Islam and Christianity: On “Religions of Law”

The pursuit of mutual understanding has not infrequently led Muslims and Christians to define their religious traditions in stark doctrinal opposition one to the other. In this regard, the “religion of law” (Islam)/“religion of grace” (Christianity) dichotomy has a particularly venerable history. This article sets out to re-examine and deconstruct a couplet that would strike many as a platitude, first by giving an account of the Sunni tradition of law-generation, situated in the broad context of the many options represented by different Islamic sects, and then by revisiting the paradigmatic understanding of law in the Christian dispensation worked out by Aquinas. This exposition leads to the conclusion that any simple opposition is to be avoided at all costs, obfuscating, as it does, much more than it elucidates. Furthermore, Christianity emerges from our chosen perspective as, in some sense, more essentially a “religion of law” than Islam ever could be.     

Recognition and Recall-Like Processes in the Long-Term Reconstruction of Order

Abstract

Four experiments examined whether the recovery of an item's position in a sequence taps processes similar to recognition and/or recall. Across the experiments, subjects either recalled, recognised, or made position judgements about list items that differed in word frequency. Typical word frequency effects were found in recall and recognition, but frequency failed to affect measures of position memory consistently across the four experiments. Despite the apparent procedural similarities across tasks, it appears that the recovery of position information may tap mnemonic processes that are different from those tapped by recognition and recall. Implications of these findings for current models of position memory are discussed.     

Evidence of Common Timing Processes in the Control of Manual,Orofacial, and Speech Movements

Recent investigations of timing in motor control have been interpreted as support for the concept of brain modularity. According to this concept, the brain is organized into functional modules that contain mechanisms responsible for general processes. Keele and colleagues (Keele & Hawkins, 1982; Keele & Ivry, 1987; Keele, Ivry, & Pokorny, 1987; Keele, Pokorny, Corcos, & Ivry, 1985) demonstrated that the within-subject variability in cycle duration of repetitive movements is correlated across finger, forearm, and foot movements, providing evidence in support of a general timing module. The present study examines the notion of timing modularity of speech and nonspeech movements of the oral motor system as well as the manual motor system. Subjects produced repetitive movements with the finger, forearm, and jaw. In addition, a fourth task involved the repetition of a syllable. All tasks were to be produced with a 400-ms cycle duration; target duration was established with a pacing tone, which then was removed. For each task, the within-subject variability of the cycle duration was computed for the unpaced movements over 20 trials. Significant correlations were found between each pair of effectors and tasks. The present results provide evidence that common timing processes are involved not only in movements of the limbs, but also in speech and nonspeech movements of oral structures.     

Goal gradient in helping behavior

People are more likely to pitch in as charitable campaigns approach their goals. Such “goal gradient helping” occurs in part because late-stage efforts provide donors with a heightened sense of personal impact, an influential source of satisfaction from prosocial acts. Using web robot technology in an Internet field study of micro-lending, Study 1 demonstrated that charity contribution rates increase as recipients approach their fundraising goals. Study 2, a large-scale field experiment, found that funds close to reaching campaign goals received more donations than did funds far from reaching campaign goals. Study 3 replicated the goal gradient helping effect in a controlled scenario experiment, and mediational analyses showed that increased perceived impact of late-stage contributions, and the resultant satisfaction from this impact, explain goal gradient helping. In conclusion, people are not charitable simply to be kind or to relieve negative emotions; they find satisfaction from having personal influence in solving a social problem.     

Self-regulation,health, and behavior: A perceptual-cognitive approach

Abstract

Self-regulation systems are designed to adapt to threats via coping procedures that make efficient use of resources based upon valid representations of the environment. We discuss two components of the common-sense model of health threats: illness representations (e.g., content and organization) and coping procedures (e.g., classes of procedure and their attributes - outcome expectancies, time-lines, dose-efficacy beliefs, etc.). Characteristics of each of these domains, and the connection between the two, are critical to understanding human adaptation to problems of physical health. Rather than posing a barrier to factors outside the person that control behavior, an emphasis on subjective construal involves a view of the person as an active problem-solver embedded in a bidirectional system of sensitivity and responsiveness vis á vis the social, physical, and institutional environments in which health threats occur and through which intervention efforts may be directed.     

Differential hemodynamic effects during the provision of active and passive support in the laboratory

Objective: Recent research has pointed to the cardiovascular benefits of providing social support to others in times of stress; however, little is known about what factors influence such benefits.

Design and measures: In a between-groups design, we investigated the possible interaction between intimacy (friend vs. stranger) and support type (active vs. passive) in determining the cardiovascular responses of support providers. Eighty participants had their blood pressure and heart rate monitored while providing either active or passive social support to a friend or a stranger who completed a stress task.

Results: Although there was no interaction effect, a significant main effect showed that those who provided passive support showed larger decreases relative to those in the active support condition. There was no effect of intimacy. Further, these effects withstood adjustment for a number of potential confounds (e.g. sex and body mass index).

Conclusion: It appears that the greatest physiological benefit for social support providers may come from providing passive, rather than active support, regardless of whether the support receiver is a friend or a stranger.     

Interventions to prevent skin cancer: Experimental evaluation of informational and fear appeals

Abstract

Reports experimental and correlational analyses of intentional sunbathing in 82 female and 54 male suntanned adults at high-risk of skin cancer. Random assignment to high or low information conditions allowed evaluation of a widely-distributed American Cancer Society pamphlet. A crossed manipulation assigned subjects to a cancer fear/no fear condition. Personality variables served as correlational predictors of sunbathing attitudes, intentions, and information-seeking behaviors; skin cancer knowledge served as both a predictor and a dependent variable. Skin cancer knowledge, but not fear, emerged as a significant predictor of attitudes, intentions, and behaviors; and simple provision of information affected relevant knowledge. Contrary to the limits often encountered with health behaviors, specific cancer education appears to be somewhat effective in this domain, though indirectly. High risk-taking personalities were less likely to have or seek relevant information, suggesting the need to take into account individual predispositions and routes of knowledge acquisition when designing interventions.     

Associations Between Participant Ratings of PREP for Strong Bonds and Marital Outcomes 1 Year Postintervention

After completing a relationship education program, collecting participant evaluations of the program is common practice. These are generally used as an index of “consumer satisfaction” with the program, with implications for feasibility and quality. Rarely have these ratings been used as predictors of changes in marital quality, although such feedback may be the only data providers collect or have immediate access to when considering the success of their efforts. To better understand the utility of such ratings to predict outcomes, we evaluated links between participant ratings and changes in self-reported marital satisfaction and communication scores 1 year later for a sample of 191 Army couples who had participated in a relationship education program delivered by Army chaplains (PREP for Strong Bonds). Overall ratings of general satisfaction with the program and the leader did not predict changes in marital outcomes 1 year later, whereas higher ratings of how much was learned, program helpfulness, increased similarity in outlook regarding Army life, and helpfulness of communication skills training predicted greater change in communication skills 1 year later. Higher ratings of items reflecting intent to invest more time in the relationship, and increased confidence in constructive communication and working as a team with the spouse predicted greater increases in both marital satisfaction and communication skills 1 year later. The constructs of intention and confidence (akin to perceived behavioral control) suggest that the Theory of Planned Behavior may be particularly useful when considering which Army couples will show ongoing benefit after relationship education.