable to both. After training which provided specific instruction on the nature of informative messages (in either the speaking or listening mode, but not both) and role-switching experience, performance improved both on tasks in the trained and in the nontrained modalities. Discussion focuses on both the practical implications and the theoretical significance of these results.     

Self-presentation and drive in social facilitation

Social facilitation refers to cases in which the presence of others increases the probability of certain responses on the part of an independently operating individual. Drive theory attributes these effects to an unconscious facilitation of dominant responses, as defined by Hull-Spence learning theory. Self-presentation explanations posit changes in motivation and cognitive strategies that result from an increased concern with favorable private and public images. The present paper reviews evidence and presents an experiment indicating both points of view are valid, but that neither perspective by itself can account for all relevant data.     

The relation of congruence,differentiation, and consistency to interest and aptitude scores in women with stable and unstable vocational choices

This study examined by canonical variate analysis the relation between congruence, differentiation, and consistency, and academic aptitude and vocational interests for 280 women with stable vocational choices over 4 years and 327 women with unstable vocational choices over 4 years. Findings offered support for the importance of congruence in stable women; differentiation and consistency operated similarly for women with stable and unstable choices.