Religion and state entanglement and interstate armed conflict initiation, 1990–2010

ABSTRACT

The relationship of religion to armed conflict initiation, as opposed to occurrence, remains understudied and undertheorised. The same is true for the relationship of religion to armed conflicts between states, cf. intra-state or extra-state conflict. This contribution adds to the understanding of both of these conflict outcomes. It examines the relationship to interstate armed conflict initiation of state religion, operationalised as government involvement in religion in the Religion and State dataset of Jonathan Fox. We find sufficient evidence to conclude that religion–state entanglement does raise states’ propensities towards first use of military force. Official religion and official support are both strongly correlated with that outcome. Legislative support to the majority religion is also well correlated with it. State-level discrimination against minority religions is weakly but positively correlated, but heavy regulation of majority religions is not correlated. We further find evidence that minority discrimination, majority regulation and legislative support wield their effects in tandem more strongly than they do individually. The foregoing supports the theory that official religious preference does make states more militant.     

Relationship of M.S. Belief Scale scores to depression and anxiety in hospitalized psychiatric patients

The M.S. Belief Scale (MSB) was administered to 61 psychiatric hospital patients on admission and just prior to discharge. Measures of depression and anxiety were also taken before and after hospital treatment. MSB prescores were positively correlated with presenting levels of depression and anxiety. Furthermore, declines in irrational thinking after a treatment program of cognitive-behavioral therapy were associated with declines in levels of depression. Initial levels of irrational thinking did not accurately predict length of hospital stay. The MSB scores for these patients at admission were considerably higher than for other populations previously reported. However, their discharge levels were comparable to normal levels reported by others. The results suggest a relationship between irrational thinking and depression for hospitalized psychiatric patients.Dr. Templeman is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Pendleton, Oregon.     

Extending Psychometric Norms for Pre-Cardiac Transplantation Evaluations: The Florida Cohort, 1990–1996

Multidisciplinary pre-cardiac transplantation evaluations determine an individual's ability to benefit from potential transplantation. Psychologists are routinely consulted to perform psychological evaluations and testing to examine the candidate's current functioning and to forecast future functioning in the event of transplantation. The establishment of appropriate norms for psychological tests is an ethical imperative to provide high quality psychological consultations that maximize the utility of information gathered. The purpose of this paper is to present pre-cardiac transplant norms for a battery of psychological tests in a large population of consecutive transplant candidates. Together with other recently published norms on alternative test batteries, these norms allow the transplant psychologist to select from a range of psychological tests that span multiple domains of critical importance including the affective, behavioral, coping, cognitive, and health related quality of life domains. These norms appear to set a standard of practice for the use of psychological tests by a consulting transplantation psychologist.     

A survey of psychologists' attitudes towards and utilization of exposure therapy for PTSD

Although research supports the efficacy of exposure therapy for PTSD, some evidence suggests that exposure is under-utilized in general clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to assess licensed psychologists' use of imaginal exposure for PTSD and to investigate perceived barriers to its implementation. A total of 852 psychologists from three states were randomly selected and surveyed. An additional 50 members of a trauma special interest group of a national behavior therapy organization were also surveyed. The main survey results indicate that a large majority of licensed doctoral level psychologists do not report use of exposure therapy to treat patients with PTSD. Although approximately half of the main study sample reported that they were at least somewhat familiar with exposure for PTSD, only a small minority used it to treat PTSD in their clinical practice. Even among psychologists with strong interest and training in behavioral treatment for PTSD, exposure therapy is not completely accepted or widely used. Clinicians also appear to perceive a significant number of barriers to implementing exposure.     

Fodor's Attempt To Naturalize Mental Content

My purpose is to evaluate the naturalistic theory of content proposed by Jerry Fodor. This is an informational theory which attempts to solve the disjunction problem that notoriously plagues such theories by appealing to the relationship of asymmetric dependence. I argue that this theory fails to apply to two important categories of mental state. On the one hand, it fails to apply to such personal-level states as beliefs, since the required laws do not hold. This is because of the cognitive penetrability of such processes as object recognition. On the other hand, it fails to apply to subpersonal representational states of the kind that figure in cognitive psychological explanations of our cognitive and perceptual capacities. Here the required laws hold but there is no relationship of asymmetric dependency between the various laws that govern the tokening of any particular type of sub-personal state.     

Humanitarian Intervention: Closing the Gap Between Theory and Practice

abstract   Apparently, there are some important tensions that must be confronted in grappling with the issue of the permissibility of humanitarian intervention. Notably, there is the tension between respecting sovereignty and responding to the plight of the needy, that is, there is tension between respecting governments' authority and desire for non-interference, and respecting the individuals who suffer under their leadership. I argue that these and other tensions should be resolved in favour of protecting the individuals who suffer in humanitarian crises, though the way to do this defensibly requires that we put in place many safeguards against abuse. My main theoretical argument emerges from a model of global justice that I develop.
I then examine recent reports on intervention and state sovereignty compiled by an inter-national commission in order to show that consensus is building about the permissibility of military intervention to protect fundamental human rights for vulnerable populations in certain cases. Some important public policy proposals are evolving in the direction of protecting individuals over states, but there are still some important gaps that remain between what is theoretically desirable and proposals about international law. I show where some of those gaps are and how we can close them.     

The psycho‐physical laws of intentionality

Intentional mental states have causes and effects. Davidson has shown that this fact alone does not entail the existence of psycho‐physical laws, but his anomalism makes the connection between the content and causation of intentional states utterly mysterious. By defining intentional states in terms of their causes and effects, functionalism promises to explain this connection. If intentional states have their causes and effects in virtue of their contents, then there must be intrinsic states (of the people who have them) which are ‘local causal surrogates’ for the propositions believed, desired, or whatever. We can define these intrinsic states in terms of the laws that govern them, but these laws alone are not sufficient to account for intentional content. To do that we need to invoke laws which link these intrinsic states with their contents. Such a ‘wide’ functional account is sketched; it combines a suggestion of Ramsey's about truth conditions with a ‘feedback’ account of the content of desires.     

La formation en psychologie : du savoir à la culture

What do we exactly do, when we use academic studies to train a psychologist? This paper explores the idea that, besides transmitting theoretical knowledge and practical skills, we accompany the students through an intense identity reorganisation, a migration crisis which for them is implied by the discovery of the psychological culture. It is based upon the author's practice, as a psychologist and teacher, with mature students, whose experience constitutes a magnifiying glass to understand the process of this reorganization. Along this way, psychological knowledge cannot be envisioned only as an object to be transmitted, but as an object to be constructed: the model of knowledge acquisition is transformed into a model of reinforcement of thought.     

Effects of hedonic valence and physiological arousal on emotion: A comparison of two theoretical perspectives

Two theoretical perspectives concerned with how one emotional state may influence a subsequent one were examined. Zillmann's (1979) excitation transfer theory suggests that undetected residual arousal from a first state will transfer and intensify a subsequent state—regardless of the first state's hedonic valence. Baron's (1977) incompatible response model, on the other hand, suggests that the hedonic valence of an earlier state will affect the experience of a second state and that this effect will be strongest when the two states are temporally close. The results of this investigation support the incompatible response model but not the excitation transfer model. Unrecognized residual arousal from a prior state failed to affect subjects' second emotional state, although the hedonic valence of the prior state did affect the final emotional state when the second state was induced immediately after the first. All emotional states, although they may be equally arousing, do not affect subsequent emotion in an identical manner. When two emotional states are induced in quick succession, the hedonic valence of the prior state plays an important role in determining the intensity of the subsequent emotional state.     

The Use of Testing Technicians: Critical Issues for Professional Psychology

The controversial practice of using unlicensed individuals to administered psychological tests has been questioned by some psychologists, professional organizations, state and provincial boards of psychology, state governments, departments of education, and third-party health care providers. This article provides an overview of the ethical, legal, and technical issues surrounding the controversy. On the basis of a review of these issues, recommendations are offered that are directed toward state and provincial boards of psychology, developers and publishers of psychological tests, and licensed psychologists.     

The therapeutic effects of rational masturbation

Editor's Note: Dr. Kujoth's article inaugurates theClinician's Corner of JRECBT. Clinician's Corner will present case studies, therapeutic techniques, self-help articles and other material which has direct relevance for clinical practice. In this article, Dr. Kujoth, a licensed clinical psychologist, presents a case of his that illustrates how the philosophy of REBT towards human sexuality has a long-term liberating and self-actualizing effect on an ‘at risk’ juvenile.     

Marriage and ministry in midlife women

This study of 15 midlife women seminarians or clergy and 13 of their husbands focuses upon the tension between a commitment to family life and a commitment to ordained ministry. The women were preparing to become Protestant clergy or were already in this vocation, while their husbands were middle-class, successful professional people. The study examines the impact of the new cultural self-development ethic upon the lives and religious faith of the women. Husbands' responses to the wives' changes are considered, and suggestions are made to supervising judicatories regarding assistance that may be given to the couples.He is an ordained minister of the Lutheran Church in America as well as a licensed psychologist in the state of Pennsylvania.     

Competence

Summary

Competence in mental health is explored in many roles, including that of researcher, author, teacher, supervisor, therapist, evaluator, consultant, forensic specialist, case manager, and administrator. It is viewed not only as a construct but also as an ongoing process within the individual. Five fundamental areas are examined: (1) Maintaining high standards of competence, (2) keeping within one's boundaries of competence and limitations of one's expertise, (3) maintaining competence in human diversity in practice and research, (4) engaging in continuing education in scientific and professional areas, and (5) protecting the welfare of others when standards are lacking. Guidance is also received from ethics codes, published standards of practice, federal and state laws, and institutional policies and regulations.     

The effect of the emotional state on driving performance in a simulated car-following task

Emotion is an important factor that influences driving behavior, but the mechanism is unclear. This research explored the effect of the emotional state on simulated driving behavior. Thirty-five licensed drivers participated in this study and completed a car-following task. The angry, happy and neutral states were manipulated during the task. The participants’ driving performance and risk perception were recorded under each emotional state. Trait anger and driving experience were also measured to explore the possible mediating effect. The results showed that the drivers in an angry or happy emotional state tended to maintain less time to collision and take a longer time to brake while following a lead vehicle than the drivers under the neutral condition, suggesting that drivers in emotional states are more dangerous those in neutral states. Moreover, the happy state rendered the drivers more dangerous, which manifested as a lower perceived accident risk than that among the drivers in the angry and neutral states. More specifically, experienced drivers in happy states performed worse with respect to vehicle lateral position control. Recommendations and implications for safety education and further research are discussed.     

The Adam and Eve syndrome

Conclusion The concept of divine forgiveness is incomprehensible to most, since it involves principles that defy rational interpretation on the level of human cognition. As a result, individuals, and especially those who present themselves for treatment, find themselves caught up in a repetition of self-judgment and selfpunishment, which is a reenactment of the original sin and the disobedience encountered in the Garden of Eden. It can be pointed out to patients that this continuous, repetitious acting out of the functions of self-judgment and selfpunishment represents the worst sin of all—the original sin in which the power and authority of God are usurped and assumed, resulting eventually in a denial of God along with symptoms that are often incapacitating. When these functions are returned to God, punishment can be expected to be much less severe and intense, because of the nature and characteristics of divine forgiveness.Ray O. Sexton, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in Memphis, Tennessee, maintaining an active inpatient and outpatient practice of psychotherapy. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences and is a clinical instructor in psychiatry at the Center. He was a Duke University fellow in psychiatry and served with the U.S. Navy as a medical officer from 1969 to 1971.Richard C. Maddock, S.T.M., Ph.D., is an Episcopal priest and a licensed psychologist in Arkansas and in Tennessee. He has published a number of scholarly articles in the areas of social and clinical psychology and in the psychology of religion. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and various state and regional associations, at which he has presented scientifie papers. With Dr. Sexton, he maintains a private practice in Memphis, Tennessee.     

What the Humean Should Say About Entanglement

Tim Maudlin has influentially argued that Humeanism about laws of nature stands in conflict with quantum mechanics. Specifically Humeanism implies the principle Separability: the complete physical state of a world is determined by the intrinsic physical state of each space‐time point. Maudlin argues Separability is violated by the entangled states posited by QM. We argue that Maudlin only establishes that a stronger principle, which we call Strong Separability, is in tension with QM. Separability is not in tension with QM. Moreover, while the Humean requires Separability to capture the core tenets of her view, there's no Humean‐specific motivation for accepting Strong Separability. We go on to give a Humean account of entangled states which satisfies Separability. The core idea is that certain quantum states depend upon the Humean mosaic in much the same way as the laws do. In fact, we offer a variant of the Best System account on which the systemization procedure that generates the laws also serves to ground these states. We show how this account works by applying it to the example of Bohmian Mechanics. The 3N‐dimensional configuration space, the world particle in it and the wave function on it are part of the best system of the Humean mosaic, which consists of N particles moving in 3‐dimensional space. We argue that this account is superior to the Humean account of Bohmian Mechanics defended by Loewer and Albert, which takes the 3N‐dimensional space, and its inhabitants, as fundamental.     

Pluralistic folk psychology and varieties of self-knowledge: an exploration

Turning the techniques we use to understand other people onto ourselves can provide an insight into the types of self-knowledge that may be possible for us. Adopting Pluralistic Folk Psychology, according to which we understand others not primarily by thinking about invisible beliefs and desires that cause behavior, but instead by modeling others as people - with rich characters, relationships, past histories, cultural embeddedness, personality traits, and so forth. A preliminary investigation shows that we understand ourselves at least in terms of our phenomenal states, informational states, perceptual states, traits, desires, and beliefs. I then appeal to empirical research to examine the accuracy of our sense of self-understanding in these ways, and argue that these are often non-veridical. Moreover, in our folk practices, we do not take our statements of self-understanding as infallible, but we allow others to help us see ourselves. While there is room for some improvement in our acurarcy, I conclude that our sense of self is largely a joint construct of self and others, and that looping effects play a significant role in what one’s self turns out to be. The self is a fluid thing that we are constantly creating through our actions and self-constituting thoughts, but it is a creation we do not make alone. Others help to create us, as we help to create them.     

Law,professional practice,and professional organizations: Where do we go from here?

The ethical dilemmas presented to the practicing school psychologist by the plethora of laws that dictate procedures, policies, and instrumentation are discussed. The function of professional organizations, both national and state, is described as (a) anticipating legislation, (b) developing political impact, (c) affecting existing laws, and (d) affecting proposed legislation. Coordination of efforts among various groups and development of political expertise is urged as a way to approach issues of concern to both psychologists and their clients.