The Relationship Between Faith and Well-Being

Despite the considerable literature that documents the existence of a positive relationship between religious faith and individual well-being, there has been little investigation of the mechanisms by which this connection operates. An investigation of this issue, using qualitative research methods and based on classical and contemporary sociological theory, suggests that Christian faith provides its adherents with several tools with which they can combat those circumstances in their lives that are likely to lead to distress and disease. These tools include community, hope, meaning systems, behavioral constraints, and elements of church practice and church life, all of which work together to provide the faithful with a sense of peace that contributes to their well-being.     

Narcissistic Measures of Lutheran Clergy Who Self-Reported Committing Sexual Misconduct

This study sought to determine if narcissism was a factor in Lutheran clergy who self-reported committing sexual misconduct. Sexual misconduct was defined as any activity in which a clergyperson, single or married, engaged in sexual behavior (sexual intercourse, kissing, touching or hugging with sexual intent, use of sexually explicit language) with a parishioner, client, or employee of the church (Francis & Turner, 1995). The results indicated that clergy who self-reported having committed sexual misconduct and had high levels of narcissism were not significantly different from those clergy who self-reported not having committed sexual misconduct. Demographic and related findings are also discussed. Former Lutheran minister and is currently an Assistant Professor of education atAssociate Professor of professional counseling in the Division of Professional Psychology at the     

Book Reviews

M eier , C arl A lfred Personality: The Individuation Process in the Light of C.G. Jung's Typology
K ast , V erena . Folktales as Therapy
N eumann , E rich . The Fear of the Feminine: and Other Essays on Feminine Psychology
E l S affar , R uth A nthony . Rapture Encaged: the Suppression of the Feminine in Western Culture
S tein M urray , & H ollwitz , J ohn (eds.). Psyche at Work: Workplace Applications of Jungian Analytical Psychology
R obertson , R obin . Beginner's Guide to Revelation: a Jungian Interpretation
T hrail , E mma . Retrospect: The Story of an Analysis
U lanov , A nn B elford . The Wizard's Gate: Picturing Consciousness
W alker , S teven F. Jung and the Jungians on Myth: An Introduction
A lexandris , A thina & V aslamatzis , G rigoris , (eds.). Countertransference: Theory, Technique, Teaching
C lulow , C hristopher (ed.). Rethinking Marriage: Public and Private Perspectives     

Skin conductance responses to real and imagined snakes among avoidant and non-avoidant college students

Experiment I compared the extent to which, at the physiological level, behaviorally avoidant and non-avoidant Ss respond differently to in vivo exposure to a snake. Experiment II tested an hypothesis about possible confounding in the procedures of Experiment I. Experiment III was a replication of Experiment II except that an imagined snake was substituted for the real snake. The three experiments were designed to permit simultaneous comparisons involving the skin conductance reactions of avoidant and non-avoidant volunteer Ss to a snake and to a neutral stimulus. In Experiments II and III differential responsivity in the expected direction was found. These differences were discussed in connection with the methodology of snake-avoidance therapy analogues.     

Religion and Public Opinion Toward Same‐Sex Relations,Marriage, and Adoption: Does the Type of Practice Matter?

This study examines how religion's impact on Americans’ attitudes toward same‐sex practices varies by the type of practice being considered. We theorize that same‐sex romantic and family practices such as sexual relations, marriage, and adoption represent distinct practice types, differing in degrees of legality, cultural legitimacy, and in their internal power dynamics. Consequently, we expect that Americans view each practice type somewhat differently and their opinions on each may be influenced by religion in distinctive ways. Drawing upon national‐level data, we estimate and compare the relative net effects of a comprehensive battery of religious measures on support for gay sex, marriage, and adoption, both for the full sample and across religious traditions. Analyses demonstrate that public opinion toward gay sexual relations is more strongly related to religious practice and theological conservatism compared to attitudes regarding same‐sex marriage or adoption. Moreover, frequent religious practice and conservative theological beliefs about the Bible tend to be more strongly associated with attitudes toward same‐sex relationships for evangelicals, compared to mainline Protestants and, to a lesser extent, Catholics. Findings ultimately affirm that the type of same‐sex practice being considered (sex, marriage, or adoption) serves to moderate religions’ impact on Americans’ support for such practices.     

Working memory capacity of biological movements predicts empathy traits

Working memory (WM) and empathy are core issues in cognitive and social science, respectively. However, no study so far has explored the relationship between these two constructs. Considering that empathy takes place based on the others’ observed experiences, which requires extracting the observed dynamic scene into WM and forming a coherent representation, we hypothesized that a sub-type of WM capacity, i.e., WM for biological movements (BM), should predict one’s empathy level. Therefore, WM capacity was measured for three distinct types of stimuli in a change detection task: BM of human beings (BM; Experiment 1), movements of rectangles (Experiment 2), and static colors (Experiment 3). The first two stimuli were dynamic and shared one WM buffer which differed from the WM buffer for colors; yet only the BM conveyed social information. We found that BM-WM capacity was positively correlated with both cognitive and emotional empathy, with no such correlations for WM capacity of movements of rectangles or of colors. Thus, the current study is the first to provide evidence linking a specific buffer of WM and empathy, and highlights the necessity for considering different WM capacities in future social and clinical research.