Applicability of the social identity model of collective action in predicting support for interreligious violence in Indonesia

To what extent does religious identification promote collective efficacy and perceived injustice that contribute to explain support for interreligious violence in Indonesia? This overarching research question is inspired by theoretical insights starting from social identity theory, and noticeably enriched by collective action theories. We use high‐quality data of 1,995 randomly selected individuals (Muslims and Christians) from across the Indonesian archipelago to investigate the mediating effects of perceived injustice and collective efficacy on the relationship between religiosity and support for interreligious violence. We also improve upon previous research with an elaborate measure of religiosity (beliefs, practice, and salience). Our structural equation modelling analysis reveals that collective efficacy significantly mediates the relationship between the religiosity dimensions and support for interreligious violence. Moreover, on average, the Muslim community has a higher level of collective efficacy, as compared to the Christian community, which positively affects the relationship between most religiosity dimensions and support for interreligious violence. An interesting finding is that in the Christian community, salience is overall negatively related to collective efficacy, which then negatively affects support for interreligious violence. These results provide novel empirical insights on the role of religious identity in interreligious conflicts in the South Asian context, especially Indonesia.     

Replacing relative reinforcing efficacy with behavioral economic demand curves

Relative reinforcing efficacy refers to the behavior-strengthening or maintaining property of a reinforcer when compared to that of another reinforcer. Traditional measures of relative reinforcing efficacy sometimes have led to discordant results across and within studies. By contrast, previous investigations have found traditional measures to be congruent with behavioral economic measures, which provide a framework for integrating the discordant results. This study tested whether the previously demonstrated congruence between traditional relative reinforcing efficacy measures and behavioral economic demand curve measures is sufficiently robust to persist when demand for one reinforcer is altered. Cigarette smokers pulled plungers for cigarettes or two magnitudes of money on progressive-ratio schedules that increased the response requirement across sessions. Demand for the two different reinforcers was assessed in single-schedule and concurrent-schedule sessions. Demand curve measures Pmax and Omax correlated significantly with traditional measures of breakpoint and peak response rate, respectively. Relative locations of demand curves for money and cigarettes under single schedules predicted preference in concurrent schedules in most cases. Although measures of relative reinforcing efficacy for money changed with money magnitude, the congruence between traditional and behavioral economic measures remained intact. This robust congruence supports the proposal that demand curves should replace measures of relative reinforcing efficacy. The demand curve analysis illustrates why concordance between traditional measures is expected under some experimental conditions but not others.     

集体效能：一种团体研究的主体性视角

班杜拉于20世纪80年代中期将个体效能研究拓展到集体效能研究,吸引了相当数量研究者的注意。研究发现,集体效能信念在集体活动的因果结构中起着关键的作用,它不但能直接影响集体行为,而且还能作用于其它决定集体行为的因素,如目标设定、抱负水平、结果预期、情感倾向、对社会机遇和社会阻力的知觉等等。该文对近年来的集体效能研究进行梳理,考察不同领域的集体效能研究状况,并初步总结出相应的理论共识,指出该研究的贡献和局限。     

Investigating the relationship between past contraceptive behaviour,self‐efficacy,and anticipated shame and guilt in sexual contexts among Norwegian adolescents

What are the relationships between self‐efficacy when communicating to the partner about use of contraception, stopping undesired intercourse, and perceived self‐conscious emotions in sexual contexts? How does past contraceptive behaviour influence perceived self‐efficacy? These research questions were studied among 399 10th grade students with coital experience in the county Nordland in Norway. Two dimensions of perceived emotional responses were identified in a hypothetical situation related to communicating to the partner about use of contraception, namely Shame and Emotional intimacy. Two dimensions were also identified with regard to anticipated emotional responses in a hypothetical situation related to stopping undesired intercourse: Guilt and responsibility and Emotional intimacy. Most of the boys and girls reported that they would react with positive emotions in both hypothetical situations. Path models were constructed with the affective dimensions and self‐esteem as mediating variables between past contraceptive behaviour and contextual self‐efficacy. Past behaviour influenced communication self‐efficacy indirectly via Shame, and Shame had a direct effect upon self‐efficacy. Guilt and responsibility had a direct effect upon stop‐self‐efficacy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

The relationship between greater mindfulness and less subjective experience of chronic pain: Mediating functions of pain management self‐efficacy and emotional intelligence

Previous research shows a connection between greater mindfulness and less subjective experience of pain. The present study examined whether pain management self‐efficacy and emotional intelligence mediate this relationship in individuals experiencing chronic pain. Two hundred participants experiencing chronic pain completed measures of mindfulness, experience of pain, pain management self‐efficacy, and emotional intelligence. Greater mindfulness was associated with less subjective experience of pain, greater pain management self‐efficacy, and more emotional intelligence. More pain management self‐efficacy and higher emotional intelligence were associated with less subjective experience of pain. Emotional intelligence and pain management self‐efficacy significantly mediated the relationship between mindfulness and pain. The connection between greater mindfulness and less subjective experience of pain may be due to mindfulness providing a foundation for emotional functioning and behavioural regulation that result in reductions in the experience of pain.     

Wisdom won from illness: The psychoanalytic grasp of human being

From its inception psychoanalysis claimed not merely to be an effective therapy for psychological suffering, but to shed light on the human condition. But what kind of insight does psychoanalysis offer? This paper locates psychoanalysis in the western philosophical tradition, arguing that psychoanalysis provides not only theoretical wisdom about the human, but practical wisdom of a peculiar kind. The human mind, through its self‐conscious understanding can be immediately and directly efficacious in shaping its own structure.     

Contrasting two models of academic self‐efficacy – domain‐specific versus cross‐domain – in children receiving and not receiving special instruction in mathematics

In social cognitive theory, self‐efficacy is domain‐specific. An alternative model, the cross‐domain influence model, would predict that self‐efficacy beliefs in one domain might influence performance in other domains. Research has also found that children who receive special instruction are not good at estimating their performance. The aim was to test two models of how self‐efficacy beliefs influence achievement, and to contrast children receiving special instruction in mathematics with normally‐achieving children. The participants were 73 fifth‐grade children who receive special instruction and 70 children who do not receive any special instruction. In year four and five, the children's skills in mathematics and reading were assessed by national curriculum tests, and in their fifth year, self‐efficacy in mathematics and reading were measured. Structural equation modeling showed that in domains where children do not receive special instruction in mathematics, self‐efficacy is a mediating variable between earlier and later achievement in the same domain. Achievement in mathematics was not mediated by self‐efficacy in mathematics for children who receive special instruction. For normal achieving children, earlier achievement in the language domain had an influence on later self‐efficacy in the mathematics domain, and self‐efficacy beliefs in different domains were correlated. Self‐efficacy is mostly domain specific, but may play a different role in academic performance depending on whether children receive special instruction. The results of the present study provided some support of the Cross‐Domain Influence Model for normal achieving children.     

Can Perfectionism Affect Career Development? Exploring Career Thoughts and Self‐Efficacy

This study identified relationships among career‐specific barriers (i.e., perfectionism, negative career thoughts, career decision‐making self‐efficacy) in a sample of 300 college students. The authors found relationships among the constructs of interest, prediction of variance in career decision‐making self‐efficacy, and differences among groups of perfectionists on endorsements of negative career thoughts and career decision‐making self‐efficacy. The findings suggest that interventions addressing maladaptive perfectionism and dysfunctional career thinking may enhance clients’ confidence in decision making.     

Reciprocal Associations between Parenting Challenges and Parents' Personality Development in Young and Middle Adulthood

Having children affects many aspects of people's lives. However, it remains unclear to what degree the challenges that come along with having children are associated with parents' personality development. We addressed this question in two studies by investigating the relationship between parenting challenges and personality development in mothers of newborns (Study 1, N = 556) and the reciprocal associations between (mastering) parenting challenges and personality development in parents of adolescents (Study 2, N = 548 mothers and 460 fathers). In Study 1, we found the stress of having a newborn baby to be associated with declines in maternal Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability. Parenting challenges were also related to personality development in parents of adolescent children in Study 2, with parent–child conflict being reciprocally associated with decreases in Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability. Mastering parenting challenges in the form of high parenting self‐efficacy, on the other hand, was found to be associated with increases in Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability, and vice versa. In sum, our results suggest that mastering the challenges associated with the social role of parenthood is one of the mechanisms underlying personality development in young and middle adulthood. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.