Reliability, factorial validity, and means on the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale: a UK university sample

A sample of 243 (114 men and 129 women) British university undergraduates (M age=22.5 yr., SD=5.8; M age=22.0 yr., SD=5.7, respectively) completed the English version of the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale. Principal components analysis with the use of parallel analysis and a scree test suggest that in the current sample the items form a single factor and show a coefficient alpha of .92, denoting high internal consistency. No significant mean difference was found by sex. By and large, the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale can be recommended for use in research among college students in the United Kingdom.     

Reducing assaults on an acute psychiatric unit using a token economy: a 2‐year follow‐up

Token economies are an effective way of changing various behaviors including acquiring new skills, reducing undesired behaviors, reducing aggression, increasing treatment compliance, and improving psychiatric unit management. This study examines the long‐term effect of a token economy on an acute care, inpatient psychiatric unit. The two years following the implementation of a unit based token economy are compared with the 12 months prior to implementation. The results show a significant reduction in total assaults as well as fewer staff injuries resulting in loss of time from work. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sex differences in unfamiliar face identification: evidence from matching tasks

Research on sex differences in face recognition has reported mixed results, on balance suggesting an advantage for female observers. However, it is not clear whether this advantage is specific to face processing or reflects a more general superiority effect in episodic memory. The current study therefore examined sex differences with a face-matching task that eliminates memory demands. Across two experiments, female but not male observers showed an own-sex advantage on match trials, in which two pictures have to be identified as the same person. This advantage was present for whole faces and when only the internal or external facial features were shown. Female observers were also more accurate in these three conditions on mismatch encounters, in which two photographs have to be identified as different people, but this reflects a more general effect that is present for male and female faces. These findings converge with claims of a female advantage in face recognition and demonstrate that this effect persists when memory demands are eliminated.     

The theory of multiple stupidities: education,technology and organisation in Arabia

Traditional perspectives have envisaged intelligence as one entity dominated by a single set of abilities (i.e. cognitive abilities), whereas modern perspectives have defined intelligence in various shapes (e.g. linguistic, musical and interpersonal intelligences). By the same token, traditional perspectives have examined stupidity as one set of inabilities (i.e. cognitive inabilities). However, it is not clear whether modern perspectives have discussed whether stupidity exists in various forms—in the same way as they have envisaged intelligence. To address this limitation, 257 university members were asked to share what they perceived as being stupid educational and technological practices in their institutions. Analysis of the data suggested three concepts were important to the members: moral, spatial and administrative stupidities. That is, stupidity is perceived to come in the form of failing to meet certain moral, spatial and administrative values. This implies that modern perspectives may conceptualise stupidity differently from traditional perspectives, seeing it as going beyond cognitive inabilities and viewing it as existing in various forms (e.g. moral, spatial and administrative stupidities). Thus, there are multiple stupidities as there are multiple forms of intelligence. A strength of this research is that it views stupidity through an organisational and qualitative lens, although some may traditionally expect such a topic to be examined quantitatively through psychometric and biological approaches.     

Mothers' and fathers' childcare involvement with young children in rural families in Malaysia

There is a paucity of data on paternal involvement in childcare in traditional Muslim families in Asia. Using cultural‐ecological models of human development that focus on the developmental niche and hegemonic perspectives on masculinity, mothers' and fathers' levels of childcare involvement with infants were examined in 50 two‐parent, low‐income, rural Malay Muslim families residing in peninsular Malaysia. The major goals were to examine gender of parent and gender of child differences in involvement in childcare activities. Mothers and fathers were interviewed separately in their homes regarding the amount of time and levels of involvement in bedtime routines, physical care of, playing with, singing to, feeding, and soothing infants. Groupwise comparisons of parental perceptions revealed a marked gender‐differentiated pattern of involvement: Mothers perceived that they were significantly more involved in bedtime routines, physical care, feeding, playing, soothing, and singing to infants than did fathers. On average fathers estimated that they spent 18% as much time cleaning infants (0.63 versus 3.50 hours), 22% as much time feeding infants (0.76 versus 3.49), and 56% as much time playing with infants (2.77 versus 4.92 hours) relative to mothers. These patterns of involvement suggest that in traditional, rural Malay Muslim families, mothers are the primary caregivers to infants, and contrary to the father as play partner hypothesis, mothers engaged in more play with infants than did fathers. Despite divergent levels of involvement, mothers and fathers were equally as inclined to be involved with their male or female infants. Findings are interpreted in terms of traditional Muslim beliefs about gendered ideologies regarding childcare roles and levels of paternal involvement in groups of fathers in rural and urban Malaysia. The limitations, due in part to gathering data from single informants and the nature of the sample, and the implications of the findings for increasing paternal involvement are noted.     

Religion and Spirituality in Coping with Advanced Breast Cancer: Perspectives from Malaysian Muslim Women

This article is part of a larger study on the role of spirituality in coping with breast cancer among Malaysian Muslim women. The study seeks to reveal the meaning of the experience through the stories of three Muslim women surviving advanced breast cancer, to better understand the deep meanings that inform their experiences with spirituality and transformation as they cope with the challenges of breast cancer. Data were gathered using in-depth interview. Qualitative methods were used in identifying two themes—illness as an awakening and hope and freedom comes from surrendering to God. The themes were discussed in the context of two broad areas: (1) what are the new meanings these women discovered in their experiences with cancer; and (2) how did the new meanings change their lives? The study suggests that cancer survivors’ experiences with cancer and their learning processes must be understood within the appropriate cultural context. This is especially so for spirituality. The common emphasis of spirituality on relationship with God, self and others, may significantly influence how people learn to live with cancer.     

Continuance commitment and turnover: Examining the moderating role of negative affectivity and risk aversion

This paper examines the moderating role of negative affectivity and risk aversion in the relationships of two bases of continuance organizational commitment (continuance–sacrifices and continuance–alternatives) to turnover, within a stress–coping perspective. More specifically, we propose that (a) the perspective of leaving is a source of stress for those who stay due to the fear of losing valued advantages (i.e. high continuance–sacrifices commitment) and (b) staying is perceived to be stressful by individuals who remain based on a lack of employment alternatives (i.e. high continuance–alternatives commitment). We argue that these perceptions are magnified by negative affectivity and risk aversion, resulting in individuals who present these traits to use avoidance–withdrawal strategies in coping with these situations. Accordingly, based on a sample of 509 human resource management professionals, we found (a) negative affectivity and risk aversion to strengthen the negative relationship of continuance–sacrifices commitment to turnover and (b) continuance–alternatives commitment to relate positively to turnover among individuals with high negative affectivity. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of how commitment mindsets and personality traits affect turnover decisions.     

AN INTERDISCIPLINARY FRAMEWORK FOR ISLAMIC COGNITIVE THEORIES

The Islamic psychology (IP) community in Europe has recently witnessed a heated debate about the credentials required to participate in the theoretical substantiation of IP and Islamically integrated psychotherapy and counseling. This debate has provided convenient circumstances for Muslim psychologists and Islamic scholars alike to rethink their roles within the flourishing movement. Specifically, the discussions hint toward the importance of adopting a collaborative research methodology for IP, in particular for basic research. The methodology of choice will need to define the necessary qualifications and responsibilities of scholars and psychologists in a collaborative research process (personal collaboration) and evince its capability to appropriately marry knowledge and data, diverging research methods, and perspectives, concepts, and theories from Islamic studies and contemporary psychology (content‐related collaboration). Here, we devise and offer a case illustration of an Islamic Psychology Basic Research Framework (coined the SALAAM Framework). This framework uses the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS) Model of Interdisciplinary Research, developed by the IIS at the University of Amsterdam. Our first aim is to appropriate the IIS model for the IP literature by applying the model's research process phases and technique for the integration of disparate bodies of knowledge—that is, the identification of common ground—to methodological approaches in the contemporary IP literature. Our second aim is to exemplify the devised SALAAM Framework using the relatively unexplored area of Islamic cognitive theories (ICTs), which remain underdeveloped in contemporary psychological literature, primarily because of a lack of commensurability with the nomenclature of contemporary psychology. We thus provide a primer on the potential scope of ICTs. Toward the end of this article, we discuss the potential of the project of interdisciplinary construction of Islamic psychological theory, and the ability of the SALAAM Framework to establish a research program in IP that centers on cognition. We finally offer our reflections on the distinctiveness of Islamic psychologies in comparison to mainstream and Christian psychology.     

Examining the impact of social commerce dimensions on customers' value cocreation: The mediating effect of social trust

One of the main aspects of the Web 2.0 revolution has been social commerce that has resulted in many people across the world increasingly engaging with commercial activities over social media platforms. However, the academic and research interest in social commerce is still low, and more studies are required to accelerate awareness of the most important issues relating to social commerce, in particular, social trust and value cocreation. Thus, the present study aims to propose a conceptual model that is intended to enable greater understanding of the causal interactions between social commerce constructs, social trust, and customer value cocreation. We collected data using a sample of 300 followers and fans of online Facebook communities, and we analysed them by using a structural equation model. The results show that social commerce constructs positively impact on social trust. Furthermore, we found that social trust positively impacts on the three dimensions of customer value cocreation. We found that social trust mediates the relationship between the social commerce and customer value cocreation dimensions. The paper presents a considerable theoretical contribution for being the first study that links social commerce constructs with social trust. The linkage between social commerce constructs, social trust, and customer value cocreation dimensions will also be beneficial for social media marketing strategists and managers.