Loving‐Kindness Meditation and Empathy: A Wellness Group Intervention for Counseling Students

The effect of a 6‐week loving‐kindness meditation (LKM) on the multidimensional empathy of 103 master's‐level counseling students was evaluated, in addition to the correlation between reported levels of time spent meditating and empathy. Statistical analyses indicated that participants who received the LKM intervention experienced gains in dimensions of empathy. A significant relationship between quantity of meditation and perspective taking was noted. Implications and suggestions for future research are explored.     

Why people harm the organization and its members: Relationships among personality,organizational commitment,and workplace deviance

Based on the five-factor model of personality traits and social exchange theory, this study examines the relationships of personality traits, organizational commitment, and two target-based factors of workplace deviance (organizational deviance and interpersonal deviance), using a sample of 113 South Korean employees. By the use of path-analysis, we first found that Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability were meaningfully related to organizational commitment. In addition, both the effect of Conscientiousness on organizational deviance and the effect of Agreeableness on interpersonal deviance were partially mediated by organizational commitment. In sum, results clearly show that the personality traits of Conscientiousness (impersonal) and Agreeableness (interpersonal) function differently in predicting workplace deviance.     

Most Admired Women and Men: Gallup,Good Housekeeping,and gender

In order to understand how gender roles influence the selection of people who are admired, we analyzed the results of the Most Admired Men and Women polls conducted annually by Gallup and Good Housekeeping. Most Admired Men were more likely than women to have achieved their fame without sponsorship of a well-known family or spouse. However, the proportion of Autonomous women was higher in the 1980s and 1990s than previously. Men were more likely to be admired for their service in the military, politics, religion, and economics; women were more likely to be admired because they belonged to a royal or political family, or because of their work as activists and reformers or in the area of entertainment and culture. A small percentage of both men and women had been the victim of personal tragedy. The great majority of the admired individuals were White Americans. No Hispanics or Native Americans made the lists, and all but one of the Asians were women. In short, both gender and ethnic stereotypes seem to have influenced the choice of Most Admired Men and Women.     

Psychological therapy for adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

In the liteature, the clinical management of adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has focused almost exclusively on stimulant medication. Yet psychological therapy may be a useful adjunct to stimulant medication. Pharmacotherapy is generally reported to be efficacious and, as such, treated individuals are likely to be more receptive to psychological intervention. The aim of this paper is to consider how an individual may best be supported by psychological therapy. It is recommended that a structured pragmatic, psychoeducative approach is the most appropriate. The development of specific self-management skills is discussed within a cognitive behavioural framework. Family, marital and group therapies are also discussed.     

The emotional impact of faces (but not names): Face specific changes in skin conductance responses to familiar and unfamiliar people

Skin Conductance Responses (SCRs) to familiar and unfamiliar names and faces were recorded from independent groups of subjects, using two different presentation designs: the first employing fewer familiar than unfamiliar items (Tranel, Fowles, and Damasio, 1985) and the second employing equal numbers of familiar and unfamiliar items. In both designs, familiar faces were responded to significantly more strongly than unfamiliar faces, whereas for names there was no difference in responses to familiar and unfamiliar stimuli. Faces produced significantly larger overall SCRs than names in the unequal familiar/unfamiliar ratio design, but this effect was not observed in the equal ratio design. The results are discussed with particular reference to those previously published by Tranel et al. (1985) and in relation to work both on covert recognition in prosopagnosia and on one of the delusional misidentification syndromes known as the Capgras delusion. This study was carried out with generous support from the EJLB Foundation (Canada) and the Wellcome Trust.     

Religion and society in present‐day Albania

Albania is the only European country with a majority Muslim population (with the arguable exception of Bosnia). In this age of religious prejudice and in view of the terrible policies of ethnic cleansing in its neighbouring countries, Albania's religious climate has remained remarkably tolerant. The intermingling of religions is epitomized by Albania's national hero Skanderbeg who was born an Orthodox, lived as a Muslim, and died a Catholic. The most extreme demands were made on Albania's people of faith during a 23‐year period of state‐proclaimed atheism. A widespread revival of all religions after 1991 is generally thought to be in similar proportions to those at the start of the century. As we near its close, we can only hope that interaction between religious groups continues to remain peaceful and tolerant.     

An examination of response covariation in the behavioral treatment of identical twin boys with multiple behavioral disorders

This study examined the response covariation phenomenon in the behavioral treatment of a noncompliant, nonattentive child with autism in a school setting. The treatment consisted of reinforcement for compliance and attention. Results showed that the reinforcement of compliance was associated with increased levels of compliance, attending, and directed verbalizations. Sequential scatterplot data analysis suggested that compliance and attending directly covaried as a function of the reinforcement for compliance contingency. The results of this multiple treatment study suggests that reinforcement of compliance had the broadest positive effect for the subject since positive collateral changes were observed in attending and directed verbalizations when compliance was reinforced.     

The dynamics of the visual system in combining conflicting KDE and binocular stereopsis cues

The dynamics of the visual system in combining multiple depth cues were investigated by measuring the temporal change in the perceived 3-D shape of a random-dot stimulus with conflicting kinetic depth effect (KDE) and binocular stereopsis cues. The KDE shape perception dominated for the first few seconds, and then was gradually supplanted by the stereo shape perception. The effects of various pre-adaptation stimuli suggested that the temporal change in the perceived shape resulted from a self-adaptation of the KDE mechanism that occurs mainly at the levels of motion and relative motion detection.