Attending to feelings and cognitive performance

The effect on cognitive performance of attending to internally generated stimuli was examined. Specifically, the effect of examining feelings and sensations upon performance in the Stroop test and upon the performance of mental addition was measured. In two initial experiments subjects more quickly named, in the Stroop test, the color of the ink (“red”) in which a color word (“green”) was printed following instructions to attend to their feelings. It was found that this facilitation was due in part to the slowing of the automatic, interfering habit of reading for word meanings. In a third experiment, the effect of attending to physical sensations on the back of the hand was found to have a similar facilitating effect and was seen as resulting from the allocation of attention to internally generated stimuli. In a final experiment, attending to feelings and to the physical sensations on the back of the hand was found to increase speed of mental addition. This effect was attributed to increased attention to internally generated stimuli (here knowledge about the arithmetic performance at the moment).     

Performance expectancies and affect associated with outcomes as a function of time perspective

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of time perspective on performance expectancies and the subjective evaluation of outcomes in regard to a task at which subjects had previously succeeded or failed. Prior research has produced conflicting findings on the subjective evaluation of positive and negative outcomes, but some of the research has dealt with tangible rewards and punishments while other work has been concerned with performance outcomes involving tasks with which subjects were unfamiliar. In the current study subjects first succeeded or failed on either an easy or difficult task. They then stated performance expectancies and made evaluations of the affect associated with success and failure in regard to performing the task again immediately, in 3 wk, or in 21 wk. Results indicated a significant decrease over time for both the satisfaction associated with passing and the dissatisfaction associated with failure. Performance expectancies were significantly higher for the testing period of 21 wk in the future than for either the immediate or 3-wk testing period, but this difference was evidenced only for subjects who initially passed the test.     

Parameter estimation for the thurstone case III model

A Monte Carlo study was conducted to investigate the ability of three estimation criteria to recover the parameters of Case V and Case III models from comparative judgment data. Significant differences in recovery are shown to exist.This research was supported by grant SOC76-20517 from the National Science Foundation. The authors acknowledge with appreciation comments received on an earlier draft by Harold Lindman, Joseph Zinnes, and anonymous reviewers.     

The technical drift of applied behavior analysis

Four dimensions (applied, analytic, general, conceptual) were selected from Baer, Wolf, and Risley's (1968) seminal article on the nature of applied behavior analysis and were monitored throughout the first 10 volumes of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Each of the experimental articles in Volumes 1 through 6 and the first half of Volumes 7 through 10 was rated on each of these dimensions. The trends showed that applied behavior analysis is becoming a more purely technical effort, with less interest in conceptual questions. We are using simpler experimental designs and are conducting fewer analogue studies. Although concern for maintenance is increasing, other forms of generality are being measured or analyzed less often. These trends are discussed in terms of a technical drift in applied behavior analysis.     

Identity theft1

Abstract

Psychoanalysis has almost disappeared from the curricula of most American universities, which I illustrate by the case of the department of psychology at my own university, Harvard. Courses on psychoanalysis are very rare there and it is mostly seen as a part of history of psychology and not as a set of ideas that can be useful nowadays. Personality models developed by Freud or Melanie Klein, as well as many more contemporary psychoanalysts, are, however, still very relevant for the humanities. This is particularly the case for Shakespeare studies and I am trying to show that despite the fact that psychoanalysis can enrich this field, less and less students show interest in it or are willing to admit that they themselves may have unconscious reactions. I focus on the usefullness of the concept of projective identification and propose the thesis that is another name for the activities of theater, and indeed for theater itself.     

Decentered online Bible instruction: How active learning enhances the study of Scripture

The field of biblical studies lends itself well to decentered online learning – a kind that uses active learning to engage primary texts and their interpretations. Not only does such an approach work well in online and hybrid formats, it more readily welcomes readings that are more contextual, constructive, and collaborative. Three aspects best characterize a decentered approach to active learning online: an orientation toward primary texts, collaborative inquiry, and enhanced learner initiative. This essay describes the significance of each in turn, along with naming some best practices. I argue that this approach not only shifts focus toward learners and the learning environment, it works particularly well for teaching Bible courses online and in hybrid formats where interpretation of primary sources is the fundamental goal.     

Site visits in interfaith and religious studies pedagogy: Reflections on visiting a Hindu temple in central Pennsylvania

Site visits provide an irreplaceable learning experience to students in both religious studies and the emerging field of interfaith studies. The conceptual core of this thesis is the claim, drawn from feminist epistemology, that an embodied pedagogy – a pedagogy which engages students not only intellectually, but as embodied beings who inhabit a space, engage in physical activities, and undergo various sensory experiences – is ultimately more enriching than a pedagogy centered exclusively in the classroom. Factors that make a site visit a successful instance of embodied pedagogy include the provision of sufficient context to students in advance for them to understand and appreciate the experience, an opportunity afterward to reflect on this experience in an intentional way, ensuring the site and the community whose space it is are treated with proper respect, and ensuring that the religious sensibilities of one's students are also similarly respected.     

巴蜀易学源流考

巴蜀易学素有渊源,两汉为滥觞期,六朝为续传期.唐代为总结期,两宋为高峰期,元明以下则为流衍期.自两汉迄清末,历代巴蜀易学著作约有180余种;数量虽然不多,然特征却很鲜明,流派众多,“四道”毕备,其“尚辞”者则有苏轼之《苏氏易传》,“尚象”“尚变”者则有李鼎柞之《集解》、来知德之《集注》,其“尚占”者则如汉严遵,而尤以卜筮易、道家易源远流长.至于《易》《老》兼治者,则有严遵、扬雄;发明图书易者,则如陈抟、胡世安;其以佛陀解《易》者,则有苏轼、龙昌期.至于仿圣拟经,由扬雄开其先(撰《太玄》),而王长文(攫《通玄经》)、卫元嵩(《元苞》)诸人继其事,成为巴蜀易学之一大特色.后之治《易》《玄》,谈《图》《书》者,皆以蜀学发其轫.刘成炘曰:“易学在蜀(伊川语),如诗之有唐矣.”(《蜀学论》)信然.     

论南宋合州阳氏易学

南宋合州阳氏家族经朱熹弟子(要)渊、度正,尽得朱氏学术之传,并世传其学,既上承蜀中程氏易学而发扬之,又下启鄞县史蒙卿静清之学,开四明朱氏学术之先.合州阳氏于易学深造有得,世传易学,老而弥笃,反对章句义疏,而重在日用常行,讲求体悟,并于象数图书之学多有自得之见,折射出程朱理学在南宋晚期重践履、朱陆合漉、易图学蓬勃发展等新动向.     

从《周易参同契》看易学在道教中的传播与影响

<周易参同契>作为道教易学的重要代表作,其最重要的特色是会归"大易"、"黄老"和"炉火"三家之理,借<周易>言黄老说炼丹.本文将<周易参同契>置于汉代易学的背景下,从黄老道家哲学与道教仙学的发展中,来探讨<周易参同契>如何托<周易>卦爻象为象征符号来隐喻金丹道之内涵,以展示易学在道教中的传播与影响.