The Changing Self: Using Personal Documents to Study Lives

ABSTRACT In this paper we describe a technique for coding expressions of preoccupation with aspects of the adult self in personal documents and retrospective autobiographical writings In particular we explore the value of this approach by analyzing themes of identity, intimacy, and generativity expressed in Vera Brittain's diary and correspondence, written during her adolescence in World War I, and in her retrospective autobiographical account of that period in her life Analyses aim to use Erikson's theory of personality development to describe her psychological experience at the time and to compare that account with the later one     

Grouping of stimuli and apparent exceptions to the psychological refractory period

When a subject is called upon to respond independently to two stimuli, the second of the two responses is often delayed if the stimuli follow closely on one another, and this has led to the suggestion that in making decisions the human operator accepts and organizes the available input information intermittently in the manner of a discontinuous servo. According to this view two nearly simultaneous stimuli can only be dealt with equally fast if they are grouped into a single decision to respond to both stimuli; otherwise one will have to wait for the attention of the central mechanism until the other has been dealt with. In the present experiment it is shown that delays in the second response are not necessary or invariable, and that the pattern and timing of the second responses when they are performed without delay differ in important respects from those to be expected of grouped responses. It is concluded that the central mechanisms concerned in the response do not possess the limitations that the single channel theory would suggest.     

Loss of Religious or Spiritual Identities Among the LGBT Population

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals are at risk of having negative experiences with religion because of mainstream religions’ non‐LGBT‐affirming stance. Negative religious experiences can lead to religious or spiritual (R/S) struggles and loss of R/S identity to maintain sexual identity. The authors describe R/S abuse, R/S struggle, and how these can result in loss of R/S identity in LGBT individuals. They provide a case study and discuss counseling implications and areas for future research.     

GROWING UP AND GROWING OLDER: FEMINISM AS A CONTEXT FOR WOMEN'S LIVES

Social science research shows that contemporary women endorse feminist goals at rates similar to women in the 1970s. However, generations may differ in some aspects of their relationship to feminism. This study of 333 university alumnae examined expressions of feminism across three generations. We provide the first empirical evidence to support Stewart and Healy's (1989) prediction about the impact of social events experienced in childhood; only the youngest cohort recalled holding feminist beliefs as children. Additionally, each cohort identified feminist influences from the period coinciding with their own identity-forming adolescence as most important, although feminism was related to other beliefs in a similar way for each cohort. The Women's Movement appears to be internalized differently depending on developmental life stage.     

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.