Taking Sin Seriously

Contemporary Roman Catholic ethics endeavors to take sin seriously by offering theologies of sin that emphasize it as a force and as a basic, personal orientation. Such efforts rightly counter the Catholic tradition's earlier reduction of sin to sins, and sins to external acts and moral culpability. But perhaps they go too far in this regard. By engaging Charles Curran, this study argues that inattention to sins undermines the theological referent of sin as a discourse that concerns more than moral culpability, obscures God as the source of freedom and value, and neglects the way in which acts express and sustain sin and fashion a personal orientation. Drawing on the work of Jean Porter, the essay shows that attention to sins highlights the historicity, particularity, and provisionality of human acts because of the theological referent and analogical character of sin and sins.     

Biblical and Theological Perspectives on Children,Parents, and ‘Best Practices' for Faith Formation: Resources for Child,Youth, and Family Ministry Today

Abstract : One of the most important ways to strengthen the faith formation of children and young people, and child, youth, and family ministries is by engaging and supporting parents or primary care‐givers. This article seeks to address this challenge by mining resources from the Bible and Christian theology about the roles and responsibilities of parents, the complexity and dignity of children, and ways to pass on the faith. By taking into account theological perspectives on parents, children, and faith formation, church leaders can better engage both children and parents, and they can strengthen all areas of their work with or on behalf of children and young people, whether in children's ministry, youth and family ministry, religious education, or child advocacy.     

On the historical and conceptual background of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

In this paper, we describe the development of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). We trace the history of sorting tasks from the studies of Narziss Ach on the psychology of thinking, via the work of Kurt Goldstein and Adhémar Gelb on brain lesioned patients around 1920 and subsequent developments, up to the actual design of the WCST by Harry Harlow, David Grant, and their student Esther Berg. The WCST thus seems to originate from the psychology of thinking ('Denkpsychologie'), but the test, as it is used in clinical neuropsychological practice, was designed by experimenters working within the behaviorist tradition. We also note recent developments suggesting that, contrary to the general impression, implicit learning may play a role in WCST-like discrimination learning tasks.     

Perceptual visual grouping under inattention: electrophysiological functional imaging

Two types of perceptual visual grouping, differing in complexity of shape formation, were examined under inattention. Fourteen participants performed a similarity judgment task concerning two successive briefly presented central targets surrounded by task-irrelevant simple and complex grouping patterns. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 22 scalp electrodes and source current density estimations were conducted for the net response to the task-irrelevant background patterns, using low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). Although participants’ subjective reports indicated that neither type of organization induced awareness, electrophysiological results showed they both evoked significant activation in occipital, parieto-temporal and frontal brain areas. Behavioral results demonstrated that only grouping of the simple pattern arose under inattention. In contrast to the complex pattern, the processing of the simple pattern was associated with an initially longer latency and higher activation beginning at 130 ms. These results support the distinction of grouping patterns differing in complexity of shape formation.     

Unpacking outcome dependency: Differentiating effects of dependency and outcome desirability on the processing of goal-relevant information

Outcome dependency has been shown to have a substantial impact on impression formation. Perhaps because the outcome dependency variable is a composite variable (including variation in amount of dependency, desirability of outcome, or both), many different effects have been described by researchers. The current research unpacks the outcome dependency variable by separately examining effects of dependency (when outcome desirability is held constant) and effects of outcome desirability (when amount of dependency is held constant). Using research methods adapted from those used in the attitudes domain, variation in the amount of dependency on a target person influenced the level of objective processing of target information (when outcomes were not substantial, Experiment 1), but variation in the desirability of the outcomes influenced biases in the processing of information (when dependency was relatively high, Experiment 2). Furthermore, personal motivation mediated effects of desirable outcomes on positive biases in processing (Experiment 3).     

Spiritual practices children understand: an analysis of Madeleine L’Engle’s fantasy,A Wind in the Door

The following essay is a close reading of Madeleine L’Engle’s science fantasy novel, A Wind in the Door, in which young Meg Murry travels first to outer space and then into her younger brother’s ailing cells. The novel is a fine example of high fantasy (also known as heroic fantasy) wherein a humble protagonist is called to a quest to fight a cosmic battle between good and evil. The essay analyzes specific expressions of evil in the novel: impersonality, narcissism, despair and blind empiricism. Meg’s quest demonstrates particular spiritual practices that promote spiritual maturation and the ability to overcome evil: ‘kything’, Naming, deepening and holding. L’Engle portrays these practices in a fresh way that can help both children and adults incorporate them into their day‐to‐day lives. Moreover, there are links between kything and holding and the metta and tonglen, two types of Buddhist meditation. L’Engle affirms children’s innate relational consciousness and presents spiritual practices that are relational, non‐sectarian, practical, and eminently hopeful.     

大众印象中诸葛亮人格特征的心理传记学研究

本研究采用人格形容词评定法对诸葛亮的人格进行了定量研究。因素分析结果表明,诸葛亮在大众印象中主要表现出"忠义"、"沉稳"、"严谨"、"贤明"和"守信"五大人格特征,并通过对该评定结果与收集到的其他资料进行相互印证,从而全面描绘诸葛亮在大众印象中的人格特征。     

语义透明度和构词频率对汉语动词多词素词识别的影响*

采用重复启动范式,通过两个实验,考察语义透明度和词素构词频率对动词多词素词识别的影响。结果发现：（1）语义透明度影响多词素动词的识别,识别高语义透明度的动词快于识别低语义透明度的动词。（2）词素的构词频率影响低语义透明度动词的识别,不影响高语义透明度动词的识别。对低语义透明动词,词素的构词频率低的动词的反应时显著短于词素的构词频率高的动词。研究结果支持汉语多词素词的多层次双系统选择加工模型。     

员工强制性组织公民行为的多层次形成机制

组织公民行为一直被视为员工“心甘情愿”而为之, 然而随着被加班、被捐款等“被”现象的不断出现, 越来越多的研究证实强制性组织公民行为(即被迫无奈的组织公民行为)在组织中同样普遍存在, 而且会导致劳资关系紧张, 威胁企业内部和谐等, 但相关研究较为匮乏。本研究以员工的强制性组织公民行为为研究对象, 聚焦于对其形成机制的研究。具体地, 使用特质激活、强制说服和自我决定等理论, 分别从指向员工个体、领导和组织三个层次的影响因素揭示员工强制性组织公民行为的形成机制, 建立员工强制性组织公民行为多层次形成机制的概念模型。研究结果实践上有利于本土企业构建和谐的劳资关系并实施更加人性化的管理, 理论上有望为组织公民行为领域贡献新的知识, 在一定程度上推动组织公民行为理论在中国的研究与应用。