The Means of Prosperity: The Neo‐Pentecostal Interpretation of the Lord's Supper in Nigeria

This article investigates the Nigerian neo‐Pentecostal reinterpretation of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper using the lens of the prosperity gospel. This article describes the neo‐Pentecostal view of prosperity as an integral part of salvation, and shows how this impacts its hermeneutics of the Lord's Supper as the means of prosperity. The article argues that such neo‐Pentecostal reinterpretation does not distort the traditional significance of the Lord's Supper, but expands and complements it. As a result, Lutherans may have much to learn from the neo‐Pentecostal view of the Lord's Supper.     

Development and psychometric evaluation of the Interactive Test of Interpersonal Behavior (ITIB): a pilot study examining interpersonal deficits in chronic depression

Chronic depression is assumed to be caused and maintained by interpersonal deficits. We describe the development and psychometric evaluation of the Interactive Test of Interpersonal Behavior (ITIB) that we developed for self‐assessment of these deficits. Participants with chronic depression (CD, N = 15), episodic depression (ED, N = 15) and healthy controls (HC, N = 15) participated in this pilot study. They completed the ITIB and a number of pen and paper questionnaires including the Lübeck Questionnaire of Preoperational Thinking (LQPT) and the inventory of interpersonal problems (IIP). The ITIB was highly acceptable for use in these participants. Internal consistency for the ITIB was adequate for group comparisons (Cronbach's alpha = 0.649). Item‐total correlations indicated adequate discriminatory power of five of the six items. The ITIB correlated moderately with the LQPT (r = 0.524) and the IIP (r = –0.568). The ITIB score differed significantly between the diagnostic groups (ANOVA F(2,42) = 6.22, p = 0.004). It was the only measure that – albeit at a trend level – was associated with diagnostic group (CD vs. ED) on multinomial logistic regression analysis (B = 0.049 ± 0.029; OR 1.051; p = 0.088). We found preliminary evidence that the ITIB is an acceptable and psychometrically adequate measure of interpersonal behavior that distinguishes between patients with CD and patients with ED. If replicated with an improved version of the test, our results could support the hypothesis that having interpersonal problems is a core deficit in patients with CD.     

The who and whom of help giving: An attributional model integrating the help giver and the help recipient

In this article, we investigate the influence of responsibility, moral emotions, and empathy on help giving for stigmatized persons in need. Both characteristics of the recipient of help and the help giver are analyzed within a general theoretical framework. Based on an online study (N = 332), structural equation models confirm and extend an attributional explanation of help‐giving, based on a thinking‐feeling‐acting model. Conditions promoting help giving are identified: (i) A potential help giver who regards himself or herself as responsible for the recipient's misfortune is likely to experience guilt, regret, and shame, thus increasing the likelihood of help. (ii) A potential recipient of help who is regarded as being not responsible for his or her plight elicits sympathy and is thus more likely to receive help. In contrast, when the person in need is regarded as being responsible for his or her plight, anger and even schadenfreude are elicited, and likelihood of help giving decreases. (iii) Different aspects of empathy as a stable personal characteristic exert direct and indirect (i.e., emotionally mediated) effects on help giving. Using structural equation modeling, we outline an attributional model of helping conceptualizing helping behavior within an actor–observer system integrating a variety of moral emotions involved in help giving.     

Spiritual Well-Being and Psychological Adjustment: Mediated by Interpersonal Needs?

Spiritual well-being has been shown to reduce suicidal behavior, depressive symptoms, and hopelessness. Thwarted interpersonal needs have been shown to increase risk of suicidal behavior. This paper aims to explore the interrelationships among spiritual well-being, thwarted interpersonal needs, and negative outcomes including suicidal ideation, hopelessness, and depressive symptoms among African American women. Sixty-six African American women (M = 36.18; SD = 11.70), from a larger study of women who had experienced interpersonal violence within the past year, completed self-report questionnaires. Mediation analyses revealed that thwarted belongingness, but not perceived burdensomeness, significantly mediated the relations between spiritual well-being and the three outcomes. This study provides the first examination of the role of thwarted interpersonal needs on the link between spiritual well-being and negative psychological outcomes. Spiritual well-being serves a protective role against feelings of social isolation, which may reduce one’s risk of negative psychological outcomes. Treatments that bolster a sense of spirituality and social connectedness may reduce suicidal ideation, hopelessness, and depressive symptoms.     

Metalinguistic Awareness and Reading Performance: A Cross Language Comparison

The study examined two questions: (1) do the greater phonological awareness skills of billinguals affect reading performance; (2) to what extent do the orthographic characteristics of a language influence reading performance and how does this interact with the effects of phonological awareness. We estimated phonological metalinguistic abilities and reading measures in three groups of first graders: monolingual Hebrew speakers, bilingual Russian–Hebrew speakers, and Arabic-speaking children. We found that language experience affects phonological awareness, as both Russian–Hebrew bilinguals and the Arabic speakers achieved higher scores on metalinguistic tests than Hebrew speakers. Orthography affected reading measures and their correlation with phonological abilitites. Children reading Hebrew showed better text reading ability and significant correlations between phonological awareness and reading scores. Children reading Arabic showed a slight advantage in single word and nonword reading over the two Hebrew reading groups, and very weak relationships between phonological abilities and reading performance. We conclude that native Arabic speakers have more difficulty in processing Arabic orthography than Hebrew monolinguals and bilinguals have in processing Hebrew orthography, and suggest that this is due to the additional visual complexity of Arabic orthography.     

Advertised Australian counselling psychologists: A descriptive survey of their practice details and self perceived competence in six counselling psychology practice areas

This survey research in a field setting aimed to describe psychologists who advertised themselves in the Australian Yellow Pages as counsellors, thus providing a snapshot of advertised counselling psychologists in Australia. Data was collected using a multiple mailing survey method and resulted in a 62.2% return rate. The psychologists’ (a) demographic characteristics, (b) training and development, (c) provision of services, (d) professional involvement, and (e) their self perceived competence in working with (i) depression, (ii) anxiety, (iii) substance use, (iv) clients from non English speaking backgrounds and Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander individuals, (v) clients who are same sex attracted (gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals), and (vi) clients using electronic mail and instant messaging were assessed. Advertised Australian counselling psychologists tend to be female, mature and Caucasian. The majority of the psychologists surveyed live in urban areas. Master and Bachelor level degrees were most often reported, a minority held doctoral degrees. The average psychologist charged $96.32 per hour, less than the Australian Psychological Society (APS) recommended fee for an hour of service. Eclectic and cognitive behaviour therapy were indicated most often as the theoretical orientations guiding psychological work. Psychologists belonged almost exclusively to the Australian Psychological Society as a professional association. Surprisingly, 2.9% of psychologists indicate not following an ethical code in their work and 3.9% failed to ensure that their work was covered by professional indemnity insurance. Advertised psychologists are thus described and suggestions are given for the further development of the profession. Regarding their self perceived competence, Australian advertised psychologists present as having self perceived strengths and areas of weakness regarding their counselling competence. This indicates that they are aware of their varying ability to work with various issues and populations. The self perceived competence of Australian psychologists in six specific counselling practice areas and suggestions for future training and development are provided.     

Recommendation Recall and Satisfaction After Attending Breast/Ovarian Cancer Risk Counseling

This study examined women’s recall of physician recommendations as well as patient satisfaction following participation in a breast/ovarian cancer risk and prevention program. Participants were 41 high risk women who attended a cancer risk program 4–6 months earlier. Two-thirds of women who received recommendations for tamoxifen treatment and genetic testing did not recall these recommendations upon follow-up. A number of women misunderstood recommendations and a quarter of the sample recalled recommendations that were not made during the consultation. Although these high risk women were generally satisfied with their counseling visit, those individuals who received particularly complex sets of recommendations reported feeling less understood and were less satisfied with the counseling. Findings underline the importance of examining recommendation recall, in addition to perceptions of cancer risk, when evaluating the clinical implications of cancer risk assessment.     

Do amnesic patients with Korsakoff’s syndrome use feedback when making decisions under risky conditions? An experimental investigation with the Game of Dice Task with and without feedback

We investigated the role of feedback processing in decision making under risk conditions in 50 patients with amnesia in the course of alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome (KS). Half of the patients were administered the Game of Dice Task (GDT) and the remaining 25 patients were examined with a modified version of the GDT in which no feedback was provided. Patients' results in the GDT and in the modified version were compared with that of 50 healthy subjects of whom 25 subjects performed the original GDT and 25 performed the modified version. While performance on the original GDT was superior to performance on the modified GDT in healthy subjects, KS patients performed similarly on both the GDT with and GDT without feedback. Performance on both task versions was correlated with categorization and set-shifting. The findings indicate that amnesic patients do not profit from receiving feedback for their decisions in explicit risk conditions.     

Olfactory self-recognition in a cichlid fish

Animal self-cognizance might be of importance in different contexts like territoriality, self-referent mate-choice or kin recognition. We investigated whether the cichlid fish Pelvicachromis taeniatus is able to recognize own olfactory cues. P. taeniatus is a cave breeding fish with pronounced brood care and social behavior. In the experiments we gave male cave owners the choice between two caves in which we introduced scented water. In a first experiment males preferred caves with their own odor over caves with the odor of an unfamiliar, unrelated male. To examine whether self-recognition is based rather on individual or on family cues we conducted two further experiments in which males could choose between their own odor and the odor of a familiar brother and between the odor of a familiar brother and an unfamiliar, unrelated male, respectively. Males preferred their own odor over that of a familiar brother suggesting individual self-referencing. Interestingly, males (at least outbred ones) preferred the odor of an unfamiliar, unrelated male over that of a familiar brother, maybe to avoid competition with kin. We discuss the results in the context of animal self-cognizance. All experiments were conducted with in- and outbred fish. Inbreeding did not negatively affect self-recognition.     

‘Out to get us’: queer Muslims and the clash of sexual civilisations in Australia

Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with twelve queer Muslims in Australia, this article analyses the ongoing struggle for queer Muslim recognition within the context of the so-called ‘Clash of Civilisations’. Analysing the rhetoric of national security and ‘Western’ civilisational identity, this article interrogates the incorporation of sexuality into the cultural and political discourse of the ‘war on terror’, from the xenophobic demonisation of Muslims as sexual predators, to liberal Islamophobia that posits Islam as an aggressive and alien Other against which liberal capitalism must be defended. Within this hostile environment, queer Muslims in Australia are articulating various strategies for finding meaning in their lives. From a Marxist perspective, this article analyses these strategies for recognition which range from complex acts of ‘closeting’ sexual, ethnic and religious identities, to subversive acts of critical hybridity that seek to negate the exclusionary nature of homophobia and Islamophobia within Australia’s multicultural society.