THE “DEATH OF THE EGO” IN EAST‐MEETS‐WEST SPIRITUALITY: DIVERSE VIEWS FROM PROMINENT AUTHORS

Eastern religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, have traditionally held to the view that in order for an individual to fully benefit from their practice it was important to lessen or eliminate one's individual desires. Such practice was sometimes referred to as the “death of the ego” in order to emphasize its importance. However, the relatively recent popularity of East‐meets‐West spirituality in Western consumer cultures tends to emphasize the acceptance and transformation of one's ego rather than its death. This essay discusses sociological changes that have shaped and contributed to the popularity of East‐meets‐West spirituality in Western culture that in turn have brought about a modification of the principle of ego death. The views of six Western authors and practitioners of East‐meets‐West spirituality on the importance of the principle of ego death are compared and contrasted. Theories related to the management of self‐identity in consumer society can partly explain the modification of traditional Eastern religious practices, such as ego death, in order that they become relevant and appealing to a society that increasingly reifies the concept of the self. The implication is that the excision of the concept of ego death from the practice of East‐meets‐West spirituality may affect its efficacy.     

How can Asian social psychology succeed globally?†

The present article is inspired by the provocative ideas of Atsumi, Hofstede, Leung, and Ward expressed in this Special Issue on the past achievements, current status, and future opportunities and challenges of Asian social psychology as an international (vs a regional) endeavour. I believe that the success of Asian social psychology as a new voice and emerging perspective in social psychology hinges upon several factors: (i) adoption of an international (vs regional) outlook; (ii) not letting arbitrary geographical or intellectual boundaries restrict creative expansion of research ideas; and (iii) striving to craft a global identity with an Asian character by developing communicable theories that describe and explain important Asian social psychological phenomena for the benefits of Asia and beyond.     

Media exposure, internalization of the thin ideal, and body dissatisfaction: comparing Asian American and European American college females

Internalization of the thin ideal mediates the media exposure-body dissatisfaction relation in young adult European American females. There is little related research on Asian Americans. We used structural equations modeling to test: (1) whether media exposure was associated with body dissatisfaction in Asian American young adult females, (2) internalization of the thin ideal mediated any such association, and (3) whether the mediational model provided equivalent fit for European American and Asian American samples. Participants were 287 college females (154 Asian Americans, 133 European Americans). Internalization of the thin ideal explained the media exposure-body dissatisfaction association equally well for both groups. Results suggest that Asian Americans may be employing unhealthy weight control behaviors, and may be prone to developing eating disorders, at rates similar to European American young adult females. Clinicians need to screen carefully for body dissatisfaction, unhealthy weight control behaviors, and eating disorders in Asian American females.     

The associations between parenting styles and proactive and reactive aggression in Hong Kong children and adolescents

Previous research suggests that reactive and proactive aggression may be differentially related to family contextual (e.g. parenting practices) factors. However, the existing research has focused largely on children and adolescents from Western countries, and no study has examined the parenting–aggression association using a parenting style measure sensitive to Asian culture. In this study parenting styles (i.e. warmth, control and guan/training) and proactive and reactive aggression were assessed in a large sample of school children in Hong Kong, China (N = 4,175, mean age = 11.75). We found that: (a) both low warmth (in boys only) and guan (i.e. high expectation and close supervision, in both boys and girls) were associated with elevated parent‐reported proactive aggression, (b) high restrictive control (i.e. dominating and rejecting) was associated with high reactive aggression (in both boys and girls) based on parent‐ or child‐report data, and with high proactive aggression (in boys only) based on parent‐report data, and (c) guan was also positively associated with parent‐reported reactive aggression. Findings provide more information about the Parenting Inventory using a large Asian sample, and extend existing research on familial correlates of different types of aggression.     

“I Hope That I Have Not Upset Youexcl;” Reclaiming a Pastoral Voice: Theoretical Exploration Upon a Practical Case

Pastoral care is enhanced by a diversity of pastoral perspectives. This paper presents a case that contains salient pastoral care issues. Conversing with this case, I examine four different pastoral orientations in order to discuss how each uniquely interprets and evaluates the human predicament. The chosen perspectives are psychoanalysis, existential theology, process theology, and Asian theology. I conclude that the inclusion of different perspectives, rather than overwhelm the pastoral caregiver, widen the lens through which we interpret and respond to the particular needs of others.     

Authoritarianism and PoliticalSocialization in the Context of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

This study explored the hypothesis that authoritarianism is negatively associated with peace supportiveness. A sample of 197 Jewish/Israeli university students responded to a questionnaire that included items on attitudes toward the Middle East peace process as well as a personality measure. The results confirmed the hypothesis: Individuals who were less supportive of the peace process were more authoritarian conformists than were supporters of the process. A significant association between religiosity and attitudes toward the peace process was also found; the split between peace supporters and non-supporters corresponded roughly, though not exactly, to the split between religious and non-religious. The pro-peace individual is generally non-religious, less authoritarian conformist, and less aggressive. Hence, the social cognitions studied—beliefs about the peace process—may be group beliefs. Certain characteristics of the groups in question, such as socialization practices and social structure, may account for the personality features that covaried with the beliefs. The data showing that peace attitudes, religiosity, and certain personality traits form one entity might thus be marshalled in discussing the identity issue and applied to other scenes in contemporary conflicts.     

Women and the Art of Peacemaking: Data from Israeli-Palestinian Interactive Problem-Solving Workshops

Are women “natural” peacemakers? If so, is this because of natural inclinations to avoid conflict or to engage in tough discussions? Are there particular skills in which women excel that make them more likely than their male counterparts to be able to build relational bridges, to facilitate negotiations, and to reduce tensions? After a review of the literature on gender differences in such skills, a systematic comparison of interaction quality is made between two Israeli-Palestinian interactive problem-solving workshops that differed only in gender composition. A third Israeli-Palestinian workshop that involved female political elites is also examined for subsequent changes in the conflict relationship or for changes in political activity. The implications of different repertoires of skills for altering political processes are discussed.     

Perception of work reinforcer systems: Factor structure

The factor structure of 109 Occupational Reinforcer Patterns approximating the distribution of the employed labor force of the United States was investigated. These work-reinforcer systems, as perceived by almost 6000 raters, were found to be represented best by a three-factor solution. The factors were identified as a Self Reinforcement factor, an Environmental/Organizational reinforcement factor, and a Reinforcement via-Altruism factor. The factors were found to correspond to, respectively, the Achievement-Autonomy, Safety-Comfort, and Al-truism need factors of the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire. For these two measures utilized in the assessment of individual-environment correspondence, commensurate measurement—as required by person-environment fit theories—is possible.