Christian Pastors’ Perspectives and Insights on the Practice of Family Therapists Referring LGB Clients: Exploring the Role of Religion

Abstract

This qualitative study explored Christian pastors’ perceptions and insights for family therapists who refuse to work with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients by consistently referring them. Twenty-one pastors from diverse Christian traditions were interviewed. Thematic analysis identified the following themes related to the pastors’ perceptions of the practice of referring LGB clients: (1) Best Interest of the Client and Therapist, (2) Discriminatory Practice, and (3) No Referrals will be Provided. The following themes represent pastors’ advice for family therapists: (1) Develop a Well-Thought-Out Referral Plan; (2) Be Accountable for Your Own Beliefs; and (3) Engage in Conversations.     

Sequential remembering and lived remembering in the flow of experience: a videographic study / Recuerdo secuencial y recuerdo vivido en el curso de la experiencia: un estudio videográfico

Abstract

During the last 30 years the discussion on memory and remembering has advanced from a strictly cognitive perspective to a broader view, involving the body in these processes. Thus, the present article aims to recover Henri Bergson’s main ideas — published more than a century ago — emphasizing the tight relation between immediate experience, memory and bodily movements. First, contemporary perspectives on memory are reviewed. Afterwards, the results from a videographic study are presented, showing how deeply the body is engaged in the act of remembering. These results evidence the presence of two different ways of remembering: sequential and lively-experienced.     

The natural history of information processors

By spanning the traditional scientific theories in the search for an epistemological home for information it is found that Physics (together with some inputs from Automata Theory) provides the criteria to identify the universals that characterize information processors. It is well known, however, that Physics and Mathematics alone are insufficient to answer some fundamental questions that arise in further speculations on the subject of information. It seems that Biology, in the realm of Evolution Theory and in terms of Natural Selection, is at present the only place able to offer the objective context required to properly characterize information as an object of scientific inquiry.

In this communication we intend to show, by establishing a working equivalence between the epistemological questions that should characterize a theory of information and those questions that characterize the science of Biology, how a science of information can be more objectively characterized. It is only by referring to selective pressures that we can solve the otherwise unanswerable philosophical question of whether it is possible to know if two players of a game are, in fact, playing the same game (the semantic question). It is also shown that it is possible, by using conventional criteria, to establish a phylogenesis of information processors from where we conclude that every information processor now existing in the universe (even computers and robots) has an ancestor that has once been a living being.

It is here suggested, however, that Biology is only a provisory epistemological ground for laying the foundations of an information science. A more inclusive theory should be founded on a generalization of the Theory of Evolution where mutation and natural selection should be described, not in terms of the characteristic media and mechanisms of biological systems, but of the identified universals of information processors.     

On the archetypes in information systems development: An exploration

In this paper I examine possible archetypes that embody the role that systems analyst play in different models of systems development and briefly review attendant epistemological and ontological assumptions.     

Canada 2001: Alternative futures for the Canadian communities

The global “problématique humaine” is described in terms of the “grand issues” of population, resources, development in the rich and poor countries, and the environment. Three competing paradigms about the future and their implications for the Canadian communities are examined, and a model is offered showing interrelationships between the different Canadian communities, organizational levels, and various societal/environmental activities. A comprehensive programme of future‐oriented studies is proposed.

This article is a shortened version of a monograph to appear as one of a series entitled Queen's Studies of the Future of the Canadian Communities, published by the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. The research was funded by the Donner Canadian Foundation.     

REFLECTIONS: EDUCATION AND OUR SHARED FUTURE

Based on a comparative study, this paper highlights and analyses commonalities and differences between an Oriental systems approach, WSR, and two Western counterparts, TOP and MMD. It is suggested that cultural differences among systems approaches might probably have been overshadowed by both commonalities between Western and Eastern traditions and differences within the same cultural tradition. It will be further proposed that by being more consciously open to and learning from each other, systems approaches in the East and the West may have more to offer for dealing with the complexity which confronts humankind.     

Cases to cases: A study of psychotherapy

The background to the study was a research project on psychotherapy (279 subjects) in the context of the Finnish Student Health Service. Patients were divided into three groups by duration of treatment. For each group, a hypothetical case was constructed. The hypothetical case in relation to short-term treatment (less than six months) is someone whose temporarily disturbed mental balance is supported by the therapist. The hypothetical case in relation to medium-term treatment (one to two years) exhibits recovery through release from self-objects. The hypothetical case in relation to long-term treatment (two to five years) was marked by the partial working through of object relationships.     

The effect of limited attention and delay on negative arousing false memories

ABSTRACT

Previous research has shown that, in comparison to neutral stimuli, false memories for high arousing negative stimuli are greater after very fast presentation and limited attention at study. However, full compared to limited attention conditions still produce comparably more false memories for all stimuli types. Research has also shown that emotional stimuli benefit from a period of consolidation. What effect would such consolidation have on false memory formation even when attention is limited at study? The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of fast presentation on false memory production for negatively-arousing and neutral items over time using the DRM paradigm. Sixty-eight participants studied Negative and neutral DRM lists with fast or slow presentation conditions. Half completed a recognition test immediately and half completed a recognition test after one-week. Results revealed that, for fast presentation, negative critical lures increased after one week and were comparable to negative critical lures in the slow presentation encoding conditions. Neutral critical lures in the fast presentation condition did not change and remained lower compared to the slow presentation condition. These findings are the first demonstration that arousing negative false memories can increase over time when attention at encoding is limited.     

Situational differences in dialectical emotions: Boundary conditions in a cultural comparison of North Americans and East Asians

Past research generally suggests that East Asians tolerate opposing feelings or dialectical emotions more than North Americans. We tested the idea that North Americans would have fewer opposing emotions than East Asians in positive, but not in negative or mixed situations. Forty-seven European American, 40 Chinese, and 121 Japanese students reported the emotions that a protagonist of standardised positive, negative, and mixed situations would feel. Emotions were coded into three valence categories: pleasant, unpleasant, and neither-pleasant-nor-unpleasant. As predicted, cultural differences in opposing emotion associations were found in positive situations only. Moreover, East Asians reported more neither-pleasant-nor-unpleasant feelings, especially in mixed situations, possibly reflecting a deferral of valence appraisal due to expected change.