Perceptions of Anti-Semitism among American Jews, 2000–05, A Survey Analysis

Despite their high degree of economic, educational, social, and political success, most American Jews in the early 2000s see anti‐Semitism as a problem, and significant percentages see anti‐Semitism as a very serious problem. How do we explain these perceptions of anti‐Semitic threat given the comparative success of Jews in so many aspects of American life? This paper uses annual surveys from the National Survey of American Jews from 2000 through 2005 to address this question. Results indicate a multiplicity of factors affect perceptions of the seriousness of anti‐Semitism. Those with a stronger sense of Jewish identity, lower income, and older people are more likely to see anti‐Semitism as a very serious problem. Respondents also tend to see anti‐Semitism as a more serious threat if they live in states with higher anti‐Semitic incidents rates and when use of anti‐Semitic terms in the news media increases. The conclusion puts the findings into perspective and suggests what we can learn by studying successful minority groups.     

Values and Commitment: A Test of Schwartz's Human Values Theory Among Arab Teachers in Israel

This study examines the relationship between individual‐level values, using Schwartz's theory, and organizational and occupational commitment among Israeli Arabs. The sample includes 369 Arab teachers working in 14 schools in Arab communities in the north of Israel, with a response rate of 65%. The findings show a significant effect of 2 values—benevolence and conformity—on most organizational and occupational commitment dimensions, above and beyond the effect of demographic variables. The specific relationships found here are attributed to the characteristics of the sample. Implications of the findings for continuing research on this issue are emphasized.     

Mating competitors increase religious beliefs

It has been presumed that religiosity has an influence on mating behavior, but here we experimentally investigate the possibility that mating behavior might also influence religiosity. In Experiment 1, people reported higher religiosity after looking at mating pools consisting of attractive people of their own sex compared to attractive opposite sex targets. Experiment 2 replicated the effect with an added control group, and suggested that both men and women become more religious when seeing same-sex competitors. We discuss several possible explanations for these effects. Most broadly, the findings contribute to an emerging literature on how cultural phenomena such as religiosity respond to ecological cues in potentially functional ways.     

Maternal Psychiatric Disorders, Parenting, and Maternal Behavior in the Home During the Child Rearing Years

Data from the Children in the Community Study, a community-based longitudinal study, were used to investigate associations between maternal psychiatric disorders and child-rearing behaviors. Maternal psychiatric symptoms and behavior in the home were assessed in 782 families during the childhood and adolescence of the offspring. Maternal anxiety, depressive, disruptive, personality, and substance use disorders were independently associated with current and subsequent parenting difficulties and other problems in the home during the child rearing years, after co-occurring disorders and offspring behavior problems were controlled statistically. Maternal personality disorders were most consistently associated with problems in the home during the child rearing years. Less than 1 of 3 mothers with disorders reported having received treatment. Those who received treatment were significantly less likely to experience multiple difficulties in the home during the child rearing years. These findings suggest that maternal psychiatric disorder may be an important determinant of problematic maternal behavior in the home during the child rearing years. Improved recognition and treatment of maternal psychiatric disorders may help to reduce the amount of maladaptive parenting behavior that many youths might otherwise be likely to experience.     

中国祝圣主教也许是符合传统的

最近梵蒂冈和中国政府之间就祝圣五位新主教所产生的冲突,媒体普遍认为是世俗政权侵占教宗特权。西方评论家们通常认为,只有教宗享有任命主教的权力(见1月14日“美国天主教周报”,以下简称NCR)。然而,虽然中国祝圣主教可以完全认为是一种蔑视行为,但纵观教会历史会发现,任命主教问题,实际情况却要复杂得多。从历史上来讲,教宗拥有直接任命教区主教的权力还是后来的事。一方面,中国任命主教,发生在教廷与北京之间关系正常化期望值正升高的时刻,因而成为新闻。1951年,随着中国共产党政府的产生,上述关系就断绝了。据说,政府承认的天主教爱国…     

Validation de la version française de l'échelle de réflexivité en groupe de Carter et West, 1998

Several studies found reflexivity —the extent to which team discuss objectives, strategies and processes and adapt them to changes— to be related to team efficacy. Two studies were conducted with 80 teams (320 participants) to validate French version of reflexivity scale. In study 1 exploratory factor analysis revealed 3 factors which partly confirms the 2 factor structure (task reflexivity and social reflexivity) expected from the original study (Carter and West, 1998). Two items of the original task reflexivity scale load on a third factor we named strategic reflexivity. The three factor structure was replicated in study 2 with confirmatory factor analysis. Criterion validity is proved by correlations between reflexivity and team performance. Task, social and strategic reflexivity correlate with different aspects of team effectiveness. The French version of reflexivity scale is reliable and appropriate for evaluating team reflexivity.     

Seeing the silver lining: potential benefits of trauma exposure in college students

In the current study we compare college students exposed to a potentially traumatic event (PTE) meeting self-report criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), PTE-exposed students not meeting criteria for PTSD, and non-exposed students on measures of perceived social support, self-esteem, and optimism (i.e., personal resources) and report use of specific coping strategies. Results indicate that the PTE-exposed/probable PTSD group reported fewer personal resources, greater use of avoidance-focused coping, and less use of approach-focused coping than the other two groups. The PTE-exposed/no PTSD group reported greater perceived social support and less use of avoidance-focused coping than the non-exposed group. We discuss the findings' implications for the prevention and treatment of trauma-related psychopathology.     

Intra- and cross-dimensional visual search for single-feature targets

Cross-dimensional visual search for single-feature targets that differed from the distractors along two dimensions (color and orientation) was compared with intradimensional search for targets that differed from the distractors along a single dimension (either orientation or color). The design of the first three experiments differed from those of previous studies in that participants were required to respond differently to each of the targets. Experiments 1-3 were similar except that in Experiment 1, the distractors were homogeneous; in Experiment 2, two types of distractors were used in equal proportions; and in Experiment 3, two types of distractors were used but one of the distractors was a singleton. The findings, contrary to those of previous studies, revealed that cross-dimensional search is at least as efficient and for some targets even more efficient than intradimensional search. These results suggest that the details of stimulus-to-response mapping are essential in comparing intra- and cross-dimensional tasks. Experiment 4 used a priming design and did not support an explanation based on grouping processes. We outline an explanation for all the findings based on a recent cross-dimensional response selection model by Cohen and Shoup (1997).