Poverty, Patriotism, and National Covenant: Jonathan Edwards and Public Life

In this essay I address three ways in which Edwards can inform Christian understanding of public life. First I show how Edwards provides both philosophical and theological rationales for social engagement and thereby resists the separation of religion from public life, and use his consideration of poverty as an illustration. Part II examines Edwards's dialectical treatment of patriotism, demonstrating both its importance to the Christian life and its susceptibility to deceptive accommodation to culture. Finally, in Part III I discuss Edwards's use of "national covenant," which despite its temptation to chauvinism Edwards used to undermine national pride. In the conclusion I assess what we can use from Edwards for contemporary Christian understandings of public life.     

Terror Management and Personality: Variations in the Psychological Defense Against the Awareness of Mortality

Drawing on terror management theory (TMT), we discuss the psychological motivations that shape personality at two levels: the characteristically human personality common to us all and the individual differences that distinguish some people from others. TMT posits that the motivation to protect the self against deep-rooted fears about mortality drives people to maintain meaningful, reliable conceptions of reality and positive evaluations of themselves, two broad tendencies that form the foundation of every person’s personality. We review studies showing that mortality reminders increase efforts to bolster cultural sources of meaning and self-esteem in similar ways across individuals and cultures. TMT also posits that individual differences in personality partly reflect the different sources of meaning and self-esteem that people invest in to assuage mortality fears. We review evidence that individual differences predict the degree and direction of people’s defensive responses to mortality reminders. Directions for future research are discussed.     

Developing an efficient clinical information system for a comprehensive psychiatric institute: I. Principles,design, and organization

The principles, design considerations, and components of a clinical information system intended to support and enhance the patient care, educational, and research missions of a comprehensive psychiatric institute are presented. Major characteristics of the system are its emphases on efficiency, simplicity, and intensive user involvement throughout the development of the system.     

Denial and Confirmatory Search: Paradoxical Consequences of Medical Diagnosis1

An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of medical diagnostic-test results on illness appraisal and the recall of symptoms and behavior. Subjects were tested for a fictitious enzyme deficiency and were told either that the test result was positive (deficiency present) or that it was negative (deficiency absent). In addition, some of the subjects were told the test was accurate 95% of the time and others were told it was accurate 75% of the time. As predicted, subjects judged the enzyme deficiency as less serious and more prevalent when presented with positive test results. Subjects with positive test results also recalled more behaviors that had been labeled as risk factors. Although positive test subjects tended to report more deficiency-related symptoms, diagnosis did not affect the free recall of general symptoms. In addition, information concerning the reliability of the diagnostic test had no effect on judgments or recall but did affect information seeking. Subjects with positive test results were less likely to request a definitive follow-up test when their results were unreliable. The results are interpreted as evidence for independent confirmatory search and denial processes following medical diagnosis.     

Retrieval plus scanning: Does it occur?

In the two experiments reported here, we tested the retrieval-plus-scan model of delayed probe recognition by adding a second probe 2 sec after subjects had responded to the first probe. According to this model, the list items should still be in consciousness from the first probe at the time of the second probe. Consequently, on tests in which the first probe had been tested immediately, we expected to find the same pattern of performance on both first and second probes. On tests in which the first probe came after a filled delay, we expected the first-probe data to show the effects of retrieval and proactive interference. These effects should not be present on the second probe. The results of the first-probe data in both experiments were consistent with the retrieval-plus-scan model. The second-probe data did not fit the model, however. In the first experiment, the second probe on what had been delayed first-probe trials still produced intercept differences, indicating the presence of retrieval. In the second experiment, the effects of proactive interference were still present on the second probe. It is suggested that these results not only invalidate the retrieval-plus-scan model for delayed probe recognition but that they, along with other results, cast doubt on a scanning operation in immediate probe recognition.     

Violent Men In Intimate Relationships: An Analysis of Risk Markers1

In the family violence literature, a number of risk markers associated with men's use of violence against women have been identified. Using the 1975 National Family Violence Survey, a multivariate analysis was performed to examine which risk markers best differentiated among nonviolent men, verbally aggressive men, men who exhibit minor physical violence, and severely physically violent men. High levels of marital conflict, lower socioeconomic status, and greater exposure to violent role models in the home of origin emerged as primary correlates of levels of violence between intimates. Theoretical and research implications are discussed.     

Quantum mechanics as subjectivity and projective stimulus

In this paper I attempt to show that subjectivity, as an input to the creative core of physics, is a misunderstood, but crucial factor. Utilizing Rapaport's fundamental paper, Principles Underlying Projective Techniques which identifies the determinants of the projective technique as: 1. lack of organization, 2. undifferentiation, 3. closeness to the core of the personality, and 4. the meaning of the stimulus being unknown to the subject, a link is suggested to quantum mechanics. It is further suggested the revolutionary nature of quantum mechanics satisfies the projective criterion of the material being unorganized or unfamiliar so that the function of organization can become predominant (Rapaport 1942, p. 93).