Explaining Schism in American Protestant Denominations, 1890–1990

The remarkable degree of religious diversity in the United States is produced more through schisms and mergers occurring to preexisting denominations than through foundings of new religious groups. In this article we analyze schisms, focusing on mainstream Protestant denominations over the period 1890–1990. We treat schism as an organizational process rather than an expression of purely doctrinal disputes; more specifically, we argue that schisms arise from within denominations in response to attempts by denominational elites to achieve organizational consolidation. Event-history techniques are used to test hypotheses concerning resource environments, effects of denominational reorganization, resource mobilization capacity, network linkages, and denominational centralization. Results show that rates of schism are influenced by prior structural changes, size, and linkage to a liberal federation; we find no effects of resource or institutional environments.     

When subgroups secede: extending and refining the social psychological model of schism in groups

This article is about a field study (N=1,080) concerning the secession of a subgroup from the Church of England, and it is aimed at extending and refining the existing social psychological model of schisms in groups. It was found that the first step toward a schism is the belief that the group identity has been subverted. This belief will prompt negative emotions (i.e., dejection and agitation) and decrease both group identification and perceived group entitativity (i.e., cohesion, oneness). In turn, low group entitativity will reduce the level of group identification. Finally, low group identification and high negative emotions will increase schismatic intentions. It is also demonstrated that the negative impact of group identification, and the positive impact of negative emotions, on schismatic intentions is moderated by the perceived ability to voice dissent (i.e., the greater the perceived voice, the weaker the impact).     

When consensus fails: an analysis of the schism within the Italian Communist Party (1991)

Schisms within groups are extremely widespread, yet the phenomenon has been virtually ignored within social psychology. Indeed prominent theories of group process virtually exclude the possibility of schism by presupposing the unitary nature of group identity. In this paper we offer a social psychological approach to the schismatic process based on the idea that, while group members may expect to achieve consensus, the issue of where that consensus should reside may be a matter of argument. When differing constructions cannot be reconciled such that what one faction considers to represent group identity is seen by the another to contradict group identity, then the basis for schism exists. This approach is illustrated using an analysis of the 1991 split of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) into two organizations, the PDS and RC. Interviews with 26 members of these two organizations show that they produce different arguments concerning the identity of the categories involved. However, all the arguments are structured so as to construe the ingroup faction as consonant with the true identity of the PCI and the outgroup faction as dissonant with that identity. The implication of this analysis both for a social psychology of schism and for the conceptualization of group consensus are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The New York Psychoanalytic Civil War.

The goal of this contribution is to give an overall survey of the analytic schisms in the New York area from 1934 on. The general background, laying the groundwork for potential schisms, is described. There were several major schisms in the New York area. The first related to Horney's departure from the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. There were multiple splits in this group which eventuated in a psychoanalytic facility at the New York Medical College, as well as the establishment of the William Alanson White Institute. Then there was the establishment of a psychoanalytic training facility at Columbia University, one at the Downstate Medical Center, and another at the New York University School of Medicine. The various factors that played a role in the splits are discussed. Finally, there is a discussion of why psychoanalytic schisms take place.     

Why we can't get along

The author examines various arguments to explain the internal conflicts and schisms that have afflicted depth psychology since its beginnings. These arguments include the inevitable splits that occur in the course of institutional development, the inheritance of family schisms within the profession, historical, geographical and political influences, Freud's notion of the 'narcissism of minor differences' along with Gordon's idea of the need for enemies in establishing identity, and the impact of market forces. The author refutes these arguments and postulates instead that the profession attracts narcissistically disturbed members who have not been or cannot be sufficiently analysed. The profession needs to address this endemic narcissism in order to prevent further splitting and to establish a more ecumenical framework.     

CognitiveGenesis (CG): Assessing Academic Achievement and Cognitive Ability in Adventist Schools

CognitiveGenesis collected achievement and ability test data from 2006–2009 for all students in Seventh-day Adventist schools in North America. Students were above average in achievement compared to national norms and achieved above that predicted by their ability scores. The more years students attended Adventist schools, the higher they achieved, compared to the norm group. Change in students' achievement and ability over 1–3 years was greater than the change in the norm group for both males and females and students in all ethnic groups. Change in achievement and ability for students of all ability levels was equal to or greater than the change in the norm group.     

Merging the Religious Congregations and Membership Studies: A Data File for Documenting American Religious Change

The decennial religious congregations and membership studies are a popular data source for analyzing local religious composition and diversity, but several methodological challenges hinder merging the datasets for longitudinal analyses. In this paper, we introduce strategies for addressing four of the most serious challenges: religious mergers and schisms, changes in membership standards within certain groups, missing data and changes in county boundaries. In doing so we successfully merge the 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010 collections and build new longitudinal datasets of congregational and membership counts at the state and county levels. These changes increase religious group representation from 48 to 76, reduce bias from missing data, allow for the more reliable inclusion of 20–23 million adherents in each year, and improve overall ease of use. We also document instances when corrections were not possible and alert readers to the limitations of the merged files when measuring change among certain groups. The new longitudinal files are accessible from theARDA.com.     

Institutional conflicts in Jungian analysis

This paper explores how the institutional life of analytical psychology has been beset by its historical and continuing conflictual relationship with psychoanalysis. Stemming from a division in Jung's identity, that of the spiritual seeker and that of a mental health practitioner, the organizations of analytical psychology have repeatedly enacted that division, resulting in an unclear mission and considerable conflict. In England those conflicts have led to schisms; in America they have played out in internal conflicts within training institutes. Examples of areas of conflict are provided, along with suggestions for addressing these conflicts by recognizing them more openly.     

The group's absence norm and commitment to the group as predictors of group member absence in the next session: an actor-partner analysis

The group's absence norm, a construct from the applied psychology literature, was used to examine session absences in personal growth groups. Rather than examining the absence norm statically, we modeled it dynamically as a time-varying covariate (Tasca et al., 2010). We also examined moderation by modeling the interaction of the absence norm and the group member's commitment to the group in predicting the group member's absence in the next group session. Session absences in 1,722 group sessions for 66 group members in 9 interpersonal growth groups were modeled using Kenny, Mannetti, Pierro, Livi, and Kashy's (2002) adaptation of the Actor-Partner Interdependence model. Specifically, a 3-level model (sessions within group members within groups) examined the relationship of the group's absence norm (average previous absences of the other group members), commitment to the group (previous absences of the group member), and the interaction of the group's absence norm and commitment to the group on absence in the next session. As we hypothesized, (a) a greater number of previous individual absences (low commitment) increased the probability of a member being absent the next session, (b) the higher the group's absences norm, the greater the probability that an individual group member would be absent the next session, and (c) individual group members who were more committed to the group were more influenced by the group's absences norm than were group members less committed to the group. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Repatriating a Mind at Sea: Contribution to a Panel Discussion on the Seismic Shifts in Ruling Principles

Neither the analytic container nor the analyst is immune to the currents of cultural and societal change, in particular when those changes feel seismic in nature. In addressing the cultural anxiety that surrounded the 2016 presidential election, psychic splintering and social schisms seemed ubiquitous, in and out of the analytic container. How does the analyst anchor her- or himself, both as conscious clinician and conscientious citizen, amidst such shifting cultural and political currents? When the analyst experiences either internal displacement from fundamental well-being or severing from her or his own capacity to think, might ancient myth shed light on what one must navigate to find terra firma once again?     

Polarized Norms and Social Frames of Reference: A Test of the Self-Categorization Theory of Group Polarization

Self-categorization theory (Turner, 1985; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987) explains group polarization as conformity to a polarized norem which defines one's own group in contrast to other groups within a specific social context. Whether the ingroup norm is polarized or not depends on the social comparative context within which the ingroup defines itself. It was predicted from self-categorization theory that an ingroup confronted by a risky outgroup will polarize toward caution, an ingroup confronted by a caution outgroup will polarize toward risk, and an ingroup in the middle of the social frame of reference, confronted by both risky and cautious outgroups, will not polarize but will converge on its pretest mean. Our experiment adopted a modified version of the risky-shift paradigm, in which subjects gave pretest, posttest, and group consensus recommendations on three choice dilemma item-types (risky, neutral, or risky). The frame of reference was manipulated by confronting the ingroup with an outgroup lying on one or the other side, or both sides, of the ingroup distribution. This procedure was successful in producing a polarized theoretical ingroup norm in the appropriate conditions. Subjects' posttest opinions converged on their estimations of the consensual ingroup position, which in turn was polarized or not in line with the theoretical norm. There was some evidence that the degree of behavioral convergence and estimations of the ingroup consensus were a partial function of the extent to which subjects identified the group. There was also the usual main effect for item-type: Subjects converged on a norm polarized toward risk on risky items and toward caution on catious items. The results are consistent with self-categorization theory.     

Between Hope and Fear: A Dialogueon the Peace Process in the Middle East and the Polarized Israeli Society

The restarting of the peace process in the Middle East in 1993 raised the hopes of many in Israel for progress toward resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Yet the Oslo agreements raised not only hope but also fears. The latter triggered a deep schism and polarization within the Israeli society. These led to a delegitimization campaign by those opposing the peace process that was directed both against the rationale underlying the change of policies and its architects Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The escalation of polarization saw the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin and the seeming paradox of an election victory for the political rightist parties' candidate, Binyamin Netanyahu. Two Israeli social scientists present in dialogue form alternative psychopolitical perspectives and interpretations of the evolution of these critical events.     

Organizational Consolidation in American Protestant Denominations, 1890–1990

The religious sector in the United States is distinctive for the degree to which institutional change occurs not through the birth and death of organizations, but through mergers and schisms occurring among preexisting denominations. In this article we analyze mergers among mainstream Protestant denominations, as a means both to deepen our understanding of the dynamics of denominationalism and to broaden the field of discussion about organizational merger. We argue that patterns of merger in any sector are institutionally embedded: in the religious sector, the interaction of ingrained tradition and historical contingency influences the range of possible merger partners, the perceived advantages to merger, and the power of actors that may encourage or discourage merger. We pursue this argument using event-history data from denominations in four Protestant families between 1890 and 1990 to test hypotheses about the determinants of merger. The analysis shows that merger is influenced by denominational identity (family, racial makeup), organizational characteristics (size, centralization, and membership concentration), and the diffuse influence of the ecumenical movement; many of these effects are time dependent, a result of long-term shifts in the roles of denominational elites.     

Children's social groups and intergroup prejudice: Assessing the influence and inhibition of social group norms

A simulation group study examined whether the effects of group norms on 7‐ and 9‐year‐old children's intergroup attitudes can be moderated by a contrary school norm. Children learnt that their school had an inclusion norm, were assigned to a group with an outgroup inclusion or exclusion norm, and indicated their ingroup and outgroup attitudes under teacher surveillance or not. Results revealed reduced outgroup liking when the group had an exclusion norm, but that the effect was moderated when the school had an inclusion norm, especially among the older children. The participants’ ingroup liking was also reduced, but teacher surveillance had no effect on attitudes. The findings are discussed in relation to possible strategies to moderate social group norm effects.     

"Shaking Out the Mat": Schism and Organizational Transformation at a Mexican Ark of the Virgin

The apocalyptic Marian colony of Nueva Jerusalén, Mexico suffered a violent schism in 1982, marking a turning point in the history of the sect. The rift resulted in a major organizational transformation and helped to establish the centralized system of authority now observable in the colony. This article examines the ideological and structural factors that promoted the schism. A succession crisis, caused by the death of a Marian apparition seer, precipitated schismatic activity as dissidents struggled to block the charismatic leader's attempts to revise the sect's authority structure and identity. At the same time, the prophet escalated tensions by reframing the conflict as a commitment test. Wallis's theory of structural opportunity for schism is used to show how the conflict grew out of long-standing interest groups and ambiguous authority arrangements in the colony.     

Exploring predictors of alternative job changes

Previous studies have found that the variables that predict employee turnover vary considerably across situations. This lack of consistency may reflect limitations imposed by viewing turnover only as a decision to leave a current job. The variables that predict turnover may depend on the type of job change that an employee makes after leaving. This study explored which variables predicted leaving a job and moving to three alternative types of job change. The results show that different variables predicted employee moves to a new type of job in the same organization, the same job in a different organization, and a different job in a different organization. This supports the concept that turnover may be better modelled as a decision not only to leave a job, but also to move to a different work situation.     

Social group norms,school norms,and children's aggressive intentions

This study examined whether the effect of social group norms on 7‐ and 10‐year‐old children's aggression can be moderated or extinguished by contrary school norms. Children (n=384) participated in a simulation in which they were assigned membership in a social group for a drawing competition against an outgroup. Participants learnt that their group had a norm of inclusion, exclusion, or exclusion‐plus‐relational aggression, toward non‐group members, and that the school either had a norm of inclusion, or no such norm. Findings indicated that group norms influenced the participants' direct and indirect aggressive intentions, but that the school norm moderated the group norm effect, with the school's norm effect tending to be greater for indirect vs. direct aggression, males vs. females, and younger vs. older participants. Discussion focused on how school norms can be developed, endorsed, and presented so that they have their most lasting effect on children. Aggr. Behav. 36:195–204, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Responses to within-group criticism: does past adherence to group norms matter?

Two studies tested the hypothesis that responses to within-group criticism are influenced by perceptions of a critic's prior adherence to ingroup norms. Participants responded to criticism which originated from ingroup members who either had previously adhered to or deviated from a group norm. Across both studies, criticising the ingroup yielded more negative group evaluations for antinormative members than it did for normative members. Participants also reported highest levels of sensitivity overall to communication (whether critical or praising of the ingroup) which came from antinormative members. Mediational analyses (Study 2) indicated that these effects were driven by perceptions of whether the communication violated a group expectation, and also perceptions of the critic's identification with the group. Study 1 also provided evidence that reactions to criticism are made in response to social identity concerns: the effects of prior norm adherence were observed only in participants who were highly identified with the ingroup. The research integrates previous work on group deviance and responses to criticism by elaborating the conditions under which criticism originating from within a group is most and least likely to be tolerated by its members. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Impact of the Antitobacco Norm on the Selected Mode of Cognitive Dissonance Reduction

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that when behavior violates an antismoking injunctive norm, dissonance is aroused, but the injunctive norm constrains how people reduce their discomfort. In Experiment 1, participants with positive or negative attitudes toward public smoking wrote an essay for or against a ban on public smoking. Whereas attitude change occurred for those whose counter‐attitudinal essay supported the antismoking norm, those whose counter‐attitudinal essay violated the antismoking norm did not change their attitudes to reduce dissonance. In Experiment 2, participants who wrote against the ban on public smoking eschewed attitude change in favor of reducing dissonance through trivialization and act rationalization. The discussion focuses on how maintaining social connections makes cognitions resistant to change when dissonance is aroused.