Self-disclosure reciprocity,liking and the deviant

Conflicting predictions were derived from social exchange theory about the role of social attraction and the reciprocity norm on mutual self-disclosure in dyadic relationships. Sixty-six female subjects were exposed to one of three levels of disclosure input: conventional-low disclosure, conventional-high disclosure, or devianthigh disclosure. In support of the reciprocity norm prediction, willingness to disclose personal information was a positive function of the amount of disclosure input from another person, regardless of the degree of liking for the initial discloser.     

Effects of guilt and response modality upon associative sexual responses

Two experiments were conducted to test two conceptualizations of guilt. These were Mosher's social learning view and an avoidant-anxiety view suggested by Galbraith. Both experiments examined the effects of sexual guilt and response modality upon associative sexual responses. The results indicated that anonymity of responding increased the number of sexual responses of low guilt women but not that of high guilt women. The results were interpreted as supporting Mosher's preservation of self-esteem view of guilt.     

The Renaissance Ethics of Music: Singing,Contemplation and Musica Humana

Abstract

This article considers Calvin's late work, the Harmony of the Pentateuch (1563). It takes account of previous attempts to illuminate Calvin's purpose in this production by De Boer, Blacketer, Thiel, Wright and Balserak. There follows a consideration of Calvin's view of the ceremonial law for Christians, and a distinction is drawn between the Old Testament cult and the Old Testament law concerning that cult. It finally takes soundings from the work itself to argue that for Calvin, the timeless spirit of worship could be understood behind its outward expression. What matters is that God is seen to call believers out of the flow of everyday occurrence into worship.     

The Science and Theology of Dreams

ABSTRACT

Although dreams were an important theological topic for the early Christians and the Church Fathers, there has been less Christian theological work on dreams in the modern era. I argue that dreams of the OT/NT should be treated together with “visions,” and that these dreams/visions are rooted in REM neurobiology and are manifestations of the utilization of the higher capacities of the mind/brain/soul that allow the individual to access information not otherwise available to the waking mind. Thus knowledge derived from dreams/visions should be (after appropriate discernment criteria are applied) treated as an ongoing and additional source for revelation.     

Relationship between self-esteem and depressive mood in old age: Results from a six-year longitudinal study

The reciprocal nature of the relationship between depression and personality traits (e.g., self-esteem, neuroticism) is still elusive (e.g., vulnerability and scar models). The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal reciprocal effects between self-esteem and depressive mood in older adults. 757 participants aged 64–97 years assessed 4 times over a six-year period. Cross-lagged models were estimated using SEM. Our findings showed a relative stability over a six-year period of both self-esteem and depressive mood. There were no cross-lagged reciprocal effects between self-esteem and depressive mood over time, thereby rejecting both vulnerability and scar models. It means that self-esteem and depressive mood do not predate each other in old age. These results suggest a developmental phenomenon in which self-esteem and depressive mood follow two parallel and stable developmental trajectories through old age.     

Cognitive abilities and personality traits in old age across four years: More stability than change

The current study (N = 236) examined stability and change of six cognitive abilities and three personality traits in old age (M = 74.12 years, SD = 4.40) over four years. Furthermore, we investigated whether levels of one domain were related to the other domain (and vice versa) four years later. The results showed a mean–level decline for processing speed and a mean–level increase for neuroticism. Cross–lagged effects indicated that reasoning was related to openness and conscientiousness was related to verbal knowledge four years later. In general, few and weak associations between the two domains were found. The findings showed that the development of cognitive abilities and personality traits in old age is marked more by stability than by change.     

Withstanding Persecution as a Corroboration of Legitimacy in the New Testament: Reflections on the Resulting Ethical and Hermeneutical Quandary

Abstract : Assertions of standing, authority, and power claimed on the basis of withstanding persecution play a prominent and heretofore under‐appreciated role in much of the New Testament literature. Yet deriving legitimacy from persecution presents an interpretive quandary not unlike those inherited from biblical passages that condone slavery or unhealthy attitudes toward women and men. Reflection on how we construe ourselves in relation to suffering is an agendum inadequately realized in the New Testament that commends itself for twenty‐first century ethics and theology.     

Stability and change in genetic and environmental components of personality in old age

Stability and change in the mean levels and sources of variation in personality was examined. A sample of 149 monozygotic and 202 dizygotic twin pairs over 80 years were studied three times with a 2-year interval between measurement occasions. The Eysenck Personality Inventory to measure extraversion and neuroticism was used. Linear mixed models and Cholesky variance decomposition were carried out (age, gender and mortality controlled). High mean level stability was found in extraversion and neuroticism. Mortality was related to lower scores in extraversion and higher scores in neuroticism. In extraversion and neuroticism, genetic effects were moderate. Though no new genetic contributions emerged over time, significant new environmental effects were found over time. Controlling for mortality slightly increased genetic effect in extraversion.     

The queer life of Christian exceptionalism

This response to Jasbir Puar's monograph, Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times (2007. Durham, NC: Duke University Press), brings Puar's analysis to bear on the current attraction to ‘Christian identity’ as a historical analytic in the fields of New Testament and early Christian Studies, and to increasing associations of the ancient emergence of ‘Christian identity’ with transgressive queerness. I argue that this latter trend, especially, abets certain forms of Christian exceptionalism under the guise of resistance against empire, but I also suggest that this scholarship reveals certain affinities between the notion of queerness as pure transgression and contemporary Christianity.