<Emphasis Type="Italic">The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion</Emphasis>: an “Insider’s” Appreciation

This article provides an “insider’s” account of The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion from the perspective of one of the authors who contributed to the volume. After discussing the Handbook’s value as a map of the emerging academic subfield of conversion studies, I describe how my chapter, like many others, shows how broader trends in academic scholarship are reflected in the subfield of conversion studies. Finally, I show how the volume may be used to catalyze further comparative study of religious conversion by examining two themes found in conversion accounts widely dispersed across history and culture: karma and dreams.     

When Lightning Strikes: Reexamining Creativity in Psychotherapy

Creativity is paramount to the therapeutic process. This article explored the role of creativity in counseling and psychotherapy through a critical analysis of several key articles in a special issue of The Journal of Clinical Activities, Assignments, & Handouts in Psychotherapy Practice (L. L. Hecker, 2002). Implications for counselors/therapists and the future of the field are discussed.     

The Motive for Sensory Pleasure: Enjoyment of Nature and Its Representation in Painting,Music, and Literature

ABSTRACT Eight studies assessed the motive for sensory pleasure (MSP) involving a general disposition to enjoy and pursue pleasant nature‐related experiences and avoid unpleasant nature‐related experiences. The stated enjoyment of pleasant sights, smells, sounds, and tactile sensations formed a unitary construct that was distinct from sensation seeking, novelty preference, and need for cognition. MSP was found to be related to (a) enjoyment of pleasant nature scenes and music of high but not low clarity; (b) enjoyment of writings that portrayed highly detailed nature scenes; (c) enjoyment of pleasantly themed paintings and dislike of unpleasant paintings, as distinct from findings with Openness to Experience; (d) choice of pleasant nature scenes over exciting or intellectually stimulating scenes; (e) view duration and memory of artistically rendered quilts; (f) interest in detailed information about nature scenes; and (g) frequency of sensory‐type suggestions for improvement of a museum exhibit.     

Testing specific cognitive abilities by telephone and mail

The two goals of this research were to develop a brief battery of tests of specific cognitive abilities that can be administered via telephone to adolescents and to assess the psychometric properties of the battery. In a sample of 212 adolescents from 10 to 15 years of age, factor analyses supported the hypothesized structure of verbal, spatial, perceptual speed, and memory abilities, with three tests intended to mark each factor. For a subsample of 62 subjects, retest correlations were .81, .73, .82, and .57, respectively, for the four specific cognitive abilities; scores from telephone testing and face-to-face testing correlated near the reliabilities of the telephone tests. Recommendations are made for shortening the 60-min battery to 35 min by using only two tests to mark each factor.     

Condom use among high-risk adolescents: testing the influence of alcohol use on the relationship of cognitive correlates of behavior.

The goal of this study was the exploration of distal effects of alcohol use on condom use. Criminally involved adolescents completed an initial measure of attitudes, beliefs, and prior behavior. Of the 300 who completed the initial measurement, 267 (89%) completed a behavioral assessment 6 months later. Analyses validated a theoretical model of condom use intentions and indicated that intentions and attitudes measured at baseline were significant predictors of condom use behavior 6 months later. Neither alcohol use nor alcohol problems moderated relationships among model variables or the influence of intentions and attitudes on behavior. The findings do not support a distal role for alcohol use in altering the cognitive correlates of condom use intentions and behavior among high-risk adolescents.