The Performance of Authenticity: Ordination and Profession in Pastoral Care

Quite a few pastors experience a feeling of inauthenticity when performing their duties. Trying to fulfill the wishes and needs of those of the congregation who ask for their help, they feel like an impostor. The discrepancy between act and experience causes a serious problem in identity. However when authenticity is not considered to be an individual experience and a personal dilemma but as a relational characteristic, the concept of play may be usefully engaged to explain the dramaturgical essence of pastoral performance. The success of pastoral performance depends on maintaining the right aesthetical distance in the drama enacted, so that some form of catharsis might be effected. That distance is found in introducing the concept of ordination where the relation between pastor and congregation is concerned, and it is to be found in the concept of profession where pastors perceive and evaluate their own role performance. Both ordination and profession act as distancing devices enabling the pastor to play the right role rightly. Acting as if, the pastor may be experienced as authentic, as a real pastor.     

Social loafing vs. social enhancement: Public goods provisioning in real-time with irrevocable commitments

Whereas most experimental studies of public goods provisioning require that all players make their decisions simultaneously, in most organizational settings contribution decisions are made in real time. To account for this aspect of the decision process, we introduce a real-time protocol of play in which, at any point in time, players can either withhold or contribute their entire endowment to a step-level public good. Once contributed, the individual endowments—that in the present experiment differ from one group member to another—cannot be withdrawn. Our results show that contribution levels under the real-time protocol with irrevocable commitments significantly exceed those observed in previous studies under the more common simultaneous protocol of play, thereby considerably reducing social loafing (free riding). Consistent with our equilibrium analysis, over multiple iterations of the game play converges to an equilibrium set of players who maximize the sum of their individual benefit-to-contribution ratios.     

在家庭自由游戏和智力任务游戏中儿童与母亲的交往行为特征

本研究采用家庭录像观察的方法,考察了61名3－4岁儿童在家庭环境中的两个情境－－自由和带有智力任务倾向的拼图游戏情境中所表现出来的行为特征,结果发现：1儿童在两种游戏情境中与母亲交往时所表现出来的行为特征可以从独立性、顺从、言语交流和参与四个维度进行评价。2当儿童的游戏从自由游戏转为带有智力任务倾向的游戏时,儿童与母亲的交往行为方式发生明显变化,交流行为和积极情绪明显减少,而依赖行为和不与母亲交流的行为显著增加。3在上述两种游戏情境中,儿童与母亲的交往行为表现出个别差异,在自由游戏情境中,42.6%为独立型、32.8%为顺从型和24.6%为交流型;在拼图游戏情境中,54％为独立型、23％为顺从型和23％不顺从型。     

The name of the Piggle: Reconsidering Winnicott's classic case in light of some conversations with the adult ‘Gabrielle’

On the 40th anniversary of its publication, the author re‐reads Winnicott's The Piggle – a case of ‘on demand analysis’ with a child suffering from psychotic night terrors – in light of new information about the patient. Conversations between the author and ‘Gabrielle’ explore two areas not regarded as priorities by Winnicott: the transgenerational transmission of pathology/trauma, and the ways that language, in general – and given names, in particular – organize individual subjectivity. The question raised is to what degree Winnicott – who described the treatment as “psychoanalysis partagé [shared]” due to the parents’ involvement – thought of the pathology itself as ‘shared.’ The goal is not to supplant but to expand Winnicott's understanding of the case, borrowing insights from the work of Lacan and others.     

REEXAMINING SCHREBER THROUGH THE LENS OF A PRESENT‐DAY CASE: FANTASIES OF DEATH,REBIRTH, AND GENDER TRANSFORMATION

In the history of psychoanalysis, the Schreber case has long been a source of controversy. Speculations about Schreber have abounded essentially because none of the speculators, including Freud ( 1911 ), has been constrained by the reality of interactive dynamics with Schreber on the couch. This author contends, however, that knowing someone analytically must involve the transference experience. He presents the case of Z, a middle‐aged patient of his who described a fantasy that was uncannily similar to Schreber's, permitting a present‐day reexamination of the original case, as well as ongoing speculations that include the way in which live clinical material can interact with the reading of a historical document.     

FATHER–CHILD PLAY DURING THE PRESCHOOL YEARS AND CHILD INTERNALIZING BEHAVIORS: BETWEEN ROBUSTNESS AND VULNERABILITY

Play observations with a total of 400 toddlers and preschoolers were videotaped and rated for Intensity and Quality of play with their parents. Parents were asked about perceived stress and personality characteristics (Big 5). Child's motor, cognitive skills, temperament, and internalizing behaviors were assessed. Study 1 investigated the robustness of play across child age and gender, and examined differences between fathers and mothers. Study 2 explored the vulnerability of play with fathers of children born preterm (PT‐fathers) and fathers who had experienced adverse childhoods (AC‐fathers). Study 3 investigated child internalizing behaviors. Intensity of play was maintained almost independently of child age and gender. It was similar for AC‐ and PT‐fathers, and similar to maternal Intensity. In contrast, paternal Quality of play was higher with boys and independent of fathers’ personality and perceived parenting stress whereas maternal Quality of play was higher with girls and linked to mothers’ perceived parenting competence, acceptability of the child, and neuroticism. AC‐fathers scored significantly low on Quality, as did PT‐fathers, but the Quality of their play became better with growing child age, birth weight, and cognitive (but not motor and temperament) scores. Finally, child internalizing behaviors were negatively related to paternal Quality of play.     

THE QUALITY OF FATHER–CHILD ROUGH‐AND‐TUMBLE PLAY AND TODDLERS’ AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN CHINA

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of the quality of early father–child rough‐and‐tumble play (RTP) on toddler aggressive behaviors and more fully understand how child, mother, and father characteristics were associated with higher quality father–child RTP among contemporary urban Chinese families. Participants included 42 families in Changsha, China. Play observations of fathers and their children were coded for RTP quality. The specific RTP quality of father–child reciprocity of dominance was associated with fewer toddler aggressive behaviors, as rated by both fathers and mothers. Mothers’ democratic parenting attitudes were associated with higher quality father–child RTP. These findings suggest that higher quality father–child RTP may be one way in which some fathers influence children's expression of aggressive behaviors, and the quality of father–child RTP may be influenced by the broader family, social, and cultural contexts.     

Social Competence at the Playground: Preschoolers During Recess

Social interactions at the playground have been represented as a rich learning opportunity to hone and master social skills at preschool years. Specifically, all forms of social play (fantasy, role, exercise or rough‐and‐tumble) have been related to children's social competence. The main goal of this study was to examine whether it is a certain kind of social play which facilitates the development of social competence, or if it is just the opportunity for interacting during recess that provides children with an optimal environment for social learning. A total of 73 preschoolers (4–6 years old) were videotaped at the school's playground. Teachers provided assessments of children's social competence. Children's interactions at the playground were assessed through an innovative measuring method, based on radio‐frequency identification devices. The results showed a positive association between exercise play and children's social competence. In contrast with the literature, both forms of pretend play, fantasy and role play were unrelated to children's social competence. Smaller peer groups and longer interactions also demonstrated a positive association with these preschoolers' social competence. The study shows the importance of outdoor physical play for preschoolers' social success. Moreover, the study suggests that the environment in which children play has an important effect on the adaptive nature of their play. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparing Fathers' Physical and Toy Play and Links to Child Behaviour: An Exploratory Study

Increasing amounts of research show that fathers' involvement in children's lives contributes to the child's social, emotional and cognitive development; however, much of the evidence comes from fathers' caregiving and object play. This exploratory study compared the characteristics of 24 Australian fathers' play in two contexts – toy play and physical play – and examined the association of these play contexts with children's development. Correlational analyses revealed few conceptual similarities between toy play and physical play (rough‐and‐tumble). Rough‐and‐tumble quality was associated with children's emotional and behavioural functioning and self‐regulation, while intrusiveness in toy play related only to self‐regulation. The findings are discussed in terms of widening the conceptual and methodological reach of fathering measures in order to better capture the range of fathers' parenting behaviours and to be able to determine mechanisms of influence. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.