Issues in the psychology of religious conversion

Conclusion Such are the issues that two psychologists with theological training and ministerial ordination draw from social science literature as it relates to religious conversion. Few, if any, of these issues are settled definitively. There is a great need for solid, responsible research, not to prove or disprove, but simply to understand, predict, and, where desirable, control. For these are the goals of science. Before research can be productive, however, these are the goals of science. Before research can be productive, however, there is need for theoretical development. Inadequate conceptualization, especially of necessary distinctions and discriminations, has handicapped the scientific investigation of religion almost as much as a limited tool kit. But the signs of the times regarding social scientific investigation of conversion are hopeful. Especially to be recommended for further research by someone well acquainted with the field of religious conversion is the vast literature in social psychology on opinions, attitudes, and beliefs. Perhaps we can continue the process of knowledge-building that began so promisingly in the first three decades of the century and then stopped on a plateau.This article is a revision of a paper presented at The First National Faith and Order Colloquium of the National Council of Churches, Chicago, June 12–17, 1966.     

A note on Tryon's measure of reliability

Two alternative formulas, based upon the analysis of variance, are given for Tryon's general form for the reliability coefficient.     

The rolling totals method of computing sums,sums of squares,and sums of cross-products

The rolling totals method of computing sums, sums of squares, and sums of cross-products appears to have several advantages over usual methods, in that it saves time and requires less equipment. Only an IBM sorter and a tabulator equipped with Card Cycle Total Transfer Device are used. The method provides an immediate independent visual check on the accuracy of the sums of cross-products of each successive variable as it is run. Since controlling is done by sorting, the necessity for re-wiring after each run on the tabulator is eliminated. The wiring, illustrated by a diagram, is simple and straightforward.ABITIBI POWER AND PAPER COMPANY     

Effects of the cognitive organization of route knowledge on judgments of macrospatial distance

The effects of route segmentation were examined in a series of three experiments, Subjects in Experiment 1 divided an actual route into segments. Subjects in Experiment 2 performed corresponding proximity-judgment and distance-estimation tasks involving locations selected on the basis of the route segments identified in Experiment 1. Subjects in Experiment 3 performed a simple unidirectional distance-estimation task. Results from these experiments indicated that subjects can readily divide a route into segments and that these segments significantly bias judgments of macrospatial distance. These findings suggest a similarity between route segmentation in macrospatial cognition and categorization in other cognitive-task domains.     

Flexible testing without programming

Test administration by computer has been available for some time, yet such procedures have been little more than electronic substitutes for conventional paper-and-peneil tests. The Flexible Tester allows the researcher to ask as many subquestions as desired and make all questions contingent upon subject response. The logic of questioning is created through a dialogue with the program rather than by direct programming. The program is suitable for any questioning procedure, including structured interviews expressible in the false/true format.     

Assessing the impact of disasters on helpers

This paper compares the effectiveness of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) and the Impact of Event Scale (IES) for assessing the impact of disasters on volunteers involved in the rescue work following the Armenian earthquake. The IES gave fewer zero scores and so was less likely to result in helpers being labelled symptom-free when they were not. It was conclude that IES was a more sensitive instrument and a more effective means of assessing the psychological consequences of disaster work.     

Temporal properties of human information processing: Tests of discrete versus continuous models

Cognitive psychologists have characterized the temporal properties of human information processing in terms of discrete and continuous models. Discrete models postulate that component mental processes transmit a finite number of intermittent outputs (quanta) of information over time, whereas continuous models postulate that information is transmitted in a gradual fashion. These postulates may be tested by using an adaptive response-priming procedure and analysis of reaction-time mixture distributions. Three experiments based on this procedure and analysis are reported. The experiments involved varying the temporal interval between the onsets of a prime stimulus and a subsequent test stimulus to which a response had to be made. Reaction time was measured as a function of the duration of the priming interval and the type of prime stimulus. Discrete models predict that manipulations of the priming interval should yield a family of reaction-time mixture distributions formed from a finite number of underlying basis distributions, corresponding to distinct preparatory states. Continuous models make a different prediction. Goodness-of-fit tests between these predictions and the data supported either the discrete or the continuous models, depending on the nature of the stimuli and responses being used. When there were only two alternative responses and the stimulus-response mapping was a compatible one, discrete models with two or three states of preparation fit the results best. For larger response sets with an incompatible stimulus-response mapping, a continuous model fit some of the data better. These results are relevant to the interpretation of reaction-time data in a variety of contexts and to the analysis of speed-accuracy trade-offs in mental processes.