Responses to Presentations at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting Forum on the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion</Emphasis>

This article is a response to essay reviews of the Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion (Rambo and Farhadian 2014) published in this issue of Pastoral Psychology. The editors of that volume seek to engage the various issues raised by the reviewers.     

Extending the Balloon Analogue Risk Task to Assess Naturalistic Risk Taking via a Mobile Platform

The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) is a behavioral measure that is commonly used to assess risk taking propensity. The primary goal of the present study was to introduce a mobile version of the BART (mBART) that can be included within ambulatory assessment protocols to assess risk taking in daily life. Study 1 compared common BART indices (i.e., total money earned, adjusted average pumps, balloon explosions, and coefficient of variability [CV]) on a single administration of the laboratory BART on a computer and the mBART on a smartphone (n = 78). Results revealed generally consistent relationships between indices of risk taking propensity in both the laboratory BART and mBART. Study 2 administered the mBART as part of a 7-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol in a population of nondaily smokers (n = 51). Using multi-level models, results suggest that males have greater adjusted average pumps (p = .03), and that a participant’s average CV is negatively related to trait sensation seeking (p = .03) and positively associated with trait positive urgency (p = .04). There were within-person effects of study day (p = .05) and environment (p = .02) with respect to adjusted average pumps such that individuals took greater risks as the study progressed and were riskier when alone compared to with others. Inclusion of the mBART in EMA did not appear to significantly increase participant burden and demonstrated acceptable levels of compliance. These results offer initial evidence supporting the feasibility and utility of the mBART for ambulatory research designs.     

Ego depletion improves insight

Initial acts of self-control can reduce effort and performance on subsequent tasks – a phenomenon known as ego depletion. Ego depletion is thought to undermine the capacity or willingness to engage executive control, an important determinant of success for many tasks. We examined whether ego depletion improves performance on a task that favours less executive control: insight problem solving. In two experiments, participants completed an ego-depletion manipulation or a non-depleting control condition followed by an insight problem-solving task (i.e., matchstick arithmetic). Participants in the depleting condition demonstrated greater insight problem-solving accuracy than those in the non-depleting control condition. Priming theories of willpower did not impact these results. Although ego depletion is widely regarded as a “state of impairment”, attendant decreases in executive control may foster insightful thinking.     

Body Mass Index and functional impairment: the explanatory role of anxiety sensitivity among treatment-seeking smokers

Obesity and smoking are highly prevalent public health concerns in the United States. Data indicate that elevated Body Mass Index (BMI) is related to functional impairment. However, there is limited understanding of mechanisms that may explain their comorbidity among smokers. The current study sought to test whether anxiety sensitivity explained the relation between BMI and functional impairment among 420 (46.9% females; M_age = 38 years, SD = 13.42) treatment-seeking, adult smokers. Results indicated that BMI yielded a significant indirect effect through anxiety sensitivity for functional impairment, b = 0.01, SE = .01, 95% CI = [.002, .021]. These findings remained significant after controlling for participant sex, negative affectivity, tobacco dependence, psychopathology, and medical conditions (i.e. hypertension, heart problems, respiratory disease, asthma). Such data provide novel empirical evidence that, among smokers, BMI may be a risk factor for functional impairment indirectly through anxiety sensitivity. Overall, such findings could potentially inform the development of personalized interventions among this particularly vulnerable segment of the smoking population.     

Relationship between perceptions of ageing and frailty in English older adults

Older adults’ negative beliefs about ageing are related to their health and functioning, but little is known about how perceptions of ageing (POA) relate to frailty status. This study aimed to explore the relationship between POA and frailty. Secondary analysis of data used were from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing Waves 2 and 5. A POA score was based on participants’ responses to 12 statements using a five-point Likert scale at baseline, and a Frailty Index (FI) score was calculated for each participant for both waves. Multiple linear regression models were conducted to assess the relationship between POA and frailty cross-sectionally and longitudinally in models controlled for age, gender, depression symptoms, and socioeconomic status. Older adults with more negative POA had greater frailty (β = .12, p < .001). Negative POA predicted greater frailty 6 years later (β = .03, p < .05). Future work regarding the mechanisms of this relationship is needed to identify ways of intervening to improve health.     

Self-motivated behaviour: Its influence on intergroup contact for intergroup harmony

We investigated the role of self-motivated behaviour in promoting intergroup member contact for intergroup harmony. A multi-ethnic group of 68 freshmen students attending a Nigerian state university were participants (female = 43.8%; Mean age = 22.15 years, SD = 2.35 years; Igbo = 45.6%, Hausa/Fulani = 20.4%, Yoruba = 24.5%, and others = 9.5%). By religious affiliation, the students comprised Christians (62%) and Muslims (38%). The students took part in an intergroup contact learning assignment designed for them to interact with others outside their class cohort and from a different ethnic group to themselves. They completed measures of self-motivated behaviours defined by self-efficacy, self-interest, learning predisposition, as well as intergoup harmony. Tests of mediation revealed significant positive indirect effects of intergroup member contact on intergroup harmony through self-efficacy, self-interest, and learning behaviour. Self-motivated behaviour fully mediated the relationship between intergroup contact and intergroup harmony among students in Nigerian multi-ethnic settings. Self-motivated behaviour may facilitate peace-building and intergroup harmony, for management of intergroup relations, among Nigerian major ethnic groups premised on intergroup contact.     

An automated approach to measuring child movement and location in the early childhood classroom

Children’s movement is an important issue in child development and outcome in early childhood research, intervention, and practice. Digital sensor technologies offer improvements in naturalistic movement measurement and analysis. We conducted validity and feasibility testing of a real-time, indoor mapping and location system (Ubisense, Inc.) within a preschool classroom. Real-time indoor mapping has several implications with respect to efficiently and conveniently: (a) determining the activity areas where children are spending the most and least time per day (e.g., music); and (b) mapping a focal child’s atypical real-time movements (e.g., lapping behavior). We calibrated the accuracy of Ubisense point-by-point location estimates (i.e., X and Y coordinates) against laser rangefinder measurements using several stationary points and atypical movement patterns as reference standards. Our results indicate that activity areas occupied and atypical movement patterns could be plotted with an accuracy of 30.48 cm (1 ft) using a Ubisense transponder tag attached to the participating child’s shirt. The accuracy parallels findings of other researchers employing Ubisense to study atypical movement patterns in individuals at risk for dementia in an assisted living facility. The feasibility of Ubisense was tested in an approximately 90-min assessment of two children, one typically developing and one with Down syndrome, during natural classroom activities, and the results proved positive. Implications for employing Ubisense in early childhood classrooms as a data-based decision-making tool to support children’s development and its potential integration with other wearable sensor technologies are discussed.