SEX-ROLE EGALITARIANISM SCALE

The Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES) was developed to measure attitudes toward the equality of women and men across content domains representing marital, parental, employment, social–interpersonal–heterosexual, and educational roles. The instrument exists in four versions: two alternate 95-item full forms and two alternate 25-item abbreviated forms. Reliability indices derived from a classical test-theory approach, multifaceted generalizability procedures, and an item-response theory-based analysis all support consistency or precision of measurement. Evidence for convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity is presented, along with a series of recommendations for future psychometric and substantive research using the scale.     

Wishes, Gender, Personality, and Well-Being

ABSTRACT Study participants (175 men, 230 women) made three wishes and completed measures of the five-factor model of personality, optimism, life satisfaction, and depression. Common wishes were for achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power as well as for happiness and money. T tests showed women were more likely to wish for improved appearance, happiness, and health; men were more likely to make power wishes and wishes for sex. Among participants who were highly involved in the wishing process, Extra-version was related to making more interpersonal wishes and wishes for positive affect. Neuroticism was related to wishes for emotional stability. Agreeableness and Openness to Experience related to wishes reflective of these traits. Conscientiousness was related to low impulsivity. Depression was related to making highly idiosyncratic, specific wishes, suggesting the use of wishful thinking as a coping mechanism. In addition, happy participants were more likely to rate their wishes as likely to come true. Results indicate that the relatively commonplace process of wishing relates to traits, gender, and well-being.     

THE JOURNEY BEYOND ATHENS AND JERUSALEM

Abstract. John Caiazza's essay raises important controversial issues regarding the contemporary debates between science and religion. His arguments are largely presented in a dichotomous and rather adversarial mode with which I strongly disagree. Unable to present a detailed counterargument in this brief reflection, I ask, What is being spoken about, and who is speaking? What is meant by science and religion here? Neither term can be taken as a unified, essentialist category; both comprise many historical layers, possess numerous internal complexities, and invite a diversity of interpretations. I refer to the science of China, India, and the ancient Near East, all of which have fed into modern science, so that the sciences cannot be restricted to those of the modern West. Nor can religion be limited to the religious beliefs and practices of Western Christianity. I discuss the position/location/context of the author‐ Caiazza's as well as my own‐ after introducing Hans‐Georg Gadamer's idea of the “fusion of horizons,” which provides a rich vein for enhancing the debate between science and religion. To expand the respective horizons of their dialogue it will be important to move away from an adversarial, exclusionary spirit to a more collaborative and communicative framework that allows for the development of new ideals, new questions, new ways of knowing, and an ethical and socially responsible stance more centered on human needs and concerns. We may have to build an altogether new Athens and Jerusalem for this.     

PRIMATES AND RELIGION: A BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGIST'S RESPONSE TO J. WENTZEL VAN HUYSSTEEN'S ALONE IN THE WORLD?

For a biological anthropologist interested in the prehistory of religion, J. Wentzel van Huyssteen's book is welcome and resonant. Van Huyssteen's central thesis is that humans' capacity for spirituality emerges from a transformation of cognition and emotions that takes place in the symbolic realm, within Homo sapiens and apart from biology. To his thesis I bring to bear three areas of response: the abundant cognitive and emotional capacities of living apes and extinct hominids; the role of symbolic ritual in the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens; and the closely intertwined nature of biology and culture in the workings of evolutionary change.     

Narcissism,Entitlement, and Questionable Research Practices in Counseling: A Pilot Study

Although reports of research misconduct and questionable research practices (QRPs) have been prevalent in the literature, very little has been written about these issues in the field of counseling. The current pilot study addresses (a) the continuous drive for evidence‐based practice in education and counseling and (b) the relationship between QRPs and individual characteristics. QRPs are reported for the sample, indicating that this does exist, at least minimally, within the field of counseling. The authors also explored the role of demographic and specific personality characteristics in explaining QRPs.     

Deterring malingered psychopathology: The effect of warning simulating malingerers

The utility of a warning to deter malingering on measures of personality and psychopathology was examined. Sixty‐seven first year psychology students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: unwarned malingerers, warned malingerers, and controls. Participants in the two malingering groups were given a financial incentive to simulate believable psychological impairment. Warned malingerers received an additional warning that the tests could detect malingering and that detection would result in loss of course credit. Controls received standardized test instructions. It was hypothesized that the malingering incentive would be sufficient to induce malingering, but that a deterrence theory warning would have a subsequent deterrent effect. Between‐groups analyses indicated that the warning used in this study significantly altered test performance on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) and revised Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL‐90‐R). Warned malingerers scored significantly lower (faked less) than unwarned malingerers on the majority of the psychopathology scales and frequently approximated control group performances. These results support the effectiveness of a warning to complement existing malingering detection methods. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Whatever happened to "What might have been"? Regrets, happiness, and maturity

Although lost opportunities and mistaken expectations are unpleasant to think and talk about, these experiences may have a role to play in personality development. Drawing on research using narratives of lost possible selves, the authors review the relations of regrettable experiences to 2 important and independent aspects of maturity, happiness and complexity. Thinking about a lost possible self is related to concurrent regrets, distress, and lowered well-being; however, elaborating on a lost possible self is related, concurrently, to complexity and predicts complexity, prospectively, over time. In this article, the authors describe the role that regrettable experiences have in promoting both happiness and complexity. Finally, expanding on previous work, the authors examine potential affordances of happy maturity and suggest psychological capacities that may promote happy maturity.     

Nighttime fears of children and adolescents: frequency, content, severity, harm expectations, disclosure, and coping behaviours

The present school-based study investigated the nighttime fears of 511 children and adolescents, aged 8-16 years. Participants were assessed using a structured interview about the frequency, content, severity, harm expectations, coping strategies, and disclosure of nighttime fears. Results indicated that nighttime fears are a common experience, with nearly two-thirds (64.2%) of children and adolescents reporting nighttime fears. Fear of intruders/home invasion was the most frequently reported nighttime fear. Females more frequently reported nighttime fears than males (72.9% and 54.6%, respectively) and a greater number of children reported nighttime fears compared to adolescents (79.4% and 48.8%, respectively). Nighttime fears were given moderate severity ratings, and harm expectations were most strongly associated with 'personal security' fears. Respondents reported a variety of coping strategies to manage their nighttime fears with self-control/distraction techniques being the most common. Most respondents reported disclosing their nighttime fear(s) to another person. The clinical implications of these findings and the methodological limitations are discussed.