Revisiting Viktor Frankl: his contributions to the contemporary interest in spirituality and health care

The case is made for location of spirituality to be in the body, and at the same time for the power of the spirit to transcend the body when it is afflicted. The author highlights Viktor Frankl's strongest convictions that one can survive through the shear power of one's spirit. Correspondingly, the promise of resurrection can help a Christian to maintain a vision of life, stay courageous though there may be no hope of tomorrow as we have known it. The author asserts the role of the hospital chaplain in helping the sick person to draw upon his or her spiritual strength to cope with their physical illness or affliction.     

Applying the concept of lifestyle in association with aggression and violence in Greek cohabitating couples

The current study investigated the role of lifestyle as a significant factor related to the aggression and violence between cohabitating partners. Based on previous research, lifestyle was defined as a special reflection of socialization into society and working life, where different lifestyles should also be able to produce different patterns of socialization into people's roles as partners. It was found that gender and years of cohabitating were significantly related to Emotional aggression and Sexual violence; lifestyle patterns were associated with specific forms of violence. More specifically, the lifestyles of Pleasure & Elegance and the one of Culture-Intellectualism were found to promote Emotional aggression. Also, the lifestyle of Yuppies/Workaholic and that of Physical activities stimulated the appearance of Sexual violence between partners. Moreover, individuals with Tradition-Religiousness lifestyle were more likely to show lower levels of Physical & Sexual violence while the adherents of the Substance abuse lifestyle pattern appeared to have an inclination towards Physical & Sexual Violence. Finally, the occurrence of one form of violent behaviour was likely to be related to the other forms of violent behaviour.     

Personality and Intelligence in Business People: A Study of Two Personality and Two Intelligence Measures

This study examined the overlap and correlations among two well-known personality measures (NEO-PI–R; Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, MBTI) and two widely used intelligence tests (the Graduate Management Assessment (GMA), Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA)). The GMA measures both fluid intelligence (Gf) and crystallized intelligence (Gc), whereas WGCTA mainly assess Gc. A total of over 3,500 participants completed the four measures in a middle management assessment event. Correlational analysis showed that Extraversion on the MBTI tended to be associated with Openness and Stability on the NEO. Intuition was associated with Openness and Introversion. Feeling types tended to be both Agreeable and Neurotic while perceiving types were high on Openness but low on Agreeableness. The NEO Big Five factor of Openness was most consistently and significantly associated with both measures of intelligence (r = .09 to r =.12). Results from the MBTI showed that Intuition and Perceiving scores were positively and significantly associated with both intelligence test scores which were intercorrelated (r = .38). Regressional analysis showed that personality traits are logically and coherently related to intelligence test scores. Implications for selection and assessment are considered.     

Translating the Human Right to Water and Sanitation into Public Policy Reform

The development of a human right to water and sanitation under international law has created an imperative to implement human rights in water and sanitation policy. Through forty-three interviews with informants in international institutions, national governments, and non-governmental organizations, this research examines interpretations of this new human right in global governance, national policy, and local practice. Exploring obstacles to the implementation of rights-based water and sanitation policy, the authors analyze the limitations of translating international human rights into local water and sanitation practice, concluding that system operators, utilities, and management boards remain largely unaffected by the changing public policy landscape for human rights realization. To understand the relevance of human rights standards to water and sanitation practitioners, this article frames a research agenda to ensure that human rights aspirations lead to public policy reforms and public health outcomes.     

The Ethics of Enhanced Interrogations and Torture: A Reappraisal of the Argument

This article critically reviews what is known about the ethical status of psychologists’ putative involvement with enhanced interrogations and torture (EITs). We examine three major normative ethical accounts (utilitarian, deontic, and virtue ethics) of EITs and conclude, contra the American Psychological Association, that reasonable arguments can be made that in certain cases the use of EITs is ethical and even, in certain circumstances, morally obligatory. We suggest that this moral question is complex as it has competing moral values involved, that is, the humane treatment of detainee competes with the ethical value/duty/virtue of protecting innocent third parties. We also suggest that there is an ethical duty to minimize harm by making only judicious and morally responsible allegations against the psychologists alleged to be involved in EITs. Finally, we make recommendations regarding completing the historical record, improvements in the professional ethics code, and the moral treatment of individuals accused in this controversy.     

Method Effects on an Adaptation of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in Greek and the Role of Personality Traits

Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale is a balanced, 10-item scale designed to be unidimensional; however, research has repeatedly shown that its factorial structure is contaminated by method effects due to item wording. Beyond the substantive self-esteem factor, 2 additional factors linked to the positive and negative wording of items have been theoretically specified and empirically supported. Initial evidence has revealed systematic relations of the 2 method factors with variables expressing approach and avoidance motivation. This study assessed the fit of competing confirmatory factor analytic models for the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale using data from 2 samples of adult participants in Cyprus. Models that accounted for both positive and negative wording effects via 2 latent method factors had better fit compared to alternative models. Measures of experiential avoidance, social anxiety, and private self-consciousness were associated with the method factors in structural equation models. The findings highlight the need to specify models with wording effects for a more accurate representation of the scale's structure and support the hypothesis of method factors as response styles, which are associated with individual characteristics related to avoidance motivation, behavioral inhibition, and anxiety.     

What works to change identity? A rapid evidence assessment of interventions

This paper describes the results of a rapid evidence assessment that aimed to identify the characteristics and efficacy of interventions that aimed to or reportedly changed personal or social identity. Following a rapid but systematic search of the published, peer-reviewed research on identity change, 400 studies or reviews were screened for eligibility for inclusion in the review, and 22 were retained. The interventions and samples were diverse and studies came from a broad geographic area. The quality of the research varied, but the majority was assessed as carrying a low weight of evidence. Just under two-thirds of the studies were qualitative, and most explored, retrospectively, participants' perceptions of, or applied theoretical frameworks to, identity change sometime after an intervention. Quantitative studies provided little evidence of the effectiveness of interventions in changing identity. Qualitative studies most commonly applied and then supported the Social Identity Theory of Identity Change to explain perceived changes in identity. Implications for research are discussed.     

Sensponsive architecture as a tool to stimulate the senses and alleviate the psychological disorders of an individual

The paper presents an ongoing research project that aims to help individuals with mild psychological disorders, like depression, to reduce the use of medication and escape a possible addiction to drugs by transforming their immediate or broader living space into a sensponsive environment. It is an innovative, multidisciplinary, non-invasive approach through the domains of architecture, computer science, psychology and endocrinology. Initially, the paper presents the connections between space and human behavior, and specifically, the ways in which the spatial qualities of the surrounding environment affect the human senses and consequently the hormonal changes and the production of the corresponding emotions and actions. As a next step, the paper outlines the creation of sensponsive environments that are programmed to sense human discomfort by monitoring changes in facial expression and body movement and respond to them accordingly by transforming their spatial elements in order to make people feel better. The proposed sensponsive spaces are equipped with biomedical monitoring systems, smart materials and sensor-actuator assemblies with programmed re-actions (haptic, olfactory, chromatic and so on) that help people refine their feeling of the surrounding space, guiding its smooth transition to a comfortable--for the body and the mind-place. The paper concludes with the next step of this research initiative, the sensponsive suit, a personalized wearable assembly enhanced with technology to positively affect the psychological health of the wearer.