Unanswered Prayers: Religiosity and the God-Serving Bias

Two self-report experiments examined how religiosity affects attributions made for a target person’s death. Online adults (Study 1, N = 427) and undergraduate students (Study 2, N = 326) read about Chris who had a heart attack, used religious or health behaviors, and lived or died. Participants made attributions to Chris and God (both studies), and reported their emotions (Study 2). Participants made more attributions to Chris when he lived than when he died, but only when he used health behaviors. The highly religious made more attributions to God, but not when Chris used religious behaviors and died (the God-serving bias); they reported the most positive emotions when Chris lived after using religious behaviors (the Hallelujah effect). Directions for future research in terms of implicit religious beliefs and normative evaluations of religion are discussed.     

Studying Technology and Ecclesiology in Online Multi-Site Worship

This study brings together research approaches from media studies and practical theology in order to study and understand the relationship between online technological features of multi-site worship and the larger offline worshipping community to which it is connected. From the perspective of media studies we reflect on how new media technologies and cultures are allowed to shape online worship spaces and how larger institutional traditions and structures are allowed to shape technologically mediated church events. From the perspective of practical theology we use the notion of inculturation as a lens for a better understanding of the specific ways in which Christian worship practices adapt, change, and respond to the new cultural setting which emerges from the online worship context. Together, these approaches illuminate the interplay between digital technology and ecclesiological tradition in shaping multi-site church worship practices.     

Can defendants with mental retardation successfully fake their performance on a test of competence to stand trial?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether criminal defendants with mental retardation can feign poor performance on a test of competence to stand trial. Four groups of adjudicated criminal defendants were given a test of competence to stand trial. In the experimental condition, defendants with mental retardation (MR) and mentally typical defendants (non-MR) were given instructions to fake their performance on the test. In the control, MR defendants and non-MR defendants took the test under standard conditions. The results indicated that both the MR and non-MR fakers scored significantly lower than the MR and non-MR controls. There was no significant difference in the scores of the MR and non-MR fakers. The results suggest that defendants with mental retardation may be able to successfully fake their performance in certain circumstances. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Attitudes Toward Divorce: Embeddedness and Outcomes in Personal Relationships

Divorce attitudes, attitude embeddedness, parental marital status and conflict, and personal relationship outcomes were examined in a sample of 289 undergraduate students. Results indicated that highly embedded divorce attitudes were more predictive of evaluations of divorce issues and relationship scenarios than were less embedded attitudes. Consistent with findings that divorce attitudes influence personal relationships ( Amato & DeBoer, 2001 ), participants with embedded divorce attitudes reported greater conflict and influence of relationship partners. Recollections of high parental conflict were associated with greater relationship conflict; and individuals from high-conflict intact families reported greater relationship closeness, conflict, and embedded divorce attitudes. Consequences of parental divorce and conflict for offspring divorce attitudes are discussed, as well as future research on divorce attitudes and their strength.     

Gender Differences in Interest and Knowledge Acquisition: The United States,Taiwan, and Japan

The relationship between interest and knowledge was investigated in a representative sample of 11th grade students from cultures that differ in the strength of their gender-role stereotypes and their endorsement of effort-based versus interest-based learning. Among 11th graders from the United States (N = 1052), Taiwan (N = 1475), and Japan (N = 1119), boys preferred science, math, and sports, whereas girls preferred language arts, music, and art. General information scores were comparable across the three locations; however, boys consistently outscored girls. Gender and interest in science independently predicted general information scores, whereas gender and interest in math independently predicted mathematics scores. Cultural variations in the strength of the relationship between gender, interest, and scores indicate that specific socialization practices can minimize or exaggerate these gender differences.     

You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry: A Daily Diary Study of Displaced Online Aggression in Dual-Earner Couples

Modern technologies can aid working processes as well as provide individuals with an opportunity to connect and form interpersonal relationships. However, they can also create a context for displaced aggression. In this study, we examine whether people experiencing work stressors may engage in online antisocial behavioral as a means of venting their negative emotions. Specifically, we investigate whether experiencing stressors at work fuels anger in the private context and whether this anger triggers subsequent displaced aggression in the form of antisocial online behavior (AOB) throughout the evening. Additionally, we examine the crossover of anger to AOB in couples in their private context. We conducted a diary study amongst 95 dual-earner couples, twice a day, during five consecutive working days. Results confirmed that men’s daily work stressors spilled over to their private context in the form of anger after work and AOB throughout the evening. No crossover effects were found from their partner. For women, a crossover effect was found of their partner’s work stressors and anger on their own AOB. These results demonstrate gender differences in displaced online aggression.     

A threat in the computer: the race implicit association test as a stereotype threat experience

Three experiments test whether the threat of appearing racist leads White participants to perform worse on the race Implicit Association Test (IAT) and whether self-affirmation can protect from this threat. Experiments 1 and 2 suggest that White participants show a stereotype threat effect when completing the race IAT, leading to stronger pro-White scores when the test is believed to be diagnostic of racism. This effect increases for domain-identified (highly motivated to control prejudice) participants (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, self-affirmation inoculates participants against stereotype threat while taking the race IAT. These findings have methodological implications for use of the race IAT and theoretical implications concerning the malleability of automatic prejudice and the potential interpersonal effects of the fear of appearing racist.     

Markers of Resilience and Risk: Adult Lives in a Vulnerable Population

In this report, we drew on data from an ongoing longitudinal study that began in 1978 (Hauser, Powers, Noam, Jacobson, Weiss, & Folansbee, 1984). Focusing on late, young-adult life among individuals who were psychiatrically hospitalized during adolescence, we examined markers of resilience empirically defined in terms of adult success and well-being. The study includes a demographically similar group recruited from a public high school. Major goals were to (a) develop preliminary models of adaptive functioning among adults in their 30s, (b) examine the extent to which adults with histories of serious mental disorders can be characterized by these models, and (c) explore predictors of successful adult lives from indicators of individuals' psychosocial adjustment at age 25.Results showed significant cohort effects on indexes of adaptive functioning, especially for men. Findings suggest that social relations as well as self-views of competence and relatedness play important roles in characterizing adjustment during the adult years. In addition, indexes of psychosocial adjustment as well as symptoms of psychiatric distress and hard drug use at age 25 made a difference in adult social functioning and well-being, providing hints of possible mechanisms likely to facilitate the ability to "bounce back" after a difficult adolescence.     

Internet-based intervention for mental health and substance use problems in disaster-affected populations: a pilot feasibility study

Early interventions that reduce the societal burden of mental health problems in the aftermath of disasters and mass violence have the potential to be enormously valuable. Internet-based interventions can be delivered widely, efficiently, and at low cost and as such are of particular interest. We describe the development and feasibility analysis of an Internet-delivered intervention designed to address mental health and substance-related reactions in disaster-affected populations. Participants (n = 285) were recruited from a cohort of New York City-area residents that had been followed longitudinally in epidemiological research initiated 6 months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The intervention consisted of 7 modules: posttraumatic stress/panic, depression, generalized anxiety, alcohol use, marijuana use, drug use, and cigarette use. Feasibility data were promising and suggest the need for further evaluation.