To see the invisible messiah: Messianic socialization in the wake of a failed prophecy in Chabad

The study explores how the meshichistim (messianics) among the Jewish ultra-orthodox Chabad(Lubavitch) Hasidim manage the rupture entailed by the death of their leader, the Rebbe, whom they uphold as the King Messiah. Based on ethnographic research of contemporary pilgrimage to the Rebbe's court in Brooklyn, whose rituals and pedagogical framework are constructed by the meshichistim, the study problematizes the functional assumptions and implications of the rich literature on failed prophecies in millenarian movements, a literature heavily influenced by the theoretical model of cognitive dissonance. The case of Chabad meshichistim suggests that a millenarian group can reinvent itself through multifaceted cultural, pedagogical and ritual endeavors that are rife with internal contradictions. Moreover, these endeavors reveal that the rupture has not been balanced, regularized or normalized, but rather expresses the continuous complexity of life in its shadow.     

Harmful Ideas,The Structure and Consequences of Anti‐Semitic Beliefs in Poland

The harmfulness of anti‐Semitic beliefs is widely discussed in current political and legal debates (e.g., Cutler v. Dorn). At the same time, empirical studies of the psychological consequences of such beliefs are scarce. The present research is an attempt to explore the structure of contemporary anti‐Semitic beliefs in Poland—and to evaluate their predictive role in discriminatory intentions and behavior targeting Jews. Another aim was to determine dispositional, situational, and identity correlates of different forms of anti‐Semitic beliefs and behavior. Study 1, performed on a nation‐wide representative sample of Polish adults (N = 979), suggests a three‐factorial structure of anti‐Semitic beliefs, consisting of: (1) belief in Jewish conspiracy, (2) traditional religious anti‐Judaic beliefs, and (3) secondary anti‐Semitic beliefs, focusing on Holocaust commemoration. Of these three beliefs, belief in Jewish conspiracy was the closest antecedent of anti‐Semitic behavioral intentions. Study 2 (N = 600 Internet users in Poland) confirmed the three‐factor structure of anti‐Semitic beliefs and proved that these beliefs explain actual behavior toward Jews in monetary donations. Both studies show that anti‐Semitic beliefs are related to authoritarian personality characteristics, victimhood‐based social identity, and relative deprivation.     

Need Satisfaction Supportive Game Features as Motivational Determinants: An Experimental Study of a Self-Determination Theory Guided Exergame

Empirical studies have validated that basic needs satisfaction supported by video game play predicts motivation and engagement outcomes. However, few studies specifically manipulated game features for each of the three basic needs specified in the self-determination theory (SDT) to examine how the game features impact players' need satisfaction and game experience. The current study employed an in-house developed exergame and manipulated the game features in a 2 (autonomy-supportive game features: on vs. off) × 2 (competence-supportive game features: on vs. off) experiment to predict need satisfaction, game enjoyment, motivation for future play, effort for gameplay, self-efficacy for exercise using the game, likelihood of game recommendation, and game rating. The manipulated game features led to the corresponding need satisfaction. Manipulated autonomy-supportive and competence-supportive game features had main effects on most motivation and engagement outcomes. Need satisfaction of autonomy and need satisfaction of competence were both found to be mediators for the relationships between the game features and the motivation and engagement outcomes. The findings add evidence to support the underlying mechanism postulated by SDT for media enjoyment and motivation as well as the emerging entertainment research conceptualizing enjoyment as need satisfaction. The findings also have practical implications for intervention effort that intends to capitalize the motivational pull of video games.     

The precuneus and the insula in self-attributional processes

Attributions are constantly assigned in everyday life. A well-known phenomenon is the self-serving bias: that is, people’s tendency to attribute positive events to internal causes (themselves) and negative events to external causes (other persons/circumstances). Here, we investigated the neural correlates of the cognitive processes implicated in self-serving attributions using social situations that differed in their emotional saliences. We administered an attributional bias task during fMRI scanning in a large sample of healthy subjects (n = 71). Eighty sentences describing positive or negative social situations were presented, and subjects decided via buttonpress whether the situation had been caused by themselves or by the other person involved. Comparing positive with negative sentences revealed activations of the bilateral posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). Self-attribution correlated with activation of the posterior portion of the precuneus. However, self-attributed positive versus negative sentences showed activation of the anterior portion of the precuneus, and self-attributed negative versus positive sentences demonstrated activation of the bilateral insular cortex. All significant activations were reported with a statistical threshold of p ≤ .001, uncorrected. In addition, a comparison of our fMRI task with data from the Internal, Personal and Situational Attributions Questionnaire, Revised German Version, demonstrated convergent validity. Our findings suggest that the precuneus and the PCC are involved in the evaluation of social events with particular regional specificities: The PCC is activated during emotional evaluation, the posterior precuneus during attributional evaluation, and the anterior precuneus during self-serving processes. Furthermore, we assume that insula activation is a correlate of awareness of personal agency in negative situations.     

Koran reading and negotiation with jinn: strategies to deal with mental ill health among Swedish Somalis

In this paper, we discuss traditional Somali concepts of mental ill health. Qualitative interviews were conducted with some 20 Swedish Somali interviewees about factors causing mental ill health, traditional classification, strategies to deal with mental ill health, and attitudes to the mental health care services in Sweden. Social mobilisation and religious healing are cornerstones of traditional Somali measures to deal with mental suffering. Traditional Somali views of mental ill health stand in stark contrast to classification of mental ill health in the western biomedical model. These views deserve attention since they may have an impact on health-seeking behaviour among Somali immigrants in western countries. Yet a too strong focus on cultural aspects may over-shadow the fact that much mental suffering among Somali migrants must be understood within social, economic, and political contexts.     

An examination of the lateralized abstractive/form specific model using MiXeD-CaSe primes

CaSe AlTeRnAtIoN effects on the two cerebral hemispheres were studied in a lateralized visual lexical decision task with 32 right-handed participants. The study aimed to compare two well-known lateralization theories, the two processing modes and the abstractive/form-specific theories, that differ in the predictions regarding case alternation effects on the hemispheres. The experiment employed the masked priming paradigm, where prime and target words were presented in mixed case. The results of the experiment demonstrated no hemispheric differences in priming size when prime and target were similar in (mixed) case, thus were in line with the two modes theory. However, a new interpretation to the abstractive/form-specific model may also account for the results.     

Fear‐then‐relief,mindlessness, and cognitive deficits

The assumption that mindlessness underlies the effectiveness of the ‘fear‐then‐relief’ social influence technique has been verified in four studies. The first two experiments indicated that compliance of those experiment participants who were made to function on the thoughtful level under a ‘fear‐then‐relief’ condition decreases to the level observed in the control group. The other two experiments were to analyze the cognitive functioning of people who at first experience fear and then a sudden and unexpected relief. The first of these experiments indicated that the amount of time needed to detect the expression of emotion on other persons' faces is prolonged, and the second of these latter two experiments that the participants' arithmetical abilities are impaired (mental addition and subtraction of three two‐digit numbers). Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of religiosity and ethnic origin on direct and indirect aggression among males and females: Some Israeli findings

Israeli society is characterized by significant internal divisions. Two of the most salient of these divisions within the Jewish population relate to (1) religiosity (religious vs. secular Jews) and (2) ethnic origin (Eastern [Asian and North African] vs. Western [European and American]). The aim of this study was to assess the effects of these social divisions on aggressive behavior and victimization to aggression among Israeli children. Three types of aggressive behavior (physical, verbal, and indirect) were investigated by means of peer estimation. The sample (N = 630) was composed of three age groups (8‐, 11‐, and 15‐year‐olds). The findings indicate that in general, secular respondents scored higher on aggressive behavior and victimization than their religious counterparts, and respondents of Eastern origin scored higher than those of Israeli or Western origin. The effect of both religiosity and ethnic origin was stronger among girls than among boys. Ethnic origin had no effect on any of the boys’ measures but did affect these measures among girls. Among boys, religiosity affected verbal and indirect aggression and victimization. Among girls, indirect aggression and victimization, as well as victimization to physical aggression, were affected by religiosity. As to the effect of age, similar to previous studies, in all types of aggression and victimization, the 11‐year‐olds scored highest and the 15‐year‐olds scored lowest. Differences between the three types of aggression and victimization, as well as various interactions between the variables, are reported. The results are discussed within the wider context of the role of religiosity and ethnic origin in Israeli society. Aggr. Behav. 28:281–298, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Self‐Disclosure and the Liking of Participants in Reality TV

Reality TV shows are characterized by the very intimate self‐disclosure of their participants early on in the shows. In everyday interactions, however, such intimate self‐disclosure is welcomed only when it evolves gradually. This discrepancy between reality shows and real life apparently contradicts previous research documenting the similarity between real relationships and relationships with media characters. The current research explores this apparent contradiction by examining whether the relationship between self‐disclosure and liking and the rules about the timing of self‐disclosure that apply in everyday interactions apply in reality TV. Study 1 shows that viewers prefer characters who make early intimate disclosures, and Study 2 shows that they prefer this disclosure to evolve gradually and become more intimate, as in real relationships.