Human rights and religious education in the contentious context of conflict-troubled societies: perspectives from human rights education

This article explores some of the tensions that are created from the entanglement of religion and human rights and offers a possible response to these tensions in the context of religious education in conflict-troubled societies. It is suggested that a historicised and politicised approach in religious education in conjunction with human rights education perspectives can promote three important aims: taking power relations between peoples, societies and cultures as sources of problematising the meaning(s) and consequences of both religion and human rights; developing a teaching and learning process in and through which the emphasis is not on identification with religious or cultural identity, but rather a process through which new and productive ways of relationality with the ‘other’ are developed; and, encouraging students to interrogate moralistic discourses of religion or human rights that often prevent the enactment of friendship, compassion and shared fate.     

A systematic review of sexual satisfaction

The present theoretical study is a systematic review of research publications in which sexual satisfaction was the dependent variable. After conducting a literature search in major electronic databases and following a selection process, we provide a summary of the main findings of 197 scientific papers published between 1979 and 2012. The review revealed the complexity and importance of sexual satisfaction, which was associated with the following variables and factors: a) individual variables such as socio-demographic and psychological characteristics as well as physical and psychological health status; b) variables associated with intimate relationships and sexual response; c) factors related to social support and family relationships; and d) cultural beliefs and values such as religion. In conclusion, we observed that sexual satisfaction is a key factor in individuals’ sexual health and overall well-being. However, despite its importance, there is a lack of theoretical models combining the most important factors to explain sexual satisfaction.     

Relating numeric cognition and language processing: Do numbers and words share a common representational platform?

Numerical processing and language processing are both grounded in space. In the present study we investigated whether these are fully independent phenomena, or whether they share a common basis. If number processing activates spatial dimensions that are also relevant for understanding words, then we can expect that processing numbers may influence subsequent lexical access to words. Specifically, if high numbers relate to upper space, then they can be expected to facilitate understanding of words such as bird that are having referents typically found in the upper vertical space. The opposite should hold for low numbers. These should facilitate the understanding of words such as ground referring to entities with referents in the lower vertical space. Indeed, in two experiments we found evidence for such an interaction between number and word processing. By eliminating a contribution of linguistic factors gained from additional investigations on large text corpora, this strongly suggests that understanding numbers and language is based on similar modal representations in the brain. The implications of these findings for a broader perspective on grounded cognition will be discussed.     

Discrimination of two neighboring intra- and intermodal empty time intervals marked by three successive stimuli

We investigated the discrimination of two neighboring intra- or inter-modal empty time intervals marked by three successive stimuli. Each of the three markers was a flash (visual—V) or a sound (auditory—A). The first and last markers were of the same modality, while the second one was either A or V, resulting in four conditions: VVV, VAV, AVA and AAA. Participants judged whether the second interval, whose duration was systematically varied, was shorter or longer than the 500-ms first interval. Compared with VVV and AAA, discrimination was impaired with VAV, but not so much with AVA (in Experiment 1). Whereas VAV and AVA consisted of the same set of single intermodal intervals (VA and AV), discrimination was impaired in the VAV compared to the AVA condition. This difference between VAV and AVA could not be attributed to the participants' strategy to perform the discrimination task, e.g., ignoring the standard interval or replacing the visual stimuli with sounds in their mind (in Experiment 2). These results are discussed in terms of sequential grouping according to sensory similarity.     

Intentional Binding is independent of the validity of the action effect's identity

When an action produces an effect, both events are perceived to be shifted in time toward each other. This shift is called Intentional Binding (IB) effect. First evidence shows that this shift does not depend on the statistical predictability of the produced effect's identity (Desantis, Hughes, & Waszak, 2012). We confirm this result by comparing the perceived duration of action–effect intervals before valid and invalid action effects using the method of constant stimuli. The perceived duration of action–effect intervals did not differ for valid and invalid effects. This result was true for different durations of the action–effect interval (Experiments 1–4: 250 ms, Experiments 1 & 2: 400 ms), different effect modalities (Experiments 1 & 3: visual, Experiments 2–4: auditive), and two types of validity variations (Experiments 1 & 2: 80% valid, Experiments 3 & 4: 100% valid vs. random). We validated our results by using a clock paradigm and a numerical duration estimation task (Experiment 4). We conclude that the IB effect is not the result of internal prediction due to action–effect bindings, but might rely on higher-order processes.     

Sequential aiming with one and two limbs: Effects of target size

It is well reported that movement times to the first target in a two-target sequence are slower than when a single target response is required. This one-target advantage has been shown to emerge when the two-target sequence is performed with the same limb and when the first and second segments within the sequence are performed with different limbs (i.e., when there is a switch between limbs at the first target). The present study examined the functional dependency between response segments in both single and two limb sequential aiming by varying the accuracy demands at the first and second target. Results revealed that, for both one and two limb conditions, the one-target advantage was present with large first targets but not with small first targets. Additionally, when the first target was large and the second target was small, spatial variability at the first target was significantly less (or constrained more) in both one and two limb conditions compared to conditions requiring only a single target response. These findings suggest that similar principles underlie the one-target advantage in both single and two limb sequential movements.     

To think or not to think,that is the question: Individual differences in suppression and rebound effects in autobiographical memory

Two studies explored the effects of forget instructions on autobiographical memory at immediate test and following delays of either 12–13 months, or 3–4 months. Using the Autobiographical Think/No-Think procedure (cf., Noreen & MacLeod, 2013), 24 never-depressed participants (Study 1) first generated 12 positive and 12 negative autobiographical memories and associated cues. Participants were then asked to recall the memory associated with some of the cues (i.e., ‘think’ condition), or to avoid saying or thinking about the memory associated with other cues (i.e., ‘no-think’ condition). Participants were then asked to recall the memories associated with all the cues at immediate test and following a delay of 12–13 months. Participants were found to be successful at forgetting both positive and negative autobiographical memories following ‘no-think’ instructions at immediate test but this forgetting effect did not persist following a 12–13 month delay. This pattern of remembering and forgetting was replicated in a second study (using 27 never-depressed participants) following a 3–4 month delay. Participants who had been less successful at forgetting ‘no-think’ memories at immediate test, were more likely to show rebound effects for those memories following a delay compared to memories which received neither ‘think’ nor ‘no-think’ instructions. Individual differences in inhibitory control and the efficacy of potential therapeutic interventions of ‘no-think’ instructions are considered.     

Asynchrony in Attitudes Toward Abortion and Gay Rights: The Challenge to Values Alignment

Political commentators tend to assume that Americans who share a particular religious affiliation think similarly about values issues and that values questions are aligned. Although religious affiliation is a strong predictor of attitudes toward abortion and gay rights, there is differentiation within denominational subgroups with respect to both; for example, while majorities of mainline Protestants and Catholics favor gay marriage, many of their respective co‐religionists do not. Further, aggregate survey data shows asynchrony in within‐group attitudes on abortion and gay rights; for example, whereas Hispanic Catholics are more likely to support gay marriage than legal abortion, black Protestants are more likely to support legal abortion than gay marriage. Abortion and gay equality are discrete issues and give rise to divergent attitudes based on the lived reality of different ethnoreligious groups. These findings challenge the utility of the construct of the “values voter,” and underscore that abortion and gay rights should be recognized as separate public policy domains.     

Unfairness begets unfairness: Victim derogation bias in employee ratings

This research investigated criterion contamination in human resource evaluations, specifically victim derogation in which third parties (e.g., managers, co-workers) systematically undervalue the performance and potential of individuals who have previously suffered organizational injustices. A policy capturing design (Study 1) found that managers rated job applicants who had been treated unfairly by their previous employers as less suitable than fairly treated applicants, after objective performance information was controlled. In Study 2, the effect of unfair treatment on job applicant ratings was found to be moderated by managers’ just world beliefs, with applicant ratings reflecting more derogation among managers with higher (vs. lower) Belief in a Just World. In Study 3, the pattern of results from Study 2 was replicated in a performance evaluation context using peers as raters. Moreover, in Study 3 an intervention that activated raters’ moral identity was found to attenuate victim derogation bias.     

The devil is in the local: provincial religious legislation in China, 2005–2012

Promulgated in the wake of the Regulations on Religious Affairs, the new set of 20 provincial regulations in China often adopt provisions in the central government statute, prescribing a more benign relationship between religion and the state, defining religious affairs narrowly to exclude internal administration issues of religious communities, stipulating protection of religious freedom before that of state authority, adopting a regulatory rather than administrative regime, removing the annual re-certification requirement of religious venues, increasing the institutional autonomy of religious communities in personnel matters and formation, and transferring the supervisory powers from state agencies to religious communities. At the same time, they also circumscribe the interventionist powers of the state, stipulating bureaucratic response time limits, publicising transparent procedures and specific norms for approving and disapproving religious activities, and not requiring religious communities to accept Party leadership. Despite their overall progressive direction, however, some benevolent central government regulations have not been incorporated by the new provincial regulations, notably those exempting religious communities from supporting state ideology, and those providing administrative appeal and judicial challenge for local government decisions on religious affairs.