Christianity in Iran: A Brief Survey

This article reviews the long and varied history of Christianity in the country now known as Iran. The historical emphasis is on the Assyrian Church of the East, although other churches are also mentioned. The relationship, successively, with Zoroastrianism and with Islam, as the dominant religious traditions, is discussed, as are its implications for the wider Islamic world. Western contacts with Iran, and, in particular, those of western churches, are also examined. In the light of this historical analysis, and from discussion of the situation since the Islamic Revolution, some conclusions are advanced about the prospects for Christianity in the new contemporary context.     

The temporal dynamics of effect anticipation in course of action planning

“Strong” versions of the ideomotor theory of action control claim that anticipations of the environmental effects that actions bring about are mandatory for response selection. This is considered to be the one and only way of how actions can be voluntarily selected. We studied this notion in a series of four experiments where we adapted the flanker paradigm to investigate the involvement of effect codes in the preparation of motor responses. Participants first learned that their responses to stimulus letters were contingently followed by the presentation of a new letter on the screen. In the second phase of the experiments, the action-demanding letters were presented together with the effects of the correct response, effects of other responses, or neutral letters. Varying the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between target stimuli and the flanking effect stimuli provides the opportunity to investigate the temporal dynamics of the activation of effect codes. Hence, flanker stimuli were presented before, simultaneously with, or after the onset of the target. The results indicate that effect-related information from the flanker stimuli is involved in the preparation process, but mainly in later phases of response preparation. The observed pattern of results suggests that, at least under conditions where responses are determined by stimuli, effect codes are activated in course of response planning to enable the evaluation of the executed response and the monitoring of response execution, but they do not automatically activate the responses themselves.     

The Role of Trauma in Conduct Disorder

Summary

Trauma is proposed as a key to understanding the development and persistence of conduct disorder, in conjunction with other contributing factors. Trauma history is ubiquitous in the conduct disordered population, and trauma effects can help to account for many features of conduct disorder, including lack of empathy, impulsivity, anger, acting-out, and resistance to treatment. The current standard of care fails to fully address trauma, which may partially explain the low success rate of extant treatment approaches. A trauma-informed perspective is introduced to current models of conduct disorder. Research, prevention, and treatment implications are discussed.     

心理理论的自发反应范式：方法、结果与解释

近30年来, 心理理论一直是认知发展领域关键而充满挑战的研究主题, 儿童理解他人错误信念的能力是心理理论发展的标志。诱导反应范式(elicited-response tasks)的研究结果表明4岁时儿童获得心理理论, 但是自发反应范式(spontaneous-response tasks)的研究结果表明婴儿15个月大时就已经具备心理理论。自发反应范式(spontaneous-response task) 是近些年来心理理论研究领域发展起来的研究范式。针对幼儿能通过自发反应范式却不能通过诱导反应范式这一问题, 已有三种相关的理论解释：早期能力掩盖说、内隐知识解释论和观点追踪解释论。未来心理理论研究应注意将自发反应范式运用于特殊儿童, 并进一步验证和研究心理理论的发展机制。     

职业决策情境中信任水平对建议采纳的影响*

研究应用“决策者-建议者系统”(Judge-Advisor System)经典研究范式,以62名大学生为被试,探讨了职业决策情境中信任水平、建议类型对建议采纳的影响。结果发现:(1)决策者的最终决策信心倾向于坚持原有信念;(2)信任水平的主效应及其与建议类型的交互作用对建议采纳主效应存在显著影响;(3)建议者信心对决策者的建议采纳权重具有正向预测作用,并削弱了信任对建议采纳权重的作用。这表明,在职业决策情境中,信任水平对决策者建议采纳权重的影响与建议者提供的建议类型(与决策者的初始决策是否一致),以及提供建议时的信心水平有关。     

罗夏综合系统的元分析*

为考察罗夏墨迹测验Exner综合系统常模的客观性和准确性,运用元分析的方法,将来自16个国家的18篇罗夏综合系统正常成人的研究结果,与Exner新版常模进行比较。结果显示,在综合系统的全部113个变量中,有23个变量在联合样本与Exner常模间存在显著差异,包括被试的资源、能力、认知水平和人际关系等方面,且均为Exner常模样本结果更加优秀。结论:新版罗夏综合系统常模具有一定的偏差,存在偏好倾向,使用时应注意避免对被试的低估甚至做出假阳性的诊断。     

Personality Traits Increasingly Important for Male Fertility: Evidence from Norway

We study the relationship between personality traits and fertility using a survey of Norwegian men and women born from 1927 to 1968 (N = 7017 individuals). We found that personality relates to men's and women's fertility differently; conscientiousness decreases female fertility, openness decreases male fertility and extraversion raises the fertility of both sexes. Neuroticism depresses fertility for men, but only for those born after 1956. The lower male fertility in younger cohorts high in neuroticism cannot be explained by partnership status, income or education. The proportion of childless men (at age 40 years) has increased rapidly for Norwegian male cohorts from 1940 to 1970 (from about 15 to 25 per cent). For women, it has only increased marginally (from 10 to 13 per cent). Our findings suggest that this could be partly explained by the increasing importance of personality characteristics for men's probability of becoming fathers. Men that have certain personality traits may increasingly be avoiding the long‐term commitment of having children, or their female partners are shunning entering this type of commitment with them. Childbearing in contemporary richer countries may be less likely to be influenced by economic necessities and more by individual partner characteristics, such as personality. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Learning from the patient: The East,synchronicity and transference in the history of an unknown case of C.G. Jung

This article presents the history of one until now unknown case of C.G. Jung: Maggy Reichstein. Born in Indonesia in 1894 in a very aristocratic family, she brought her sister to Zurich to be treated by Jung in 1919, and later she herself was in analysis with him. Jung used her case as example in his lecture in 1937 on the realities of practical psychotherapy, relating it to the process of transference and countertransference. Jung deepened his studies in Eastern psychology after a series of dreams she had, which culminated in the Yoga Kundalini Seminars. She was also the case presented in his article of 1951 on the concept of synchronicity. Jung wrote that her case, concerning synchronicity, remained unique in his experience. Jung also published some of her mandalas. He considered her able to understand his ideas in depth. Reichstein was for Jung an important case, which challenged and triggered his interests in different subjects.