Forgiveness in The Arab and Islamic Contexts

This essay explores the current and historical meaning of forgiveness in Arab and Islamic cultural and religious contexts. It also hopes to encourage further empirical research on this understudied topic in both religious and peacebuilding studies. In addition to the perceived meaning of forgiveness in an Arab Islamic context, this essay examines the links between forgiveness and reconciliation. Relying on religious sources including the Qur'an and Hadith, as well as certain events in Islamic history, the essay identifies various ways to conceptualize and explain the meaning of forgiveness. This theoretical and conceptual segment is followed by a section which explores current perceptions of forgiveness among Arab Muslim teachers in five different communities. The empirical data for this analysis is based on a larger comparative regional study that has been completed through surveys and structured interviews with educators from Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Palestinians from the West Bank and Israel. Our study concluded that the teachers' perceptions of forgiveness were mainly derived from religious sources and identities and that Islamic religious discourse provided a solid foundation for framing the meaning of forgiveness.     

Effects of Visual Representation on Social Influence in Computer‐Mediated Communication

Two experiments investigated if and how visual representation of interactants affects depersonalization and conformity to group norms in anonymous computer‐mediated communication (CMC). In Experiment 1, a 2 (intergroup versus interpersonal) × 2 (same character versus different character) between‐subjects design experiment (N= 60), each participant made a decision about social dilemmas after seeing two other (ostensible) participants’ unanimous opinions and then exchanged supporting arguments. Consistent with the Social Identity model of Deindividuation Effects (SIDE), when the group level of self‐identity was rendered salient in an intergroup encounter, uniform virtual appearance of CMC partners triggered depersonalization and subsequent conformity behavior. By contrast, when the personal dimension of the self was salient, standardized representation tended to reduce conformity. To elucidate the mediation process, Experiment 2 investigated the causal links between depersonalization, group identification, and conformity. The results show that depersonalization accentuated adherence to group norms, both directly and indirectly via group identification.     

Moral Persuasion and the Diversity of Fictions

Narrative representations can change our moral actions and thoughts, for better or for worse. In this article, I develop a theory of fictions' capacity for moral education and moral corruption that is fully sensitive to the diversity of fictions. Specifically, I argue that the way a fiction influences our moral actions and thoughts importantly depends on its genre. This theory promises new insights into practical ethical debates over pornography and media violence.     

The Effects of Applicant Résumé Contents on Recruiters' Hiring Recommendations: The Mediating Roles of Recruiter Fit Perceptions

The résumé is the most commonly used selection tool for organisations. Past studies have demonstrated that recruiter hiring recommendations can be predicted based on the content of applicant résumés. However, the mechanisms underlying the links between résumé contents and hiring recommendations remain unclear. The present study extends previous research by examining the mediating roles of recruiters' multi‐faceted fit perceptions in a field setting. Data were collected from 216 organisational recruiters who participated in campus recruitment at seven universities in Taiwan. The results showed that applicant work experience and educational background increased recruiter hiring recommendations through recruiter perceived person–job (P–J) fit. In addition, applicant work experience predicted recruiter perceived person–organisation (P–O) fit, which in turn enhanced recruiter hiring recommendations.     

Reaction time to threat stimuli in panic disorder and social phobia

Two studies assessed response time among clinically anxious subjects and normal controls when presented with threat, positive and neutral stimuli under perceptual (lexical decision) and semantic (category decision) task conditions. In Study 1, panic disorder subjects' (n = 14) performance was compared to that of matched normal controls (n = 14) while in Study 2 social phobic subjects (n = 24) were compared to matched normal controls (n = 24). Relative to matched normal controls, panic disorder subjects but not social phobics tended to show greater slowing in performance on the more cognitively complex (category) task. A second finding, consistent across both studies was that, compared to the normal control groups, both panic and social phobic groups showed significantly slowed responses to threat words in both the perceptual and semantic tasks. Such findings are directly counter to the predictions of a mood congruence hypothesis. This apparent contradiction is resolved by a review of the literature which indicates that mood-related facilitation effects are obtained only in tasks which tap awareness of threat information rather than speed of response. It is suggested that while anxiety may produce enhanced awareness of threat, it may inhibit responsiveness to it. The results of these studies are seen as consistent with ethological theories of inhibited motoric responses under certain threat conditions. Furthermore, the findings suggest that caution is indicated in interpreting slowed reaction time to threat stimuli in tasks such as the Stroop color naming task as purely the result of attentional processes.     

Avoidant personality disorder and the generalized subtype of social phobia.

Social phobia and avoidant personality disorder (APD) may be given as comorbid diagnoses. However, it is not known if the labels provide independent, useful diagnostic information. We classified social phobics by social phobia subtype and presence of APD. Generalized social phobics with and without APD (ns = 10 and 10) and nongeneralized social phobics without APD (n = 10) were distinguished on measures of phobic severity. The generalized groups also showed earlier age at onset and higher scores on measures of depression, fear of negative evaluation, and social anxiety and avoidance than did the nongeneralized group. APD criteria of general timidity and risk aversion were more frequently endorsed by social phobics with APD. The data suggest that both the generalized subtype of social phobia and the presence of APD do provide useful diagnostic information but the additional diagnosis of APD may simply identify a severe subgroup of social phobics.     

Modification of preschool sex-typed behaviors by participation in adult-structured activities

Earlier studies have shown the girls spend more time than boys in activities that are highly structured by adults. Structured activities may encourage feminine sex-typed behaviors such as compliance to adults; low-structure activities may encourage masculine sex-typed behaviors such as independence and assertiveness. In the present study the effects of high or low levels of adult structuring on children's social behavior during preschool free-play activities were tested in a field experiment carried out during an entire semester in one preschool classroom. For the first 15 minutes of free play, children were assigned to high- or low-structure activities. As predicted, when children were in high-structure activities, they exhibited high rates of bids for recognition and compliance to adults; in low-structure activities, they exhibited peer-directed leadership, bids for recognition, and compliance. There were no generalized effects of these treatments on their subsequent free choice of activities or social behavior. The study demonstrates powerful effects of naturally occurring variations in children's play activities on sex-typed social behaviors.     

Influences of Destructive Personality Information on Decision Making1

This study examined the effects of information about a landlord's personality on juror judgments for a landlord-tenant civil trial. The personality information manipulated was specifically relevant to destructive acts. Alternative versions of witness testimony were used to describe a landlord either high or low on need for power. treating people as objects, and negative life themes. This information strongly influenced aspects of the schema for this case constructed by the individual mock jurors. Destructive personality information caused dislike of the landlord and lowered the credibility of his story. If the landlord treated people as objects, the credibility of the tenant's story and positive evaluations of the tenant increased. Juror judgments about relative fault were strongly shifted by destructive personality information. An empirical model for juror decisions indicated a dynamic interplay of story components and fault judgments.     

Self-Optimization of Walking in Nondisabled Children and Children With Spastic Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy

Children voluntarily adopt a frequency and movement pattern for walking. The force-driven harmonic oscillator (FDHO) model was used in this study for accurate prediction of the preferred walking frequency of nondisabled children and children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Four potential optimality criteria with which the preferred walking pattern was forced to comply were examined: minimization of physiological costs, maximization of mechanical energy conservation, minimization of asymmetry in lower limb movements and minimization of variability of interlimb and intralimb coordination. Age and gender-matched nondisabled children (n = 6) and children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy (n = 6) were tested under six frequency conditions of walking at a constant speed on a treadmill. For the nondisabled children, the results indicated that their preferred walking frequency could be accurately predicted by the FDHO model. They freely adopted a walking pattern that minimized physiological costs, asymmetry, and variability of inter- and intralimb coordination. For the children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy, the prediction of preferred overground walking frequency required that the FDHO model be modified to account for muscle mass and leg length discrepancies between limbs and increased stiffness. Most of the children achieved the same optimality goals as the nondisabled when walking at the preferred frequency. However, the children were found to use different mechanisms to attain these goals: for example, a steeper increase observed in physiological cost at higher frequencies; a lowered center of gravity of the body, which allowed for angular symmetry; and greater variability of between-joint coordination in the nonaffected limb and less variability in the affected limb.