Self-Compassion and Forgiveness: Major Predictors of Marital Satisfaction in Young Couples

Abstract

This study examined self-compassion and forgiveness versus marital satisfaction in 200 couples aged 20-40?years, with a marriage history of 1-10?years. We collected the data, using the Enrich couple, self-compassion and family forgiveness scales. Pearson’s correlation and multiple regressions for women showed that marital satisfaction was associated with self-compassion; however, forgiveness predicted marital satisfaction in men. Self-compassion primarily and forgiveness, to a lesser extent, could predict marital satisfaction in the total samples. These variables were the predictors of marital satisfaction in the young couples. Family counselors should encourage couples to improve upon these attributes to enhance their marital relationships.     

Prioritizing Patterns and Life Satisfaction among Ultra-Orthodox Jews: The Moderating Role of the Sense of Community

Abstract

Recent research suggests that individuals differ in the extent to which they seek activities that promote hedonic or eudaimonic well-being. Prioritizing positivity describes a strategy of pursuing happiness by seeking pleasurable activities or circumstances that can lead to naturally occurring positive emotions, while prioritizing meaning describes a strategy of cultivating well-being by purposefully seeking activities that are conducive to experiencing meaning in life. While these notions have been examined among the general population, little is known about how these prioritizing patterns are linked with well-being in closed religious groups, who often promote the benefit of the collective group in lieu of the individual’s personal choices and interests. Based on a sample of 407 Ultra-Orthodox Jewish individuals (mean age?=?33.58, SD?=?8.89), 55.5% of which were women, the results demonstrated that prioritizing meaning and sense of community were positively associated with life satisfaction. Moreover, a significant interaction of sense of community?×?prioritizing positivity was found, indicating a positive connection between prioritizing positivity and life satisfaction for individuals with a high sense of community, but a negative connection for those with a low sense of community. Our findings suggest that even in extremely close-knit community-oriented societies, a strong sense of belonging to a community enables individuals to prioritize more hedonic aspects of their lives in order to promote their life satisfaction.     

Re-reading Anscombe on ‘I’

According to a ‘Straight’ reading of Elizabeth Anscombe’s (1975 Anscombe, E. 1975. “The First Person.” In her Mind and Language, edited by S. Guttenplan, 45–65. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]) ‘The First Person’, she holds a radically non-referring view of ‘I’. Specifically, ‘I’ is analogous to the expletive ‘it’ in ‘It’s raining’. I argue that this is not her conclusion. Her substantive view, rather is that if what you mean by ‘reference’ is a certain rich and recherché notion tracing to Frege, then ‘I’ is not a referring term. Her methodological point is that one shouldn’t be ‘bewitched by language’ into thinking that ‘I’, because of its syntax, must exhibit ‘reference’ in this sense.     

Raven's matrices and working memory: A dual-task approach

The cognitive system does not just act as a mirror from the sensory input; instead, it tends to normalize this information. Given that letter processing seems to be much more specialized than digit processing in the cortex, we examined whether the regularization process occurs differently from digits to letters than from letters to digits: We employed a masked priming same/different experiment (e.g., probe, VESZED; prime, V35Z3D ; and target, VESZED). When embedded in letter strings, digits that resemble letters (e.g., 3 and 5 in V35Z3D -VESZED) tend to be encoded in a letter-like manner, whereas when embedded in digit strings, letters that resemble digits (e.g., E and S in 9ES7E2–935732) tend not to be encoded in a digit-like manner.     

Book reviews

One Thousand Roads to Mecca. Michael Wolfe (Ed.), 1997. New York, Grove Press. 620 pp., hb. $32.50, ISBN 0 8021 1611 6

Early Mamluk Syrian Historiography: Al‐Yunini's Dhayl Mir'at al‐zaman. Li Guo, 1998. Leiden, E.J. Brill. 2 vols, 241 pp. and xv + 338 pp. Arabic, hb. n.p., ISBN 90 04 11028 3 and 90 04 11029 1

Defenders of Reason in Islam: Mu'tazilism from medieval school to modern symbol. Richard C. Martin & Mark R. Woodward with Dwi S. Atmaja, 1997. Oxford, Oneworld Publications. xv+ 251 pp., pb. £14.99/$22.95, ISBN 1 85168 147 7

Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought. Daniel Brown, 1996. Cambridge Middle East Studies 5. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. x+ 185 pp., hb. n.p., ISBN 0 521 57077 8

Ebu's su'ud, the Islamic Legal Tradition. Colin Imber, 1997. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press. 288 pp., hb. £40.00, ISBN 07486 0767 6

Islam and the West: the making of an Image. Norman Daniel, 1997 (1993). Oxford, Oneworld. 467 pp., pb. $25.95/£16.99, ISBN I 85168 129 8

Exegesis as Polemical Discourse: Ibn Hazm on Jewish and Christian Scriptures. Theodore Pulcini, 1998. Atlanta, GA, Scholars Press. 216 pp., hb. $44.95, ISBN 0 7885 0396 0; pb. $19.95, ISBN 0 7885 0395 2

Christians and Jews under Islam. Youssef Courbage & Philippe Fargues, trans. Judy Mabro, 1997. London and New York, I.B. Tauris. xii + 242 pp., hb. £39.50, ISBN 1 86064 013 3

The Construction of Nationhood: ethnicity, religion and nationhood. Adrian Hastings, 1997. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 235 pp., pb. £12.95, ISBN 0 521 62544 0

Muslim Identity and Balkan State. Hugh Poulton & Suha Taji‐Farouki (Eds), 1997. London, Hurst & Co.. 250 pp., hb. n.p., ISBN 1 85065 276 7; pb. n.p., ISBN 1 85065 348 8

Turkish and Other Muslim Minorities of Bulgaria. Ali Eminov, 1997. London, Hurst & Co.. 218 pp., hb. £25, ISBN 1 85065 319 4

Al‐yahūd fi misr min al‐fath al‐'uthmani hatta awa'il al‐qarn al‐tas’ ‘ashar. [History of the Jewish Community in Egypt from the Ottoman Invasion to the. Beginning of the Nineteenth Century] (Arabic). Mohsen Shouman, 1996. Cairo, privately printed (available from the author, Department of History, College of. Arts, University of Zaqaziq, Egypt). 492 pp., n.p., no ISBN

The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt: the rise of an Islamic mass movement 1928–1942. Brynjar Lia, 1998. Reading, Ithaca. 272 pp., hb, £30.00, ISBN 0 86372 220 2

African Islam and Islam in Africa: encounters between Sufis and Islamists. David Westerlund & Eva Evers Rosander (Eds), 1997. London, Hurst & Co.. 347 pp., hb. £40, ISBN 85065 282 1; pb. £15.95, ISBN 1 85065 281 3

Transforming Female Identities: women's organizational forms in West Africa/Transformation des identités feminines: formes d'organisations feminines en Afrique de l'Ouest. Eva Evers Rosander (Ed.), 1997. Uppsala, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet 243 pp., pb. £18.95, ISBN 91 7106 403 6

The Pure and the Powerful. Nadia Abu‐Zahra, 1977. Reading, Ithaca, NY. xx+ 320 pp., hb. £35.00, ISBN 0 86372 179 6     

Expressivism and the Value of Truth

Expressivism in its most theoretically virtuous forms aspires to be an account of all evaluative claims. In a recent paper, Lynch (2009) has argued that expressivism cannot accommodate claims about the value of truth, since an expressivist account of any normative claim requires a ??normatively disengaged standpoint?? which is unavailable in the case of truth (one cannot cease to value truth while still being an inquirer). In this paper I argue that Lynch??s objection to expressivism rests on an ambiguity. The expressivist can distinguish between a standpoint that is committed to certain evaluations and a standpoint that employs those evaluations in its explanations.     

Consistency and evidence

Williamson (2000) appeals to considerations about when it is natural to say that a hypothesis is consistent with one’s evidence in order to motivate the claim that all and only knowledge is evidence. It is argued here that the relevant considerations do not support this claim, and in fact conflict with it.     

An Ecological Intelligence Scale Intended for Adults

Abstract

Ecological intelligence (EI) refers to systemic thinking, ecophilosophy, holistic perspective, collective lifestyle and cultural commons. It is difficult to determine the exact nature of EI and its characteristics due to it being a complex concept. The aim of this study is to develop an EI scale intended for adults which is based on a holistic perspective, social intelligence and economy and try to specify the concept of ecological intelligence. The goodness-of-fit values were at an acceptable level. The results were Cronbach’s alpha: 0.824; KMO: 0.878; X²/df: 3.39; RMSEA: 0.077; SRMR: 0.0504; GFI, AGFI, NFI, NNFI, IFI, CFI?≥?0.90. These results showed that the scale is reliable, and has validity and strong theoretical background. There are 12 items within the scale.     

Elaborating Expressivism: Moral judgments,Desires and Motivation

According to expressivism, moral judgments are desire-like states of mind. It is often argued that this view is made implausible because it isn’t consistent with the conceivability of amoralists, i.e., agents who make moral judgments yet lack motivation. In response, expressivists can invoke the distinction between dispositional and occurrent desires. Strandberg (Am Philos Quart 49:81–91, 2012) has recently argued that this distinction does not save expressivism. Indeed, it can be used to argue that expressivism is false. In this paper I argue that expressivism is a much more complex thesis than Strandberg assumes. Once these complexities are acknowledged, Strandberg’s arguments are rendered ineffective and expressivism rendered more plausible.     

The effect of semantics on problem solving is to reduce relational complexity

This article reports a study carried out in order to measure how semantic factors affect reductions in the difficulty of the Chinese Ring Puzzle (CRP) that involves removing five objects according to a recursive rule. We hypothesised that semantics would guide inferences about action decision making. The study involved a comparison of problem solving for two semantic isomorphic variants of the CRP ( fish and fleas ) with problem solving for the puzzle's classic variant (the Balls and Boxes problem; Kotovsky & Simon, 1990 Kotovsky, K. and Simon, H. A. 1990. What makes some problems really hard: Exploration in the problem space difficulty. Cognitive Psychology, 22: 143–183. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Our results showed that the number of moves was reduced by 47% in the fish version and by 51% in the flea version. We discuss these results in terms of semantic inferences and reductions in relational complexity. During the exploratory stage of problem solving participants discover the dependent relations between elements in the puzzle. Initially these relations are processed separately; learning involves generalising the relations within a coherent, interconnected whole that makes up the puzzle's rules. It seems that semantics make it easier for the puzzle's elements to be grouped together within coherent, meaningful wholes, which reduces relational complexity and facilitates problem solving.     

No,one should not believe all truths

In a recent paper, Alexander Greenberg defends a truth norm of belief according to which if one has some doxastic attitude towards p, one ought to believe that p if and only if p is true (da). He responds, in particular, to the ‘blindspot’ objection to truth norms such as da: in the face of true blindspots, such as it is raining and nobody believes that it is raining, truth norms such as da are unsatisfiable; they entail that one ought to believe p, but if one does believe p, they entail that it is not the case that one ought to believe p. In this paper, it is argued that Greenberg’s response to the blindspot objection is unsatisfactory.     

Book reviews

Gott ist schön und Er liebt die Schönheit: God is Beautiful and He Loves Beauty. Alma Giese and J. Christoph Bürgel, 1994. Bern, Peter Lang. 474 pp., hb. n.p., ISBN 3–906750–90–6.

The Concept of Islamic International Criminal Law. Farhad Malekian, 1994. London, Graham & Trotman. 213 pp., £55.00, $92, ISBN 1859660851.

Religion in Europe: contemporary perspectives. S. Gill, G. D'Costa, and U. King (Eds), 1994. Kampen, Kok Pharos. 213 pp., pb., Fl 49.90, ISBN 90–390–0508–7.

Religious Freedom and the Position of Islam in Western Europe. W. A. R. Shadid and P. S. van Koningsveld, 1995. Kampen, Kok Pharos. 229 pp., pb., Fl 64.90, ISBN 90–390–0065–4.

Christianity in the Arab World. HRH Crown Prince El Hassan Bin Talal, 1994. Amman, Arabesque. 120pp., hb.

Holymen of the Blue Nile: the making of an Arab‐Islamic community in the Nilotic Sudan 1500–1850. Neil MHugh. Evanston Illinois, Northwestern University Press. 280pp., hb., $54.95, ISBN 0–8101–1069–5.     

Book reviews

The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World. John L. Esposito (Ed.), 1995. New York, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 4 vols, £295.00, ISBN 0 19 506613 8.

Deciphering the Signs of God: a phenomenological approach to Islam. Annemarie Schimmel, 1994. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press. 302 pp., hb. £39.50, ISBN 0 7486 0460 X.

The Rainbow of Faiths. John Hick, 1995. London, SCM Press. 160 pp., pb. £9.95, ISBN 0 334 02608 3.

Scholarly Approaches to Religion, Interreligious Perceptions, and Islam. Jacques Waahdenburg, (Ed.), 1995. Bern, Berlin, Frankfurt a. M., New York, Paris, Vienna, Peter Lang. 464 pp., hb. Sf76. (= £38), ISBN 3 906752 93 3.

Tariqat al‐Tahin al‐Balaghi wa al‐Tafsir. Roland Meynet, Louis Pouzet, Naila Farouki & Ahyaf Sinno, 1993. Beirut, Lebanon, Dar al‐Mashriq. 306 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 2 7214 5003 4.

Religious Polemic and the Intellectual History of the Mozarabs, c. 1050–1200. T. Burman, 1994. Leiden, E. J. Brill. 407 pp., hb. np., ISBN 90 04 09910 7.

Justice, Courtesy and Love: theologians and missionaries encountering world religions, 1846–1914. Kenneth Cracknell, 1995. London, Epworth Press. 459 pp, pb. £20, ISBN 0 7162 0501 7.

Mission and Dialogue. Michael Nazir‐Ali, 1995. London, SPCK Press. 152 pp, pb., £8.99, ISBN 0 281 04810 X.

Early Mamluk Diplomacy (1260–1290): treaties of Baybars and Qalawun with Christian rulers. P. M. Holt, 1995. Leiden, E. J. Brill. 161 pp., hb. NLG 100, ISBN 90 04 10246 9.

The Search for Fundamentals: the process of modernization and the quest for meaning. Lieteke Van Vucht Tljssen, Jan Berting & Frank Lechner (Eds), 1995. Dordrecht, The Netherlands, Kluwer Academic Publishers. 293 pp., £80.00, 0 7923 3542 2.

Religion und prosoziales Verhalten Ein Symposion. Walter Kerber, (Ed.), 1995. Munchen, Kindt Verlag. 224 pp., hb. DM.36.00, ISBN 3 925412 18 2.

Nationalism, Ethnicity and Cultural Identity in Europe. (Comparative Studies in Migration and Ethnic Relations 1). Keebat von Benda‐Beckman & Maykel Verkuyten (Eds), 1995. Utrecht, European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations (ERCOMER). 199 pp., £11.95, ISBN 90 75719 01 9.

‘Das Projekt Weltethos’ in der Erziehung: Referate und Ergebnisse des Nurnberger Forums 1994. Johannes Lahnemann (Ed.), 1995. Hamburg, E.B. Verlag. 410 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 3 923002 86 6.

Fundamentalism and Intellectuals in Egypt, 1973–1993. David Sagiv, 1995. London, Frank Cass. 188 pp., hb. £35, ISBN 0 7146 4581 8.

Being Human in Africa: toward an African Christian anthropology. Augustine C. Musopole, 1994. New York, Peter Lang. 261 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 0 8204 2304 1.

Russians in the Former Soviet Republics. Paul Kolstoe with a contribution by Andrei Edemsky, 1995. London, Hurst & Company. 340 pp., hb. £35.00, ISBN 1 8065 206     

Is identity illusory?

Certain of our traits are thought more central to who we are: they comprise our individual identity. What makes these traits privileged in this way? What accounts for their identity centrality? Although considerations of identity play a key role in many different areas of moral philosophy, I argue that we currently have no satisfactory account of the basis of identity centrality. Nor should we expect one. Rather, we should adopt an error theory: we should concede that there is nothing in reality corresponding to the perceived distinction between the central and peripheral traits of a person.     

Lgbt Catholics: a paradigmatic case of intra-confessional pluralism

ABSTRACT

I will reflect on the reconciliation between “subjective” life and “objective” doctrine experienced by Catholic lgbt couples. Even though their particular experience cannot be considered as universal it can nevertheless constitute a case study for theological reflection. I will propose a theological model for the integration of lgbt Catholics into Christian communities. The case of lgbt Catholics also helps us address the theoretical difficulties of religious pluralism. Their experience of faith is an example of “lived pluralism”. In the lexicon of religious pluralism, this experience is an intra-system or intra-theistic diversity, but it also touches upon the meta-theological issue of the model of reason that is to be applied to every system. I believe that every possible case of pluralism is worth considering if we want to theorize this concept. This may lead us to consider pluralism as a premise from which to start, articulated at different levels.     

Book reviews and books received

Paradox and Passion in Psychotherapy van Deurzen, E., 1998 Chichester: Wiley Isbn 0-471-97390-4 £14.95

Witness and Vision of the Therapists Feltham, C. (Ed.), 1998 London: Sage ISBN 0-7619-5158-X £13.99

Are You Sitting Uncomfortably?: Windy Dryden Live and Uncut Dryden, W., 1998 Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books ISBN 1-898059-18-7 £10.50 (discounts for buying direct)

The Integrative Power of Cognitive Therapy Alford, B.A. & Beck, A.T., 1997 New York: Guilford Press ISBN 1-57230-171-6 £11.95

Psychotherapy Counselling and Mental Health Care: Assessment for Brief or Longer-Term Treatment Burton, M., 1998 Chichester: Wiley ISBN 0-471-98228-8 £17.99

Career Counselling: a Narrative Approach Cochran, L., 1997 London: Sage ISBN 0-7619-0442-5 £14.99

Telling Tales: Perspectives on Guidance and Counselling in Learning Edwards, R., Harrison, R. & Tait, A.I. (Eds), 1998 London: Routledge ISBN 0-415-19443-1 £14.99

Taking Issue: Debates in Guidance and Counselling in Learning Crawford, M., Edwards, R. & Kydd, L. (Eds), 1998 London: Routledge ISBN 0-415-19667-1 £14.99     

Megill’s multiverse meta-argument

In a recent paper in this journal, Jason Megill (2011) offers an innovative meta-argument which deploys considerations about multiple universes in an effort to block all arguments from evil. In what follows, I contend that Megill has failed to establish a key premise in his meta-argument. I also offer a rival account of the effect of multiverse models on the debate about evil.     

The role of therapy productiveness on MFT clients’ intentions to persist in therapy

Many clients drop out of therapy before reaching their goals (Bohart &; Wade, 2013 Bohart, A. C., &; Wade, A. M. (2013). The client variables in psychotherapy. In M. Lambert (Ed.) Bergin &; Garfield’s Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change. (p. 219–257). New York: Wiley. [Google Scholar]), though being in therapy produces more change than not being in therapy (Lambert, 1992 Lambert, M. J. (1992). Implications of outcome research for psychotherapy integration. In J. C. Norcross &; M. R. Goldfried (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy integration (pp. 94–129). New York: Basic Books. [Google Scholar]). To investigate the factors that affect clients’ decisions to persist in therapy, we surveyed a convenience sample of 72 clients of MFTs in individual, couple or family therapy currently in treatment in a community-based therapy center. We tested moderation using regression analysis to determine the extent to which productiveness moderates the relationship between therapeutic alliance and intended persistence. Results showed that productiveness moderated the relationship between therapeutic alliance and intended persistence. Specifically, higher levels of therapy productiveness strengthened the relationship between therapeutic alliance and therapy persistence. Implications for future research and practice are presented and discussed.