Algorithm Versus Cut-Point Derived PTSD in Ex-Prisoners of War

This study compared symptom-based algorithm to cut-point scoring of the PTSD Checklist (PCL) in a sample of 504 World War II ex-prisoners of war not seeking treatment. There was relatively high correspondence ( = .80) between the scoring methods; the algorithm identified more participants as having PTSD than the standard cut-point of 50. Receiver Operator Curve analyses revealed that a cut-point of 42 distinguished optimally between the algorithm-defined PTSD and non-PTSD groups. An optimal scoring method might use both cut-point and algorithm, ensuring individuals have the symptoms necessary for a diagnosis and of sufficient severity.     

"Not just right experiences": perfectionism,obsessive-compulsive features and general psychopathology

Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) frequently report uncomfortable sensations of things not being just right ("not just right experiences"; NJREs) and a need to ritualize until they quiet these sensations. However, very little work has been conducted to empirically examine the nature and characteristics of this phenomenon. In this paper, we present two studies that systematically examine NJREs in large undergraduate samples. In Study 1, NJREs were shown to be related to both OCD features and maladaptive domains of perfectionism. In Study 2, NJREs were again significantly related to OCD features. Further, NJREs were shown to have particularly strong relationships with specific OCD symptom clusters (e.g., checking, ordering). Finally, NJREs were significantly more strongly correlated with features of OCD than symptoms from other domains of psychopathology (e.g., social anxiety, trait anxiety, worry, depression). General conclusions are drawn, and future directions are discussed.     

Children Exposed to Community Violence or War/Terrorism: Current Status and Research Directions—Introduction

This issue of Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, Children Exposed to Community Violence or War/Terrorism: Current Status and Research Directions, addresses the current status of our knowledge as well as critical research needs in the area of children exposed to violence outside the family. Although much has been learned in recent years about children exposed to violence, significant research gaps remain, the identification of which may help to build a more complete and rigorous science base in this area. This journal issue represents the distillation of a 3-day workshop on children exposed to violence, held in July of 2002, that identified what is known about children exposed to violence and what this information tells us about future research directions. Although many federal agencies have supported some research in this area, there is a need for more targeted attention on the topic, particularly with regard to measurement, sampling, and interventions/services. The papers in this issue were selected with these themes in mind. Although no single issue could cover the entire field, we intend to offer a representative sample of where we are and where we need to go with the hope of stimulating additional thought, collaboration, and research in this important area.     

Free to blame? Belief in free will is related to victim blaming

The more people believe in free will, the harsher their punishment of criminal offenders. A reason for this finding is that belief in free will leads individuals to perceive others as responsible for their behavior. While research supporting this notion has mainly focused on criminal offenders, the perspective of the victims has been neglected so far. We filled this gap and hypothesized that individuals’ belief in free will is positively correlated with victim blaming—the tendency to make victims responsible for their bad luck. In three studies, we found that the more individuals believe in free will, the more they blame victims. Study 3 revealed that belief in free will is correlated with victim blaming even when controlling for just world beliefs, religious worldviews, and political ideology. The results contribute to a more differentiated view of the role of free will beliefs and attributed intentions.     

公正世界信念对第三方惩罚的影响：来自ERP的证据

采用事件相关电位技术（ERP）考察公正世界信念对第三方惩罚的影响。（1）行为结果显示,高公正世界信念个体的第三方惩罚显著多于低公正世界信念个体,低公正世界信念个体在高不公正提议下的第三方惩罚显著增加;（2）ERP结果显示,高公正世界信念个体比低公正世界信念个体诱发了更大的MFN波幅和更小的P300波幅,且高公正世界信念个体的MFN波幅在高、低不公正提议下没有差异,低公正世界信念个体在高不公正提议下的MFN波幅明显更大。这说明相比低公正世界信念个体,高公正世界信念个体所持有的公正认知强烈且稳定,个体做出第三方惩罚更多基于自身对于公正结果的预期,而非外部条件。     

When does priming justice promote forgiveness? On the importance of distributive and procedural justice for self and others

Two studies show that thinking about justice can both enhance and impede forgiveness, depending on whether thoughts about distributive and procedural justice for self and others are activated. In Study 1 (n = 197), participants expressed more forgiveness towards a prior transgressor when primed to think about justice for self or procedural justice for others, and less forgiveness when primed to think about distributive justice for others. Study 2 (n = 231) used an alternate priming method and replicated these effects by inducing an interpersonal transgression and measuring forgiveness intentions, emotions and behavior. Study 2 also showed that priming justice influences forgiveness especially when the perceived severity of an interpersonal offense is high. The current research shows that activating justice cognitions can enhance or impinge on forgiveness in predictable ways. We discuss contributions to emerging justice theory, potential implications, and future directions.     

Locating religion in victory-making: the 1973 war discourse in Egypt

Most of the literature on the Arab–Israeli war in 1973 takes material gains and military advances as measurements that indicate victory or defeat. Accordingly, based on the magnitude of weaponry used and the associated tactics employed, scholarly works declare Egypt or Israel the winner. This article moves away from such ‘materialistic’ accounts of the war’s conclusion by exploring a similarly significant victory-maker: the use of the discourse of religion. By looking at previously untapped official and semi-official texts from the war’s onset through the eight years of President Anwar Sadat’s rule, the article finds this discourse to be composed of three thematic structures. These structures cohere into patterns that facilitated an account of the war as a massive and unquestionable Egyptian ‘victory’. The study also addresses how the interplay of language and religion was so closely attuned to the broader context that included the use of authoritarianism in politics and in the media as well as a so-called Islamic revival. Rather than supposing that the religious references in this discourse may have been in some way truthful, I show that it relied on a set of intentional falsehoods.     

Language and Civilian Deaths: Denying Responsibility for Casualties in the Gaza Conflict 2014

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that 1,462 civilians were killed in Gaza, and six civilians were killed in Israel during the conflict of 2104. This article uses discursive psychology to examine how Israeli spokespeople described the conflict, and Israel's actions, in ways that denied responsibility for civilian deaths. They did this using a number of discursive strategies. These included: (1) using passive and noun constructions which minimized reference to civilian deaths and erased Israeli involvement in those deaths; (2) repeatedly naming and providing details of Hamas weapons and attacks while avoiding reference to Israeli weapons and violence; (3) presenting Israel as only trying to avoid civilian deaths; and (4) describing Hamas as responsible for all deaths. These types of linguistic constructions allow governments and potential supporters to avoid acknowledging the consequences of their military actions and is one way that the virtuous nature of the ingroup is reinforced in political discourse.     

Prophecy,Ethical Constraints,and Unjust Silence

Cathleen Kaveny's Prophecy Without Contempt seeks to reorient the conversation among religious ethicists and political theorists about religion in public life. Rather than focus on religious speech in general, Kaveny distinguishes deliberation and indictment as forms of discourse, and she subjects indictment to ethical evaluation. She aims to constrain the public exercise of inordinate indictment, while encouraging prophetic indictment that meets the demands of justice. While the book is a much‐needed corrective, Kaveny's focus on the powerful rhetoric of prophetic indictment omits the harms that can come to the body politic from unjust silence. Such silence deserves more moral attention.     

Christianity: Maidservant to War?

In this multi‐book review article, the author examines three new texts that make the case for a deeper, richer understanding of the Christian tradition of nonviolence. All three authors argue that traditions of nonviolence, and misgivings and suspicion regarding the sanctioned shedding of blood, are central to the understanding and practice of Christianity, and deserve to be taken more seriously by researchers and practitioners alike.