“Out of the Broom Closet”: The Social Ecology of American Wicca

The fastest growing form of religious identification, spirituality, or “new” religious movement in American society over the last decade is Wicca and related forms of “Neo-Paganism.” However, with no national organization and minimal local organization, little is known about its distribution across a privatized religious landscape nor about the features of state social and cultural environments that are receptive or contrary to its spread. This study uses Internet data to create estimates of the comparative strength of Wiccan-Pagan identification across the 50 states and conducts multivariate analyses of the ability of variables suggested in prior research to explain its distribution. Not only are the findings consistent with expectations, but differences in correlates of Wicca using the Internet data in contrast to existing measures of “New Age” spirituality highlight the empirical importance of maintaining distinctions between the two.     

The usefulness of assessing suggestibility and compliance in prisoners with unidentified intellectual disabilities

Søndenaa, E., Rasmussen, K., Palmstierna, T. & Nøttestad, J. A. (2010). The usefulness of assessing suggestibility and compliance in prisoners with unidentified intellectual disabilities. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 434–438. This present study explored the relationship of interrogative suggestibility (n = 133) and compliance (n = 118) to intellectual functioning among prison inmates. The Norwegian versions of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS) and the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (GCS) were used. The results supported previous findings of a negative correlation between the Gudjonsson scales and IQ, and the scales were found useful throughout the IQ range. The impact of a memory artifact was discussed in the light of recent studies and criticism of the scales.     

Psychological aspects of myelomeningocele—a longitudinal study

The possibilities of treatment of the congenital neurological disease myelomeningocele have improved since the 1960s. The patients who survive often suffer from severe motor and mental handicaps, and it has been discussed whether a selection should be made of those children who should be treated or whether all children should be treated. Here we present results of a longitudinal study of 56 children, who were all treated and still continue active treatment. The results show that mental retardation was not greater than in groups of children selected for treatment according to a criterion. There was no difference between the sexes. Mean IQ was 90, 75% attended normal school, and only 33% received remedial instruction, primarily because of difficulties with emptying the bladder.     

THE BRITISH ABILITY SCALES SPEED OF INFORMATION PROCESSING SUBTEST: WHAT DOES IT MEASURE?

Summary . Recent theory and research has focused on the relationship between speed of performing elementary cognitive operations and general intelligence. The developers of the British Ability Scales (BAS) included the Speed of Information Processing (SOIP) subtest as a measure of mental processing speed. To test the validity of the SOIP subtest, a group of 12-year-old children were given the BAS short-form, including the SOIP subtest, and a series of electronically timed reaction time (RT) tasks. Correlations between RT and SOIP were higher than correlations between RT and other BAS subtests, suggesting convergent and discriminant validity. A hierarchical factor analysis of the data shows that the BAS SOIP subtest is related more to speed of apprehension (RT) than to speed of making the motor response, or movement time (MT).     

Not Simply “In Their Heads”: Individual Differences Associated With Victimization and Health1

Research has not examined whether victimization predicts health after controlling for personality differences associated with victimization and health. In Study 1, college students (N = 1182) completed surveys assessing victimization, health, and personality. In Study 2, college students (N = 69) participated in a short‐term longitudinal study that examined whether (a) victimization would predict health changes; (b) increases in victimization would lead to increased health problems; and (c) fall health would predict spring victimization when personality was considered. After controlling for individual differences, we found victimization predicted health outcomes (Study 1) and health problems over time (Study 2). These findings suggest the victimization–health link may occur because of physiological changes, rather than personality differences associated with victimization and health.