The impact of construal level on happiness,hope, optimism,life satisfaction,and love of life: A longitudinal and experimental study

This study sought to identify the impact of the construal level of people's perception on selected positive psychology factors: happiness, hope, optimism, satisfaction with life, and love of life. The experimental design of the study was based on pre–post measures for four groups, including three experimental groups and one control group. The sample consisted of students from the University of Kuwait studying in several colleges (276 participants: 65 males and 211 females). The study posited that using two construal levels of people's perception concurrently (low/high) would result in a greater impact on the selected positive psychology factors compared with using one construal level and that the smallest impact would occur in a control group. The greatest impact was observed on happiness when applying both construal levels (high/low group), while the smallest impact was found in the control group. The results showed no significant differences for the positive factors regarding the demographic variables except for gender in the case of happiness, in which men felt happier than women. It could be concluded that using high-level and low-level construals increase the opportunity for positive psychology factors like happiness, hope, and optimism.     

社交网站中的自我呈现与青少年网络利他行为:网络社交效能和希望的作用

为考察社交网站中的积极自我呈现、真实自我呈现对青少年网络利他行为的影响以及网络社交效能和希望在其中的中介作用，采用社交网站中的积极自我呈现和真实自我呈现问卷、网络利他行为量表、网络社交效能问卷和希望量表对安徽、福建、河南、湖南、山西、天津、云南等省份八所中学的805名初中二年级学生（男生427名，女生378名；被试平均年龄为13.38岁，SD=0.63）进行问卷调查。研究显示：（1）社交网站中的积极自我呈现和真实自我呈现均能正向预测青少年网络利他行为；（2）网络社交效能在积极自我呈现与青少年的网络利他行为之间起中介作用，也在真实自我呈现与青少年的网络利他行为之间起中介作用；（3）希望在真实自我呈现与青少年的网络利他行为之间起中介作用。     

Eschatological companions: Christian hope in virtual worlds

ABSTRACT

The Christian faith is oriented around the hope that is found in the birth, life, death, resurrection and return of Jesus Christ, and this hope shapes Christian understandings of being human and human flourishing. What then might this Christian hope have to say about our technological developments and, in particular, how those shape our reflection on being human? Moreover, how do the various virtual worlds that we inhabit in continuity with our physical environment shape our thinking on bodies, gender, sexuality, identity and relationships? This article adds constructive theological reflection on technologically shape virtual worlds through the lens of Christian hope, moving beyond only eschatological dimensions to focus also on technological narratives of purpose and novelty and theological thinking around humanity, Christology and salvation. It is our contention that Christian hope provides a unifying theme for fruitful theological reflection on virtual worlds and our lives within them.     

Hope as Grounds for Forgiveness

It is widely assumed that Christianity enjoins its followers to practice universal, unconditional forgiveness. But universal, unconditional forgiveness is regarded by many as morally problematic. Some Christian scholars have denied that Christianity in fact requires universal, unconditional forgiveness, but I believe they are mistaken. In this essay, I show two things: (1) that Christianity does enjoin universal, unconditional forgiveness of a certain sort, and (2) that Christians, and perhaps other theists, are always justified in exercising unconditional forgiveness. Though most philosophers treat forgiveness as grounded in our beliefs about the offender's current state, I argue that we might more fruitfully ground forgiveness in hope for the wrongdoer. Christianity's commitment to the existence of an omnipotent God who is concerned about the moral status of His creatures always justifies such hope and thus always justifies forgiveness.     

WHY ZYGON? THE JOURNAL'S ORIGINAL VISIONS AND THE FUTURE OF RELIGION‐AND‐SCIENCE

This essay briefly examines the original visions of Zygon, how they helped explain the publication of a new journal, and what they imply for where we might be going today.     

The Moderating Role of Hope in the Relationship Between Maladaptive Perfectionism and Anxiety Among Early Adolescents

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine correlations among maladaptive perfectionism, hope, and anxiety and the moderating role of hope in the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and anxiety among early adolescents. The sample of the study consisted of 639 early adolescents (354 female/285 male; Mean_age = 12.8, SD_age = .65, range: 11-14). In line with this purpose, the cross-sectional model was conducted. The findings of the study showed that there were significant correlations among maladaptive perfectionism, hope, and anxiety. Moreover, the findings found that hope moderated the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and anxiety. More specifically, the findings suggested that among early adolescents with lower hope, the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and anxiety was stronger than those with higher hope.     

The Economy of the Gift: Paul Ricoeur's Significance for Theological Ethics

Paul Ricoeur's understanding of the relations of faith, love, and hope suggests a unique approach to theological ethics, one that holds fresh promise for bringing together considerations of the good (teleology) and the right (deontology) around the notion of an "economy of the gift." The economy of the gift articulates Ricoeur's distinctively dialectical understanding of the relation of the human and the divine, and the resulting dialectical moral relation of the self and the other. Despite our fallen condition, Ricoeur suggests, we are called by the divine to embrace the radical possibility of the reconciliation of human goods under the requirement of accountability to human diversity and otherness.