Personality Factors,Family Structure,and Sex of Drawn Figure on the Draw-A-Person Test

One hundred seventy-four youthful psychiatric inpatients were given the Draw-A-Person Test (DAP) as part of an assessment battery. Sex of person drawn was compared to subject's sex, Achenbach aggression and delinquency scores, and scores on Children's Inventory of Anger and Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale. The sex of the person drawn was also compared to family composition, specifically whether or not the child came from an intact family with both a male and female parent or role model. Results support drawing of a same-sexed individual as normative, regardless of age or sex. Adolescent girls and young boys were the only groups that differed significantly from this norm. Personality measures and family composition were not significantly related to the tendency to draw same versus opposite sex.     

Self-Images without Awareness and Projective Methods of Personality Assessment

Ss' responses to tachistoscopic exposures of self-photographs have been suggested as one approach to self-images without awareness. Sixty-three Ss completed a Q sort for themselves and after tachistoscopic exposure of their own and control photographs, for the persons in the photographs. Ss also completed the Structured-Objective Rorschach Test and Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank. The self was sorted most favorably, the control tachistoscopic exposure significantly less favorably, and the self tachistoscopic exposure significantly less favorably than the control. These differences were found to be related to sex and adjustment measured with the Rotter. The SORT correlated insignificantly with Q sort and Rotter.     

Differentiation of Death-Row Murderers and Life-Sentence Murderers by Antisociality and Intelligence Measures

Prior studies of dangerousness have confirmed that the combination of high antisociality and low IQ is associated with male criminal violence and that the same combination can discriminate within a group of violent male criminals by level of severity. My study continued the validation of this two-component measure by showing that men convicted of murder and given the death sentence for their more heinous crimes were more dangerous than murderers who received life sentences. Men who had been extended the death penalty, who selected female victims, and whose murders were judged to have been especially cruel received extraordinarily high dangerousness scores relative to all other murderers. The assumption that high antisociality and low IQ would lead to serious violence because of the criminal's inability to deal with complications that arise in confronting the victim received some support. The murders of more dangerous men followed stronger victim resistance than the murders committed by less dangerous men.     

Turkish Community Mediation

This study investigates the mediations of 67 mediators from western Turkey and 38 Kurd mediators from eastern Turkey. Utilizing a cultural effects model, we predicted and subsequently found that Kurd mediators—who are highly collectivistic and have a tribal‐based social structure—more frequently emphasize harmony, and they stress the cost of the conflict to society. In addition, the Kurds more often rally third parties for the mediations, having them present at the mediation, as well as relying on their advice and assistance. In addition to the ethnic differences, we predicted and found that imams (i.e., mosque leaders) more frequently utilized religious‐based tactics (e.g., walking under the Koran) than did their secular counterparts.     

Looking down and ramping up: The impact of status differences on effort in intergroup contexts

This paper examines how the status of an out-group impacts effort in intergroup settings. The results provide evidence that people work harder when their individual performance is compared to a lower, as opposed to higher, status out-group member. Moreover, comparisons to a lower status out-group were found to elicit motivation gains as these participants worked harder than participants in the control (Studies 1-3) or in-group comparison conditions (Studies 2 and 3). In Study 4, evidence for the role of threat as an underlying mechanism was provided as gains in effort for those compared with a lower status out-group member were eliminated when participants self- or group-affirmed prior to comparison. Finally, Study 5 shows that both social identity threat and self-categorization threat underlie increases in effort for participants compared to a lower status out-group member. We detail a theoretical basis for our claim that performance comparisons with lower status out-group members are especially threatening, and discuss the implications for this research in terms of social identity and self-categorization theories as they relate to effort in intergroup contexts.     

MUSIC THAT WILL BRING BACK THE DEAD? Resurrection,Reconciliation, and Restorative Justice in Post‐Apartheid South Africa

This essay explores how the doctrine of the Resurrection informs theological reflection on reconciliation in post-Apartheid South Africa. It begins by establishing the fragile and liminal state of reconciliation, despite the efforts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It then argues that the Resurrection offers an ecstatic and relational understanding of the human, which in turn provides a basis for advancing claims regarding human dignity and well-being. In conversation with the work of Oliver O'Donovan and James Alison on the Resurrection, this view is further contextualized by incorporating insights from ubuntu and from the work of Judith Butler on grieving. The essay closes with proposals for how the church in post-Apartheid South Africa can give witness to the Resurrection in its immediate life and work through advocacy and carrying on the politics of grieving.     

Optimizing subjective measures of consciousness

Dienes and Seth (2010) conclude that confidence ratings and post-decision wagering are two comparable and recommendable measures of conscious experience. In a recently submitted paper, we have however found that both methods are problematic and seem less suited to measure consciousness than a direct introspective measure.Here, we discuss the methodology and conclusions put forward by Dienes and Seth, and why we think the two experiments end up with so different recommendations.     

Perceiving and Wanting to Be Valued by Others: Implications for Cognition,Motivation, and Behavior in Romantic Relationships

Two studies examined implications of two individual differences—perception of being valued by others and desire to be valued by others—for romantic relationships. Study 1 included 171 participants involved in romantic relationships (59 males, 112 females) and examined attributions and behavioral intentions in hypothetical scenarios. Study 2 involved 160 heterosexual couples who completed daily reports and/or an observed conflict discussion. Perception of being valued by others and desire to be valued by others independently predicted more pro‐relationship responses and reduced relationship‐destructive responses, including more care, commitment, and regard for partners; more responsive and ingratiating behavior; less negative behavior; and more positive perceptions and behavioral intentions. Perceived and desired interpersonal value were related to attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and trait self‐esteem. However, perceived and desired interpersonal value were superior predictors of relationship outcomes, even in replications of foundational attachment studies. Individual differences in believing that one is valued by others and wanting to be valued by others independently predict relationship maintenance, and these dimensions may be at the core of many effects of attachment dimensions and self‐esteem. These individual differences appear to be important aspects of personality that guide cognition, motivation, and behavior in interpersonal relationships.     

Does Doxastic Justification Have a Basing Requirement?

The distinction between propositional and doxastic justification is the distinction between having justification to believe that P (= propositional justification) versus having a justified belief in P (= doxastic justification). The focus of this paper is on doxastic justification and on what conditions are necessary for having it. In particular, I challenge the basing demand on doxastic justification, i.e. the idea that one can have a doxastically justified belief only if one's belief is based on an epistemically appropriate reason. This demand has been used to refute versions of coherentism and conservatism about perceptual justification, as well as to defend phenomenal ‘conservatism’ and other views besides. In what follows, I argue that there is virtually no reason to think there is a basing demand on doxastic justification. I also argue that, even if the basing demand were true, it would still fail to serve the dialectical purposes for which it has been employed in arguments concerning coherentism, conservatism, and phenomenal ‘conservatism’. I conclude by discussing the fact that knowledge has a basing demand and I show why this needn't raise the same sort of problems for coherentism and conservatism that doxastic justification's basing demand seemed to raise.     

From the Editor Guest Column: Who Was Jack Shand?

Members of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) hail from a number of diverse disciplines, but one theme unites them all: a commitment to studying religion scientifically. While many readers of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (JSSR) are quantitatively oriented, SSSR has a long history of sharing membership with fields utilizing a variety of qualitative methods, including religious studies, anthropology, and other scholarly disciplines within the humanities. As such, SSSR serves as a nexus for the sharing of different research, ideas, perspectives, and methodologies. Our guest “From the Editor” column is about a psychologist who appreciated SSSR and its multidisciplinary approach so much that he became a major benefactor to SSSR after his passing. That person was John Douglas “Jack” Shand, and this is a brief tribute to his legacy.