Inclusion: Conceptualization and measurement

In the present research, we introduced a conceptual framework of inclusion and subsequently used this as a starting point to develop and validate a scale to measure perceptions of inclusion. Departing from existing work on inclusion and complementing this with theoretical insights from optimal distinctiveness theory and self‐determination theory, we proposed that inclusion is a hierarchical two‐dimensional concept consisting of perceptions of belonging and authenticity. In addition, we posed that in the process of inclusion, it is the group rather than the individual that has primary agency. From this conceptualization, we developed and validated the 16‐item perceived group inclusion scale (PGIS). Data from two samples supported our proposed configuration of inclusion. In addition, the PGIS appeared to be a reliable measure of inclusion and was demonstrated to possess both nomological and predictive validity. Taken together, this research contributes to the conceptual refinement of the inclusion construct and offers researchers a reliable and valid tool to conduct future inclusion research. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Taking religion to heart: the relationship between the Five Factor Model and the New Indices of Religious Orientation among religious students

The relationship between religious orientation and personality has been investigated using several different measures and diverse samples. As part of a larger study, 114 undergraduate students were given the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) to include only those participants who were considered religious. The final sample of 80 participants were given the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) and the New Indices of Religious Orientation (NIRO). Based on the results of the bivariate correlations, higher levels of intrinsic religious orientation were associated with greater Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Multivariate analyses further revealed that Agreeableness was the most important personality variable when predicting intrinsic and quest religious orientations, with higher levels of Agreeableness predicting greater intrinsic and lower quest orientations. While lower levels of Neuroticism predicted greater intrinsic orientation, higher levels of Neuroticism predicted greater quest orientations. Higher Conscientiousness predicted greater intrinsic and lower quest orientations. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Orientation Among the Greek Orthodox

The experimenters explored how religious fundamentalism related with religious orientation, irrational thinking, and immature defense mechanisms. They also explored the possible moderational role of the Big 5 personality factors. The participants were predominantly Greek Orthodox College students from a Cypriot University. The experimenters employed a cross-sectional design and required participants to complete a series of self-report measures. Religious fundamentalism significantly predicted irrational thinking. Intrinsic and personal extrinsic religious orientations significantly predicted religious fundamentalism. The results provide support for the idea that the more dogmatically one holds their religious beliefs, the more likely they are to think irrationally.     

Religious Activities, Religious Orientation, and Aggressive Behavior

Theorists and clinicians have long believed that religious practice may reduce aggression and other destructive behaviors. To date, most evidence for a relationship between religiosity and aggression comes from nonexperimental studies. The purpose of this exploratory study was twofold. First, to examine experimentally whether two religious practices reduce aggressive behavior; second, to determine if specific aspects of religious orientation and spiritual transcendence are related to level of aggression, expressed under controlled laboratory conditions. Sixty-two participants assigned to one of three experimental groups (memorize Bible passages, prayer/meditation, or control group) completed a laboratory task of aggression. Participants also completed religious and spirituality instruments, along with self-ratings of aggressive disposition. Results indicated that neither memorization of biblical passages nor meditation reduced aggression. Intrinsic-oriented religiosity participants self-reported lower aggression than extrinsic-oriented participants, but no differences were found on the laboratory task of aggression. Spiritual transcendence showed no behavioral aggression differences .     

Religious Orientation and Multidimensional Perfectionism: Relationships and Implications

To investigate relationships between religiosity and multidimensional perfectionism, the researchers administered measures of religious orientation and multidimensional perfectionism to 242 undergraduate students. The researchers found that more religious students had higher scores on an adaptive dimension of perfectionism (personal standards) but not on any of the measures of maladaptive perfectionism, suggesting that religious persons may be perfectionistic in adaptive, but not in maladaptive, ways.     

文化视域与新世纪宗教文化研究的基本走向

文化视域的形成是20世纪宗教文化研究的主要成就,宗教与文化的关系是这一研究的核心问题。作者在考察了上个世纪宗教学研究的重大转折及其与一般文化研究的关系之后,指出新世纪宗教文化研究的两大基本走向:第一、信仰论的探讨;第二、宗教与道德相结合的可能性探讨。     

Chronic self-destructiveness: Conceptualization,measurement, and initial validation of the construct

Individual differences in various behaviors suggest that those who are primarily motivated by current emotional factors are more likely than those motivated by more distant cognitive considerations to engage in acts that are ultimately self-destructive. To assess and explore these behavioral differences, 12 samples of undergraduate subjects, totaling 864 (527 females, 337 males), a group of 15 businesswomen, and 111 male VA patients were used to develop a measure of this construct in a series of reliability and construct validity studies. By means of internal-consistency item analyses, two cross-validated 52-item measures of chronic self-destructiveness were constructed for males and females. Reliability was established with respect to internal consistency (alpha coefficients range from .73 to .97) and temporal consistency over a 1-month period (test-retest correlations range from .90 to .98). There is a slight drop in chronic self-destructiveness scores across age groups. Test scores were found to be positively related to external locus of control, negatively related to Type A coronary-prone behavior, and unrelated to either social desirability response set or need for achievement. Individuals high in chronic self-destructiveness, compared to those with low scores, are more likely to be in treatment for drug or alcohol abuse, to report having cheated in courses, to have had traffic violations, to report having gone through a rebellious stage in adolescence, and to postpone obtaining a medical test for cancer. Chronic self-destructiveness appears to be a personality dimension that affects behavior across a wide range of ages and situations.We wish to thank John Wapner for his assistance in obtaining data in the clinical sample.     

Virtual brand experience in digital reality advertising: Conceptualization and measurement

This study explores virtual brand experience (VBE), a new type of brand experience, and develops a corresponding measurement scale. The VBE scale includes five dimensions (social, intellectual, sensory, behavioral, and affective), and is validated by examining the sequential relationships among VBE, brand engagement, and consumer responses to digital reality ads. A path model shows that the social dimension is the most influential factor affecting consumer engagement with brands featured in digital reality ads. The findings indicate that VBE, given its multisensory interactive nature, can be considered equivalent to a direct experience despite it being a mediated one (i.e., indirect experience). This study contributes to the digital marketing literature and highlights the practical benefits of digital reality as a compelling branding tool in digital marketing.     

Stability of Religious Orientation and Academic Dishonesty

This study examines the probable influence of individual religiosity on academic cheating among a group of Seventh-day Adventist youth, grades 6 through 12. A multiple-regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between academic beliefs or behaviors and academic dishonesty. The following research questions were investigated: (1) Is there a relationship between students' religious experience or religious activities and academic honesty? (2) What religious variables influence academic honesty? and (3) What is the correlation between the stability of religious orientation and academic honesty? Although the final model proved to be statistically significant, the findings suggest no direct impact on academic honesty. The implications of this study and the influential factors are discussed.     

Social identity uncertainty: Conceptualization,measurement, and construct validity

The following paper establishes a measurement of social identity uncertainty. Based on uncertainty-identity theory, we propose social identity uncertainty is a unique type of self-uncertainty related to group identification. We further believe social identity uncertainty is comprised of two components: identity-uncertainty (i.e., uncertainty about one’s group identity) and membership-uncertainty (i.e., uncertainty about being a group member). Study 1 (N = 314) and Study 2 (N = 299) explored and confirmed that two subcomponents exist within social identity uncertainty. Study 3 (N = 295) developed convergent validity using various social identity-related constructs, and discriminant validity using dispositional constructs. Overall, we found (a) identity-uncertainty and membership-uncertainty are distinct constructs, and (b) our measurements have both convergent and discriminant validity.     

Empathy: Conceptualization,measurement, and relation to prosocial behavior

Empathy, sympathy, and related vicarious emotional responses are important concepts in developmental, social, and clinical psychology. The purpose of this paper is to examine conceptual and methodological issues concerning the assessment of vicarious emotional responding and to present data from a series of multimethod studies on the assessment of empathy-related reactions and their association with prosocial behavior. The findings presented are consistent with several conclusions: (a) In some contexts, physiological, facial, and self-report indexes can be useful markers of vicarious emotional responses, (b) other-oriented sympathetic responding is positively related to prosocial behavior (particularly altruism) whereas personal distress reactions sometimes are associated with low levels of helping, and (c) physiological arousal is higher for personal distress than sympathetic reactions.This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (BNS8807784) to the first two authors and a Career Development Award from the National Institute of Child Health and Development (K04 HD00717) to Nancy Eisenberg. A version of this paper was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New Orleans, February 1990.     

The multidimensionality of calling: Conceptualization,measurement and a bicultural perspective

The experience of a calling may be seen as the ultimate form of subjective career success that has many positive consequences for individuals and organizations. We are here concerned with the conceptualization of a new multidimensional measure of calling, the MCM. In the first two studies we employed a qualitative approach and came up with five core categories of the experience of a calling. Three of them could be empirically distinguished in our later quantitative studies, i.e., Identification & Person-Environment-Fit (IP), Transcendent Guiding Force (TGF), and Sense and Meaning & Value-Driven-Behavior (SMVB). We tested the reliability and validity of the MCM in two different countries (Germany and USA). Our data show that whereas TGF is most closely related to a direct calling measure, IP is more strongly related to job satisfaction. Both IP and TGF seem to have a buffering function against burnout. SMVB is endorsed most in the USA, whereas IP is endorsed most in Germany. We conclude that a multidimensional conceptualization seems appropriate in studying the experience of a calling and its consequences.     

White Racial Identity Development and Religious Orientation

This study investigated psychological dimensions of race and religion by examining the relationship between the White racial identity statuses proposed by J. E. Helms (1984, 1990d, 1995), Contact, Disintegration, Reintegration, Pseudo‐Independence, Immersion/Emersion, and Autonomy, and 4 forms of religious orientation, intrinsic, extrinsic, fundamentalism, and quest. Participants included 233 undergraduates from a public university in the southeastern United States. They completed the White Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (J. E. Helms & R. T. Carter, 1990), 3 measures of religious orientation, and a demographic questionnaire. A canonical correlation analysis found 3 significant canonical pairs suggesting that higher and more complex racial identity statuses may be positively related to more integrated and flexible forms of religious orientation. Implications for counseling are noted.     

Religious Orientation and the Experience of Eid-ul-Azha Among Pakistani Muslims

Measures of religious orientation were used to predict the experience of Pakistani Muslims during Eid-ul-Azha , a celebration that marks the end of the Haj . Participants displayed varying degrees of correlation of the intrinsic, extrinsic-personal, and extrinsic-social orientations with interest, affect, and work-related responsibility variables during the Eid holiday. Gender differences appeared in that religious orientations were more predictive of the male Eid-ul-Azha experience, but these measures usefully clarified the religious commitments of women as well. As expected, the intrinsic orientation proved to be an especially noteworthy index of religious adjustment, and the extrinsic-social orientation was significantly lower than the other two motivations. These data demonstrated once again that religious orientation constructs developed in the West might serve as a useful point of departure for understanding the psychology of Muslim religion .     

Religious Orientation and Ethnic Identity as Predictors of Religious Coping Among Bereaved Individuals

Religious orientation and ethnic identity inform the religious coping process, but research on this topic is scarce. The authors collected data on these constructs from a sample (N = 319) of bereaved adults. A canonical correlation analysis showed that individuals who engage in traditional spiritual practices and strive to achieve ordinary and transcendental spiritual goals are more likely to engage in positive religious coping (Wilks's Λ = .36, R_c² = .62, p < .001). Also, a multiple regression analysis revealed that individuals with higher levels of ethnic identity development are more likely to engage in positive religious coping (β = .12, t < .05). Finally, a discriminant analysis indicated that ethnic identity and a conservative religious orientation discriminated between Whites and ethnic minority individuals, Wilks's Λ = .71, χ²(4, N = 204) = 70.10, p < .001, R_c² = .26. The authors encourage counselors to strengthen their multicultural and spiritual competencies to provide effective services to a culturally and religiously diverse clientele.     

Intrinsic Religious Orientation and Religious Teaching: Differential Judgments Toward Same-Gender Sexual Behavior and Gay Men and Lesbians

There is a developing discussion within the literature regarding religiosity and negative attitudes toward same-gender sexuality. A fair amount of empirical evidence now exists linking increased conservative religiosity with negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. However, past research has failed to account for the participants' religious group's position on same-sex issues. Results from the project presented here indicated that those who had high scores of intrinsic religiosity and reported attending a religious group that taught “love the sinner, hate the sin” responded with relatively more positive attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. These findings are discussed in relation to the emerging evidence that some intrinsic religious individuals apparently are able to make the distinction between “sin and sinner.”