Experimental Studies in Ocular Behavior: II. Ocular Inadequacies in Epileptic Patients

The Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values and the Brown Modification of the Thouless Test of Religious Orthodoxy were administered to 120 male and female students in introductory psychology. Measures of anxiety, self-esteem, authoritarianism, and humanitarianism were also administered to the Ss in an effort to determine whether the two measures of religiosity would yield different personality and attitude profiles of the “religious” individual. A significant positive correlation was found between authoritarianism and the Thouless Test and between humanitarianism and the Study of Values religious measure. All other correlations involving the two measures of religiosity were found to be nonsignificant. These findings lend support to the notion that using two divergent measures of religiosity does result in the formation of different profiles of the “religious” individual.     

Religiosity as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

In this study, the author examines the association between authoritarianism, social dominance orientation (SDO), and religiosity. She tested these associations in three sociopolitical contexts (i.e., Italy, Finland, and Estonia) based on representative samples. In all three countries, religious people were found to be more authoritarian and less socially dominant. Dallago, Cima, Roccato, Ricolfi, and Mirisola (2008) showed that religiosity decreases the correlation between SDO and authoritarianism in Italy. Their results are replicated in this study, using a more advanced measure of religiosity. The author also obtained cross-cultural confirmation in Finland. In both countries, she found hardly any relation between authoritarianism and SDO at high levels of religiosity; moderate relations were found at moderate levels of religiosity, and strong associations were found amongst nonreligious respondents. The association between authoritarianism and SDO was not influenced by religiosity in Estonia, a country with a history of communism and a high secularization rate.     

A Comparison of Anglo-American and Mexican-American Jurors' Judgments of Mothers Who Fail to Protect Their Children from Abuse1

Two studies were conducted to determine if people with an individualist cultural background differ from those with a collectivist cultural background (Triandis, 1990) in their adjudication of mothers who fail to protect their children from abuse. In the first study, 452 students evaluated the case of a mother accused of failure to protect her son from physical abuse. In the second study, an additional 334 subjects considered a case of a mother's failure to protect her daughter from sexual abuse. While the verdicts depended on the gender of the juror, female jurors were significantly more likely to convict the defendant; the verdict was independent of ethnicity. However, ethnicity did influence sentencing and whether the juror recommended that the defendant serve time. The results are discussed in terms of cultural influences on discretionary decisions.     

Roles of fundamentalism and authoritarianism in relations between religiosity and civil liberties among Muslims

Two cross-sectional studies were conducted with undergraduate and graduate students (mean age = 22 years) in two university campuses in different regions of Turkey to investigate confrontations between conservative religious people and secular-liberal people and the roles of fundamentalism and authoritarianism for these groups. Study 1 investigated the connections between traditional religiosity and liberties and the impact of religious fundamentalism with a sample of 482 participants. Using hierarchical multiple linear regression and bootstrapping analysis, religiosity was seen as negatively connected to three components of liberties. It was shown that religious fundamentalism had an indirect effect on this connection. In Study 2, with a sample of 260 participants, the negative connection between traditional religiosity with liberties was confirmed. Further, it was found that particularly the conservatism dimension of right-wing authoritarianism played an explanatory role in this connection. In addition, as an extension of the two studies, it was observed that secular-liberal participants supported civil liberties in general, but they expressed opposition to freedom of religion in particular, indicating that the antagonism between religious and secular people may also stem from secular-liberal people. It was found that dimension of aggression of left-wing authoritarianism played an explanatory role in connection to this aspect.     

Simulated judicial decision-making for African and European American adolescents with illegal sexual behavior: The impact of medical data and victim race/ethnicity

The perceived importance of victim and defendant race/ethnicity and medical evidence in child sexual abuse cases has been recognized separately in the literature. However, few studies have considered these factors simultaneously. Within a sample of 880 college students, an interaction effect was tested between the presence of medical evidence and the race/ethnicity of a juvenile defendant and victim using child sexual abuse case vignettes. The main effects of medical evidence and the race of the defendant were observed. Medical evidence and race of victim influenced victim believability such that medical evidence was more impactful for cases with African American victims. Further, there were interactions between the race of the defendant and the race of the victim in adult versus juvenile court decisions, sex offender registration and notification requirements, and length of sex offender registration and notification. Interracial sexual offending was associated with substantially higher punishment than intraracial sexual offending. Accordingly, several important implications for court-level decision-making processes are explored.     

Gender, Ethnicity, Religiosity, and Same-sex Sexual Attraction and the Acceptance of Same-sex Sexuality and Gender Non-conformity

This study explored the role of gender, ethnicity, religiosity, and sexual attraction in adolescents’ acceptance of same-sex sexuality and gender non-conformity. Using an intersectionality perspective, we also tested whether the effects of gender, ethnicity, and religiosity on adolescents’ attitudes would function differently in adolescents with and without same-sex attractions. Data for this study were collected by means of a paper questionnaire completed by 1,518 secondary school students (mean age?=?14.56 years, SD?=?1.05) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The sample was 48.1% female and 51.9% male. Approximately one third of adolescents in the sample were of a non-Western ethnic background (32.3%, n?=?491) and 7.5% of the participants (n?=?114) reported experiencing same-sex attractions. Results of our analyses showed that adolescents in our sample who were male, of non-Western ethnicity, and who were more religious (as indicated by frequency of religious service attendance), were less accepting of same-sex sexuality and gender non-conformity in comparison to female, Western and less religious peers. We also found a significant interaction effect between religiosity and sexual attractions, but only in relation to evaluation of same-sex attracted, gender non-conforming females. The negative effect of religiosity on acceptance of same-sex attracted, gender non-conforming females was stronger among those adolescents who reported same-sex attractions.     

Essentialist beliefs about homosexuality: structure and implications for prejudice

The structure of beliefs about the nature of homosexuality, and their association with antigay attitudes, were examined in three studies (Ns = 309, 487, and 216). Contrary to previous research, three dimensions were obtained: the belief that homosexuality is biologically based, immutable, and fixed early in life; the belief that it is cross-culturally and historically universal; and the belief that it constitutes a discrete, entitative type with defining features. Study 1 supported a three-factor structure for essentialist beliefs about male homosexuality. Study 2 replicated this structure with confirmatory factor analysis, extended it to beliefs about lesbianism, showed that all three dimensions predicted antigay attitudes, and demonstrated that essentialist beliefs mediate associations between prejudice and gender, ethnicity, and religiosity. Study 3 replicated the belief structure and mediation effects in a community sample and showed that essentialist beliefs predict antigay prejudice independently of right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and political conservatism.     

The Effects of Childhood Maltreatment on Adult Religiosity and Spirituality: Rejecting God the Father Because of Abusive Fathers?

Current theories can support conflicting accounts of the effects of childhood maltreatment on adult religiosity. However, in the relevant empirical research there are few examples of probability sampling or a focus on nonsexual forms of abuse. It is also uncommon to control for risk factors for abuse, which may themselves also affect adult religiosity. This study attempts to overcome some of these limitations by examining the effects of physical and emotional abuse on adult religiosity and spirituality in a U.S. probability sample of adults at midlife. Neither maltreatment from mothers nor from outside the family has an effect on religiosity, but abuse committed by fathers is related to decreases in religiosity, and abuse from outside the immediate family is related to increases in self-ratings of spirituality. Possible explanation for these results may be related to the image of God as father, which leads victims of abusive fathers to distance themselves from religion.     

The Law and Information Processing: Implications for Verdicts in Rape Cases1

This study investigated the effects of focus of attention (victim vs. defendant) and the ability to recommend a sentence in addition to rendering a verdict versus rendering only a verdict on judgments in a rape case. Support was found for the hypothesis that participants would more often find the defendant guilty, and would be more confident in their guilty verdict when a sentence could be recommended in addition to the verdict, compared to those who only recommended a verdict. This pattern was especially prominent for females. This finding is discussed in terms of the standard of reasonable doubt that mock jurors may impose on their verdict decision. Interactions between the independent variables suggest that these factors may prompt mock jurors to selectively attend to particular types of information at particular times.     

Religious experience,religious orientation and schizotypy

The present study examined the relationship between religious orientation and schizotypy, with the prediction that intrinsic religiosity would be negatively associated with schizotypy, and religious experience and extrinsic religiosity would be positively associated with schizotypy. A total of 308 UK adults (132 men; 176 women) completed measures of religious experience, intrinsic orientation towards religion, extrinsic orientation towards religion, schizotypal personality traits and borderline personality. Though the present findings also suggest that the significant relationships between religiosity and schizotypy traits are fragmented, particularly by sex, the findings are consistent with theory that an intrinsic orientation towards religion is associated with lower levels of schizotypy, and religious experience and an extrinsic orientation towards religion is associated with higher levels of schizotypy.     

"Recipe for a Jury" Revisited: A Balance Theory Prediction

This study examined the relationship of three variables to verdict confidence in an experimental simulation of the jury deliberation process. The three variables were: sex of juror, verdict (guilty or innocent), and the similarity or dissimilarity between juror and confederate verdicts (congruence or incongruence). The subjects were 35 male and 37 female college students. They deliberated in groups containing a male confederate who role-played an obnoxious anti-White or anti-Black juror. Results indicated that before deliberation, male and guilt verdict jurors were more confident than females and innocent verdict jurors. After deliberation, however, sex differences in verdict confidence were absent while innocent verdicts jurors were more confident than guilt verdict jurors. Most important, as predicted from Heider's Balance Theory, males who deliberated with a confederate whose verdict was congruent with theirs' became less confident in their verdicts. Unexpectedly, females became more confident. The study's major hypothesis, then, that it may be advantageous for the defense to accept a juror who zealously advocates a guilty verdict, was only supported for males.     

When authoritarianism meets religion: Sacrificing others in the name of abstract deontology

Authoritarianism is a stable construct in terms of individual differences (social attitudes based on personality and values), but its manifestations and behavioral outcomes may depend on contextual factors. In the present experiment, we investigated whether authoritarianism is sensitive to religious influences in predicting rigid morality. Specifically, we investigated whether authoritarians, after supraliminal religious priming, would show, in hypothetical moral dilemmas, preference for impersonal societal norms even at the detriment of interpersonal, care‐based prosociality toward proximal persons and acquaintances in need. The results confirmed the expectations, with a small effect size for the religious priming × authoritarianism interaction. In addition, these results were specific to participants' authoritarianism and not to their individual religiosity. The interaction between authoritarian dispositions and religious ideas may constitute a powerful combination leading to behaviors that are detrimental for the well‐being and the life of others, even proximal people, in the name of abstract deontology. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Confessions of a Whistle-Blower: Lessons Learned

In 1988 I began a report on the accuracy of expert testimony in child sexual abuse cases utilizing Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield as a case study (Wakefield & Underwager, 1988). In response, Underwager and Wakefield began a campaign of harassment and intimidation, which included multiple lawsuits; an ethics charge; phony (and secretly taped) phone calls; and ad hominem attacks, including one that I was laundering federal grant monies. The harassment and intimidation failed as the author refused demands to retract. In addition, the lawsuits and ethics charges were dismissed. Lessons learned from the experience are discussed.     

The Relationship between Religiosity and Drug Use among “At Risk” Women

This study focuses on the interplay between religiosity and drug use in a sample of 250 adult women from the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area who were interviewed between August 1997 and August 2000. The research addresses two principal questions: (1) Is there a relationship between the level of religiosity and the amount of illegal drug use reported? (2) If so, is this relationship maintained in multivariate analysis when the effects of other potentially relevant factors like demographic characteristics, childhood maltreatment experiences, psychosocial traits, and substance user-related measures are taken into account? We found that religiosity is related to the amount of drugs women used. Four variables were retained in the final multivariate drug use prediction model: religiosity, coping with everyday stresses, number of family members who are substance abusers, and amount of oral sex. Greater amounts of drugs were used by women who were less religious, less capable of coping with stress, had more drug-abusing family members, and reported having more oral sex. Together, these items explained nearly one-fifth of the variance in the dependent variable. The implications for substance abuse prevention and intervention efforts are discussed.     

High risk behaviors in a sample of Mexican-American college students

This study explored different types of high risk behaviors of Mexican-American college students attending a small university in south Texas. High risk behaviors for contracting HIV/AIDS examined in this study included unprotected sex, drug use, and alcohol abuse. In 1995 in the United States, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death in people between the ages of 25 and 44. Because use of alcohol and certain recreational drugs lowers inhibitions, their use could increase the possibility of having unprotected and unplanned sex with multiple partners. Thus, it was expected that Mexican-American college students who use drugs and alcohol would be more likely to engage in unprotected sex. Data were from 105 men and 211 women between the ages of 18 and 30 years. Drug use and alcohol abuse were significantly associated with high risk sexual behavior. Individuals in monogamous relationships were more likely to not use condoms than those involved in casual relationships. Self-reported religiosity was not correlated with high risk behaviors, although there were implications that stronger religious affiliation did alter sexual beliefs and practices. Lastly, parental communication was not significantly associated with high risk behaviors, but family unity did seem related to some risky sexual practices.     

Roman Catholic Clericalism,Religious Duress,and Clergy Sexual Abuse

Since 1984, sexual abuse by Catholic clergy has captured public attention and resulted in a stream of criminal and civil lawsuits. The hierarchy has been defensive in the face of constant accusations and criticism. This study examines selected key aspects of the clergy sex abuse phenomenon including historical precedents and the impact of clericalism on the development of psychological and emotional duress in victims and others closely associated with sexual abuse.     

Religion,Prejudice, and Authoritarianism: Is RWA a Boon or Bane to the Psychology of Religion?

In research on religiosity and prejudice, right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) has been studied alongside variables such as fundamentalism and orthodoxy. Four concerns regarding research on the relationship between RWA and religiosity are identified: (1) the overlap of religiosity and prejudice within the RWA scale; (2) the inflation of relationships by correlating part‐whole measures; (3) covariation in the extremes of the construct hiding the possible independence of components within RWA; and (4) statistical artifacts arising in multiple regression from the combination of these factors. We elaborate these four issues and then demonstrate how they can lead to different interpretations of some previously published data. The article concludes with suggestions for the management and resolution of these issues that may allow RWA to continue to be used in religiosity and prejudice research and how it might evolve to become the boon to researchers that they seek.     

Beyond dogmatism: The need for closure as related to religion

Our theoretical assumption is that behind the dogmatism-religion positive but not systematic relation, a clearer one may exist between religion and need for closure (Webster & Kruglanski, 1994). A positive association of religiosity with need for closure was hypothesized (except with the decisiveness facet). Subjects ( n = 239) were administered the Need for Closure Scale (NFCS), the Religious Fundamentalism Scale and a two-dimensional religiosity scale. Religious fundamentalism was positively correlated with the total NFCS, preference for order and predictability. Classic religiosity predicted high need for closure (all facets except decisiveness). However, spirituality-emotional religion was associated with low close-mindedness and low decisiveness but still high discomfort with ambiguity. Discussion includes arguments favouring the usefulness of the need for closure construct for understanding many aspects of religious personality (e.g. dogmatism, authoritarianism, prejudice, multiple conversions, distinction between permanence in order-closure and urgency for closure).     

Religiosity of young adults: does childhood maltreatment make a difference?

Previous research on the association between maltreatment in childhood and later religious beliefs and behaviours suggests that maltreatment may have either negative or positive influences on religiosity. However, methodological limitations of previous studies may limit their generalisability. The present study attempted to address these limitations. We examined associations between childhood physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and several dimensions of adult religiosity in a large sample of college students (N = 763). Associations between child maltreatment and religiosity were weak (rs ≤ 0.09). After controlling for possible demographic confounds, the only significant association was between childhood emotional abuse and religious questing.     

Religiosity and treatment response to antidepressant medication: A prospective multi-site clinical trial

The present study examined the relationship between religiosity/spirituality and treatment response to antidepressant medication (citalopram). One-hundred and forty-eight Caucasian and African-American adults with uncomplicated major depression were treated with citalopram (20-60mg/day) over an 8-week period in a prospective multi-site clinical trial. Treatment response was assessed weekly with the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Religiosity (i.e., religious behaviours) and spirituality (i.e., spiritual well-being) were assessed at Week 3. No significant associations between spirituality and treatment response were found; however, there was a strong curvilinear relationship between religiosity and treatment response. Compared to lower or higher levels of religiosity, a moderate level of religiosity was significantly associated with a higher likelihood of remission and greater reduction in severity of depression. This association was independent of social support, ethnicity, gender, education, and baseline depression severity. A moderate amount of religiosity appears to be independently associated with an enhanced treatment response to citalopram.