Experiencing gay affirmative therapy: An exploration of clients' views of what is helpful

Gay affirmative therapy is a counselling approach that emphasises an affirming, non‐pathologising approach to therapeutic work with lesbian, gay and bisexual clients. In this study, lesbian and gay clients who had experienced counselling that they defined as affirming identified what they perceived to have been helpful. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect the views of a sample of lesbian, gay and bisexual informants. The material gathered was analysed using a grounded theory approach, which generated six main categories: communicating a non‐pathologising perspective on homosexuality; the counselling relationship; the counselling space; what the counsellor brought to the relationship; humanity; and the counsellor adopting a holistic approach. Some of these identified affirming elements are unique to gay affirmative therapy and cannot be attributed to other factors. The possible significance of the findings for practitioners is discussed.     

Lay rationalism and inconsistency between predicted experience and decision

Decision‐makers are sometimes depicted as impulsive and overly influenced by ‘hot’, affective factors. The present research suggests that decision‐makers may be too ‘cold’ and overly focus on rationalistic attributes, such as economic values, quantitative specifications, and functions. In support of this proposition, we find a systematic inconsistency between predicted experience and decision. That is, people are more likely to favor a rationalistically‐superior option when they make a decision than when they predict experience. We discuss how this work contributes to research on predicted and decision utilities; we also discuss when decision‐makers overweight hot factors and when they overweight cold factors. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Body as the Ground of Religion, Science, and Self

The human body is both religious subject and scientific object, the manifest locus of both religious gnosis and secular cognition. Embodiment provides the basis for a rich cross–fertilization between cognitive science and comparative religion, but cognitive studies must return to their empiricist scientific roots by reembodying subjectivity, thus spanning the natural bridge between the two fields. Referencing the ritual centrality and cognitive content of the body, I suggest a materialist but nonreductionist construct of the self as a substantial cognitive embodiment that embraces not just perception and cognition, mind and spirit, but the forceful physicality of the moving body. Proprioception of the body's moving mass constitutes a mode of knowing that resonates strongly with the experience of self, not only across religious traditions but also within the physical sciences. By way of illustration, two directions are suggested in which a construct of the self as a substantial cognitive embodiment might lead us: first, a body–based interpretation of the Islamic myth of Adam and Iblis that reveals an internal substantiality as constitutive of the divinely imaged Self, and second, a new, religious direction for human evolutionary theory based on the implications of an embodied intentionality.     

Negotiation for Starting Salary: Antecedents and Outcomes Among Recent College Graduates

Recent college graduates were surveyed to explore factors associated with both negotiation propensity as well as success in raising initial salary offers through negotiation. The average payoff associated with negotiation was over $1,500, while the offers of those who did not negotiate increased negligibly. Applicants given the option to present their salary needs negotiated at higher rates than those who were not, and individuals who had prior work experience were more likely to receive this option. Women were no less likely to engage in negotiation than men, and experienced similar success as a result of their efforts.     

KINDS AND CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE: IS THERE ANYTHING THAT IT IS LIKE TO BE SOMETHING?

Abstract: In this article I distinguish the notion of there being something it is like to be a certain kind of creature from that of there being something it is like to have a certain kind of experience. Work on consciousness has typically dealt with the latter while employing the language of the former. I propose several ways of analyzing what it is like to be a certain kind of creature and find problems with them all. The upshot is that even if there is something it is like to have certain kinds of experience, it does not follow that there is anything it is like to be a certain kind of creature. Skepticism about the existence of something that it is like to be an F is recommended.     

THE CONCEPT OF PHILOSOPHICAL EXPERIENCE

Abstract: We often speak about religious experience, and sometimes we speak about metaphysical experience. Yet we seldom hear about philosophical experience. Is philosophy purely a matter of theories and theses, or does it have an experiential aspect? In this article, I argue for the following three claims. First, there is something we might call philosophical experience, and there is nothing mystical about it. Second, philosophical experiences are expressed in something quite similar to what Kant called “aesthetic judgements.” Third, philosophical experiences are expressed by using words in what Wittgenstein called “secondary sense.” Finally, I try to show the educational significance of pursing philosophical experiences. Through articulating them one might find one's ground, and through articulating them in a less private and more universal form one might raise oneself to universality. Thus, in expressing philosophical experiences one aspires to speak in a universal voice.     

元认知结构在教学背景中的理解

近20年来,元认知(metacognition)成为心理学研究的热点之一,人们提出了一系列的元认知理论,试图对人的认知与学习过程作出更为深入的探讨和解释。在许多认知活动中元认知都起着重要作用,这些活动包括口头信息交流、口语理解、阅读理解、写作、语言习得、知觉、注意、记忆、问题解决、社会认知和各种形式的自我控制、自我指导等等。本文主要谈:在教学背景中,对元认知的含义及其结构的理解。     

聋人早期手语经验对脑功能及结构的塑造作用

语言经验对脑功能和结构发展有重要的塑造作用。然而, 目前的相关证据主要来自对脑损伤导致的失语症病人的语言康复、第二语言学习以及针对成人读者进行的语言训练等方面的研究。幼儿时期的早期语言经验对脑结构与功能发展的影响更加重要, 但直接的研究证据却相当缺乏。本文提出一个研究设想, 拟综合使用多种脑成像技术, 系统探讨有早期手语经验和无早期手语经验的聋人个体在脑皮层语言功能的组织及脑结构发育的差异, 包括语言任务中大脑语言区的激活模式, 静息状态下脑功能联结的默认网络特征, 脑皮层灰质密度, 以及神经纤维束发育状况等, 揭示早期语言经验对大脑功能和结构发育的塑造作用。     

情绪调节策略对日常生活事件与情绪体验关系影响的多层分析

运用经验抽样法对154名大学生的日常情绪体验、生活事件进行为期14天的追踪调查,通过多层线性模型（HLM）探讨日常生活事件与情绪体验的关系及情绪调节策略对二者关系的影响。结果表明：大学生积极情绪体验多于消极情绪体验。在个体内和个体间水平,消极事件都对积极情绪有显著的负向预测作用,对消极情绪有显著的正向预测作用;积极事件对积极情绪有显著的正向预测作用。积极事件对消极情绪的负向预测作用只在个体间水平显著。表达抑制这种情绪调节策略能够增强消极生活事件与消极情绪体验的关系。