The Pew Versus the Couch: Relationship Between Mental Health and Faith Communities and Lessons Learned from a VA/Clergy Partnership Project

The history of the relationship between religion and mental health is one of commonality, conflict, controversy, and distrust. An awareness of this complex relationship is essential to clinicians and clergy seeking to holistically meet the needs of people in our clinics, our churches, and our communities. Understanding this relationship may be particularly important in rural communities. This paper briefly discusses the history of this relationship and important areas of disagreement and contention. The paper moves beyond theory to present some current practical tensions identified in a brief case study of VA/Clergy partnerships in rural Arkansas. The paper concludes with a framework of three models for understanding how most faith communities perceive mental health and suggests opportunities to overcome the tensions between “the pew” and “the couch.”     

The Role of Hofstede's Individualism in National-Level Creativity

It is a widely held belief that culture is a factor that influences creativity. The influence of culture on creativity is, however, relatively understudied and the majority of creativity research focuses on creativity at the level of the individual or organization. In this article, the relationship between Hofstede's cultural values (individualism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance) and national level scores on two separate creativity indexes—the Global Creativity Index (GCI) and the Design and Creativity Index (DCI) was examined. A multivariate multiple linear regression analyses showed a strong positive relationship between individualism and national ranking on the GCI and DCI. No significant relationship was found between the creativity measures and Hofstede's power distance and uncertainty avoidance. The positive relationship between individualism and creativity suggests that autonomy, independence, and freedom—beliefs associated with individualism—are needed for a nation to be creative.     

Upward and downward social comparisons can decrease prosocial behavior

This experiment addressed whether upward or downward social comparisons can affect people's prosocial behavior toward the comparison targets. Undergraduates (N = 123) completed an inkblot test and then were randomly assigned to conditions in which they were told that their performance was either inferior or superior to their peers. A control group was given no performance feedback. Participants' self‐reported prosocial behaviors were measured 2 days later. Results indicated that both the upward and downward comparison groups engaged in significantly less prosocial behavior than did the control group and that empathy toward their peers mediated this effect. Our findings suggest that upward or downward comparison can make people feel less empathic toward the targets and thus less inclined to help them.     

Music for the Seasons: Seasonal Music Preferences in College Students

The present research examined music preferences in relation to the seasons: fall, winter, spring, and summer. Across two studies, male and female college students (N = 232 and 199) were primed to think about the seasons and indicate their music preference from Rentfrow and Gosling’s (2003) music classification scheme. Participants were predicted to prefer reflexive and complex music when primed with fall/winter and energetic and rhythmic and upbeat and conventional music when primed with spring/summer. Study 1 had participants read winter or summer season scenarios and Study 2 had participants write their own fall, winter, spring, or summer seasonal experiences. Overall, results were consistent with predictions for the reflexive and complex and energetic and rhythmic classifications, indicating an environmental influence of musical preferences.     

Examination of variables that affect the efficacy of instructive feedback

Instructive feedback is a procedure in which additional, nontarget stimuli are presented during instructional trials for students with a wide array of disabilities. This preliminary investigation examined whether participant behavior during instructive feedback, including attending and echoic behavior, altered the efficacy of instructive feedback for 2 children with autism. Results showed that participant behavior during instructive feedback related to training outcomes for both participants and treatment modifications based on participant behavior influenced acquisition. Future directions of research and implications for practice are discussed.     

Optimizing Honor Codes for Online Exam Administration

This study examined self-reported academic dishonesty at a midsize public university. Students (N = 492) rated the likelihood they would cheat after accepting to abide by each of eight honor code pledges before Internet-based assignments and examinations. The statements were derived from honor pledges used by different universities across the United States and varied in length, formality, and the extent to which the statements included consequences for academic dishonesty. Longer, formal honor codes with consequences were associated with a lower likelihood to cheat. Results showed a significant three-way interaction and suggest how to best design honor codes.     

Gun Enthusiasm,Hypermasculinity, Manhood Honor,and Lifetime Aggression

Links between gun enthusiasm, hypermasculinity, manhood honor maintenance, trait antagonism, and lifetime aggression were examined in this national sample of American men (N = 861). Regression analysis identified honor ideology for manhood and emotion devaluation as the factors that accounted best for gun enthusiasm. Large effect sizes (d > .70 in more than half of the contrasts) were found between cohorts harboring extreme positive versus negative gun attitudes. Gun owners (26.7% of sample) also showed elevations in most of these same trait dimensions, but not lifetime aggression. Gun owners and enthusiasts did not show evidence of childhood maltreatment or current emotional distress. Gun enthusiasts instead seemed to convey a sense of self-assurance and preparedness to respond aggressively to perceived affronts, particularly as they pertained to maintenance of their masculine ideals.