Measuring Spirituality as a Universal Human Experience: A Review of Spirituality Questionnaires

Spirituality is an important theme in health research, since a spiritual orientation can help people to cope with the consequences of a serious disease. Knowledge on the role of spirituality is, however, limited, as most research is based on measures of religiosity rather than spirituality. A questionnaire that transcends specific beliefs is a prerequisite for quantifying the importance of spirituality among people who adhere to a religion or none at all. In this review, we discuss ten questionnaires that address spirituality as a universal human experience. Questionnaires are evaluated with regard to psychometric properties, item formulation and confusion with well-being and distress. Although none of the questionnaires fulfilled all the criteria, the multidimensional Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire is promising.     

Calvin O. Schrag,God as Otherwise Than Being: Toward a Semantics of the Gift

Continental Philosophy Review -     

The Use of Single-Case Experimental Research to Examine Physical Activity,Exercise, and Physical Fitness Interventions: A Review

This review identified studies that have utilized single-case experimental methods to evaluate physical activity, exercise, and physical fitness interventions. A total of 10 studies met the inclusion criteria. Single-case experimental design studies were inclusive to clinical populations and able to demonstrate an intervention effect. Future researchers should use validated and reliable assessments of physical activity or physical activity capacity, establish stable baseline assessments of their target behavior prior to the introduction of any intervention, use statistical tests to establish clinical and statistical significance, and move away from simple A-B designs that do not rule out the effects of extraneous variables.     

The Immigrant Analyst: A Journey From Double Consciousness Toward Hybridity

In this paper I utilize the concept of “double consciousness” as a framework for theorizing the subjectivity of the immigrant analyst. I invite the reader to journey with me as I deconstruct my experiences as an immigrant analyst in North America in order to depict how “double consciousness” shapes subjectivity. I show that I developed a binary, bifurcated analyst self, despite my wish to become a multicultural analyst who could “stand in the spaces.” This subtly clouded my clinical judgment causing me to side with the immigrant boyfriend of an American patient and to ignore significant differences between myself and a French patient because he too was an immigrant. When I named and processed my “double consciousness” I experienced resignification, my subjectivity was reconfigured, I was able to experience a panoply of selves, a hybrid “me-ness,” and I could recognize and address “double consciousness” in my immigrant patients.     

Toward a Psychology of Religion, Spirituality, Meaning-Search, and Aging: Past Research and a Practical Application

The current work is a combined review of several major theoretical issues in religious gerontology and of related research findings. It is intended to briefly inform, rather than to serve as a comprehensive review of the literature. The current author's primary goals are to put-forth points of information about contemporary terminology, to conceptualize motives for meaning-search at any age, to synthesize a few major findings and associated flaws in the research, and to describe a practical approach to the psychology of religion and spirituality (i.e., coping outcomes research). Within the current work, the reader is directed to sources of extensive reviews of data and of broader theoretical debates.     

Closeness to God,anger toward God,and seeing such anger as morally acceptable: links to life satisfaction

This study examined the relationships among closeness with and anger toward God, moral acceptability of anger toward God, and life satisfaction (LS) in a sample of undergraduates (N?=?196). Findings showed that closeness to God moderated the association between anger toward God and LS, such that high anger combined with high closeness was associated with lower LS. Contrary to predictions, seeing anger toward God as morally acceptable did not moderate the connection between anger and LS, and in the context of closeness to God, it weakened the association between closeness and LS. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of understanding the dynamic and nuanced role of human emotions and perceptions in personal relationships with the Divine.     

Free Will as a Gift from God: A New Compatibilism

Philosophical Studies -     

The Embodied God: Core Intuitions About Person Physicality Coexist and Interfere With Acquired Christian Beliefs About God,the Holy Spirit,and Jesus

Why are disembodied extraordinary beings like gods and spirits prevalent in past and present theologies? Under the intuitive Cartesian dualism hypothesis, this is because it is natural to conceptualize of minds as separate from bodies; under the counterintuitiveness hypothesis, this is because beliefs in minds without bodies are unnatural—such beliefs violate core knowledge intuitions about person physicality and consequently have a social transmission advantage. We report on a critical test of these contrasting hypotheses. Prior research found that among adult Christian religious adherents, intuitions about person psychology coexist and interfere with theological conceptualizations of God (e.g., infallibility). Here, we use a sentence verification paradigm where participants are asked to evaluate as true or false statements on which core knowledge intuitions about person physicality and psychology and Christian theology about God are inconsistent (true on one and false on the other) versus consistent (both true or both false). We find, as predicted by the counterintuitiveness hypothesis but not the Cartesian dualism hypothesis, that Christian religious adherents show worse performance (lower accuracy and slower response time) on statements where Christian theological doctrines about God's physicality (e.g., incorporeality, omnipresence) conflict with intuitions about person physicality. We find these effects for other extraordinary beings in Christianity—the Holy Spirit and Jesus—but not for an ordinary being (priest). We conclude that it is unintuitive to conceptualize extraordinary beings as disembodied, and that this, rather than inherent Cartesian dualism, may explain the prevalence of beliefs in such beings.