The Content and Function of Religious and Spiritual Beliefs

Most work on religious beliefs has used a fixed research method that only allows confirming or disconfirming a priori notions of religious beliefs. This study used a flexible, data-driven research method to derive an inductive theory concerning the content and function of religious beliefs. Data from interviews with 28 undergraduates were content analyzed, yielding 7 distinct belief domains: higher power, creation, soul, life after death, spiritual connection with others, fate, and supernatural occurrences. Function domains for each content domain, and for belief systems as a whole, were preliminarily identified. Implications for future research and therapeutic interventions are discussed.     

THE PARADOX OF INQUIRY IN AUGUSTINE'S CONFESSIONS

Abstract: The Confessions recounts Augustine's successful search for God. But Augustine worries that one cannot search for God if one does not already know God. That version of the paradox of inquiry dominates and structures Confessions 1–10. I draw connections between the dramatic opening lines of book 1 and the climactic discussion in book 10.26–38 and argue that the latter discussion contains Augustine's resolution of the paradox of inquiry as it applies to the special case of searching for God. I claim that he develops a model, relying on the universal human experience of joy and truth, that identifies a starting point that (1) is common to all human beings, (2) is sufficient for guiding a successful search for God, and (3) avoids commitment to recollection of experiences prior to birth. The model is crucial to Augustine's rejection of traditional Platonist views about recollection.     

Counselor Training in Canada: An Alberta Approach

This article examines the initiatives of the Alberta/Northwest Territories Region of Employment and Immigration Canada in the implementation and continuing development of employment counselor training within the context of changing economic conditions and policy changes. Initiatives have included innovative group approaches, a program of competence maintenance and enhancement, and the development of an accountability framework for employment counseling. Future directions for training are also examined.     

The individual and relational risks of providing support to an inconsolable partner

The two studies in this article examined how perceptions of partner inconsolability are associated with the self‐esteem and relationship satisfaction of the caregiver. Study 1 documented a negative correlation between perceptions of partner inconsolability and relationship satisfaction, particularly among those high in rejection sensitivity. This association held even when controlling for both self‐ and partner‐reported levels of caregiving, as well as individual characteristics of both partners that may bias perceptions of inconsolability. In Study 2, participants who recalled a time when their partner was inconsolable reported lower state self‐esteem, and among individuals high in rejection sensitivity, lower relationship satisfaction.     

Assessing relationship quality across cultures: An examination of measurement equivalence

Researchers are increasingly studying close relationships across cultural contexts. One issue that arises when applying scales originally developed in Western countries to a different cultural context is measurement invariance. Researchers often do not examine whether scales show invariance across cultures and thus can be used with confidence. The goal of this article is to discuss the importance of measurement invariance, to discuss what testing invariance involves, and to test the measurement properties of scales of relationship satisfaction, commitment, intimacy, and trust across 4 samples (United States, Canada, Indonesia, and China). Analyses indicated that weak measurement invariance was met for all 4 scales, and assumptions of strong measurement invariance had to be relaxed for only a few items in each scale. Findings are discussed and recommendations are made regarding using these or other scales that have been shown to meet assumptions of invariance across different cultural groups.     

Adult attachment and transportation into narrative worlds

Adult attachment affects close bonds, including bonds with fictional characters, but does it also influence the level of engagement with fictional worlds? This article aims to build on previous research on how attachment relates to narrative transportation. In Study 1, attachment anxiety, but not attachment avoidance, predicted a greater tendency to become transported into narratives, even after controlling for broader personality traits related to attachment. In Study 2, attachment anxiety again predicted a greater tendency to engage in narratives but only at high levels of attachment avoidance. In Study 3, this interaction between attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance in predicting narrative transportation was again observed when transportation was measured immediately after viewing a specific narrative.     

Religious Diversity, Christian Doctrine and Karl Barth

Abstract:   The recognition of the heterogeneity of the goals of the world's religions has led to a greater alertness to the doctrinal questions raised by the presence of truth and rectitude which Christians might recognize in the other religions. In this article J.A. DiNoia's proposals for the recognition of subordinate and non-oppositional truths in the other religions, and his more recent defence of Barth's account of the religions in Church Dogmatics §17, are brought into dialogue with Karl Barth's account of truth extra muros ecclesiae in CD §69. It is argued that the latter raises a number of crucial doctrinal questions for DiNoia's own proposal for the recognition of subordinate and non-oppositional truth, and that it is a more important resource for contemporary discussions than is the controversial CD §17.     

In Search of True Causes:

The present investigation sought to obtain empirical data that either directly supports or refutes the popular assumption that communication is an essential element of effective decision making. Specifically, it reports three phases of study that attempt to determine whether the variance in group decision making is best accounted for by noninteraction or interaction sources. Phase 1 examines the relationship among group member ability, communication opportunity, and decision performance. Phase 2 examines the relationship among group member ability, qualities of group communication, and decision performance. Phase 3 examines the relationship among fulfillment of communication functions requisite to decision-making efficacy, group member ability, and decision performance. In Phase 1, a strong independent main effect for communication opportunity was found; whereas in Phase 2 we discovered classification and explanatory effects for three facets of interaction quality—“evaluation of task-relevant issues,”“goal-directed communication,” and “idea development”—and in Phase 3 no classification or explanatory effects for either of the communication functions examined was found. Open channels of communication and high quality task-oriented discussion that focused on issue evaluation and task accomplishment facilitated group performance in light of the effects of group potential.     

Identity Implications of Influence Goals A Revised Analysis of Face-Threatening Acts and Application to Seeking Compliance With Same-Sex Friends

Although politeness theory offers one explanation for how threats to face arise during compliance-gaining episodes, it neither predicts the conditions under which seeking compliance will create multiple face threats nor explains how such threats arise within specific contexts. The authors challenge and revise politeness theory by analyzing potential implications for both parties' face when the logical preconditions for seeking compliance are framed by specific influence goals. In a test of a revised analysis of face threats, young adults imagined asking favors, giving advice, and enforcing obligations with same-sex friends. Perceived face threats, interaction goals, and message qualities varied substantially across compliance-gaining situations defined by these goals. Directions for exploring the identity implications of influence goals across relationships and cultures are discussed.