Maimonides and Miracles: The Growth of a (Dis)Belief

This study approaches Maimonides' attitude towards miracles as a long-term process. The young Maimonides saw no room nor any need for miracles. Science provided a full and satisfactory explanation for events within a deterministic cosmos. However, as he matured, his doubts concerning the capacity of science to account for all events intensified; he increasingly realized that some features of the cosmos, or events in Jewish history, cannot be accounted for fully by any explanatory system. As his disbelief in the unlimited power of scientific explanation grew, he became more receptive to the possibility of miracles. For miracles are nothing other than events or features that, while not being totally at odds with science, cannot be fully accounted for in any theory. Maimonides' ultimate acceptance of miracles was, therefore, his ultimate acceptance of his own doubts and uncertainties.     

Dis/Assembling Schizophrenia on YouTube: Theorizing an Analog Body in a Virtual Sphere

As visual technologies become increasingly networked online, websites like YouTube provide a space to share vlogs (video blogs) online, suggest related content for viewers, and help in/form virtual communities, including those of mental illness. Within this space, vlogs of schizophrenia and comments generated about them by other users can represent transitional, dialogical states of illness that speak back to the analog body and affect a body’s way of being in the world. Moreover, as vlogs create resistance against static definitions of schizophrenia, they may foster a creativity, experimentation, and inventiveness that transforms understandings of schizophrenia within the sciences and humanities.     

(The) Body (of) Knowledge: Somatic Contributions to the Practice of Sport Psychology

Much of applied sport psychology focuses on mental training or mental skills. There is clearly great benefit in looking at the mental aspects of performance and experience. In this article, we explore how mental aspects (language/mind) can be considered in a broader perspective of the human being, which includes emotion/mood and the body. We illustrate how a somatic view (e.g., Strozzi-Heckler, 2003 Strozzi-Heckler, R. 2003. Being human at work: Bringing somatic intelligence into your professional life, Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.  [Google Scholar], 2007 Strozzi-Heckler, R. 2007. “Leadership dojo”. In The change handbook , (2nd ed.,, Edited by: Holman, P., Devane, T. and Cady, S. 239–243. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.  [Google Scholar]) creates potentially powerful methods of working through the body, enabling a more holistic approach to understanding and helping clients. Examples of using these methods in sport psychology consultations with collegiate and other elite athletes and performers are presented. A case study shows how these perspectives are incorporated into initial consultations, intakes, and interventions. The intention here is that the ideas, experiences, and tools presented will help expand the service repertoires of sport psychology practitioners.     

Suturing the Body Corporate (Divine and Human) in the Brahmanic Traditions

In this discussion, we ponder the discourse about the ‘body of the Divine’ in the Indian tradition. Beginning with the Vedas, we survey the major eras and thinkers of that tradition, considering various notions of the Supreme Divine Being it produced. For each, we ask: is the Divine embodied? If so, then in what way? What is the nature of the body of the Divine, and what is its relationship to human bodies? What is the value of the body of the Divine to the spiritual aspirant? We consider, where relevant, which views are pantheistic and which might be considered panentheistic. Panentheism is connected with discourse on the world as the body of God. It has origins in medieval Christian theology with anticipatory traces in Plato’s Timeaus. Under pantheism, were the world to end—were it to collapse or disappear irreversibly, perhaps, into a huge black hole—then God would disintegrate without a remainder as well; for in this view the Divine Spirit is the universe. The same is not true under panentheism which posits a more complex relationship between the Divine and the world. According to panentheism, God pervades the world—God is in the world—and at the same time, God sustains the world—the world is in God. This allows that God be greater than, transcendent of and independent of the world. In our conclusion we remark on how the views we have surveyed link to, resonate with, or dis-compare with the current—should one say revivified—interest in intellectual quarters with panentheism.     

Spanish version of the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS) for adolescents

The need to study the positive aspects of body image led to the design of the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS). The aim of the present study was to develop a Spanish adaptation of the BAS for adolescents, testing its factor structure, construct validity and any differences between girls and boys. Participants were 312 adolescents aged between 12 and 20; there were 148 females and 164 males. The validation analysis of the BAS revealed a one-factor structure with adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .908) and construct validity (correlations with body mass index, influence of the body shape model, perceived stress, coping strategies, self-esteem and variables from the Eating Disorders Inventory-2), as well as significant differences between boys and girls (p < .01). The BAS is suitable for administration in a Spanish adolescent population as a way of analysing the positive aspects of body image.     

The (Dis)similarity of a Minority Religion to Its Broader Religious Context: The Case of American Jews

While much research shows the relationship between individual-level variables, such as Jewish background, education, age, and income and an individual’s Jewish identity, very little research has systematically addressed the question of community context, either general or Jewish, as a factor influencing Jewish religious or ethnic identity. This lack of research has been partially a result of the lack of an adequate data set to facilitate such analysis. Using the newly-aggregated Decade 2000 data set, with its 19,800 cases spread across 22 Jewish communities, we find that despite the anecdotal evidence and the logic that suggests that environment impacts behavior, the environmental impact on Jewish identity is clearly weak. Individual characteristics are much stronger than community context in explaining variations in the strength of Jewish identity.     

Psychometric Properties of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS) in Spanish Preadolescents

Sex Roles - Objectification theory postulates that the body is constructed as a sexual object and is subject to observation and evaluation in such a way that a person may feel that their body is an...     

Exploring Different Forms of Job (Dis)Satisfaction and Their Relationship with Well‐Being,Motivation and Performance

Job satisfaction is often treated as a one‐dimensional construct. In contrast, Bruggemann ( 1974 ) postulated six distinct forms of (dis)satisfaction: four types of satisfaction (progressive, stabilised, resigned, pseudo) and two types of dissatisfaction (constructive, fixated). Despite her theory's practical relevance, few researchers have explored its assumptions or applications. The current study aimed to characterise a German‐speaking employee sample (n = 892) according to Bruggemann's theory using mixture modelling. We investigated stability of the (dis)satisfaction forms over a five‐month period, as well as their relationship with well‐being, motivation and (self‐reported) performance. We found latent clusters corresponding to most Bruggemann types, though no distinction between progressive and stabilised satisfaction was possible. While cluster membership varied over time, some clusters (e.g. resigned satisfaction) were more stable than others (e.g. constructive dissatisfaction). Overall satisfaction level explained 25–51 per cent variance in well‐being and motivation, and 13–16 per cent variance in performance. Including forms of satisfaction improved cross‐sectional prediction by 2–6 per cent explained variance. Results suggest that unfavourable consequences of job dissatisfaction may be limited to fixated—not constructive—dissatisfaction, though no consistent longitudinal effects emerged. We argue that exploring qualitative differences in job satisfaction promotes a more nuanced and potentially useful understanding of the relationship between satisfaction and work outcomes.     

Translation and validation of the Body Image Avoidance Questionnaire (BIAQ) for the Portuguese language in Brazil

Brazilian researchers have not been provided with instruments with which to investigate body image avoidance behaviors. The aim of this study was to translate and validate the Body Image Avoidance Questionnaire (BIAQ) for Brazil. The translation, synthesis, back-translation, Brazilian questionnaire formulation, and pretest were carried out in the first phase of the study. The study of the scale’s psychometric properties was conducted in the second phase of the study. Brazilian BIAQ has 13 items and good adjustment indexes. There was a greater adherence to the sampling data in the model in which the avoidance of body image is maintained by control strategies, by the refusal of body exposure, and by strategies that accommodate tension. This work is expected to enable the comparison of international data and the performance of multicultural studies on body avoidance behavior, expanding research possibilities in Brazil and worldwide.     

The (In)visible Body: Feminism,Phenomenology, and the Case of Cosmetic Surgery

This paper will examine the experience of and drive for bodily invisibility in women through the theoretical approaches of phenomenology and social constructionism. An examination of the social disruptions of bodily invisibility and the compulsive avoidance of such instances, particularly with respect to the fastidious maintenance of body comportment and appearance within the narrow parameters afforded by social norms, will lead to an exploration of the conflation of biomedicine with the beauty industry.     

Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and the Ethics of Body and Place: Critical Methodological Reflections

This article is a critical methodological reflection on the use of interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) initiated in the context of a qualitative research project on the experience of seclusion in a psychiatric setting. It addresses an explicit gap in the IPA literature to explore the ways that Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology can extend the remit of IPA for noncognitivist qualitative research projects beyond the field of health psychology. In particular, the article develops Merleau-Ponty’s understanding of the lived-body, language, and embodied speech, with specific attention to the ethical implications of body and place. It concludes with a discussion on phenomenological reflexivity and prompts a reconsideration of phenomenological methods across a wide range of qualitative research projects concerned with subjectivity and ethical practice, including critical health studies, critical bioethics, and cultural studies that employ a qualitative empirical research design.     

以气养身——孟荀“气”论中的儒家身教观

早期儒家思想中,孟、荀以"血气"为身体的自然基础,通过讨论"气"的观念,形成"身教"的思想。孟子通过"知言养气"的修身办法,以志统摄气,强调气之浩然与清明;荀子通过"以礼治气"的礼教方法,以教治气,强调气之自然与可塑。孟子的养气说,注重以内在的意志力完成对血气的超越;荀子的治气论,强调以外在的礼义完成对血气的规范。二者合一,形成早期儒家的身教思想,而这一思想对于后世儒学工夫论的发展起到奠基的作用,对今日反思儒家的教化哲学亦有启发之处。     

Body Poly-texts: Discourses of the Anorexic Body

It is now increasingly acknowledged that anorexia nervosa is a ‘culture-bound syndrome’ which must be understood within the context of an increasing idealization of female thinness and a high prevalence of dieting and body dissatisfaction, particularly amongst women and girls. Whilst this socioculturally-oriented perspective is important, it is also simplistic to conceptualize anorexia simply as a ‘slimmer's disease’. The ways in which contemporary Western culture is imbricated in anorexia are both complex and multiple. This paper uses a discourse-analytic approach, informed by feminist Foucauldian theory, to examine some of the multiple and often conflicting meanings and discursive constructions of the (female) anorexic body. The paper is based on a series of interviews conducted with 23 women (21 diagnosed as anorexic and 2 self-diagnosed). The analysis focuses on the explication of two discourses: a romantic discourse and a discourse of Cartesian dualism evidenced in the interviews. By contrasting the very different ways in which these two discourses constitute the anorexic body, this paper aims to provide thereby a socioculturally contextualized and gender-oriented account of the multiple discursive constructions of ‘anorexia nervosa’ and ‘anorexic’ bodies. Implications for psychotherapeutic interventions are discussed.     

Measuring dysmorphic concern in Italy: psychometric properties of the Italian Body Image Concern Inventory (I-BICI)

The present research evaluated an Italian version of the Body Image Concern Inventory (I-BICI). A total of 412 Italian volunteers from Central and Southern Italy completed the measure (M=27.05 years, range=13-66 years) and the basic psychometric properties (factor structure, internal consistency, convergent validity) were assessed. The total measure demonstrated good internal consistency. Significant correlations were found between the I-BICI and measures of eating disorder (EDI-2) and obsessive-compulsive symptomatology (PI). Confirmatory factor analysis replicated the mesaure’s proposed factor structure. Directions for future research are discussed.     

Categorizing the Body

I shall attempt to do four things in this paper:

(1) sketch the influence of two models—one essentialist, the other non-essentialist—on some contemporary ways of categorizing the body;

(2) indicate certain tensions that remain because of the dominant influence of the essentialist model;

(3) discuss what to my mind is the most sustained attempt by phenomenology to come to terms with the problem of the body by concentrating on Merleau-Ponty's theory of operative intentionality;

(4) argue that intentionality and ontological analysis must always be distortive of this issue, and indicate an alternative way of approaching the matter.     

Reconfiguring Dis/ability: Multiple and Narrative Constructions of Self

Postmodern claims of multiple, narrative, and constructed identities contribute greater complexity to the social perceptions of persons with dis/abilities in part because they challenge the concept of a unitary self, which when applied to disabled people is not only inadequate and inaccurate but also dangerous. Theories of multiple identities, disrupted self-narratives, and dominant discourses about dis/ability are placed in dialogue with first-hand accounts of persons living with dis/abilities—and living fully. To be inclusive of people with dis/abilities, communities of faith are tasked with challenging the concept of a “normative” (unitary acceptable) body and constructing a revised narrative of the connection between divine activity and dis/ability.     

The development of the Body Morph Assessment version 2.0 (BMA 2.0): Tests of reliability and validity

This study tested the psychometric characteristics of the Body Morph Assessment version 2.0 (BMA 2.0). A sample of 563 adults composed of four groups classified by gender and ethnicity (Caucasian men and women and African-American men and women) were studied. Support for the internal consistency and test–retest reliability of the BMA 2.0 was found for both men and women. A study of convergent validity was conducted. The BMA 2.0 was found to have adequate reliability and validity. Norms were established for the BMA 2.0 estimates of current body size (CBS), ideal body size (IBS), and acceptable body size (ABS) for Caucasian and African-American men and women. In summary, the BMA 2.0 is a reliable and valid computerized measure of CBS, IBS, ABS, the CBS–IBS discrepancy (body dissatisfaction), and provides an estimate of over/underestimation of body size as compared to individuals of the same sex and body mass index.