Diversifying the Social Scientific Study of Religion: The Next 70 Years

Here I argue that we need to diversify the social scientific study of religion and chart a plan for how we are already and will continue to do so. At the time of the 70th anniversary of our association, I reflect on where—as an association—we have come from and where we are going. Our origin story points to an expansive vision for what would become the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR), but unfortunately our past has also been marked by an overrepresentation of white male leadership. It was only in 1982 that the society elected its first woman president, Mary Augusta Neal, and only in 2015 that it elected its first person of color, Fenggang Yang. Here, I discuss our hope for a more diverse future: attending to diversity in studies of religion, diversity in the groups of people who are encouraged to study religion, and efforts to translate religion research well to diverse groups of listeners. I share with you pieces of the new SSSR strategic plan, spearheaded in 2018 by Korie Edwards, the first black and woman of color President of the SSSR: particularly the pieces that are most attentive to diversity. I also highlight insights from my own scholarly story about diversity that I have learned through my work with the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University.     

高中生价值观对学校投入的影响:未来目标和动机内化程度的中介作用

为了考察价值观是否可以通过未来目标和动机内化程度影响高中生的学校投入，对六个城市七所学校的1022名高一学生的价值观、未来目标、学习动机内化程度及学校投入进行了调查。结果表明：（1）自我超越型价值观和自我完善型价值观能够使青少年发展出内在未来目标以及较为内化的学习动机，进而更加努力学习，而物质主义价值观则会使青少年形成外在未来目标以及较为外化的学习动机，进而更少投入学习；（2）当考虑价值观对未来目标的作用时，内外在未来目标不影响青少年的学习动机，但影响学校投入；（3）当不考虑价值观对未来目标的作用时，内在未来目标能够促进青少年学习动机的内化，进而更多地投入到学习中，而外在未来目标则会阻碍青少年学习动机的内化，进而更少投入学习。研究结果表明青少年的价值观比未来目标对学习有更重要的影响，说明学生发展指导工作中更应该注重价值观教育。     

These pretzels are going to make me thirsty tomorrow: Differential development of hot and cool episodic foresight in early childhood?

The current study examined 3‐ and 7‐year‐olds' performance on two types of episodic foresight tasks: A task that required ‘cool’ reasoning processes about the use of objects in future situations and a task that required ‘hot’ processes to inhibit a salient current physiological state in order to reason accurately about a future state. Results revealed that 7‐year‐olds outperformed 3‐year‐olds on the episodic foresight task that involved cool processes, but did not show age differences in performance on the task that involved hot processes. In fact, both 3‐ and 7‐year‐olds performed equally poorly on the task that required predicting a future physiological state that was in conflict with their current state. Further, performance on the two tasks was unrelated. We discuss the results in terms of differing developmental trajectories for episodic foresight tasks that differentially rely on hot and cool processes and the universal difficulties humans have with predicting later outcomes that conflict with current motivational states.     

Queer(ing) Moves: Beyond Anthropocene,Toward Convivial,Sustainable Futures

Abstract

The essay will outline possibilities for be(com)ing other-Wise convivial, interbetween. To this end, relational possibilities for embodied enlivening are described as queering practice for moving from Anthropocene toward sustainable futures. Based on exploring certain qualities of be(com)ing queer some perspectives on queer futures are discussed. Related to Merleau-Ponty’s eco-phenomenology the paper then opens up possibilities for an embodied, convivial relation with nature (“con-naturality”) and social life (“con-sociability”). Finally, queering the type of the Anthropos, provides pathways for “anthropo-decentric” transformations toward a convivial future as an “ecocene.”     

How did I do it then? How will I do it later? A theoretical review of the impact of mental time travel on decision-making processes

Mentally traveling to one's personal past and future connects the current self with self at different points in time. When making decisions in the present, individuals benefit from their past and potential future decisions with the help of mental time travel. This review documents the theoretical and empirical studies concerning mental time travel to past and future decisions and their influence on current decision-making processes. Particularly, certain characteristics of past and future decisions directly or indirectly influence present life decisions. Synthesizing the existing literature, we developed a theoretical model suggests that temporally close decisions tend to include different type of details and diverge from distant decisions in terms of personal meaningfulness. Further, past and future decisions that are elaborated and meaningful, have a great impact on present decisions. Future empirical work testing this model has the potential to generate findings that will inform intervention strategies towards improved decision-making.     

Time to leave? The interaction of temporal focus and turnover intentions in explaining voluntary turnover behaviour

Although turnover intentions are the strongest predictors of voluntary turnover behaviours, many employees who express intentions to leave do not. To explain why some employees translate turnover intentions into behaviour and others do not, this study examines the moderating effect of temporal focus (i.e. the degree to which one thinks about the past, present and future) between turnover intentions and voluntary turnover, using the lens of theory of planned behaviour. Data were collected from 683 full-time employees in a range of organisations at three points in time. Results show that past temporal focus conditions the positive relationship between turnover intention and turnover, such that the relationship is stronger when past temporal focus is high. Future temporal focus has an opposite moderating effect, such that the relationship between turnover intention and turnover is weaker when future temporal focus is high. Results show no significant moderating effect of current temporal focus. Overall, temporal focus helps explain why some employees leave and others stay by conditioning the likelihood of translating turnover intentions into quitting. We speculate that a dominant, unspoken paradigm in turnover research is an assumption that individuals are current focused, yet our results suggest scholars should explicitly examine this assumption.