Religiosity, fear of death and suicide acceptability.

The present research was an attempt to test two hypotheses derived from a recently proposed social psychological model of suicide: The acceptability of suicide is a decreasing function of religiosity and fear of death. Questionnaire data were collected for 205 undergraduates at a midwestern university in 1978. The questionnaire included several measures of religiosity, a factor analysis multidimensional fear of death scale, and a suicide acceptability scale. Results, showing that all of the religiosity measures and certain types of fear of death were significantly related to the acceptability of suicide, supported to the hypotheses under examination.     

Task structure,need for structure,and creativity

Although creativity is often seen as requiring spontaneity and flexibility, recent work suggests that there is creative potential in a structured and systematic approach as well. In a series of four experiments, we show that when Personal Need for Structure (PNS) is high, either chronic (Study 1) or situationally induced (Study 2), creative performance benefits from high task structure. Further, in line with earlier work on cognitive fixation effects, we show that when high task structure contains an example of noncreative task execution, creative performance is impaired, regardless of individuals' PNS. Nevertheless, participants high in PNS react relatively favorably to high task structure (Study 3) and are more likely to adopt a structured task approach when given the choice (Study 4). In sum, our results show that task structure can both stimulate and inhibit creative performance, particularly for people high in need for structure. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Acculturation attitudes, need for cognitive closure, and adaptation of immigrants

The author validated Berry's model of acculturation (J. W. Berry, 1990a, 1990b, 1991; J. W. Berry, U. Kim, S. Power, M. Young, & M. Bujaki, 1989) and examined the relation between acculturation attitudes and sociocultural and psychological adaptation among Croatian and Polish immigrants to Italy, 2 groups whose cultures are not very different from the Italian culture. Moreover, the author investigated the relation between the need for cognitive closure (NCC; M. D. Webster & A. W. Kruglanski, 1994) and psychological and sociocultural adaptation. The participants completed a questionnaire including measures of sociocultural adaptation, psychological adaptation, social relationships, acculturation attitudes, and NCC. The results of a multivariate analysis of variance revealed main effects of acculturation strategies for both forms of adaptation and a main effect of NCC for psychological adaptation. The Croatian and Polish immigrants differed in the level of sociocultural adaptation but not in the level of psychological adaptation.     

Child care in rural areas: Needs,attitudes, and preferences

The purpose of this research was to assess the needs and preferences for child care services in rural areas. We examined data from interviews with 525 mothers of children up to 12 years of age in two southeastern states. Results indicated that, while rural mothers expressed a desire for more child care services, many were ambivalent about other-than-mother care. On the one hand, they had limited knowledge about and experience with a variety of child care arrangements; on the other hand, they could identify their preferences for types and specific features of day care they desired. These preferences were summarized to form a hypothetical "ideal type" of child care for rural mothers.     

The role of authoritarianism, perceived threat, and need for closure or structure in predicting post-9/11 attitudes and beliefs

The authors examined relationships among authoritarianism, personal need for closure or structure, perceived threat, and post-9/11 attitudes and beliefs. Participants were 159 undergraduate students in the Southeastern United States. The authors collected data 1 week before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Correlation and regression analyses revealed that right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation were significant predictors of support for restricting human rights during the U.S.-led War on Terror, support for U.S. President George W. Bush, and support for U.S. military involvement in Iraq. Right-wing authoritarianism and perceived threat emerged as the strongest predictors of the belief that Saddam Hussein supported terrorism.     

Fertility attitudes and the fear of death

An attempt to test empirically the general proposition that fear of death is related to certain attitudes about fertility, particularly expected number of children. Analysis of data collected from 355 undergraduates at a midwestern U.S. university showed this proposition to be generally supported and dependent, in part, on respondents' sex. Those who are more fearful of death tend to perceive procreation as a means for others to reduce fear of death, and also tend to expect having a greater number of children than those whose fear is less. Although the interrelationships of the variables appears somewhat complex, they provide an empirical reference for further research linking mortality to fertility.     

Correlations of attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide, death depression, death obsession, and trait anxiety

In a sample of 112 Kuwaiti college students, approval of physician-assisted suicide was not significantly correlated with scores on trait anxiety, death depression, or death obsession.     

Employment demographics and attitudes that predict preferences for alternative pay increase policies

A survey of 942 university staff employees shows that performance and cost of living are preferred over seniority as criteria upon which to base pay increases. Multiple regression analysis reveals that preferences for performance-based pay increases are most strongly related to perceptions that merit pay does not decrease co-worker cooperation, perceptions that performance differences exist among co-workers, employment in white collar jobs, and never having belonged to a union. Preferences for seniority-based and cost of living-based pay increases are most strongly related to the perceived need for a union, perceptions that merit pay reduces cooperation, education level, and gender. In addition, preferences for seniority-based pay increases are related to years of service.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1989 meetings of the Midwest Academy of Management.     

Religion,Religiosity, and Happiness

The effect of religion on happiness in the United States is examined. Particular attention is given to the direct effect of religion on attending religious services and the indirect effect on happiness. The key results include Catholic, Jewish, and no religion having negative effects on happiness relative to Protestants. Data from the National Opinion Research Center’s “General Social Survey” are used.     

Environmental attitudes mediate the link between need for cognition and pro-environmental goal choice

Need for cognition is a form of cognitive motivation, which reflects the extent that one actively seeks information and enjoys critical thinking about information. Accordingly, those high in need for cognition seek out and acquire information, resulting in stronger and more stable attitudes. However, need for cognition has yet to be examined in the domain of goal pursuit. Toward that end, we examined how this form of cognitive motivation impacts goal related cognitions. Specifically, how need for cognition influences goal choice. Because need for cognition is a domain-general form of cognitive motivation, we hypothesized that domain-specific attitudes would mediate the relationship between need for cognition pro-environmental goals. This hypothesis was tested in two separate studies. Results demonstrate consistent evidence in support of our hypothesis that environmental attitudes mediate the relationship between need for cognition and pro-environmental goal choice. Results hold implications for goal pursuit research, such that need for cognition can be empirically studied in relation to goal related cognitions and behaviors to the same extent as other forms of cognitive motivation. Moreover, these results suggest that need for cognition can be considered along side previously investigated antecedents of pro-environmental behavior.     

The creative spark of death: The effects of mortality salience and personal need for structure on creativity

Previous research indicates that the awareness of death can be a barrier to creative expression. Specifically, when mortality is rendered salient, creativity is inhibited. However, no studies have considered how individual differences may impact the effect of mortality salience on creativity. Past research has found that mortality salience increases explorative thought processes for individuals low in personal need for structure. Thus, for these people, mortality salience may increase, not decrease, creativity. The current study examined this possibility. Personal need for structure was measured, mortality salience was experimentally manipulated, and creativity was assessed. As predicted, mortality salience increased creativity amongst individuals low in personal need for structure. No effect of mortality salience was observed amongst individuals high in personal need for structure.     

Religiosity, self-control, and antisocial behavior: Religiosity as a promotive and protective factor

Three hypotheses with the potential to provide information on the role of religiosity as a promotive and protective factor in early adolescence were tested. Adolescents (N = 166, M age = 13 years, 49% female, 49% European American, 45% African American) and mothers reported their own personal importance of religion and the frequency of their attendance of religious services. Greater mother importance and attendance was associated with greater adolescent importance and attendance. Mother importance was indirectly linked to adolescent antisocial behavior through adolescent importance. Less adolescent importance and attendance were associated with low self-control and low self-control was associated with more antisocial and rule-breaking behavior. Adolescent importance also moderated the links between low self-control and antisocial and rule-breaking behavior such that low levels of self-control were more strongly associated with more antisocial and rule-breaking behavior among adolescents reporting low religious importance compared to adolescents reporting high religious importance.     

A comparison of the work needs,attitudes, and preferences of professional accountants at different career stages

Although the concept of career stages has played an increasingly important role in vocational psychology, little research exists on career stage differences among professionals. In the present study, a sample of male professional accountants (N = 764) at different career stages were compared with respect to their work needs, work attitudes (intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction, organizational and professional commitment), and vocational preferences. Accountants at different stages were found to differ significantly in their needs, work attitudes, and the extent to which they fit the Conventional type in Holland's model. In particular, accountants over the age of 60, in the preretirement stage of their career, when compared to their younger counterparts, reported significantly lower levels of job satisfaction but higher levels of organizational and professional commitment, and they demonstrate weaker higher-order needs but stronger security needs.     

Religiosity, schizotypal thinking, and schizophrenia

The relationship between religiosity and the incidence of schizotypal thinking was investigated in a normal sample and in acute and chronic schizophrenic samples. The Rust Inventory of Schizotypal Cognitions was administered to measure schizotypal thinking, and two religiosity measures were developed. Religiosity had a significantly negative relationship with schizotypal thinking in normal subjects, while in schizophrenic patients the relationship was positive and significantly different. It is suggested that the process of existential growth of awareness in the normal development of religious belief, which is thought to be associated with schizotypal thinking, may have proceeded differently in persons suffering from schizophrenia.     

Religiosity,subjective well-being,and neuroticism

The objective of the current research was to estimate the relation between religiosity and both subjective well-being (SW-B) and neuroticism (N). A sample (N = 487) of Muslim Kuwaiti undergraduates took part in the study. Their age ranged between 18 and 31 years. They responded to six self-rating scales to assess religiosity, religious belief, physical health, mental health, happiness, and satisfaction with life, as well as the Factorial Arabic Neuroticism Scale (FANS) and the N subscale of the revised NEO. It was found that all the correlations between the six self-rating scales were significant and positive, whereas these rating scales were significantly and negatively correlated with both the FANS and N (NEO) scale. In applying the principle components analysis to the correlation matrix (8 × 8), a high-loaded and bipolar factor was extracted and labelled “Well-being and religiosity versus neuroticism.” The main predictor of religiosity in the stepwise regression was religious belief and satisfaction with life. The present findings are comparable with the wider literature on the association between religion and SW-B among English-speaking participants as well as a Kuwaiti Muslim context. By and large, those who consider themselves as religious were healthier, enjoying SW-B, and obtained lower scores on neuroticism.