One Conception of Secularism for All? A Comparison of Conceptions of Laïcité among Nonbelievers,Catholics, and Muslims in France

In European countries, a large number of people feel that Islam is incompatible with secularism. France's legal principle of laïcité (a type of state “secularism”) has governed the relationship between religion and society since 1905. However, recent research suggests that there coexist two distinct lay conceptions of laïcité that differ most notably in their tolerance for the presence of religious symbols in public places, one inclusive, the other restrictive. This latter conception appears to target mainly Muslims. The present research examined the lay conceptions of laïcité held by Catholics, Muslims, and nonbelievers. Analyses of participants’ responses (N = 375) to a scale measuring lay beliefs about laïcité confirmed the existence of two distinct lay conceptions of laïcité that differed in the importance given to public expression of religious beliefs, religious neutrality of the state, and equal treatment of different religions. The results also showed that, independent of participants’ religiosity, the restrictive conception was more prevalent among nonbelievers, the two conceptions were equally prevalent among Catholics, and the inclusive conception was more prevalent among Muslims.     

Predictors of re‐employment: A question of attitude,behavior, or gender?

This longitudinal study examined the predictive value of attitudes, personal‐related variables, job search behaviour, and demographic variables on re‐employment among 142 assembly workers who had been made redundant. Participants completed a questionnaire within a week after leaving their jobs, and another 15 months later. Results of hierarchical logistic regression revealed that gender (being male), was the strongest predictor of re‐employment. Willingness to relocate and desire to change occupation also increased the odds of re‐employment 15 months after dismissal. On the other hand ‐ having children at home and anonymous‐passive job‐search behaviour, which is more prevalent among women, decreased the odds for re‐employment. The study is contributing to research by revealing gender differences in job search behaviour and the importance of focusing qualitative differences instead of merely quantitative measures in job‐search behaviour. And even more important, despite attitude and job‐search behaviour, there is still differences that seems to be related to gender and family responsibility.     

Profiles of perfectionism,body-related concerns,and indicators of psychological health in vocational dance students: An investigation of the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism

ObjectivesThe study examined 1) profiles of multidimensional perfectionism; and 2) inter-relationships between these profiles and indices of body-related concerns and psychological health in the case of vocational dance students.DesignA cross-sectional design was employed.MethodsOne hundred and ninety-four vocational dance students (females = 169, males = 25; M age = 16.73, SD = 1.45) completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Frost-MPS; Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990), the Brief Measure of Positive and Negative Affect (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), the Social Physique Anxiety (SPA) Scale (Martin, Rejeski, Leary, McAuley, & Bane, 1997), an assessment of physical symptoms (Emmons, 1992), and the emotional and physical exhaustion subscale from the Athlete Burnout Measure (Raedeke & Smith, 2001).ResultsUsing a two-stage cluster analysis procedure, the dancers were grouped according to their scores on three Frost-MPS subscales (personal standards, concern over mistakes, and doubts about action). Four different profiles emerged: (1) dancers with pure personal standards perfectionism; (2) dancers with non perfectionism; (3) dancers with pure evaluative concerns perfectionism; and (4) dancers with a mixed profile of perfectionism. The results suggested that these different profiles of perfectionism distinguished according to body-related concerns and indicators of psychological health.ConclusionsIn support of the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism (Gaudreau & Thompson, 2010), dancers with adaptive achievement tendencies demonstrated greater psychological adjustment compared to other three subtypes, whereas dancers with relatively greater concerns over mistakes and high doubts about actions, regardless of their personal standards, reported greater psychological distress.     

Culture, self, and the emergence of reactance: Is there a “universal” freedom?

In this article we suggest that independent vs. interdependent aspects of the self yield different manifestations of psychological reactance and that this is especially relevant in a cross-cultural context. In Studies 1, 2, and 4 we showed that people from collectivistic cultural backgrounds (individuals holding more interdependent attitudes and values) were less sensitive to a threat to their individual freedom than people from individualistic cultural backgrounds (individuals holding more independent attitudes and values), but more sensitive if their collective freedom was threatened. In Study 3 we activated independent vs. interdependent attitudes and values utilizing a cognitive priming method and yielded similar results as the other studies hinting at the important causal role of self-related aspects in understanding reactance in a cross-cultural context.     

Stress‐related exhaustion disorder – clinical manifestation of burnout? A review of assessment methods,sleep impairments,cognitive disturbances,and neuro‐biological and physiological changes in clinical burnout

The aim of this paper was to provide an overview of the literature on clinically significant burnout, focusing on its assessment, associations with sleep disturbances, cognitive impairments, as well as neurobiological and physiological correlates. Fifty‐nine English language articles and six book chapters were included. The results indicate that exhaustion disorder (ED), as described in the Swedish version of the International Classification of Diseases, seems to be the most valid clinical equivalent of burnout. The data supports the notion that sleep impairments are causative and maintaining factors for this condition. Patients with clinical burnout/ED suffer from cognitive impairments in the areas of memory and executive functioning. The studies on neuro‐biological mechanisms have reported functional uncoupling of networks relating the limbic system to the pre‐frontal cortex, and decreased volumes of structures within the basal ganglia. Although there is a growing body of literature on the physiological correlates of clinical burnout/ED, there is to date no biomarker for this condition. More studies on the role of sleep disturbances, cognitive impairments, and neurobiological and physiological correlates in clinical burnout/ED are warranted.     

Self‐Compassion as a Facet of Neuroticism? A Reply to the Comments of Neff,Tóth‐Király,and Colosimo (2018)

In this paper, we respond to comments by Neff et al. (2018) made about our finding that the negative dimensions of self‐compassion were redundant with facets of neuroticism (rs ≥ 0.85; Pfattheicher et al., 2017) and not incrementally valid. We first provide epistemological guidance for establishing psychological constructs, namely, three hurdles that new constructs must pass: theoretically and empirically sound measurement, discriminant validity, and incremental validity—and then apply these guidelines to the self‐compassion scale. We then outline that the critique of Neff et al. (2018) is contestable. We question their decisions concerning data‐analytic methods that help them to circumvent instead of passing the outlined hurdles. In a reanalysis of the data provided by Neff et al. (2018), we point to several conceptual and psychometric problems and conclude that self‐compassion does not overcome the outlined hurdles. Instead, we show that our initial critique of the self‐compassion scale holds and that its dimensions are best considered facets of neuroticism. © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology     

“Successful”; dissociation,pseudovitality, and inauthentic use of the Senses

Dissociation is posited as a form of psychical organization in which psychical conflicts and threats to self‐preservation are regulated on the terrain of mind/body relations. Economic, social, and cultural processes are implicated in the establishment of stable forms of dissociation, and at the same time render these dissociative regimes opaque. This essay attempts to show 1) how the dissociative organization and process relies on a mechanism that may be described as a type of de‐repression; 2) that dissociative communication is not symbolic in nature but employs a signaling function, giving rise to pseudointegration of the personality rather than true integration; 3) how a phenomenon of false encoding may be observed in these cases; and 4) how a stable regime of pathological dissociation subtly creates a sensory cocoon or invisible wall, the effect of which is to erect a narcissistic field of omnipotent constructions (a “pathological container") in the place of actual contact between people. Lastly, it is in the structure of pathological dissociation that it is possible to locate a specific psychological definition of inauthenticity.     

Out of Sight,Out of Time? A Meta‐analytic Investigation of Procrastination and Time Perspective

Recent theory suggests that trait procrastination is a form of temporal self‐regulation failure that reflects a disjunction between the present and future self. Yet research to date is sparse and inconsistent regarding the nature of the associations of procrastination with time perspective. The current study aimed to meta‐analytically summarize the evidence to date to address the question of how procrastination is linked to future and present time perspective, and to test whether stress and positive affect explained the link between procrastination and future time perspective. A search of the available literature yielded six published studies and three unpublished studies, which were combined with five unpublished data sets for a total of 14 samples with 4312 participants. The meta‐analysis revealed that procrastination had a moderate and significant negative association with future time perspective, and a small but significant positive association with present time perspective. Mediation analyses across two of the samples found that high stress and low positive affect explained in part the association between procrastination and future time perspective. Overall, these findings support the notion that procrastinators focus less on the future and highlight the dynamic interrelations of affect and cognition that underlie procrastinators' intertemporal choices. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology     

‘Who is my Jung?’ The progressive,though sometimes ambivalent,expansion of Jung's idea of the collective unconscious: from an ‘unconscious humanity’ to – in all but name – the soul of the world

This paper discusses Jung's idea of myth as a projection of the collective unconscious, suggesting that the term ‘projection’ separates human beings from nature, withdrawing nature's life into humanity. Jung's discovery of a realm independent of consciousness – in conversations with his soul in The Red Book, and in synchronicity, began a dialogue which finally brought him, through the Alchemical Mercurius, closer to the idea of a world‐soul.     

Driven,Distracted, or Both? A Performance‐Based Ex‐Gaussian Analysis of Individual Differences in Anxiety

Since the inception of the empirical study of personality, and even before it, individual differences in anxiety and distress have been viewed as key predictors of behavioral performance. Yet such literatures have always entertained 2 perspectives, one contending that anxious individuals are "driven" and the other contending that anxious individuals are "distracted." The present 3 studies (total N=289) sought to reconcile such discrepant views according to an ex-Gaussian parsing of reaction time performance tendencies in basic cognitive tasks. As hypothesized, a particular pattern marked by faster responding on the preponderance of trials (in terms of the ex-Gaussian μ parameter) in combination with slower responding on other trials (in terms of the ex-Gaussian τ parameter) was predictive of higher levels of anxiety. Implications for understanding neuroticism, distress, the anxiety-performance interface, and cognitive models of personality processes are discussed.