The Great Divide: Academic Versus Practitioner Criteria for Psychometric Test Choice

This article looks at the two very different worlds of academic personality psychologists and business (human resources) professionals who both use personality tests. It examines the decisions practitioners make when choosing to purchase and use psychometric tests in the workplace. It reviews the relatively few papers on practitioner’s knowledge of, attitudes toward, and beliefs about psychological tests. Data are then reported from a study looking at practitioners’ rank ordering of criteria they would use in choosing psychological tests. This is contrasted with typical academic concerns as expressed in the literature. The article shows some divide between academic personality psychology researchers and those who purchase and use these tests in applied settings.     

The effect of fear‐inducing content on memory for advertisements and on retroactive and proactive interference of programme information

The current study focused on whether fear‐inducing content in television advertisements leads to better memory for the advertisement but also impairs memory for programme information that either precedes the advertisements (retroactive interference) or that follows the advertisements (proactive interference). Fifty‐four participants (48 female) aged 18 to 55 watched a programme that had an advertisement break in the centre. This consisted of 6 advertisements with either fear‐inducing or nonfear‐inducing content. Participants were tested on their recall and recognition of the advertisement information as well as their recall of the first half and second half of the programme. The results indicated that fear‐inducing advertisements were better recalled than those that elicited no fear, and there was also evidence of proactive interference from fear‐inducing advertisements on programme recall. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed.     

Comparing competencies of a psychotherapist with those of a psychologist specialising in psychotherapy

This paper contributes to a recent call for dialogue between the different professional groups representing psychotherapy in Europe. At present, two core psychotherapy groups exist in Europe, namely the EAP, representing psychotherapy, and EFPA, representing psychologists specialising in psychotherapy. This article compares and contrasts two competency frameworks representative of these bodies, which capture the skills, knowledge, reasoning and values of the respective professions. The shared and divergent competencies are identified and discussed, followed by suggestions for potential changes in future European competency frameworks. By doing this, we not only respond to the recent call for dialogue but also promote collaboration and discussion between the professional groups representing psychotherapeutic practice both in Europe and beyond.     

Conversation with 2017 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching award winner Lynn Neal

This conversation between the 2017 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching award winner Lynn Neal and the editors of Teaching Theology and Religion continues an occasional series of interviews that has previously featured Jonathan Z. Smith, Stephen Prothero, Mary Pierce Brosmer, Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore, and the 2016 Teaching award winner Joanne Maguire Robinson. The exchange takes as its point of departure the AAR teaching statement that Professor Neal submitted. Topics discussed include introductory courses, active learning assignments, religious intolerance and privatization, student learning outcomes, different levels of student skills and preparation, augmenting assignments through the production of video interviews with scholars, and finding conversation partners for reflecting on teaching under the life balance stresses of the academy today.     

Detecting nonadherence without loss in efficiency: A simple extension of the crosswise model

In surveys concerning sensitive behavior or attitudes, respondents often do not answer truthfully, because of social desirability bias. To elicit more honest responding, the randomized-response (RR) technique aims at increasing perceived and actual anonymity by prompting respondents to answer with a randomly modified and thus uninformative response. In the crosswise model, as a particularly promising variant of the RR, this is achieved by adding a second, nonsensitive question and by prompting respondents to answer both questions jointly. Despite increased privacy protection and empirically higher prevalence estimates of socially undesirable behaviors, evidence also suggests that some respondents might still not adhere to the instructions, in turn leading to questionable results. Herein we propose an extension of the crosswise model (ECWM) that makes it possible to detect several types of response biases with adequate power in realistic sample sizes. Importantly, the ECWM allows for testing the validity of the model’s assumptions without any loss in statistical efficiency. Finally, we provide an empirical example supporting the usefulness of the ECWM.     

Multiplicity and indiscernibility

Synthese - The indistinguishability of bosons and fermions has been an essential part of our ideas of quantum mechanics since the 1920s. But what is the mathematical basis for this...     

Reconsidering Foucault’s dialogue with Buddhism

Against the backdrop of various interpretations and criticisms of Michel Foucault’s engagement with Buddhism, the focus of this article falls on the specific type of Zen Buddhism which he studied during his 1978 trip to Japan, and the possible relationship between its dynamics and those of his own research trajectory following the publication of The Will to Knowledge. In this regard, Foucault’s eschewal of the Engaged Buddhism of Thich Nhat Hanh and the Zen Buddhism of Taisen Deshimaru—both of which had risen to prominence in France by the late 1970s— and his concomitant interest instead in the teachings of Zen Master Omori Sōgen, in which Zen and the samurai code of bushidō were closely aligned, will be examined. Moreover, it will be argued that such preference on Foucault’s part was indicative of his eminently practical, rather than general philosophical, interest in Buddhism as a technology for the adversarial repositioning of subjectivity in relation to discourse. Finally, the implications of this for the abovementioned various interpretations and criticisms of Foucault’s engagement with Buddhism, will be considered.     

Understanding Creativity,One Metaphor at a Time

Any effort to clarify the meaning of creativity, although productive, risks limiting this important concept to a singular definition at the exclusion of other valuable interpretations. This article presents generative redefinitions of creativity by surveying a range of metaphors that are used to describe creativity. To explore the polysemic possibilities of creativity, 12 common metaphorical frameworks are examined for the ways in which they expand conceptual understanding, including metaphors such as incubation, illumination, evolution, divergence, investment, algorithm, boundary, organism, and democratic attunement. The purpose of this exploration is not to arrive at a singular understanding of creativity, but to acknowledge, examine, and celebrate the diverse ways it can be conceptualized. This article posits that using the language of metaphor as a tool for comparison and understanding helps sift through the complexity of conceptual differences. The argument concludes that considering multiple metaphors for creativity can generate new ways of appreciating the range of possibility implicit in creativity research.     

Do Youth Development Programs Matter? An Examination of Transitions and Well-Being Among Military Youth

The current correlational study examines the association between internal and external military family contextual factors (e.g., parental rank, having multiple military parents, school changes, living more than 30 min from a military installation, parental deployment, relationship provisions) and military youth well-being outcomes (i.e., depressive symptoms, anxiety, self-efficacy) in a sample of children of active duty military members (i.e., military youth). Data from 749 military youth, ages 11–14, were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The model explained a reasonable amount of the variation in the outcomes of interest (r-square statistics for depressive symptoms, anxiety, and self-efficacy were .151, .018, and .086, respectively). Results indicated that military youth who reported more social provisions experienced fewer depressive symptoms and more self-efficacy. Youth who reported certain military risk factors (i.e., parental rank; living farther from the military installation; multiple school changes) were associated with decreased well-being (i.e., more depressive symptoms and anxiety and less self-efficacy). However, findings suggest that participation in military programs may serve a moderating or buffering factor for these youth.