Can Prayer Increase Charitable Giving? Examining the Effects of Intercessory Prayer,Moral Intuitions,and Theological Orientation on Generous Behavior

This study was designed to investigate the effects of intercessory prayer, moral intuitions, God concept, and theological orientation on generous behavior in the form of charitable giving. Christian participants (N = 313) were assigned to engage in either intercessory prayer or a secular reflection over a 2-week period on the hardships faced by either Christians (religious ingroup) or Muslims (religious outgroup) in Myanmar/Burma being persecuted by the Buddhist majority. Contrary to hypotheses and previous research, multiple regression analyses revealed that the prayer condition was associated with less monetary generosity than a nonreligious control condition. Ingroup versus outgroup status of the target of prayer/reflections was not a significant predictor of charitable giving. Moral intuitions related to the harm/care and fairness/reciprocity foundations as well as traditional God concept moderated the effects of prayer.     

An Ethical Exploration of Barriers to Research on Controlled Drugs

We examine the ethical, social, and regulatory barriers that may hinder research on therapeutic potential of certain controversial controlled substances like marijuana, heroin, or ketamine. Hazards for individuals and society and potential adverse effects on communities may be good reasons for limiting access and justify careful monitoring of these substances. Overly strict regulations, fear of legal consequences, stigma associated with abuse and populations using illicit drugs, and lack of funding may, however, limit research on their considerable therapeutic potential. We review the surprisingly sparse literature and address the particular ethical concerns pertinent to research with illicit and addictive substances, such as undue inducement, informed consent, therapeutic misconception, and risk to participants, researchers, and institutions. We consider the perspectives of key research stakeholders and explore whether they may be infected with bias. We conclude by proposing an empirical research agenda to provide an evidentiary basis for ethical reasoning.     

Concurrent task effects on memory encoding and retrieval: Further support for an asymmetry

Several studies have demonstrated that divided attention at encoding significantly reduces memory performance, whereas divided attention at retrieval affects memory performance only minimally. However, the possibility exists that retrieval processes have shown such resilience because the concurrent tasks used have often not been very demanding. To assess this possibility, we used independent manipulations of the concurrent task during either encoding or retrieval that included stimulus-response compatibility and participant- versus experimenter-controlled pace. In addition, we manipulated the distribution of practice that the participants received with the primary and the concurrent tasks. The results replicated and extended those recently reported by Rohrer and Pashler (2003), indicating that although memory performance is negatively affected by divided attention at retrieval, especially with noncompatible stimulus-response mapping in the concurrent task, this effect was much smaller than that at encoding, in line with the asymmetry notion. Furthermore, experimenter versus participant control of the concurrent task had no effect on memory retrieval. Finally, under conditions of equal practice with both the memory and the concurrent tasks, memory retrieval was affected only to a small degree. In contrast to encoding processes, the processes involved in retrieval accuracy appear, in many cases, to be less interrupted by divided attention, although this protection requires substantial resources.     

Space in Hand and Mind: Gesture and Spatial Frames of Reference in Bilingual Mexico

Speakers of many languages prefer allocentric frames of reference (FoRs) when talking about small-scale space, using words like “east” or “downhill.” Ethnographic work has suggested that this preference is also reflected in how such speakers gesture. Here, we investigate this possibility with a field experiment in Juchitán, Mexico. In Juchitán, a preferentially allocentric language (Isthmus Zapotec) coexists with a preferentially egocentric one (Spanish). Using a novel task, we elicited spontaneous co-speech gestures about small-scale motion events (e.g., toppling blocks) in Zapotec-dominant speakers and in balanced Zapotec-Spanish bilinguals. Consistent with prior claims, speakers’ spontaneous gestures reliably reflected either an egocentric or allocentric FoR. The use of the egocentric FoR was predicted—not by speakers’ dominant language or the language they used in the task—but by mastery of words for “right” and “left,” as well as by properties of the event they were describing. Additionally, use of the egocentric FoR in gesture predicted its use in a separate nonlinguistic memory task, suggesting a cohesive cognitive style. Our results show that the use of spatial FoRs in gesture is pervasive, systematic, and shaped by several factors. Spatial gestures, like other forms of spatial conceptualization, are thus best understood within broader ecologies of communication and cognition.     

Adherence to HAART: perspectives from clients in treatment support programs

The development of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has resulted in dramatic decreases in morbidity and mortality for HIV-infected individuals. Because the long-term efficacy of HAART is dependent on near perfect adherence, many providers offer services to support adherence, including education, regimen review, counseling, and reminder tools. Little is known regarding the utilization or efficacy of these services. In this paper, we report on data collected during 32 open-ended interviews conducted with individuals receiving services through the New York State Treatment Adherence Demonstration Project. Participants in the project reported deriving benefits from a broad range of project activities. Educational efforts helped clients to recognize HIV as a manageable, rather than terminal, illness. Information and tools focused on specific regimens provided clients with concrete knowledge and skills. Effective communication with medical providers and pharmacists was facilitated by adherence staff who proactively advocated for client needs. Program-based social support was particularly valuable for many participants, helping them to retain needed motivation and strength. Educational, practical, and supportive services were all considered valuable to clients participating in adherence support programs. A mix of services may best meet the range of needs found among persons taking HAART.     

Unitary vs multiple semantics: PET studies of word and picture processing

In this paper we examine a central issue in cognitive neuroscience: are there separate conceptual representations associated with different input modalities (e.g., Paivio, 1971, 1986; Warrington & Shallice, 1984) or do inputs from different modalities converge on to the same set of representations (e.g., Caramazza, Hillis, Rapp, & Romani, 1990; Lambon Ralph, Graham, Patterson, & Hodges, 1999; Rapp, Hillis, & Caramazza, 1993)? We present an analysis of four PET studies (three semantic categorisation tasks and one lexical decision task), two of which employ words as stimuli and two of which employ pictures. Using conjunction analyses, we found robust semantic activation, common to both input modalities in anterior and medial aspects of the left fusiform gyrus, left parahippocampal and perirhinal cortices, and left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47). There were modality-specific activations in both temporal poles (words) and occipitotemporal cortices (pictures). We propose that the temporal poles are involved in processing both words and pictures, but their engagement might be primarily determined by the level of specificity at which an object is processed. Activation in posterior temporal regions associated with picture processing most likely reflects intermediate, pre-semantic stages of visual processing. Our data are most consistent with a hierarchically structured, unitary system of semantic representations for both verbal and visual modalities, subserved by anterior regions of the inferior temporal cortex.     

A four-component model of procedural justice: defining the meaning of a "fair" process

Two studies test the prediction of the four-component model of procedural justice that people evaluate the fairness of group procedures using four distinct types of judgment. The model hypothesizes that people are influenced by two aspects of the formal procedures of the group: those aspects that relate to decision making and those that relate to the quality of treatment that group members are entitled to receive under the rules. In addition, people are hypothesized to be separately influenced by two aspects of the authorities with whom they personally deal: the quality of decision making by those authorities and the quality of the treatment that they receive from them. The results of two studies support the hypothesis of the four-component model by finding that all four of the procedural judgments identified by the model contribute to overall evaluations of the fairness of group procedures.