THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE: WHERE ARE WE?

Abstract. Revolutionary developments in both science and theology are moving the relation between the two far beyond the nineteenth-century “warfare” model. Both scientists and theologians are engaged in a common search for shared understanding. Eight models of interaction are outlined: scientism, scientific imperialism, ecclesiastical authoritarianism, scientific creationism, the two-language theory, hypothetical consonance, ethical overlap, and New Age spirituality. Developments in hypothetical consonance are explored in the work of various scholars, including Ian Barbour, Philip Clayton, Paul Davies, Willem Drees, Langdon Gilkey, Philip Hefner, Nancey Murphy, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Arthur Peacocke, John Polkinghorne, Robert John Russell, Thomas Torrence and Wenzel van Huyssteen.     

Linguistic coding by deaf children in relation to beginning reading success

The coding of printed letters in a task of consonant recall was examined in relation to the level of success of prelingually and profoundly deaf children (median age 8.75 years) in beginning reading. As determined by recall errors, the deaf children who were classified as good readers appeared to use both speech and fingerspelling (manual) codes in short-term retention of printed letters. In contrast, deaf children classified as poor readers did not show influence of either of these linguistically based codes in recall. Thus, the success of deaf children in beginning reading, like that of hearing children, appears to be related to the ability to establish and make use of linguistically recoded representations of the language. Neither group showed evidence of dependence on visual cues for recall.     

The development of anticipatory hand orientation during infancy

The development of infants' prehensile adjustments regarding the orientation of objects was investigated. Five- and nine-month-olds (N = 16 per group) were presented with horizontally and vertically oriented dowels to determine at what point during the reach, hand orientation approximated that of the dowel. Nine-month-olds rotated their hands appropriately, early in the course of the reach, i.e., before tactual contact of the dowel, whereas five-month-olds did so mostly after tactual contact. Analyses of the effects of trials within the experimental session indicated that this age difference was not associated with practice or fatigue effects. The results are discussed in relation to the development of visual control of prehensile behavior.     

Resistance to yielding and the expectation of cooperative future interaction in negotiation

The expectation of cooperative future interaction (ECFI) encouraged especially high joint benefit (the total of the two bargainers' individual outcomes) when resistance to yielding was high, but especially low joint benefit when resistance to yielding was low. Process data suggest that this finding can be explained as follows: When resistance to yielding is high, ECFI encourages problem solving and reduced contentious behavior; when resistance to yielding is low, ECFI encourages a collapse of aspirations. The results support Filley's (1975) dualconcern model and cast doubt on Deutsch's (1973) blanket assertion that a cooperative process leads to constructive conflict resolution.     

The effects of word class on children's reading and spelling

Children's oral language functioning has been shown to be affected by word class (i.e., content vs. noncontent words). The present study reveals comparable effects on children's written language performance. In spelling and reading, third and fifth graders show faster and more accurate responses to nouns and verbs than to noncontent words of matched length and frequency. Further, when the children's performance is examined in relation to level of reading skill, it is found that the less-skilled readers exhibit a greater content/noncontent differential than do the more skilled readers. The results are discussed with reference to differential access for the two word classes and its implication for both oral and written language functioning.     

Encoding variability and organization in free recall

Measures of category clustering and subjective organization are well-established predictors of performance in free recall tasks. The present studies demonstrate that a measure of encoding variability affords equally powerful and independent prediction of free recall performance. They also illustrate an interaction between encoding processes and organizational activity. In Experiments 1 and 2, the independent contributions of organization and encoding variability are demonstrated in categorizable and uncategorizable lists and in subjects whose recall is expected to increase (adults) or decrease (children) as a function of more varied encodings across trials. In Experiment 3, a category labeling procedure is used to demonstrate that the negative relationship between encoding variability and recall can be reversed by inducing adult-like organizational activity in children.     

Some differences between phonetic and auditory modes of perception

When third-formant transitions are appropriately incorporated into an acoustic syllable, they provide critical support for the phonetic percepts we call [d] and [g], but when presented in isolation they are perceived as time-varying ‘chirps’. In the present experiment, both modes of perception were made available simultaneously by presenting the third-format transitions to one ear and the remainder of the acoustic syllable to the other. On the speech side of this duplex percept, where the transitions supported the perception of stop-vowel syllables, perception was categorical and influenced by the presence of a preposed [al] or [ar]. On the nonspeech side, where the same transitions were heard as ‘chirps’, perception was continuous and free of influence from the preposed syllables. As both differences occurred under conditions in which the acoustic input was constant, we should suppose that they reflect the different properties of auditory and phonetic modes of perception.