All in faith: Religion as the idiom and means of coping with distress

A survey design was used to examine if there are any differences between a Christian, a Muslim, and a non-religious group in five personality factors (dominance, liveliness, warmth, apprehension, and sensitivity), general well-being, and death anxiety. No significant differences were found with any of the personality factors between the three groups. Religious participants (Christians and Muslims combined) scored significantly higher for general well-being than non-religious participants. Christians scored significantly lower for death anxiety than both non-religious and Muslim groups, and Muslims scored significantly higher than the non-religious group. These findings are discussed with reference to Terror Management Theory. Suggestions for future research include deeper investigation into beliefs of the afterlife and inclusion of more religions into psychological studies.     

False-belief understanding at age 5 predicts beliefs about learning in year 3 of primary school

This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal relationships between children's theory of mind (ToM) and their beliefs about learning. A sample of 63 children was tested for theory of mind and verbal ability at four time points: 5, 6, 7 and 8 years of age. In addition, at Time 4, children were administered a questionnaire investigating their beliefs about learning. Results showed longitudinal and concurrent relationships between ToM and constructivist, but not reproductive, beliefs about learning. Crucially, false-belief understanding at age 5 predicted unique variance in constructivist beliefs about learning at age 8, when controlling for subsequent levels of ToM. This relationship was not due to verbal ability. The authors discuss theoretical and practical implications of the longitudinal effect of theory of mind ability on constructivist beliefs about learning.     

Thinking meta-theoretically about the role of internalization in the development of body dissatisfaction and body change behaviors

Internalization of societal standards of physical attractiveness (i.e., internalization of the thin ideal for women and internalization of the mesomorphic ideal for men) is a widely studied and robust risk factor for body dissatisfaction and maladaptive body change behaviors. Substantial empirical research supports internalization as both a mediator and a moderator of the relation between societal influences and body dissatisfaction. In this paper, a primer on mediation and moderation is followed by a review of literature and discussion of the extent to which internalization can theoretically fulfill the roles of both mediation and moderation. The literature review revealed a stark contrast in research design (experimental versus non-experimental design) when alternate conceptualizations of internalization are adopted. A meta-theoretical, moderated mediation model is presented. This model integrates previous research and can inform future empirical and clinical endeavors.     

Infants' understanding of occlusion of others' line-of-sight: Implications for an emerging theory of mind

Infants' gaze following provides information about their understanding of others' perception and attention. Gaze following when the other looks in the presence (and absence) of visual obstacles can be especially informative. In the present study the gaze-following behaviour of 14- and 18-month-old infants was examined in opaque barrier, clear barrier, and non-barrier situations in order to investigate whether infants at this age understand the referential nature of looking. A hypothesis positing that infants grasp the referential nature of gaze would predict that infants would not follow gaze when the looker's gaze is blocked (as in an opaque barrier situation), but would follow gaze in both non-barrier and clear barrier situations. This hypothesis was contrasted with two other “leaner” interpretations predicting contrasting patterns of looking in the same situations. Results showed that both 18- and 14-month-old infants followed gaze as predicted by the richer, referential account.     

Long-term effect of theory of mind on school achievement: The role of sensitivity to criticism

This study adds to the research on theory of mind (ToM) and school achievement by testing whether the mediating effect of sensitivity to criticism is significant when considered longitudinally and using an index of academic performance that incorporates both direct and indirect measures. A group of 49 children was tested during the last year of kindergarten (Time 1, mean age = 5 years and 6 months), in Year 1 (Time 2, mean age = 6 years and 5 months) and Year 5 (Time 3, mean age = 10 years and 2 months) of primary school. Children's ToM and verbal ability were tested at each time point, sensitivity to criticism at Time 2 and school achievement at Time 3. Results showed that sensitivity to criticism (as indexed by self-reported ability rating) mediates the relationship between Time 1 ToM and Time 3 school achievement. Practical implications of this pattern of associations are discussed.     

Adults see vision to be more informative than it is

Humans gain a wide range of knowledge through interacting with the environment. Each aspect of our perceptual experiences offers a unique source of information about the world—colours are seen, sounds heard and textures felt. Understanding how perceptual input provides a basis for knowledge is thus central to understanding one's own and others' epistemic states. Developmental research suggests that 5-year-olds have an immature understanding of knowledge sources and that they overestimate the knowledge to be gained from looking. Without evidence from adults, it is not clear whether the mature reasoning system outgrows this overestimation. The current study is the first to investigate whether an overestimation of the knowledge to be gained from vision occurs in adults. Novel response time paradigms were adapted from developmental studies. In two experiments, participants judged whether an object or feature could be identified by performing a specific action. Adult participants found it disproportionately easy to accept looking as a proposed action when it was informative, and difficult to reject looking when it was not informative. This suggests that adults, like children, overestimate the informativeness of vision. The origin of this overestimation and the implications that the current findings bear on the interpretation of children's overestimation are discussed.     

Theory of mind and epistemological development: the relation between children's second-order false-belief understanding and their ability to reason about evidence

The study investigates the hypothesis that children's ability to attribute second-order beliefs facilitates their understanding of evidence, as seen in the ability to distinguish between causes and reasons. Seventy-four children 5–7 yr old were given belief and evidence tests. The belief tests assessed their ability to represent and reason from second-order false-beliefs, and the evidence tests assessed their ability to distinguish between the cause of a situation and a person's reason for believing it. The relation between performance on the two tests was determined, taking into account general language and non-verbal reasoning abilities. Results show that performance on the belief test and on the evidence part of the evidence test improved significantly over the age range, and that a significant proportion of variance in the evidence test scores is accounted for by second-order false-belief understanding, over and above that accounted for by general language and non-verbal abilities. The argument is made that second-order false-belief understanding is fundamental to children's epistemological development, underlying not just their understanding of evidence, but also their understanding of inference and truth.     

THE THEOLOGICAL ETHICS OF HERBERT McCABE, OP: A REVIEW ESSAY

Herbert Mc Cabe, OP (d. 2001), was a significant theological figure in England in the last century. A scholar of Aquinas, he was also influenced by Wittgenstein and Marx, his reading of whom helped him articulate a distinctive Thomistic account of human embodiment that serves as a critique of other dominant approaches in ethics. This article shows McCabe's contribution to moral theology by placing his work in conversation with other important approaches, namely, situation ethics, proportionalism, and the New Natural Law Theory.     

Driving construals: Personal Construct Theory in a reckless driving context

With research revealing low road safety campaign efficacy and links between reckless driving behaviors and crash frequency, further investigation into the foundations and composition of driver education and training is required. Through two studies, the current research aimed to develop a measure that utilized the principles of Kelly’s (1955) Personal Construct Theory to (a) elicit constructs, or construals, specific to selected elements of reckless driving behaviors, (b) pilot a method in which the elicited constructs could be measured by asking participants to choose those they deemed most important, (c) group participants based on their constructs, and (d) assess between-group differences in self-reported reckless driving behavior. Results suggest that drivers can be categorized based on the constructs they use, and that rates of self-reported past engagement in reckless driving behavior, and willingness to do so in the future, vary systematically between these construal-based driver categories. Continuing research is required to develop and test applications of these findings.