Transforming the Self and Healing the Body Through the Use of Testimonies in a Divine Retreat Center, Kerala

In this article, we analyze the collective healing process that takes place on a weekly basis in the Divine Retreat Center (DRC) in Muringoor, Kerala. We argue that disease in the DRC is understood either as a psycho-somatic or as a spirito-somatic phenomenon. In contrast to other Charismatic communities, however, the body is the locus on which the medical effects of the healing become visible. The whole process is divided into several phases: First, there is a cleansing and disengagement procedure that aims to purify and liberate the participants through confession and counseling. Thereafter comes a climatic phase of personal emptying, transition and re-orientation during which the healing itself takes place. The procedure is finally completed with the person being spiritually "refilled" by the Holy Spirit. The dominant recurring element in the whole process is the continuous statement of healing "testimonies." As an integral part of the healing procedure, these statements are used to share personal experiences among the participants in the center. They are produced in a strict format in order to be spread far beyond through various media (TV, newspaper, Internet, etc.). They thereby constitute a speech genre that follows specific rules and patterns. Through shaping one's own biography in the frame of the testimonies, so we argue, the actual transformation of the self and therefore the miracle healing takes place.     

At the crossroads: Attention,contingency awareness,and evaluative conditioning

Evaluative conditioning (EC) refers to changes in the evaluation of a conditioned stimulus (CS) due to its repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus (US). One of the most debated topics in EC research is whether or not EC is dependent on contingency awareness. In this study, we go beyond this debate by examining whether contingency awareness mediates the impact of attentional resources and goal-directed attention on EC. Attentional resources were manipulated by presenting CSs and USs either within the same modality or in different modalities. Goal-directed attention was manipulated by asking participants to respond to the CSs or to the USs. Results indicate that the effect of goal-directed attention on EC is mediated by contingency awareness, whereas the effect of attentional resources on EC is not.     

Priming of disability and elderly stereotype in motor performance: similar or specific effects?

In three experimental studies, the effects of priming participants with the disability stereotype were investigated with respect to their subsequent motor performance. Also explored were effects of activating two similar stereotypes, persons with a disability and elderly people. In Study 1, participants were primed with the disability stereotype versus with a neutral prime, and then asked to perform on a motor coordination task. In Studies 2 and 3, a third condition was introduced: priming participants with the elderly stereotype. Results indicated that priming participants with the disability stereotype altered their motor performance: they showed decreased manual dexterity and performed slower than the non-primed participants. Priming with the elderly stereotype decreased only performance speed. These findings underline that prime-to-behavior effects may depend on activation of specific stereotype content.     

Violence Exposure Mediates the Relation Between Callous-Unemotional Traits and Offending Patterns in Adolescents

The link between callous-unemotional (CU) traits in youth and delinquent, aggressive and violent behavior is well-replicated in the literature. However, the mediating effects of violence exposure on this relationship are unclear. The current study addresses this important gap in the literature with a sample of 88 detained, primarily ethnic minority adolescent boys (M age?=?15.57; SD?=?1.28). Results indicate that exposure to violence fully mediated the relationship between CU traits and violent delinquency, and this pattern of mediation was accounted for by exposure to witnessed violence, but not direct violent victimization. Secondly, exposure to violence, both direct and witnessed forms, also mediated the relationship between CU traits and drug delinquency. These findings suggest that (a) the well-established link between CU traits and violence may be attributed to high rates of witnessed violence among this subpopulation, and (b) specific types of violence exposure may be important for predicting the offending patterns of youth high on CU traits. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Opposition to Antiracism Laws Across Swiss Municipalities: A Multilevel Analysis

Public opposition to antiracism laws—an expression of prejudice toward immigrants—is widespread in Switzerland as well as in other European countries. Using data from the European Social Survey 2002 (N = 1,711), the present study examined across Swiss municipalities individual and contextual predictors of opposition to such laws and of two well‐established antecedents of prejudice: perceived threat and intergroup contact. The study extends multilevel research on immigration attitudes by investigating the role of the ideological climate prevailing in municipalities (conservative vs. progressive), in addition to structural features of municipalities. Controlling for individual‐level determinants, stronger opposition to antiracism laws was found in more conservative municipalities, while the proportion of immigrants was positively related to intergroup contact. Furthermore, in conservative municipalities with a low proportion of immigrants, fewer intergroup contacts were reported. In line with prior research, intergroup contact decreased prejudiced policy stances through a reduction of perceived threat. Overall, this study highlights the need to include normative and ideological features of local contexts in the analysis of public reactions toward immigrants.     

When the alternative would have been better: counterfactual reasoning and the emergence of regret

Counterfactual reasoning about how events could have turned out better is associated with the feeling of regret. However, developmental studies show a discrepancy between the onset of counterfactual reasoning (at 3 years) and the feeling of regret (at 6 years). In four experiments we explored possible reasons. Experiment 1 (3- to 6-year-old children) and Experiment 2 (adult control) show that even when regret is assessed more directly than in previous studies (e.g., Amsel & Smalley, 2000) only adults but not children regret their decision. Experiment 3 (3- to 14-year-old children) suggests that double-questioning--asking children how happy they are with what they got before and after they had seen what they could have got--creates false positive indications of regret in the youngest children and that--when controlling for false positives--regret is not evident before 9 years. However, children before this age make a difference between attractive (three candies) and less attractive (one candy) items (Experiment 4; 6- to 8-year-old children). Taken together, this suggests that before 9 years of age children base their judgements solely on what they got without taking into account what they could have got.     

Age-neutrality of the NEO-PI-R: Potential Differential Item Functioning in Older Versus Younger Adults

Geriatric researchers and clinicians often have to deal with a lack of valid personality measures for older age groups (e.g., Mroczek, Hurt, & Berman, 1999; Zweig 2008), which hampers a reliable assessment of personality in later life. An age-neutral measurement system is one of the basic conditions for an accurate personality assessment across the lifespan, both longitudinally and cross-sectionally. In the present study, we empirically investigate the age-neutrality of one of the most widely used personality measures (i.e., the NEO PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992)), by examining potential Differential Item Functioning (DIF). Overall, results indicate that the vast majority (92.9?% at domain-level and 95?% at facet-level) of the NEO PI-R items was similarly endorsed by younger and older age groups with the same position on the personality trait of interest, corroborating the NEO PI-R??s age neutrality. However, Differential Test Functioning (DTF) analyses revealed large DTF for Extraversion, and facet A6 (Tender-Mindedness). Results are discussed in terms of their implications for using the current format of the NEO PI-R in older aged samples.     

Fairness Perceptions of Video Resumes among Ethnically Diverse Applicants

This study investigated ethnic majority and minority applicants' fairness perceptions (N = 445) of video resumes, compared with paper resumes. Additionally, the moderating effect of minorities' ethnic identity and language proficiency on fairness perceptions of video/paper resumes was studied. Despite discriminatory concerns, ethnic minority applicants perceived the fairness of video resumes equally or more positively when compared with ethnic majority applicants, and when compared with paper resumes. Minorities' ethnic identity was positively related to fairness perceptions of resumes. Furthermore, language proficiency was a significant moderator: Higher proficiency was related to higher fairness perceptions of paper resumes. The implication is suggested that ethnic minority applicants may prefer a more personalized way of applying (video resume), instead of less personalized ways.     

Processing of Spanish Preterite regular and irregular verbs: the role of neighborhood density

Research into lexical processes shows that frequency and phonological similarity (neighborhood density) affect word processing and retrieval. Previous studies on inflectional morphology have examined the influence of frequency of occurrence in speech production on the inflectional verb paradigm in English. Limited work has been done to examine the influence of phonological similarity in languages with a more complex morphological system than English. The present study examined the influence of neighborhood density on the processing of Spanish Preterite regular and irregular verbs as produced by thirty native speakers of Spanish. The results of a naming task showed that regular verbs were processed faster and more accurately than irregular ones. Similar to what has been observed in English, a facilitative effect of neighborhood density for -ir verbs was observed in both regular and irregular verbs, such that -ir verbs with dense neighborhoods were produced faster and more accurately than -ir verbs with sparse neighborhoods. However, no neighborhood density effects were observed for -ar verbs (regular and irregular) in reaction times and accuracy rates. Thus, the activation of a specific -ir verb was facilitated by similar sounding verbs regardless of being regular and irregular. Implications for models of morphology language processing are discussed.