Personal Images of the Sacred

Jung’s works on religion focus on images of the divine, which people experience in various ways. Here, we consider a variety of such numinous experiences, ranging from childhood dreams to experiences of Christian saints and of 20th-century cult leaders, all of which can be described as images of God in the human psyche.     

Collisions, logrolls, and psychological science

Relationships among science, public policy, and the media have long been a topic of controversy. A discussion of this controversy serves to place views on the Rind et al. affair in a broader context and set the stage for constructing more effective working relationships between scientists and both policy and media experts. To advance these relationships, the author offers several recommendations that emphasize ongoing institutional activities and encourage collaboration with other professional organizations.     

The Process Through Which an Advocacy Intervention Resulted in Positive Change for Battered Women Over Time

A prior experimental evaluation of a community-based advocacy program for women with abusive partners demonstrated positive change in the lives of women even 2 years postintervention (C. M. Sullivan & D. I. Bybee, 1999). The current study explored the complex mediational process through which this change occurred, using longitudinal structural equation modeling and formal tests of mediation. As hypothesized, the advocacy intervention first resulted in women successfully obtaining desired community resources and increasing their social support, which enhanced their overall quality of life. This improvement in well-being appeared to serve as a protective factor from subsequent abuse, as women who received the intervention were significantly less likely to be abused at 2-year follow-up compared with women in the control condition. Increased quality of life completely mediated the impact of the advocacy intervention on later reabuse. Discussion places advocacy for women in the context of other efforts that are needed to build an effective community response to preventing intimate violence against women.     

Beyond bruises and broken bones: the joint effects of stress and injuries on battered women's health

We investigated the joint mediating effects of injuries and stress on the relationship between abuse and women's health. A community sample of 397 women, half of whom had been assaulted by an intimate partner within the prior 6 months, was interviewed about their experience of intimate partner violence, injuries, stress, income, depression, and physical health problems. Structural equation modeling techniques confirmed the complex model of hypothesized indirect effects of abuse on women's physical health problems through injuries, stress, and depression. Stress accounted for 80% of the indirect effect of abuse on women's physical health. Its direct effect on physical health was somewhat larger than its indirect effect through depression, but both processes played a key role in determining the effect of abuse on women's physical health problems. Furthermore, abuse was a stronger predictor of women's stress than was poverty. Implication and future research are discussed.     

Visual speech information for face recognition

Two experiments test whether isolated visible speech movements can be used for face matching. Visible speech information was isolated with a point-light methodology. Participants were asked to match articulating point-light faces to a fully illuminated articulating face in an XAB task. The first experiment tested single-frame static face stimuli as a control. The results revealed that the participants were significantly better at matching the dynamic face stimuli than the static ones. Experiment 2 tested whether the observed dynamic advantage was based on the movement itself or on the fact that the dynamic stimuli consisted of many more static and ordered frames. For this purpose, frame rate was reduced, and the frames were shown in a random order, a correct order with incorrect relative timing, or a correct order with correct relative timing. The results revealed better matching performance with the correctly ordered and timed frame stimuli, suggesting that matches were based on the actual movement itself. These findings suggest that speaker-specific visible articulatory style can provide information for face matching.     

Sculpting the Body Beautiful: Attachment Style,Neuroticism, and Use of Cosmetic Surgeries

Use of cosmetic surgeries has increased steadily over the last decade, and continues to rise in young and old alike. The purpose of present research was to investigate the relationship of personality to use of cosmetic procedures of various kinds. It was expected that adult attachment style, in particular attachment anxiety, would be positively related to use of cosmetic procedures. Attachment anxiety involves excessive approval seeking and concern over achieving and maintaining the love of significant others (such as romantic relationship partners). Such concerns could, in turn, lead to use of a variety of strategies for maintaining positive regard, including cosmetic surgeries to enhance physical appearance. Results supported this hypothesis, particularly among women. Neuroticism was also related to some procedures, though the relationships were generally weaker than those for attachment anxiety, and largely disappeared in regression analyses that controlled for the separate influence of the two variables.     

The accessibility of characters in single sentences: proper names,common nouns,and first mention

Accessibility of characters in two-character sentences (e.g., The butler helped Calvin at the wedding reception) was investigated with a probe recognition task. Probes were either the first character (e.g., butler) or the second character (e.g., Calvin) in a sentence and were designated by proper names or common nouns crossed with name or noun nonprobes. Results show that (1) probes in first position are more accessible than those in second position, but not when noun probes are paired with name nonprobes, (2) characters designated by names are generally more accessible than those designated by nouns, and (3) the first name in a sentence is more available than other characters, regardless of position. Thus, accessibility of characters in a sentence seems dependent on discourse function, with named characters seen as main characters, rather than on nondiscourse-related factors, such as temporal distinctiveness.     

A conceptual model of cultural predictors of anxiety among Japanese American and part-Japanese American adolescents

A model integrating Japanese ethnicity, cultural identity, and anxiety was developed and assessed in Japanese American and part-Japanese American high school seniors (N = 141). Using measures from the Hawaiian High Schools Health Survey, the model incorporated the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Major Life Events Scale, and the Japanese Culture Scale (JCS). Japanese American adolescents scored higher on the JCS and reported fewer anxiety symptoms than part-Japanese American adolescents. Predictors for anxiety were being Japanese American versus part-Japanese American, income, and culturally intensified events. A significant interaction of behavior by self-identification was obtained. The model had good overall fit, suggesting that cultural identity formation may contribute to anxiety experienced particularly by adolescents of mixed heritage.     

The Role of Referent and Expert Power in Mutual Help

This study explored the roles of referent power (i.e., influence based on sense of identification) and expert power (i.e., influence based on knowledge and expertise) in Schizophrenics Anonymous (SA), a mutual-help group for persons experiencing a schizophrenia-related illness. The study describes SA participants' experience of referent and expert power with SA members, SA leaders, and with mental health professionals. It also examines whether or not referent and expert power ascribed to fellow SA participants predicts the perceived helpfulness of the group. One hundred fifty-six SA participants were surveyed. Participants reported experiencing higher levels of referent power with fellow SA members and leaders than with mental health professionals. They reported higher levels of expert power for mental health professionals and SA leaders than for SA members. The respondents' ratings of their SA group's helpfulness was significantly correlated with ratings of referent and expert power. Although expert power was the best independent predictor of helpfulness, a significant interaction between referent and expert power indicated that when members reported high referent power, expert power was not related to helpfulness. These results are interpreted to suggest that there are multiple forms of social influence at work in mutual help.     

Letters to the Editor Department

Letter to the Editor

Letters to the Editor Department