Can Prayer Increase Charitable Giving? Examining the Effects of Intercessory Prayer,Moral Intuitions,and Theological Orientation on Generous Behavior

This study was designed to investigate the effects of intercessory prayer, moral intuitions, God concept, and theological orientation on generous behavior in the form of charitable giving. Christian participants (N = 313) were assigned to engage in either intercessory prayer or a secular reflection over a 2-week period on the hardships faced by either Christians (religious ingroup) or Muslims (religious outgroup) in Myanmar/Burma being persecuted by the Buddhist majority. Contrary to hypotheses and previous research, multiple regression analyses revealed that the prayer condition was associated with less monetary generosity than a nonreligious control condition. Ingroup versus outgroup status of the target of prayer/reflections was not a significant predictor of charitable giving. Moral intuitions related to the harm/care and fairness/reciprocity foundations as well as traditional God concept moderated the effects of prayer.     

A Psychometric Evaluation of the Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire in a Non-Clinical Sample of Israeli Children and Adolescents

This study examined the psychometric properties of a Hebrew version of the Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire (BIQ) in a non-clinical sample of Israeli children and adolescents. We produced a Hebrew translation of the BIQ and collected 227 responses to it from parents of children aged 4–15. Some respondents in the larger sample also completed the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) questionnaire (n?=?91) and the Conners’ Abbreviated Parent-Teacher (CONNERS) questionnaire (n?=?39), in addition to the BIQ. Lastly, 21 children of BIQ respondents (aged 8–14) completed a self-report version of the questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to assess how well the established six correlated factor model of the BIQ applied to the sample data. The Hebrew BIQ demonstrated good internal consistency (Chronbach’s α?=?.94, n?=?227) and 3 month test–retest reliability, (r?=?.95, p?<?.001, n?=?21). It also showed both convergent validity, as scores on the BIQ were correlated with the SCARED (r?=?.66, p?<?.01. n?=?91), and discriminant validity, as BIQ scores were not correlated with the CONNERS (r?=?.24, n?=?39). Finally, mother reports of BI were significantly correlated to child reports of BI via the BIQ (r?=?.60, p?<?.01, n?=?21). Thus, through this preliminary study we demonstrated that the Hebrew version of the BIQ is an effective tool for screening for BI among Israeli children, making it a useful instrument for future research.     

Recognition of transposed melodies: Effects of pitch distance and harmonic distance

People easily recognize a familiar melody in a previously unheard key, but they also retain some key-specific information. Does the recognition of a transposed melody depend on either pitch distance or harmonic distance from the initially learned instances? Previous research has shown a stronger effect of pitch closeness than of harmonic similarity, but did not directly test for an additional effect of the latter variable. In the present experiment, we familiarized participants with a simple eight-note melody in two different keys (C and D) and then tested their ability to discriminate the target melody from foils in other keys. The transpositions included were to the keys of C# (close in pitch height, but harmonically distant), G (more distant in pitch, but harmonically close), and F# (more distant in pitch and harmonically distant). Across participants, the transpositions to F# and G were either higher or lower than the initially trained melodies, so that their average pitch distances from C and D were equated. A signal detection theory analysis confirmed that discriminability (d′) was better for targets and foils that were close in pitch distance to the studied exemplars. Harmonic similarity had no effect on discriminability, but it did affect response bias (c), in that harmonic similarity to the studied exemplars increased both hits and false alarms. Thus, both pitch distance and harmonic distance affect the recognition of transposed melodies, but with dissociable effects on discrimination and response bias.     

Developing the Good Physician: Spirituality affects the development of virtues and moral intuitions in medical students

The Project on the Good Physician is a national longitudinal study of moral and professional formation of American physicians over the course of medical training. The purpose of this paper is to examine the processes by which spirituality influences the development of three virtues (mindfulness, empathic compassion, and generosity) in medical students as mediated by the moral intuition to care/harm, as well as make predictions as to how this type of study could be generalizable to other populations. Study participants were 563 medical students recruited by the University of Chicago from 24 medical schools across the U.S. (54.7% male, 57% white) who completed measures assessing virtue formation 9 months apart. Path analysis of a cascade model showed that spirituality (but not religiousness) was directly and indirectly related to change in the virtue empathic compassion, and also indirectly related to change in the virtue generosity. Moreover, the moral intuition to care/harm partially mediated the association between spirituality and the virtues of empathic compassion and generosity (but not mindfulness).     

Mentoring for Mental Health within a University: A psychodynamic approach

This paper explores the role of mentoring in a British University for students with mental health issues and is written from the perspective of the Mentor who is also a Psychodynamic Psychotherapist. Psychodynamic theory is applied to two case studies in order to understand the conscious and unconscious factors when considering these students’ particular learning difficulties and motivation for entering a learning environment. In the first case study, it is suggested that the student hopes to find his lost father within the containing bricks of the institution. When confronted with frustration and disappointment, he mobilises schizoid defences, precipitating a psychotic episode. The second case study formulates the student’s chronic procrastination, which verges on academic sabotage, as a defence against the unbearable guilt concerning his abilities and achievements in contrast with his unsuccessful and disabled siblings. The challenge of helping these students is explored, including the approaches taken by the Mentor, given her remit and the particular issues presented by the students.     

The helping alliance and premature termination

The study was conducted to determine the relationship between strength of the helping alliance and type of client termination (premature or with mutual knowledge of client and counselor). Participants were 102 client-counselors dyads at a university counseling center. After an average of 8 sessions, clients and couneselors completed Alexander & Luborsky's (1986) Helping Alliance Questionnaires. Clients terminated after an average of 19 sessions. Clients who later terminated with mutual knowledge of their counselors gave significantly higher strength of helping alliance ratings than did clients who later terminated unilaterally and prematurely. Counselors' ratings of strength of helping alliance were only modestly related to clients' ratings and unrelated to type of client termination.     

How self‐compassion moderates the effect of body surveillance on subjective happiness and depression among women

According to objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), being treated as an object leads women to engage in self‐objectification, which in turn increases body surveillance and body shame as well as impairs mental health. However, very little is known about what factors could act as buffers against the detrimental consequences of self‐objectification. This paper seeks to understand the role of self‐compassion (the ability to kindly accept oneself or show self‐directed kindness while suffering) in the perception that women have of their own bodies. Results indicate that self‐compassion moderated the effect of body surveillance on depression and happiness separately among women. More specifically, for women low in self‐compassion, body surveillance was negatively associated with happiness, which was explained by increased depression. In sum, our results indicate that self‐compassion protects against the detrimental consequences of body surveillance.