Neuroticism, coping strategies, and negative well-being among caregivers.

Neuroticism was incorporated into a model for predicting the well-being of family caregivers. Using data from 596 women with an adult child with a chronic disability, the model hypothesizes direct effects of neuroticism on a caregiver's perceptions of the stressor, on her wishful-escapism and problem-focused coping, and on psychological well-being. Results indicate that neuroticism exerts direct and indirect effects on negative well-being. Results also indicate that stressors have direct effects on both wishful-escapism coping and problem-focused coping. Burden had direct effects on negative psychological well-being. Diagnosis influences the model by having direct effects on stressors and wishful-escapism coping but not on problem-focused coping or burden. Inclusion of individual level variables, such as neuroticism, results in a substantial amount of explained variance in negative well-being.     

Book reviews

The Culture of Religious Pluralism Richard E. Wentz, 1998 Boulder, Colorado & Oxford, UK: Westview Press 130 pp., £50.00 (hb), £10.50 (hb) ISBN 0–8133–2644–3 (hb), ISBN 0–8133–2644–3 (pb)

Religious Diversity and Human Rights Irene Bloom, J. Paul Martin & Wayne L. Proudfoot, eds., 1997 New York: Columbia University Press 355 pp., US$57.00, £40.00 (hb), US$21.00, £15.00 (pb) ISBN 0–231–10416–2 (hb), ISBN 0–231–10417–0 (pb)

New Religions as Global Cultures: Making the Human Sacred Irving Hexham & Karla Poewe, 1997 Boulder, CO: Westview Press xiv + 194 pp., £45.50 (hb), £13.00 (pb) ISBN: 0–8133–2507–2 (hb), ISBN 0–8133–2508–0 (pb)

Contemporary American Religion: An Ethnographic Reader Penny Edgell Becker & Nancy L. Eiesland, eds., 1997 Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira ress 272 pp., £19.99 ISBN 0–7619–9196–4

Sacred Tensions: Modernity and Religious Transformation in Malaysia Raymond L. M. Lee & Susan E. Ackerman, 1998 Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press ix + 172 pp., US$29.95 (hb) ISBN 1–57003–167–3

Does Christianity Cause War? David Martin, 1997 Oxford: Clarendon Press x + 226 pp., £30.00 (hb) ISBN 0–19–829267–8

Faith and Doubt: Religion and Secularisation in Literature from Wordsworth to Larkin R. L. Brett, 1997 Macon, GA: Mercer University Press 261 pp., £25.00, US$40.00 ISBN: 0 86554 544 8

The Search for Common Ground: What Unites and Divides American Catholics James D. Davidson, Andrea S. Williams, Richard A. Lamanna, Jan Stenftenagel, Kathleen Maas Wiegert, William J. Whalen, Patricia Wittberg, S.C., 1997 Huntington Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Press 287 pp., US$24.95 (plus shipping)

The Psychology of Religious Behaviour, Belief and Experience Benjamin Beit‐Hallahmi & Michael Argyle, 1997 London: Routledge xii + 318 pp., £40.00 (hb), £14.99 (pb) ISBN 0–415–12330–5 (hb), ISBN 0 415 12331 3 (pb)

God's Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission R. Marie Griffith, 1997 Berkeley, CA: University of California Press xi + 275 pp., US$24.95 (hb) ISBN 0–520–20764–5

Restoring the Kingdom: The Radical Christianity of the House Church Movement Andrew Walker, 1998 Guildford: Eagle 416 pp., £9.99 (pb) ISBN 0–86347–160–9

The Faith of the Managers: When Management Becomes Religion Stephen Pattison, 1997 London & Washington: Cassell 188 pp., £14.99 (pb) ISBN: 0–304–70144–0

Jerusalem: What Makes for Peace! A Palestinian Christian Contribution to Peacemaking Naim Ateek, Cedar Duaybis & Marla Schrader, eds., 1997 London: Melisende xxix + 241 pp., £12.50 (pb) ISBN 1–901764–00–1

Western Scholarship and the History of Palestine Michael Prior, CM, ed., 1998 London: Melisende xvi +111 pp., £8.50 (pb) ISBN 1–901764–02–8

Rites of Passage in Contemporary Africa: Interaction between Christian and African Traditional Religions James L. Cox, ed. Series: Religion in Contemporary Africa Cardiff: Cardiff Academic Press, 1998 259 pp., £15.95 (pb) ISBN 1–899025–06–5

Between Cultures: Continuity and Change in the Lives of Young Asians Muhammad Anwar, 1998 London: Routledge 212 pp., £47.50 (hb), £14.99 (pb) ISBN 0–415–04647–5 (hb), ISBN 0–415–04648–3 (pb)

Historical Dictionary of Hinduism Bruce M. Sullivan, 1997 Lanham, Maryland & London: The Scarecrow Press xvii + 345 pp., US$49.00 ISBN 0–8108–3327–1

Religious Education: An Interpretive Approach Robert Jackson, 1997 London: Hodder & Stoughton 156 pp., £12.99 ISBN 0–340–68870‐X

The Division of Consciousness: The Secret Afterlife of the Human Psyche Peter Novak, 1997 Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company 258 pp., US$14.95 ISBN 1–57174–053–8

Religion Without Beliefs: Essays in Pantheist Theology, Comparative Religion and Ethics Frederic Lamond, 1997 London: Janus Publishing 184 pp., £7.95 (pb) ISBN 1–85756–341–7

Hiding Mark C. Taylor, 1997 Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 354 pp., US$29.95 ISBN 0–226–79159–9     

Magic vs. enchantment

This paper draws on a distinction by J. R. R. Tolkien between Magic (an exercise of the will to change something in the world) and Enchantment (the creation of and entering into a secondary world). After elaborating this contrast and some of its consequences—one of which is to illuminate the common ground between science and what is usually thought of as magic, as distinct (in both cases) from art—I suggest some complications and refinements, including a third category, Glamour. I then discuss contemporary modernist magic, including Weberian ‘disenchantment’ which, 1 argue, is actually central to the triumph of the former. One consequence of that triumph is to place an historically unique emphasis upon enchantment as a source of resistance and possibly re‐enchantment. I then take a closer look at wonder, as the hallmark of enchantment, and at the special relationship between wonder and nature, before concluding with some suggestions for how to recognise genuine contemporary re‐enchantment.     

Person-environment fit and accident prediction

Person-environment (P-E) fit theory suggests that poor fit may result in lowered performance and productivity and may possibly influence the occurrence of accidents and injuries. A sample of transportation workers (N=696) and their supervisors (N=117) completed an instrument designed to measure their attitudes towards and fit with their work environment and supervisory safety practices. Results of a MANOVA in the first study found significant differences on P-E fit measures between workers who had and had not been injured in the previous twelve months. Results of a discriminant analysis correctly classified 68.8% of workers who became injured after completing the research instrument. Implications of these results are discussed.     

The effect of timeout duration on frequency of aggression in hospitalized children with conduct disorders

Timeout has been shown to be an effective procedure in the treatment of aggressive behaviors. Previous research, however, has not provided evidence to support the use of a particular timeout duration in the treatment of aggressive behavior. This study compared the effectiveness of four different timeout durations (1, 5, 10, and 20 min) in the treatment of aggressive behavior in hospitalized children with conduct disorders. Results did not support the use of extended periods of timeout, but suggested that 5 min duration was as or more effective than the other tested durations.     

Fortysomething: Recognizing faces at one’s 25th reunion

Twenty-four to 26 years after their high school graduation, subjects matched 40 photographs of former classmates taken from the high school yearbook with 40 current photographs of these same former classmates. Compared with age-matched control subjects who had no prior familiarity with the persons depicted in the photographs, the former classmates were superior at matching the old and new photographs. Generally, same-orientation photographs (i.e., old and new photographs taken from the same side) were matched more accurately than different-orientation photographs. Prior familiarity, however, rendered the orientation factor unimportant. These findings are discussed in terms of the processes that underlie facial recognition over very long intervals and in terms of their psycholegal implications.     

Response persistence in the rat following intermittent punishment and partial reward: Effects of trial sequence

Thirty-six rats were given 16 days of partial reward training in a runway. During the final 12 days each of the animals received one foot-shock experience each day. One group received shock on an N trial preceding an R trial (P-R), a second group was shocked on N trials not followed by an R trial (R-P), and the third group received shock after completing all daily trials (Control). Following acquisition the rats were split within each group (one half received 24 trials of unpunished extinction and one half continued to receive partial reward but were punished on every trial). During consistent punishment the P-R animals were more persistent than the R-P or Control rats and during unpunished extinction the P-R and Control animals were equal in persistence but both were superior to the R-P animals. The results were discussed in terms of Capaldi's sequential trial theory.