The Protestant Ethic in Hungary

While in the 16–17th centuries about two thirds of Hungarians belonged to the Reformed Church, the presence of the ‘spirit of capitalism’ and the ‘Protestant ethic’ is rather questionable. The Calvinists did not play a different or decisive role in the capitalization process of Hungary at the end of the 19th century. This study is a summary of a much longer analysis of the ‘Hungarian Protestant ethic’ of the 17th century. The historical analysis focuses on the Puritan doctrines which can be found in conduct-books as well as the practical religiosity of Hungarian Puritans and Reformed people in that age. The ‘Hungarian Protestant ethic’ differs from Weber's ideal-type in two respects: the Hungarian version is more pietistic, less activist; and it seems to have less practical influence in everyday life because of weak religiosity. The Hungarian case does not refute Weber's thesis, but it does call attention to two important parts of historical analysis: the reinterpreting, selecting procedure in social context, and the intensity of religiosity.     

The correlates of psychological health among the Turkish unemployed: Psychological burden of financial help during unemployment

The purpose of this study is to examine the major determinants of psychological health during unemployment. With this in mind, 438 (17% female and 83% male) unemployed individuals were contacted through Turkey's State Employment Office. It was expected that the relationship between duration of unemployment and psychological wellbeing would be nonlinear. Additionally it was hypothesized that perceived social support would moderate the relationship between length of unemployment and psychological health. Further, we suggested that self‐esteem would be related to psychological health and moderate the relationship between length of unemployment and psychological health. The results supported the curvilinearity hypothesis of the relationship between unemployment duration and psychological health as measured by General Health Questionnaire. However, social support was not found to moderate the relationship between unemployment duration and psychological health. The hypothesis that self‐esteem would moderate the relationship between length of unemployment and psychological distress was not supported, although self‐esteem was a strong negative determinant of psychological distress during unemployment. Regression analysis showed that the best predictors of psychological health were self‐esteem, perceived social support and perceived adequacy of financial aid received from relatives. Interestingly, perceived adequacy of the financial aid was negatively related to psychological health. This result was contradictory with the previous literature pointing out that financial aid reduces the effects of poverty due to unemployment. The findings of this study are important since the relationship between unemployment duration and psychological health was nonlinear, indicating that relevant services should be especially careful to intervene to increase social support and self‐esteem during these critical times. The other results and limitations are discussed.     

Challenges for the sequential two-system model of moral judgement

Considerable evidence supports the sequential two-system (“default interventionist”) model of moral judgement, as proposed by Greene and others. We tested whether judgement speed and/or personal/impersonal moral dilemmas can predict the kind of moral judgements (utilitarian or deontological) subjects make for each dilemma, and whether personal dilemmas create difficulty in moral judgements. Our results showed that neither personal/impersonal conditions nor spontaneous/thoughtful-reflection conditions were reliable predictors of utilitarian or deontological moral judgements. Yet, we found support for an alternative view, in which, when the two types of responses are in conflict; the resolution of this conflict depends on both the subject and the dilemma. While thinking about this conflict, subjects sometimes change their minds in both directions, as suggested by the data from a mouse-tracking task.     

The Determinants of Happiness in Turkey: Evidence from City-Level Data

This paper analyses the determinants of happiness in Turkey between 2004 and 2013 by relying on TURKSTAT’s Life Satisfaction Surveys. It contributes to the literature by employing a set of novel variables and a larger dataset which became representative at city-level in 2013. Some of the interesting findings are as follows: degree of hope is found to be the strongest estimator of happiness which was neglected in previous studies; job satisfaction is as important as being employed. Similarly, being married makes people happier only if they are satisfied from their marriage. Education brings more happiness only if it helps to increase income. Moreover, our results support Easterlin Paradox (Nations Househ Econ Growth Essays Honor Moses Abramovitz 1974. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-205050-3.50008-7). We have shown that happiness and income share a potent and positive relationship when yearly or pooled micro datasets are analysed, which has not been observed in macro data.     

An Experimental Investigation of the Impact of Absolute and Relative Inequalities on Individual Satisfaction

Whereas recent evidences suggest absolute inequalities (i.e. inequalities between agents’ income measured in absolute terms) and relative inequalities (i.e. inequalities captured by the ratio between agents’ income) to have different cognitive implications, econometric models consider both measures as interchangeable when referring to individual satisfaction. Do income inequalities measured both on relative and absolute terms lead to the same effect on individual satisfaction? We implement an experimental protocol so as to investigate the impact of income inequalities on individual satisfaction. By implementing different treatments, we disentangle the impact of absolute income inequalities from the impact of relative income inequalities on individual satisfaction. We observe that individual satisfaction is significantly and negatively correlated to absolute income inequalities. Relative inequalities seem to have no effect on individual satisfaction.     

Multidimensionality of Well-Being and Spillover Effects Across Life Domains: How Do Parenthood and Personality Affect Changes in Domain-Specific Satisfaction?

Whether having children improves our well-being is a long-standing topic of debate. Demographic and sociological research has investigated changes in individuals’ overall well-being and partnership satisfaction when they become parents. However, little is known about how becoming parent may produce vulnerability—observable as an enduring decrease in well-being—in life domains that are strongly interdependent with the family domain, such as work and leisure. Linking life-course and personality psychology perspectives, the authors examine the trajectories of subjective well-being—measured as satisfaction with life, work, and leisure—3 years before and 3 years after the transition to parenthood. The authors particularly focus on the moderating effects of gender and personality. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984–2013) and multilevel growth curve modeling, the authors show strong gender-based vulnerability in how people react to parenthood. Although men display a nonlinear pathway of decreasing life satisfaction and a stable trajectory of job satisfaction, women experience more changes in their satisfaction with work and more dramatic decreases in leisure satisfaction. Contrary to most of our expectations, the moderating effects of personality were modest. Extraversion influenced the trajectories of work satisfaction, whereas neuroticism and conscientiousness affected the pathway of leisure satisfaction for women only. This article shows that the transition to parenthood influences well-being trajectories in specific domains, and this influence differs between women and men.     

The Soul,as an Uninhibited Mental Activity,is Reduced into Consciousness by Rules of Quantum Physics

This paper is an effort to describe, in neuroscientific terms, one of the most ambiguous concepts of the universe—the soul. Previous efforts to understand what the soul is and where it may exist have accepted the soul as a subjective and individual entity. We will make two additions to this view: (1) The soul is a result of uninhibited mental activity and lacks spatial and temporal information; (2) The soul is an undivided whole and, to become divided, the soul has to be reduced into unconscious and conscious mental events. This reduction process parallels the maturation of the frontal cortex and GABA becoming the main inhibitory neurotransmitter. As examples of uninhibited mental activity, we will discuss the perceptual differences of a newborn, individuals undergoing dissociation, and individuals induced by psychedelic drugs. Then, we will explain the similarities between the structure of the universe and the structure of the brain, and we propose that consideration of the rules of quantum physics is necessary to understand how the soul is reduced into consciousness.     

A Goal‐Activation Framework of True and False Intentions

We propose a novel cognitive framework to distinguish between statements of true and false intent based on research on goal‐directed behaviour. A true intention comes with a commitment to carry out the stated intention. This commitment activates the behavioural goal of a true intention. In contrast, a false intention does not come with a commitment to carry out the stated intention. Hence, the behavioural goal of a stated false intention should be inactive. Active goals have profound and predictable influences on human behaviour. For instance, active goals influence planning, future thought and evaluations. Such influences are functional—they aid in goal attainment. Insofar as true intentions activate goals, but false intentions do not, the expected influences of active goals should be weaker or non‐existent for those stating a false intention. The framework parsimoniously accounts for previous intention‐focused deception studies while generating new directions for future research.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of executive functions in children and adolescents with familial Mediterranean fever

The aim of the present study was to investigate neuropsychological test performance in children and adolescents with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF). A total of 88 children and adolescents aged 8 to 17 years were included, 52 with FMF and 36 healthy controls. After the participants were administered the Children Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), they completed the battery tests of the Central Nervous System Vital Signs (CNSVS), a neurocognitive test battery, via computer. The battery calculates seven domain scores (Memory, Psychomotor Speed, Processing Speed, Reaction Time, Complex Attention, Executive Function, and Cognitive Flexibility) and a summary score (Neurocognition Index [NCI]). A statistically significant difference between the FMF and control groups was found in six out of seven domains, where the scores of the participants with FMF were found to be significantly lower than those of the control participants (p < .05). Although the mean Reaction Time score of the participants with FMF was found to be lower than that of the control participants, the finding was not statistically significant (p > .05). The mean CDI and SCARED scores of the participants with FMF were found to be significantly higher than those of the control participants (p < .05). Low scores in the Processing Speed and Psychomotor Speed domains of the CNSVS were significantly correlated with higher SCARED scores (r = ?.37, p = .01). Impaired cognitive functions should be taken into consideration in children and adolescents with FMF when assessing and managing this population.     

Ab-initio study of the structural,electronic, elastic and vibrational properties of HfX (X = Rh,Ru and Tc)

The structural, elastic, electronic and phonon properties of HfX (X = Rh, Ru and Tc) in the caesium-chloride phase have been investigated using the density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation. The optimized lattice constant (a₀), bulk modulus (B) and the elastic constants (C_ij) are evaluated. The results are in a good agreement with the available experimental and theoretical data in the literature. Electronic band structures and densities of states have been derived for these compounds. The present band structure calculations indicate that the phases of caesium-chloride HfX (X = Rh, Ru and Tc) compounds are metals. Phonon dispersion curves and their corresponding total and projected density of states have been obtained using the direct method. The phonon spectra suggest that these compounds are dynamically stable in the caesium-chloride phase.