Attitude towards Christianity and New Age beliefs among undergraduate students in Slovenia: a study in implicit religion

This study examines two conflicting hypotheses regarding the association between traditional religiosity and new age belief: the “worldview hypothesis” suggesting a positive association between these two sets of beliefs; and the “functional alternative hypothesis” suggesting a negative association between these two sets of beliefs. A sample of 1209 undergraduate students attending the University of Maribor, Slovenia, completed the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity as a measure of traditional religiosity and the Lavri? Scale of New Age Belief, alongside a measure of frequency of church attendance. The data demonstrated a positive correlation between attitude towards Christianity and new age belief, even after taking into account different levels of church attendance. These findings support the worldview hypotheses in favour of the functional alternative hypothesis.     

The Turning of the Tide: Theology,Religion, and Economics1

Abstract : Although capitalist free market economics is in crisis, its assumptions continue to shape not only how we do business or politics but also how we think and feel, and even what we believe. For theologians and scholars of religion this means that we can no longer do our work without taking into consideration what is happening in the economy and how it affects us; before religion can become part of the solution we need to understand how it has become part of the problem. This article investigates how economics has shaped religion and theology and develops alternative perspectives.     

A Critique of Frankfurt-Libertarianism

Most libertarians think that some version of the Principle of Alternative Possibilities (PAP) is true. A number of libertarians, which I call ‘Frankfurt-libertarians,’ think that they need not embrace any version of PAP. In this paper, I examine the writings of one such Frankfurt-libertarian, Eleonore Stump, for her evaluation of the impact of Frankfurt-style counterexamples (FSCs) to PAP. I show how, contrary to her own claims, Stump does need a PAP-like principle for her account of free action. I briefly argue that this discussion also goes some distance to showing that any Frankfurt-libertarian is in a similar position regarding the need for some PAP-like principle. If I am correct, then Frankfurt-libertarians must either renounce their incompatibilism or concede that FSCs fail to show all PAP-like principles to be false.

"Replacing" problem behavior: an analysis of tactical alternatives

A number of textbooks and professional volumes in applied behavior analysis suggest that interventions designed primarily to decrease a problem behavior should routinely be accompanied by efforts to increase the frequency of at least one appropriate behavior. Some sources describe the objective of this tactic as "replacing" the problem behavior. This paper considers rationales that might underlie this advice, as well as reasons why a general rule to this effect is inappropriate. This review reveals that although there may well be good reasons for considering this tactic, their rationales are often not well articulated and may even be unsound. It is also the case that there are good reasons why this tactic may not always be necessary, thus conflicting with an argument for a general rule.     

A comparison of flashbacks and ordinary autobiographical memories of trauma: cognitive resources and behavioural observations

We investigated predictions derived from the dual representation theory of posttraumatic stress disorder, which proposes that flashbacks and ordinary memories of traumas are supported by different types of representation. Sixty-two participants, meeting DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder, completed a detailed written trauma narrative, and afterwards identified those sections in the narrative that had been written in flashback and ordinary memory periods. Performance on cognitive tasks confirmed predictions that flashback periods would be associated with a specific decrement in visuospatial processing. Contrary to prediction, periods of both flashback and ordinary memory were associated with decrements on a verbal processing task. Independent observer ratings also confirmed that flashback periods were associated with increases in a wide range of autonomic and motor behaviours.     

Reinforcement schedule thinning following treatment with functional communication training

We evaluated four methods for increasing the practicality of functional communication training (FCT) by decreasing the frequency of reinforcement for alternative behavior. Three participants whose problem behaviors were maintained by positive reinforcement were treated successfully with FCT in which reinforcement for alternative behavior was initially delivered on fixed-ratio (FR) 1 schedules. One participant was then exposed to increasing delays to reinforcement under FR 1, a graduated fixed-interval (FI) schedule, and a graduated multiple-schedule arrangement in which signaled periods of reinforcement and extinction were alternated. Results showed that (a) increasing delays resulted in extinction of the alternative behavior, (b) the FI schedule produced undesirably high rates of the alternative behavior, and (c) the multiple schedule resulted in moderate and stable levels of the alternative behavior as the duration of the extinction component was increased. The other 2 participants were exposed to graduated mixed-schedule (unsignaled alternation between reinforcement and extinction components) and multiple-schedule (signaled alternation between reinforcement and extinction components) arrangements in which the durations of the reinforcement and extinction components were modified. Results obtained for these 2 participants indicated that the use of discriminative stimuli in the multiple schedule facilitated reinforcement schedule thinning. Upon completion of treatment, problem behavior remained low (or at zero), whereas alternative behavior was maintained as well as differentiated during a multiple-schedule arrangement consisting of a 4-min extinction period followed by a 1-min reinforcement period.     

Use of a multicomponent treatment for food refusal

We examined the use of a multicomponent treatment for food refusal exhibited by a 5-year-old boy who had been diagnosed with mild to moderate mental retardation. Treatment consisted of access to highly preferred tangible items, which were removed contingent on problem behavior or not accepting a bite, and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior. Treatment resulted in an increase in food acceptance to 100% of bite offers and near-zero rates of problem behavior. In addition, the participant's caregivers were successfully trained to implement the treatment.