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  Encountering Artificial Intelligence: Ethical and Anthropological Investigations

  Artificial Intelligence Research Group of the Vatican Center for Digital Culture, Matthew J. Gaudet, Noreen Herzfeld, Paul Scherz, Jordan J. Wales, Nathan Colaner, Jeremiah Coogan, Mariele Courtois, Brian Cutter, David E. DeCosse, Justin Charles Gable, Brian Patrick Green, James Kintz, Cory Andrew Labrecque, Catherine Moon, Anselm Ramelow, John P. Slattery, Margarita Vega, Luis G. Vera, Andrea Vicini, and Warren von Eschenbach

  What does it mean to consider the world of AI through a Christian lens? Rapid developments in AI continue to reshape society, raising new ethical questions and challenging our understanding of the human person. Encountering Artificial Intelligence draws on Pope Francis’ discussion of a culture of encounter and broader themes in Catholic social thought in order to examine how current AI applications affect human relationships in various social spheres and offers concrete recommendations for better implementation. The document also explores questions regarding personhood, consciousness, and the kinds of relationships humans might have with even the most advanced AI. Through these discussions, this book investigates the theoretical and practical challenges to interpersonal encounter raised by the age of AI.

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  Past and Future Presence: Approaches for Implementing XR Technology in Humanities and Art Education

  Lissa Crofton-Sleigh and Brian Beams

  While uses and studies of XR technology within STEM-based education have been plentiful in recent years, there has been lesser or even, at times, a lack of coverage for this novel learning tool in the arts and humanities.Past and Future Presence aims to bridge some of that gap by presenting research-based theory and case studies of successful application and implementation of XR technology into postsecondary educational settings, ranging in topics from ancient to modern languages, classical and contemporary art, and reenvisioned historical scenes and events presented in ways never seen before. The studies also contemplate how this novel medium can enhance and supplement learning in classrooms and other formal or informal learning environments. The volume as a whole is intended to demonstrate to educators, scholars, and researchers in higher education the potential value of integrating XR technology into their classrooms and to provide a strong argument for college and university administrators to invest in training and development of new research and content for classrooms inside and outside of STEM. The authors of these chapters come from a diverse range of backgrounds at different stages of their careers, providing a broad crosssection of scholastic work within the humanities and arts. Each chapter offers a different angle or approach to incorporating XR technology into teaching or research within different subject areas. As the volume suggests, this technology also places additional emphasis on the humanity within the humanities, by focusing on increasing connection between users and different cultures, time periods, and perspectives.

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  Health Behavior Change: Proven Strategies for a Longer and Healthier Life (First Edition)

  Thomas G. Plante

  Behavior is hard to change, especially when habits are well-ingrained into our daily lives and lifestyle. Yet, many people are desperate to change their behaviors, especially when it comes to health-related habits that can contribute to significant health problems.
  
  Health Behavior Change: Proven Strategies for a Longer and Healthier Life presents readers with a wide variety of evidence-based best practices in cognitive behavioral therapy that can help individuals change their health behaviors for good. The simple and straightforward workbook features a collection of questions and exercises that inspire thoughtful reflection and action. Dedicated sections of the workbook tackle individual behaviors—including diet, exercise, alcohol, smoking, sleep, and more—allowing readers to focus on topics that are of interest to them. Principles and tools for health behavior change are outlined in each chapter, providing readers with the tools they need to initiate long-term behavioral transformation.
  
  Based on Thomas G. Plante’s experiences teaching health psychology to college students for over 30 years and treating clinical patients struggling with health behavior efforts for over 40 years, Health Behavior Change is an ideal resource for anyone interested in improving their health and well-being through evidence-based best practices. The workbook is also a useful tool for clinicians treating patients who wish to make behavioral-based health changes in their lives.

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  Living Better with Spirituality Based Strategies that Work: Workbook for Spiritually Informed Therapy (First Edition)

  Thomas G. Plante

  Living Better with Spirituality Based Strategies that Work: Workbook for Spiritually Informed Therapy is designed to serve as a practical workbook or companion book to Spiritually Informed Therapy that can be used by therapists with their clients, faculty with their students, or with the general public to put key evidence-based principles into actual practice. The workbook features numerous exercises and practical strategies that can help readers examine and implement core tenets from Jesuit spirituality into their everyday and contemporary life.
  
  The core tenets from Jesuit spirituality introduced throughout the book include seeing God (or the sacred) in all things, treating the whole person, using a pathway for decision-making focusing on discernment, ending the day with a five-step reflection, managing conflicts with accommodation, humility, the expectation for goodness, and more. The text features real-world case studies that demonstrate how Jesuit spirituality has helped individuals work through their challenges and discover greater overall wellness.
  
  Living Better with Spirituality Based Strategies that Work is an innovative workbook that can be paired with Thomas G. Plante’s textbook, Spiritually Informed Therapy, or can be used independently by individuals interested in learning how faith-based principles can enrich their life and experiences.

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  Living Ethically in an Unethical World: Doing the Right Thing (Second Edition)

  Thomas G. Plante

  Living Ethically in an Unethical World: Doing the Right Thing provides readers with an easy-to-read and understand set of principles and tools that anyone can use to help them make good ethical decisions. The book was initially published in 2004, and this new edition has been fully updated to reflect the increasingly complex society we currently live in and the myriad decisions we’re faced with every day.
  
  Part I of the book presents the rationale for using an ethics-based approach to decision-making. The chapters explore a variety of approaches to ethics, five steps to making ethical decisions, and what doing the right thing entails. In Part II, readers discover five ethical principles to live by: respect, responsibility, integrity, competence, and compassion. Part III focuses on sustaining the principles set forth in the text by developing ethical muscle and applying ethical decision-making to ongoing life challenges. Each chapter concludes with Test Yourself sections, designed to help readers apply what they’ve learned to make tough ethical decisions in hypothetical situations.
  
  Developed to help readers engage in ethical thought and lead lives of which they can be proud, Living Ethically in an Unethical World is an ideal text for anyone with interest in ethics-based reflection and action.

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  Spiritually Informed Therapy (SIT): Wisdom and Evidence Based Strategies that Work

  Thomas G. Plante

  This text demonstrates how clinicians can incorporate cornerstone principles from Jesuit spirituality into professional and contemporary clinical psychotherapy practice. It underscores the benefits of introducing key faith-based principles into both secular and spiritually informed therapy to enrich client experiences.

  The core tenets from Jesuit spirituality introduced throughout the book include seeing God (or the sacred) in all things, treating the whole person, using a pathway for decision-making focusing on discernment, ending the day with a five-step reflection, managing conflicts with accommodation, humility, the expectation for goodness, and more. Readers learn how spiritually informed therapy can be used with diverse psychotherapy clients and in various clinical settings. The text features real-world case studies that demonstrate how Jesuit spirituality has helped individuals work through their problems and discover greater overall wellness.
  
  Developed to provide clinicians with new strategies, principles, and interventions to add to their psychotherapy toolbox, Spiritually Informed Therapy is an exemplary textbook for courses and programs in psychiatry and the behavioral sciences.

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  Ground Truths: Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice

  Chad Raphael and Martha Matsuoka

  Ground Truths shows how community-engaged research contributes to environmental justice for Black, Indigenous, people of color, and low-income communities by centering local knowledge, building truth from the ground up, producing data that can influence decisions, and transforming researchers’ relationships to communities for equity and mutual benefit.

  The book outlines the main steps in conducting community-engaged research, evaluates the major research methods used, and addresses institutional barriers to this kind of scholarship in academia. A critical synthesis of research in many fields, Ground Truths provides an original framework for aligning community-engaged research and environmental justice, and applies the framework in chapters on public health, urban planning, conservation, law and policy, community economic development, and food justice and sovereignty.