Psychological Aspects of the Role of Religion in Identity Construction

Religious plurality can generate fears through identity destabilization. Religions offer ressources for coping with fears. On one side, production of stereotypes follows a defensive way. On the other side, claim to be universal help to cross boundaries and to cope with stigmatization, misrecognition and discrimination. Coping strategies combine at least five aspects: community, intimate relationship, rules, construction of identity, and worlview. This article shows how these aspects are intertwined.     

Abstracts

Kierkegaard recognized that the changes ushered in by the revolutions of 1848 would profoundly affect human existence in both its political and personal dimensions. At the political level he was concerned that the new forms of government would not be able to govern any more effectively than the previous forms. Loquacity would be substituted for policy. Then, too, the new forms of government encouraged confusion about the actual locus of power; the appearances and the reality of power did not conform. Also, the actual state represents ‘interests’, and as a result, justice is jeopardized. To be sure, compromise will be evident in such an actual state, but is governing possible in and through such conflictual arrangements? What is the relation of the press (media) to the public, and these in turn to politics?     

Selective deficit in spatial location memory in extremely low birth weight children at age six: The PETIT Study

Spatial location memory has rarely been assessed in young children due to a scarcity of developmentally appropriate tests. This study sought to compare nonverbal learning and recall in children born extremely low birth weight (ELBW; <1000 g) and less than 33 gestational weeks (GW) with term-born children at early school age using a recently developed and adapted test. We administered a modification of the Hopkins Board to 210 children at age six; 84 born ELBW (35 born < 26 GW; 49 born 26–33 GW) and 126 term-born. Six measures were obtained: naming, trials-to-criterion, errors-to-criterion, delayed item recall, delayed location recall, and percent retention. After age correction, ELBW children had worse general cognition, item naming, delayed item recall, delayed location recall, and percent retention than term-born children. Delayed item recall and percent retention performances of ELBW children remained worse after correction for general cognition. ELBW groups (< 26 GW and 26–33 GW) groups performed worse than term-born children in naming and delayed item recall with chronological age as covariate. Those born before 26 GW, but not 26–33 GW, performed worse than term-born children in delayed location recall and percent retention. Differences remained significant after controlling for gender, maternal education, and delivery type. All three groups' performance declined from final learning trial to delayed location recall, with a decline greater for less than 26 GW than term-born children. Extreme prematurity (< 26 GW) and ELBW are significant risk factors for spatial location memory deficit. The modified Hopkins Board discriminated high-risk preterm and term-born children at early school age and appears to be a useful test to measure this rarely studied cognitive capacity.     

Defective stimulus set attention in generalized epilepsy

This study examined auditory selective attention in primary generalized and complex-partial (temporal lobe) epileptics using binaural and dichotic versions of the Continuous Performance Test. The patient groups did not differ from normal controls when only one channel was presented or when divided attention (simultaneously monitoring two channels) was required. However, generalized epileptics had significantly depressed hit rates when directed attention (responding to critical stimuli in only one channel) was required. These results suggest a contribution of brain stem “arousal” mechanisms to stimulus set attention. In addition, right ear perceptual advantages were found on these dichotic monitoring tasks, lending support to the contention that short-term auditory memory and verbal report are not required for the dichotic ear effect.     

En-Gendering the Couple-Deity Relationship: Clinical Implications of Power and Process

Spiritual practices are increasingly accommodated by therapists working with religious couples. While research documents potential benefits, spiritual practices such as prayer may invoke an interpretive couple-God relationship distorted by pathogenic processes in one or both spouses. A survey administered to 78 religious couples examined the influence of power/gender as it relates to couples’ harmful triangulation with Deity. Results suggest that harmful triangulation with Deity does occur to some degree in couple relationships, that there are significant differences by gender, and that spouses’ tendencies to triangulate are correlated with one another. We discuss these results from a systemic-feminist perspective, and offer some clinical applications for working with religious couples.

Sexism and gender inequality across 57 societies

Theory predicts that individuals' sexism serves to exacerbate inequality in their society's gender hierarchy. Past research, however, has provided only correlational evidence to support this hypothesis. In this study, I analyzed a large longitudinal data set that included representative data from 57 societies. Multilevel modeling showed that sexism directly predicted increases in gender inequality. This study provides the first evidence that sexist ideologies can create gender inequality within societies, and this finding suggests that sexism not only legitimizes the societal status quo, but also actively enhances the severity of the gender hierarchy. Three potential mechanisms for this effect are discussed briefly.     

Enhancing Narrative Couple Therapy Process with an Enactment Scaffolding

Despite the growing popularity of narrative approaches to couple and family therapy and the demonstrated effectiveness of enactments—a clinical process typically articulated and utilized in more modern or positivistic approaches to therapy—there is very little, if any, literature exploring how enactments may fit within a narrative therapeutic framework. In this paper we suggest: That narrative therapy theoretical assumptions, principles, and therapeutic processes may coexist within an enactment framework articulated by Butler and Gardner; that such assumptions and processes may be enhanced when clinicians use an enactment scaffolding throughout the therapeutic process; and that this enactment framework empirically informs the narrative therapy process and strengthens the stance of narrative therapy under the scrutiny of those claiming a need for an evidence basis in psychotherapy.