Sense of community improves community participation in Chinese residential communities: The mediating role of sense of community responsibility and prosocial tendencies

Community participation is essential for community development and enhancing quality of life. Several studies have focused on the relationship between sense of community (SOC) and community participation in organizational settings. Guided by the community experiences framework, this study aims to examine how a SOC improves community participation in Chinese residential communities. Moreover, the study aims to assess the mediating role of SOC responsibility (SOC-R) and prosocial tendencies in that relationship. A sample of 433 residents completed questionnaires regarding their SOC, sense of community responsibility, prosocial tendencies, and community participation. Using a linear regression model, we found that a SOC can positively predict the level of community participation. Mediation effect analysis revealed that a SOC-R mediated the relationship between SOC and community participation. In addition, prosocial tendencies mediated the association between the SOC and community participation. Using multiple mediation analysis, we found that SOC-R and prosocial tendencies mediated the link between a SOC and community participation in a sequential manner. The findings of this study complement existing research by uncovering the mechanism underlying the relationship between a SOC and community participation.     

编码后奖赏影响基于议程的学习：奖赏预期和结果的作用

基于ABR模型考察奖赏预期和奖赏结果对不同难度词对记忆与元记忆的影响。结果发现：(1)限时学习条件下,奖赏结果促进不同难度词对记忆成绩和学习判断,奖赏预期仅提高简单词对的记忆成绩。(2)自定步调学习条件下,定时学习判断时奖赏结果仅影响学习判断;奖赏预期促进高难度词对的学习时间分配,从而提高记忆成绩和学习判断。(3)在自定步调学习时,奖赏预期超越难度成为影响学习时间分配的因素。以上结果表明,个体会综合奖赏预期、奖赏结果和难度构建学习议程,足够大的奖赏预期会超越难度成为议程构建的主导因素。但奖赏预期和奖赏结果对记忆成绩、学习时间分配和学习判断的影响受学习条件调节。     

SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE: PROCESSING DIFFERENT INFORMATION OR PROCESSING INFORMATION DIFFERENTLY?

This article introduces the concept of spiritual intelligence in terms of a natural human ability to take a different perspective on reality rather than an extraordinary ability to engage with a different/supernatural reality. From a cognitive perspective, spiritual intelligence entails a re-balancing of the two main modes of human cognition, with a prioritization of the holistic-intuitive mind over the conceptual one. From the psychological and phenomenological perspectives, it involves a different kind of engagement with information: slower, more participatory, less objectifying, and not focused entirely on problem solving. The article ends with a reflection on the theological implications of the proposed model and how such an account of spiritual intelligence as knowing differently might relate to theological anthropology and the theology of the spirit and the spiritual.     

Personality traits,coping strategies and quality of life in patients of hepatitis C

IntroductionIn recent decades, hepatitis has become a community health issue. A severe, asymptomatic and unobserved acute disease could be resulted by HCV and it could be treated completely in few cases or could result in chronic hepatitis.ObjectiveThe current research investigated the relationship among personality traits, coping strategies and quality of life in patients of hepatitis C in Pakistan.MethodTotal 102 patients of HCV were selected from government, semi-government and private hospitals. Mental Health Screening Questionnaire (Mirza & Kausar, 2008) was used to screen the patients. The Urdu versions of Big Five Inventory (John & Srivastava, 1999), Coping Strategies Questionnaire (Kausar & Munir, 2004) and Quality of Life-BREF (1997) were used to measure the study variables.ResultsThe results showed that extraversion had positive relationship with the subscales of quality of life except physical health. Conscientiousness had positive relationship with physical and psychological health. Neuroticism had negative relationship with all the domains of quality of life. Openness to experience had positive relationship with psychological health and environment. religious coping and conscientiousness positively predicted physical health, whereas, agreeableness was the negative predictor of physical health. Psychological health and social relationships were positively predicted by active focused coping, whereas, neuroticism negatively predicted psychological health.ConclusionThe results of present research indicated significant contribution of personality traits and coping strategies in maintaining quality of life of HCV patients. The clinical implications to improve quality of life of HCV patients are discussed in light of results.     

Ordinance influences individuals' perceptions towards prospects of social circumstance but not the status quo: An experimental field study on sexual minorities issues in Japan

Scientific evidence shows that institutional decisions can change individuals' private attitudes towards relevant issues. However, little is known about their effect on individuals' perceptions of social norms. This intriguing question has gained the attention of scholars. Nonetheless, the findings are primarily observed only in samples of the Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic countries, leading to doubts about their generalisability. This study experimentally tested residents' (N = 411) reactions to the new Tokyo ordinance prohibiting discrimination against sexual minorities enacted on October 5, 2018, and tested whether it dispelled self–other discrepancies regarding tolerance towards sexual minorities (i.e., pluralistic ignorance). The results showed that exposure to information about enactment increased future perceptions of support and understanding of sexual minorities. By contrast, private attitudes, perceptions of current social norms, and willingness to speak out did not change. Willingness to speak out was indirectly enhanced through increased perceptions of gaining future support. Furthermore, Tokyo residents overestimated other residents' negative attitudes towards sexual minorities. However, even when informed of the new ordinance, this self–other discrepancy in intolerance towards sexual minorities was not corrected. These findings suggest that institutional decisions can shape the perception of social norm change in the future beyond Western countries.     

Using tenets from the Bhagavad Gita in counselling diaspora Hindu older adults: Impact on stress mitigation and improving quality of life

This article reports a study on the impact of a Bhagavad Gita (BG) text-based counselling programme for long-term immigrant diaspora Hindu older adults in the US and UK. Compared with the journal writing sessions, participants of the BG lessons reported lower stress and better quality of life post-test (p ≤ 0.025; Hedges' g = −0.65–0.36). Results of the latent class analyses highlighted complex behaviour patterns in the post-test dataset and foregrounded six classes/subgroups of participants likely to gain most from the BG programme: older adult females, diaspora Hindu older adults with postgraduate-professional qualifications, widowed older adults, those living alone or with other kith-kin, those with above threshold programme compliance (defined as those who attended 13–24 (>50%) BG lessons, and completed 13–24 (>50%) BG homework lessons). Overall, the results of the study endorse the connection between age and religiosity and support a BG text-based counselling programme as a workable strategy for long-term immigrant diaspora Hindu older adults. The BG text provides a firm ethnoculturally grounded counselling approach to work with diaspora Hindu older adult clients, taking cognisance of their intersectional realities. It may help them cope with the dynamics of the modern, traditional, and continuously shifting realities in a foreign milieu.     

“均”与“寡”阶段性变动下中国居民公平感的变迁

利用中国综合社会调查和中国社会状况综合调查重复截面数据,通过年龄-时期-队列模型对居民公平感的时代变化进行分析。研究发现公平感在年龄上呈“J”型趋势;从时期效应看, 2008年公平感较高, 2010～2013年在低谷徘徊,2015年以后又开始回升;从队列视角看,建国前出生队列公平感偏低,建国后初期的队列相对较高,“50”后有所下滑,从“60”后开始公平感持续走低,到“80”后跌入低谷,但“90”后又开始升高。从1949年前后“寡且不均”到建国初期阶段的“寡且均”,再到改革开放40年快速经济增长下“不寡但不均”的社会变迁过程影响了居民的公平感。     

“‘WE' AND ‘THEY'”: WHY MUST WE ENGAGE IN CROSS-CULTURAL CONVERSATION?

This article contains the principal ideas that I presented in four different sessions at the IRAS 2022 conference, on the theme “‘We' and ‘They’: Cross-Cultural Conversation on Identity.” Focusing on the central topic, the article begins with (i) the contents of my opening lecture; followed by (ii) a broad outline of the concerns discussed in my book, Cross-Cultural Conversation: A New Way of Learning, intertwined with glimpses of the intellectual journey that led me to CCC, delivered in the Book-discussion session; (iii) a summary of the main ideas about the importance of meeting of religions today, which formed the background for the CCC Panel discussion on religion, where I was in conversation with spokespersons of five world religions; and (iv) my comments on how science–religion dialogue can help promote a sense for human solidarity by combining knowledge with wisdom, in the concluding session.     

Psychological underpinnings of akrasia: A new integrative framework based on self-regulation vulnerabilities and failures

Akrasia is intentional behavior against one's better judgment. This concept has a rich history in Western philosophy, but it does not feature prominently in the psychological literature. After a brief conceptual review, I propose here a new integrative theoretical framework that draws on motivation science to explicate its psychological underpinnings. Leveraging cybernetic big five and regulatory mode theories, I argue that the self-regulation processes underlying key personality structures can explain why regulatory vulnerabilities can lead to various kinds of akratic failures. For example, I elucidate how maladjusted extraversion associated with a chronic malfunctioning of the assessment and locomotion modes could lead to hedonic dysregulations typical of a specific form of akratic behavior characterized by excessive self-indulgence. This new framework marries multiple disciplines and recomposes the fragmentation of the philosophical speculation on akrasia, suggesting pathways towards potential psychological interventions to mitigate its maladaptive consequences.     

Sense of purpose and food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic brought new attention to the issues of food insecurity faced by individuals throughout the United States, a stressor exacerbated by disruptions to work status and supply chains. The burden of food insecurity likely carries consequences for whether individuals feel capable of pursuing their broad goals and life engagements; put differently, food insecurity may pose a threat to people perceiving a sense of purpose in life. The current study tested this claim across three samples taken during 2020 (n = 2009), 2021 (n = 1666), and 2022 (n = 1975). Participants completed inventories for perceived food insecurity, sense of purpose, depressive symptoms, and anxiety, among other measures. Results found consistent negative associations between food insecurity and sense of purpose across all three samples. In addition, food insecurity moderated associations between sense of purpose and depressive or anxiety symptoms. Sense of purpose was more strongly negatively associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms for those participants who reported no food insecurity. That said, sense of purpose remained negatively associated with psychological distress even among those reporting food insecurity.