Dualism of Social Conditions: Religion, Morality and Science

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Rasa Levickaitė

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The paper analyses the topic of social dualism through religion, morality and science. The paper refers to one of the most original works uncovering the social roots of religion – The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Emile Durkheim (1858–1917 who is considered to be the founder of modern sociology. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life develops the coherent theory of religion as well as ventilates different aspects of the religious life. The message of the paper is: is religion the generative essence of social aspect, does a state of constant dependence stimulate a sense of religious piety, is a moral social order able to stabilize dualism of human energy. The paper proposes an assertion that science as a social phenomenon reflects knowledge and the values of its perception which are impacted by imagination and classified codes of cultural forms. As a result a thesis is proposed – a cultural (influenced by environment and a personal (influenced by internal factors desire for differentiation and its provoked conflict is of a social character. The second part of the paper deals with relation between science and social phenomena with inherent dualism. A short discussion is presented on L’ Année Sociologique (a group of scientists initiated by Durkheim representing a new sociological paradigm, the beginning of scientific social culture giving sense to cooperation of sociological theory and practice. 

Soviet psyhology of religion in 1960–1970s: marginalia

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Elena Orel

2018-12-01

Full Text Available This brief outline deals with the history of development of psychology of religion in the USSR. The author concentrates on the analysis of the historical, social, ideological context, i. e. the analysis of those particular circumstances of the early 1960s when Russian thinkers in the domain of the Humanities turned to the subject of psychology of religion. Particular emphasis is given to the importance of the so-called Khrushchev’s thaw in the formation and development of this research area. The key metaphor of the study is seeing the psychology of religion as an opening in the austere ice of Soviet dictatorship. The author gives a description of the main trends and topics that were raised in discussions on psychology of religion in the 1960–1970s. Ideological interpretation of the position and role of psychology of religion in Soviet science draws on studies by D. Ugrinovich, one of the most infl uential authors of the period in question. The paper suggests that the change of the ideological background in the early 1970s naturally effected the refusal of most of the authors to carry out research in this area and their “switch” to problems of sociology of religion.

Religion, social mobility and education in Scotland.

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Paterson, Lindsay; Iannelli, Cristina

2006-09-01

The relationship among religion, education and social mobility in Scotland is analysed statistically using the Scottish Household Survey of 2001. The large sample size allows much greater statistical power for this purpose than any previous source, and thus allows a more reliable assessment of claims that the stratifying effect of religion in Scotland may have declined. The questions investigated are as follows. What are the religious differences in the distributions of class origins and class destinations, in the movement between these (absolute mobility), and in the association of these (relative mobility, or social fluidity)? Do changes in social fluidity across cohorts vary among people with different religious affiliation? Are there religious differences in the association of origins and education, in the association of education and destinations, or in the role of education in social fluidity, and do any of these vary over cohorts? The conclusions are that, in younger cohorts, there is no religious difference in social status, and that in older cohorts Catholics are generally of lower status than Protestants and the non-religious. Social fluidity does not, however, vary among religious groups, even for older cohorts, and does not change over time. The reason for convergence in social status of religious groups over time is probably the equalizing of educational attainment among the groups: there is no evidence for any of the cohorts that the labour-market rewards to education differ by religion.

Religion, Psychology and Globalisation Process: Attitudinal Appraisal

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Emmanuel Orok Duke

2016-10-01

Full Text Available A key consequence of globalisation is the integrative approach to reality whereby emphasis is placed on interdependence. Religion being an expression of human culture is equally affected by this cultural revolution. The main objective of this paper is to examine how religious affiliation, among Christians, influences attitudes towards the application of psychological sciences to the assuagement of human suffering. The sociological theory of structural functionalism was deployed to explain attitudinal appraisal. Ethnographic methodology, through quantitative analysis of administered questionnaire, was also used. The study reveals that religious tenets largely shape attitudinal appraisal and redefine the borders of globalisation’s metanarratives.

Social representations about religion and spirituality.

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Borges, Moema da Silva; Santos, Marília Borges Couto; Pinheiro, Tiago Gomes

2015-01-01

to identify the social representations about the concepts of spirituality and religion of of health teachers. exploratory and descriptive study, based on a qualitative approach. 25 subjects participated in it. The following instruments were used to collect data: questionnaire to identify the profile; questionnaire of free association, whose inducing words were religion and spirituality, and an interview based on the scale FICA (Puchalski, 2006). the representations about religion and spirituality, for professors, are forged around the faith in God and it gives them meaning and purpose to deal with the challenges of personal and professional living. there are still barriers that need to be overcome with a view to a comprehensive care. For this, it is essential to incorporate spirituality in the process in the curricula of health courses.

A Multiparadigmatic Approach to Religion in Social Work Education

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Jon E. Singletary

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The attention given to faith-based human services in the past decade has created interest in pedagogical models of the ethical integration of spirituality, religion and social work practice. Following a discussion of philosophical, theoretical, and theological perspectives, this paper explores different sociological paradigms of knowledge and practice that may be of value when seeking to utilize spiritual and religious content into social work education. The implications of this article relate to educational settings that seek to incorporate content on religion and spirituality in social work education as well as to social work practice in religious organizations.

At the intersection of culture and religion: a cultural analysis of religion's implications for secondary control and social affiliation.

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Sasaki, Joni Y; Kim, Heejung S

2011-08-01

Religion helps people maintain a sense of control, particularly secondary control-acceptance of and adjustment to difficult situations--and contributes to strengthening social relationships in a religious community. However, little is known about how culture may influence these effects. The current research examined the interaction of culture and religion on secondary control and social affiliation, comparing people from individualistic cultures (e.g., European Americans), who tend to be more motivated toward personal agency, and people from collectivistic cultures (e.g., East Asians), who tend to be more motivated to maintain social relationships. In Study 1, an analysis of online church mission statements showed that U.S. websites contained more themes of secondary control than did Korean websites, whereas Korean websites contained more themes of social affiliation than did U.S. websites. Study 2 showed that experimental priming of religion led to acts of secondary control for European Americans but not Asian Americans. Using daily diary methodology, Study 3 showed that religious coping predicted more secondary control for European Americans but not Koreans, and religious coping predicted more social affiliation for Koreans and European Americans. These findings suggest the importance of understanding sociocultural moderators for the effects of religion.

The concept of spirituality and its relation to religion in positive psychology

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Luciana Fernandes Marques

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This is a theoretical study that aims to provide a review of current scientific studies on the concept of spirituality and proposes some issues for future research. The article brings a literature review on the subject, including several areas of positive psychology. Articles and books in Portuguese, Spanish and English were examined  and held a computerized search in the SciELO (www.scielo.br and electronic Indexer Google Scholar, and the references of materials examined. The descriptors were: conceit, espirit, religion, and their counterparts in Spanish and English. The purpose of this review is outline some definitions to set limits and help in conducting research when the researcher should choose constructs and measurement instruments. Comment some classical authors such as Wundt, Maslow and James. After there is a difference about religion and spirituality, discussing their similarities and antagonisms that are mentioned in the reviewed literature and how the concept of spirituality appears in Positive Psychology. 

Religion and mythology in a sample of undergraduate psychology of women courses.

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Taylor, Christina J; Galasso, Rosemarie

2008-10-01

The coverage of religion and mythology in undergraduate courses in the Psychology of Women was explored by (a) surveying a sample of undergraduate instructors (N=72); and (b) examining coverage in textbooks on the Psychology of Women (N=95). 48.6% of teachers said they include some coverage, while 43.1% said they never do. The total percentage of coverage in textbooks is small, ranging from a mean of 2.0% in the 1970s to 1.1% in the current decade.

Religion's relationship with social boundaries surrounding gender ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Religion's relationship with social boundaries surrounding gender. ... is associated with segregation, marginalization and differentiation between men and women. ... are necessary in the society it should not be mistaken for gender inequality.

Between Religion and Science: Integrating Psychological and Philosophical Accounts of Explanatory Coexistence

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Legare, Christine H.; Visala, Aku

2011-01-01

Examining the relationship between religion and science has until recently been considered a philosophical exercise and, as a consequence, theories of how natural and supernatural explanations are related tend to be highly abstract and operate at the level of ideal rationality rather than in the psychological reality of actual believers. Although…

Arts, Religion and the New Social Order: Emerging Trends in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Arts, Religion and the New Social Order: Emerging Trends in Mediation in an Age ... and religion as culturally interactive phenomena may not be strange, but the ... things upon the mastery of applied elements of visual, performing and media ...

Religion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Riis, Ole

2004-01-01

En sociologisk indgang til religion, som individuel religiøsitet, som organisation af et trossamfund og som samfundsinstitution. Religion betragtes både im- og eksplicit, og som både samlende og splittende for sociale fællesskaber.......En sociologisk indgang til religion, som individuel religiøsitet, som organisation af et trossamfund og som samfundsinstitution. Religion betragtes både im- og eksplicit, og som både samlende og splittende for sociale fællesskaber....

Perceived ethnic discrimination and depressive symptoms: the buffering effects of ethnic identity, religion and ethnic social network.

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Ikram, Umar Z; Snijder, Marieke B; de Wit, Matty A S; Schene, Aart H; Stronks, Karien; Kunst, Anton E

2016-05-01

Perceived ethnic discrimination (PED) is positively associated with depressive symptoms in ethnic minority groups in Western countries. Psychosocial factors may buffer against the health impact of PED, but evidence is lacking from Europe. We assessed whether ethnic identity, religion, and ethnic social network act as buffers in different ethnic minority groups in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Baseline data were used from the HEalthy Living In a Urban Setting study collected from January 2011 to June 2014. The random sample included 2501 South-Asian Surinamese, 2292 African Surinamese, 1877 Ghanaians, 2626 Turks, and 2484 Moroccans aged 18-70 years. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. PED was measured with the Everyday Discrimination Scale. Ethnic identity was assessed using the Psychological Acculturation Scale. Practicing religion was determined. Ethnic social network was assessed with the number of same-ethnic friends and amount of leisure time spent with same-ethnic people. PED was positively associated with depressive symptoms in all groups. The association was weaker among (a) those with strong ethnic identity in African Surinamese and Ghanaians, (b) those practicing religion among African Surinamese and Moroccans, (c) those with many same-ethnic friends in South-Asian Surinamese, Ghanaians, and Turks, and (d) those who spend leisure time with same-ethnic people among African Surinamese and Turks. Ethnic identity, religion, and ethnic social network weakened the association between PED and depressive symptoms, but the effects differed by ethnic minority group. These findings suggest that ethnic minority groups employ different resources to cope with PED.

African Journals Online: Psychology & Psychiatry

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 1 - 16 of 16 ... African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues ... case studies that are community-based and inter/intra-cultural on human behaviour, ... education, health, religion, business, tourism, counselling and psychology.

Ideology, politics and personality: shaping forces in Dutch psychology of religion, 1907-1957

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Belzen, J.A.

2009-01-01

Although the academic establishment of the psychology of religion in the Netherlands has been stronger than in any other Western country, the start of these developments has been remarkably late (in 1957), especially when taking into account that Dutch academic life: (1) before World War II modeled

Ein Ende, das zum Anfang wurde: die Zeitschrift für Religionspsychologie, 1907-1913: zur (Vor)Geschichte der IAPR (1/4) - The end that turned into a new beginning: the journal for the psychology of religion, 1907-1913: on the (pre)history of the International Association for the Psychology of Religion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Belzen, J.A.

2013-01-01

In 2014, the International Association for the Psychology of Religion (IAPR) will have its centennial, and so will its scientific journal, the present Archive for the Psychology of Religion [Archiv für Religionspsychologie, ARp]. This first article on IAPR’s (pre)history analyses the fate of the

An encounter between psychology and religion: humanistic psychology and the Immaculate Heart of Mary nuns.

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Kugelmann, Robert

2005-01-01

In the 1960s, humanistic psychology changed the relationship between psychology and religion by actively asserting the value of individual experience and self-expression. This was particularly evident in the encounter group movement. Beginning in 1967, Carl Rogers conducted a series of encounter groups, in order to promote "self-directed change in an educational system," for the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a religious order in California running an educational system. William Coulson, one of Rogers's associates in the project, later charged that the encounter groups undermined the religious order and played a major contributing part in the breakup of the order in 1970. The article examines these charges, situating the incident within the context of the changes occurring in religious life and in psychology in the 1960s. The article concludes that an already existing conflict the nuns had with the conservative Cardinal McIntyre of Los Angeles led to the departure of some 300 nuns from the order, who began the Immaculate Heart Community, an organization existing today. Nevertheless, encounter groups proved to be a psychological technology that helped to infuse a modern psychological--specifically, a humanistic psychological--perspective into contemporary religious life. 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Spirituality, Religion, Social Justice Orientation, and the Career Aspirations of Young Adults

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Chenot, David; Kim, Hansung

2017-01-01

Spirituality and religion predicted the development of social justice orientation (SJO) among young adults in a previous study (Chenot & Kim, 2013). The current study explores the manner in which the effects of spirituality and religion on social justice orientation vary depending on the career aspirations of young adults. The longitudinal…

It's Not "All in Your Head": Understanding Religion From an Embodied Cognition Perspective.

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Soliman, Tamer M; Johnson, Kathryn A; Song, Hyunjin

2015-11-01

Theorists and researchers in the psychology of religion have often focused on the mind as the locus of religion. In this article, we suggest an embodied cognition perspective as a new dimension in studies of religion as a complement to previous research and theorizing. In contrast to the Cartesian view of the mind operating distinctly from the body, an embodied cognition framework posits religion as being grounded in an integrated and dynamic sensorimotor complex (which includes the brain). We review relevant but disparate literature in cognitive and social psychology to demonstrate that embodied cognition shapes the way that people represent the divine and other spiritual beings, guides people's moral intuitions, and facilitates bonding within religious groups. Moreover, commitments to a religious worldview are sometimes manifested in the body. We suggest several promising future directions in the study of religion from an embodied cognition perspective. © The Author(s) 2015.

Psychobiography and the Psychology of Religion: A Tribute to the Work of Donald Capps.

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Jacobs, Janet

2018-04-01

This article examines Donald Capps's work on the psychology of major religious figures and the social forces that informed their psychic lives, spiritual worldviews, and teachings. Drawing on four texts that were published between 2000 and 2014, the essay explores Capps's views on the importance of psychobiography to the study of religion and the specific contributions his thinking has made to a greater understanding of the historical Jesus. The article considers Capps's analysis of Jesus's illegitimacy and his role as healer within the society in which he lived and preached. Building on Capps's work, the article also expands on feminist and postcolonial theories that offer insight into the psychosocial development of religious figures whose teachings and beliefs emerged out of their individual life circumstances and the larger socio-political culture in which they lived.

Nursing research on religion and spirituality through a social justice lens.

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Reimer-Kirkham, Sheryl

2014-01-01

Critical theories such as postcolonial feminism and intersectionality can provide new and vital perspectives on the interplay between social justice, religion, spirituality, health, and nursing. Criticality prompts us to examine taken-for-granted assumptions, such as the neutrality and universality of spirituality, while analyzing social relations of power, including the racialization of religion and religious patriarchy, that may result in oppressive conditions and social exclusion. The argument is made that when refracted through critical, intersectional lenses, religious and spiritual traditions can be rich sources of theoretical foundations and practical services that could inform nursing's recent re/turn toward social justice.

Religion and psychological well-being and distress in Israeli Jews: findings from the Gallup World Poll.

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Levin, Jeff

2011-01-01

This study investigates religious predictors of psychological well-being and psychological distress in a five-year national probability sample of Israeli Jews (N = 4,073). Data were taken from the 2006-2010 annual surveys of Israel as a part of the multinational Gallup World Poll. Analyses identified religious predictors of five-item scales of well-being and distress, adjusting for effects of several covariates, including health satisfaction. Additional analyses examined differences in religion, well-being and distress, and their interrelationships by categories of Jewish religious identity and observance (hiloni, masorti, dati, and haredi). Levels of religiousness and of well-being increase as one moves "rightward" across Jewish observance. Self-ratings of importance of religion and religious attendance are significantly associated with well-being, overall, and a religious harmony scale is associated with both wellbeing (positively) and distress (inversely), and with these measures' respective items, overall and across Jewish observance. Religious indicators are significant predictors of both psychological well-being and psychological distress in Israeli Jews, regardless of Jewish religious observance.

Twenty-five years later--what do we know about religion/spirituality and psychological well-being among breast cancer survivors? A systematic review.

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Schreiber, Judith A; Brockopp, Dorothy Y

2012-03-01

A diagnosis of cancer is a life-changing event for most people. The trauma and uncertainties of a breast cancer diagnosis can affect survivors' psychological well-being. Religion and/or spirituality can provide a means of support for many women as they live with the realities of a diagnosis of cancer. The purpose of this focused review is to critically analyze and synthesize relationships among psychological well-being, religion, and spirituality among women with breast cancer. MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Cochrane CENTRAL, and PsycINFO databases were searched: January 1985-March 2010. The search terms religi*(religious/religion), spiritu*(spiritual/spirituality), breast cancer, psychological adjustment, psychological outcomes, psychological distress, psychological well-being, and outcomes were searched for separately and in combination. Eighteen quantitative studies were analyzed in order to examine associations among religion, spirituality, and psychological well-being for women diagnosed with breast cancer. These three variables were operationally defined as follows: (a) religious practice, religious coping, and perception of God; (b) spiritual distress, spiritual reframing, spiritual well-being, and spiritual integration; and (c) combined measure of both the religion and spirituality constructs. Results of this review suggest that within this population, limited relationships exist among religion, spirituality, and psychological well-being. Given the various definitions used for the three variables, the strength and clarity of relationships are not clear. In addition, the time of assessment along the course of the disease varies greatly and in some instances is not reported. Diagnosis and/or prognosis, factors that could influence psychological well-being, are frequently not factored into results. There does, however, appear to be sufficient evidence to include a brief, clinically focused assessment of women diagnosed with

Religion, civil society and conflict: What is it that religion does for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Worldviews are socially created and determine human behaviour and, as such, most often find expression in religion. The discussion of conflict and the role of religion in civil society take place within the discourse of the sociology of religion. Religion is socially determined. Peter Berger's insight into the sociology of religion ...

Training and education in religion/spirituality within APA-accredited clinical psychology programs: 8 years later.

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Schafer, Rachel M; Handal, Paul J; Brawer, Peter A; Ubinger, Megan

2011-06-01

This study was a follow up investigation of Brawer et al.'s (Prof Psychol Res Pr 33(2):203-206, 2002) survey of education and training of clinical psychologists in religion/spirituality. Directors of clinical training were surveyed to determine whether changes had occurred in the coverage of religion and spirituality through course work, research, supervision, and in the systematic coverage of the content area. Results indicated an increased coverage in the areas of supervision, dedicated courses, inclusion as part of another course, and research. There was no increase in systematic coverage, but significantly more programs provided at least some coverage. The current study also assesses other areas of incorporation as well as directors' opinions regarding the importance of religion/spirituality in the field of psychology.

A political end to a pioneering career: Marianne Beth and the psychology of religion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Belzen, J.A.

2011-01-01

Although forgotten in both Religionswissenschaft (the Science of Religion) and psychology, Marianne Beth (1880-1984), initially trained as a lawyer and already in 1928 called a "leading European woman", must be considered as one of the female pioneers of these fields. She has been active especially

Approaches to the study of religion in Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory

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A V Sitnikov

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article considers Pierre Bourdieu’s approaches to the study of religion: the author analyzes basic concepts of Bourdieu’s sociology of religion and identifies religious spheres and traditions to which his ideas can be applied. The methods developed by Bourdieu, despite their limitations, successfully work in the contemporary studies. Bourdieu’s theory of religion became the starting point for some new approaches, in particular, for the study of ritual practices. His concept of religious habitus allows to analyze the mechanisms by which the religion generates certain practices, conventions, life styles, meanings and values according to its doctrine and experience. Representatives of one denomination usually not only follow the same rules and rituals, but also have a similar taste, life style and perception of religious leaders. The habitus embodies traditions and history of a denomination; it is a means of keeping up practices and their transfer to next generations. At the same time, Bourdieu’s approaches to the study of religion have some weaknesses: his theoretical model is too dependent on the French context and describes mainly the catholic church; his techniques aim to analyze the relationship between the state and the dominant church with its hierarchical structure. Another limitation of Bourdieu’s approach is that he attributes economic logic of supply and demand to the religious activities, and defines religion as determined exclusively to legalize and reproduce unequal and unjust social order. Bourdieu believed that the church was always linked with the mechanisms of social domination, exercise of power and consecration of the ruling classes’ privileges, i.e. with the merits of maintaining social order and legitimizing the power. Thus, Bourdieu credits the producers of religious capital with too much power and capabilities, which they do not really have. In Bourdieu’s theory, religion is an instrument of the struggle

Sociological theory and Jungian psychology.

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Walker, Gavin

2012-01-01

[[disenchantmentCarl JungpsychoanalysissociologyMax Weber ] In this article I seek to relate the psychology of Carl Jung to sociological theory, specifically Weber. I first present an outline of Jungian psychology. I then seek to relate this as psychology to Weber’s interpretivism. I point to basic methodological compatibilities within a Kantian frame, from which emerge central concerns with the factors limiting rationality. These generate the conceptual frameworks for parallel enquiries into the development and fate of rationality in cultural history. Religion is a major theme here: contrasts of eastern and western religion; the rise of prophetic religion and the disenchantment of modernity. Weber’s categories ‘ascetic’ and ‘mystic’ seem applicable to his own and Jung’s approaches and indeed temperaments, while a shared ironic view of rationality leads to similar visions of the disenchanted modern world. I conclude that Jung is sociologically coherent, but in an entirely different sense from Freud: rather than a constellation of family, socialization, ideology, social continuity, there is an analysis of cultural history against a background of adult normal psychology. I conclude that sociology should acknowledge Jung, but not in terms of over-arching theory. Rather Jungian insights might be used to orient new enquiries, and for reflexive analysis of sociology’s methodological debates.

Jesus Heard the Word of God, but Mohammed had Convulsions: How Religion Clause Principles Should Be Applied to Religion in the Public School Social Studies Curriculum.

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Kaiser, Elizabeth D.

2003-01-01

Discusses why public schools are making religion an important part of social-studies curriculum and why teaching of religion may create unintended constitutional violations. Explores the efficacy of current legal tests of constitutionality of religion in schools. Proposes new test for evaluating the constitutionality of religion in public-school…

Relevance of Piagetian cross-cultural psychology to the humanities and social sciences.

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Oesterdiekhoff, Georg W

2013-01-01

Jean Piaget held views according to which there are parallels between ontogeny and the historical development of culture, sciences, and reason. His books are full of remarks and considerations about these parallels, with reference to many logical, physical, social, and moral phenomena.This article explains that Piagetian cross-cultural psychology has delivered the decisive data needed to extend the research interests of Piaget. These data provide a basis for reconstructing not only the history of sciences but also the history of religion, politics, morals, culture, philosophy, and social change and the emergence of industrial society. Thus, it is possible to develop Piagetian theory as a historical anthropology in order to provide a basis for the humanities and social sciences.

A Call for Teacher Professional Learning and the Study of Religion in Social Studies

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Patrick, Margaretta L.; Gulayets, Vanessa; Peck, Carla L.

2017-01-01

Religion is important to study in social studies because many religious individuals, groups, and movements engage with public issues and because countries are increasingly religiously diverse. In response, scholars are promoting education about religion in citizenship education. However, there remain few programs about religion in Canadian public…

Does social desirability influence psychological well-being: perceived physical health and religiosity of Italian elders? A developmental approach.

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Fastame, Maria Chiara; Hitchcott, Paul Kenneth; Penna, Maria Pietronilla

2017-04-01

This study was mainly aimed at exploring the relationship between psychological well-being and lifestyle, religion, perceived physical health and social desirability of Italian elders. Four hundred and six cognitively healthy 65-99 years old participants were recruited from the Italian isle of Sardinia, where a high prevalence of centenarians is registered. Participants were presented with several tools assessing psychological well-being, lifestyle, social desirability, religiosity and subjective physical health. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the social desirability measure is the best predictor of general subjective well-being, whereas further predictors are age, perceived physical health and gardening. A significant but moderate relationship was also found between psychological well-being, subjective physical health and religiosity, while controlling for social desirability. Social desirability seems to contaminate the self-rating of psychological well-being in late adulthood. Moreover, from a developmental perspective, age-related factors, life style and perceived physical health are strictly related to and therefore influence the perception of life quality in the third and fourth age.

Religion-Related Child Maltreatment: A Profile of Cases Encountered by Legal and Social Service Agencies.

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Bottoms, Bette L; Goodman, Gail S; Tolou-Shams, Marina; Diviak, Kathleen R; Shaver, Phillip R

2015-08-01

Religion can foster, facilitate, and be used to justify child maltreatment. Yet religion-related child abuse and neglect have received little attention from social scientists. We examined 249 cases of religion-related child maltreatment reported to social service agencies, police departments, and prosecutors' offices nationwide. We focused on cases involving maltreatment perpetrated by persons with religious authority, such as ministers and priests; the withholding of medical care for religious reasons; and abusive attempts to rid a child of supposed evil. By providing a descriptive statistical profile of the major features of these cases, we illustrate how these varieties of religion-related child maltreatment occur, who the victims and perpetrators are, and how religion-related child abuse and neglect are reported and processed by the social service and criminal justice systems. We end with a call for greater research attention to these important offenses against children. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Religion and union formation in Italy: Catholic precepts, social pressure, and tradition

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Daniele Vignoli

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Italy is customarily viewed as a traditional Catholic country. At the same time, couples are increasingly living together without marrying. Establishing links between religion and family formation is a complex issue and little is known about specific mechanisms through which religion shapes family change in the country. Objective: We aim to shed light on which aspects of religion are important in decisions about family formation. Methods: We analyze data from eight focus group interviews conducted in Florence. In the transcripts we identify any references to religion and systematically compare categories to investigate how religiosity intertwines with relationship choices. We apply bottom-up coding procedures to identify meaning and concepts within three theoretically relevant areas: Catholic precepts, social pressure, and tradition. Results: Despite the predominance of religion in the studied setting, Italians behave without according much importance to Catholic precepts and dogmas. Religion seems to influence people's family behaviors through social pressures to marry generated by the family of origin and the judgment of 'others'. Tradition also plays an important role. Conclusions: The widely prevailing pressure of parents and peers and the hedonistic aspects of the traditional Church wedding seem to be more important in partnership formation than Catholic prescripts. Thus, we posit that the direct effect of religion on individual choices is overestimated when interpreting the Italian family. In addition, we note the divergence that exists between the lack of state laws concerning consensual unions and the acceptance of cohabitation on an individual basis.

RELIGION AND HUMANITIES: PRACTICING RELIGION WHILE CELEBRATING DIFFERENCES

OpenAIRE

Nur Syam

2007-01-01

Religion is a human phenomenon which often determines human behaviour. Apart from the divinity, religion is related to man and humanity. But man often differentiate between themselves on religious grounds and come into conflict in the name of religion although the root cause of such conflicts is social misunderstanding, crime or politics. This article examines the religious conflicts in Indonesia during the last two decades as had erupted in Poso, Ambon and Sambas and argues how religion had ...

Religions and Psychotherapies—Special Issue

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Klaus Baumann

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The birth of modern psychotherapies—along with the birth of psychology as a science on one side and with psychoanalysis, other depth-psychological treatments and behavioral therapies in addition to medical treatments of psychological disorders on the other side—in the 19th and 20th centuries was accompanied by positivistic and mechanistic paradigms underlying empirical research and claims of scientific dignity [1]. Affirmations which could not be tested or observed empirically had to be excluded from science—including any kind of metaphysics and religious belief, notwithstanding pioneering studies by William James [2], Granville Stanley Hall, James Henry Leuba and Edwin Diller Starbuck [3] for psychology in general and for psychology of religion(s in particular. In particular, the critique of religions by Sigmund Freud has continuously exerted a strong impact in the fields of psychiatry and psychotherapies; in addition, regarding psychodynamics and symptoms of psychic disorders, religious phenomena in the lives of patients may be just as affected as other cognitive and emotional aspects and behaviors [4]. Consequently, religious experience and religious behavior of patients in psychiatry and psychotherapies have rarely been object of research and teaching apart from predominantly symptomatic and pathogenic perspectives [5].

Toward a more social social psychology of power

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lammers, J.

2008-01-01

In this dissertation I aim to take a step toward a more social social psychology of power. In my opinion the existing social psychology on power is insufficiently social, and too material and physical. I believe this material and physical view has greatly influenced how social psychology has studied

How to Capture the Wow : R.R. Marett’s Notion of Awe and the Study of Religion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meyer, B.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/141961236

2016-01-01

Current scholarship in the social sciences and humanities, including the study of religion, shows a marked appraisal of bodily sensations, emotions, and experiences as eminently social and politico-aesthetic phenomena (rather than reducing them to a matter of mere individual psychology). How to

The cultural evolution of prosocial religions.

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Norenzayan, Ara; Shariff, Azim F; Gervais, Will M; Willard, Aiyana K; McNamara, Rita A; Slingerland, Edward; Henrich, Joseph

2016-01-01

We develop a cultural evolutionary theory of the origins of prosocial religions and apply it to resolve two puzzles in human psychology and cultural history: (1) the rise of large-scale cooperation among strangers and, simultaneously, (2) the spread of prosocial religions in the last 10-12 millennia. We argue that these two developments were importantly linked and mutually energizing. We explain how a package of culturally evolved religious beliefs and practices characterized by increasingly potent, moralizing, supernatural agents, credible displays of faith, and other psychologically active elements conducive to social solidarity promoted high fertility rates and large-scale cooperation with co-religionists, often contributing to success in intergroup competition and conflict. In turn, prosocial religious beliefs and practices spread and aggregated as these successful groups expanded, or were copied by less successful groups. This synthesis is grounded in the idea that although religious beliefs and practices originally arose as nonadaptive by-products of innate cognitive functions, particular cultural variants were then selected for their prosocial effects in a long-term, cultural evolutionary process. This framework (1) reconciles key aspects of the adaptationist and by-product approaches to the origins of religion, (2) explains a variety of empirical observations that have not received adequate attention, and (3) generates novel predictions. Converging lines of evidence drawn from diverse disciplines provide empirical support while at the same time encouraging new research directions and opening up new questions for exploration and debate.

Religion as dialogical resource: a socio-cultural approach.

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Baucal, Aleksandar; Zittoun, Tania

2013-06-01

William James proposed a psychological study of religion examining people's religious experiences, and to see in what sense these were good for them. The recent developments of psychology of religion moved far from that initial proposition. In this paper, we propose a sociocultural perspective to religion that renews with that initial stance. After recalling Vygtotsky's core ideas, we suggest that religion, as cultural and symbolic system, participates to the orchestration of human activities and sense-making. Such orchestration works both from within the person, through internalized values and ideas, and from without, through the person's interactions with others, discourses, cultural objects etc. This leads us to consider religions as supporting various forms of dialogical dynamics-intra-psychological dialogues, interpersonal with present, absent or imaginary others, as well as inter-group dialogues-which we illustrate with empirical vignettes. The example of religious tensions in the Balkans in the 90's highlights how much the historical-cultural embeddedness of these dynamics can also lead to the end of dialogicality, and therefore, sense-making.

New social tasks for cognitive psychology; or, new cognitive tasks for social psychology.

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Wettersten, John

2014-01-01

To elucidate how differing theories of rationality lead to differing practices, their social rules must be analyzed. This is true not merely in science but also in society at large. This analysis of social thinking requires both the identification of innate cognitive social psychological processes and explanations of their relations with differing rules of rational practice. These new tasks can enable social psychologists to contribute to the study of how social situations facilitate or inhibit rational practice and enable cognitive psychologists to improve social psychological theory. In contrast to dominant current research strategies, social and cognitive psychologists can integrate social studies of rational practices and their consequences with studies of underlying cognitive psychological processes. In this article I do not attempt to carry out these tasks but rather point to both their lack of recognition and their importance.

Bridging history and social psychology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Glaveanu, Vlad Petre; Yamamoto, Koji

2012-01-01

This special issue aims to bridge history and social psychology by bringing together historians and social psychologists in an exercise of reading and learning from each other’s work. This interdisciplinary exercise is not only timely but of great importance for both disciplines. Social psycholog......This special issue aims to bridge history and social psychology by bringing together historians and social psychologists in an exercise of reading and learning from each other’s work. This interdisciplinary exercise is not only timely but of great importance for both disciplines. Social...... psychologists can benefit from engaging with historical sources by being able to contextualise their findings and enrich their theoretical models. It is not only that all social and psychological phenomena have a history but this history is very much part of present-day and future developments. On the other...... hand historians can enhance their analysis of historical sources by drawing upon the conceptual tools developed in social psychology. They can “test” these tools and contribute to their validation and enrichment from completely different perspectives. Most important, as contributions to this special...

The ‘Friendship Dynamics of Religion,’ or the ‘Religious Dynamics of Friendship’? A Social Network Analysis of Adolescents Who Attend Small Schools*

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Cheadle, Jacob E.; Schwadel, Philip

2012-01-01

Longitudinal social network data on adolescents in seven schools are analyzed to reach a new understanding about how the personal and interpersonal social dimensions of adolescent religion intertwine together in small school settings. We primarily address two issues relevant to the sociology of religion and sociology in general: (1) social selection as a source of religious homophily and (2) friend socialization of religion. Analysis results are consistent with Collins’ interaction ritual chain theory, which stresses the social dimensions of religion, since network-religion autocorrelations are relatively substantial in magnitude and both selection and socialization mechanisms play key roles in generating them. Results suggest that socialization plays a stronger role than social selection in four of six religious outcomes, and that more religious youth are more cliquish. Implications for our understanding of the social context of religion, religious homophily, and the ways we model religious influence, as well as limitations and considerations for future research, are discussed. PMID:23017927

Nietzsche – Psychologist of Religion

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Remedios Ávila Crespo

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of the following article is to fight some common misconceptions with respect to Nietzsche’s views on religion, and to show that these views are considerbly complex. Starting from the close relation between the human experience of suffering and the need for religion, as pointed out by Eliade, Freud and Schopenhauer, this essay focuses on the continuity between psychology and genealogy in Nietzsche’s analyses of religion and morality, it then responds to the questions about the essence, kinds and limits of the fact of religion, and ends by pointing out the different ontological status of Nietzsche’s principal philosophical positions.

The Emergence of Contextual Social Psychology.

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Pettigrew, Thomas F

2018-07-01

Social psychology experiences recurring so-called "crises." This article maintains that these episodes actually mark advances in the discipline; these "crises" have enhanced relevance and led to greater methodological and statistical sophistication. New statistical tools have allowed social psychologists to begin to achieve a major goal: placing psychological phenomena in their larger social contexts. This growing trend is illustrated with numerous recent studies; they demonstrate how cultures and social norms moderate basic psychological processes. Contextual social psychology is finally emerging.

Religion and Globalization in Laos Religion und Globalisierung in Laos

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Boike Rehbein

2009-04-01

Full Text Available According to Eurocentric sociology, modernization is supposed to make religion secular, a functional system, or a private matter. A closer analysis of the impact of contemporary globalization on religion in Laos shows that these tendencies can only be observed in certain social groups and in certain realms of religion. Some social groups preserve or reinvent religious traditions, others construct a new identity, and some do tend towards secularism or differentiation. The paper investigates these tendencies, referring to an empirical case study. It proposes to explain them within a conceptual framework adapted to societies of the global South which focuses on the concepts of social structure, division of work, socioculture, and institution. On the basis of these concepts, the paper proposes to distinguish between different religious realms, namely, belief, performance, and knowledge. In each of these three realms, different tendencies and social distributions can be observed. Der eurozentrischen Soziologie zufolge wird Religion im Zuge der Modernisierung entweder säkularisiert oder privatisiert oder in ein funktionales System verwandelt. Eine genauere Analyse des Einflusses, den die gegenwärtige Globalisierung auf die Religion in Laos ausübt, zeigt jedoch, dass diese Tendenzen auf bestimmte soziale Gruppen und Aspekte der Religion beschränkt sind. Einige soziale Gruppen bewahren oder rekonstruieren religiöse Traditionen, andere konstruieren eine neue Identität und wieder andere tendieren zu Säkularisierung oder funktionaler Differenzierung. Der Aufsatz analysiert diese Phänomene am Beispiel einer Fallstudie auf der Basis eines an den globalen Süden angepassten Begriffsapparats, der um die Begriffe Sozialstruktur, Tätigkeitsteilung, Soziokultur und Institution kreist. Der Aufsatz schlägt vor, zwischen den religiösen Sphären des Glaubens, der Performanz und des Wissens zu unterscheiden. In jeder Sphäre lassen sich unterschiedliche

A Case Study of Social and Media Influence on Religion

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Emery, Miranda Dawn

2011-01-01

This paper seeks to understand different religions and cultures by comparing and contrasting the similarities, differences, and opinions found within two religious/cultural groups. This case study uses the Social Learning Theory of communication to illustrate how perceptions of others are formed in a community with a growing Muslim population. It…

Appropriating religion: understanding religion as an object of science

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Donald Wiebe

1999-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the author focuses on the study of religion as a scientific project, for it is the scientific interest in religion which has constituted the grounds for admitting the study of religion into the curriculum of the modern Western university. Despite that academic legitimation, however, the study of religion in the setting of the modern research university is not held in high esteem relative to the other sciences. It if the scientific study of religion is to be legitimately ensconced in the modern research university, the notion of religion will have to be wholly appropriated by science; only then will we be able to establish a conceptual foundation from which to make valid knowledge claims about religion on a level commensurate with the pronouncements of the natural and social sciences. Indeed, to go one step further, given the hold on the concept of religion by those committed to the humanistic study of religion, we might need to talk here not of the appropriation but of expropriation of religion by science—that is, of wresting ownership of the concept from the humanists by using it solely as a taxonomic device to differentiate and explain a peculiar range of human behaviour demonstrated in religious practices.

Religion, civil society and conflict: What is it that religion does for and to society?

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Jaco Beyers

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Human consciousness instinctively tries to make sense of reality. Different human interpretations of reality lead to a world consisting of multiple realities. Conflict occurs when differing realities (worldviews encounter one another. Worldviews are socially created and determine human behaviour and, as such, most often find expression in religion. The discussion of conflict and the role of religion in civil society take place within the discourse of the sociology of religion. Religion is socially determined. Peter Berger’s insight into the sociology of religion therefore plays an important role in establishing the relationship between religion and civil society as one that takes on different forms. Thus, a clear definition of both civil society and religion was needed to understand the nature of these relationships. The role of religion in civil society with regard to the presence of conflict in society was further investigated in this article. The conditions under which conflict in society occurs were discussed, as were the conditions for tolerance in society, for religion ultimately becomes the provider of moral discernment when conflict occurs in civil society.

The Role of Agent and Social Context in Judgments of Freedom of Speech and Religion.

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Helwig, Charles C

1997-06-01

This study examined children's, adolescents', and college students' judgments of the rights of child and adult agents to freedom of speech and religion in 3 social contexts: the general level of society, the school, and the family. Two hundred forty participants, evenly divided into 5 grade levels (mean ages 6,6, 8,5,10,6,12,4, and 22,7) made judgments of the legitimacy of authority prohibition, rule evaluation, generalizability, and rule violation for all freedom/social context/agent combinations. Concepts of freedom of speech and religion were found to emerge in the early elementary school years, and endorsements of freedoms were increasingly affected by social context and agent with age. College students were less likely than any other age group to affirm children's freedom of religion in the family context. Considerations of the mental competence and maturity of agents and the potential for harm to ensue from acting on freedoms played an important part in the decisions of older, but not younger, participants.

Historical spaces of social psychology

OpenAIRE

Kalampalikis , Nikos; Delouvée , Sylvain; Pétard , Jean-Pierre

2006-01-01

International audience; An extensive analysis of all social psychology textbooks published, in french, between 1947 and 2001, including a history chapter, provides a rich corpus for the study of the history of social psychology. In this article we choose to study the historical spaces of social psychology, in order to show how the discipline was located in geographical, urban, institutional and collective spaces. We argue that, into this specific corpus, spaces are essentially related to some...

Religion, Nonreligion, and Deviance: Comparing Faith's and Family's Relative Strength in Promoting Social Conformity.

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DeCamp, Whitney; Smith, Jesse M

2018-04-25

The view that religion, as a source of moral guidance and social support, can function to prevent or protect individuals, especially children and adolescents, from a range of deviant and delinquent behaviors is largely (but not completely) born out in the literature. In nations with strong religious identities such as the USA, there is a normative expectation that adolescents who identify with religion are less likely to engage in deviant behavior than those who claim no religion. The present study explores this issue using data from over 10,000 American middle school and high school youth to examine the relationship between religion, nonreligion, and various forms of deviance. Results indicate that youth who identify with a religious (rather than nonreligious) label are not less likely to be involved in deviant acts after controlling for protective factors. The effects from some of these protective factors are significant and stronger than the effects from religion.

RELIGION IN FREUD’S APPROACH

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Mukrimin Mukrimin

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This article aimed to examine the essence of religion by using Sigmund Freud’ psychoanalysis. It looks at the Freud’s theories: “the ontogenic” and “the phylogenenic”. The origins of religious and belief traditions, as Freud had mapped, are neurosis, precarious future, and religion’s masculine roots. Freud’s realist approach on religion brought a controversy on the study of religion, i.e., by associating his patients and order cultural phenomena (art, literature, and philosophy. His falsification over religion mad Freud as the most controversial man in his time. For Freud, the truth-value of religious doctrines does not lie within the scope of the present enquiry. It is enough for us, as Freud asserts that we have recognized them as being, in their psychological nature, illusions. Key Words: religion, Freud, philosophy, psycho-analysis.

Religion and morality.

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McKay, Ryan; Whitehouse, Harvey

2015-03-01

The relationship between religion and morality has long been hotly debated. Does religion make us more moral? Is it necessary for morality? Do moral inclinations emerge independently of religious intuitions? These debates, which nowadays rumble on in scientific journals as well as in public life, have frequently been marred by a series of conceptual confusions and limitations. Many scientific investigations have failed to decompose "religion" and "morality" into theoretically grounded elements; have adopted parochial conceptions of key concepts-in particular, sanitized conceptions of "prosocial" behavior; and have neglected to consider the complex interplay between cognition and culture. We argue that to make progress, the categories "religion" and "morality" must be fractionated into a set of biologically and psychologically cogent traits, revealing the cognitive foundations that shape and constrain relevant cultural variants. We adopt this fractionating strategy, setting out an encompassing evolutionary framework within which to situate and evaluate relevant evidence. Our goals are twofold: to produce a detailed picture of the current state of the field, and to provide a road map for future research on the relationship between religion and morality. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Religion and Family in the 1980s: Discovery and Development.

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Thomas, Darwin L.; Cornwall, Marie

1990-01-01

Reviewed articles from journals in fields of family, religion, sociology, psychology, and therapy that examined both religion and the family. Review reveals pressing need for more serious theoretical and conceptual work that incorporates multidimensional approaches and is specifically designed to illuminate interrelationships between religion and…

Religion is natural, atheism is not

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Geertz, Armin W.; Markússon, Gudmundur Ingi

2010-01-01

After discussing evidence of irreligion and the rise of the so called "New Atheism", the authors refute the claim that this poses a problem for the cognitive science of religion and its hypothesis that religion is natural. The "naturalness hypothesis" is not deterministic but probabilistic and thus...... leaves room for atheism. This, the authors maintain, is true of both the by-product and adaptationist stances within the cognitive science of religion. In this context the authors also discuss the memetic or "unnaturalness" hypothesis, i.e. that religion is a "virus of the mind". The authors criticize...... accounts of atheism offered by cognitive scientists of religion as being based on unfounded assumptions about the psychology of atheists, and object to the notion that the natural aspects of religion by corollary make atheism unnatural. By considering human cognition in a semiotic framework and emphasizing...

Religion and Psychological Distress in Japan

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Roemer, Michael K.

2010-01-01

This study introduces data from a new random sample of Japanese adults. Findings show that reporting of distress symptoms are: (1. positively associated with a religious coping index (i.e., beliefs that religion or supernatural beings provide comfort, support or protection), (2. associated in different directions with ownership of different…

Media, Religion and Public Space

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Gheorghe FALCĂ

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Relations between religion and politics are complex and paradoxical. Both strive to achieve and maintain power. Both politics and religion involve control over social relations and emphasiye social integration (politics in its concern for order in society, and religion in its concern for observance of order and obligations within the congregation. But they differ in respect of specific goals, the values ​​that ascribe to power and differences in their conceptions of the nature and source of power. In the modern world, power, embodied in political institutions, is secular; in the past, its association with religion created a transcendental relationship, causing the possession of power to be of different quality, to come from another world. But, while politics is focused on interpersonal relationships, religion is more oriented towards relations between humans and gods or other spiritual forces.

Toward a Psychology of Social Change: A Typology of Social Change

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de la Sablonnière, Roxane

2017-01-01

Millions of people worldwide are affected by dramatic social change (DSC). While sociological theory aims to understand its precipitants, the psychological consequences remain poorly understood. A large-scale literature review pointed to the desperate need for a typology of social change that might guide theory and research toward a better understanding of the psychology of social change. Over 5,000 abstracts from peer-reviewed articles were assessed from sociological and psychological publications. Based on stringent inclusion criteria, a final 325 articles were used to construct a novel, multi-level typology designed to conceptualize and categorize social change in terms of its psychological threat to psychological well-being. The typology of social change includes four social contexts: Stability, Inertia, Incremental Social Change and, finally, DSC. Four characteristics of DSC were further identified: the pace of social change, rupture to the social structure, rupture to the normative structure, and the level of threat to one's cultural identity. A theoretical model that links the characteristics of social change together and with the social contexts is also suggested. The typology of social change as well as our theoretical proposition may serve as a foundation for future investigations and increase our understanding of the psychologically adaptive mechanisms used in the wake of DSC. PMID:28400739

Toward a Psychology of Social Change: A Typology of Social Change.

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de la Sablonnière, Roxane

2017-01-01

Millions of people worldwide are affected by dramatic social change (DSC). While sociological theory aims to understand its precipitants, the psychological consequences remain poorly understood. A large-scale literature review pointed to the desperate need for a typology of social change that might guide theory and research toward a better understanding of the psychology of social change. Over 5,000 abstracts from peer-reviewed articles were assessed from sociological and psychological publications. Based on stringent inclusion criteria, a final 325 articles were used to construct a novel, multi-level typology designed to conceptualize and categorize social change in terms of its psychological threat to psychological well-being. The typology of social change includes four social contexts: Stability, Inertia, Incremental Social Change and, finally, DSC. Four characteristics of DSC were further identified: the pace of social change, rupture to the social structure, rupture to the normative structure, and the level of threat to one's cultural identity. A theoretical model that links the characteristics of social change together and with the social contexts is also suggested. The typology of social change as well as our theoretical proposition may serve as a foundation for future investigations and increase our understanding of the psychologically adaptive mechanisms used in the wake of DSC.

Community Psychology, Evaluation, and Social Critique

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Miller, Robin Lin

2015-01-01

Community psychology blends psychological science, a community-level perspective on social issues, and a social justice orientation. Despite important difference between community psychology and program evaluation, program evaluation is a key component of many community psychologists' practice and holds a central place in my own. In this…

Kosovar Society through Secularism and Religion

OpenAIRE

MSc. Dritero Arifi; Dr.Sc. Ylber Sela

2013-01-01

This paper will analyze the importance and the effects of religion, in Kosovar society. A great part of the paper, will analyze the social and the political relations in Post-War Kosovo. Initially it will elaborate religion and secularism, especially in theoreticall aspect, what impact have these definitions in modern societies. In order to explain what the importance of the religion in Kosovo is, we will focus on analyzing ethnical, social and political relations within Kosovo society. A...

Religion, civil society and conflict: What is it that religion does for and to society?

OpenAIRE

Jaco Beyers

2011-01-01

Human consciousness instinctively tries to make sense of reality. Different human interpretations of reality lead to a world consisting of multiple realities. Conflict occurs when differing realities (worldviews) encounter one another. Worldviews are socially created and determine human behaviour and, as such, most often find expression in religion. The discussion of conflict and the role of religion in civil society take place within the discourse of the sociology of religion. Religion is so...

Social psychology, war and peace: Towards a critical discursive peace psychology.

OpenAIRE

Gibson, Stephen

2011-01-01

In this paper I make two related arguments: that peace psychology and social psychological peace research should give greater attention to discourse, and that critical discursive approaches in social psychology should explore matters of international military conflict, an area which has hitherto been somewhat neglected in this tradition of work. These arguments are developed in relation to debates concerning the nature and status of psychological ‘science’, and the neglect of language in soci...

Embodiment in social psychology.

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Meier, Brian P; Schnall, Simone; Schwarz, Norbert; Bargh, John A

2012-10-01

Psychologists are increasingly interested in embodiment based on the assumption that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are grounded in bodily interaction with the environment. We examine how embodiment is used in social psychology, and we explore the ways in which embodied approaches enrich traditional theories. Although research in this area is burgeoning, much of it has been more descriptive than explanatory. We provide a critical discussion of the trajectory of embodiment research in social psychology. We contend that future researchers should engage in a phenomenon-based approach, highlight the theoretical boundary conditions and mediators involved, explore novel action-relevant outcome measures, and address the role of individual differences broadly defined. Such research will likely provide a more explanatory account of the role of embodiment in general terms as well as how it expands the knowledge base in social psychology. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

The religion paradox: if religion makes people happy, why are so many dropping out?

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Diener, Ed; Tay, Louis; Myers, David G

2011-12-01

As we estimate here, 68% of human beings--4.6 billion people--would say that religion is important in their daily lives. Past studies have found that the religious, on average, have higher subjective well-being (SWB). Yet, people are rapidly leaving organized religion in economically developed nations where religious freedom is high. Why would people leave religion if it enhances their happiness? After controlling for circumstances in both the United States and world samples, we found that religiosity is associated with slightly higher SWB, and similarly so across four major world religions. The associations of religiosity and SWB were mediated by social support, feeling respected, and purpose or meaning in life. However, there was an interaction underlying the general trend such that the association of religion and well-being is conditional on societal circumstances. Nations and states with more difficult life conditions (e.g., widespread hunger and low life expectancy) were much more likely to be highly religious. In these nations, religiosity was associated with greater social support, respect, purpose or meaning, and all three types of SWB. In societies with more favorable circumstances, religiosity is less prevalent and religious and nonreligious individuals experience similar levels of SWB. There was also a person-culture fit effect such that religious people had higher SWB in religious nations but not in nonreligious nations. Thus, it appears that the benefits of religion for social relationships and SWB depend on the characteristics of the society.

La psychologie de la religion au regard de la psychologie culturelle

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Belzen, J.

2011-01-01

After clarifying what specific type of psychology the psychology of religion is, this paper introduces cultural psychology as a promising approach for research on religious phenomena. The paper distinguishes three variants in cultural psychology, reviews contemporary research in cultural psychology,

Kosovar Society through Secularism and Religion

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MSc. Dritero Arifi

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper will analyze the importance and the effects of religion, in Kosovar society. A great part of the paper, will analyze the social and the political relations in Post-War Kosovo. Initially it will elaborate religion and secularism, especially in theoreticall aspect, what impact have these definitions in modern societies. In order to explain what the importance of the religion in Kosovo is, we will focus on analyzing ethnical, social and political relations within Kosovo society. A considerable component of the paper is also, the elaboration of secularism in Kosovo conditions. This implies that the formulation of the problem and the objective of this research, are the substance of the paper’s theme, which is, religion in Kosovo; its definition and the outlook of the Kosovar society on religion. Is Kosovo post-war society more or less religious? That means the elements of Religions and Secularism will be part of the analysis of developments in post-war Kosovo.

The idea of atmosphere: Social psychology and other prolegomena

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Jahir Navalles Gomez

2008-05-01

Full Text Available The history of social psychology in this article differs from the standard versions. This is due to the fact that I call on contribtuons from different interlocutors, some of them from outside the discipline of social psychology. Their theorical insights provide a clue to the idea hidden in the background of social psychology –the idea of "atmosphere". I begin by setting out what official social psychology has held in contempt – its own past, its own unofficial history. I also make a case for the work of certain authors who have been ignored within social psychology, and introduce others who have cautiously developed the idea of 'atmosphere'. I trace how 'atmosphere' became the central metaphor which historically informed the discipline of social psychology, taking account of the work of historians and philosophers, as well as sociologists and philologists. 'Atmosphere' is the origin of social psychology, an idea that results in a nostalgic psychology, an historical psychology and a collective psychology.

Conceptualising spirituality and religion for healthcare.

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Pesut, Barbara; Fowler, Marsha; Taylor, Elizabeth J; Reimer-Kirkham, Sheryl; Sawatzky, Richard

2008-11-01

To discuss some of the challenges of conceptualising spirituality and religion for healthcare practice. With the growing interest in spirituality in healthcare, has come the inevitable task of trying to conceptualise spirituality, a daunting task given the amorphous nature of spirituality, the changing understandings of spirituality among individuals and the diverse globalised society within which this task is taking place. Spirituality's relationship to religion is a particularly challenging point of debate. Critical review. Three social and historical conditions - located in the context of Western thought - have contributed to current conceptualisations of spirituality and religion: the diminishment of the social authority of religion as a result of the Enlightenment focus on reason, the rise of a postmodern spirituality emphasising spiritual experience and current tensions over the ideological and political roles of religion in society. The trend to minimise the social influence of religion is a particular Western bias that seems to ignore the global megatrend of the resurgence of religion. Current conceptualisations are critiqued on the following grounds: that they tend to be ungrounded from a rich history of theological and philosophical thought, that a particular form of elitist spirituality is emerging and that the individualistic emphasis in recent conceptualisations of spirituality diminishes the potential for societal critique and transformation while opening the door for economic and political self interest. Constructing adequate conceptualisations of spirituality and religion for clinical practice entails grounding them in the wealth of centuries of philosophical and theological thinking, ensuring that they represent the diverse society that nursing serves and anchoring them within a moral view of practice.

Political diversity will improve social psychological science.

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Duarte, José L; Crawford, Jarret T; Stern, Charlotta; Haidt, Jonathan; Jussim, Lee; Tetlock, Philip E

2015-01-01

Psychologists have demonstrated the value of diversity--particularly diversity of viewpoints--for enhancing creativity, discovery, and problem solving. But one key type of viewpoint diversity is lacking in academic psychology in general and social psychology in particular: political diversity. This article reviews the available evidence and finds support for four claims: (1) Academic psychology once had considerable political diversity, but has lost nearly all of it in the last 50 years. (2) This lack of political diversity can undermine the validity of social psychological science via mechanisms such as the embedding of liberal values into research questions and methods, steering researchers away from important but politically unpalatable research topics, and producing conclusions that mischaracterize liberals and conservatives alike. (3) Increased political diversity would improve social psychological science by reducing the impact of bias mechanisms such as confirmation bias, and by empowering dissenting minorities to improve the quality of the majority's thinking. (4) The underrepresentation of non-liberals in social psychology is most likely due to a combination of self-selection, hostile climate, and discrimination. We close with recommendations for increasing political diversity in social psychology.

Religion and Social Hidden Curriculum--The Educative Influences of Christianity and Islam in Women

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Llorent-Bedmar, Vincente; Llorent, Vicente J.

2014-01-01

In this paper we highlight the similarities and differences between Christianity and Islam, on the social functions of women based on the sacred texts of both, references to a hidden social curriculum in the history. Faced with the growing religious pluralism in contemporary societies, we believe that the debate on how the two main religions in…

Health as the religion of our time

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stenbak Larsen, Christian

This paper sees health as religion through the lens of social theory, starting with classical sociology. The common point being that religion is about the social bond ('relgio' in Latin), to be a society we keep something sacred. Since classical sociology the breaking down of religion has continued...... uses the vocabulary of discourse analysis and calls health a hegemon. Pointing out that it is not a consensus but a sedimentation that prevent us from being against health. But this cannot only be seen as a limitation of personal freedom, but also - through the lens of social theory - as a historical...

Adolescents' and young adults' conceptions of civil liberties: freedom of speech and religion.

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Helwig, C C

1995-02-01

This study examined adolescents' and young adults' conceptions of freedom of speech and religion (civil liberties). 48 adolescents and young adults in 3 grade levels (mean ages 12-8, 16-10, and 19-6) were administered a structured interview containing assessments of civil liberties in general, in straightforward (unconflicted) applications, and in conflict with other social and moral concerns, including law, physical and psychological harm, and equality of opportunity. Freedom of speech and religion were conceptualized as universal rights and applied to social events in unconflicted contexts at all ages. A diverse array of rationales, differentiated according to type of freedom, were used at all ages to ground conceptions of universal freedoms. Judgments of civil liberties in conflicts exhibited several sources of variation, including developmental differences, situational or contextual variation determined by the particular types of issues in conflict, and individual differences. Results are consistent with the proposition that judgments of civil liberties reflect age-related patterns of coordination of delimited social and moral concepts rather than general orientations.

WHAT IS RELIGION ? AN AFRICAN UNDERSTANDING

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2009-10-24

Oct 24, 2009 ... To characterise African Traditional Religion as a separate ... come from various perspectives, ranging from the psychological, sociological and anthropological to the ...... Christian mission and ministry, PhD thesis, University of.

Contributions of Literature to Social Psychology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anastasio Ovejero

2012-11-01

Full Text Available There are two main kind of psychology: a intuitive psychology, and an academic and professional psychology. These two psychologies are different, but they can make important reciprocals contributions. And the best of the intuitive psychology, that in my opinion is in the literature and overall in the romance, can be very useful for professional psychologists. The main end of this paper is to show how the social psychologists can learn from the intuitive psychology of the great romances. This contribution of the romance to the social psychology is, at least, at these two levels. At the level of construction of the subjectivity and the modern subject and the, therefore, of the psychology’s arise, and at the level of some concrete subjects studied by the psychologists (romantic love, jealousy, infidelity, compunction, emotions, vengeance, human relations…

Perspectives on the Social Psychology of Creativity

OpenAIRE

Amabile, Teresa M.; Pillemer, Julianna

2012-01-01

Scholars began serious study into the social psychology of creativity about 25 years after the field of creativity research had taken root. Over the past 35 years, examination of social and environmental influences on creativity has become increasingly vigorous, with broad implications for the psychology of human performance, and with applications to education, business, and beyond. In this article, we revisit the origins of the social psychology of creativity, trace its arc, and suggest dire...

Religion, civil society and conflict: What is it that religion does for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2011-08-01

Aug 1, 2011 ... Religion is something essentially social (Dürkheim, cited in Robertson 1969:53). The one cannot ... city-states never reached the level of autonomy that Aristotle ..... social assistance, through which society takes responsibility.

Religion in Education in South Africa: Was Social Justice Served?

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van der Walt, Johannes L.

2011-01-01

The promulgation of South African policy regarding the place of religion in public education was delayed until 2003, after a lively debate. The National Policy on Religion in Education effectively banned confessional, sectarian religion from public schools, but allowed for the teaching of Religion Studies as an academic subject and for religious…

Ecological psychology and social psychology: it is Holt, or nothing!

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Charles, Eric P

2011-03-01

What is the greatest contribution that ecological psychologists can offer social psychology? Ideally, ecological psychologists could explain how people directly perceive the unique properties of their social partners. But social partners are distinguished from mundane objects because they possess mental traits, and tradition tells us that minds cannot be seen. When considering the ideal possibility, we reject that doctrine and posit minds as perceivable. For ecological psychology, this entails asserting that minds are the types of things able to structure ambient energy. Contemporary research and theory suggests distinctly ecological ways of attacking this problem, but the problem is not new. Almost 100 years ago, Holt argued for the visibility of minds. Thus when considering these ideas, ecological psychologists face a choice that is at once about their future and their past. Extending ecological psychology's first principles into the social realm, we come to the point where we must either accept or reject Holt's arguments, and the wider context they bring. In doing so, we accept or reject our ability to study the uniquely social.

The SAGE Model of Social Psychological Research

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Power, Séamus A.; Velez, Gabriel; Qadafi, Ahmad; Tennant, Joseph

2018-01-01

We propose a SAGE model for social psychological research. Encapsulated in our acronym is a proposal to have a synthetic approach to social psychological research, in which qualitative methods are augmentative to quantitative ones, qualitative methods can be generative of new experimental hypotheses, and qualitative methods can capture experiences that evade experimental reductionism. We remind social psychological researchers that psychology was founded in multiple methods of investigation at multiple levels of analysis. We discuss historical examples and our own research as contemporary examples of how a SAGE model can operate in part or as an integrated whole. The implications of our model are discussed. PMID:29361241

The SAGE Model of Social Psychological Research.

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Power, Séamus A; Velez, Gabriel; Qadafi, Ahmad; Tennant, Joseph

2018-05-01

We propose a SAGE model for social psychological research. Encapsulated in our acronym is a proposal to have a synthetic approach to social psychological research, in which qualitative methods are augmentative to quantitative ones, qualitative methods can be generative of new experimental hypotheses, and qualitative methods can capture experiences that evade experimental reductionism. We remind social psychological researchers that psychology was founded in multiple methods of investigation at multiple levels of analysis. We discuss historical examples and our own research as contemporary examples of how a SAGE model can operate in part or as an integrated whole. The implications of our model are discussed.

Core References in Introductory Social Psychology and Developmental Psychology Textbooks

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Whitehead, George I., III; Smith, Stephanie H.; Losonczy-Marshall, Marta

2017-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to identify the core references in introductory textbooks in two sub-disciplines of psychology: social psychology and developmental psychology. One research question was the extent to which the common references in these textbooks present the trends in contemporary research in each sub-discipline. An analysis…

On the links between religion, mental health and inter-religious conflict: a brief summary of empirical research.

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Abu-Raiya, Hisham

2013-01-01

Recently, the field of psychology has begun to display a growing interest in the influence of religion on people's psychological well-being. By and large, the empirical findings of this body of inquiry have revealed positive associations between religious beliefs and practices and different indices of health and well-being and demonstrated that religion serves as a valuable tool for individuals dealing with life stressors. Yet, there is ample data to suggest that religion can also have a negative influence on the psychological well-being of the individual. This duality of religion is the focus of this summary paper which consists of two main sections. The first considers the potential constructive and destructive sides of religion with regard to general health and well- being. The second section refers to religious variables that promote or mitigate prejudice and perceived conflict with others.

Realizing the promise of social psychology in improving public health.

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Klein, William M P; Shepperd, James A; Suls, Jerry; Rothman, Alexander J; Croyle, Robert T

2015-02-01

The theories, phenomena, empirical findings, and methodological approaches that characterize contemporary social psychology hold much promise for addressing enduring problems in public health. Indeed, social psychologists played a major role in the development of the discipline of health psychology during the 1970s and 1980s. The health domain allows for the testing, refinement, and application of many interesting and important research questions in social psychology, and offers the discipline a chance to enhance its reach and visibility. Nevertheless, in a review of recent articles in two major social-psychological journals (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology), we found that only 3.2% of 467 studies explored health-related topics. In this article, we identify opportunities for research at the interface of social psychology and health, delineate barriers, and offer strategies that can address these barriers as the discipline continues to evolve. © 2014 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Religion and Suicide Risk: A Systematic Review.

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Lawrence, Ryan E; Oquendo, Maria A; Stanley, Barbara

2016-01-01

Although religion is reported to be protective against suicide, the empirical evidence is inconsistent. Research is complicated by the fact that there are many dimensions to religion (affiliation, participation, doctrine) and suicide (ideation, attempt, completion). We systematically reviewed the literature on religion and suicide over the last 10 years (89 articles) with a goal of identifying what specific dimensions of religion are associated with specific aspects of suicide. We found that religious affiliation does not necessarily protect against suicidal ideation, but does protect against suicide attempts. Whether religious affiliation protects against suicide attempts may depend on the culture-specific implications of affiliating with a particular religion, since minority religious groups can feel socially isolated. After adjusting for social support measures, religious service attendance is not especially protective against suicidal ideation, but does protect against suicide attempts, and possibly protects against suicide. Future qualitative studies might further clarify these associations.

Functions of Narrative Genres for Lived Religion

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Tuija Hovi

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The article presents the object and results of a study which combines the psychology of religion and folkloristics in the form of a qualitative analysis of empirical ethnographic material compiled from sources in a local neo-charismatic congregation called the ‘Word of Life’. Personal narrative is discussed as a genre which represents the collective tradition of a religious community. It is a socially-learned speech act and a means of interpreting and sharing religious experience, thus constructing and confirming the faith of the community, both individually and collectively. In the neo-charismatic tradition, everyday speech draws on a literal (biblical tradition as well as on socially-shared narrative genres such as ritual testimonies, prophecies, sermons and casual, personal narratives of co-believers. The faith-creative power of these stories can be found in their performative utterances and evaluative structures as well as in non-communication.

Components of social capital and socio-psychological factors that worsen the perceived health of Japanese males and females.

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Tsunoda, Hiroko; Yoshino, Ryozo; Yokoyama, Kazuhito

2008-10-01

Social capital refers to the quantity and quality of social relationships, such as formal and informal social connections as well as norms of reciprocity and trust that exist in a place or a community. This article analyzed the data from Japan 2004 B Survey in order to elucidate the effects of social capital and socio-psychological factors on the health of Japanese males and females. The Survey was a part of a nationwide random study on Japanese national character, which has been conducted by the Institute of Statistical Mathematics since 1953. A total of 785 (372 males and 413 females) valid data from 1,200 adult samples were used. Logistic regression analysis showed that the self-reported symptoms were increased by negative attitude to generalized trust in males, and by negative attitude to norm of reciprocity in females. Moreover, in females, health dissatisfaction was enhanced by low perceptions of support. In both genders, self-reported symptoms and health dissatisfaction were worsened by anxiety. The self-reported symptoms were increased by an adherence to religion and spirituality in males, whereas in females, the health dissatisfaction increased with low income and a concern about superstitions. Thus, from a viewpoint of social capital, perceived health is susceptible to personal relationships in females and to distrust in males. Anxiety seems a key factor affecting perceived health. In addition, females are influenced by economic status and superstitions, whereas males are more concerned about religion or the mind in relation to health. These findings are useful in developing health policies for Japanese.

Islamist Suicide Terrorism and Erich Fromm’s Social Psychology of Modern Times

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Emad El-Din Aysha

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Mainstream social science has struggled to explain the appeal of suicide terrorism to so many Muslim youths, relying as it does on standard socio-economic indicators and research meant to identify suicidal tendencies. The existential emphasis is missing. This commentary is inspired by the work of clinical psychologist Erich Fromm (1900-1980 and his investigation of the social psychology of modernity, as well as how this intermingles with existential fears related to mortality (death-related fears and the passage of time (the end of the world or apocalypse. Modernity, explained Fromm, makes one feel small, insignificant and isolated in the larger scheme of things. This demands a violent response, often involving self-sacrifice, to reassert the balance, which allows Islamists to take advantage of death-related anxieties and exaggerate the sense of confrontation with the world through apocalyptic prophecies. Current psychological research on death and studies of terrorism and religious extremism both confirm many of Fromm’s findings and expand on them. In this commentary I argue that the religion of Islam, far from being a source of suicide terrorism, has historically restrained both suicidal tendencies and political violence directed at civilians, but it is the slow yet sure encroachment of modernity that has eroded these theological and communitarian defences. Other problems, such as household politics, gender roles, and theological teachings concerning death likewise feed this process, as documented by Arabic researchers in contexts other than political violence.

Florida's Instructional Materials Specifications. K-12 Social Studies, 2004-2005 Adoption.

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Florida State Dept. of Education, Tallahassee.

An effective social studies program provides coordinated, systematic study, drawing upon such disciplines as economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology. It prepares students to be personally and socially aware, promotes multiple perspectives, encourages intellectual curiosity, promotes…

From psychology of adaptation to psychology of social change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Awad, Sarah H.

and is influenced by contemporary socio-political contexts, then we need to introduce the science as not only studying how individuals are inclined to adapt, conform, and assimilate to the world as is, but also how and under which conditions individuals are agents for social change. I will discuss challenges......Introducing psychology to first year students comes with its own challenges of presenting it in a clear introductory manner, yet also triggering students to think critically about the theories they are presented with. If we were to think of social psychology as a discipline that mutually influences...

spiritually sensitive social work: a missing link in zimbabwe

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Mugumbate

to research on spirituality and social work. Similarly ... BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY. Though ..... the ethical principle of client self-determination and support for diversity .... (2005) Handbook of psychology of religion and spirituality. New.

Social history of health psychology: context and textbooks.

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Murray, Michael

2014-01-01

Health psychology as a field of research and practice formally developed 30 years ago but it was prefigured by sustained debate within social and applied psychology about the nature of psychology and its role in society. This article considers this pre-history of health psychology and how the field has subsequently developed. It considers how its character is shaped by dominant ideas within psychology and is also enmeshed in broader social relations. To illustrate the changing character of health psychology it considers how the field is represented in a selection of popular textbooks. It concludes by considering the growth of some critical approaches within health psychology.

Teaching Psychological and Social Gerontology to Millennial Undergraduates

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Siegal, Brittany; Kagan, Sarah H.

2012-01-01

Matters of development and generation may create barriers in teaching millennial undergraduates psychological and social gerontology. We introduce strategy to mitigate these barriers by teaching psychological and social gerontology as undergraduate honors courses, augmented with the use of social networking tools. We detail honors programming,…

Social Constructionist Psychology and its Application. Possibilities for a Reorientation

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Johannes von Tiling

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Social constructionism currently is understood as a metatheoretical alternative to positivism. It serves many social and cultural scientists as a point of reference. The possibilities to understand it as a psychological program of research that leaves space for agency and subjectivity usually are neglected. Promoting a dialogue with mainstream psychology constitutes one way of fostering social constructionist psychology. In addition, a theoretically productive conception of social constructionist psychology cannot do without reference to cultural psychology. An important advantage of such a conception lies in the increased number of possibilities for practical applications in hospitals, schools and factories. Whereas present applications of social constructionism tend to promote the postmodernization and individualization of the client, applied social constructionist psychology avoids these concomitant effects. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0801446

Perspectives on the Social Psychology of Creativity

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Amabile, Teresa M.; Pillemer, Julianna

2012-01-01

Scholars began serious study into the social psychology of creativity about 25 years after the field of creativity research had taken root. Over the past 35 years, examination of social and environmental influences on creativity has become increasingly vigorous, with broad implications for the psychology of human performance, and with applications…

Social Climate Science: A New Vista for Psychological Science.

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Pearson, Adam R; Schuldt, Jonathon P; Romero-Canyas, Rainer

2016-09-01

The recent Paris Agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions, adopted by 195 nations at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, signaled unprecedented commitment by world leaders to address the human social aspects of climate change. Indeed, climate change increasingly is recognized by scientists and policymakers as a social issue requiring social solutions. However, whereas psychological research on intrapersonal and some group-level processes (e.g., political polarization of climate beliefs) has flourished, research into other social processes-such as an understanding of how nonpartisan social identities, cultural ideologies, and group hierarchies shape public engagement on climate change-has received substantially less attention. In this article, we take stock of current psychological approaches to the study of climate change to explore what is "social" about climate change from the perspective of psychology. Drawing from current interdisciplinary perspectives and emerging empirical findings within psychology, we identify four distinct features of climate change and three sets of psychological processes evoked by these features that are fundamentally social and shape both individual and group responses to climate change. Finally, we consider how a more nuanced understanding of the social underpinnings of climate change can stimulate new questions and advance theory within psychology. © The Author(s) 2016.

Predicting College Students' Intergroup Friendships across Race/Ethnicity, Religion, Sexual Orientation, and Social Class

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Goldstein, Susan B.

2013-01-01

This study seeks to expand the literature on predicting friendship diversity beyond race/ethnicity to include religion, social class, and sexual orientation. Survey packets elicited information regarding up to four close friendships developed during college. Additional measures assessed pre-college friendship diversity, participation in college…

Religion as Bridging or Bonding Social Capital: Race, Religion, and Cross-Racial Interaction for College Students

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Park, Julie J.; Bowman, Nicholas A.

2015-01-01

Religion is the most segregated arena of American life, but its effect on collegiate diversity outcomes has been overlooked, despite the significance of both race and religion in many students' lives. This study examines whether religious observance, religious worldview identification, and participation in a religious student organization are…

Digital Religion, Social Media and Culture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Contributions on religion and computer-mediated communication cohere around the question: how will core religious understandings of identity, community and authority shape and be (re)shaped by the communicative possibilities of Web 2.0?...

Religion as a solvent: a lecture

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Antônio Flávio Pierucci

Full Text Available Contrary to Durkheim, for whom the role of religion is to reconnect the individual with the society to which he belongs, this essay argues that nowadays religion's social power lies in its capacity to dissolve old religious bonds and lineages. Taking Max Weber's work as its base, the text maintains that the universal religion of individual salvation, the religious form that tends to predominate above all others, works as a device that disconnects people from their mother-culture.

Social psychological-pedagogical support of singleparent family

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Ruslana Kazhuk

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the definition of the concept of "incomplete family", describes the typology of single-parent families, the necessity of special social psychological and pedagogical support for children from such families and their parents has been proved. The analysis of various concepts of ―support‖has been made. The idea of psychological and pedagogical support of modern incomplete families has been determined. Key words: incomplete family, types of single-parent families, support, social support, psychological and pedagogical support of single-parent families.

On the routes of Social Psychology in Brazil Sobre os rumos da Psicologia Social no Brasil

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Celso Pereira de Sá

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Considering the different paths of knowledge production that Social psychologists have run in Brazil, the text makes a distinction between a stricto sensu Social Psychology and the lato sensu one. The stricto sensu Social Psychologycomprises the trends found in the historical development of the discipline and in scientific modernity: the mainstream "psychological" Social Psychology; the European "sociological" Social Psychology; the "micro-sociological" perspectives, since Mead. The lato sensu Social Psychology comprises the trends that emerged aside the subject's history or very recently, following other epistemological guidelines: the Marxist Social Psychology, institutional analysis, socio-historical Psychology, socio-constructionism, and the philosophical Social Psychology. The eight trends listed are then submitted to evaluations regarding the two basic dimensions of Social Psychology: societal and psychological. A comparative picture of those evaluations discloses differences between the stricto and lato sensu sets of Social Psychology, as well as between the several trends in the scope of each set.Considerando os variados rumos de produção de conhecimento trilhados no Brasil pelos psicólogos sociais, o texto faz distinção entre uma Psicologia Social stricto sensu e outra lato sensu. À Psicologia Social stricto sensu correspondem as correntes que se situam no desenvolvimento histórico da disciplina e na modernidade científica: a Psicologia Social "psicológica" mainstream; a Psicologia Social "sociológica" europeia; as perspectivas "microssociológicas", desde Mead. À Psicologia Social lato sensu correspondem as correntes surgidas à margem da história da disciplina ou muito recentemente, com outras diretrizes epistemológicas: Psicologia Social marxista, análise institucional, Psicologia sócio-histórica, sócio-construcionismo e Psicologia Social filosófica. As oito correntes listadas são em seguida submetidas a avalia

Sacred content, secular context: a generative theory of religion and spirituality for social work.

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Liechty, Daniel

2013-01-01

Although a secular profession, social work practitioners and educators do explore human spirituality, and this is embraced now by the profession as integral to a holistic view of the human being. Social workers in hospice and end-of-life care are on the front line of this shift. Still needed is for the profession to coalesce around a generative theory of religion to inform the discipline. The author proposes that a synthesis of ideas, particularly from anthropologists Ernest Becker and Fredrick Streng, provides a generative theory of religion that advances meaningful interface between diverse religious and spiritual ideations of clients and clinicians alike. This theory of generative death anxiety locates the basic religious urge as response to the human awareness of the ontological condition of mortality, which then becomes expressed existentially in all of its diverse particularities. This approach avoids being overly reductionist, yet does provide categories for clear analysis. It cultivates critical respect for human religiosity and fosters productive and creative incorporation of human spirituality into the practical and pragmatic clinical perspective.

Goodwill in the valley of the shadow: religion, psychotherapy, and politics in Britain from 1945 to the early 1960s.

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Richards, Graham

2009-08-01

The author hypothesizes that the British psychological climate following World War II, from 1945 to approximately 1960, created the conditions for an unusually frank, honest, and collaborative debate on matters related to religion and spirituality generally as well as broader social and political issues. The author first sketches the nature of this climate, before looking more specifically at the interrelationships among religion, psychotherapy and, very briefly, politics during this period. Suggestions regarding the dissipation of this phase after 1960 are examined. The final section considers some qualifications to the case previously outlined and identifies issues and questions that the author feels need addressing further.

Social support and religion: mental health service use and treatment of schizophrenia.

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Smolak, A; Gearing, R E; Alonzo, D; Baldwin, S; Harmon, S; McHugh, K

2013-08-01

The perceptions and religious beliefs held by family members, mental health and health care professionals, and the community may affect the treatment of individuals with schizophrenia. To better identify and understand the influence of families, professionals and community members on individual's treatment for schizophrenia, this review paper examines: (1) the religious perceptions of families, professionals, and the public towards schizophrenia; (2) religious perceptions of the etiology of schizophrenia; (3) how others perceive religion as a coping mechanism; and (4) how religion influences treatment engagement and help-seeking behaviors. MEDLINE and PsycInfo databases were systematically searched from 1980 to 2010 using the terms schizophrenia, schizoaffective, schizophreniform, psychotic disorder not otherwise specified and religion, religiosity, spirituality, and faith. Forty-three (n = 43) original research studies met the inclusion criteria. This study found that religious beliefs influence the treatment of schizophrenia in the following ways: Religious themes were positively associated with coping, treatment engagement and help-seeking behavior. Evidence of religious underpinnings was found in perceptions of etiology. The findings also indicate that there is often both a preference among family members and caregivers to utilize religious-based professionals and caution toward mental health professionals. Researchers and professionals may find avenues for improving treatment through examining the interaction of religious and schizophrenia at the social support level.

[Civic religion, civil religion, secular religion. a historiographical investigation].

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Boucheron, Patrick

2013-01-01

Because of its conceptual plasiticity, the term civic religion is now widely used by historians, particularly historians of the Middle Ages. Yet, as this article suggests, historians would do well to interrogate the relationships (which can be hidden) that this term bears to similar concepts such as Greek Roman civic religion, Enlightenment civil religion or even the secular religion that emerged in the work of 20(th) century thinkers.

corporate social responsibility and psychological contract

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Global Journal

2017-07-04

Jul 4, 2017 ... KEYWORDS: Corporate social responsibilities, Psychological contract, Nigeria, Niger delta, ... The concept of Corporate Social ... CSR initiatives rather than mere financial ..... fundamental idea in such a contract (PC) is the.

Beyond folk psychology? : toward an enriched account of social understanding

OpenAIRE

Herschbach, Mitchell Albert

2010-01-01

Folk psychology is the ability to interpret people's mental states (beliefs, desires, etc.) and use this information to explain and predict their behavior. While folk psychology has traditionally been seen as fundamental to human social understanding, philosophers drawing on the phenomenological tradition have recently argued that most of our everyday social interactions do not involve folk psychology. I defend the role of folk psychology in human social understanding against these phenomenol...

Social-Psychological Aspects of Professional Learning Motivation

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Markov D.O.,

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article contains a theoretical review of both Russian (T.O. Gordeeva A.G. Bugrimenko, O.A. Tchadenkova etc. and foreign (R. Rayan, and E. Dasy, A. Elliot and H. Makgregor, etc approaches, classifications and researches of motivation of educational-professional activity, and special attention is paid to the socially-psychological features of this motivation: external conditionality of structural components, including achievement motivation, the mechanism of its formation in changing conditions of social environment, as well as nature of correlation of socially-psychological features of personality, in particular, processes of its socially-psychological adaptation, with characteristics of its motivational sphere. The article considers researches of external educational environment, (M. Bokarts, etc. and inner personality settings (К. Dvak, А. Bandura on becoming and development of motivation training are considered. Also there are researches of dynamics of motivation of educational-professional activity on various phases of educational process are described.

Spirituality and religion among HIV-infected individuals.

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Szaflarski, Magdalena

2013-12-01

Spirituality and religion are important to many people living with HIV (PLWH). Recent research has focused on special populations (ethnic-minorities, women, and youth), spirituality/religion measurement, mediating/moderating mechanisms, and individual and community-level interventions. Spirituality/religion in PLWH has been refined as a multidimensional phenomenon, which improves health/quality of life directly and through mediating factors (healthy behaviors, optimism, social support). Spirituality/religion helps people to cope with stressors, especially stigma/discrimination. Spiritual interventions utilizing the power of prayer and meditation and addressing spiritual struggle are under way. Faith-based community interventions have focused on stigma and could improve individual outcomes through access to spiritual/social support and care/treatment for PLWA. Community engagement is necessary to design/implement effective and sustainable programs. Future efforts should focus on vulnerable populations; utilize state-of-the-art methods (randomized clinical trials, community-based participatory research); and, address population-specific interventions at individual and community levels. Clinical and policy implications across geographic settings also need attention.

Marañón and historical social psychology: some theoretical questions.

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Almagro González, Andrés

2008-11-01

Full Text Available If one takes a multidisciplinary, integrative perspective on historical social psychology, one sees that it is a vital thread not only in the theoretical weave of social psychology as such, but in any social science which studies the social being. The multidisciplinary character of historical social psychology is friendly to authors and ideas from other domains of knowledge. Marañón's insights suggest interesting ways of answering the main questions that arise in historical social psychology. The application of his method, as I shall try to show, can orient to us towards a social psychology concerned not only with the here and now of its object of study, but also with the way in which it has evolved through history.

Unbelievable?! Theistic/Epistemological Viewpoint Affects Religion-Health Relationship.

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Speed, David

2017-02-01

Research suggests that Religion/Spirituality promotes a variety of positive health outcomes. However, despite reporting lower levels of Religion/Spirituality, non-believers report comparable levels of health to believers. The current study tested the hypothesis that Religion/Spirituality does not have a uniform effect on health for all persons, and tested theological/epistemological categories as moderators. Using the 2012 and 2014 General Social Survey (N = 2670), the relationship between Religion/Spirituality and happiness and self-rated health was investigated. Results indicated that Gnostic Theists experienced Religion/Spirituality more positively than their peers did; Agnostic Theists experienced Religion/Spirituality less positively than their peers did; and Negative Atheists experienced Religion/Spirituality less positively than their peers did. These findings suggested that Religion/Spirituality is not associated with salutary effects for all persons, and that whether a person believes in god(s) and how confident he/she was in god(s)' existence, influenced his/her experience with Religion/Spirituality.

Toward a Psychological Study of Class Consciousness: Development and Validation of a Social Psychological Model

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Lucas A. Keefer

2015-12-01

Full Text Available While social class has recently become a prominent topic in social psychological research, much of this effort has focused on the psychological consequences of objective and subjective indices of class (e.g., income, perceived status. This approach sheds light on the consequences of social class itself, but overlooks a construct of central importance in earlier theorizing on class: class consciousness, or the extent to which individuals acknowledge and situate themselves within class relations. The current paper offers a psychological model of class consciousness comprised of five elements: awareness of social class, perceptions of class conflict, beliefs about the permeability of class groups, identification with a class group, and personal experience of being treated as a member of one’s class. We offer a measure assessing those central dimensions and assess differences in these dimensions by age, gender, indices of social class, political ideology, and among different class groups. Finally, we offer suggestions for how an awareness of class consciousness may enrich social psychology and ultimately foster political change.

Social Isolation, Depression, and Psychological Distress Among Older Adults.

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Taylor, Harry Owen; Taylor, Robert Joseph; Nguyen, Ann W; Chatters, Linda

2018-02-01

To investigate the impact of objective and subjective social isolation from extended family members and friends on depressive symptoms and psychological distress among a national sample of older adults. Data for older adults (55 years and above) from the National Survey of American Life ( N = 1,439) were used to assess level of objective social isolation and subjective social isolation and to test regression models examining their impact on depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression [CES-D] Scale) and psychological distress (Kessler 6 [K6] Scale). The majority of respondents were not socially isolated from family or friends; 5% were objectively isolated from family and friends, and less than 1% were subjectively isolated from family and friends. Regression analyses using both social isolation measures indicated that objective social isolation was unrelated to depressive symptoms and psychological distress. However, subjective social isolation from both family and friends and from friends only was associated with more depressive symptoms, and subjective social isolation from friends only was associated with higher levels of psychological distress. Assessments of social isolation among older populations should account for both subjective and objective dimensions, as well as both family and friend social networks. Social isolation from friends is an important, but understudied, issue that has significant consequences for older adult mental health.

DSM-III-R and religion.

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Post, S G

1992-07-01

The interpretation of religion in DSM-III-R contains considerable negative bias and contributes to unfair stereotypes of religious persons. Particularly new religious movements and religious conversion are unfairly interpreted under the DSM-III-R heading, 'Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified'. It is suggested that a more balanced and respectful interpretation of religion is needed in DSM-III-R, since psychiatry through its official nomenclature should not contribute to social intolerance of religious nonconformity.

SOCIAL COMPETENCE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL VULNERABILITY: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF FLOURISHING.

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Uysal, Recep

2015-10-01

This study examined whether flourishing mediated the social competence and psychological vulnerability. Participants were 259 university students (147 women, 112 men; M age = 21.3 yr., SD = 1.7) who completed the Turkish versions of the Perceived Social Competence Scale, the Flourishing Scale, and the Psychological Vulnerability Scale. Mediation models were tested using the bootstrapping method to examine indirect effects. Consistent with the hypotheses, the results indicated a positive relationship between social competence and flourishing, and a negative relationship between social competence and psychological vulnerability. Results of the bootstrapping method revealed that flourishing significantly mediated the relationship between social competence and psychological vulnerability. The significance and limitations of the results were discussed.

The Evaluation of Significant Figures in the History of Social Psychology: A Class Exercise in the Teaching of Introductory Social Psychology

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Innes, John Michael; Chambers, Timothy Peter

2017-01-01

In teaching social psychology, the process of identifying a particular theorist can lead to an enhanced understanding of the theories associated with that individual. Employing this process into a summative assessment, this article outlines an exercise that facilitated the teaching of introductory social psychology to 147 undergraduate students.…

Evolutionary Theory's Increasing Role in Personality and Social Psychology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gregory D. Webster

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Has the emergence of evolutionary psychology had an increasing impact on personality and social psychological research published over the past two decades? If so, is its growing influence substantially different from that of other emerging psychological areas? These questions were addressed in the present study by conducting a content analysis of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JPSP from 1985 to 2004 using the PsycINFO online abstract database. Specifically, keyword searches for “evol*” or “Darwin*” revealed that the percentage of JPSP articles drawing on evolutionary theory was modest, but increased significantly between 1985 and 2004. To compare the growing impact of evolutionary psychology with other psychological areas, similar keywords searches were performed in JPSP for emotion and motivation, judgment and decision making, neuroscience and psychophysiology, stereotyping and prejudice, and terror management theory. The increase in evolutionary theory in JPSP over time was practically equal to the mean increase over time for the other five areas. Thus, evolutionary psychology has played an increasing role in shaping personality and social psychological research over the past 20 years, and is growing at a rate consistent with other emerging psychological areas.

On the history of political diversity in social psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Binning, Kevin R; Sears, David O

2015-01-01

We argue that the history of political diversity in social psychology may be better characterized by stability than by a large shift toward liberalism. The branch of social psychology that focuses on political issues has defined social problems from a liberal perspective since at least the 1930s. Although a lack of ideological diversity within the discipline can pose many of the problems noted by Duarte et al., we suggest that these problems (a) are less apparent when the insights of social psychology are pitted against the insights from other social science disciplines, and (b) are less pressing than the need for other types of diversity in the field, especially ethnic and racial diversity.

The Intersectionality of Religion and Social Welfare: Historical Development of Richmond’s Nonprofit Health and Human Services

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F. Ellen Netting

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Studying the intersectionality of religion and social welfare in Richmond, Virginia requires going back to the beginning of the Virginia colony. In the crucible of the colony, the religious and social welfare functions of a parish community were one and the same. However, after the Revolutionary War it was just a matter of time before the entire system was disassembled. The process of disentanglement of church and state created an identity crisis in Virginia. In the late 1700s, the emergence of charitable efforts began with leading men of Richmond who tried to address the temporary needs of travelers, followed by groups of women who discovered new roles they could play through charitable works. The new “system” became a potpourri of societies, congregations, associations, and county units attempting to provide for the social welfare of the populous. The intersectionality of religion and social welfare continued as a diverse landscape of small and large organizations and congregations performing the social welfare functions in Richmond and throughout the Commonwealth emerged. Today, to attempt to separate the church from the state in this conglomerate of agencies is neither possible nor desirable. However, understanding its’ historical complexity is essential if one is to engage in contemporary practice within Richmond’s health and human service system.

Assessment of Teachers from a Social Psychological Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Madni, Ayesha; Baker, Eva L.; Chow, Kirby A.; Delacruz, Girlie C.; Griffin, Noelle C.

2015-01-01

The focus of this chapter is on the description and assessment of teachers' social psychological factors, using the scientific literature as a base. Research on teachers' social psychological domains has an ultimate goal of populating classrooms with competent people who can model and incite behaviors that assist students in their own learning.…

How cultural evolutionary theory can inform social psychology and vice versa.

Science.gov (United States)

Mesoudi, Alex

2009-10-01

Cultural evolutionary theory is an interdisciplinary field in which human culture is viewed as a Darwinian process of variation, competition, and inheritance, and the tools, methods, and theories developed by evolutionary biologists to study genetic evolution are adapted to study cultural change. It is argued here that an integration of the theories and findings of mainstream social psychology and of cultural evolutionary theory can be mutually beneficial. Social psychology provides cultural evolution with a set of empirically verified microevolutionary cultural processes, such as conformity, model-based biases, and content biases, that are responsible for specific patterns of cultural change. Cultural evolutionary theory provides social psychology with ultimate explanations for, and an understanding of the population-level consequences of, many social psychological phenomena, such as social learning, conformity, social comparison, and intergroup processes, as well as linking social psychology with other social science disciplines such as cultural anthropology, archaeology, and sociology.

Bridging history and social psychology: what, how and why.

Science.gov (United States)

Glăveanu, Vlad; Yamamoto, Koji

2012-12-01

This special issue aims to bridge history and social psychology by bringing together historians and social psychologists in an exercise of reading and learning from each other's work. This interdisciplinary exercise is not only timely but of great importance for both disciplines. Social psychologists can benefit from engaging with historical sources by being able to contextualise their findings and enrich their theoretical models. It is not only that all social and psychological phenomena have a history but this history is very much part of present-day and future developments. On the other hand historians can enhance their analysis of historical sources by drawing upon the conceptual tools developed in social psychology. They can "test" these tools and contribute to their validation and enrichment from completely different perspectives. Most important, as contributions to this special issue amply demonstrate, psychology's "historical turn" has the potential to shed a new light on striking, yet underexplored, similarities between contemporary public spheres and their pre-modern counterparts. This issue thereby calls into question the dichotomy between traditional and de-traditionalized societies-a distinction that lies at the heart of many social psychology accounts of the world we live in. The present editorial will introduce and consider this act of bridging history and social psychology by focusing on three main questions: What is the bridge made of? How can the two disciplines be bridged? and Why we cross this interdisciplinary bridge? In the end a reflection on the future of this collaboration will be offered.

Social psychology and energy attitude consumer change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karimi, Y.; Saffarinia, M.

2005-01-01

One of the most issues in social Psychology is study of attitude. Attitudes are causes of human behavior. If we regard energy consumption as a behavior for changing behavior in field of energy we must to study attitude and attitude change.In social psychology attitude define as positive and negative affective state to a matter of object. In this paper try it describe approaches and theories about attitudes and attitude change such as classical conditioning operant conditioning, social learning and cognitive. We hope this paper will be useful for planners and expert that work in this field

Religion and Substance Use among Youths of Mexican Heritage: A Social Capital Perspective

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Hodge, David R.; Marsiglia, Flavio F.; Nieri, Tanya

2011-01-01

Despite elevated levels of substance use among many Latino youths, there has been little research on protective factors against such use. In keeping with federal commitments to address health disparities, this prospective study examined the protective influence of religion on substance use among a school-based sample (N = 804) of youths of Mexican heritage in the American Southwest. Drawing from the social capital literature, the authors posited that both integration into religious networks and trust in religious values at time 1 (Tl) would predict less likelihood of using substances at time 2 (T2) but that exposure to religious norms at Tl would not predict subsequent substance use at T2. The hypotheses regarding religious networks and religious norms were largely confirmed, whereas little support emerged for the hypothesis regarding religious values. The results are discussed in light of the various pathways through which religion may exhibit a protective influence. PMID:22140302

The changing psychology of culture from 1800 through 2000.

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Greenfield, Patricia M

2013-09-01

The Google Books Ngram Viewer allows researchers to quantify culture across centuries by searching millions of books. This tool was used to test theory-based predictions about implications of an urbanizing population for the psychology of culture. Adaptation to rural environments prioritizes social obligation and duty, giving to other people, social belonging, religion in everyday life, authority relations, and physical activity. Adaptation to urban environments requires more individualistic and materialistic values; such adaptation prioritizes choice, personal possessions, and child-centered socialization in order to foster the development of psychological mindedness and the unique self. The Google Ngram Viewer generated relative frequencies of words indexing these values from the years 1800 to 2000 in American English books. As urban populations increased and rural populations declined, word frequencies moved in the predicted directions. Books published in the United Kingdom replicated this pattern. The analysis established long-term relationships between ecological change and cultural change, as predicted by the theory of social change and human development (Greenfield, 2009).

Athlete social support, negative social interactions and psychological health across a competitive sport season.

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DeFreese, J D; Smith, Alan L

2014-12-01

Social support and negative social interactions have implications for athlete psychological health, with potential to influence the links of stress-related experiences with burnout and well-being over time. Using a longitudinal design, perceived social support and negative social interactions were examined as potential moderators of the temporal stress-burnout and burnout-well-being relationships. American collegiate athletes (N = 465) completed reliable and valid online assessments of study variables at four time points during the competitive season. After controlling for dispositional and conceptually important variables, social support and negative social interactions did not moderate the stress-burnout or burnout-well-being relationships, respectively, but did simultaneously contribute to burnout and well-being across the competitive season. The results showcase the importance of sport-related social perceptions to athlete psychological outcomes over time and inform development of socially driven interventions to improve the psychological health of competitive athletes.

Enhancing Placebo Effects: Insights From Social Psychology

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SLIWINSKI, JIM; ELKINS, GARY R.

2012-01-01

Placebo effects are widely recognized as having a potent impact upon treatment outcomes in both medical and psychological interventions, including hypnosis. In research utilizing randomized clinical trials, there is usually an effort to minimize or control placebo effects. However, in clinical practice there may be significant benefits in enhancing placebo effects. Prior research from the field of social psychology has identified three factors that may enhance placebo effects, namely: priming, client perceptions, and the theory of planned behavior. These factors are reviewed and illustrated via a case example. The consideration of social-psychological factors to enhance positive expectancies and beliefs has implications for clinical practice as well as future research into hypnotic interventions. PMID:23488251

La religione una risorsa formativa?

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Carlo Nanni

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The text aims to show how religion can contribute to the achievement of the human person. Religion, connected to the social and cultural framework, joins the individual world in its complexity. Is godlinesses a possible teaching resource? Yes, when read according to a pedagogical perspective, which support human advancement, historical and cultural being. The dialogue, good practice for any learning, it poses as a means to fight the life fragmentation in the discovery of common traces to all humanity.

Using "12 Angry Men" as an Integrative Review of Social Psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Fried, Carrie B.

The use of the feature film "12 Angry Men" (1957) as an integrative review of social psychology is described. Students view the film, and then discuss the many aspects of social psychology represented in the interactions among the jurors. Discussion involves tying the movie examples back to social psychological research and theory as…

Social class, income, education, area of residence and psychological distress: does social class have an independent effect on psychological distress in Antalya, Turkey?

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Belek, I

2000-02-01

The aim of this study is to determine the separate effects of social class, income, education and area of residence on psychological distress. The study also assesses whether the association between prevalence of high score on the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 12) and social class is independent of other variables. Psychological distress was assessed by means of the GHQ 12. The study covered 1,092 adults aged 15 years or more living in two different quarters of Antalya. Social class status was defined by occupational position, with income, education and area of residence treated as confounders. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the data. Large inequalities in psychological distress by all variables were observed. Psychological distress was significantly associated with class status, after adjusting for income, education, area of residence and other potential confounders (age, sex and marital status). Class inequalities in psychological distress were observed between blue-collar workers/unqualified employees and bourgeoisie. These findings support the view that the recent widening of inequalities among social classes in Turkey pose a substantial threat to health.

Social Isolation, Psychological Health, and Protective Factors in Adolescence

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Hall-Lande, Jennifer A.; Eisenberg, Marla E.; Christenson, Sandra L.; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne

2007-01-01

This study investigates the relationships among social isolation, psychological health, and protective factors in adolescents. Feelings of social isolation may influence psychological health in adolescents, but protective factors such as family connectedness, school connectedness, and academic achievement may also play a key role. The sample…

Food Choice and Nutrition: A Social Psychological Perspective.

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Hardcastle, Sarah J; Thøgersen-Ntoumani, Cecilie; Chatzisarantis, Nikos L D

2015-10-01

In this Special Issue, entitled "Food choice and Nutrition: A Social Psychological Perspective", three broad themes have been identified: (1) social and environmental influences on food choice; (2) psychological influences on eating behaviour; and (3) eating behaviour profiling.The studies that addressed the social and environmental influences indicated that further research would do well to promote positive food choices rather than reduce negative food choices; promote the reading and interpretation of food labels and find ways to effectively market healthy food choices through accessibility, availability and presentation. The studies on psychological influences found that intentions, perceived behavioural control, and confidence were predictors of healthy eating. Given the importance of psychological factors, such as perceived behavioural control and self-efficacy, healthy eating interventions should reduce barriers to healthy eating and foster perceptions of confidence to consume a healthy diet. The final theme focused on the clustering of individuals according to eating behaviour. Some "types" of individuals reported more frequent consumption of fast foods, ready meals or convenience meals or greater levels of disinhibitiona nd less control over food cravings. Intervention designs which make use of multi-level strategies as advocated by the Ecological Model of Behaviour change that proposes multi-level (combining psychological, social and environmental) strategies are likely to be more effective in reaching and engaging individuals susceptible to unhealthy eating habits than interventions operating on a single level.

Imagine: towards an integrated and applied social psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Abell, Jackie; Walton, Chris

2010-12-01

This commentary does not aim to engage with the epistemological and ontological technicalities of the discursive psychology maintained by epistemological constructionism and discursive psychology reliant on ontological constructionism approaches that form the basis of the two papers under discussion; other commentators, both in this issue and in the future, are likely to do that. Instead, this commentary aims to situate both papers within a broader frame of contemporary, primarily British social psychology, to ponder the circumstances that gave rise to them and their implications for social psychologists, discursive and non-discursive, alike. We have organized this commentary into two parts. The first part considers two simple questions. First, why does Corcoran critique DPEC for failing to do things that other discursive approaches provide for? And, second, why does Corcoran take DPEC research to task for having too little potential for or made too little contribution to improving the lives and subjectivities of people in general? These two questions are not unrelated, but for clarity's sake we will try to answer them separately. The second part of this commentary will consider the influence of discursive psychology on social psychology more generally.

Social perception: historic-philosophical and psychological preliminary investigation

OpenAIRE

A. O. Pocelujko

2015-01-01

The article investigates the prerequisite analysis of social perception in different epistemological, psychological General (socio­psychological) theories. Epistemology is the philosophy section, which explores the general premise of cognitive activity, the ratio of knowledge and reality, establishing the terms of true and certain knowledge creates a stable foundation for the study of social perception. Depending on a particular epistemological concepts can differentiate different understandi...

African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues is dedicated to the Scientific investigation of psychological and social issues and related phenomenon in Africa. The journal does not undertake to specify rigidly an appropriate domain of context, but intends rather to reflect current significant research of ...

Sociology of religion in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Groot, Kees; Sengers, Erik; Blasi, Anthony J.; Giordan, Giuseppe

In 1960, the Dutch journal of the Catholic Social-Ecclesial Institute (Kaski) Sociaal Kompas became Social Compass. This shift rounded off a period now considered as the heyday of Dutch sociology of religion. Ironically, in those years, Catholic sociologists in particular contested the legitimacy of

Food Choice and Nutrition: A Social Psychological Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah J. Hardcastle

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In this Special Issue, entitled “Food choice and Nutrition: A Social Psychological Perspective”, three broad themes have been identified: (1 social and environmental influences on food choice; (2 psychological influences on eating behaviour; and (3 eating behaviour profiling. The studies that addressed the social and environmental influences indicated that further research would do well to promote positive food choices rather than reduce negative food choices; promote the reading and interpretation of food labels and find ways to effectively market healthy food choices through accessibility, availability and presentation. The studies on psychological influences found that intentions, perceived behavioural control, and confidence were predictors of healthy eating. Given the importance of psychological factors, such as perceived behavioural control and self-efficacy, healthy eating interventions should reduce barriers to healthy eating and foster perceptions of confidence to consume a healthy diet. The final theme focused on the clustering of individuals according to eating behaviour. Some “types” of individuals reported more frequent consumption of fast foods, ready meals or convenience meals or greater levels of disinhibition and less control over food cravings. Intervention designs which make use of multi-level strategies as advocated by the Ecological Model of Behaviour change that proposes multi-level (combining psychological, social and environmental strategies are likely to be more effective in reaching and engaging individuals susceptible to unhealthy eating habits than interventions operating on a single level.

Twitter Language Use Reflects Psychological Differences between Democrats and Republicans.

Science.gov (United States)

Sylwester, Karolina; Purver, Matthew

2015-01-01

Previous research has shown that political leanings correlate with various psychological factors. While surveys and experiments provide a rich source of information for political psychology, data from social networks can offer more naturalistic and robust material for analysis. This research investigates psychological differences between individuals of different political orientations on a social networking platform, Twitter. Based on previous findings, we hypothesized that the language used by liberals emphasizes their perception of uniqueness, contains more swear words, more anxiety-related words and more feeling-related words than conservatives' language. Conversely, we predicted that the language of conservatives emphasizes group membership and contains more references to achievement and religion than liberals' language. We analysed Twitter timelines of 5,373 followers of three Twitter accounts of the American Democratic and 5,386 followers of three accounts of the Republican parties' Congressional Organizations. The results support most of the predictions and previous findings, confirming that Twitter behaviour offers valid insights to offline behaviour.

Twitter Language Use Reflects Psychological Differences between Democrats and Republicans.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karolina Sylwester

Full Text Available Previous research has shown that political leanings correlate with various psychological factors. While surveys and experiments provide a rich source of information for political psychology, data from social networks can offer more naturalistic and robust material for analysis. This research investigates psychological differences between individuals of different political orientations on a social networking platform, Twitter. Based on previous findings, we hypothesized that the language used by liberals emphasizes their perception of uniqueness, contains more swear words, more anxiety-related words and more feeling-related words than conservatives' language. Conversely, we predicted that the language of conservatives emphasizes group membership and contains more references to achievement and religion than liberals' language. We analysed Twitter timelines of 5,373 followers of three Twitter accounts of the American Democratic and 5,386 followers of three accounts of the Republican parties' Congressional Organizations. The results support most of the predictions and previous findings, confirming that Twitter behaviour offers valid insights to offline behaviour.

The social constructionist movement in modern psychology

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Kenneth J. Gergen

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Social constructionism views discourse about the world not as a reflection or map of the world but as an artifact of communal interchange. Both as an orientation to knowledge and to the character of psychological constructs, constructionism forms a significant challenge to conventional understandings. Although the roots of constructionist thought may be traced to long-standing debates between empiricist and rationalist schools of thought, constructionism attempts to move beyond the dualism to which both of these traditions are committed and to place knowledge within the process of social interchange. Although the role of psychological explanation is rendered problematic, a fully developed constructionism could furnish a means for understanding the process of science and invites the development of alternative criteria for the evaluation of psychological inquiry.

Notas para uma genealogia da Psicologia Social Notes for a genealogy of Social Psychology

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Rosane Neves da Silva

2004-08-01

Full Text Available A partir de uma "desnaturalização" do conceito de social, pretende-se situar as condições de possibilidade para a invenção da psicologia social. Utilizando uma estratégia genealógica, nosso objetivo é mostrar que, no lugar da psicologia explicar o social, é o próprio social que deve explicar o surgimento da psicologia moderna. Para tanto, é preciso deixar de considerar o social como sinônimo da noção de sociabilidade e passar a considerá-lo como algo essencialmente construído a partir de determinadas práticas humanas. Tal problematização permite entender como se produzem, no final do século XIX, as primeiras aproximações da psicologia moderna em direção ao social a partir das questões relacionadas ao fenômeno das multidões.The "denaturalization" of the concept "social" allow us to situate the conditions to the invention of social psychology. Using the genealogy strategy, our goal is to show that it is not psychology that explains the "social" but it is the "social" itself that explains the emergence of modern psychology. In order to attain our goal it is necessary to abandon the use of social as a synonym of sociability and to consider the "social" as a product essentially constructed by determinate human practices. This strategy allows us to understand how, at the end of the XIX century, modern psychology's firsts theoretical approaches towards the "social" were produced from matters related to the phenomena of the masses.

Navigating Social Networking and Social Media in School Psychology: Ethical and Professional Considerations in Training Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Pham, Andy V.

2014-01-01

Social networking and social media have undoubtedly proliferated within the past decade, allowing widespread communication and dissemination of user-generated content and information. Some psychology graduate programs, including school psychology, have started to embrace social networking and media for instructional and training purposes; however,…

Mapping out the subject of Brazilian social psychology in the production of the national association of research and post-graduate studies in psychology

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Marcos Adegas de Azambuja

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper problematizes the Brazilian Social Psychology and its knowledge production on the registers of the Work Group (WG of symposiums of the National Association of Research and Post-Graduation in Psychology (ANPEPP, during 1988 to 2010. Using Michel Foucault's archeo-genealogical perspective and the contributions by Ian Hacking about the historical ontology of subjects, we analyzed technologies of power and knowledge in the disciplines of Social Psychology. We selected the WG abstracts in which circulate the utterances that make up the discursive field of Brazilian Social Psychology. Using the narrative of WGs we outlined a discursive formation of identities/technologies of the subject. The knowledges of Social Psychology in the history of the ANPEPP's WGs contribute to the constitution of categories and psychological classifications which objectivize subjects. We think Social Psychology, in its criticisms related to psychological and social concepts comprises practices and regimes of truth about the subject of Social Psychology.

The Practice of Psychological Science: Searching for Cronbach's Two Streams in Social-Personality Psychology

OpenAIRE

Tracy, JL; Robins, RW; Sherman, JW

2009-01-01

The present research surveyed a group of editors and editorial board members of personality and social psychology journals to examine the practice of psychological science in their field. Findings demonstrate that (a) although personality and social researchers tend to use many of the same approaches, methods, and procedures, they nonetheless show average differences in each of these domains, as well as in their overarching theoretical aims and perspectives; (b) these average differences larg...

Perceived Social Support and Assertiveness as a Predictor of Candidates Psychological Counselors' Psychological Well-Being

Science.gov (United States)

Ates, Bünyamin

2016-01-01

In this research, to what extent the variables of perceived social support (family, friends and special people) and assertiveness predicted the psychological well-being levels of candidate psychological counselors. The research group of this study included totally randomly selected 308 candidate psychological counselors including 174 females…

Race/ethnicity, psychological resilience, and social support among OEF/OIF combat veterans.

Science.gov (United States)

Herbert, Matthew S; Leung, Desmond W; Pittman, James O E; Floto, Elizabeth; Afari, Niloofar

2018-07-01

This study examined the relationship between race/ethnicity and psychological resilience, and the moderating role of social support in this relationship among non-Hispanic White (n = 605), Hispanic (n = 107), African American (n = 141), and Asian American (n = 97) Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) combat veterans. Veterans were primarily male (88%) with a mean age of 31.4 years (SD = 8.35). An analysis of covariance showed that Asian American veterans reported significantly lower psychological resilience than non-Hispanic White veterans. The interaction of race/ethnicity and social support with psychological resilience was examined via linear regression. We found that the relationship between psychological resilience and social support significantly differed by race/ethnicity such that social support was positively associated with psychological resilience among non-Hispanic White veterans, but not among other racial/ethnic groups. Our findings are consistent with previous studies that show Asian American veterans report lower psychological resilience than non-Hispanic White veterans. Cultural differences in how and why individuals use social support may underlie racial/ethnic differences in the relationship between social support and psychological resilience. Future qualitative and quantitative research is encouraged to better understand how social support relates to psychological resilience among minority OEF/OIF combat veterans. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

"You Must Know Where You Come From": South African Youths' Perceptions of Religion in Time of Social Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Brittian, Aerika S; Lewin, Nina; Norris, Shane A

2013-11-01

This study examined South African youths' perceptions of religion during a period of social and economic transition. In-depth interviews were conducted with 55 Black South African youth (age 18) living in the Johannesburg-Soweto metropolitan area. Data were analyzed in a manner consistent with grounded theory methodology and structural coding. Beliefs about the function of religion were captured by the following themes: provides support, connection to the past, moral compass, promotes healthy development, and intersections between African traditional practices and Christian beliefs. Themes are discussed and directions for future research are presented. In addition, applications of the current research and implications for promoting youths' resilience are offered.

Television: The New State Religion?

Science.gov (United States)

Gerbner, George

1977-01-01

Outlines the special characteristics of television that make it a formula-bound, ritualistic, repetitive, and nonselectively used system; concludes that television's social symbolic functions resemble preindustrial religions more than they do the media that preceded it. (GT)

The Distinction Between the Essence and Reality of Religion: Resolving an Ambiguity in the Method of Phenomenology of Religion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammadreza Ghaeminik

2014-01-01

Full Text Available During recent centuries, under the influence of modern and postmodern ideas, religious studies have been exposed to new approaches and views. On the one hand, these approaches are not an extension of theology in the traditional sense and on the other hand, they give a remarkable role to method in religious studies. The importance of phenomenology and the eyes it has caught as a "method" in study of religion, as well as in such disciplines as philosophy of religion, sociology of religion, psychology of religion, history of religion  and so on,‌ have been due to the compatibility of this method or approach with different religions and as a result due to preparing the ground for comparative studies of religions, on the one hand, and because of being descriptive and non-judicative about beliefs and thoughts, on the other. Historically speaking, this method or approach is a product of the mixture of two intellectual currents in the nineteenth century west. These two currents comprise scientific research of religion and the philosophical phenomenology of the German philosopher, "Edmund Husserl". As compared to philosophical phenomenology, phenomenology of religion has undergone through dramatic changes in all its aspects. But we can't understand phenomenology of religion, particularly in the twentieth century, apart from philosophical phenomenology, specifically Husserl's phenomenology and its important concepts. However, there are two challenging problems in phenomenology of religion both historically and regarding its essential complexity as such: first, the existing variety of phenomenologies of religion in Rudolf Otto, Mircea Eliade, Max scheler, C. Jouco bleeker, Ninian Smart, Gerardus van der Leeuw and many others works has hardened the process of understanding of this method and thus it seems necessary to outline the underlying characteristics of this method. The second and more significant point is that the works of early phenomenologists

The Distinction Between the Essence and Reality of Religion: Resolving an Ambiguity in the Method of Phenomenology of Religion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mojtaba Zarvani

2013-12-01

Full Text Available During recent centuries, under the influence of modern and postmodern ideas, religious studies have been exposed to new approaches and views. On the one hand, these approaches are not an extension of theology in the traditional sense and on the other hand, they give a remarkable role to method in religious studies. The importance of phenomenology and the eyes it has caught as a "method" in study of religion, as well as in such disciplines as philosophy of religion, sociology of religion, psychology of religion, history of religion  and so on,‌ have been due to the compatibility of this method or approach with different religions and as a result due to preparing the ground for comparative studies of religions, on the one hand, and because of being descriptive and non-judicative about beliefs and thoughts, on the other. Historically speaking, this method or approach is a product of the mixture of two intellectual currents in the nineteenth century west. These two currents comprise scientific research of religion and the philosophical phenomenology of the German philosopher, "Edmund Husserl". As compared to philosophical phenomenology, phenomenology of religion has undergone through dramatic changes in all its aspects. But we can't understand phenomenology of religion, particularly in the twentieth century, apart from philosophical phenomenology, specifically Husserl's phenomenology and its important concepts. However, there are two challenging problems in phenomenology of religion both historically and regarding its essential complexity as such: first, the existing variety of phenomenologies of religion in Rudolf Otto, Mircea Eliade, Max scheler, C. Jouco bleeker, Ninian Smart, Gerardus van der Leeuw and many others works has hardened the process of understanding of this method and thus it seems necessary to outline the underlying characteristics of this method. The second and more significant point is that the works of early phenomenologists

Framing (implicitly) matters: the role of religion in attitudes toward immigrants and Muslims in Denmark.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Joel; Antalíková, Radka

2014-12-01

Denmark is currently experiencing the highest immigration rate in its modern history. Population surveys indicate that negative public attitudes toward immigrants actually stem from attitudes toward their (perceived) Islamic affiliation. We used a framing paradigm to investigate the explicit and implicit attitudes of Christian and Atheist Danes toward targets framed as Muslims or as immigrants. The results showed that explicit and implicit attitudes were more negative when the target was framed as a Muslim, rather than as an immigrant. Interestingly, implicit attitudes were qualified by the participants' religion. Specifically, analyses revealed that Christians demonstrated more negative implicit attitudes toward immigrants than Muslims. Conversely, Atheists demonstrated more negative implicit attitudes toward Muslims than Atheists. These results suggest a complex relationship between religion, and implicit and explicit prejudice. Both the religious affiliation of the perceiver and the perceived religious affiliation of the target are key factors in social perception. © 2014 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Social and Abnormal Psychology Textbooks: An Objective Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Christopher, Andrew N.; Griggs, Richard A.; Hagans, Chad L.

2000-01-01

Provides feature and content analyses of 14 social and 17 abnormal psychology full-length textbooks from 1995-98 that are available for undergraduate psychology courses. Provides instructors of these courses a means for more informed text selection. (CMK)

Energy sustainable communities - social and psychological aspects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schweizer-Ries, P.; Baasch, St.; Jagszent, J.

2004-01-01

Besides technical, political and economic aspects of energy sustainability there are several social, behavioural and psychological dimensions of vital importance for a successful implementation of Renewable Energy Systems (RES) and Rational Use of Energy (RUE) within communities. The European Project ''Sustainable Communities-on the energy dimension'' pursues an interdisciplinary approach to detect essential success and facilitating factors. In the last years social and psychological aspects in the process of sustainability came to the fore more and more. Not only as a complementary science to facilitate the technical aims in the change process but also as an essential part for success. (authors)

Psychological strains and youth suicide in rural China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jie; Wieczorek, William F; Conwell, Yeates; Tu, Xin Ming

2011-06-01

The strain theory of suicide postulates that suicide is usually preceded by psychological strains. A strain can be a consequence of any of four conflicts: differential values, aspiration and reality, relative deprivation, and lack of coping skills for a crisis. This study, with a blend of psychiatric and social predictors of suicide, identified correlates of suicide that are relevant to Chinese culture and tested the strain theory of suicide with Chinese data. We sampled 392 suicides and 416 living controls (both aged 15-34 years) from 16 rural counties in China in 2008 and interviewed two informants for each suicide and each control. We found that marriage and religion/religiosity did not distinguish the suicides from the living controls among Chinese rural young women. Religion/religiosity tended to be stronger for suicides than for controls. Psychological strains in the forms of relative deprivation, unrealized aspiration, and lack of coping skills were significantly associated with suicide, even after accounting for the role of mental illness. The strain theory of suicide forms a challenge to the psychiatric model popular in the West, at least in explaining the Chinese suicide. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Borderline Personality Disorder and Religion: A perspective from a Muslim country.

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Sina Hafizi

2014-09-01

Full Text Available There are still many unanswered questions about psychological and social factors that may affect the development and treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD. Religion/spirituality (R/S is a factor that could influence the lives of people with BPD.The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between religiosity, religious attendance and borderline personality traits.Four hundred twenty- nine medical students of Tehran University of medical sciences participated in this study, and their information on demographics, responses to the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Disorders (the self-administered section on BPD was obtained.The total score of SCID-II questionnaire and the number of positive borderline personality characteristics on the SCID-II were inversely related with the DUREL total score and individual DUREL items. Those with higher levels of borderline personality traits had lower total DUREL score and lower DUREL subscale scores.Religiosity and religious attendance are negatively correlated with borderline personality traits, especially with anger, instability of mood, feeling of emptiness and self-harming behaviors. These findings are important for understanding the causes of BPD and in developing treatments for this disorder.

Psychology and social networks: a dynamic network theory perspective.

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Westaby, James D; Pfaff, Danielle L; Redding, Nicholas

2014-04-01

Research on social networks has grown exponentially in recent years. However, despite its relevance, the field of psychology has been relatively slow to explain the underlying goal pursuit and resistance processes influencing social networks in the first place. In this vein, this article aims to demonstrate how a dynamic network theory perspective explains the way in which social networks influence these processes and related outcomes, such as goal achievement, performance, learning, and emotional contagion at the interpersonal level of analysis. The theory integrates goal pursuit, motivation, and conflict conceptualizations from psychology with social network concepts from sociology and organizational science to provide a taxonomy of social network role behaviors, such as goal striving, system supporting, goal preventing, system negating, and observing. This theoretical perspective provides psychologists with new tools to map social networks (e.g., dynamic network charts), which can help inform the development of change interventions. Implications for social, industrial-organizational, and counseling psychology as well as conflict resolution are discussed, and new opportunities for research are highlighted, such as those related to dynamic network intelligence (also known as cognitive accuracy), levels of analysis, methodological/ethical issues, and the need to theoretically broaden the study of social networking and social media behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Searching for religion and mental health studies required health, social science, and grey literature databases.

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Wright, Judy M; Cottrell, David J; Mir, Ghazala

2014-07-01

To determine the optimal databases to search for studies of faith-sensitive interventions for treating depression. We examined 23 health, social science, religious, and grey literature databases searched for an evidence synthesis. Databases were prioritized by yield of (1) search results, (2) potentially relevant references identified during screening, (3) included references contained in the synthesis, and (4) included references that were available in the database. We assessed the impact of databases beyond MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO by their ability to supply studies identifying new themes and issues. We identified pragmatic workload factors that influence database selection. PsycINFO was the best performing database within all priority lists. ArabPsyNet, CINAHL, Dissertations and Theses, EMBASE, Global Health, Health Management Information Consortium, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Sociological Abstracts were essential for our searches to retrieve the included references. Citation tracking activities and the personal library of one of the research teams made significant contributions of unique, relevant references. Religion studies databases (Am Theo Lib Assoc, FRANCIS) did not provide unique, relevant references. Literature searches for reviews and evidence syntheses of religion and health studies should include social science, grey literature, non-Western databases, personal libraries, and citation tracking activities. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Religion, evolution, and mental health: attachment theory and ETAS theory.

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Flannelly, Kevin J; Galek, Kathleen

2010-09-01

This article reviews the historical origins of Attachment Theory and Evolutionary Threat Assessment Systems Theory (ETAS Theory), their evolutionary basis and their application in research on religion and mental health. Attachment Theory has been most commonly applied to religion and mental health in research on God as an attachment figure, which has shown that secure attachment to God is positively associated with psychological well-being. Its broader application to religion and mental health is comprehensively discussed by Kirkpatrick (2005). ETAS Theory explains why certain religious beliefs--including beliefs about God and life-after-death--should have an adverse association, an advantageous association, or no association at all with mental health. Moreover, it makes specific predictions to this effect, which have been confirmed, in part. The authors advocate the application of ETAS Theory in research on religion and mental health because it explains how religious and other beliefs related to the dangerousness of the world can directly affect psychiatric symptoms through their affects on specific brain structures.

Ritualistics: a New Discipline in the History of Religions

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Jørgen Podemann Sørensen

1993-01-01

Full Text Available The history of Religions is in need of subdisciplines. Those that it has are mostly derived from other academic disciplines such as psychology, sociology, or, to mention a more recent invention, aesthetics. Interdisciplinary studies are in many ways a characteristic, inherent feature of the humanities, and certainly not to be resented or mistrusted. It is, however, worth noticing that the History of Religions has only one discipline entirely of its own: a comparative, cross-cultural, religio-specific discipline sometimes called the phenomenology of religion. The study of ritual is more than just the study of a very broad. It is with a view to the further exploration of the way meaning and form are put to work in ritual, and the way ritual determines and conditions the form of representations, that ritualistics can be suggested as a new discipline.

Use of Social Desirability Scales in Clinical Psychology: A Systematic Review.

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Perinelli, Enrico; Gremigni, Paola

2016-06-01

There is still an open debate about the utility of social desirability indicators. This report systematically reviewed the use of social desirability scales in studies addressing social desirability in clinical psychology. A systematic review (January 2010-March 2015) was conducted, including 35 studies meeting the inclusion criteria of being published in peer-reviewed journals and describing quantitative findings about an association of social desirability with clinical psychology variables using a cross-sectional or longitudinal design. Social desirability was associated with self-reports of various clinical-psychological dimensions. Most of the included studies treated social desirability as a 1-dimensional variable and only 10 of 35 disentangled the impression management and self-deception components. Although theoretical literature does not consider social desirability a mere response bias, only 4 of the reviewed articles controlled for the possible suppressor effect of personality variables on social desirability, while the majority focused upon the stylistic (response bias) rather than the substantive (personality) nature of this construct. The present review highlighted some limitations in the use of social desirability scales in recent clinical psychology research and tried to offer a few suggestions for handling this issue. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Broadening Participation in the Life Sciences with Social-Psychological Interventions

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Tibbetts, Yoi; Harackiewicz, Judith M.; Priniski, Stacy J.; Canning, Elizabeth A.

2016-01-01

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have recently documented the positive effects of social-psychological interventions on the performance and retention of underrepresented students in the life sciences. We review two types of social-psychological interventions that address either students' well-being in college science courses or students'…

First Handbooks on History of Religion and Comparative Religion Abroad

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Barashkov Viktor

2016-01-01

Full Text Available One of the important aspects of institutionalization of the religious studies in 1870– 1910s was the publishing of the fi rst handbooks on history of religion and comparative religion. The aim of the paper is to analyze methods and approaches of religious studies, as they described in these handbooks. The main characteristic of religion for the historians of religion was its universality. The most important methods, according to them, were historical approach, comparative approach, using of the notion «development». It is important, that we deal foremost with the «history of religion» in these handbooks, not with the «history of religions». Primitive religions were usually excluded from these handbooks, because they «have not history». First handbooks on history of religion often were edited in the series of theological handbooks, that’s why Christianity was described in them quite often as «higher» religion. Researches on comparative religion were based upon the history of religion. One of the main principles of comparative religion was that it should not deal with religious values, but only with a comparison of facts. The author concludes that scholars of religion nowadays should not only collect the facts, but also realize projects on the general history (theory of religion.

An Analysis of Social Justice Research in School Psychology

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Graybill, Emily; Baker, Courtney N.; Cloth, Allison H.; Fisher, Sycarah; Nastasi, Bonnie K.

2018-01-01

The purpose of the current content analysis was to build upon previous empirical research both within school psychology and in other subdisciplines of psychology to refine the operationalized definition of social justice within school psychology research. Operationalizing the definition and substantiating it within the empirical literature is a…

Predicting civil religion at a cross-cultural level

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Lavrič Miran

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The concept of civil religion has caught major attention among scholars studying the junction of religion and politics (J.-J. Rousseau, E. Durkheim, R. Bellah. The notion focuses on the phenomenon of cultural contents sacralizing and ritualizing the ruling political institutions of a society, extending support to the integration of the political and social system at a cultural level. The notion of civil religion has recently been operationalized crossculturally, but light has not been shed upon its predictors. In this paper authoritarianism is tested as a predictor of civil religion cross-culturally. Four student samples of Bosnian, Serbian, Slovenian and US students were analyzed. Very strong, significant associations between authoritarianism, as operationalized by a modified Lane scale, and civil religion were found in all cases. Moreover, upon introducing femininity, anxiety and gender into the analysis, a strong, dominant and significant impact on the part of authoritarianism was still found when civil religion was observed crossculturally. When the same predictors were applied to explaining general religiosity, authoritarianism fell short of being a significant predictor in most of the environments observed. Such results suggest an especially close link between civil religion and authoritarianism.

Wundt, Völkerpsychologie, and experimental social psychology.

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Greenwood, John D

2003-02-01

Wilhelm Wundt distinguished between "experimental psychology" and Volkerpsychologie. It is often claimed that Wundt maintained that social psychological phenomena, the subject matter of Völkerpsychologie, could not be investigated experimentally but must be explored via comparative-historical methods. In this article it is argued that it is doubtful if many of the passages usually cited as evidence that Wundt held such a view actually such such a view. It is also argued that if Wundt did hold such a view, it was inconsistent with his own general theoretical position and methodological practice. It is suggested that it is anachronistic to attribute such a view to Wundt, because he appears to have had little interest in the experimental analysis of the synchronic social dynamics of psychological processes. Most of Wundt's arguments about the inappropriateness of experimentation were directed against the introspective analysis of diachronic historical processes.

Social Change: Toward an Informed and Critical Understanding of Social Justice and the Capabilities Approach in Community Psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Munger, Felix; MacLeod, Tim; Loomis, Colleen

2016-03-01

Community psychology has long been concerned with social justice. However, deployments of this term are often vague and undertheorized. To address this weakness in the field's knowledge body we explored John Rawls's theory of social justice and Amartya Sen's economic theory of the capabilities approach and evaluated each for its applicability to community psychology theory, research, and action. Our unpacking of the philosophical and political underpinnings of Rawlsian theory of social justice resulted in identifying characteristics that limit the theory's utility in community psychology, particularly in its implications for action. Our analysis of the capability approach proposed by Amartya Sen revealed a framework that operationalizes social justice in both research and action, and we elaborate on this point. Going beyond benefits to community psychology in adopting the capabilities approach, we posit a bi-directional relationship and discuss how community psychology might also contribute to the capabilities approach. We conclude by suggesting that community psychology could benefit from a manifesto or proclamation that provides a historical background of social justice and critiques the focus on the economic, sociological, and philosophical theories that inform present-day conceptualizations (and lack thereof) of social justice for community psychology. © Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

Cesium-137: psychological and social consequences of the Goiania's accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helou, Suzana; Costa Neto, Sebastiao Benicio da

1995-01-01

The book care for radioactive accident occurred in 1987 in Goiania - brazilian city. The accident had origin by the hospitable equipment incorrect handling which contained a stainless steel capsule, in which interior there was cesium-137 chloride. The main boarded aspects are: psychological and social aspects verified after the accident; psychological and social analysis of population of Goiania three years after the accident; essay on the pertinence of Luscher's abbreviate test in psychological evaluation of the radioactive accident victims of Goiania; and psychological and mobile evaluation of intra-uterus children exposed to the radiation with cesium-137

Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology

Science.gov (United States)

Reis, Harry T.; Judd, Charles M.

2000-03-01

This volume provides an overview of research methods in contemporary social psychology. Coverage includes conceptual issues in research design, methods of research, and statistical approaches. Because the range of research methods available for social psychology have expanded extensively in the past decade, both traditional and innovative methods are presented. The goal is to introduce new and established researchers alike to new methodological developments in the field.

Sport psychology group consultation using social networking web sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Dietrich, Frederick; Shipherd, Amber M; Gershgoren, Lael; Filho, Edson Medeiros; Basevitch, Itay

2012-08-01

A social networking Web site, Facebook, was used to deliver long-term sport psychology consultation services to student-athletes (i.e., soccer players) in 30- to 60-min weekly sessions. Additional short-term team building, group cohesion, communication, anger management, injury rehabilitation, mental toughness, commitment, and leadership workshops were provided. Cohesion and overall relationships between both the student-athletes and the sport psychology consultants benefited from this process. Social networking Web sites offer a practical way of providing sport psychology consulting services that does not require use of major resources. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Ethnic heterogeneity, social capital and psychological distress in Sweden.

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Johnson-Singh, Charisse M; Rostila, Mikael; Ponce de Leon, Antonio; Forsell, Yvonne; Engström, Karin

2018-05-25

Ethnic heterogeneity has been linked to both protective and detrimental effects on mental health. Few studies have investigated the role of social capital in this relationship and none have found that it has an explanatory role. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between two measures of ethnic heterogeneity and psychological distress in Stockholm County, as well as the explanatory role of social capital for individuals with Swedish-background, foreign-background and those who are foreign-born. This study used data collected from respondents aged 18-64 to the 2002, 2006, 2010 baseline questionnaires of the Stockholm Public Health Cohort and was linked with individual and area-level register information. Ethnic heterogeneity was the main exposure, measured by: 1) ethnic density, defined as the proportion of first and second generation immigrants with 2 foreign-born parents; and 2) ethnic diversity, using the fragmentation index. Social capital measures of individual and contextual-level social support and horizontal trust were the main explanatory factors of interest. The outcome, psychological distress, was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire-12 with a 2/3 cut-off. Prevalence ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated using multi-level poisson regression with robust variances. Age and sex adjusted analyses for the whole study population demonstrated that a 10% increase in ethnic density or diversity was associated with a 1.06 (1.05-1.07) times higher prevalence of psychological distress. In the stratified analyses, both foreign-born respondents and those with Swedish-background showed increasing prevalence of psychological distress with increasing ethnic heterogeneity. However, this trend was entirely explained by socioeconomic factors in the Swedish-background respondents and by additional adjustments for individual and contextual social support and horizontal trust for the foreign-born. Further adjustment for contextual

The practice of psychological science: searching for Cronbach's two streams in social-personality psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Tracy, Jessica L; Robins, Richard W; Sherman, Jeffrey W

2009-06-01

The present research surveyed a group of editors and editorial board members of personality and social psychology journals to examine the practice of psychological science in their field. Findings demonstrate that (a) although personality and social researchers tend to use many of the same approaches, methods, and procedures, they nonetheless show average differences in each of these domains, as well as in their overarching theoretical aims and perspectives; (b) these average differences largely conform to social and personality researchers' stereotypes about each subgroup; (c) despite their methodological and philosophical differences, the 2 subgroups study many of the same research topics; and (d) the structure of social-personality research practices can be characterized as having 2 independent factors, which closely correspond to L. J. Cronbach's (1957) correlational and experimental "streams of research."

Reclaiming the person: intersectionality and dynamic social categories through a psychological lens.

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Frazier, Kathryn E

2012-09-01

Psychology's conventionally treatment of individuals' engagement with and resistance to the societal processes in which they are embedded has come under scrutiny amid the rise of postmodernist and critical feminist perspectives (among many others) in the social sciences. A sample of social psychology's responses to these critiques is presented in the recently published book, Social Categories in Everyday Experience edited by Shaun Wiley et al. (2011). In this essay, the challenges of seriously addressing the critiques of psychology's conventional treatment of social categories, which implicate fundamental assumptions of the discipline, are discussed. Further, it is argued that in order to effectively construct psychological accounts of political activism and social change amid theories that are increasingly cognizant of the complexities and contingencies of social embeddiness, the person must be reclaimed and revisioned. Notions of agency that complement an intersectional and systemic vision of the social world are discussed.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAMILY FUNCTION AND SOME OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS IN ADOLESCENTS

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M GOLCHIN

2002-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Adolescence is one of the most critical periods in human life which impairs calmness and leads to imbalance. Healthy character of an adolescent is based on parents approach. Usually in this period, children will be separate from parents because of some psychological characters. Determination of ralation between family function and psychological characters provide good information for management this important subject. Methods. Random samples from high school students (438 boys and 454 girls were studied. To assess family function, they filled out questionaire asking about responsibility affinity to religion, self concept and future expectancy. Results. Function of family related to boys in the vast majority was desired and in cases of girls was relatively desired. Family function related positively to psychological characters (responsibility self concept, affinity to religion and future expectancy (P < 0.001. All of the above psychological characters except for affinity to religion were different between boys and girls (P < 0.05. Discussion. This study confirmes positive relationship between family function and psychological characters of adolescents. The more desired family function, the more desired will be reponsibility self concept, future expectancy and affinity. to religion. The above finding are compatible with other, finding in setting like this to have healthy children we advise parents to consider their expectations.

Effective Application of Psychological Motivators for Social Advertisers.

Science.gov (United States)

Severn, Jessica

Social advertisers--those responsible for public and nonprofit advertising and marketing--must employ many of the major psychological motivations used by commercial advertisers to stimulate desire and action on the part of target audiences. For example, commercial advertisers create psychological stimuli to facilitate motivation of the fulfillment…

“You Must Know Where You Come From”: South African Youths' Perceptions of Religion in Time of Social Change

Science.gov (United States)

Brittian, Aerika S.; Lewin, Nina; Norris, Shane A.

2014-01-01

This study examined South African youths' perceptions of religion during a period of social and economic transition. In-depth interviews were conducted with 55 Black South African youth (age 18) living in the Johannesburg-Soweto metropolitan area. Data were analyzed in a manner consistent with grounded theory methodology and structural coding. Beliefs about the function of religion were captured by the following themes: provides support, connection to the past, moral compass, promotes healthy development, and intersections between African traditional practices and Christian beliefs. Themes are discussed and directions for future research are presented. In addition, applications of the current research and implications for promoting youths' resilience are offered. PMID:24932064

Moral functioning: socio-psychological approach.Social intuitionist theory of John Haidt

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Victor A. Zaikin

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The paper studies the methodological aspect of developing social intuitionist approach to moral psychology. The paper reveals the possibility of applying this approach to the study of morality and moral functioning today, emphasizes the representation of issues in moral psychology methodological origins of social psychology, both in Russia and abroad. Social and psychological foundations of social intuitionist approach are described in detail. The research results show that the child perceiving the concept of fairness and variability in the framework of a specific group membership is culturally determined. The matter of special consideration is the theory of the American social psychologist George Haidt. The results of his work and his colleagues’ works are presented herein describing the concept of cultural variable moral intuitions, the findings of empirical studies carried out in the framework of this approach are summarized. The paper reveals the fundamental provisions of the social and intuitionistic theory. The comparative analysis of the social intuitionistic and cognitive approaches in moral psychology is presented. The conclusion that the relativistic understanding of morality is not an obstacle to its study, and the presence of various determinants of moral functioning should be based on further empirical research. The authors conceptualized the current state of social intuitionistic theory of moral functioning, which describes the theoretical and methodological sources of this area (Rawls, 2010; Freud, 2005; Hume, 1996; Hare’s, 1981. As justification for this approach the paper considers the phenomena studied in psychology, social cognition, and those that create the possibility of developing this area, namely affective motivation (Zajonc, 1980, fair-world hypothesis (Lerner, 1965, the objectivity of the illusion (Perkins, Allen, & Hafner , 1983, the phenomenon of «naive realism» (Griffin, & Ross, 1991, group interaction in a

"You Must Know Where You Come From": South African Youths' Perceptions of Religion in Time of Social Change

Science.gov (United States)

Brittian, Aerika S.; Lewin, Nina; Norris, Shane A.

2013-01-01

This study examined South African youths' perceptions of religion during a period of social and economic transition. In-depth interviews were conducted with 55 Black South African youth (age 18) living in the Johannesburg-Soweto metropolitan area. Data were analyzed in a manner consistent with grounded theory methodology and structural coding.…

Hvorfor, hvorfra (og hvornår) kom religion?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Geertz, Armin W.

2018-01-01

dyr færdiggjort inden for en specifik kultur. Når man ser på de seneste landvindinger inden for neuropsykologien, er der fire kendetegn, som jeg mener, er konstituerende for mennesket. Disse er: en finudviklet social kognition, en kommunikations- og samarbejdsdrift, en bedragerisk hjerne samt en...... overtroisk hjerne med tendens til ualmindelige mentale og/eller emotionelle oplevelser. Disse egenskaber er en nødvendig forudsætning for religiøst adfærd. Når man ser på de arkæologiske vidnesbyrd i jagten på det religiøse menneske, skal man gå betydeligt længere tilbage end Homo sapiens, ja, man skal langt...... tilbage i homininlinjen. De første proto-religiøse træk synes at komme til syne med Homo heidelbergensis (mellem 600.000 og 400.000 år siden). KEYWORDS: religion; evolution; cognitive science of religion; definition of religion; neurobiology of religion; method and theory in the study of religion....

Religion and the secularisation of health care.

Science.gov (United States)

Paley, John

2009-07-01

To assess the claim that conceptualisations of religion and spirituality should be grounded in theology, and acknowledge the global resurgence of religion. Although there is widespread agreement in the nursing literature that 'spirituality' is a broader concept than 'religion,' and should be understood generically, this approximate consensus has occasionally been challenged. A recent paper by Barbara Pesut and colleagues argues that the generic view not only empties spirituality of powerful religious symbols and narratives, but underestimates the continuing social influence of religion, and its resurgence on a global scale. Accordingly, these authors suggest three principles for conceptualising spirituality and religion in health care, one of which is that conceptualisations should be grounded in philosophical and theological thinking, and should not ignore the global resurgence of religion. Critical review. The Pesut principle privileges theology, disregarding other disciplines which theorize religion. Arguably, it privileges specifically Christian theology, the history of which suggests a politics of orthodoxy and an epistemology of authority and obedience. The global resurgence of religion is not, in fact, global, as the industrialised countries have experienced a marked shift towards secular-rational values; and the postindustrial phase of development is associated with self-expression values, which represent a challenge not merely to religious institutions (arguably an affirmation of 'spirituality') but to traditional elites and structures of all kinds. Finally, religion 'resurgent' is not an attractive model for health care, since many of its most obvious manifestations are incompatible with the ideology of health professionals. In the secular societies of Europe, if not North America, there should be no expectation that nurses provide spiritual care. It is a requirement of the great separation between civil order and religion that the health services, as a

Applying the Team Identification-Social Psychological Health Model to older sport fans.

Science.gov (United States)

Wann, Daniel L; Rogers, Kelly; Dooley, Keith; Foley, Mary

2011-01-01

According to the Team Identification-Social Psychological Health Model (Wann, 2006b), team identification and social psychological health should be positively correlated because identification leads to important social connections which, in turn, facilitate well-being. Although past research substantiates the hypothesized positive relationship between team identification and well-being, earlier studies focused solely on college student populations. The current study extended past work in this area by investigating the team identification/well-being relationship among older sport fans. A sample of older adults (N = 96; M age = 70.82) completed scales assessing demographics, identification with a local college basketball team, and measures of social psychological well-being. As hypothesized, team identification accounted for a significant proportion of unique variance in two measures of social psychological health (collective self-esteem and loneliness).

Socially desirable responding by bariatric surgery candidates during psychological assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ambwani, Suman; Boeka, Abbe G; Brown, Joshua D; Byrne, T Karl; Budak, Amanda R; Sarwer, David B; Fabricatore, Anthony N; Morey, Leslie C; O'Neil, Patrick M

2013-01-01

Most bariatric surgery programs in the United States require preoperative psychological evaluations for candidates for surgery. Among those who perform these evaluations is concern that many patients engage in "impression management" or minimizing the symptoms of distress to receive a recommendation to proceed with surgery from the mental health professional. We sought to assess the prevalence of socially desirable responding and its associations with measures of psychological functioning among bariatric surgery candidates at 2 academic medical centers in the United States. The participants were male (n = 66) and female (n = 293) bariatric surgery candidates who presented for psychological evaluation. The participants completed 2 measures of socially desirable response styles (Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and Personality Assessment Inventory Positive Impression Management scale) and standardized measures of anxiety, depression, and alcohol-related problems. The participants exhibited elevated scores on the social desirability indicators, with 33.3-39.8% scoring above the recommended cut-score on the Personality Assessment Inventory Positive Impression Management scale and 62.3-67% scoring 1 standard deviation above the standardization mean on the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Scores on the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and Personality Assessment Inventory Positive Impression Management scale correlated inversely with the clinical measures of anxiety and depression, and the high/low scorers on the social desirability indices exhibited significant differences in anxiety and depression. Thus, elevated scores on the social desirability indices were associated with underreporting of certain clinical symptoms. A substantial proportion of bariatric surgery candidates appear to present themselves in an overly favorable light during the psychological evaluation. This response style is associated with less reporting of psychological

Association of social skills with psychological distress among female nurses in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Uchiyama, Ayako; Odagiri, Yuko; Ohya, Yumiko; Suzuki, Ayako; Hirohata, Kayoko; Kosugi, Shotaro; Shimomitsu, Teruichi

2011-01-01

Nursing is a highly stressful occupation. Because nursing work involves interaction with patients and colleagues, competence in social skills may be a key issue in stress management among nurses. However, there are very few studies among nurses focused on social skills together with social support, both of which are important aspects of job stress. The aim of this study was to examine the interrelationships between social skills and social support with job stressors, problem-solving coping, and psychological distress among Japanese nurses. Data from a self-administered questionnaire of 1,197 female nurses who worked for 5 general hospitals in Japan were analyzed. Covariance structure analysis with structural equation modeling techniques showed that social skills and social support were positively related to each other, while they were negatively associated with psychological distress and job stressors, and positively associated with problem-solving coping. Furthermore, the direct association between social skills and psychological distress was stronger than the association between social support and psychological distress. These findings suggested that improving not only social support at work but also individual social skills is important for nurses' mental health.

Dimensions of Ideology. A Review of Social-Psychological Literature

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Bojan Todosijević

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In social psychological literature, ideology is typically conceived as a relatively stable and organized set of general orientations that include interrelated attitudes grouped according to various sources of constraint, such as psychological disposition, general values, or ideological traditions. The paper reviews social-psychological literature on the organization of social attitudes. Research on this topic started nearly eight decades ago, inspired by the research on the structure of intellectual abilities. Since then, a large body of literature has been generated, which has not been systematically reviewed. Despite the long tradition, this literature has not resulted in proportional cumulative scientific development. The review should help improving this situation by listing the relevant studies, examining the research methodology and the main findings. The review ends with the critical summary of the man findings and methodological problems, and recommendations for the future research.

Applying the Team Identification-Social Psychological Health Model to Older Sport Fans

Science.gov (United States)

Wann, Daniel L.; Rogers, Kelly; Dooley, Keith; Foley, Mary

2011-01-01

According to the Team Identification-Social Psychological Health Model (Wann, 2006b), team identification and social psychological health should be positively correlated because identification leads to important social connections which, in turn, facilitate well-being. Although past research substantiates the hypothesized positive relationship…

Appropriating religion: understanding religion as an object of science

OpenAIRE

Donald Wiebe

1999-01-01

In this paper, the author focuses on the study of religion as a scientific project, for it is the scientific interest in religion which has constituted the grounds for admitting the study of religion into the curriculum of the modern Western university. Despite that academic legitimation, however, the study of religion in the setting of the modern research university is not held in high esteem relative to the other sciences. It if the scientific study of religion is to be legitimately ensconc...

A Social Psychological Perspective:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Singla, Rashmi; Westerling, Allan

2008-01-01

and a longitudinal approach, differences and similarities in practices of care are identified. The care patterns are studied with a focus on young adults age 30-35. Quantitative as well as qualitative methods are employed. By utilising in-depth qualitative interview data the paper explores the interplay between...... of agency with the changing societal structures and the diaspora context is confirmed. Key words: intergenerational care, individualisation, social network analysis, socio-cultural psychology, modernisation...

Religion and the rainbow struggle: does religion factor into attitudes toward homosexuality and same-sex civil unions in Brazil?

Science.gov (United States)

Ogland, Curtis P; Verona, Ana Paula

2014-01-01

The provision of civil liberties to LGBT persons has become part of a global movement in societies across the world. In Brazil, a recent judicial ruling for the first time established the right for homosexual couples to enter into civil unions, despite the presence of widespread disapproval of homosexuality among the population and opposition from prominent religious groups. Picking up on this issue, the following study examines whether religion may factor into the attitudes Brazilians hold toward homosexuality and same-sex civil unions. Using data from the Brazilian Social Research Survey, we find that the most restrictive views toward homosexuality and the strongest opposition to same-sex civil unions are most prevalent among devoted followers of historical Protestant, Pentecostal, and Catholic faith traditions, whereas adherents of Afro-Brazilian and spiritist religions, as well as those with no religious commitment, are inclined to assume a more tolerant moral posture toward such issues. The findings point to religion as a potential influence in future public policy initiatives and social movements involving LGBT issues in Brazil.

Writing social psychology: fictional things and unpopulated texts.

Science.gov (United States)

Billig, Michael

2011-03-01

This paper presents the author's position on the question how to write social psychology. It reflects the author's long-term interest in rhetoric and his more recent concerns about the writing of social scientists. The author argues that social psychologists tend to produce unpopulated texts, writing about 'fictional things' rather than people. Social psychologists assume that their technical terms are more precise than ordinary language terms. The author contests this assumption. He suggests that when it comes to describing human actions, ordinary language on the whole tends to be more precise. The paper analyses why this should be the case, drawing on ideas from linguistics and Vaihinger's notion of fictions. The author presents examples to show how psychological writers, by using passives and nominals, can omit information about the agents of action and the nature of the actions that they are performing. Although their texts may appear impressively technical, they can, in fact, be highly imprecise. Moreover, social psychologists, by using this nominal style of writing, tend to write about processes as if they were things and then attribute actions to these things. In so doing, they create 'fictional things', which they treat as if they were real things. The author offers six recommendations for writing in simpler, clearer ways. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

Spiritual Medicine in The Multi Perspective of Religion

OpenAIRE

Minhas, Marwa; Akhmad, Syaefudin Ali; Afzal, Nadeem

2017-01-01

Spiritual healing, also known as healing through prayer and meditation, has been widely studied by various scholars from different religions including Islam, Hindu, Buddhism and Christianity. The term spiritual medicine is increasingly popular with increasing mental disorders, degenerative diseases, metabolic, cancer and social illness such as drug abuse. Religions of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity have almost the same tradition in the spiritual aspect to create purity of self and...

Social-psychological specific of individual adaptation

OpenAIRE

Ovsyanik, Olga

2012-01-01

There is analyzing of specific of social-psychological adaptation person by model of adaptation. Structure model of adaptation of women of our age group, which was named “adaptation complex” was made by theoretic analyzes of problem of adaptation adult.

Is Religion Not Prosocial at All? Comment on Galen (2012)

Science.gov (United States)

Saroglou, Vassilis

2012-01-01

Galen (2012), critically reviewing recent research on religion and prosociality, concludes that the religious prosociality hypothesis is a (congruence) fallacy. The observed effects are not real: They only reflect stereotypes and ingroup favoritism, are due to secular psychological effects, are inconsistent, and confound (e.g., by ignoring…

Social and psychological creativity in gay male midlife identity management.

Science.gov (United States)

Hajek, Christopher

2016-06-01

This study utilizes a qualitative thematic analysis methodology and a social identity theory framework to explore ways in which early midlife gay men report enhancing their social identities through social and psychological creativity. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with forty early midlife gay men (aged 40-53) in four US cities. Men discussed the collective and individual essences of their age and gay identities, including attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours that they embraced to self-enhance at midlife. These discussions emphasized differences from the younger gay outgroup, often in the context of intergenerational interaction. Identified were three strategies (and seven substrategies) that summarized the ways that interviewees constructed their identities in the interest of self-enhancement, specifically in the context of intergenerational comparisons with younger gay men. These strategies may be considered as extensions to social creativity strategies presented in Tajfel and Turner's (Psychology of intergroup relations. Chicago, IL: Nelson, 1986: 7) social identity theory. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

Mischaracterizing social psychology to support the laudable goal of increasing its political diversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Eagly, Alice H

2015-01-01

Duarte et al.'s arguments for increasing political diversity in social psychology are based on mischaracterizations of social psychology as fundamentally flawed in understanding stereotype accuracy and the effects of attitudes on information processing. I correct their misunderstandings while agreeing with their view that political diversity, along with other forms of diversity, stands to benefit social psychology.

Preservice Teachers and Religion: Serious Gaps in Religious Knowledge and the First Amendment

Science.gov (United States)

Marks, Melissa J.; Binkley, Russell; Daly, James K.

2014-01-01

Recognizing the influence of religion on people's worldview and daily lives, we wondered if elementary and secondary social studies preservice teachers knew enough about religions not only to be culturally responsive in a classroom but also whether they knew enough to teach about these religions within the appropriate curriculum. We used questions…

Social-Psychological Determinants of Electoral Voting Behavior

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K A Ivanenko

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This article reviews the current models of the voter behavior and proves the need in creating a new overarching conceptual framework, finding the integral social-psychological factor of the voter decision making. The public opinion is regarded as such a factor. The article presents the findings of the latest psychological research, devoted to the analysis of the connection between the different components of public opinion and electoral behavior.

Sociocultural and psychological determinants in migrants for noncompliance with occlusion therapy for amblyopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tjiam, Angela M; Akcan, Hilal; Ziylan, Fatma; Vukovic, Elizabet; Loudon, Sjoukje E; Looman, Caspar W N; Passchier, Jan; Simonsz, Huibert J

2011-12-01

Compliance with occlusion therapy for amblyopia in children is low when their parents have a low level of education, speak Dutch poorly, or originate from another country. We determined how sociocultural and psychological determinants affect compliance. Included were amblyopic children between the ages of 3 and 6, living in low socio-economic status (SES) areas. Compliance with occlusion therapy was measured electronically. Their parents completed an oral questionnaire, based on the "Social Position & Use of Social Services by Migrants and Natives" questionnaire that included demographics and questions on issues like education, employment, religion and social contacts. Parental fluency in Dutch was rated on a five-point scale. Regression analysis was used to describe the relationship between the level of compliance and sociocultural and psychological determinants. Data from 45 children and their parents were analyzed. Mean electronically measured compliance was 56 ± 44 percent. Children whose parents had close contact with their neighbors or who were highly dependent on their family demonstrated low levels of compliance. Children of parents who were members of a club and who had positive conceptualizations of Dutch society showed high levels of compliance. Poor compliance was also associated with low income, depression, and when patching interfered with the child's outdoor activity. Religion was not associated with compliance. Poor compliance with occlusion therapy seems correlated with indicators of social cohesion. High social cohesion at micro level, i.e., family, neighbors and friends, and low social cohesion on macro level, i.e., Dutch society, are associated with noncompliance. However, such parents tend to speak Dutch poorly, so it is difficult to determine its actual cause.

Brazilian Social Psychology in the international setting A Psicologia Social brasileira no cenário internacional

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Ana Raquel Rosas Torres

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The objective of this work was to discuss the Social Psychology that has been developing in Brazil, placing it in the international theoretical-methodological setting. To achieve this goal, we initially present a brief historical account of the founding of the Brazilian Association of Social Psychology and the Latin American Association of Social Psychology, providing insight into the political struggle that surrounded the emergence of these two organizations and that, to a certain degree, is still present today. We then present the results of research conducted with 150 Brazilian social psychologists concerning the definition of social psychology, the academic training perspective, and the theories used in the conduct of research. The results point to the existence of several contradictions, since, among other matters, they highlight the fact that while most participants advocate research practices tied to a more sociological perspective, the definitions given indicate a more psychological view of social psychology.O objetivo deste trabalho foi discutir a psicologia social que vem sendo desenvolvida no Brasil inserindo-a no cenário teórico-metodológico internacional. Para alcançar este objetivo, inicialmente apresentamos um breve relato histórico da fundação da Associação Brasileira de Psicologia Social e da Associação Latino Americana de Psicologia Social, fornecendo subsídios para o entendimento do embate político que envolveu o surgimento dessas duas organizações e que, de certa forma, ainda está presente na atualidade. Em seguida, apresentamos os resultados da pesquisa realizada com 150 psicólogos sociais brasileiros sobre a definição de psicologia social, sobre a perspectiva de formação e sobre as teorias utilizadas na atividade de pesquisa. Os resultados indicam a existência de algumas contradições, pois, dentre outros aspectos, destaca-se o fato que, embora a maioria dos participantes advogue uma prática de

The religion under the rule of aesthetics

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Alberto da Silva Moreira

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This article examines the modern process of aestheticization of culture and religion as consequent unfolding of the expansion of market rationality to the subjective life and the libidinal sphere of subjects. Its main objective is to inquire about the future of religion under the impact of sensation seeking culture and the inflation of aesthetics. Firstly, with the help of Türcke, Welsch, Foucault and Schultze´s investigate the aestheticization process of of social life, its causes and characteristics; Secondly, following Dufour, Türcke Leiss, Kline, Jhally e Welsch, it asks how the dynamics of aesthetical impacts the daily life and the bio-psychic economy of people; thirdly, it applies the results obtained to the analysis of what is happening with religion under the regime of aesthetics and sensational culture. Finally, it asks about the possible emancipatory potential of aestheticized own religious experience and tries to draw some further consequences for religion in the aesthetic field.

What Do We Compare When We Compare Religions? Philosophical Remarks on the Psychology of Studying Comparative Religion Abroad

Science.gov (United States)

Irvine, Andrew

2015-01-01

The issue of comparison is a vexing one in religious and theological studies, not least for teachers of comparative religion in study abroad settings. We try to make familiar ideas fresh and strange, in settings where students may find it hard not to take "fresh" and "strange" as signs of existential threat. The author explores…

Social Network Methods for the Educational and Psychological Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Sweet, Tracy M.

2016-01-01

Social networks are especially applicable in educational and psychological studies involving social interactions. A social network is defined as a specific relationship among a group of individuals. Social networks arise in a variety of situations such as friendships among children, collaboration and advice seeking among teachers, and coauthorship…

SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF HIV-INFECTED INDIVIDUALS

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Liliya Anatolyevna Kudrich

2016-02-01

Full Text Available By 2020 the prevalence of HIV in the Russian Federation may increase by 250%, unless we provide appropriate treatment to as many HIV-infected people as possible (V.I. Skvortsova, 2015. Previous research in this field shows that the psychotraumatic character of the disease lowers the psychological resource of HIV-infected individuals. In most cases, they are not psychologically prepared for the negative life events, unable to find an optimal behavioral pattern when their life stereotypes are being destroyed. In fact, being HIV-infected is an example of an acute event (V.V. Pokrovsky, 1993. The ability to overcome the life crisis and effectiveness of using adaptation and compensatory mechanisms to fight the disease depend on the level of adaptation to the fact of being infected and resistance to stress. The aim of the current study was to determine social and psychological features of HIV-infected individuals and assess their influence on the stress resistance and adaptation abilities of HIV+ patients. We observed men and women aged 21-30 who had been HIV+ for 1-5 years. Investigation methods included the following diagnostic tools: The Cattel Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (Form C, The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (conducted by Spielberger, adapted for use in Russia by Hanin, The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (The Holmes-Rahe Stress Inventory, The Social and Psychological Adaptation Questionnaire (by C. Rogers and R. Diamond, methods of mathematical statistics. As a result of the study, we have developed comparative factor profiles of individual psychological features of HIV-infected individuals that show their dependence on the social environment and form certain behavioral patterns. We have revealed significant difference in state and trait anxiety between HIV-infected and non-HIV-infected individuals. Self-blame, inadequate self-esteem and level of aspiration indicate low cognitive assessment of the condition by the patients

Religion, popular culture and social media: the construction of a religious leader image on Facebook

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Ioana A. COMAN

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Despite the emergence of religions on Internet and the importance of social media, research dedicated to religious leaders’ construction of symbolic image on social media, is hard to find. Starting from the 2013 Applebee’s social media crisis, which was triggered by a pastor, the present study investigates the frames and themes Facebook users employed in order to give meaning to the crisis, attribute responsibility, and more importantly, define the role of a religious leader in daily life. This study shows the existence on social media of an active religious literate public, a public clearly troubled in their religious faith and convictions by the non-Christian behavior of the pastor. This shows that in a post-secular society the religious imaginary is not only a “canopy” inherited and kept because of convenience, but a cultural frame of signification the real and a vector of dialogue in a (online micro and macro public sphere.

THE PROGRAM SUPPORT SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY OF CHILDREN WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

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Pavel Aleksandrovich Kislyakov

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The article presents a description of the author’s program to support the social and psychological safety of children with intellectual disabilities enrolled in boarding school of VIII kind. The object of the study were children with intellectual disabilities. The subject of research – features of formation to children with intellectual disabilities the social and psychological safety. The methodological base are the special psychology (L.S. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinstein, A. Speck. The results. Complex psychological and pedagogical support of social and psychological safety of children with intellectual disabilities reflects the content of psychological and pedagogical tasks (target function and technologies of their solution (instrumental function aimed at reducing internal and external risk factors. The target functions are: social and psychological adaptation, personal and developmental, the function of social support and psychological and pedagogical assistance, preventive and correctional function. Psycho-pedagogical objectives are the formation of skills of safe behavior and confront the dangers through the development of appropriate social skills, mental, physical and cognitive abilities, establishing a real and more comfortable with social contact (including municipal and educational environment, thereby ensuring individual protection and psychosocial well-being, support emotional balance, development of harmonious personality, to facilitate adaptation to the social environment, correction of risk factors of dysontogenesis. The program includes informative, technological and diagnostic modules. The basis for the construction of educational information in the field of security us based on the principle of integratively – interdisciplinary cooperation of academic subjects; a mix of mandatory core classes and extra-curricular and remedial work. Technological support included the following teaching methods: interactive (psychotechnical

Religion, Self-Regulation, and Self-Control: Associations, Explanations, and Implications

Science.gov (United States)

McCullough, Michael E.; Willoughby, Brian L. B.

2009-01-01

Many of the links of religiousness with health, well-being, and social behavior may be due to religion's influences on self-control or self-regulation. Using Carver and Scheier's (1998) theory of self-regulation as a framework for organizing the empirical research, the authors review evidence relevant to 6 propositions: (a) that religion can…

Culture and Career Psychology: A Social Constructionist Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Stead, Graham B.

2004-01-01

This paper reflects on the need to re-examine cultural and cross-cultural psychology with a view to re-invigorating them and placing them at the center of discourse in career psychology. One perspective that can be employed to achieve these goals is social constructionism in that it questions the centrality of post-positivism in cultural and…

Kinesisk Religion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreasen, Esben; Nielsen, Klaus Bo

Bogen Kinesisk Religion omhandler kongfuzianisme, daoisme, buddhisme, maoisme, folkereligion og nye religioner i ind- og udland. Den indeholder klassiske myter og magiske ritualer, historiske milepæle og moderne udfordringer, politisk religion og levende folkereligiøsitet. Bogen henvender sig...

The possibilities of performing social-psychological and ethnic mediations in Community Psychology in a Deep America perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Góis, Cezar Wagner de Lima; de Oliveira, Luciane Alves; Góis, Sara Cavalcante; Silva, Alexsandra Maria Sousa

2016-01-01

In this article, we problematize the approximation between Community Psychology and the idea of Deep America, considering it capable of contributing through mediations and translations in the construction of knowledge and the recreation of social, ethnic, and human life as local diversity. We want to clarify the matter from Liberation and Southern epistemologies' point of views, and to present experiences that confirm this Community Psychology method. We talk about coloniality, connecting it to the Community Psychology method and emphasizing the importance of the social-psychological/ethnic mediation, of view interpretation, and the aspects that constitute mediation: dialogic, experiential, and participant. Finally, we briefly report some facilitation and research experiences performed by us in Ceará, mainly in the capital, Fortaleza, and in Sobral County.

Evolutionary psychology as a metatheory for the social sciences: How to gather interdisciplinary evidence for a psychological adaptation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ploeger, A.; van der Hoort, B.

2015-01-01

Evolutionary psychology has been proposed as a new metatheory for the social sciences (Buss, 1995). Evolutionary psychology is an approach that emphasizes the evolutionary background of psychological phenomena (e.g., cognition, motivation, perception), with the expectation that knowledge about this

Global trends in research related to social media in psychology: mapping and bibliometric analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zyoud, Sa'ed H; Sweileh, Waleed M; Awang, Rahmat; Al-Jabi, Samah W

2018-01-01

Social media, defined as interactive Web applications, have been on the rise globally, particularly among adults. The objective of this study was to investigate the trend of the literature related to the most used social network worldwide (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Instagram) in the field of psychology. Specifically, this study will assess the growth in publications, citation analysis, international collaboration, author productivity, emerging topics and the mapping of frequent terms in publications pertaining to social media in the field of psychology. Publications related to social media in the field of psychology published between 2004 and 2014 were obtained from the Web of Science. The records extracted were analysed for bibliometric characteristics such as the growth in publications, citation analysis, international collaboration, emerging topics and the mapping of frequent terms in publications pertaining to social media in the field of psychology. VOSviewer v.1.6.5 was used to construct scientific maps. Overall, 959 publications were retrieved during the period between 2004 and 2015. The number of research publications in social media in the field of psychology showed a steady upward growth. Publications from the USA accounted for 57.14% of the total publications and the highest h -index (48).The most common document type was research articles (873; 91.03%). Over 99.06% of the publications were published in English. Computers in Human Behavior was the most prolific journal. The University of Wisconsin - Madison ranked first in terms of the total publications (n = 39). A visualisation analysis showed that personality psychology, experimental psychology, psychological risk factors, and developmental psychology were continual concerns of the research. This is the first study reporting the global trends in the research related to social media in the psychology field. Based on the raw data from the Web of Science, publication

Das unsichtbare neue Zeitalter : "New Age", privatisierte Religion und kultisches Milieu

OpenAIRE

Knoblauch, Hubert

1989-01-01

As modernity is usually called disenchanted, new religious movements, New Age and occultism are taken to mark a u-turn in the social development of religion. They are regarded as indicators of a "postmodern" religion. It is suggested that these movements follow the pattern of the invisible religion observed by Thomas Luckmann in the 1960s. They are syncretistic and individualistic as an "esoteric culture"; their structure, the "cultic milieu", can be characterized by a low degree of...

Promoting a culture of innovation: BJSP and the emergence of new paradigms in social psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Reicher, Stephen

2011-09-01

In this paper, I start by describing the role played by British Journal of Social Psychology (BJSP) in nurturing two important new paradigms in social psychology - the social identity approach and discourse psychology. I then consider the forces in contemporary academia, in general, and psychology, in particular, that militate against innovation. I conclude by suggesting some ways in which individual social psychologists and our journals, particularly BJSP, can contribute to the development of an innovative and intellectually dynamic discipline. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

Psychological and social problems in primary care patients - general practitioners' assessment and classification.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosendal, Marianne; Vedsted, Peter; Christensen, Kaj Sparle; Moth, Grete

2013-03-01

To estimate the frequency of psychological and social classification codes employed by general practitioners (GPs) and to explore the extent to which GPs ascribed health problems to biomedical, psychological, or social factors. A cross-sectional survey based on questionnaire data from GPs. Setting. Danish primary care. 387 GPs and their face-to-face contacts with 5543 patients. GPs registered consecutive patients on registration forms including reason for encounter, diagnostic classification of main problem, and a GP assessment of biomedical, psychological, and social factors' influence on the contact. The GP-stated reasons for encounter largely overlapped with their classification of the managed problem. Using the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC-2-R), GPs classified 600 (11%) patients with psychological problems and 30 (0.5%) with social problems. Both codes for problems/complaints and specific disorders were used as the GP's diagnostic classification of the main problem. Two problems (depression and acute stress reaction/adjustment disorder) accounted for 51% of all psychological classifications made. GPs generally emphasized biomedical aspects of the contacts. Psychological aspects were given greater importance in follow-up consultations than in first-episode consultations, whereas social factors were rarely seen as essential to the consultation. Psychological problems are frequently seen and managed in primary care and most are classified within a few diagnostic categories. Social matters are rarely considered or classified.

Expressive writing promotes self-reported physical, social and psychological health among Chinese undergraduates.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Zhihan; Tang, Xiaoqing; Duan, Wenjie; Zhang, Yonghong

2015-03-01

The present study examines the efficacy of expressive writing among Chinese undergraduates. The sample comprised of 74 undergraduates enrolled in a 9-week intervention (35 in experimental class vs. 39 in control class). The writing exercises were well-embedded in an elective course for the two classes. The 46-item simplified Chinese Self-Rated Health Measurement Scale, which assesses psychological, physical and social health, was adopted to measure the outcome of this study. Baseline (second week) and post-test (ninth week) scores were obtained during the classes. After the intervention on the eighth week, the self-reported psychological, social and physical health of the experimental class improved. Psychological health obtained the maximum degree of improvement, followed by social and physical health. Furthermore, female participants gained more psychological improvement than males. These results demonstrated that the expressive writing approach could improve the physical, social and psychological health of Chinese undergraduates, and the method can be applied in university psychological consulting settings in Mainland China. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.

What is Religion?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jeppe Sinding

which can be analysed and compared across time and cultures, What is Religion? brings the most up-to-date scholarship to bear on humankind’s most enduring creation. The book opens with a brief history of the idea of religion, then divides the study of religion into four essential topics - types......Religious belief is one of the most pervasive and ubiquitous characteristics of human society. Religion has shadowed and illuminated human lives since primitive times, shaping the world views of cultures from isolated tribes to vast empires. Starting from the premise that religion is a concept......, representations, practices, and institutions – and concludes with a final, eye-opening chapter on religion today. Packed with case studies from a wide range of religions, past and present, What is Religion? offers a very current, comprehensive, yet intellectually challenging overview of the history, theories...

Religion and Politics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bandak, Andreas

2018-01-01

Religion and politics provide an interesting juxtaposition. On the one hand, both may initially come across as rather self-evident categories, with religion dealing with human perceptions and what people hold as sacred, and politics addressing the control and governance of fellow human beings....... Nonetheless, such a simple opposition should only work as a starting point for an interrogation of both terms and how they have come to look and function as empirical and analytical categories. Focusing on the ways that religion is played out in relation to politics reveals different historical and cultural...... constellations and positions, which can be highlighted as variations of religion as politics, religion in politics, religion out of politics, and religion not politics....

Social and psychological risks expertise in crisis communities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shvalb, Y.

1998-01-01

Emerging and development of crises in the communities leads to considerable increase of individual's risks' quality and quantity. Irrespectively of risk scale - partial or total influence on a community - a number of tendencies of risks increase could be identified. On social level risks result from the tendency of social protection decrease and restriction in free choice of activities' forms and kinds. On group level confrontation and clashes emerge, increase intolerance and decrease tolerance are identified. On interpersonal (micro group) level aggression and abuse intensify. On individual level a complex of negative psychological statuses develops, which is diverse both as for its content and forms. Reasons of crisis development and its dynamics determine the content and concrete forms of risks on all levels. Systematic description of risks and development of psychological support programmes for population in risk presupposes organization and delivering of comprehensive social and psychological expertise of situation. Such an expertise makes it possible to unite in a comprehensive model of the multi-professional descriptions of crisis situations on the above mentioned levels, the subjective concepts of the population (or its separate groups) together with evaluation of various projects and programmes on crisis coping and risks decrease options. (author)

[Perception of health risks: psychological and social factors].

Science.gov (United States)

Kurzenhäuser, S; Epp, A

2009-12-01

This article reviews central findings and current developments of psychological and sociological research on the perception of health risks. Risk perception is influenced by numerous psychological, social, political, and cultural factors. These factors can be categorized into (a) risk characteristics, (b) characteristics of the risk perceiving person and his/her situation, and (c) characteristics of risk communication. Thus, besides individual cognitive and affective processing of risk information, social processes of risk amplification (e.g., media effects) are also involved in the construction of individual risk perceptions. We discuss the recommendations for health risk communication that follow from these findings with regard to different communication goals.

Hedgehogs, Foxes, Ethics, and the Evolving Social Contract in Psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosnow, Ralph L.

This paper discusses the importance of ethics in psychological research. It defines the social contract between psychological science and society as the responsibility not to do psychological or physical harm to any research participants and to do beneficial research in a way that will produce valid research. Also explored are ways in which…

Objects of Worship in South Asian Religions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Objects of worship are an aspect of the material dimension of lived religion in South Asia. The omnipresence of these objects and their use is a theme which cuts across the religious traditions in the pluralistic religious culture of the region. Divine power becomes manifest in the objects and fo...... objects of worship, the book contributes to an understanding of the central significance of these objects in the religious and social life of South Asia. It will be of interest to students and scholars of Religious Studies and South Asian Religion, Culture and Society....

How to Talk about Religion

Science.gov (United States)

Kunzman, Robert

2012-01-01

Given the prevalence of religion talk in today's world, another form of fluency is needed. Civic multilingualism is the ability to converse across different religious and ethical perspectives in search of understanding, compromise, and common ground. According to the author, this may represent the greatest social challenge of the 21st century.…

Fiktionsbaseret religion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davidsen, Markus

2010-01-01

Jediismen er en ny religion, der bygger på George Lucas' Star Wars-film. Kernen i jediismen er medlemmernes identifikation med jedi-ridderne fra Star Wars, troen på, at Kraften eksisterer uden for det fiktive univers, samt rituel interaktion med Kraften. På baggrund af en analyse af syv jediistiske...... gruppers hjemmesider skitserer artiklen jediismens selvforståelse med fokus på selv-identifikation, læren om Kraften, praksis og etik samt forhandlingen af forholdet til Star Wars. Endvidere argumenteres for, hvorfor jediismen må fortolkes som en religion og ikke blot som et fanfænomen. Endelig foreslås...... kategorien 'fiktionsbaseret religion' introduceret i religionsvidenskaben som betegnelse for en række nye religioner baseret på 'fiktive religioner' indlejret i fiktionstekster....

ASSESSMENT OF EFFICIENCY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS OF INFLUENCE IN SOCIAL ADVERTISING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiyana B. Kolyshkina

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The main aim of the research is to estimate the efficiency of psychological influence mechanisms in social advertising. Numerous psychological, sociological, culturological studies, devoted to this issue, do not answer the question which mechanisms will be efficient and will lead to the expected reaction of a recipient. The correlation between the psychological influence methods and the goals set by the creators is especially important for social advertising, because its efficiency can’t be measured by economic indicators as it occurs in commercial advertising. In addition, it should be remembered that for guaranteeing of efficiency in this kind of advertising one need to take into account such special features of a recipient as their beliefs and sets. The study concentrates on the comparison of psychological influence mechanisms, used in World Wildlife Fund (WWF social advertising. Its creators use a great number of methods. But as practice shows us by no means all of them lead to the planned results. The study justifies, that the efficiency of advertising influence should be estimated by such indicators as the willingness of a recipient to take part in WWF programs (conative component and their emotional response (affective component. Consequently, it has been established that the behaviour of a recipient does not depend on a chosen creative strategy’s type, which is used by the creators. The willingness of a recipient to take part in the programs, advertised by WWF, is estimated by the content of their social and psychological sets (attitudes. The displayed results prove that one need to refuse a cruel and shocking way of advertising, which causes people’s negative emotions. It is corroborated by experiments that social advertising which defends wild nature can be efficient on condition that it gives a recipient an opportunity to actualize their own social and psychological sets.

Some notes about the relations between Social Psychology and Literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anastasio Ovejero

2008-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper I try to show the value that the study of the relationship between Social Psychology and Literature would have to improve our psychosocial knowledge of the human being. On one hand, the psychosocial analysis of the novel would provide us with the wide and deep knowledge that is contained in the classic literary works. On the other hand, it is also useful to analyze how these literary works have been reflecting both their own time as well as the social changes in the last centuries and, furthermore, its effect on the readers, their mentality, their behaviour and even the way they relate each other. This approach would be of great value for a Social Psychology that pretends to look beyond a positivist perspective, a perspective that is pervasive in Psychology for the last century. 

Diffused Religion and Prayer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto Cipriani

2011-06-01

Full Text Available It is quite likely that the origins of prayer are to be found in ancient mourning and bereavement rites. Primeval ritual prayer was codified and handed down socially to become a deep-rooted feature of people’s cultural behavior, so much so, that it may surface again several years later, in the face of death, danger, need, even in the case of relapse from faith and religious practice. Modes of prayer depend on religious experience, on relations between personal prayer and political action, between prayer and forgiveness, and between prayer and approaches to religions. Various forms of prayer exist, from the covert-hidden to the overt-manifest kind. How can they be investigated? How can one, for instance, explore mental prayer? These issues regard the canon of diffused religion and, therefore, of diffused prayer.

The first students’ conference in memory of M.Y. Kondratyev “Social Psychology: Theory and Practice”

OpenAIRE

Kochetkov N.V.

2016-01-01

This report gives a survey on the First students’ conference in memory of M.Y. Kon- dratyev “Social Psychology: Theory and Practice”. The conference demonstrated a number of best works by students at bachelor and master level, which were done in accordance with classical national tradition in social psychology studies. Thematically the conference spreads to such topics as: psychology of small groups, social psychol- ogy of an individual, ethnic psychology, social psychology of education, psyc...

Religion, morality, evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Bloom, Paul

2012-01-01

How did religion evolve? What effect does religion have on our moral beliefs and moral actions? These questions are related, as some scholars propose that religion has evolved to enhance altruistic behavior toward members of one's group. I review here data from survey studies (both within and across countries), priming experiments, and correlational studies of the effects of religion on racial prejudice. I conclude that religion has powerfully good moral effects and powerfully bad moral effects, but these are due to aspects of religion that are shared by other human practices. There is surprisingly little evidence for a moral effect of specifically religious beliefs.

Religion, Culture, and Tax Evasion: Evidence from the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wadim Strielkowski

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Our paper analyzes the impact of culture and religion on tax evasions in the Czech Republic, which represents one of the most atheistic countries in Europe, and a very interesting example of attitudes to the church and religion, as well as the influence of religion on the social and economic aspects of everyday life. Our results suggest that, in the Czech Republic, religion plays the role of tax compliance, but only through a positive effect of visiting the church. National pride supports tax morality while trust in government institutions and attitudes towards government are not associated with tax compliance. These results suggest that the Czech Republic is no different from other countries regarding the relationship between religion and tax compliance. Moreover, the role of government as the authority for improving tax compliance is different from what is observed in other countries.

Religion as problem, religion as solution: religious buffers of the links between religious/spiritual struggles and well-being/mental health.

Science.gov (United States)

Abu-Raiya, Hisham; Pargament, Kenneth I; Krause, Neal

2016-05-01

Previous studies have established robust links between religious/spiritual struggles (r/s struggles) and poorer well-being and psychological distress. A critical issue involves identifying the religious factors that buffer this relationship. This is the first study to empirically address this question. Specifically, it examines four religious factors (i.e., religious commitment, life sanctification, religious support, religious hope) as potential buffers of the links between r/s struggle and one indicator of subjective well-being (i.e., happiness) and one indicator of psychological distress (i.e., depressive symptoms). We utilized a cross-sectional design and a nationally representative sample of American adults (N = 2140) dealing with a wide range of major life stressors. We found that the interactions between r/s struggle and all potential moderators were significant in predicting happiness and/or depression. The linkage between r/s struggle and lower levels of happiness was moderated by higher levels of each of the four proposed religious buffers. Religious commitment and life sanctification moderated the ties between r/s struggles and depressive symptoms. The findings underscore the multifaceted character of religion: Paradoxically, religion may be a source of solutions to problems that may be an inherent part of religious life.

On the Historical and Conceptual Foundations of a Community Psychology of Social Transformation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gokani, Ravi; Walsh, Richard T G

2017-06-01

We examine historical and conceptual literature in community psychology in order to understand the field's potential to be the socially transformative subdiscipline of psychology to which it aspires. By reviewing papers from two prominent journals and other literature, we conclude that the claim that community psychology is well-suited to social transformation, because it is a product of Sixties' radicalism and is theoretically equipped, is untenable. Systematic accounts of the subdiscipline's origins suggest that the transformative aspirations of current community psychologists do not correspond to the subdiscipline's reformist past. Furthermore, in analyzing three related concepts currently employed in the field-social justice, power, and praxis-we show that each suffers from conceptual ambiguity and a restricted political scope. These conceptual flaws, coupled with community psychology's historical inclination toward social reform, inhibit the possibility of contributing to radical social transformation. We conclude that neither questionable historical claims nor ambiguous and politically dubious concepts support a community psychology of social transformation. We offer solutions for the historical and conceptual problems we identify and, as a broader solution to the problem of engaging in socially transformative work, propose that community psychologists should seek direct political engagement in solidarity with other citizens as fellow citizens not as psychologists. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

Legal socialization of personality as a phenomenon of legal psychology

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Borisova S.E.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The relevance of the topic to the continuing importance of legal regulation of human behavior, the necessity of foreseeing the adverse consequences of social disorders and urgency of the prevention of deconditioning and deviant behavioral manifestations. In this regard, it is important to examine the phenomenon of legal socialization, causing interest among the representatives of the human Sciences and specialists in different branches of psychological knowledge. Taking into account the multidimensional nature of this phenomenon, it is an essential consideration of the trajectories of its occurrence in correlation with different interacting with other determinants. Such determinants include age psychological characteristics, experience crises of mental development, socially conditioned factors, and the influence of the professional environment. In article are characterized by individual patterns of legal socialization of a personality, revealing its essence, on the basis of summarizing opinions of scientists based on their own point of view. On the basis of the theoretical analysis made assumptions about the peculiarities of legal socialization of the individual occurring in different age periods of life; formulated likely areas for further study the phenomenon under research legal psychology.

[A psychological content of social phobia syndrome].

Science.gov (United States)

Sagalakova, O A; Truevtsev, D V; Stoyanova, I Ya

2017-01-01

To perform a psychological analysis of social phobia syndrome. The subject area of research is the structure of mental activity and behavior in social activity. The study included 32 patients with symptoms of social phobia (ICD-10 F40.1) and 29 healthy people (controls). A complex of psychological methods (questionnaires; pathopsychological experiment) was used. Early maladaptive schemes and a tendency to mental rigidity can be a premorbid basis of the syndrome. Primary violation is in organizational target component by type of distortion of goal-setting regulation. The mechanism is a reduction in the mediation of emotions and behavior (an influence of emotions on the process of activity, excess metacognitive anxiety control leading to multi-task and exhaustion of resources of voluntary activity). Fear of negative evaluation leads to the fact that a wide class of situations is interpreted as threatening. Secondary are changes in the system of goals and motives of activity (technically performing components of social behavior act as a focus of attention, along with the target, the target replaces the suprasituational meaning). Along with a strong motivation to succeed, the motive of avoiding failure is formed, which leads to a decrease in social activity. Tertiary symptoms of syndrome dynamics (ways to cope with maladaptation) are destructive forms of decompensation (substance abuse, learned helplessness and hopelessness, suicidal behavior, etc.), repeatedly reinforcing the primary and secondary disturbances.

Application of factor analysis in psychological diagnostics (sample: study of students’ social safety

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavel Aleksandrovich Kislyakov

2015-10-01

Our recommendations for the use of factor analysis, with necessary restrictions and clear reasons of a possible ambiguity of solutions, will be useful to everyone interested in mastering an adequate mathematical tool for solving problems pertaining to the humanities, in particular, those of practical psychology. As a practical example is presented the research of the psychological factors which provide students’ social safety. With the help of the factor analysis relevant personal and professional qualities of a teacher were revealed which are the subjective factors of students’ social safety, namely: social anticipation, socio-psychological stress resistance, social tolerance, professional orientation, responsibility, communication skills.

Multiplicative Effects of Social and Psychological Risk Factors on College Students’ Suicidal Behaviors

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Shervin Assari

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Less is known about the multiplicative effects of social and psychological risk and protective factors of suicidality on college campuses. The current study aimed to investigate the multiplicative effects of social (identifying oneself as gay/lesbian, financial difficulty, violence victimization, and religiosity and psychological (anxiety, depression, problem alcohol use, drug use and risk/protective factors on suicidal behaviors among college students in the United States. Using a cross-sectional design, the Healthy Mind Study (HMS; 2016–2017, is a national online survey of college students in the United States. Social (identifying oneself as gay/lesbian, violence victimization, financial difficulty, and religiosity and psychological (anxiety, depression, problem alcohol use, and drug use risk/protective factors were assessed among 27,961 individuals. Three aspects of suicidality, including ideation, plan, and attempt, were also assessed. Logistic regression models were used for data analysis. Financial difficulty, violence victimization, identifying oneself as gay/lesbian, anxiety, depression, and drug use increased, while religiosity reduced the odds of suicidal behaviors. Multiplicative effects were found between the following social and psychological risk factors: (1 financial difficulty and anxiety; (2 financial difficulty and depression; (3 depression and drug use; (4 problem alcohol use and drug use; and (5 depression and problem alcohol use. There is a considerable overlap in the social and psychological processes, such as financial stress, mood disorders, and substance use problems, on risk of suicide in college students. As social and psychological risk factors do not operate independently, comprehensive suicidal risk evaluations that simultaneously address multiple social and psychological risk factors may be superior to programs that only address a single risk factor.

Religion and covenantal praxis in first century Judeanism

African Journals Online (AJOL)

p1243322

long term. Indeed, religion and covenantal praxis combined to make Judeanism a ... Socialization into all three social domains, the Temple, the synagogue, .... the American flag over an entrance to the mosque in Mecca. ..... The meat was to be eaten in the Temple, on the same day, sharing it ...... Celebrated by all Judeans.

Psychological treatment of social anxiety disorder improves body dysmorphic concerns.

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Angela; Sawyer, Alice T; Aderka, Idan M; Hofmann, Stefan G

2013-10-01

Social anxiety disorder and body dysmorphic disorder are considered nosologically distinct disorders. In contrast, some cognitive models suggest that social anxiety disorder and body dysmorphic disorder share similar cognitive maintenance factors. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of psychological treatments for social anxiety disorder on body dysmorphic disorder concerns. In Study 1, we found that 12 weekly group sessions of cognitive-behavioral therapy led to significant decreases in body dysmorphic symptom severity. In Study 2, we found that an attention retraining intervention for social anxiety disorder was associated with a reduction in body dysmorphic concerns, compared to a placebo control condition. These findings support the notion that psychological treatments for individuals with primary social anxiety disorder improve co-occurring body dysmorphic disorder symptoms. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Religion, Spirituality, and the Hidden Curriculum: Medical Student and Faculty Reflections.

Science.gov (United States)

Balboni, Michael J; Bandini, Julia; Mitchell, Christine; Epstein-Peterson, Zachary D; Amobi, Ada; Cahill, Jonathan; Enzinger, Andrea C; Peteet, John; Balboni, Tracy

2015-10-01

Religion and spirituality play an important role in physicians' medical practice, but little research has examined their influence within the socialization of medical trainees and the hidden curriculum. The objective is to explore the role of religion and spirituality as they intersect with aspects of medicine's hidden curriculum. Semiscripted, one-on-one interviews and focus groups (n = 33 respondents) were conducted to assess Harvard Medical School student and faculty experiences of religion/spirituality and the professionalization process during medical training. Using grounded theory, theme extraction was performed with interdisciplinary input (medicine, sociology, and theology), yielding a high inter-rater reliability score (kappa = 0.75). Three domains emerged where religion and spirituality appear as a factor in medical training. First, religion/spirituality may present unique challenges and benefits in relation to the hidden curriculum. Religious/spiritual respondents more often reported to struggle with issues of personal identity, increased self-doubt, and perceived medical knowledge inadequacy. However, religious/spiritual participants less often described relationship conflicts within the medical team, work-life imbalance, and emotional stress arising from patient suffering. Second, religion/spirituality may influence coping strategies during encounters with patient suffering. Religious/spiritual trainees described using prayer, faith, and compassion as means for coping whereas nonreligious/nonspiritual trainees discussed compartmentalization and emotional repression. Third, levels of religion/spirituality appear to fluctuate in relation to medical training, with many trainees experiencing an increase in religiousness/spirituality during training. Religion/spirituality has a largely unstudied but possibly influential role in medical student socialization. Future study is needed to characterize its function within the hidden curriculum. Copyright �

Psychological and social correlates of HIV status disclosure: the significance of stigma visibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Stutterheim, Sarah E; Bos, Arjan E R; Pryor, John B; Brands, Ronald; Liebregts, Maartje; Schaalma, Herman P

2011-08-01

HIV-related stigma, psychological distress, self-esteem, and social support were investigated in a sample comprising people who have concealed their HIV status to all but a selected few (limited disclosers), people who could conceal but chose to be open (full disclosers), and people who had visible symptoms that made concealing difficult (visibly stigmatized). The visibly stigmatized and full disclosers reported significantly more stigma experiences than limited disclosers, but only the visibly stigmatized reported more psychological distress, lower self-esteem, and less social support than limited disclosers. This suggests that having a visible stigma is more detrimental than having a concealable stigma. Differences in psychological distress and self-esteem between the visibly stigmatized and full disclosers were mediated by social support while differences between the visibly stigmatized and limited disclosers were mediated by both social support and stigma. These findings suggest that social support buffers psychological distress in people with HIV.

A checklist to facilitate objective hypothesis testing in social psychology research.

Science.gov (United States)

Washburn, Anthony N; Morgan, G Scott; Skitka, Linda J

2015-01-01

Social psychology is not a very politically diverse area of inquiry, something that could negatively affect the objectivity of social psychological theory and research, as Duarte et al. argue in the target article. This commentary offers a number of checks to help researchers uncover possible biases and identify when they are engaging in hypothesis confirmation and advocacy instead of hypothesis testing.

Longitudinal association between time-varying social isolation and psychological distress after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Science.gov (United States)

Sone, Toshimasa; Nakaya, Naoki; Sugawara, Yumi; Tomata, Yasutake; Watanabe, Takashi; Tsuji, Ichiro

2016-03-01

The association between social isolation and psychological distress among disaster survivors is inconclusive. In addition, because these previous studies were cross-sectional in design, the longitudinal association between time-varying social isolation and psychological distress was not clear. The present study examined the longitudinal association between social isolation and psychological distress after the Great East Japan Earthquake. We analyzed longitudinal data for 959 adults who had responded to the self-report questionnaires about Lubben Social Network Scale-6 (LSNS-6) and K6 in both a community-based baseline survey (2011) and a follow-up survey (2014) after the disaster. Participants were categorized into four groups according to changes in the presence of social isolation (socially isolated", "became not socially isolated", "remained not socially isolated", and "became socially isolated". We defined a K6 score of ≥ 10/24 as indicating the presence of psychological distress. We used multiple logistic regression analysis to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to indicate how the change in social isolation was related to changes in psychological distress over 3 years. Among the participants who had not shown psychological distress at the baseline, the rates of deterioration of psychological distress were significantly lower in participants who "became not socially isolated" (multivariate OR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.08-0.70) and "remained not socially isolated" (multivariate OR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.27-0.91), compared with participants who "remained socially isolated". Among the participants who had psychological distress at the baseline, the rate of improvement of psychological distress was significantly higher in participants who "remained not socially isolated" (multivariate OR = 2.61, 95% CI = 1.08-6.44). The present findings suggest that prevention of social isolation may be an effective public health strategy for

Religion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lægaard, Sune

2018-01-01

Article on the different ways on which religion is relevant to discussions of discrimination and the normative issues this gives rise to.......Article on the different ways on which religion is relevant to discussions of discrimination and the normative issues this gives rise to....

Psychological Resources, Personality Traits and Buddhism: A Study of Italian Young Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Giannini, Marco; Loscalzo, Yura; Beraldi, Daniela; Gori, Alessio

2018-04-28

We aimed to examine whether young adults practicing Buddhism have elevated levels of psychological resources and specific personality traits compared to Catholics and Atheists. We recruited 184 participants: Soka Gakkai Buddhists (n = 60); non-practicing Roman Catholic Church believers (n = 62); Atheists (n = 62). We found that the Buddhists have higher optimism than both Catholics and Atheists. They also have higher self-efficacy and self-esteem than Catholics and higher perceived social support than Atheists. Concerning global personality factors, they are more extraverted than the other groups, and they are less tough-minded than Catholics. Differences also emerged relating some primary personality factors. Since we did not find differences between Catholics and Atheists about psychological resources, we speculate that religion alone does not provide an efficacious source of psychological resources; it could be that religious practice is determinant.

Sociology of religion and the occult revival

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Lennart Ejerfeldt

1975-01-01

Full Text Available The "new" that makes the cults of the occult revival to "new religions" of the Western world, is their recently increased social significance. Historically most of modern occultism is anything but new. From the research and theorizing about the occult revival we have picked up some main themes. The first is the social diffusion of the new occultism. In this field, we find some studies of superstition, especially astrology. These illuminate the differences in social connotation between the consumers of superstition and the followers of institutional religion. Secondly the study of the occult revival has made valuable contributions to the conceptualizing of "cult" and the cultic phenomenon. Thirdly, we will look upon the connection between the occult revival and the counter-culture. The problem of the rise of cults as a symptom of socio-cultural change will be briefly discussed with reference to Bell's thesis of "the disjuntion of culture and social structure". Lastly, we proffer some reflections on the occult revival and the new spiritual trends in the churches, which so sharply contrast with the theology and churchmanship of the sixties.

The influence of social support on psychological distress in Canadian adults with bipolar disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Warren, Christie D; Fowler, Ken; Speed, David; Walsh, Anna

2018-05-08

Individuals with bipolar I disorder (BD-I) and bipolar II disorder (BD-II) are at higher risk for experiencing high levels of psychological distress and low levels of social support. The primary objectives of this study were to examine perceived social support and psychological distress among Canadian adults with self-reported BD-I or BD-II as diagnosed by a health professional and explore the relationship between types of social support and psychological distress within this sample. Using a cross-sectional, national datafile, 563 Canadian male and female adults (20-64 years) who reported being diagnosed with BD-I or BD-II were investigated using the Social Provisions Scale (SPS), and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). It was observed that while the BD-I or BD-II sample had significantly lower SPS scores and significantly higher K10 scores than the overall Canadian sample, age and support in the form of reassurance of worth and social integration were associated with decreased psychological distress. Further, a diagnosis of BD-I and BD-II was found to moderate the effect of social support on psychological distress. Despite the limitations, which include self-reported diagnosis of BD-I and BD-II and potential exclusion of those who are not diagnosed but have BD-I or BD-II, these findings suggest that reassurance of worth and social integration may act as protective factors for psychological distress among individuals with BD-I or BD-II.

Socializing the human factors analysis and classification system: incorporating social psychological phenomena into a human factors error classification system.

Science.gov (United States)

Paletz, Susannah B F; Bearman, Christopher; Orasanu, Judith; Holbrook, Jon

2009-08-01

The presence of social psychological pressures on pilot decision making was assessed using qualitative analyses of critical incident interviews. Social psychological phenomena have long been known to influence attitudes and behavior but have not been highlighted in accident investigation models. Using a critical incident method, 28 pilots who flew in Alaska were interviewed. The participants were asked to describe a situation involving weather when they were pilot in command and found their skills challenged. They were asked to describe the incident in detail but were not explicitly asked to identify social pressures. Pressures were extracted from transcripts in a bottom-up manner and then clustered into themes. Of the 28 pilots, 16 described social psychological pressures on their decision making, specifically, informational social influence, the foot-in-the-door persuasion technique, normalization of deviance, and impression management and self-consistency motives. We believe accident and incident investigations can benefit from explicit inclusion of common social psychological pressures. We recommend specific ways of incorporating these pressures into theHuman Factors Analysis and Classification System.

Religion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Welz, Claudia

2017-01-01

In the world of Greek Comedy, the traditionally austere gods of Tragedy are lowered to fit the streets of Athens. Religion is omnipresent in comedy on many levels, and we find gods on stage, prayers and oaths performed, sacrifices narrated, festivals performed. Religion in comedy is generally...

The contribution from psychological, social, and organizational work factors to risk of disability retirement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knardahl, Stein; Johannessen, Håkon A.; Sterud, Tom

2017-01-01

Background: Previous studies indicate that psychological, social, and organizational factors at work contribute to health, motivation, absence from work, and functional ability. The objective of the study was to assess the current state of knowledge of the contribution of psychological, social, a...... social support from ones superior. Conclusions: Psychological and organizational factors at work contribute to disability retirement with the most robust evidence for the role of work control. We recommend the measurement of specific exposure factors in future studies.......Background: Previous studies indicate that psychological, social, and organizational factors at work contribute to health, motivation, absence from work, and functional ability. The objective of the study was to assess the current state of knowledge of the contribution of psychological, social......, and organizational factors to disability retirement by a systematic review and meta-analyses. Methods: Data sources: A systematic literature search for studies of retirement due to disability in Medline, Embase, and PsychINFO was performed. Reference lists of relevant articles were hand-searched for additional...

The changing psychology of culture in German-speaking countries: A Google Ngram study.

Science.gov (United States)

Younes, Nadja; Reips, Ulf-Dietrich

2017-05-05

This article provides evidence for the long-term affiliation between ecological and cultural changes in German-speaking countries, based on the assumptions derived from social change and human development theory. Based on this theory, the increase in urbanisation, as a measure of ecological change, is associated with significant cultural changes of psychology. Whereas urbanisation is linked to greater individualistic values and materialistic attitudes, rural environments are strongly associated with collectivistic values like allegiance, prevalence of religion, and feelings of belonging and benevolence. Due to an increase in the German urbanisation rate over time, our study investigates whether Germany and the German-speaking countries around show the presumed changes in psychology. By using Google Books Ngram Viewer, we find that word frequencies, signifying individualistic (collectivistic) values, are positively (negatively) related to the urbanisation rate of Germany. Our results indicate that predictions about implications of an urbanising population for the psychology of culture hold true, supporting international universality of the social change and human development theory. Furthermore, we provide evidence for a predicted reversal for the time during and after World War II, reflecting Nazi propaganda and influence. © 2017 International Union of Psychological Science.

Daily Spiritual Experiences and Psychological Well-Being among US Adults

Science.gov (United States)

Ellison, Christopher G.; Fan, Daisy

2008-01-01

This study focuses on one of the most significant recent innovations in the conceptualization and measurement of religiousness and spirituality, the Daily Spiritual Experience scale (DSES; Underwood (2006) "Archive for the Psychology of Religion/Archiv fur Religion Psychologie," 28, 181-218). Using data from 1998 and 2004 NORC General…

Danmark. Religion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lausten, Martin Schwarz

1991-01-01

Danmarks kirkehistorie fra begyndelsen til nyere tid. Kirkehistorie, historie, folkekirke, religion......Danmarks kirkehistorie fra begyndelsen til nyere tid. Kirkehistorie, historie, folkekirke, religion...

Relationships and the social brain: integrating psychological and evolutionary perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Sutcliffe, Alistair; Dunbar, Robin; Binder, Jens; Arrow, Holly

2012-05-01

Psychological studies of relationships tend to focus on specific types of close personal relationships (romantic, parent-offspring, friendship) and examine characteristics of both the individuals and the dyad. This paper looks more broadly at the wider range of relationships that constitute an individual's personal social world. Recent work on the composition of personal social networks suggests that they consist of a series of layers that differ in the quality and quantity of relationships involved. Each layer increases relationship numbers by an approximate multiple of 3 (5-15-50-150) but decreasing levels of intimacy (strong, medium, and weak ties) and frequency of interaction. To account for these regularities, we draw on both social and evolutionary psychology to argue that relationships at different layers serve different functions and have different cost-benefit profiles. At each layer, the benefits are asymptotic but the costs of maintaining a relationship at that level (most obviously, the time that has to be invested in servicing it) are roughly linear with the number of relationships. The trade-off between costs and benefits at a given level, and across the different types of demands and resources typical of different levels, gives rise to a distribution of social effort that generates and maintains a hierarchy of layered sets of relationships within social networks. We suggest that, psychologically, these trade-offs are related to the level of trust in a relationship, and that this is itself a function of the time invested in the relationship. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

Storming the servers: a social psychological analysis of the First Internet War.

Science.gov (United States)

Guadagno, Rosanna E; Cialdini, Robert B; Evron, Gadi

2010-08-01

In April 2007, the First Internet War began. Owing to the relocation of a World War II-era Soviet war memorial in Estonia, angry protestors, primarily of Russian descent, engaged in a month-long series of coordinated online attacks on Estonia's Internet infrastructure that disabled it for several days. We analyze this real-world event from a social psychological perspective. Specifically, we review the details surrounding the event and examine why protest manifested in this form of online attack and discuss how it was successfully orchestrated from a framework provided by social psychology, the science of human social interaction. We argue that the psychological principles of loss, relative anonymity of online interaction, group membership and adherence to group norms, social validation, and contagion all contributed to the success of the attacks.

African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues - Vol 4 ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. ... History, culture, social structure and entrepreneurship in the political ... Psychol-social factors in rural health information dissemination · EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT

Ethnic vs. Evangelical Religions: Beyond Teaching the World Religion Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Tishken, Joel E.

2000-01-01

Offers background information on the formation of comparative religion. Demonstrates that the world religion approach is inadequate by examining case studies of Mithraism, Santeria, Mormonism, and Baha'i to illustrate the shortcomings of this approach. Advocates the use of an ethnic versus evangelical religion approach to teaching global…

Introduction to the Social and Psychological Dynamics of Collective Action

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Zomeren, Martijn; Iyer, Aarti

2009-01-01

Collective action is one of the core mechanisms of social change, and thus of major importance to social scientists, practitioners, and policy-makers. Our goal in editing this issue is to bring together recent advances on the social and psychological dynamics of collective action among members of

Redefining Womanhood (?: Gender, Power, and the “Religion of Thinness”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Lelwica

2006-05-01

Full Text Available Ce travail examine la manière dont les femmes utilisent les régimes amincissants comme moyen de surmonter les normes culturelles dominantes concernant les genres, aux Etats-Unis, au cours des dernières décennies. Bien que les femmes qui se consacrent à la perte de poids ne constituent pas un « groupe religieux » dans l’acception traditionnelle du terme, les symboles, rituels et croyances qui accompagnent leur quête de la minceur finissent par fonctionner exactement comme une religion. A partir de discours de femmes aux prises avec leur nourriture et l’image de leur corps, ainsi qu’avec toute une série d’images, rituels et croyances de la culture populaire, je mène l’analyse de cette religion séculière, que je nomme « la Religion de la Minceur » ; je vise à éclairer la manière dont les femmes s’en servent pour tenter d’obtenir le type de pouvoir et de visibilité qui est longtemps demeuré l’apanage des hommes. Enfin, je soutiens que la Religion de la Minceur ressuscite les dynamiques d’une religion patriarcale, dans laquelle le « salut » (libération de la femme passe par son sacrifice et son obéissance aux normes sociales dominantes.This paper examines women’s use of dieting as a means for negotiating dominant cultural gender norms in the United States during the past few decades. Although women who are devoted to losing weight do not constitute a “religious” group in the traditional sense of the word, the symbols, rituals, and beliefs surrounding their pursuit of thinness have come to function much like a religion. Drawing on women’s narratives about their struggles with food and body image, as well as a variety of popular cultural images, rituals, and beliefs, I analyze this secular religion, which I call the “Religion of Thinness,” highlighting how it serves as a vehicle through which women seek the kind of power and visibility that has historically been the prerogative of men. In the

Teaching World Religions without Teaching "World Religions"

Science.gov (United States)

Locklin, Reid B.; Tiemeier, Tracy; Vento, Johann M.

2012-01-01

Tomoko Masuzawa and a number of other contemporary scholars have recently problematized the categories of "religion" and "world religions" and, in some cases, called for its abandonment altogether as a discipline of scholarly study. In this collaborative essay, we respond to this critique by highlighting three attempts to teach…

Desvendando a religião e as religiões mundiais em Max Weber (Revealing religion and the world religions in Max Weber - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2009v7n14p136

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arilson Silva Oliveira

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Apresentamos Max Weber como um dos sociólogos e historiadores mais importantes dentre aqueles que se dedicaram ao estudo do fenômeno religioso. Na verdade, é possível afirmar que a análise da religião compreende um dos aspectos mais fundamentais de sua obra sócio-histórica. De modo geral, esse tema aparece em seus textos de duas maneiras diferentes, quais sejam: enquanto um objeto analisado em sua singularidade e enquanto uma manifestação social que influencia de maneira significativa os demais aspectos da vida comunitária. Aqui, observamos como ele muniu-se de um método particular e o utilizou como parâmetro para compreender historicamente a religião. Ao se debruçar sobre as religiões mundiais (confucionismo-taoísmo, judaísmo-cristianismo e hinduísmo-budismo, Weber estuda a racionalização cultural de suas cosmovisões. Todavia, para ele, a influência da religião sobre a vida prática varia muito segundo o caminho da salvação/libertação que é prescrito e segundo a qualidade psíquica (ou imaginada da salvação que se pretende alcançar. Palavras-chave: Max Weber; Religião; Religiões Mundiais; Racionalização.   AbstractWe present Max Weber as one of the most important sociologists and historians among those who dedicated themselves to the study of the religious phenomenon. Actually, it is possible to say that the analysis of religion involves one of the most fundamental aspects of his socio-historical work. As a whole, this subject appears in his texts in two different forms, i.e., as an analyzed object in its particularities, and as a social manifestation which influences, in a significant way, the other aspects of communitarian life. Here, we observe how he equipped himself with a particular method, rescued Kantian rationality and applied it as a parameter to historically understand religion. While he dedicated himself to study world religions (Confucianism-Taoism, Judaism-Christianity, and Hinduism

Understanding the anatomy of religion as basis for religion in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article sprung from previous structural analyses of religion as onticity, but went somewhat further by placing more emphasis on encounters with the numinous as the core of religion, as well as on the dynamic character of religion. In doing so, this analysis methodologically transcended the limitations of a structuralist ...

Psychological distress and academic self-perception among international medical students: the role of peer social support.

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Yamada, Yukari; Klugar, Miloslav; Ivanova, Katerina; Oborna, Ivana

2014-11-28

Psychological distress among medical students is commonly observed during medical education and is generally related to poor academic self-perception. We evaluated the role of peer social support at medical schools in the association between psychological distress and academic self-perception. An online survey was conducted in a medical degree program for 138 international students educated in English in the Czech Republic. The Medical Student Well-Being Index was used to define the students' psychological distress. Perceived peer social support was investigated with the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Poor academic self-perception was defined as the lowest 30% of a subscale score of the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure. Analyses evaluated the presence of additive interactions between psychological distress and peer social support on poor academic self-perception, adjusted for possible confounders. Both psychological distress and low peer social support were negatively associated with poor academic self-perception, adjusted for local language proficiency and social support from family. Students with psychological distress and low peer social support had an odds ratio of 11.0 (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.1-56.6) for poor academic self-perception as compared with those without distress who had high peer social support. The presence of an additive interaction was confirmed in that the joint association was four times as large as what would have been expected to be on summing the individual risks of psychological distress and low peer social support (synergy index = 4.5, 95% CI: 1.3-14.9). Psychological distress and low peer social support may synergistically increase the probability of poor academic self-perception among international medical students. Promoting peer social relationships at medical school may interrupt the vicious cycle of psychological distress and poor academic performance.

Religious Engagement and Attitudes to the Role of Religion in Society: Their Effect on Civic and Social Values in an Asian Context

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Cheung, Chris Hin Wah; Kennedy, Kerry J.; Leung, Chi Hung; Hue, Ming Tak

2018-01-01

This paper explored the impact of religious engagement (religious background, religious service attendance and religious activities participation) on adolescents' civic and social values. Attitudes towards the influence of religion on society were investigated as a possible mediator/moderator of religious engagement. A model based on Western…

Exposure to science, perspectives on science and religion, and religious commitment in young adulthood.

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Uecker, Jeremy E; Longest, Kyle C

2017-07-01

Social scientists know very little about the consequences of exposure to scientific knowledge and holding different perspectives on science and religion for individuals' religious lives. Drawing on secularization and post-secular theories, we develop and test several hypotheses about the relationships among exposure to scientific knowledge, perspectives on religion and science, and religious commitment using panel data from the National Study of Youth and Religion. Our findings indicate that religious faith is strongest among young adults who: (1) accommodate scientific knowledge into their religious perspective, or (2) reject scientific knowledge that directly contradicts their religious beliefs about the origins of the world. Young adults are also more likely to have lower religious commitment when they view science and religion as independent institutions, lending support to secularization ideas about how social differentiation secularizes individuals. We further find that mere exposure to scientific knowledge, in terms of majoring in biology or acknowledging conflict between the teachings of religion and science, is usually not sufficient to undermine religious commitment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Integrating Social Class into Vocational Psychology: Theory and Practice Implications

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Diemer, Matthew A.; Ali, Saba Rasheed

2009-01-01

Although social class plays a salient and significant role in career development and occupational attainment, social class is underrepresented in vocational psychology theory, scholarship, and practice. Vocational psychologists are in a unique position to meet the career development needs of persons from all social classes by integrating a fuller…

Sexual health and religion: a primer for the sexual health clinician (CME).

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Kellogg Spadt, Susan; Rosenbaum, Talli Y; Dweck, Alyssa; Millheiser, Leah; Pillai-Friedman, Sabitha; Krychman, Michael

2014-07-01

Sexual health is an integral part of the multifaceted human experience that is driven both by biological factors and psychological facets. Religion may provide a moral code of conduct or a sexual compass as to sexual norms and behaviors. The aim of this study was to summarize the integration of sexuality and religion. A review of published literature and religious texts was conducted. The integration of religion with country or state politics and laws is a complicated dilemma and will not be discussed in the scope of this article. The extent to which an individual incorporates their religious doctrine into their sexual life is a personal and individualized choice. The sexual medicine health professional will likely encounter a diverse patient population of distinct religious backgrounds, and a primer on religion and sexuality is a much needed adjunctive tool for the clinician. Because religion can influence sexuality and dictate, in part, the behavioral and medical treatments for sexual complaints, the clinician should be familiar with religious guidelines regarding sexuality, and treatment should be customized and individualized. Failure to do so can impact compliance with the therapeutic interventions. Religious awareness also solidifies the therapeutic alliance between clinician and patient as it demonstrates respect and acknowledgment for patient's beliefs and autonomy. © 2014 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

Religion insulates ingroup evaluations: the development of intergroup attitudes in India.

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Dunham, Yarrow; Srinivasan, Mahesh; Dotsch, Ron; Barner, David

2014-03-01

Research on the development of implicit intergroup attitudes has placed heavy emphasis on race, leaving open how social categories that are prominent in other cultures might operate. We investigate two of India's primary means of social distinction, caste and religion, and explore the development of implicit and explicit attitudes towards these groups in minority-status Muslim children and majority-status Hindu children, the latter drawn from various positions in the Hindu caste system. Results from two tests of implicit attitudes find that caste attitudes parallel previous findings for race: higher-caste children as well as lower-caste children have robust high-caste preferences. However, results for religion were strikingly different: both lower-status Muslim children and higher-status Hindu children show strong implicit ingroup preferences. We suggest that religion may play a protective role in insulating children from the internalization of stigma. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Health care in a community of followers of traditional African-Brazilian religions.

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Alves, Miriam Cristiane; Seminotti, Nedio

2009-08-01

To understand the concept of health and the source of psychological distress among followers of a traditional African-Brazilian religion. Qualitative study performed in a community of followers of a traditional African-Brazilian religion, in the city of Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil, between 2007 and 2008. The priest/Babalorixá and six followers of this community participated in the study. Open interviews, which were recorded and subsequently transcribed, were conducted to collect data and construct the corpus of analysis. Report categorization, based on the complex systemic approach, enabled the construction of two main themes: 1) religious community and concept of health, and 2) origin of psychological distress and cultural identity. In this religious community, traditional health therapies, such as the use of herbs, baths, diets and/or initiation rites, were associated with conventional therapies proposed by the Sistema Unico de Saúde (SUS - Unified Health System). Bonds with and belonging to a territory, the relationships among individuals, and the relationship among their spiritual, psychological and physical dimensions are considered in their concepts of psychological distress and health. The way to understand and act in the world, as experienced in this community, with its myths, rites, beliefs and values, constitutes a set of legitimate types of knowledge in its context, which oftentimes opposes and goes beyond professionals' technical-scientific knowledge and truths. This community is a space marked by welcoming, counseling and treatment of followers, where the physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions are integrated in these practices. As regards the black population health, psychological distress results from their having been uprooted from African black cultures.

Psychological well-being among individuals aging with HIV: the value of social relationships.

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Mavandadi, Shahrzad; Zanjani, Faika; Ten Have, Thomas R; Oslin, David W

2009-05-01

Utilizing a heterogenous sample of adults diagnosed with HIV infection, the current study sought to explore associations among age, various dimensions of social support, and psychological and functional well-being. Cross-sectional data capturing subjective and instrumental support, social interaction, behavioral health service utilization, and psychological well-being (ie, positive affect and depressive symptomatology), and physical functioning, were collected from 109 men and women living with HIV. To explore age group differences, participants were stratified by age (social interaction. However, older adults reported higher subjective support, which in turn was associated with lower depressive symptomatology, greater positive affect, and nonutilization of behavioral health services. More attention should be paid to the social environment of individuals diagnosed with HIV as the quality of social relationships may be particularly important for successful psychological adaptation to HIV.

A melding of the minds: when primatology meets personality and social psychology.

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Brosnan, Sarah F; Newton-Fisher, Nicholas E; van Vugt, Mark

2009-05-01

Social and personality psychology and behavioral primatology both enjoy long histories of research aimed at uncovering the proximate and ultimate determinants of primate-human and nonhuman-social behavior. Although they share research themes, methodologies, and theories, and although their studied species are closely related, there is currently very little interaction between the fields. This separation means that researchers in these disciplines miss out on opportunities to advance understanding by combining insights from both fields. Social and personality psychologists also miss the opportunity for a phylogenetic analysis. The time has come to integrate perspectives on primate social psychology. Here, the authors provide a historical background and document the main similarities and differences in approaches. Next, they present some examples of research programs that may benefit from an integrated primate perspective. Finally, the authors propose a framework for developing a social psychology inclusive of all primates. Such a melding of minds promises to greatly benefit those who undertake the challenge.

Feeling psychologically restrained: the effect of social exclusion on tonic immobility

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Nora Mooren

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Background: A variety of studies have demonstrated posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD symptoms in victims of bullying. Because bullying with only relational aggression, such as social exclusion, does not involve physical aggression that could explain PTSD symptoms, it remains unclear why these relational aggression situations are also linked to PTSD symptoms. Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the fear-response tonic immobility (Ti can occur during social exclusion. Since Ti, as an indicator of peritraumatic dissociation, is an important predictor of PTSD symptoms, we expected that the presence of Ti during social exclusion might contribute to possible explanations of PTSD symptoms in victims of relational aggression. Method: Social exclusion was manipulated by a virtual Cyberball game in which participants were excluded and included by virtual confederates. During the game, Ti was measured, both physiologically (heart rate and psychologically (subjective symptoms. Also, the underlying concepts of Ti, high levels of fear and psychological restraint (threatened sense of control, were measured. Results: Excluded participants experienced higher levels of subjective and physiological Ti symptoms (lower heart rates in comparison to social inclusion. Also, as expected, social exclusion resulted in higher levels of fear and psychological restraint in comparison to social inclusion. Conclusion: Social exclusion can evoke symptoms of Ti, fear, and psychological restraint, which might be important mechanisms to consider in explaining PTSD symptoms after relational forms of bullying in the absence of physical aggression. Limitations: The sample only contains healthy, female participants. Whether our results translate to bullying victims of relational aggression is therefore not known. Also, the physiological measurement of Ti (average heart rate was rather limited and could be expanded in future studies.

Ideology: Its Resurgence in Social, Personality, and Political Psychology.

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Jost, John T; Nosek, Brian A; Gosling, Samuel D

2008-03-01

We trace the rise, fall, and resurgence of political ideology as a topic of research in social, personality, and political psychology. For over 200 years, political belief systems have been classified usefully according to a single left-right (or liberal-conservative) dimension that, we believe, possesses two core aspects: (a) advocating versus resisting social change and (b) rejecting versus accepting inequality. There have been many skeptics of the notion that most people are ideologically inclined, but recent psychological evidence suggests that left-right differences are pronounced in many life domains. Implicit as well as explicit preferences for tradition, conformity, order, stability, traditional values, and hierarchy-versus those for progress, rebelliousness, chaos, flexibility, feminism, and equality-are associated with conservatism and liberalism, respectively. Conservatives score consistently higher than liberals on measures of system justification. Furthermore, there are personality and lifestyle differences between liberals and conservatives as well as situational variables that induce either liberal or conservative shifts in political opinions. Our thesis is that ideological belief systems may be structured according to a left-right dimension for largely psychological reasons linked to variability in the needs to reduce uncertainty and threat. © 2008 Association for Psychological Science.

Psychological and social correlates of doping attitudes among Italian athletes.

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Zucchetti, Giulia; Candela, Filippo; Villosio, Carlo

2015-02-01

This study aims to identify the main psychological and social correlates of doping attitudes among Italian athletes. It is well recognized that athlete disposition and attitude towards doping is one of the factors responsible for doping behavior. Less is known, however, about the factors that sustain the level of athletes' attitudes towards doping. The main psychological (i.e., perfectionism, sport motivation, self-confidence and life satisfaction) and social correlates (i.e., social network and contact with people who use sports drugs) of attitudes towards doping among Italian athletes are examined in this paper. Differences are hypothesized regarding the type of sport (resistance sport vs. non-resistance sport) and athlete participation in competitive sport (i.e., agonistics) or in non-competitive sport (i.e., amateurs) on the level of attitude towards doping. The research hypothesis is that each of these constructs affects the level of athletes' attitudes toward doping. Data were collected from a sample of athletes (N=109), aged from 15 to 45 (M=31.5; SD=13.78) recruited in a Sports Medicine Center. Socio-demographic information, attitude towards doping, psychological and social variables were assessed through self-report questionnaire. Hierarchical multiple regression showed that both psychological (i.e., extrinsic motivation, perfectionism) and social variables (i.e., athletes' contact with doping users) were associated with athletes' attitudes towards doping. The results highlighted that athletes with excessive perfectionism, extrinsically motivated and who have contact with doping users have a positive attitude toward doping. Athletes who exhibit these characteristics should be considered at risk and monitored to prevent possible future sports drug use. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Social Psychological Exploration of Power Motivation Among Disadvantaged Workers.

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Levitin, Teresa Ellen

An extensive review of the literature on the social psychology of social power led to the conclusion that the area contains many unrelated, noncumulative theoretical and empirical works. Three conceptual distinctions were introduced to facilitate the systematic study of social power. Effectance motivation was used to describe the joint, often…

Religion and Completed Suicide: a Meta-Analysis.

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Wu, Andrew; Wang, Jing-Yu; Jia, Cun-Xian

2015-01-01

Suicide is a major public health concern and a leading cause of death around the world. How religion influences the risk of completed suicide in different settings across the world requires clarification in order to best inform suicide prevention strategies. A meta-analysis using search results from Pubmed and Web of Science databases was conducted following PRISMA protocol and using the keywords "religion" or "religious" or "religiosity" or "spiritual" or "spirituality" plus "suicide" or "suicidality" or "suicide attempt". Random and fixed effects models were used to generate pooled ORs and I2 values. Sub-analyses were conducted among the following categories: young age (Religion plays a protective role against suicide in a majority of settings where suicide research is conducted. However, this effect varies based on the cultural and religious context. Therefore, public health professionals need to strongly consider the current social and religious atmosphere of a given population when designing suicide prevention strategies.

(ReMaking a Difference. Religion, Mediatisation and Gender

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Mia Lövheim

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This article presents and discusses how mediatisation as a theory can be used to analyse two commercial videos, one promoting the organisation Catholics Come Home and the other Coca Cola. A core question in the current debate on mediatisation and religion concerns if and how mediatisation changes not only the social forms of communication about religion but also the meaning of religion in society. The issue in focus for the analysis is whether these videos mirror attributes and roles traditionally associated with men and women within religious institutions or offer an alternative to these. By using gender as a lens, we can see that mediatisation challenges religious institutions to adapt their narratives and symbols to commercial media culture, but that also within this new setting some traditional female gender norms seem to remain or even become reinforced.

Suicide in Maine: A Social Psychological Approach

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Abbiati, David L.

1977-01-01

This paper reports the results of a field study on five proximal social psychological variables derived from Farber's theory of suicide: Hope in the Future Time Perspective; Demands for Interpersonal Giving; the Availability of Succorance; Demands for the Exercising of Competence; and the degree of Toleration of Suicide. (Author)

Social Cognition, Executive Functions and Self-Report of Psychological Distress in Huntington's Disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Ida Unmack; Vinther-Jensen, Tua; Nielsen, Jørgen Erik

2016-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Huntington's disease (HD) is characterized by motor symptoms, psychiatric symptoms and cognitive impairment in, inter alia, executive functions and social cognition. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between subjective feeling of psychological distress using...... a self-report questionnaire and performances on tests of executive functions and social cognition in a large consecutive cohort of HD patients. METHOD: 50 manifest HD patients were tested in social cognition and executive functions and each answered a self-report questionnaire about current status...... psychological distress was significantly associated with worse performances on social cognitive tests (mean absolute correlation .34) and that there were no significant correlations between perceived psychological distress and performance on tests of executive functions. The correlations between perceived...

Religious identity and social instability in Nigeria: Interogating social ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The importance of religion towards enhancing social stability cannot be over- emphasized. Emily Durkheim viewed religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices whose purpose is to maintain and foster social stability and cohesion by removing tension that can disrupt social order. He believed that a cohesive society ...

School Violence, Social Support and Psychological Health among Taiwanese Junior High School Students

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Chen, Ji-Kang; Wei, Hsi-Sheng

2013-01-01

Objectives: This paper examines how peer social support mediates the association between school victimization and student psychological health among junior-high students in an Asian context (Taiwan), and further examines how gender and ethnicity differ in the interrelationships of school violence, peer social support and psychological health.…

Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being.

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Ryan, R M; Deci, E L

2000-01-01

Human beings can be proactive and engaged or, alternatively, passive and alienated, largely as a function of the social conditions in which they develop and function. Accordingly, research guided by self-determination theory has focused on the social-contextual conditions that facilitate versus forestall the natural processes of self-motivation and healthy psychological development. Specifically, factors have been examined that enhance versus undermine intrinsic motivation, self-regulation, and well-being. The findings have led to the postulate of three innate psychological needs--competence, autonomy, and relatedness--which when satisfied yield enhanced self-motivation and mental health and when thwarted lead to diminished motivation and well-being. Also considered is the significance of these psychological needs and processes within domains such as health care, education, work, sport, religion, and psychotherapy.

Computing Religion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielbo, Kristoffer Laigaard; Braxton, Donald M.; Upal, Afzal

2012-01-01

The computational approach has become an invaluable tool in many fields that are directly relevant to research in religious phenomena. Yet the use of computational tools is almost absent in the study of religion. Given that religion is a cluster of interrelated phenomena and that research...... concerning these phenomena should strive for multilevel analysis, this article argues that the computational approach offers new methodological and theoretical opportunities to the study of religion. We argue that the computational approach offers 1.) an intermediary step between any theoretical construct...... and its targeted empirical space and 2.) a new kind of data which allows the researcher to observe abstract constructs, estimate likely outcomes, and optimize empirical designs. Because sophisticated mulitilevel research is a collaborative project we also seek to introduce to scholars of religion some...

Does Social Interaction Matter Psychological Well-Being in Persons With Dementia?

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Lee, Kyung Hee; Boltz, Marie; Lee, Hana; Algase, Donna L

2017-06-01

Social interaction between residents and staff is an important factor influencing sense of well-being. This study examined the relationship between staff-resident interactions and psychological well-being of persons with dementia. A total of 831 observations of 110 persons with dementia in 17 nursing homes and 6 assisted living facilities were included. Psychological well-being was measured by observed displays of positive and negative emotional expressions. Social interaction was determined by the type of social interaction (ie, verbal interaction, nonverbal interaction, and both verbal and nonverbal interactions) and the quality of interaction (ie, positive, negative, and neutral). Verbal or both verbal and nonverbal interactions showed significant relationship with positive and negative emotional expressions. Positive interaction was significantly associated with more positive emotional expression, whereas negative interaction was not. Staff-resident interactions are important to promote the psychological well-being of persons with dementia in residential care.

Identity disorder and social-psychological adaptation in patients with hepatobiliary disease

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V. V. Khramtsova

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Negative bodily experience due to health complications and disability is perceived as a difficult life situation. The success of adaptation, commitment to treatment and cooperation with a doctor depend on the personality characteristics that define behavioral representations. Aim. Investigate the structure of identity and mechanisms of social-psychological adaptation of patients with the hepatobiliary system disease. Contingent and methods. 75 patients with a diffuse liver disease - chronic hepatitis, mostly of viral etiology (36 people and liver cirrhosis (39 patients have been examined. We have applied clinical, clinical-psychological, mathematical and empirical methods, semi-structured cross-interviews ("patient-doctor", "patient-psychologist", diagnostics of personal characteristics, identity structure, social-psychological components of adaptation. Three leading personality profiles have been highlighted. Results. Persons with a disharmonious personality development are characterized by disorders in the area of identity formation and development. Fragmentation, the impossibility of personal integration and severe penetrability from the environment contribute to social-psychological maladjustment. The coping is aimed at preserving the problem situation and intensifying the intrapersonal conflict. For persons with difficulties in the adaptation of the personality, a violation of activity interaction with the surrounding world is characteristic, a ban on one's self-identity. Social adaptation is often disrupted due to instability in the emotional-volitional sphere and choosing low-adaptive coping strategies. Genuine "I" and identity formation is impeded for the individuals suppressing aggressive impulses. Adaptability tends to be discrete. With mental stress increasing, the likelihood of choosing low-adaptive coping strategies increases. Conclusions. When drafting psycho-correction programs and medical treatment of people with a hepatobiliary

Religion and cognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Geertz, Armin W.

2008-01-01

This is an introductory article in a special issue of a bulletin for researchers and teachers in religion in the USA. The article sketches the main positions and recent trends in the cognitive science of religion, and it attempts to attract scholars of religion to this field. It also profiles...

The (ab)normal-social-personality catena: Exploring The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology during the interwar years.

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Davidson, Ian J

2018-05-01

This article is a cocitation network analysis of The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology ( JASP ) from 1925 to 1942. The analysis was conducted to help shed light on the historical roots of the intellectual and institutional relationships among social, personality, and abnormal psychology. JASP was a main venue for the boundary work of early- to mid-twentieth-century American psychologists. One of the main goals of these various research communities was to appropriate psychoanalytic and sociological concepts into preferred methods and approaches that favored an individualistic, quantifiable, and ultimately normal subject. Five major research communities are identified using the citations, and historically contextualized: Community #1, Measuring Social Aspects; Community #2, Psychometrics; Community #3, Operationalizing Psychoanalysis; Community #4, Introversion Studies; and Community #5, Experimental Social Psychology. This analysis demonstrates how disciplinary psychologists, at least within JASP , were united by the work of delimiting their research from closely aligned fields studying the same concepts-even while psychologists' methodological commitments to experimentalism or psychological testing might have ostensibly divided them. Possible future research incorporating post-World War II research and dynamic networking approaches is recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Laborde’s religion

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Lægaard, Sune

2018-01-01

Cécile Laborde’s Liberalism’s Religion proposes liberal principles to address political controversies over religion. One is the public reason requirement that reasons for state policies should be accessible. Another is the civic inclusiveness requirement according to which symbolic religious...... establishment is wrong when it communicates that religious identity is a component of civic identity. A third is the claim that liberal states have meta-jurisdictional authority to settle the boundary between what counts as religion and what counts as non-religion. The article considers whether Laborde has...... managed to articulate these three principles in a way that is operationalisable and can serve to provide solutions to practical controversies over religion. It is argued that Laborde’s formulations leave important issues open, and some ways of settling these issues are considered....

How to eat: 1 vegetarianism, religion and law

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Irma Kroeze

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The approach of Critical Legal Studies that law is a cultural artefact that can be criticised is taken as point of departure in this paper. This insight is applied to food as a very important cultural artefact that permeates virtually every aspect of our personal and social lives. The paper then examines three types of restrictive diets, namely Kosher food production, halal food rules and vegetarianism. From this study it concludes that all three perform a vital social function of providing adherents with a unifying and identifying set of rules to foster social coherence. But it also provides adherents with a strong moral foundation that serves to justify a sense of moral superiority. Most importantly, all three these diets rest on a modernist view of morality in which absolute, unquestioning and universal truths are possible. It therefore serves to provide certainty in the postmodern condition of uncertainty and relativism. For that reason this study concludes that vegetarianism is the new religion – it provides people who no longer believe in traditional religions with a new certainty.

Social, Psychological and Health Concerns of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Mysore District, Karnataka.

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Sebastian, Shibu Thomas; Siddanna, Sunitha

2016-03-01

One of the significant health and social problem the world facing today is Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AiDS). The patients affected with HIV and their family may face various psychosocial problems during diagnosis and treatment due to the stigma associated with this disease. The objective of the study was to identify social, psychological and health concerns of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and its association with the demographic factors in Mysore District, Karnataka, India. A questionnaire based study was conducted among 194 participants in Mysore District, Karnataka state who were receiving care and support services. A 22-item questionnaire provided information regarding social, psychological and health concerns of PLWHA in Mysore district. A general linear regression model was used for assessing the predictors of social, psychological and health concerns. The main social concern was that of "Fear of Losing a loved one" whereas the main psychological concern was "Too much worry", "No cure for AIDS" was the highly rated health concern. Males had more social, psychological and health concerns when compared to females but was not statistically significant. Employed people were having fewer psychological concerns when compared to unemployed people. Unemployed people were having fewer health concerns than employed people. For every unit increase in age there were fewer social and health concerns and both these findings were statistically significant. PLWHA in the present study reported that they were concerned about social, psychological and health issues in spite of the fact they were attending counseling. Health care workers, including those in public health sector should be educated about the importance of these factors that influence the health of the population they are caring for.

Family psychology: Past and future reflections on the field.

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Parke, Ross D

2017-04-01

Prominent issues in the field of family psychology during my term as editor (1998-2003) of this journal were briefly noted, including a focus on marital issues, divorce, remarriage and family conflict. Parenting, attachment and parent-child relationships were also significant topics in this period. Special sections of the journal focused on cultural variations, families and the law, families and religion, and family routines and rituals. Several neglected issues that need more attention in the future were noted. These include the need to recognize the embeddedness of families in socioecological contexts, the importance of monitoring the impact of secular changes on families, and the value and limitations of viewing family psychology as a separate field. Other topics for a future agenda include the challenge of defining "family" in the midst of changing family forms, the effects of technological change on families, and the challenges of integrating biological research into the family psychology agenda. A multilevel bio-social approach to family research was recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Social networking sites: an adjunctive treatment modality for psychological problems.

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Menon, Indu S; Sharma, Manoj Kumar; Chandra, Prabha S; Thennarasu, K

2014-07-01

Social networking is seen as a way to enhance social support and feeling of well-being. The present work explores the potentials of social networking sites as an adjunctive treatment modality for initiating treatment contact as well as for managing psychological problems. Interview schedule, Facebook intensity questionnaire were administered on 28 subjects with a combination of 18 males and 10 females. They were taken from the in-patient and out-patient psychiatry setting of the hospital. Facebook was the most popular sites and used to seek emotional support on the basis of the frequent updates of emotional content that users put in their profile; reconciliations, escape from the problems or to manage the loneliness; getting information about illness and its treatment and interaction with experts and also manifested as problematic use. It has implications for developing social networking based adjunctive treatment modality for psychological problems.

Relationship between Psychological Hardiness and Social Support with Adaptation: A Study on Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N hasan neghad

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Psychological hardiness is a personal factor and social support is regarded as an environmental factor that can facilitate adjustment to disease. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between adaptation with psychological hardiness and social support in individuals with Multiple sclerosis (MS. Methods: Seventy two females with MS and 25 males with MSwere selected through randomized sampling from two MS centers. Main variables of the study including adaptation, psychological hardiness, and social supportwere assessed respectively by Adaptation Inventory, Personal Attitudes Survey, and Social Support Questionnaire. Results: Spearman correlation coefficients revealed that there are significant relationships between adaptation and psychological hardiness (p<0.0001, as well as between adaptation and social support (p<0.0001. In addition, Multiple linear Regression showed that psychological hardiness (β= -0.483 and social support (β= -0.240 can explain 35/1% of adaptation variance in individuals with MS. Psychological hardinessproved to have a more important role in adaptation of individuals with MS. Conclusion: The study data demonstrated that personal factors like psychological hardiness and environmental factors such as social support can predict adjustment in individuals with MS. In order to clarify mechanisms of these factors on adaptation in individuals with MS, morelongitudinal and experimental studiesare required. These results are alsoapplicable in designing therapeutic programs for individuals with MS.

[Placebo effect: a contribution of social psychology].

Science.gov (United States)

Balez, R; Leroyer, C; Couturaud, F

2014-10-01

This article reviews the psychosocial variables, which are of interest in the relationship between the patient and the physician. According to a classical model of social psychology, such a relationship might contribute to the placebo/nocebo effects. We develop herein various relational and contextual variables, taking into account four dimensions (intra-individual, interpersonal, positional and ideological) and their potential effects on therapeutic responses. This applies both in the setting of daily clinical practice and of clinical trials. The placebo effect offers an opportunity for collaboration and dialogue between social scientists and physicians.

Sociology, Protestant Theology, and the Concept of Modern Religion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jung, Dietrich

2015-01-01

'scientification' of religion by the emerging disciplines of the humanities and social sciences. In taking the life and work of William Robertson Smith (1846-94) as an example, the article analyzes the transformation of some specific elements of liberal Protestant theology into a set of universal features......This article looks at the intersection between Protestant theology and sociology in the construction of the modern concept of religion. Set against the theoretical background of the functional differentiation of modern society, it identifies the origin of this concept in the discursive...

Psychological factors of social anxiety in Russian adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana S. Pavlova

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Background. Social anxiety is one of the most common and disturbing conditions of childhood and adolescence. It is defined as an excessive fear of embarrassment or humiliation in social performance situations. Recent studies have identified a number of psychological factors that could explain the maintenance of the condition. Objective. The objective of this study was to investigate psychological factors of social anxiety in adolescents with a multifactor psychosocial model. Design: The study population comprised 183 Russian-speaking adolescents from Moscow secondary schools, ranging in age from 12 to 16 years. Self-report measures were used to access social anxiety, symptoms of depression, gender role identification, perfectionism, hostility, family emotional communications, and social support. Results. The results indicate that social anxiety was positively correlated with symptoms of depression and suicidal thoughts. No quantitative differences in social anxiety between girls and boys were found, while masculinity and undifferentiated gender identification had a strong association with social anxiety. A positive correlation was found between “concern over mistakes” (fear of making a mistake and being negatively compared with peers and “overdoing” (spending too much time doing homework and too little or none communicating with peers, using the Child Perfectionism Questionnaire (CPQ subscales and Social Anxiety and Distress Scale (SADS total score. Positive correlations were found between social anxiety and suppression of emotions and outward well-being subscales, as well in as the Family Emotional Communication (FEC total score. It is not common to discuss emotions and feelings; it is difficult to share negative experiences; and it is important for the families of socially anxious adolescents to put up a good front. Analysis revealed significant negative correlations between the SADS total score (as well its subscales and the Social

Psychological Distress Following Suicidality Among Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youths: Role of Social Relationships

Science.gov (United States)

Rosario, Margaret; Schrimshaw, Eric W.; Hunter, Joyce

2011-01-01

Longitudinal relations between past suicidality and subsequent changes in psychological distress at follow-up were examined among gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) youths, as were psychosocial factors (e.g., self-esteem, social support, negative social relationships) that might mediate or moderate this relation. Past suicide attempters were found to have higher levels of depressive symptoms, anxious symptoms, and conduct problems at a later time than youths who neither attempted nor ideated. Psychosocial factors failed to mediate this relation. The interaction among past suicidality, social support, and negative relationships was associated with subsequent changes in all three psychological distress indicators six months later. Specifically, high levels of support (either from family or friends) or negative relationships were found to predict increased psychological distress among those with a history of suicide attempts, but not among youths without a history of suicidality. The findings suggest that GLB youths who attempt suicide continue to have elevated levels of psychological distress long after their attempt and they highlight the importance of social relationships in the youths’ psychological distress at follow-up. PMID:22162620

(De)colonizing culture in community psychology: reflections from critical social science.

Science.gov (United States)

Reyes Cruz, Mariolga; Sonn, Christopher C

2011-03-01

Since its inception, community psychology has been interested in cultural matters relating to issues of diversity and marginalization. However, the field has tended to understand culture as static social markers or as the background for understanding group differences. In this article the authors contend that culture is inseparable from who we are and what we do as social beings. Moreover, culture is continually shaped by socio-historical and political processes intertwined within the globalized history of power. The authors propose a decolonizing standpoint grounded in critical social science to disrupt understandings of cultural matters that marginalize others. This standpoint would move the field toward deeper critical thinking, reflexivity and emancipatory action. The authors present their work to illustrate how they integrate a decolonizing standpoint to community psychology research and teaching. They conclude that community psychology must aim towards intercultural work engaging its political nature from a place of ontological/epistemological/methodological parity.

Research on Web Search Behavior: How Online Query Data Inform Social Psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Kaisheng; Lee, Yan Xin; Chen, Hao; Yu, Rongjun

2017-10-01

The widespread use of web searches in daily life has allowed researchers to study people's online social and psychological behavior. Using web search data has advantages in terms of data objectivity, ecological validity, temporal resolution, and unique application value. This review integrates existing studies on web search data that have explored topics including sexual behavior, suicidal behavior, mental health, social prejudice, social inequality, public responses to policies, and other psychosocial issues. These studies are categorized as descriptive, correlational, inferential, predictive, and policy evaluation research. The integration of theory-based hypothesis testing in future web search research will result in even stronger contributions to social psychology.

Psychological science's contributions to a sustainable environment: extending our reach to a grand challenge of society.

Science.gov (United States)

Kazdin, Alan E

2009-01-01

Climate change and degradation of the environment are global problems associated with many other challenges (e.g., population increases, reduction of glaciers, and loss of critical habitats). Psychological science can play a critical role in addressing these problems by fostering a sustainable environment. Multiple strategies for fostering a sustainable environment could draw from the diversity of topics and areas of specialization within psychology. Psychological research on fostering environmentally sustainable behaviors is rather well developed, as illustrated by interventions focusing on education of the public, message framing, feedback, decision making, the media, incentives and disincentives, and social marketing. Other sciences and professions as well as religion and ethics are actively involved in fostering a sustainable environment. Psychology ought to be more involved directly, systematically, and visibly to draw on our current knowledge and to have palpable impact. We would serve the world very well and in the process our discipline and profession.

Connecting Psychological Science with Climate Change: A Persuasion and Social Influence Assignment

Science.gov (United States)

Munro, Geoffrey D.; Behlen, Margaret M.

2017-01-01

Students often have little understanding of the role psychological science plays in informing us about the impact of human behavior when addressing climate change. We designed an assignment for a social psychology course based on Frantz and Mayer's use of the decision tree model of helping behavior to identify the psychological barriers that…

Sekularisering og religion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Kirsten Margrethe

2015-01-01

Sammendrag: Sekularisering og religion: En studie i fortællingens nøglerolle i folkeskolens religionsundervisning Kirsten M. Andersen Ph.d. afhandling, indleveret ved institut for Uddannelse og Pædagogik, Aarhus Universitet, d. 23. oktober 2014 Indledning Afhandlingens sigte er at bidrage til en...... fortsat udvikling af religionsundervisningen i skolen ud fra en almen pædagogisk interesse. Skolen har sit eget formål og derfor må religion ombrydes, så den gøres pædagogisk. Religionshistorisk, religionssociologisk og antropologisk opfattes religion og kultur i et kontinuum. Det betyder, at religion...... fænomenologiske overvejelser over, hvorfor filosofien har behov for at formulere en religionshermeneutik med henblik på en almen pædagogisk begrundelse for skolens religionsundervisning. I Del: Kap. 2: Afhandlingen indledes med at indkredse og definere både religion og sekularisering som kulturelle og kollektive...

The features of the formation of the socio-psychological climate in the institution of social services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Balakhtar Valentina Vizitorіvna

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The article reveals the essence of the concepts “socio-psychological climate”, “climate” and “organizational culture”. The author analyses approaches to understanding the socio-psychological climate: the socio-psychological phenomenon, the general emotional and psychological mood, the style of people's relationships with direct contact with each other, the social and psychological compatibility of the members of the group. The features of the formation of the socio-psychological climate in the establishment of the social service, factors affecting the state of the socio-psychological climate in the team are considered.

The Social psychology of citizenship: Engagement with citizenship studies and future research

OpenAIRE

Stevenson, Clifford; Hopkins, Nick; Luyt, Russell; Dixon, John

2015-01-01

In this article we review the argument outlined in the opening article in this special thematic section: that the current social psychology of citizenship can be understood as the development of longstanding conceptualisations of the concept within the discipline. These conceptualisations have contributed to the current social psychological study of the constructive, active and collective (but often exclusive) understandings of citizenship in people’s everyday lives, as evidenced by contribut...

Spirituality and religion in patients with HIV/AIDS.

Science.gov (United States)

Cotton, Sian; Puchalski, Christina M; Sherman, Susan N; Mrus, Joseph M; Peterman, Amy H; Feinberg, Judith; Pargament, Kenneth I; Justice, Amy C; Leonard, Anthony C; Tsevat, Joel

2006-12-01

Spirituality and religion are often central issues for patients dealing with chronic illness. The purpose of this study is to characterize spirituality/religion in a large and diverse sample of patients with HIV/AIDS by using several measures of spirituality/religion, to examine associations between spirituality/religion and a number of demographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables, and to assess changes in levels of spirituality over 12 to 18 months. We interviewed 450 patients from 4 clinical sites. Spirituality/religion was assessed by using 8 measures: the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spirituality-Expanded scale (meaning/peace, faith, and overall spirituality); the Duke Religion Index (organized and nonorganized religious activities, and intrinsic religiosity); and the Brief RCOPE scale (positive and negative religious coping). Covariates included demographics and clinical characteristics, HIV symptoms, health status, social support, self-esteem, optimism, and depressive symptoms. The patients' mean (SD) age was 43.3 (8.4) years; 387 (86%) were male; 246 (55%) were minorities; and 358 (80%) indicated a specific religious preference. Ninety-five (23%) participants attended religious services weekly, and 143 (32%) engaged in prayer or meditation at least daily. Three hundred thirty-nine (75%) patients said that their illness had strengthened their faith at least a little, and patients used positive religious coping strategies (e.g., sought God's love and care) more often than negative ones (e.g., wondered whether God has abandoned me; Pself-esteem, greater life satisfaction, and lower overall functioning (R2=.16 to .74). Mean levels of spirituality did not change significantly over 12 to 18 months. Most patients with HIV/AIDS belonged to an organized religion and use their religion to cope with their illness. Patients with greater optimism, greater self-esteem, greater life satisfaction, minorities, and patients who drink less alcohol tend

The psychological and social impact of female genital mutilation: A holistic conceptual framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer Glover

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Objectives: The current research aimed to gain an understanding of women’s experiences of FGM to develop an evidence based holistic conceptual framework for professionals dealing with the impact of FGM and responses required for survivors and their children. Method: Using a grounded theory approach, qualitative semi-structured interviews were carried out with 20 women survivors of FGM. Results: Participant’s related culture, religion, role of men, lack of education, female identity and deception as the major factors influencing their understanding and the impact of FGM. Their experiences of FGM, as well as being influenced by their conceptualisation of the practice, led to effects on their emotional life, relationships, identity, and physical body. The fear resulting from FGM that women described affected their ability to enhance their resilience. All the core categories of emotional, relational, identity, and physical impact, as well as resilience, were further influenced by the key stages of womanhood; including menstruation, marriage and childbirth. Women voiced their views that all the above issues were compounded by their needs not being met and the lack of meaningful and effective service responses. Conclusions: There are complex systems and relationships that influence the psychological and social impact of FGM. These have core implications for clinical and policy in relation to maternity and healthcare services.

The return of religion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Griffioen

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Religion is back in Philosophy as a respectable subject. Part 1 first charts what MacIntyre, Taylor and Derrida have meant in this regard. Subsequently, it turns to the Enlightenment to determine what constituted the breakthrough. It is found that even where the Enlightenment gave maximum room to religion i.e. as a civic religion and as “religion of the heart” it still excluded a constitutive relation to a transcendent revelation. Part 2 centres on the religion-faith distinction in reformational philosophy. Similar to the Enlightenment, religion is understood as part of human nature. However, human nature itself is conceived as intrinsically religious and depending for its light on revelation. Secondly, “religion” in this context also encompasses idols and religious substitutes. Thus, it directs attention to shopping malls, football stadiums, health policy, et cetera, as possible contexts of a return of religion. Examples show that this has become a popular approach. However, most of the publications surveyed fail to distinguish between an “analogical” and a “pistically qualified” use of religion, and are open to exaggerations (the shopping mall and football stadiums as temples, etc.. At this junction, the relevance is shown of the religion-faith distinction as well as of Elaine Botha’s theory of metaphors. The epilogue offers an integration of parts one and two.

HUBUNGAN RELIGIUSITAS, OPTIMISM, SOCIAL SUPPORT, DAN PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING PESERTA DIDIK MAN SE-KOTA MALANG

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Farid Ilhamuddin

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This study aims to know the relation between religiousity (X1 and psychological well being (Y, the relation between optimism (X2 and psychological well being (Y, as well as the relation between social support (X3 and psychological well being (Y of students of MAN in the entire Malang city. This study was a non-experimental study with causal relationship study plan. The result of this research showed that there was a positive significant between X1 and Y, X2 and Y, X3 and Y; X1, X2, X3 had strong linear relation with Y; the influence of the three independent     logical well being (Y, optimism (X2 dan psychological well being (Y, social support (X3 and psychological well being (Y student of MAN se-Kota Malang. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui hubungan religiusitas (X1 dan psychological well being (Y, optimis (X2 dan psychological well being (Y, social support (X3 dan psychological well being (Y peserta didik MAN se-kota Malang. Pendekatan yang digunakan adalah non experimental research dengan jenis penelitian causal relationship study. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan ada hubungan positif signifikan antara X1 dan Y, X2 dan Y, X3 dan Y; X1, X2, X3 memiliki hubungan linear yang kuat dengan Y; pengaruh ketiga variabel independen psychological well being (Y, optimism (X2 dan psychological well being (Y, social support (X3 dan psychological well being (Y peserta didik MAN se-Kota Malang.

Religion and attitudes toward abortion and abortion policy in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogland, Curtis P; Verona, Ana Paula

2011-01-01

This study examines the association between religion and attitudes toward the practice of abortion and abortion policy in Brazil. Drawing upon data from the 2002 Brazilian Social Research Survey (BSRS), we test a number of hypotheses with regard to the role of religion on opposition to the practice of abortion and its legalization. Findings indicate that frequently attending Pentecostals demonstrate the strongest opposition to the practice of abortion and both frequently attending Pentecostals and Catholics demonstrate the strongest opposition to its legalization. Additional religious factors, such as a commitment to biblical literalism, were also found to be significantly associated with opposition to both abortion issues. Ultimately, the findings have implications for the future of public policy on abortion and other contentious social issues in Brazil.

Religion insulates ingroup evaluations : the development of intergroup attitudes in India

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dunham, Yarrow; Srinivasan, Mahesh; Dotsch, Ron; Barner, David

Research on the development of implicit intergroup attitudes has placed heavy emphasis on race, leaving open how social categories that are prominent in other cultures might operate. We investigate two of India's primary means of social distinction, caste and religion, and explore the development of

Religion insulates ingroup evaluations: the development of intergroup attitudes in India

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dunham, Y.; Srinivasan, M.; Dotsch, R.; Barner, D.

2014-01-01

Research on the development of implicit intergroup attitudes has placed heavy emphasis on race, leaving open how social categories that are prominent in other cultures might operate. We investigate two of India's primary means of social distinction, caste and religion, and explore the development of

Psychological well-being and social participation assessment in visually impaired subjects playing Torball: a controlled study.

Science.gov (United States)

Di Cagno, A; Iuliano, E; Aquino, G; Fiorilli, G; Battaglia, C; Giombini, A; Calcagno, G

2013-04-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences in psychological well-being, symptomatic psychological disorders and social participation, between blind Torball players and non-players. Thirty blind male participants were recruited, 17 Torball players (aged 36.27±3.46) and 13 non-players (aged 34.80±2.53), and evaluated for social participation level, psychological well-being and symptomatic psychological disorders, using three validated self-report questionnaires: Participation Scale (PS), Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS) and Symptom Checklist 90 R (SCL-90-R) respectively. ANOVA showed significant overall differences between the two groups. The social restriction score in the non-player group was significantly higher (ppsychological well-being and social skills of visually impaired people and their Torball practice. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Organizational Psychology: An Integrative Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Glavas, Ante

2016-01-01

The author reviews the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature that includes the individual level of analysis (referred to as micro CSR in the article) based on 166 articles, book chapters, and books. A framework is provided that integrates organizational psychology and CSR, with the purpose of highlighting synergies in order to advance scholarship and practice in both fields. The review is structured so that first, a brief overview is provided. Second, the literatures on organizational psychology and CSR are integrated. Third, gaps are outlined illuminating opportunities for future research. Finally, a research agenda is put forward that goes beyond addressing gaps and focuses on how organizational psychology and CSR can be partners in helping move both fields forward-specifically, through a humanistic research agenda rooted in positive psychology.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Organizational Psychology: An Integrative Review

Science.gov (United States)

Glavas, Ante

2016-01-01

The author reviews the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature that includes the individual level of analysis (referred to as micro CSR in the article) based on 166 articles, book chapters, and books. A framework is provided that integrates organizational psychology and CSR, with the purpose of highlighting synergies in order to advance scholarship and practice in both fields. The review is structured so that first, a brief overview is provided. Second, the literatures on organizational psychology and CSR are integrated. Third, gaps are outlined illuminating opportunities for future research. Finally, a research agenda is put forward that goes beyond addressing gaps and focuses on how organizational psychology and CSR can be partners in helping move both fields forward—specifically, through a humanistic research agenda rooted in positive psychology. PMID:26909055

A psychological perspective on God-belief as a source of meaning and well-being / E. Karen van der Merwe

OpenAIRE

Van der Merwe, Eveline Karen

2009-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore God-belief as a source of meaning and psychological well-being qualitatively and through the review of literature. The study is embedded in the growing field of Psychology of Religion. In the first article, a literature overview regarding the field of Psychology of Religion, and specifically research done in the South African context, was reported. The key constructs spirituality and religiousness were investigated and defined. It was argued that tra...

Ambivalent Sexism and Religion: Connected Through Values.

Science.gov (United States)

Mikołajczak, Małgorzata; Pietrzak, Janina

2014-01-01

Sexist attitudes do not exist in a limbo; they are embedded in larger belief systems associated with specific hierarchies of values. In particular, manifestations of benevolent sexism (Glick and Fiske 1996, 1997, 2001) can be perceived as a social boon, not a social ill, both because they are experienced as positive, and because they reward behaviors that maintain social stability. One of the strongest social institutions that create and justify specific hierarchies of values is religion. In this paper, we examine how the values inherent in religious beliefs (perhaps inadvertently) propagate an unequal status quo between men and women through endorsement of ideologies linked to benevolent sexism. In a survey with a convenience sample of train passengers in Southern and Eastern Poland ( N  = 180), we investigated the relationship between Catholic religiosity and sexist attitudes. In line with previous findings (Gaunt 2012; Glick et al. 2002a; Taşdemir and Sakallı-Uğurlu 2010), results suggest that religiosity can be linked to endorsement of benevolent sexism. This relationship was mediated in our study by the values of conservatism and openness to change (Schwartz 1992): religious individuals appear to value the societal status quo, tradition, and conformity, which leads them to perceive women through the lens of traditional social roles. Adhering to the teachings of a religion that promotes family values in general seems to have as its byproduct an espousal of prejudicial attitudes toward specific members of the family.

State formation, religion, and land tenure in Cameroon

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schilder, K.; African Studies Centre, Leiden

1988-01-01

The purpose of this analytical bibliography is to provide an overview of the recently published social science literature on State formation, religion, and land tenure in Cameroon. The 800 entries have been arranged under the following subject headings: The Cameroon State (nation building, political

Brain Matters: Practicing Religion, Forming the Faithful

Science.gov (United States)

Hogue, David A.

2012-01-01

Religious practices have long drawn on the social sciences to broaden our understanding of how human beings develop, learn, relate, and are formed. While the religion and science conversations have not always been friendly, a growing number of theologians and scientists are engaged in promising dialogues where the interests of both parties…

Religion and Science: What Can Anthropology Offer?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Skalník Peter

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This short tribute to Ján Podolák comments on the space between two extremes: pure science and blind belief. If religion is not susceptible to scientific proof because it is a belief in an invisible world inhabited by spirits who influence human existence on earth then science in its strictest sense is the opposite of religion because it is not based on any beliefs but solely on provable facts. However, the anthropology of science should be based on the pluralism of knowledge and the seeking of truth in different cultural settings around the world. Everything human, also science, is a social and cultural phenomenon. This means that rationality is not a preserve of the Western mind only and that without falling into the trap of postmodernist excessive relativism, we should admit that rationality is not only universal but also not hierarchized evolutionistically or qualitatively by giving preference to its Western brand. Science thus ceases to be the only realm of rational knowledge. Religion in its turn is a kind of non-scientific knowledge.

The science of clergy work-related psychological health, stress, burnout and coping strategies : introduction to the special section

OpenAIRE

Francis, Leslie J.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this special section of Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion is to provide a forum for examples of current scientific research examining work-related psychological health, stress, burnout and coping strategies among clergy. The collection, comprising three qualitative studies and seven quantitative studies, draws on the work of four established research groups which are making a scientific impact in that area (two in the USA, one in the UK, and one in Australia)....

The Facebook Paradox: Effects of Facebooking on Individuals? Social Relationships and Psychological Well-Being

OpenAIRE

Hu, Xiaomeng; Kim, Andrew; Siwek, Nicholas; Wilder, David

2017-01-01

Research suggests that Facebooking can be both beneficial and detrimental for users’ psychological well-being. The current study attempts to reconcile these seemingly mixed and inconsistent findings by unpacking the specific effects of Facebooking on users’ online–offline social relationship satisfaction and psychological well-being. Using structural equation modeling, pathways were examined between Facebook intensity, online–offline social relationship satisfaction, perceived social support, soc...

Connectionism, parallel constraint satisfaction processes, and gestalt principles: (re) introducing cognitive dynamics to social psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Read, S J; Vanman, E J; Miller, L C

1997-01-01

We argue that recent work in connectionist modeling, in particular the parallel constraint satisfaction processes that are central to many of these models, has great importance for understanding issues of both historical and current concern for social psychologists. We first provide a brief description of connectionist modeling, with particular emphasis on parallel constraint satisfaction processes. Second, we examine the tremendous similarities between parallel constraint satisfaction processes and the Gestalt principles that were the foundation for much of modem social psychology. We propose that parallel constraint satisfaction processes provide a computational implementation of the principles of Gestalt psychology that were central to the work of such seminal social psychologists as Asch, Festinger, Heider, and Lewin. Third, we then describe how parallel constraint satisfaction processes have been applied to three areas that were key to the beginnings of modern social psychology and remain central today: impression formation and causal reasoning, cognitive consistency (balance and cognitive dissonance), and goal-directed behavior. We conclude by discussing implications of parallel constraint satisfaction principles for a number of broader issues in social psychology, such as the dynamics of social thought and the integration of social information within the narrow time frame of social interaction.

An evaluation of the impact of the European Association of Social Psychology: A response to Schruijer (2012)

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Hewstone, M.; Liebkind, K.; Lewicka, M.; Laszlo, J.; Voci, A.; Contarello, A.; Gomez, A.; Hantzi, A.; Bilewicz, M.; Guinote, A.; Graf, Sylvie; Petkova, K.

2012-01-01

Roč. 25, č. 3 (2012), s. 117-126 ISSN 0952-6951 Institutional support: RVO:68081740 Keywords : social psychology * science * European Association of Social Psychology Subject RIV: AN - Psychology Impact factor: 0.442, year: 2012

PSYOP and Persuasion: Applying Social Psychology and Becoming an Informed Citizen

Science.gov (United States)

King, Sara B.

2004-01-01

This project teaches students about persuasion techniques, especially as governments use them. Most project examples came from the work of the U.S. military's modern Psychological Operations division. Social psychology students (a) reviewed influence techniques; (b) examined posters, leaflets, and other persuasion tools used in World War II, the…

Psychological and social aspects verified after the Goiania's radioactive accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helou, Suzana

1995-01-01

Psychological and social aspects verified after the radioactive accident occurred in 1987 in Goiania - brazilian city - are discussed. With this goal was going presented a public opinion research in order to retract the Goiania's radioactive accident residual psychological effects. They were going consolidated data obtained in 1.126 interviews. Four involvement different levels groups with the accident are compared with regard to the event. The research allowed to conclude that the accident affected psychologically somehow all Goiania's population. Besides, the research allowed to analyze the professionals performance quality standard in terms of the accident

The social practice of psychology and the social sciences in a liberal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper explores the relevance of psychology and the social and human sciences in a changing South Africa. The new South Africa embraces a liberal democratic approach to government. The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) is a policy document that articulates the goals of this liberal democratic ...

From the History of Religions to the Study of Religion in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Tim; Geertz, Armin W.

2014-01-01

The history of the academic study of religion in Denmark resembles developments in other Nordic and European countries as it has moved from a primarily historical-philological and comparative ‘history of religions’ towards a broader ‘study of religion(s)’ that includes history of religions together...

T.W. Adorno e a psicologia social T.W. Adorno and social psychology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Leon Crochík

2008-08-01

Full Text Available Neste ensaio, ressalta-se a importância da disciplina Psicologia Social na obra de T. W. Adorno e a concepção que formula acerca dessa disciplina. Esse autor defende que há uma nova forma de configuração dos indivíduos, expressada por atitudes e comportamentos individuais padronizados e por um ego frágil, facilmente cooptado por movimentos sociais totalitários. Tais indivíduos surgem em uma sociedade caracterizada por uma forma de dominação calcada na racionalidade administrativa e tecnológica. Para esse autor, a Psicologia Social deveria estudar esse objeto para que, com o esclarecimento produzido e difundido, os indivíduos possam resistir à adesão cega a movimentos sociais irracionais, tal como o fascismo, insistindo que a determinação desses movimentos não é individual, mas social.In this assay, the importance of Social Psychology discipline in the T.W. Adorno's work and the specific conception that he formulates about it are pointed out. He defends that there is a new way of individuals' configuration, expressed by standardized attitudes and their own behaviors, such as a fragile ego, which is easily co-opted by totalitarian social movements. Such individuals appear in a society characterized by a form of domination based on administrative and technological rationality. For that author, Social Psychology would have to study this issue so that, with the enlightenment achieved and diffused, the individuals are able to resist to the blind adhesion in irrational social movements, such as the fascism. Adorno empathized that the determination of these movements is not individual, but social.

National survey of psychotherapy training in psychiatry, psychology, and social work.

Science.gov (United States)

Weissman, Myrna M; Verdeli, Helen; Gameroff, Marc J; Bledsoe, Sarah E; Betts, Kathryn; Mufson, Laura; Fitterling, Heidi; Wickramaratne, Priya

2006-08-01

Approximately 3% of the US population receives psychotherapy each year from psychiatrists, psychologists, or social workers. A modest number of psychotherapies are evidence-based therapy (EBT) in that they have been defined in manuals and found efficacious in at least 2 controlled clinical trials with random assignment that include a control condition of psychotherapy, placebo, pill, or other treatment and samples of sufficient power with well-characterized patients. Few practitioners use EBT. To determine the amount of EBT taught in accredited training programs in psychiatry, psychology (PhD and PsyD), and social work and to note whether the training was elective or required and presented as a didactic (coursework) or clinical supervision. A cross-sectional survey of a probability sample of all accredited training programs in psychiatry, psychology, and social work in the United States. Responders included training directors (or their designates) from 221 programs (73 in psychiatry, 63 in PhD clinical psychology, 21 in PsyD psychology, and 64 in master's-level social work). The overall response rate was 73.7%. Main Outcome Measure Requiring both a didactic and clinical supervision in an EBT. Although programs offered electives in EBT and non-EBT, few required both a didactic and clinical supervision in EBT, and most required training was non-EBT. Psychiatry required coursework and clinical supervision in the largest percentage of EBT (28.1%). Cognitive behavioral therapy was the EBT most frequently offered and required as a didactic in all 3 disciplines. More than 90% of the psychiatry training programs were complying with the new cognitive behavior therapy requirement. The 2 disciplines with the largest number of students and emphasis on clinical training-professional clinical psychology (PsyD) and social work-had the largest percentage of programs (67.3% and 61.7%, respectively) not requiring a didactic and clinical supervision in any EBT. There is a

Historical intersections of psychology, religion, and politics in national contexts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Belzen, J.A.; Kugelmann, R.

2009-01-01

Various types of psychology have come into existence in and have been interacting with a plurality of contexts, contexts that have been radically varying in different states or nations. One important factor in the development of psychology has been the multiple relationships to the Christian

Patriarchy, religion and women's political participation in Kwara ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study examines the relationship between patriarchy and religion and how they impact on women's political participation in Kwara State. The Gender and Development (GAD) approach is employed to examine the impact of social construct on women's political participation. Primary and secondary data were utilized for ...

The protective role of self-esteem, perceived social support and job satisfaction against psychological distress among Chinese nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Danjun; Su, Shan; Wang, Lu; Liu, Fang

2018-05-01

To determine the prevalence of psychological distress, and to explore the combined protective roles of self-esteem, perceived social support and job satisfaction against psychological distress. Few studies have explored the combined protective effect of self-esteem, perceived social support and job satisfaction on nurses' mental health in the same theoretical framework. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, a self-developed Job Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale were used to survey 581 nurses. The hypothesized model of the relationships among self-esteem, perceived social support, job satisfaction and psychological distress was tested with structural equation modelling. The prevalence of psychological distress was 92.3%. Job satisfaction exerted the strongest direct protective effect against psychological distress, with perceived social support and self-esteem exerting the second and third strongest direct protective effects, respectively. Additionally, self-esteem had an indirect protective effect. Chinese nurses showed a surprisingly high prevalence of psychological distress. Job satisfaction, self-esteem and perceived social support were identified, in this order of importance, as protective factors against psychological distress. Nurse administrators should take measures to improve nurses' job satisfaction and social support, and hire individuals with high self-esteem as nurses. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Ethnicity and Social Stability in Nigeria: The Place of Religion ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Often times, these ethnic tensions translate into religious differences. There is a general notion that religion, especially Christianity and Islam, underpins the ethnic crises in the contemporary times. The consequences of the above observed situation amount to national instability. This paper has therefore investigated the ...

Psychological distress of older Chinese: exploring the roles of activities, social support, and subjective social status.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wei; Chen, Min

2014-03-01

The goal of this research is to examine if the long neglected correlates such as social and leisure activities, social support, and subjective social status contribute to variations in psychological distress among older Chinese. Using data collected in one of the most developed areas in China-Suzhou city, Jiangsu province, the authors find that engaging in various exercises, living with both spouse and adult children, perceived availability of social support from others as well as believing in the importance of caring for other family members are particularly beneficial for mental health whereas the perception of relative deprivation and low life quality is detrimental to mental health for older Chinese. This work is among the first studies that comprehensively examined various important correlates of psychological distress and indicate the unique patterns of distress among the elderly in the most developed area in the contemporary China.

The Social Psychology of Citizenship: Engagement With Citizenship Studies and Future Research

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Clifford Stevenson

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In this article we review the argument outlined in the opening article in this special thematic section: that the current social psychology of citizenship can be understood as the development of longstanding conceptualisations of the concept within the discipline. These conceptualisations have contributed to the current social psychological study of the constructive, active and collective (but often exclusive understandings of citizenship in people’s everyday lives, as evidenced by contributions to this thematic section. We consider how this emerging body of work might fit with current citizenship studies and in particular how it may contribute to the current trend towards conceiving citizenship as an active practice embedded in everyday social life. Specifically, we highlight three areas of future research that we think are particularly promising: citizenship and recognition; displays and enactments of citizenship in public space; citizenship and lived coexistence. Although this is far from an exhaustive list of possibilities, we propose that research in these areas could enable the way for social psychology to articulate a distinct, recognisable and valuable contribution to citizenship studies.

Is Asia a 'Post-Religional' Society? The Post-Religional Paradigm and its Others

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Daniel Franklin Estepa Pilario

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the relevance and applicability of the 'post-religional paradigm' as proposed by EATWOT (Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians in the Asian contexts. It also inquires on how the Asian phenomenon and its interpretations relate to the crisis of religions in Western societies. It attempts to answer this problematic through four steps: a summary of the theological proposal and its relationship with the Western sociologies of religion; a search for a viable framework with which to understand religions in post-secular societies; discussion on the "discourses of Asia" and the corresponding view on religion; an elaboration of my preferred framework with some examples from the Asian situation. I argue that a viable theological proposal on post-religional paradigm should start from the analysis of how religious discourses and practices navigate with concrete socio-historical forces on the ground. Consequent to this view is the assertion that there is no universal sociology/theology of religion's development but multiple and complex religious discourses in specific contexts.

The role of social and psychological factors in radiation protection after accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrey, M.; Allen, P.

1996-01-01

The inclusion of social and psychological factors in the justification and optimisation of intervention after an accident requires identification of the relevant factors and their appropriate quantification. Recent studies suggest a possible approach. Some social and psychological factors either influence the consequences of radiation protection countermeasures, or are direct consequences of those measures. Such factors can be grouped into those that alter the dose-effectiveness of a countermeasure, those that extend the need for countermeasures in time or space, and those that fall into neither of the first two categories. Factors of the first two types can be quantified in terms of changes to the anticipated averted dose and monetary cost of a countermeasure. Quantification of the third type is currently difficult, but the existence of structural models for applications in social psychology suggests that such models could be developed for radiation protection in the future. (author)

[Religion and brain functioning (part 1): are our mental structures designed for religion?].

Science.gov (United States)

Kornreich, C; Neu, D

2010-01-01

Religions are seen everywhere in the world. Two main theories are competing to explain this phenomenon. The first one is based on the assumption that our cognitive structures are predisposing us to nurture religious beliefs. Religion would then be a by-product of mental functions useful for survival. Examples of these mental functions are children credulity, anthropomorphism and teleology. The second one hypothesizes that religion is maintained trough direct adaptation benefits occurring in cooperation exchanges. In particular, religion could function as an insurance mechanism given by the religious group. It is likely that both theories are complementary and useful to explain why religion is a universal phenomenon in the human species.

Psychological Adjustment to Lung Cancer: the role of self-compassion and social support

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Rute Batista

2016-02-01

Full Text Available // Introduction: The impact of the diagnosis of an oncologic disease is well-known in terms of psychological adjustment and quality of life. On the other hand it is known that depressive symptoms may also overlap the physical symptoms of cancer and cancer treatment, which may interfere in their detection and appropriate treatment approach.   Objectives: The aim of the current study was to explore the relationship between psychological adjustment to lung cancer, self-compassion, social support and emotional negative states in patients with lung cancer.   Method: Fifty-five patients diagnosed with lung cancer (38 men and 17 women with ages ranging from 44 to 87 years old participated in the study. A set of self-report instruments was used: the Mini Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale (MiniMac, the Self-compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003, the Social Support Satisfaction Scale (SSSS and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21.   Results: Significant correlations were found between psychological adjustment, psychopathology, emotion regulation strategies (self-compassion, and social support. The predictive models for psychological adjustment and stress related symptomatology include self-compassion and social support as significant predictive variables. Regarding the predictive model for depressive symptomatology, mindfulness seems to be the only significant predictor.   Conclusions: Our findings suggest that these patients may benefit, in their therapeutic approach, from the development of this kind of strategies (new ways of relating themselves with their emotional experiences and quality of their social networks in order to promote a better psychological adjustment to their clinical condition.

Brief mindfulness meditation training alters psychological and neuroendocrine responses to social evaluative stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Creswell, J David; Pacilio, Laura E; Lindsay, Emily K; Brown, Kirk Warren

2014-06-01

To test whether a brief mindfulness meditation training intervention buffers self-reported psychological and neuroendocrine responses to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) in young adult volunteers. A second objective evaluates whether pre-existing levels of dispositional mindfulness moderate the effects of brief mindfulness meditation training on stress reactivity. Sixty-six (N=66) participants were randomly assigned to either a brief 3-day (25-min per day) mindfulness meditation training or an analytic cognitive training control program. All participants completed a standardized laboratory social-evaluative stress challenge task (the TSST) following the third mindfulness meditation or cognitive training session. Measures of psychological (stress perceptions) and biological (salivary cortisol, blood pressure) stress reactivity were collected during the social evaluative stress-challenge session. Brief mindfulness meditation training reduced self-reported psychological stress reactivity but increased salivary cortisol reactivity to the TSST, relative to the cognitive training comparison program. Participants who were low in pre-existing levels of dispositional mindfulness and then received mindfulness meditation training had the greatest cortisol reactivity to the TSST. No significant main or interactive effects were observed for systolic or diastolic blood pressure reactivity to the TSST. The present study provides an initial indication that brief mindfulness meditation training buffers self-reported psychological stress reactivity, but also increases cortisol reactivity to social evaluative stress. This pattern may indicate that initially brief mindfulness meditation training fosters greater active coping efforts, resulting in reduced psychological stress appraisals and greater cortisol reactivity during social evaluative stressors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Danish Regulation of Religion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christoffersen, Lisbet; Vinding, Niels-Valdemar

Presentation and analysis of current and upcoming conflicts in relations between religion and family; labour market; religion in the public sphere and state support to religion. Part of a comparative European analysis in the context of www.religareproject.eu. based on 18 Danish elite interviews...

Does Ideological Education in China Suppress Trust in Religion and Foster Trust in Government?

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Ying Xie

2017-05-01

Full Text Available A major goal of ideological education in China is to promote loyalty to the party-state and to instill atheism among the people. How effective is this ideological education? This article examines the relationship between education and trust in government and trust in religion using data from the 2010 Chinese General Social Survey. We find that education is negatively associated with trust in government, while positively related to trust in religion. Our findings suggest that policies aimed at displacing religion in favor of the Communist ideology have largely failed to shape the public mindset; rather, the more educated, the more people tend to trust religion instead of the government.

Some feminist contributions to community social psychology

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Claudia Mayorga

2014-02-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the contributions of feminist debate about intersectionality of social categories for Community Social Psychology in Brazil. This was set up as dedicated to theoretical analyze the social inequalities that characterize contemporary societies and propose methodological processes of intervention for questioning and processing of these realities. We discuss how the emergence of new actors and demands on public space, as distinct from the 60/70, is required to understand the oppression from various power systems such as gender, race and sexuality. We conclude that intersectional analysis should consider different levels of relationships between categories, the history of the same differential and common aspects of different systems of power as naturalization of inequality, the relationship between public and private relationship between equality and difference. Analyses based on intersectionality can contribute to processes of social intervention that considers the complexity of contemporary societies.

Attachment as a Moderating Factor Between Social Support, Physical Health, and Psychological Symptoms

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Kimberly A. Rapoza

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the extent to which perceived social support functioned as a protective factors, and dimensions of insecure attachment (i.e., avoidant and anxious functioned as risks factors for physical and psychological health. We explored whether insecure attachment was a mechanism that modified the relationship (i.e., protect against or increases risk between social support and adult health. Participants were 155 non-traditional adult college students from demographically diverse backgrounds. Students were approached in common areas on campus or in classrooms during break and were asked to complete the questionnaire. Bartholomew and Horowitz’s Attachment Questionnaire assessed avoidant and anxious attachment dimensions, the Brief Social Support Questionnaire assessed perceived social support, and the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale measured physical and psychological symptoms. Model results indicated that the anxious dimension of insecure attachment was more directly and positively associated with poorer general physical health and psychological symptoms, whereas greater perceived social support was linked with better reported health. However, an interesting pattern emerged with avoidant attachment through a moderated relationship with social support. The absence of a satisfying supportive network was significantly related to poorer physical and psychological health outcomes for those low in avoidant attachment, but not for those high in avoidant attachment. Results from this work suggest that insecure attachment plays a detrimental role in adult health. Perceived social support does not necessarily function as a blanket protective factor for health, as it seemed to offer less benefit to those high in attachment avoidance.

Effects of Perceived Social Support and Psychological Resilience on Social Media Addiction among University Students

Science.gov (United States)

Bilgin, Okan; Tas, Ibrahim

2018-01-01

This research investigated the effects of perceived social support and psychological resilience on social media addiction among university students. The research group was composed of 503 university students. The ages of participant students varied between 17 and 31 years old. 340 (67.6%) of the participants are female and 163 (32.4%) of them are…

The Application of Social Justice Principles to Global School Psychology Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Shriberg, David; Clinton, Amanda

2016-01-01

In as much as school psychology practice is based on the goals of supporting the rights, access, and treatment of children as related to their education, social justice has the potential to be a moral framework for training, research, and practice in school psychology. Accordingly, this article seeks to achieve many objectives. First, a definition…

Path dependence in social and psychological risk factors for dementia

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Hiroko Matsuoka

Full Text Available Abstract This article focuses on social and psychological risk factors for Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and cognitive impairment and presents some key points for prevention in developing countries based on previous studies, a social science theory, and our preliminary survey. Previous population-based studies found that educational and occupational attainment, income, participation in social and mental activities, and psychological distress were associated with dementia risk. According to the theory of path dependence, earlier factors largely determine successive ones, where education is one of these early experiences in life. Our preliminary survey suggested that education sets a path that several psychosocial risk factors are dependent on. The expansion of basic education is indispensable. Resources for prevention should be concentrated on individuals with a low level of education. In order to break from a path creating self-reinforcement of risk factors, it is necessary to implement early and active interventions.

Effects of Social Psychological Phenomena on School Psychologists' Ethical Decision-Making: A Preliminary Empirical Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Klose, Laurie McGarry; Lasser, Jon; Reardon, Robert F.

2012-01-01

This preliminary, exploratory study examines the impact of select social psychological phenomena on school-based ethical decision-making of school psychologists. Responses to vignettes and hypothetical statements reflecting several social psychological phenomena were collected from 106 practicing school psychologists. Participants were asked to…

The need to control for regression to the mean in social psychology studies

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Rongjun eYu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available It is common in repeated measurements for extreme values at the first measurement to approach the mean at the subsequent measurement, a phenomenon called regression to the mean (RTM. If RTM is not fully controlled, it will lead to erroneous conclusions. The wide use of repeated measurements in social psychology creates a risk that an RTM effect will influence results. However, insufficient attention is paid to RTM in most social psychological research. Notable cases include studies on the phenomena of social conformity and unrealistic optimism. In Study 1, 13 university students rated and re-rated the facial attractiveness of a series of female faces as a test of the social conformity effect. In Study 2, 15 university students estimated and re-estimated their risk of experiencing a series of adverse life events as a test of the unrealistic optimism effect. Although these studies used methodologies similar to those used in earlier research, the social conformity and unrealistic optimism effects were no longer evident after controlling for RTM. Based on these findings we suggest several ways to control for the RTM effect in social psychology studies.

CyberPsychological Computation on Social Community of Ubiquitous Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xuan; Dai, Genghui; Huang, Shuang; Sun, Xuemin; Hu, Feng; Hu, Hongzhi; Ivanović, Mirjana

2015-01-01

Under the modern network environment, ubiquitous learning has been a popular way for people to study knowledge, exchange ideas, and share skills in the cyberspace. Existing research findings indicate that the learners' initiative and community cohesion play vital roles in the social communities of ubiquitous learning, and therefore how to stimulate the learners' interest and participation willingness so as to improve their enjoyable experiences in the learning process should be the primary consideration on this issue. This paper aims to explore an effective method to monitor the learners' psychological reactions based on their behavioral features in cyberspace and therefore provide useful references for adjusting the strategies in the learning process. In doing so, this paper firstly analyzes the psychological assessment of the learners' situations as well as their typical behavioral patterns and then discusses the relationship between the learners' psychological reactions and their observable features in cyberspace. Finally, this paper puts forward a CyberPsychological computation method to estimate the learners' psychological states online. Considering the diversity of learners' habitual behaviors in the reactions to their psychological changes, a BP-GA neural network is proposed for the computation based on their personalized behavioral patterns. PMID:26557846

Trust, cooperation, and equality: a psychological analysis of the formation of social capital.

Science.gov (United States)

Cozzolino, Philip J

2011-06-01

Research suggests that in modern Western culture there is a positive relationship between the equality of resources and the formation of trust and cooperation, two psychological components of social capital. Two studies elucidate the psychological processes underlying that relationship. Study 1 experimentally tested the influence of resource distributions on the formation of trust and intentions to cooperate; individuals receiving a deficit of resources and a surplus of resources evidenced lower levels of social capital (i.e., trust and cooperation) than did individuals receiving equal amounts. Analyses revealed the process was affective for deficit participants and cognitive for surplus participants. Study 2 provided suggestive support for the affective-model of equality and social capital using proxy variables in the 1996 General Social Survey data set. Results suggest support for a causal path of unequal resource distributions generating affective experiences and cognitive concerns of justice, which mediate disengagement and distrust of others. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

Home-school Relations--An Exploration from the Perspective of Social Psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, I-wah

2000-01-01

Explores home-school relations by using three social psychology theories: (1) symbolic interactionism; (2) social exchange theory; and (3) reference group theory. States that these theories can contribute to the understanding and development of home-school relations in Hong Kong (China). (CMK)

CULTURAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES OF SOCIAL CAPITAL OF ETHNIC GROUPS IN RUSSIA

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tatarko, A. N.

2009-01-01

Data of cross-cultural study of social capital of five ethnic groups of Russia (n = 300) is presented. According to proposed psychological point of view trust, social solidarity, civil identity, ethnic tolerance constitute the structure of social capital of polycultural society. The application of

Coping, family social support, and psychological symptoms among student veterans.

Science.gov (United States)

Romero, Daniel H; Riggs, Shelley A; Ruggero, Camilo

2015-04-01

With rising numbers of student veterans on today's college campuses, multicultural competence in college counseling centers increasingly includes an understanding of military culture and its relation to the psychological health and functioning of student veterans. Research on interpersonal and intrapersonal factors associated with college student veterans' mental health is scarce. The current study examines the contributions of coping style and family social support on symptoms of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress in a student veteran sample. We also tested the moderating role of family social support in the relationship between coping style and psychological symptoms. Data from 136 student veterans were analyzed by using path analysis. Results revealed that avoidant coping and family social support significantly predicted depressive and anxiety symptoms. Avoidant coping also significantly predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms. In addition, findings indicated that family social support moderated the relationship between problem-focused coping and depression, as well as between avoidant coping and symptoms of anxiety and depression but not posttraumatic stress. Implications of results for college and university counselors are discussed. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

How Social Psychological Factors May Modulate Auditory and Cognitive Functioning During Listening.

Science.gov (United States)

Pichora-Fuller, M Kathleen

2016-01-01

The framework for understanding effortful listening (FUEL) draws on psychological theories of cognition and motivation. In the present article, theories of social-cognitive psychology are related to the FUEL. Listening effort is defined in our consensus as the deliberate allocation of mental resources to overcome obstacles in goal pursuit when carrying out a task that involves listening. Listening effort depends not only on hearing difficulties and task demands but also on the listener's motivation to expend mental effort in challenging situations. Listeners' cost/benefit evaluations involve appraisals of listening demands, their own capacity, and the importance of listening goals. Social psychological factors can affect a listener's actual and self-perceived auditory and cognitive abilities, especially when those abilities may be insufficient to readily meet listening demands. Whether or not listeners experience stress depends not only on how demanding a situation is relative to their actual abilities but also on how they appraise their capacity to meet those demands. The self-perception or appraisal of one's abilities can be lowered by poor self-efficacy or negative stereotypes. Stress may affect performance in a given situation and chronic stress can have deleterious effects on many aspects of health, including auditory and cognitive functioning. Social support can offset demands and mitigate stress; however, the burden of providing support may stress the significant other. Some listeners cope by avoiding challenging situations and withdrawing from social participation. Extending the FUEL using social-cognitive psychological theories may provide valuable insights into how effortful listening could be reduced by adopting health-promoting approaches to rehabilitation.

Study of the Psychological Profile in Diabetic Patient and its Relationship with their Social Support

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Akbar Atadokht

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Background & objectives: Diabetes mellitus is a common metabolic disorder that has negative effect on physical function, psychological condition, interpersonal, family and social relationship and in general, on psychological well being. The aim of this study was to investigate of psychological profile in diabetic patients and it's relatioship with social support.   Methods: In this descriptive-correlational study, 120 diabetic patients have been selected among of those that systematically refered to Diabetes Clinic of Emam Khomeini Hospital in order to follow their therapeutic process in Ardabil . Data gathering was accomplished by two tests: SCL-90-R and Social Support Scale. Finally data were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient and T-test on SPSS-17 software and p-value less than 0.05 considered as significant.   Results: Results showed that 70% of diabetic patients had problems in somatic complaint and obsession, 62.5% in sensitivity, 72.5% in depression, 62.5% in anxiety, 55% in hostility, 67.5% in paranoid thoughts, 27.5% in phobia and 37.5% in psychosis. Correlations between social support with somatic complaint, obsession, sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility and paranoid thoughts were negatively significant. Family support associated significantly with all of the psychological variables but friend Support had no significant correlation with them.   Conclusion: The range of psychological problems experienced by diabetic patients is more extensive and these problems have significant relationship with social support. Thus, attention to different dimensions of psychological health is necessary and social support-based interventions can be more effective.

Religion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Niels Rosendal

2017-01-01

Anmeldelse af Niels Reehs "Secularization Revisited. Teaching of Religion and the State of Denmark" med afsæt i de nutidige kampe om kristendom og islam og med fremhævelse af Reehs forståelse af staten/religionen som en 'survival unit'.......Anmeldelse af Niels Reehs "Secularization Revisited. Teaching of Religion and the State of Denmark" med afsæt i de nutidige kampe om kristendom og islam og med fremhævelse af Reehs forståelse af staten/religionen som en 'survival unit'....

Bullying and Social Anxiety in Chinese Children: Moderating Roles of Trait Resilience and Psychological Suzhi.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Lili; Zhang, Dajun; Cheng, Gang; Hu, Tianqiang

2018-02-01

Research examining the relationship between bullying victimization and social anxiety has mainly been conducted in Western countries, and little is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study explores the correlation between bullying victimization and social anxiety in a Chinese context and determines the moderating roles of psychological suzhi (a mental quality characterized by being steady, essential and implicit that affects adaptive, developmental, and creative behavior) and trait resilience among victims of bullying. Data were obtained from a stratified sample of 1903 children in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. All participants completed measures of bullying victimization, social anxiety, trait resilience, and psychological suzhi. The results indicated that, after controlling for grade, residential area, and parental marital status, bullying victimization positively predicted children's social anxiety. In addition, multi-group analysis suggested that the association in girls was stronger relative to that observed in boys. Regarding underlying processes, trait resilience moderated the effect of bullying victimization on social anxiety only in girls. Further assessment of the latent interaction effects indicated that the protective effect of trait resilience was stronger for girls experiencing high, relative to low, levels of bullying victimization, and psychological suzhi buffered against the detrimental effects of bullying on children's social anxiety. Most notably, unlike the moderating effect of resilience, the buffering effect of psychological suzhi against social anxiety was most prominent when bullying victimization was low. Findings underscore the importance of enhancing trait resilience and psychological suzhi in interventions designed to reduce children's social anxiety. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Social Psychological Conditions of Psychological Well-Being in Individuals Who Have Experienced Critical Events

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Pergamenshchik L.A.

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The paper addresses the issue of maintaining psychological well-being in individuals who have experienced critical events. The research presented in this paper was carried out within the paradigm of salutogenesis, according to which the most crucial factors in preserving one’s mental and physical health are the realization of the inner potential, cognitive and physical activity, orientation towards healthy life goals, and self-actualization, and not only the absence of illness and disabilities. The authors describe a procedure of methodological triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data that enabled them to outline the social psychological conditions necessary for the positive functioning of individuals who have experienced critical events.

Social Networking in School Psychology Training Programs: A Survey of Faculty and Graduate Students

Science.gov (United States)

Pham, Andy V.; Goforth, Anisa N.; Segool, Natasha; Burt, Isaac

2014-01-01

The increasing use of social networking sites has become an emerging focus in school psychology training, policy, and research. The purpose of the current study is to present data from a survey on social networking among faculty and graduate students in school psychology training programs. A total of 110 faculty and 112 graduate students in school…

Anthropocentric and theocentric spirituality as an object of psychological research

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Jaworski Romuald

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The characteristic direction of psychological and theological interpretations of spirituality is very important. The traditional psychological approach to the spiritual sphere is characterised by reductionism, which consists in reducing spiritual experiences to mental experiences, or even biological processes. The studies in the field of religion psychology led to distinguish between two types of spirituality. The first one is theocentric spirituality, where human being places God in the centre of his interest and life in general. The second type of spirituality is anthropocentric spirituality, focused on human being, his own aspirations, preferences and needs. Both types of spirituality have certain value. Their close characteristics includes sources of inspiration, purpose, presented image of God, as well as understanding of spirituality and manner of realizing spiritual life. In order to distinguish between two types of spirituality, anthropocentric and theocentric, in practice, a proper research method – Range of Theocentric and Anthropocentric Spirituality (SDT – DA had to be developed. The individuals with theocentric spirituality displayed a higher level of stability and emotional balance, better social adjustment, higher sense of duty and attachment to acceptable social standards, deeper and more satisfactory contacts with other human beings, more trust and openness towards others, as well as higher trust to themselves and to God. Such individuals are better at handling difficulties and have optimistic attitude to life.

What is religion? an African understanding

OpenAIRE

Beyers, Jaco

2010-01-01

Western thought has influenced the way that religion is understood. Western philosophy supported the separation between the sacred and the profane. Modernism, focusing on human rationality, reduced religion to a set of correctly formulated dogmas and doctrines. Western thought, dominated by Christianity, created a hierarchical structure of world religions through a theology of religions. Can an African understanding of religion make a contribution to the understanding of what religion is? Suc...

College Students' Social Goals and Psychological Adjustment: Mediation via Emotion Regulation

Science.gov (United States)

Shim, Sungok Serena; Wang, Cen; Makara, Kara A.; Xu, Xiao-Guang; Xie, Li-Na; Zhong, Ming

2017-01-01

University life can be stressful and students may struggle to adjust socially. We examined students' social achievement goals--their orientations towards their relationships with their peers--as one important factor underlying students' social and psychological adjustment in college. When investigating the direct and indirect effects of social…

Religion, Schooling, Community, and Security: Exploring Transitions and Transformations in England

Science.gov (United States)

Lundie, David

2017-01-01

Education is a complex social practice. In the United Kingdom context, schooling is further nested within the complex social practices of community governance, quasi-market public choice, and religion. This essay explores the shifting definitions of community and education in the context of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015, which places…

Toward an evolutionary psychology of religiosity.

Science.gov (United States)

Soeling, Caspar; Voland, Eckart

2002-12-01

How can the evolution of religiosity be explained? To answer this question, we attempt to develop an understanding of the psychological domains underlying religious behaviour. We see four evolved domains, the sum and interaction of which constitute religiosity, namely: mysticism, ethics, myths and rituals. Even if the individual content, accents and implementations differ in each specific religion, they nevertheless derive from evolved Darwinian algorithms that are species-specific adaptations of homo sapiens. Mysticism. Intuitive ontologies are the basis for mystical experiences. Usually they serve to classify reality into animate and inanimate objects, animals or plants, for example. For a variety of psychological reasons, supernatural experiences result from a mixture of different ontological categories. Ethics. The basis for ethics lies in the social competency of human beings. Ethics is founded on the concept of social exchange ("social-contract algorithm") with its ideas about reciprocity, fairness, justice, cheater detection, in-group/out-group differentiation, etc. Myths. The basis for myths is the "language instinct". We interpret myths as the verbal expression of the cognitive content of those individual modules that constitute the belief system. Above all, myths document the experience and processing of contingency and thus help social bonding. Rituals. Rituals are based on the handicap principle. By making certain symbols and acts more expensive, they signal commitment for a reliable in-group morale. In conclusion, we argue that human religiosity emerges from a cognitive interaction between these four domains. Religiosity processes contingencies and enhances co-operation through social bonding, norm setting and cheater detection. It fulfils those functions for which the mental modules of its four domains have evolved so that we feel it appears to be justified to attribute to religiosity the evolutionary status of an adaptation.

Psychology, Social Science and the Management of Violent ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper discusses the salient aspects of an eight – year experience in the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Abuja – Nigeria, where the author ... matter of psychology and rivalry emanating from subtle competition among sub disciplines of the social science for hegemonic role in conflict management, (b) many of ...

Socioecological psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Oishi, Shigehiro

2014-01-01

Socioecological psychology investigates humans' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral adaption to physical, interpersonal, economic, and political environments. This article summarizes three types of socioecological psychology research: (a) association studies that link an aspect of social ecology (e.g., population density) with psychology (e.g., prosocial behavior), (b) process studies that clarify why there is an association between social ecology and psychology (e.g., residential mobility → anxiety → familiarity seeking), and (c) niche construction studies that illuminate how psychological states give rise to the creation and maintenance of a social ecology (e.g., familiarity seeking → dominance of national chain stores). Socioecological psychology attempts to bring the objectivist perspective to psychological science, investigating how objective social and physical environments, not just perception and construal of the environments, affect one's thinking, feeling, and behaviors, as well as how people's thinking, feeling, and behaviors give rise to social and built environments.

THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL SUPPORT ON PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS IN OLDER PERSONS: AN EXAMINATION OF INTERACTION PROCESSES IN AUSTRALIA.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharpley, Christopher; Hussain, Rafat; Wark, Stuart; Mcevoy, Mark; Attia, John

2015-12-01

Social support is proposed as a coping mechanism against anxiety and depression amongst older persons, but few data have examined how this occurs. This study assessed the contributions of two sub-components of social support as mediators against psychological distress-broadly defined as anxiety and depression. 1,560 men and 1,758 women from the Hunter Community Study (Australia) completed the Duke Social Support Scale and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. The Duke Social Support Scale examined the amount of social interaction and satisfaction with social interactions. Significant mediating effects of social support were found in the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale items measuring depression but not anxiety. Satisfaction with social support was a significant predictor of Kessler Psychological Distress Scale total score and Sadness items, but the amount of social support was not a predictor of stress. Social support may assist with symptoms of depression, i.e., specific sadness/depressed mood, but not necessarily with anxiety. Implications for policy and service delivery were discussed.

Constructive conflict coverage - A social-psychological research and development program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wilhelm Kempf

2003-10-01

Full Text Available Peace journalism is a relatively new research area in psychology which emerged in the last decade of the last century. Building on findings from social psychology (group processes, social influence, conflict research, attitude change, propaganda, and enemy concept research and on models of conflict management and the constructive transformation of conflicts, an investigation is made of the factors that determine the escalation oriented bias of conventional war reporting, and of how this can be transformed into de-escalation and/or peace oriented conflict reporting. This paper provides an outline of this research and development program in six sections: (1 Interest Perception, (2 Task Formulation, (3 Basic Theoretical Assumptions, (4 War Discourse vs. Peace Discourse, (5 a Two Step Model, and (6 Journalist Training.

The psychological influences on participation in Wheelchair Rugby: a social relational model of disability

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Damian Haslett

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Sport and exercise psychology research in disability sport seldom engages with social models of disability. As a result, the socio-historical landscape of disability is underrepresented in sport psychology research. The aim of this study is to interpret influences on participation in disability sport through the conceptual lens of the social relational model (SRM of disability (Thomas, 1999, 2004, 2007. Ten Irish adult male athletes with physical disabilities participated in semi-structured interviews exploring the barriers and facilitators that influence participation in Wheelchair Rugby. Deductive thematic analysis produced four themes influenced by the social relational model: impairment effects; societal attitudes and discourse; opportunities and access; and psychological well-being. Links were made to the experience of embodied impairment, classification, oppression, inequality, media, independence, and self-efficacy. The analysis illustrates how cultural constructions of disability are inextricably linked to individual influences on participation in Wheelchair Rugby. The results indicate that in disability sport participation, the experience of social oppression, inequality and cultural stereotypes of disability can be synonymous with the personal experience of physical impairment. The implication of this research is that there is a value in sport and exercise psychology practitioners utilising the social relational model as a tool to conceptualise the lived experience of physical disability.

Social and psychologic factors related to falls among the elderly.

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Mossey, J M

1985-08-01

Studies on falls are reviewed. Little information exists on which social or psychologic factors predispose an older person to fall or to sustain a fall-related injury. Risk of falling appears to be greater among females, the cognitively impaired, and those who use hypnotics, tranquilizers, and diuretics. The potential significance of depression and senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type on the risk of falling is explored. It is suggested that because of the associated impaired judgment, distraction, and psychomotor retardation, the presence of either clinical condition may increase an individual's risk of falling. In the final section of the article, directions for future research are discussed. Development of a systematic research program is suggested including epidemiologic studies of all falls and of medically treated falls. Such studies should be multidisciplinary and include assessment of social and psychologic factors as well as physical and functional health status, ambulatory function, perceptual acuity, and the circumstances surrounding the fall. The psychologic consequences of falling, particularly in the absence of a serious fall-related injury, is identified as an important research area.

Psychological Capital, Career Identity and Graduate Employability in Uganda: The Mediating Role of Social Capital

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Ngoma, Muhammad; Dithan Ntale, Peter

2016-01-01

This paper seeks to evaluate the relationship between psychological capital, career identity, social capital and graduate employability. We also seek to evaluate the mediating role of social capital on the relationships between psychological capital, career identity and graduate employability in Uganda. A population of 480 unemployed young people…

Religion as culture: religious individualism and collectivism among american catholics, jews, and protestants.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Adam B; Hill, Peter C

2007-08-01

We propose the theory that religious cultures vary in individualistic and collectivistic aspects of religiousness and spirituality. Study 1 showed that religion for Jews is about community and biological descent but about personal beliefs for Protestants. Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity were intercorrelated and endorsed differently by Jews, Catholics, and Protestants in a pattern that supports the theory that intrinsic religiosity relates to personal religion, whereas extrinsic religiosity stresses community and ritual (Studies 2 and 3). Important life experiences were likely to be social for Jews but focused on God for Protestants, with Catholics in between (Study 4). We conclude with three perspectives in understanding the complex relationships between religion and culture.

Preserving guilt in the "age of psychology": The curious career of O. Hobart Mowrer.

Science.gov (United States)

Page, Corbin

2017-02-01

O. Hobart Mowrer had one of the most productive and curious careers of any psychologist in the 20th century, despite struggling with severe mental illness and anxiety about his sexuality. Early in his career, he was one of the country's leading experimental psychologists. During the mid-1940s, he became interested in religion and argued that anxiety was caused by repressed guilt that came from real wrongdoing. By the late 1950s, he had abandoned mainstream psychology, arguing that religion had been corrupted by its embrace of psychology and psychiatry. He claimed that sin was responsible for nearly all psychological problems and that ethical living and confession of wrongdoing could prevent mental illness. During his religious period, Mowrer received an astonishing amount of fawning press attention and was embraced by a public desirous of a path to mental health that did not require jettisoning traditional conceptions of sin, guilt, and human nature. This article examines Mowrer's life and career and situates him among other mid-century skeptics of psychology and psychiatry. Other historians have argued that by the 1950s, the conflict between religion and psychiatry/psychology in the United States had largely abated, with both sides adapting to each other. Mowrer's life and the reception of his work demonstrate that this narrative is overly simplistic; widespread conservative and religious distrust of psychology persisted even into the 1960s. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

A Pathway to Psychological Difficulty: Perceived Chronic Social Adversity and Its Symptomatic Reactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Cody; Zhang, Jingqiu; Yang, Dong

2018-01-01

In this paper, we attempt to predict and explain psychological maladjustment or difficulty. Specifically, we discuss the concept of perceived chronic social adversity, and we expect that such perceived chronic social adversity may potentially lead to chronic stress responses. Accordingly, we propose the symptomatic reactions of perceived chronic social adversity. We put forward a set of hypotheses regarding the relationships between perceived chronic social adversity and those chronic stress responses, and we further hypothesize a mediating role of individualized negative essentialism brought by perceived chronical social adversity. Resilience and individual differences in the ability to cope with perceived adversity are discussed. Future research and prevention need to pay more attention to effects of subjective personal experiences on psychological difficulty, focusing on the importance of exploring daily social experiences in improving cognitive construction processes and developing appropriate preventions.

A Pathway to Psychological Difficulty: Perceived Chronic Social Adversity and Its Symptomatic Reactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cody Ding

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we attempt to predict and explain psychological maladjustment or difficulty. Specifically, we discuss the concept of perceived chronic social adversity, and we expect that such perceived chronic social adversity may potentially lead to chronic stress responses. Accordingly, we propose the symptomatic reactions of perceived chronic social adversity. We put forward a set of hypotheses regarding the relationships between perceived chronic social adversity and those chronic stress responses, and we further hypothesize a mediating role of individualized negative essentialism brought by perceived chronical social adversity. Resilience and individual differences in the ability to cope with perceived adversity are discussed. Future research and prevention need to pay more attention to effects of subjective personal experiences on psychological difficulty, focusing on the importance of exploring daily social experiences in improving cognitive construction processes and developing appropriate preventions.

Theorizing political psychology: Doing integrative social science under the condition of postmodernity

OpenAIRE

Rosenberg, Shawn W.

2003-01-01

At the beginning of the 21st century, the field of political psychology; like the social sciences more generally, is being challenged. New theoretical direction is being demanded from within and a greater epistemological sophistication and ethical relevance is being demanded from without. In response, direction for a reconstructed political psychology is offered here. To begin, a theoretical framework for a truly integrative political psychology is sketched. This is done in light of the appar...

Towards a Comprehensive Socio-Psychological Perspective: A Critique of Social Dominance Theory

OpenAIRE

Tunçgenç, Bahar

2010-01-01

Psychology aims to understand human cognition and behavior, which necessitates making use of sociological-political theories. Social Dominance Theory (SDT) is one of the psychological theories that try to explain the individual-society relationship from a broad perspective. Yet, this theory has its shortcomings too. In an attempt to contribute to a well-grounded theory for psychological research, the paper at hand will discuss the shortcomings of SDT. The main discussion concerns following ap...

Counseling, Psychological, and Social Services Staffing: Policies in U.S. School Districts.

Science.gov (United States)

Brener, Nancy; Demissie, Zewditu

2018-06-01

Schools are in a unique position to meet the mental and behavioral health needs of children and adolescents because approximately 95% of young people aged 7-17 years attend school. Little is known, however, about policies related to counseling, psychological, and social services staffing in school districts. This study analyzed the prevalence of such policies in public school districts in the U.S. Data from four cycles (2000, 2006, 2012, and 2016) of the School Health Policies and Practices Study, a national survey periodically conducted to assess policies and practices for ten components of school health, were analyzed in 2017. The survey collected data related to counseling, psychological, and social services among nationally representative samples of school districts using online or mailed questionnaires. Sampled districts identified respondents responsible for or most knowledgeable about the content of each questionnaire. The percentage of districts with a district-level counseling, psychological, and social services coordinator increased significantly from 62.6% in 2000 to 79.5% in 2016. In 2016, 56.3% of districts required each school to have someone to coordinate counseling, psychological, and social services at the school. Fewer districts required schools at each level to have a specified ratio of counselors to students (16.2% for elementary schools, 16.8% for middle schools, and 19.8% for high schools), and the percentage of districts with these requirements has decreased significantly since 2012. Increases in the prevalence of district-level staffing policies could help increase the quantity and quality of counseling, psychological, and social services staff in schools nationwide, which in turn could improve mental and behavioral health outcomes for students. This article is part of a supplement entitled The Behavioral Health Workforce: Planning, Practice, and Preparation, which is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Religion 2.0

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, René Dybdal

17 artikler som hver især fremviser og diskuterer aktuelle temaer i forhold til religion i Danmark i dag......17 artikler som hver især fremviser og diskuterer aktuelle temaer i forhold til religion i Danmark i dag...

Lesbians, gays and religion.

Science.gov (United States)

Newmanxy, Bernie Sue

2002-10-01

SUMMARY This study measured the effects of religious affiliation and gender on attitudes about lesbians and gay men among 2,846 college graduates who were beginning graduate study in social work or counseling. Males were more negative than females in their attitudes toward both lesbians and gay men. Conservative Protestants were the most negative in their attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, while those who were Atheist, Agnostic, Jewish or claimed no religion were most positive. Beliefs that the Bible forbids homosexuality are discussed and readings and arguments challenging this belief that can be used as class content are presented.

Spirituality - the Story of a concept in the psychology of religion

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Říčan, Pavel

2004-01-01

Roč. 26, - (2004), s. 135-156 ISSN 0084-6724 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA7025301 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z7025918 Keywords : Spirituality * religiousness * psychology Subject RIV: AN - Psychology

Assessing the relationships among race, religion, humility, and self-forgiveness: A longitudinal investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Krause, Neal

2015-06-01

Social and behavioral scientists have shown a growing interest in the study of virtues due, in part, to the influence of positive psychology. The underlying premise in this research is that adopting key virtues promotes a better quality of life. Consistent with this orientation, the purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between humility and self-forgiveness over time. The analyses are organized around three issues. First, it is proposed that older Blacks will be more humble than older Whites and older Blacks will be more likely to forgive themselves than older Whites. Second, it is hypothesized that, over time, more humble older people are more likely to forgive themselves than individuals who are less humble. Third, it is proposed that greater involvement in religion is associated with greater humility and greater self-forgiveness. Data from a nationwide longitudinal survey of older adults provides support for all these hypotheses. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

HIV-related stigma and psychological distress: the harmful effects of specific stigma manifestations in various social settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Stutterheim, Sarah E; Pryor, John B; Bos, Arjan E R; Hoogendijk, Robert; Muris, Peter; Schaalma, Herman P

2009-11-13

Recent research has shown that experiences of stigmatization have an adverse impact on the psychological well being of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Most studies investigating this relationship employ an aggregate measure of stigma. Although this approach provides useful information about the psychological implications of HIV-related stigma in general, it neglects to acknowledge the possibility that some manifestations in specific settings may be psychologically more detrimental than others. The present study examines which specific stigma experiences are most strongly related to psychological distress across a number of social settings. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 667 PLWHA in the Netherlands. We examined participants' experiences of 11 manifestations of HIV-related stigma in six social settings. Linear regression analyses were conducted to determine which setting-specific manifestations best predict psychological distress after controlling for marital status, education and health status. Three manifestations in family settings, namely receiving advice to conceal one's status, being avoided and being treated with exaggerated kindness, and one manifestation in healthcare settings, namely awkward social interaction, best predicted psychological distress in PLWHA. Manifestations of HIV-related stigma vary according to setting. Certain manifestations in specific social settings impact the psychological well being of PLWHA more than others. In this study, certain experiences of stigmatization with PLWHA's families and in healthcare settings were more strongly related to psychological distress than experiences occurring in other social settings. These findings suggest that stigma reduction interventions focusing on these influential settings may benefit the psychological well being of PLWHA.

Social integration, psychological distress, and smoking behaviors in a midwest LGBT community.

Science.gov (United States)

Sivadon, Angela; Matthews, Alicia K; David, Kevin M

2014-01-01

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations have smoking rates twice that of their heterosexual counterparts. To design effective outreach, prevention, and treatments for these individuals, a comprehensive understanding of associated factors is needed. To increase understanding of how social integration and psychological distress are related to smoking behaviors among LGBT populations. A cross-sectional, descriptive study of 135 LGBT adults using an online data collection strategy. Multivariate analyses were performed to examine factors associated with current smoking status. Social integration was not significantly related to smoking behaviors in this LGBT population, although psychological distress was higher among smokers than nonsmokers. Although social support has been reported to have an impact on health behaviors in the general population, the present findings suggest that the benefits of social support may not apply to the smoking activities of LGBT individuals. © The Author(s) 2014.

Perceived social support and the psychological well-being of AIDS orphans in urban Kenya.

Science.gov (United States)

Okawa, Sumiyo; Yasuoka, Junko; Ishikawa, Naoko; Poudel, Krishna C; Ragi, Allan; Jimba, Masamine

2011-09-01

Parental deaths due to AIDS seriously affect the psychological well-being of children. Social support may provide an effective resource in the care of vulnerable children in resource-limited settings. However, few studies have examined the relationships between social support and psychological well-being among AIDS orphans. This cross-sectional study was conducted to explore associations between perceived social support (PSS) and the psychological well-being of AIDS orphans, and to identify socio-demographic factors that are associated with PSS. Data were collected from 398 pairs of AIDS orphans (aged 10-18 years) and their caregivers in Nairobi, Kenya. The participants provided information on their socio-demographic characteristics, the children's PSS, and the children's psychological status (based on measures of depressive symptoms and self-esteem). Of the 398 pairs, 327 were included in the analysis. PSS scores of AIDS orphans showed significant correlations with depressive symptoms (ρ =-0.31, psiblings (β=3.044, p=0.016), were also associated with higher PSS scores. In particular, HIV-infected children (n=37) had higher scores of PSS from a special person (β=2.208, p=0.004), and children living with biological siblings (n=269) also had higher scores of PSS from both a special person (β=1.411, p=0.029) and friends (β=1.276, p=0.039). In conclusion, this study showed that PSS is positively associated with the psychological well-being of AIDS orphans. Siblings and special persons can be effective sources of social support for AIDS orphans, which help to promote their psychological well-being.

[Influence of social support and personality traits on psychological characteristic of patients with chronic cervicodynia and lumbodynia].

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Jie; Zhao, Ping; Chen, Li-Jun; Qin, Hui-Qing; Shi, Wang-Hong; Guo, Wei; Zhen, Ying

2012-03-01

To explore the effects of social support and personality traits on psychological characteristic of patients with chronic cervicodynia and lumbodynia and improve the level of diagnosis and treatment. From August 2009 to April 2010, 231 patients (obtained 217 effective responses) with chronic cervicodynia and lumbodynia were recruited. Among the patients, there were 123 males and 94 females, with an average age of (38.00 +/- 5.67) years (ranged from 15 to 66 years). Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Cattell Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) and Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) were used to test social support and psychological characteristic and compared the difference of psychological, personality traits and norm, then analyzed the effect of social support and personality traits on psychological characteristic. Two hundred and seventeen (93.9%) patients completed the questionnaire. Compared with normal 16PF scores, there were significant differences in factor scores of intelligence, stability, excitability, perseverance,social boldness, vigilance, sophistication, experimental, independence and tonicity (P characteristic between patients with chronic cervicodynia and lumbodynia and norms. Improving social support level and optimizing personality traits can improve psychological profile of these patients.

Religion and finance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Renneboog, L.D.R.; Spaenjers, C.; Baker, H.K.; Nofsinger, J.R.

2012-01-01

Individuals' economic attitudes are frequently observed to vary in a systematic manner with religious affiliation or religiosity. As a consequence, religion is also correlated with a range of financial-economic outcomes. Research has established the importance of religion at the macro-economic

Family and peer social support and their links to psychological distress among hurricane-exposed minority youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Banks, Donice M; Weems, Carl F

2014-07-01

Experiencing a disaster such as a hurricane places youth at a heightened risk for psychological distress such as symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression. Social support may contribute to resilience following disasters, but the interrelations of different types of support, level of exposure, and different symptoms among youth is not well understood. This study examined associations among family and peer social support, level of hurricane exposure, and their links to psychological distress using both a large single-time assessment sample (N = 1,098) as well as a longitudinal sample followed over a 6-month period (n = 192). Higher levels of hurricane exposure were related to lower levels of social support from family and peers. Higher levels of family and peer social support demonstrated both concurrent and longitudinal associations with lower levels of psychological distress, with associations varying by social support source and psychological distress outcome. Findings also suggested that the protective effects of high peer social support may be diminished by high hurricane exposure. The results of this study further our understanding of the role of social support in hurricane-exposed youths' emotional functioning and point to the potential importance of efforts to bolster social support following disasters.

The Theory of Social Control and the Social Psychology of Dissatisfaction: Inhibition, regression and isolation in a cultural context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Orsolya Selymes, PhD Candidate

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The Theory of Social Control (TSC is grounded in satisfaction and happiness research. The study investigated the reasons behind relatively low levels of civil and personal satisfaction, subjective social well-being and experienced happiness in the post-communist Hungarian social context. The basic social process uncovered in the research is self-situating, which involves a continuous assessment of social control, which occurs on three psychological dimensions: activity, fairness and connectedness, operated via social flow. The culturally salient outcome of self-situating in Hungary is self-victimizing, meaning a subjective loss of control on all three dimensions. Some of the most important emotional-motivational consequences of self-victimizing are inhibition, regression and isolation, which contribute to various socio-cultural phenomenon such as distrust, bystander strategies, pessimism or anomie across a number of social situations. Based on the emerging theory, the concept of subjective social control is introduced and an expanded three-dimensional model of civil satisfaction, comfort and contribution, along with psychological and cultural implications, are discussed.Key words: social control, self-situating, self-victimizing, activity, fairness, connectedness, inhibition, fury, isolation

Social support, psychological vulnerability, and HIV risk among African American men who have sex with men.

Science.gov (United States)

Saleh, Lena D; van den Berg, Jacob J; Chambers, Christopher S; Operario, Don

2016-05-01

Previous research has suggested a need to understand the social-psychological factors contributing to HIV risk among African American men who have sex with men (MSM). We conducted individual in-depth interviews with 34 adult African American MSM to examine their personal experiences about: (i) sources of social support, (ii) psychological responses to the presence or absence of social support and (iii) influences of social support on sexual behaviours. The majority of participants described limited positive encouragement and lack of emotional support from family, as well as few meaningful personal relationships. Feelings of isolation and mistrust about personal relationships led many participants to avoid emotional intimacy and seek physical intimacy through sexual encounters. Findings highlight a need for multilevel interventions that enhance social support networks and address the social-psychological, emotional and interpersonal factors that contribute to HIV risk among African American MSM.

JOURNAL OF RELIGION 2014 CURVEEE

African Journals Online (AJOL)

IK

religion specifically x-rays the role religion play in nation-building. Since ... been found to be positively neglected to such organizational characteristics, as ... However, the power of religion to perform its function in any society depends on.

Religion, an obstacle to workplace spirituality and employee wellness?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alan Bester

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A desperate need for employee wellness is echoed in work-related stories. Workplace spirituality is presented as an integral part of achieving and maintaining employee wellness. However, there is an observed gap of spirituality in employee wellness programmes and in the absence of the workplace spiritual helper in multidisciplinary wellness teams. Using a postfoundational notion of practical theology, I have explored one of the reasons for this gap, namely workplace spirituality�s association to religion. When spirituality is viewed through the lens of religion, it is overlooked as a vehicle of help. This is a consequence of the obstacles of the taboo of religious discussion, the complexity of religious plurality, the dominant voice of secularism and unhelpful religiosity. A proposal is made for a definition of spirituality that describes the relationship between spirituality and religion that overcomes the religionrelated obstacles to the development of workplace spirituality and so enable spirituality�s contribution in wellness.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The research includes an interdisciplinary collaboration with a Human Resource (HR manager, social worker, arts therapist, clinical pastoral counsellor, medical practitioner, psychologist, businessperson and two psychiatrists that underscores the collaborative effort in wellness. There is an intradisciplinary challenge to those who restrict the view of spirituality to the experience of religion.

Rastafari: Alternative Religion and Resistance against “White” Christianity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jérémie Koubo Dagnini

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Depuis le début du seizième siècle, l’histoire de la Jamaïque a successivement été associée à l’esclavage, l’évangélisation, la colonisation et le néo-colonialisme, ce qui a engendré de nombreuses révolutions, émeutes et autres formes d’agitation sociale. Les Jamaïcains noirs ont toujours vécu dans un état de résistance, une mentalité qui a donné naissance, au début des années 1930, à une religion jamaïcaine appelée rastafari. Le but de cet article n’est pas seulement d’étudier les origines et le symbolisme de rastafari, mais également de définir le mouvement rasta comme une religion née en réponse légitime à l’oppression et l’évangélisation. En d’autres termes, cette étude analyse rastafari comme une version panafricaine et afrocentrique du christianisme « blanc ».  Since the early sixteenth century, the history of Jamaica has been associated successively with slavery, Christian Evangelization, colonialism and neocolonialism, which gave rise to numerous revolutions, riots and various other forms of social unrest. Black Jamaicans have always lived in a constant state of resistance, a mentality that gave birth, in the early thirties, to a Jamaican religion called Rastafari. Besides studying the roots and symbolism of Rastafari, my paper is aimed at defining the Rasta movement as a religion born as a legitimate response to oppression and Christian Evangelization. In other words, my work examines Rastafari as a Pan-African and Afrocentric version of “White” Christianity.