What's the Story?: Spirituality and Writing

What is spirituality? As in other papers (Gearon, 1995, cf Wright, 1996; Gearon, 1996, 1997), I maintain here that spirituality may be defined as our relationship with ultimate reality. Spirituality is thus inevitably, by this definition, always metaphysical (Gearon, 1995, again, cf. Wright, 1996, but also Wright, 1997). I want to develop this theme here by contending that such notions of ultimate reality are determined, themselves defined, by texts, that spirituality today, in literate societies, is defined by writing.

Developing this intentionally provocative idea of spirituality's ultimate definition and determination by writing, particularly through notions of narrative and text, this paper provides a critical examination of the place of the literary form in contemporary debate on spirituality in education. Marking out the contentious territory of various interdisciplinary boundaries – some more disputed than others – an attempt is made to parallel the problems centring on our understanding of spirituality with problems associated with the interpretation of texts. By way of an open conclusion, designed as with the main body of the paper to stimulate debate, these albeit brief considerations will be set within the more specific concerns of ‘Engaging the Curriculum – A Theological Programme’, (Thatcher, 1995; Markham, 1996, 1997, 1997a; Gearon, 1997a, 1997b, and, forthcoming, 1998, 1998a), a major project to promote an interdisciplinary awareness of spiritual and theological issues in the curriculum in a genuinely international context. (The bulletin and now journal of the project is, beyond the UK, circulated in Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, the Philippines, the United States, amongst other countries.)     

Sensitivity to combinations of musical parameters: Pitch with duration,and pitch pattern with durational pattern

In four experiments, listeners’ sensitivity to combinations of pitch and duration was investigated. Experiments 1–3 involved “textures” of notes, which were created by repeatedly sounding one of two notes (e.g., C₄ quarter note; D₄ eighth note), so that each note had an equal chance of occurring at any point within a texture. Experiment 1 showed that if a texture change was effected by introducing a pitch or duration that was not in the initial texture, the change was perceived by both attentive and distracted listeners. If a texture change was effected by combining the pitch of one note with the duration of the other note in the initial texture, and vice versa, it was perceived only if the listeners were attentive. Sensitivity to pitch/duration combinations was poorer when the pitch difference between component notes of textures was increased (Experiment 2), but it was better when the difference in duration between component notes was increased (Experiment 3). In Experiment 4, listeners’ sensitivity to combinations of pitch pattern and durational pattern in brief sequences was examined. Listeners were sensitive to the manner in which parameter patterns were combined when they were attentive, but not when they were distracted. The results are discussed in view of featureintegration theory and its application to music cognition.     

Moving with the in-crowd: Cooperation and interpersonal entrainment in in- vs. out- groups

Current Psychology - Interpersonal entrainment or moving together in time, has been shown to cultivate pro-social behaviours amongst those who take part. Converging evidence suggests that its...     

The role of semantic knowledge and working memory in everyday tasks

We present a single case study of a patient, HG, who was severely impaired on routine everyday tasks, such as cleaning his teeth and preparing a cup of tea. We used the Action Coding System developed by Schwartz et al. (1991) to provide quantitative and qualitative measures of his performance in a number of experimental manipulations: (a) with task-congruent objects only, (b) with task-congruent objects and semantic distractors, (c) with a set of written commands to follow, (d) when he was given one command at a time, (e) when he was shown how the task should be performed before starting himself, and (f) when the task was divided into smaller subgoals. In general, the majority of HG's errors were step omissions, perseverations, sequence errors, and semantic errors. These semantic errors are particularly interesting since HG was able to name, gesture to, and define all the objects when they were presented in isolation or in task-congruent arrays. We suggest that semantic errors may arise for a number of reasons: (1) impaired access from semantic memory to a network representing action schema, (2) degradation of stored schema, and (3) behavior that is abnormally driven by the goal, by preceding actions, or by salient objects rather than by an appropriate association between these elements in working memory.     

An interval size illusion: the influence of timbre on the perceived size of melodic intervals

In four experiments, we investigated the influence of timbre on perceived interval size. In Experiment 1, musically untrained participants heard two successive tones and rated the pitch distance between them. Tones were separated by six or seven semitones and varied in timbre. Pitch changes were accompanied by a congruent timbre change (e.g., ascending interval involving a shift from a dull to a bright timbre), an incongruent timbre change (e.g., ascending interval involving a shift from a bright to a dull timbre), or no timbre change. Ratings of interval size were strongly influenced by timbre. The six-semitone interval with a congruent timbre change was perceived to be larger than the seven-semitone interval with an incongruent timbre change (interval illusion). Experiment 2 revealed similar effects for musically trained participants. In Experiment 3, participants compared the size of two intervals presented one after the other. Effects of timbre were again observed, including evidence of an interval illusion. Experiment 4 confirmed that timbre manipulations did not distort the perceived pitch of tones. Changes in timbre can expand or contract the perceived size of intervals without distorting individual pitches. We discuss processes underlying interval size perception and their relation to pitch perception mechanisms.     

Word length and phonological similarity effects in simple,complex, and delayed serial recall tasks: Implications for working memory

Some current models of working memory argue that a passive short-term store is not involved in more dynamic working memory tasks. Other models argue that standard short-term memory and working memory tasks rely on common storage facilities. We examine these issues by exploring two signature effects of passive short-term storage in simple span, complex span, and Brown-Peterson tasks. The finding that all three tasks show word length and phonological similarity effects suggests that common processes or storage mechanisms are involved in all tasks. The implications for models of working memory are discussed.     

Factors Underpinning Football Officiating Excellence: Perceptions of English Premier League Referees

The purpose of the present study was to identify factors perceived to underpin football officiating excellence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from 15 English Premier League referees. Through inductive content analysis, emerging themes were identified and comprised a variety of physical, environmental, and psychological factors: (a) mental toughness attributes, (b) support networks and services, (c) effective game management qualities, (d) multifaceted pre-match preparation, (e) performance-level enhancement, (f) opportunities to thrive, (g) personal characteristics, and (h) superior physical components. Findings acknowledge theoretical and applied implications for sport psychology professionals operating in elite football officiating.     

Child Pornography Offending Seen Through Three Theoretical Lenses

Understanding the complex issues surrounding child pornography offending is still in its infancy, and questions regarding the etiological underpinnings of sexually deviant interests and behaviors for these offenders remain both salient and unanswered. This article considers these questions through the lenses of three psychological theories of behavior: (1) social learning theory, (2) courtship disorder theory, and (3) behavioral economics. The development and maintenance of child pornography offending, as well as the potential for off-line escalation of those behaviors, from each theoretical perspective is discussed and the implications for theoretically grounded clinical practice is explored.     

Audio-visual integration of emotional cues in song

We examined whether facial expressions of performers influence the emotional connotations of sung materials, and whether attention is implicated in audio-visual integration of affective cues. In Experiment 1, participants judged the emotional valence of audio-visual presentations of sung intervals. Performances were edited such that auditory and visual information conveyed congruent or incongruent affective connotations. In the single-task condition, participants judged the emotional connotation of sung intervals. In the dual-task condition, participants judged the emotional connotation of intervals while performing a secondary task. Judgements were influenced by melodic cues and facial expressions and the effects were undiminished by the secondary task. Experiment 2 involved identical conditions but participants were instructed to base judgements on auditory information alone. Again, facial expressions influenced judgements and the effect was undiminished by the secondary task. The results suggest that visual aspects of music performance are automatically and preattentively registered and integrated with auditory cues.