Digital Commons Network^™

Children Of A Lesser God: Truth As Bodiliness And Forgiveness, Glenn J. Morrison

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

The article aims in two parts to develop a sense of truth as bodiliness and forgiveness. In bodiliness, we suffer by the suffering of the other and in forgiveness there arises an existential journey of sensibility and feelings. Together, bodiliness and forgiveness provide a relational horizon to journey towards truth. Part I of the article sets out to establish a theoretical background for Part II to engage theology with the study of the film, Children of a Lesser God (1986). Given that films today are popular mediums for encountering revelation and the sacred, the application of film to theology provides …

Student Ministry: Youth ‘Step Up’ To Lead And Serve, Chris Hackett, Shane D. Lavery

Education Papers and Journal Articles

This article is about student leadership and service in Catholic secondary schools. Initially the concept of leadership through service is explored with particular reference to the educational setting. The concept of “student ministry” is then considered in the light of this leadership and service. The article subsequently reports on an exploratory research study that focused on the experiences and reflections of principals and selected staff from three Catholic secondary schools involved in student ministry. Their experiences and reflections indicate that student ministry has the capacity to offer all students the chance to develop their leadership potential through acts of service, …

Promoting L2 Reading In Less Commonly Taught Languages With Hypertexts, Theresa Catalano

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This study explores the use of hypermedia reading texts for the language classroom and more particularly for less commonly taught languages (LCTLs). In the article, I review relevant research on the use of hypertexts in the foreign language classroom and how they can be used to facilitate the teaching of reading. A qualitative study of the use of these hypertexts with Italian university students was conducted, along with an explanation of what hypertexts are available for LCTL teachers currently, and how teachers can create their own hypertexts and implement them in the classroom. The study suggests that although hypertexts have …

The Role Of Preservice Teachers’ Meaning Perspectives And Schemes In A Study Abroad Experience, Stephanie Wessels, Melissa Holmes, Socorro Herrera,

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This microethnographic case study focuses on patterns of interpretation and decision making of undergraduate preservice teachers as they participated in observations, co-teaching, and teaching in elementary schools in northern Mexico. At the core, this study explores the deeply embedded assumptions preservice teachers may bring to new cross-cultural interactions. Drawing from participant documents, surveys, and interviews, the study seeks to investigate the meaning perspectives and schemes (Mezirow, 1991) that study abroad participants used to make sense of their experiences. Also explored are ways the study abroad experience may have helped to alter or solidify meaning perspectives. Finally, recommendations based on lessons …

Common Ground With A Common Faith: Dewey’S Idea Of The “Religious”, Bradley Baurain

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In A Common Faith, Dewey rejects organized religion and belief in the supernatural, instead arguing for an authentically “religious” attitude which this interpretive essay analyzes in terms of four propositions: 1) Knowledge is unifi ed. 2) Knowledge is democratic. 3) Th e pursuit of moral ideals requires moral faith. 4) Th e authority for moral ideals is experience as explored via inquiry. Th e author responds from the perspective of his own religious faith and outlines conceptual relationships with modern spirituality in education writers. Th e common ground is that the “religious” must be seen as a signifi cant way …

Notices

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Modeling The Development Of Goal-Specificity In Mirror Neurons, S Thill, H Svensson, T Ziemke

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Neurophysiological studies have shown that parietal mirror neurons encode not only actions but also the goal of these actions. Although some mirror neurons will fire whenever a certain action is perceived (goal-independently), most will only fire if the motion is perceived as part of an action with a specific goal. This result is important for the action-understanding hypothesis as it provides a potential neurological basis for such a cognitive ability. It is also relevant for the design of artificial cognitive systems, in particular robotic systems that rely on computational models of the mirror system in their interaction with other agents. …

Affordances, Adaptive Tool Use And Grounded Cognition., A Pellicano, S Thill, T Ziemke, F Binkofski

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Self-Discrimination: A Field Experiment On Obesity, Pablo Brañas-Garza, Antonios Proestakis

ESI Working Papers

While it is well-established in the literature that obese people are dis- criminated against in the working environment, little is known about their own actual behavior. Our experimental setting investigates whether these potentially discriminated people respond in a di erent way when faced with the opportunity of earning a positive amount of money. Signi cant lower money requests by people who are self-reported as obese con rm our self-discrimination hypothesis, o ering an additional explanation for the wage gap; Thus, it seems that these obese people earn less not only because of discrimination against them but also because they themselves …

Behavioral Spillovers In Coordination Games, Timothy N. Cason, Anya C. Savikhin, Roman M. Sheremeta

ESI Working Papers

Motivated by problems of coordination failure observed in weak-link games, we experimentally investigate behavioral spillovers for minimum- and median-effort coordination games. Subjects play these coordination games simultaneously and sequentially. The results show that successful coordination on the Pareto optimal equilibrium in the median game influences behavior in the minimum game when the games are played sequentially. Moreover, this positive, Pareto-improving spillover is present even when group composition changes across games, although the effect is not as strong. We also find that the precedent for uncooperative behavior in the minimum game does not influence play in the median game. These findings …

Restoring Damaged Trust With Promises, Atonement And Apology, Eric Schniter, Roman M. Sheremeta, Daniel Sznycer

ESI Working Papers

In an experiment using two consecutive trust games, we study how “cheap” signals such as promises and messages are used to restore damaged trust and encourage new trust where it did not previously exist. In these games, trustees made non-binding promises of investmentcontingent returns, then investors decided whether to invest, and finally trustees decided how much to return. After an unexpected second game was announced, but before it commenced, trustees could send a one-way message. This naturalistic quasi-experimental design allowed us to observe the endogenous emergence of trust-relevant behaviors and focus on naturally occurring remedial strategies used by promise-breakers and …

Moral Cleansing And Moral Licenses: Experimental Evidence, Pablo Brañas-Garza, Marisa Bucheli, Maria Paz Espinosa, Teresa García-Muñoz

ESI Working Papers

Research on moral cleansing and moral self-licensing has introduced dynamic considerations in the theory of moral behavior. Past bad actions trigger negative feelings that make people more likely to engage in future moral behavior to offset them. Symmetrically, past good deeds favor a positive self-perception that creates licensing effects, leading people to engage in behavior that is less likely to be moral. In short, a deviation from a “normal state of being” is balanced with a subsequent action that compensates the prior behavior. We model the decision of an individual trying to reach the optimal level of moral self-worth over …

Asset Market Reactions To News: An Experimental Study, Gunduz Caginalp, David Porter, Li Hao

ESI Working Papers

An experimental asset market is used to test the effect of news concerning the underlying value of an asset on its trading price. Participants were divided into two groups and received different expected earnings values. Statistical support is found for the hypothesis that investors underreact to news on asset valuation. The results are consistent with the viewpoint that price and valuation history have a significant effect on trader behavior. Two sets of experiments involve a single asset with the same final earnings at the end of the experiment. Expected earnings are updated at the midpoint of the market trading. The …

Resolving Conflicts By A Random Device, Erik O. Kimbrough, Roman M. Sheremeta, Timothy W. Shields

ESI Working Papers

We examine conflict resolution via a random device. We model conflict as a two-agent rent-seeking contest for a fixed prize. Before conflict arises, both agents may agree to allocate the prize by coin flip to avoid the costs of conflict. In equilibrium, risk-neutral agents with relatively symmetric conflict capabilities agree to resolve the conflict by randomization. However, with sufficiently asymmetric capabilities, conflicts are unavoidable because the stronger agent prefers to fight. Laboratory experiments confirm that the availability of the random device partially eliminates conflicts when agents are relatively symmetric; however, the device also reduces conflict between substantially asymmetric agents.

Trust, Reciprocity And Rules, Thomas A. Rietz, Eric Schniter, Roman M. Sheremeta, Timothy W. Shields

ESI Working Papers

In the absence of enforceable contracts, many economic and personal interactions rely on trust and reciprocity. Research shows that although this reliance often works well, sometimes it breaks down. Simple rules mandating minimum standards on reciprocation prevent the most egregious trust violations, but may also undermine behavior that would have otherwise produced higher overall economic welfare. We test the efficacy of exogenously imposed minimum return rules using experimental trust games. We find that rules fail to increase trust and trustworthiness. Thus low minimum standards significantly decrease economic welfare. Although sufficiently restrictive rules restore welfare, trust and trustworthy behavior never returns.

Conflicted Minds: Recalibrational Emotions Following Trust-Based Interaction, Eric Schniter, Roman M. Sheremeta, Timothy W. Shields

ESI Working Papers

We investigated whether 20 emotional states, reported by 170 participants after participating in a Trust game, were experienced in a patterned way predicted by the Recalibrational Model. According to this dynamic model, new information about trust-based interaction outcomes triggers specific sets of emotions. Emotions, in turn, recalibrate the short-sighted or long-sighted programs in self and/or others that determine trust-based behavior propensity. Unlike Valence Models that predict reports of large sets of emotional states according to interdependent positive and negative affect alone, the Recalibrational Model predicts conflicted, mixed-affect emotional states. Consistent with the Recalibrational Model, we observed reports of mixed-affect (concurrent …

(Bad) Luck Or (Lack Of) Effort?: Comparing Social Sharing Norms Between Us And Europe, Pedro Rey-Biel, Roman M. Sheremeta, Neslihan Uler

ESI Working Papers

We compare the determinants of individual giving between two countries, Spain and the US, which differ in their redistribution policies and their beliefs over the causes of poverty. By varying the information about the determinants of income, we find that, although overall giving is similar in both countries when subjects know the actual role of luck and effort, Spanish subjects give more when they are uninformed compared to American subjects. Using elicited beliefs, we find that this is due to Spanish subjects associating poverty with bad luck and Americans believing that low performers did not work hard enough.

Transparency, Efficiency And The Distribution Of Economic Welfare In Pass-Through Investment Trust Games, Thomas A. Rietz, Roman M. Sheremeta, Timothy W. Shields, Vernon Smith

ESI Working Papers

We design an experiment to examine welfare and behavior in a multi-level trust game representing a pass through investment in an intermediated market. In a repeated game, an Investor invests via an Intermediary who lends to a Borrower. A pre-experiment one-shot version of the game serves as a baseline and to type each subject. We alter the transparency of exchanges between non-adjacent parties. We find transparency of the exchanges between the investor and intermediary does not significantly affect welfare. However, transparency regarding exchanges between the intermediary and borrower promotes trust on the part of the investor, increasing welfare. Further, this …

Cognitive Effort In The Beauty Contest Game, Pablo Brañas-Garza, Teresa García-Muñoz

ESI Working Papers

This paper analyzes cognitive effort in 6 different one-shot p-beauty games. We use both Raven and Cognitive Reáection tests to identify subjects' abilities. We find that the Raven test does not provide any insight on beauty contest game playing but CRT does: subjects with higher scores on this test are more prone to play dominant strategies.

Real Effort, Real Leisure And Real-Time Supervision: Incentives And Peer Pressure In Virtual Organizations, Brice Corgnet, Roberto Hérnan-Gonzalez, Stephen J. Rassenti

ESI Working Papers

We propose a novel approach to the analysis of organizations by developing a computerized platform that reproduces relevant features of existing organizations such as real-effort tasks and real-leisure alternative activities (Internet). In this environment, we find strong incentives effects as organizations using individual incentives significantly outperform those relying on team incentives. Combining real-time peer monitoring with team incentives, we report striking evidence of positive peer effects as production increases by 50% and Internet usage decreases by 54% compared with organizations using team incentives alone. Peer monitoring allows virtual organizations using team incentives to perform as well as those using individual …

Don’T Ask Me If You Will Not Listen: The Dilemma Of Participative Decision Making, Brice Corgnet, Roberto Hérnan-Gonzalez

ESI Working Papers

We study the effect of participative decision making in an experimental principalagent game, where the principal can consult the agent’s preferred option regarding the task to be undertaken in the final stage of the game. We show that consulting the agent was beneficial to principals as long as they followed the agent’s choice. Ignoring the agent’s choice was detrimental to the principal as it engendered negative emotions and low levels of transfers. Nevertheless, the majority of principals were reluctant to change their mind and adopt the agent’s proposal. Our results suggest that the ability to change one’s own mind is …

Reaction To Public Information In Markets: How Much Does Ambiguity Matter?, Brice Corgnet, Praveen Kujal, David Porter

ESI Working Papers

In real world situations the fundamental value of an asset is ambiguous. Recent theory has incorporated ambiguity in the dividend process and the information observed by investors, and studied its effect on asset prices. In this paper we experimentally study trader reaction to ambiguity when dividend information is revealed sequentially. Price changes are consistent with news revelation regarding the dividend regardless of subject experience and the degree of ambiguity. Further, there is no under or over price reactions to news. Regardless of experience, market reaction to news moves in line with fundamentals. Also, no significant differences are observed in the …

Given The Choice: Family Values In California’S Largest School Districts, Raija Churchill

Pepperdine Policy Review

Through a quantitative analysis of twenty-five school districts, which are among the state’s largest, this research asks what policies school districts choose to implement when California’s Education Code gives them freedom to adopt or ignore policies that impact traditional moral beliefs and parental rights. These beliefs recognize that parents hold primary responsibility—and therefore, primary authority—when it comes to deciding questions such as sexual education.

Effectiveness Of The Coping Power Program In Middle-School Children With Disruptive Behaviours And Hyperactivity Difficulties, Diomaris E. Jurecska, Elizabeth Hamilton, Mary A. Peterson

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

The purpose of this article is to discuss the effectiveness of the Coping Power Program (CPP); an evidencebased treatment delivered in a group format to at-risk middle-school children. Initially, two groups were randomised and formed: an intervention group of 24 CPP sessions and a control group. All students were enrolled in public schools from two rural counties in the United States. Out of the 119 total participants 63 (37 male) were in the intervention and 56 (35 male) were in the control group. From the larger intervention group, a subset of students was identified as ‘significantly improved’. Using the Behavior …

Spiritually Oriented Interventions: Future Directions In Training And Research (Chapter 14 Of Spiritually Oriented Interventions For Counseling And Psychotherapy), Mark R. Mcminn, Everett L. Worthington Jr, Jame D. Aten

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

No abstract provided.

From Traditional To Relational: Introducing The 4-Fs Paradigm For Postmodern Youth Ministry, Ryan Simpson

180 Symposium Publications

No abstract provided.

Africa: Adventist Mission In Africa: Challenges & Prospect, Gorden R. Doss

Books

The great continent of Africa plays a very significant role in global Christianity. A century ago African Christians constituted a tiny fraction of world Christianity but today Africa is a major player in the global faith.

Among Seventh-day Adventists, Africa occupies a significant place, having something over a third of the total world membership. The highest ratios of Seventh-day Adventists to the population are in parts of southern Africa. At the same time, other parts of Africa have only a miniscule Christian presence and the lowest ratios of Adventists to the population in the world. This contrasting picture of evangelization …

The Validity Of The Levitical Food Laws Of Clean And Unclean Animals: A Case Study Of Biblical Hermeneutics, Jiri Moskala

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

The Validity Of The Levitical Food Laws Of Clean And Unclean Animals: A Case Study Of Biblical Hermeneutics, Jiri Moskala

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An ‘Information Literacy’ Perspective Of The Creation/Evolution Debate, Terry Dwain Robertson

Faculty Publications

The conventional information literacy standards do not suffice for engaging the creation/evolution debate. The data is inconclusive about which approach is more likely; neither theory can be validated any more than the other. Both theories appeal to a recognized authority.