COVID-19, Sex,Addictions, Women's Health,Care of the Elderly,and Medical Education

Journal of Religion and Health -     

Does the Long‐Contested Question of Orthodox Ecumenism Remain Open after Crete?

The article explores whether the Orthodox Council of Crete (2016) resolved longstanding tensions within Orthodoxy over ecumenism. The article first attempts to pinpoint the substance of the disagreement. The anti‐ecumenist position, the article claims, rests on a dogmatic belief that a communion formally separated from the Orthodox Church can only continue to lose grace and the ecclesial gifts of the Spirit, while ecumenists hold that another communion might recover or increase in such gifts even prior to formal reunification with Orthodoxy. The article then explores the much‐disputed use of the word ‘church’ for other Christian communions in the document ‘Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World’. If it is true, as many on both sides of the controversy have suggested, that the Council formally affirmed the pro‐ecumenist position, does this make anti‐ecumenism a no longer viable Orthodox stance? This depends on the Council’s status, a further contested matter on which the article concludes with some tentative reflections.     

Visual target control of schedule-induced aggression in white king pigeons (columba livia)

Visual target control of schedule-induced attack was studied in domesticated pigeons by exposing them to successive and simultaneous target preference procedures involving a fixed-time food schedule and projected target images. Pigeons preferred attacking an image of a conspecific head over a headless bird regardless of the height of the latter. Images of an intact bird and of a head alone were equally effective in controlling attack and more effective than the headless bird. Neither the eye nor four. other head-related features exclusively controlled attack. The combined results suggest that the head of an intact conspecific target selectively controls schedule-induced attack and that the effectiveness of the head in directing attack is inversely related to its physical integrity as a unit without regard to specific features. These results are consistent with reports that the head and head-related features of an intruder control reproductive aggression in birds.     

The role of ethnic identity and self-construal in coping among African American and Caucasian American seventh graders: an exploratory analysis of within-group variance

Much coping research has been conducted comparing members of different ethnic groups using discrete racial classifications. However, the past two decades have seen the construct of ethnicity evolve into a complex variable that must be assessed in a more comprehensive way. This study explored how ethnicity, a discrete variable, and the continuous variables of a person's ethnic identity and self-construal contribute to the use of particular coping strategies across various situations. One hundred twelve seventh graders (67 African Americans and 45 Caucasian Americans) from three suburban middle schools completed questionnaires assessing ethnic identity, self-construal, and coping strategies for medical, test, and social criticism stressors. Results supported the hypothesis that ethnicity as a discrete variable is not associated with coping, but that ethnic identity and self-construal are. It was also found that high scores on the ethnic identity and self-construal scales were indicative of more positive psychological adjustment. Implications for future research and methodological considerations are discussed.     

Dispelling the illusion of invulnerability: the motivations and mechanisms of resistance to persuasion

Three studies examined the impact of a treatment designed to instill resistance to deceptive persuasive messages. Study 1 demonstrated that after the resistance treatment, ads using illegitimate authority-based appeals became less persuasive, and ads using legitimate appeals became more persuasive. In Study 2, this resistance generalized to novel exemplars, persevered over time, and appeared outside of the laboratory context. In Study 3, a procedure that dispelled participants' illusions of invulnerability to deceptive persuasion maximized resistance to such persuasion. Overall, the present studies demonstrate that attempts to confer resistance to appeals will likely be successful to the extent that they install 2 conceptual features: perceived undue manipulative intent of the source of the appeal and perceived personal vulnerability to such manipulation.     

contents Volume 108, 2002

Volume Contents

contents Volume 108, 2002