Just Add a Verse from the Quran: Effects of Religious Rhetoric in Gain- and Loss-Framed Anti-Alcohol Messages with a Palestinian Sample

This experiment investigated the effects of message framing (gain vs. loss) and religious rhetoric (religious vs. non-religious) on the expression of anti-alcohol civic intentions with a sample (N = 80) of Palestinian young adults. Results showed that the main effects of message framing (gain > loss) and religious rhetoric (non-religious > religious) on anti-alcohol civic intentions were significant. Furthermore, the study showed that viral behavioral intentions were strongly and significantly associated with expressing anti-alcohol civic intentions, with larger explanatory power for gain-framed PSAs that used a religious rhetoric. Additionally, a serial mediation model showed that the effect of religious rhetoric on anti-alcohol civic intentions was successfully mediated by the serial combination of attitudes toward the PSA and viral behavioral intention for gain-framed PSAs, but not for loss-framed PSAs. Findings are discussed within the framework of persuasion models.     

Personal value preferences,group identifications,and cultural practices of Palestinian Israelis working in close contact with Jewish Israelis

The present study investigates the connection between personal value preferences, group identifications, and cultural practices among Palestinian Israelis working in close contact with the Jewish population in Israel. One hundred twenty-two Palestinian Israelis participated in the study. The participants were employed in different professional positions in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan area and were recruited to the study using the snowball technique. A stronger national identification was associated with a higher preference for the security and conformity values, and a lower preference for the humility values. A stronger ethnic identification was associated with a lower preference for the security, power, and stimulation values. Group identifications mediated the connection between personal value preferences and cultural practices. A longer time working in close contact with the majority group and less frequent visits home were associated with a greater adherence to the majority group’s cultural practices but not with adherence to the ethnic group’s practices and not with the group identifications.     

The Effectiveness of Attachment Injury Resolution Model (AIRM) on Increasing Trust among the Injured Women with Marital Infidelity: A Case Study Approach

Abstract

Objective: The present study aimed at determining the effectiveness of emotionally-focused couple therapy, based on attachment injury resolution model (AIRM) on increasing trust among the injured women with marital infidelity. Method: The present study was a single case experiment of the multiple baseline design type. The population included all injured women with marital infidelity, referring to Bushehr family therapy clinics, among whom three women were selected and participated in the intervention through purposive sampling method, based on the desired recall, By considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria and answering the trust scale. Data analysis was conducted by visual analysis, clinically meaningful (reliable change index and normative comparison) and percentage improvement formula. Results: The percentage obtained from the overall increase of trust among the injured women during the therapy was 38.76 and follow-up was 48.58. In addition, the reliable change index during the therapy and a follow-up was 2.77 and 3.49 in the first couple, 3.10 and 3.62 in the second couple, 2.66 and 3.67 in the third couple indicating that these values were significant and higher than z?=?1.96 during the therapy and follow-up (p?=?0.05). Conclusion: Based on the research results, the emotionally-focused couple therapy based on attachment injury resolution model can be used as an effective intervention in reducing the injuries by marital infidelity.     

Impossible Antecedents and Their Consequences: Some Thirteenth-Century Arabic Discussions

The principle that a necessarily false proposition implies any proposition, and that a necessarily true proposition is implied by any proposition, was apparently first propounded in twelfth century Latin logic, and came to be widely, though not universally, accepted in the fourteenth century. These principles seem never to have been accepted, or even seriously entertained, by Arabic logicians. In the present study, I explore some thirteenth century Arabic discussions of conditionals with impossible antecedents. The Persian-born scholar Afdal al-Dīn al-Khūnajī (d.1248) suggested the novel idea that two contradictory propositions may follow from the same impossible antecedent, and closely related to this point, he suggested that if an antecedent implies a consequent, then it will do so no matter how it is strengthened. These ideas led him, and those who followed him, to reject what has come to be known as ‘Aristotle's thesis’ that no proposition is implied by its own negation. Even these suggestions were widely resisted. Particularly influential were the counter-arguments of Naīr al-Dīn al-Tūī (d.1274).     

Early access to abstract representations in developing readers: evidence from masked priming

A commonly shared assumption in the field of visual‐word recognition is that retinotopic representations are rapidly converted into abstract representations. Here we examine the role of visual form vs. abstract representations during the early stages of word processing – as measured by masked priming – in young children (3rd and 6th Graders) and adult readers. To maximize the chances of detecting an effect of visual form, we employed a language with a very intricate orthography, Arabic. If visual form plays a role in the early stages of processing, greater benefit would be expected from related primes that have the same visual form (in terms of the ligation pattern between a word's letters) as the target word (e.g.– [ktz b–ktA b] – note that the three initial letters are connected in prime and target) than for those that do not (– [ktxb–ktA b]). Results showed that the magnitude of priming effect relative to an unrelated condition (e.g. –) was remarkably similar for both types of prime. Thus, despite the visual complexity of Arabic orthography, there is fast access to the abstract letter representations not only in adult readers by also in developing readers.     

Priming of abstract letter representations may be universal: The case of Arabic

Recent research on the Roman alphabet has demonstrated that the magnitudes of masked repetition priming are equivalent for letter pairs that have similar visual features across cases (e.g., c-C) and for letter pairs with dissimilar features (e.g., g-G). Here, we examined whether priming of abstract letter representations occurs in an orthographic system, Arabic, in which the letters show an intricate number of contextual forms. Arabic does not have a lowercase/uppercase distinction, but the letters exhibit different forms that depend on their position (initial, medial, final, or isolated) and their connectivity. Importantly, some letters look quite different across positions (e.g., (symbol in text) and (symbol in text), which correspond to the letter 'ayn), whereas others look very similar (e.g. (symbol in text), and (symbol in text), which correspond to the letter fā'). We employed a masked priming same-different task, in which native speakers of Arabic decided whether a target letter was the same as or different from a reference letter presented in a different position (middle vs. isolated). The results showed masked repetition priming effects of the same magnitude for letter pairs with similar and with dissimilar visual features across letter positions. These data support the view that priming of abstract letter representations is a universal phenomenon.     

Book reviews

A Reader on Classical Islam. F. E. Peters, 1994. Princeton, Princeton University Press. 420 pp., hb. £30.50, ISBN 0–691–03394–3; pb. £15.00, ISBN 0–691–00040–9.

The Physical Theory of Kalam: atoms, space and void in Basrian Mu'tazili cosmology. (Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science, Vol. XIV). Alnoor Dhanani, 1994. Leiden, E. J. Brill. 209 pp., hb. n.p., ISBN 90–04–09831–3.

Empire to Commonwealth: consequences of monotheism in late antiquity. Garth Fowden, 1993. Princeton, Princeton University Press. 205 pp., hb. £12.95, ISBN 0–691–06989–1.

Religions in the UK: a multi‐faith directory. Paul Weller (Ed.), 1993. Derby, University of Derby in association with the Interfaith Network for the United Kingdom. 630 pp. plus indices, pb. £21.50, ISBN 0–901437–06–9.

Islamic Britain: religion, politics and identity among British Muslims: Bradford in the 1990s. Philip Lewis, 1994. London, I. B. Tauris. 250 pp., pb. £9.95, ISBN 1–85043–861–7.

Bosnia and Hercegovina: a tradition betrayed. Robert J. Donia and John V. A. Fine, Jr., 1994. London, Hurst and Company. 280 pp., hb. £9.50, ISBN 1–85065–211–2.

French and Algerian Identities from Colonial Times to the Present: a century of interaction. Alec G. Hargreaves and Michael J. Heffernan (Eds), 1993. Lampeter, The Edwin Mellen Press. 253 pp., hb. £39.95, ISBN 0–7734–9233‐X.

The Course of Islam in Africa. (Islamic Surveys 15). Mervyn Hiskett, 1994. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press. 218 pp., hb. £35.00, ISBN 0–7486–0464–2; pb. £16.95, ISBN 0–7486–0461–8.

The Writings of Eastern Sudanic Africa to c. 1900. R. S. O'Fahey (comp.) 1994. Leiden, E. J. Brill. 434 pp., hb. n.p., ISBN 90–04–09450–4.     

Spirituality Moderates Hopelessness,Depression, and Suicidal Behavior among Malaysian Adolescents

Suicide is an important public health problem for adolescents, and it is essential to increase our knowledge concerning the etiology of suicide among adolescent students. Therefore, this study was designed to examine the associations between hopelessness, depression, spirituality, and suicidal behavior, and to examine spirituality as a moderator between hopelessness, depression, and suicidal behavior among 1376 Malaysian adolescent students. The participants completed measures of depression, hopelessness, daily spiritual experience, and suicidal behavior. Structural equation modeling indicated that adolescent students high in hopelessness and depression, but also high in spirituality, had less suicidal behavior than others. These findings reinforce the importance of spirituality as a protective factor against hopelessness, depression, and suicidal behavior among Malaysian adolescent students.     

Does the Cover Letter Really Matter?

Many journals require a covering letter alongside the submission process. Some of them, particularly elitist journals, pay a particular attention to the cover letter to such extent an editor may decide not to send a paper out for external peer-review because of a ‘bad’ or absence of a covering letter. As stated in the instructions of many journals, the goal of the covering letter is to emphasize the novelty and to communicate the potential implications of the reported findings. Authors are also invited to tell the handling editor how the topic is related to the journal’s scope and to demonstrate how the results fit in broader context of the literature. Here, I briefly discuss if the cover letter is really necessary.