Validation of the Japanese Version of the Modified Balanced Time Perspective Scale: Factor Structure,Reliability, and Validity Results1

A balanced time perspective (BTP) is defined as a frequent and equal tendency to think positively about both one's past and future. A BTP is related to greater psychological well-being, such as life satisfaction and wisdom, and these BTP associations may vary cross-culturally, although few studies of BTP in non-Western countries exist. In order to advance cross-cultural comparisons of BTP, an important methodological step is to validate BTP measures in different cultures. This study aimed to develop and validate a Japanese version of the modified Balanced Time Perspective Scale (mBTPS). Japanese participants (N = 1,020, aged 18–79 years) completed the mBTPS-J, along with Japanese versions of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI-J) and measures of well-being (life satisfaction and wisdom scales). Factor analysis of the mBTPS-J resulted in a 27-item mBTPS-J consisting of Past, Present, and Future subscales. Correlations between the relevant mBTPS-J and ZTPI-J subscales, and with the well-being measures, supported both convergent and predictive validity, respectively. The demonstrated psychometric strengths of the mBTPS-J will allow for specific testing of important cross-cultural questions.     

Introduction

The place of philosophy in Iranian society is prominent. Philosophy is discussed in popular media as well as specialized journals, and in seminaries, research centers, and universities. Philosophy in Iran is often divided into Western and Islamic. Sometimes these are taken to be rivals. The methods of instruction differ to some extent, as well as the languages needed for advanced study. The question of the nature of Islamic philosophy is itself a controversial topic in Iran, and positions on this issue are often driven by ideological trends. The study of philosophy in the Islamic seminaries has its own history. Today Islamic philosophy may be considered a philosophical tradition that is being carried on with increasing interaction with the study of Western philosophy in Iran.

老年人和大学生决策规则稳定性的比较研究

遵守规则是理性决策的必要条件。本研究考察了222名大学生和157名老年人进行选择活动时所遵循的规则的稳定性。研究发现,大学生的选择与老年人相比,具有显著的“不规则”倾向,然而此倾向在老年人中并不存在。在面对假设的超市折扣卡时,大学生的“非规则”选择显示出他们在一定程度上缺乏理性,而老年人的“精明”决策进一步证明其与日常生活相关联的复杂认知能力如判断和推理等在老龄期依然处于较高的水平。     

通过厄洛斯神话看柏拉图的诗性智慧

The interlink between myth and wisdom in Hellenic heritage is characteristically embodied in the Platonic philosophizing as regards the education and enculturation of the human psyche. As is read in the end of The Republic, the myth of Er turns out to be a philosophical rewriting of poetry to a large degree. For it engagingly reveals Plato’s moral inculcation, philosophical instruction and poetic wisdom in particular, all of which are intended to guide human conduct along the right track for the bliss of the postmortem cycle, and put philosophy learning into first priority for the choice of the future life. Moreover, the transmigrate experience in the mystic overtone of “the Orphic-Pythagorean conglomerate” is discussed with a intercultural reference to the Buddhist doctrines of samsara and karma.      

QUINTUPLE EXTENSION: MIND, BODY, HUMANISM, RELIGION, SECULARISM

Extension of the system that includes the key substrates for sensation, perception, emotion, volition, and cognition, and all representational sources for cognition, supports the view that there is an extended mind and an extended body. These intellectual views can be made practical in a humanist system based on extensions and in religious systems based on extensions. Independently, there is also an institutional extension of secularism. Hence, I maintain, there are five principal forms of extension.     

THE HUMAN BRAIN AND HUMAN DESTINY: A PATTERN FOR OLD BRAIN EMPATHY WITH THE EMERGENCE OF MIND

Abstract. The human brain combines empathy and imagination via the old brain which sets our destiny in the evolutionary scheme of things. This new understanding of cognition is an emergent phenomenon—basically an expressive ordering of reality as part of "a single natural system." The holographic and subsymbolic paradigms suggest that we live in a contextual universe, one which we create and yet one in which we are required to adapt. The inadequacy of the new brain—specially the left hemisphere's rational view of destiny—is replaced by a view of a new relatedness in reality in which human destiny comes from and depends upon the mutual interchange between the new brain (cultural knowledge) and the old brain (genetic wisdom) for the survival of what is significant to the whole systemic context in which we live.     

HEBREW WISDOM AND PSYCHOTHEOLOGICAL DIALOGUE

Abstract. When understood as a potential resolution for the epistemological impasse between psychology and religion, Hebrew wisdom presents a model for dialogue. Noting that wisdom exhibits a special interest in human dispositions and behavior, the authors compare Viktor Frankl's logotherapy and Adlerian psychology with Proverbs and uncover a biblical, empirical approach to psychology which indirectly incorporates the religious dimension.     

Moral and religious issues in education

Difficulties in liberal secularism are considered in relation to the views of ethnic minorities and in terms of the misleading nature of its supposed neutrality and objectivity. Cultural liberalism is seen in contrast to be committed to the preservation of other cultures and to celebrating diversity. This might avoid relativism and, within the Wisdom Tradition, offer a mutual enrichment and better access to truth. The practice of religious education can be seen as implicating the general behaviour of the teacher and the ethos of the school. A postmodernist pedagogy, involving dialogue with text and teacher, might both respect diversity and recover a sense of mystery. Reassessment of the relationship between knowledge and morality might lead to new practice in moral education, with relevant activities leading beyond the facts towards reflection on values. Moral education might also go beyond the intellect to encourage appropriate emotional dispositions in a communicative ethics. The dominance of certain metaphors in the language of cultural identity and authenticity channels thinking: this needs to be questioned.     

RALPH WENDELL BURHOE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract. Ralph Burhoe has sought to preserve “traditional religious wisdom,” but he emphasizes science as a new revelation. His relation to philosophical positivism and his insistence on including in a scientific theology only views that reflect the scientific worldview constitute major philosophical and theological problems. This essay considers the influence of several historical precursors—Francis Ellingwood Abbot, George Burman Foster, and Shailer Mathews of the “Chicago School” of theology, Douglas Clyde Macintosh, and, especially, Henry Nelson Wieman—which has contributed to a favorable reception of Burhoe's ideas. Social problems such as the youth revolution of the 1960s and indifference to the lack of intellectual credibility of religious beliefs have, however, hindered reception of his ideas. The conclusion notes some tasks that must yet be accomplished in order to continue Burhoe's work, particularly that of increasing the general level of education in the sciences.     

‘God’s got your back’: teenage boys talk about God

This paper reports on ongoing research that has gathered data from 1100 boys, between 15‐ and 18‐years‐old, on the ways in which they experience and express spirituality. The paper is set against the background of a previous paper in this journal (Engebretson, 2004 Engebretson, K. 2004. Teenage boys, spirituality and religion. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 9(3): 263–278.  [Google Scholar]), that introduced the research and gave its theoretical framework. The focus of this paper is on the boys’ articulated experiences of the transcendent. The paper reports on these, claiming that transcendent experiences occurred for the boys in times that involved risk, fear, challenge, need and loss. Their sense of God was personal, one who was always there, who understood, who listened, who cared and protected. The paper then critically analyses why a much smaller percentage of boys who were given the opportunity to answer these questions did so, in comparison with the much higher percentage who answered the other questions on the questionnaire. Finally, questions are posed that will guide the research as it continues.