Jewish Blood: Reality and Metaphor in History,Religion, and Culture

Although Rodney Stark is best known for his work on religious economies, he has recently turned his attention to the social effects of monotheism. If we look carefully on the theoretical trajectory evident in this recent work, what we find is a social-evolutionary approach to religion that was prevalent in the 19th century, but long ago assumed by most academics to be discredited. Furthermore, as becomes increasingly evident going through this series, the particular social-evolutionary sequence that Stark constructs has been shaped by a vision of Protestant triumphalism, and a privileging of evangelical Protestantism, that also belongs to an earlier time. While it would easy to ignore Stark's work (and the last two books in this series do seem to have been ignored in academic circles), there are reasons (which include the popular appeal of his work and his treatment of Islam) for taking his work seriously.     

Improved training of football referees and the decline in home advantage post-WW2

ObjectivesResearch has identified a decline in home advantage (HA) in a number of professional leagues since World War 2 (WW2). The purpose of the current study was to identify whether the decline in HA in English and Scottish Professional Football Leagues is mirrored by the radical transformation in the training of referees post-WW2, thus providing a new insight into the cause of HA.DesignA longitudinal quasi-experimental design.MethodsHA was calculated for each team at the end of every season for the four English and the Scottish Premier League post-WW2. We also compiled a list of events, statements and quotations to illustrate the dramatic change in the way referees have been trained (physically and psychologically), and assessed over the same period.ResultsWe observed a systematic decline in HA in professional English and Scottish leagues post-WW2, but with the steepest decline observed in lower divisions with smaller crowds. Of the factors thought to influence HA, crowd support appears the most consistent with these observations. Crowds are known to influence referees' decisions to favour the home side. However we argue that improved training of referees since WW2 has contributed to an improved ability to make objective decisions and a greater resilience to crowd influence, which explains the decline in HA but also accounts for the steeper decline observed with smaller crowds.ConclusionsThe continued existence of HA, and the less steep decline observed in top leagues suggests that referees' judgements are still not immune to the influence of larger crowds.     

Yoga Practice May Buffer the Deleterious Effects of Abuse on Women's Self-Concept and Dysfunctional Coping

Women who experienced abuse as children or adults can suffer from symptoms such as dissociations, physiological regulation difficulties, and mood disturbances that might not respond to traditional interventions. Given the benefits of yoga, we hypothesized that yoga practice would ameliorate the negative impact of abuse on psychological functioning. Our findings suggest that frequent yoga practice might ameliorate the negative impact of abuse history on self-concept and coping skills. In addition, our findings suggest that women who incorporate yoga into other areas of life could get the greatest psychological benefits. Given the preliminary nature of this study, further research into the benefits of yoga on women who have child or adult abuse histories is warranted.     

Improving Parent‐Child Relationships Through Filial Therapy: An Interview With Garry Landreth

Internationally known counselor educator and author Garry Landreth has a passion for filial therapy. In this interview article, Landreth discusses the basic principles and procedures of filial therapy, the 10‐week Filial Therapy Training Model he has developed, and the research that he and his colleagues and students are doing on filial therapy.     

Satisfying Friendship Maintenance Expectations: The Role of Friendship Standards and Biological Sex

The ideal standards model predicts linear relationship among friendship standards, expectation fulfillment, and relationship satisfaction. Using a diary method, 197 participants reported on expectation fulfillment in interactions with one best, one close, and one casual friend (N = 591) over five days (2,388 interactions). Using multilevel modeling, our study found that hypothesized relationships were moderated by participant sex. For males, ideal standards had a curvilinear relationship with expectation fulfillment, where higher standards were associated with less fulfillment, but both expectation fulfillment and standards directly predicted satisfaction. For females, ideal standards linearly predicted expectation fulfillment, but an interaction between standards and fulfillment predicted satisfaction. Implications for the relationship between ideal standards and sex on friendship maintenance and satisfaction are discussed.