Religiosity and Fear of Death: A Theory-Oriented Review of the Empirical Literature

Do religious people fear death more or less than those who are nonreligious? According to two theories, religiosity and fear of death should be inversely correlated. A third theory suggests that moderately religious persons should be more fearful than those who are extremely religious or nonreligious. Yet a fourth theory predicts that religiosity and fear of death should be positively correlated. Eighty-four studies were located in which pertinent findings have been presented, several of which reached more than one conclusion based on different definitions of religiosity. Overall, 40 studies provided findings supporting the conclusion that religiosity and fear of death are inversely correlated, nine supported a curvilinear relationship, 27 supported a positive correlation, and 32 indicated that no significant relationship exists between religiosity and fear of death. Chi square analyses of several features of these conflicting studies suggest that there is probably a modest negative correlation between religiosity and fear of death among persons who are at least modestly religious. However, when nonreligious individuals are sampled alongside those who are both moderately and extremely religious, the overall relationship shifts to being curvilinear, and possibly even positive, depending on the aspect of religiosity being assessed. The implications of these conclusions for the four theories are discussed.     

Antecedents of organizational citizenship behaviour in a government-owned enterprise in Nigeria

The study examines the generalizability of perceived organizational support (POS) and perceived fair interpersonal treatment (PFIT) as positive correlates of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in Nigeria. In a study conducted, 207 lower management employees of National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), a government-owned enterprise in Nigeria, were selected as participants. Standardized psychological scales measuring POS, PFIT, and three facets of OCB (helping, civic virtue, and sportsmanship) were administered. Data analysed using Pearson correlation and hierarchical regression analysis (controlling gender, age, and tenure) respectively showed independent and joint positive association of POS and PFIT with OCB and each of its three dimensions. It is concluded that to enhance OCB among employees of organizations, especially government-owned enterprises in Nigeria, management need to device policies and put in place programmes that would ensure enhanced organizational support and fair interpersonal treatment.     

Belief in a zero-sum game and subjective well-being across 35 countries

Current Psychology - This article presents a short research report on the relationship between perceived antagonism in social relations measured using the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game (BZSG) scale,...     

'Change of Mind' within and between nonconscious (masked) and conscious (unmasked) visual processing

We examined the updating of decisions made during visuo-motor processing when two sequentially presented stimuli, Prime1 and Prime2, primed discriminative responses to a following probe. In Experiment 1, the visibility of the two primes was suppressed or left intact by varying the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of the stimuli immediately following them. In Experiment 2, the visibility of Prime2 was suppressed or left intact by varying its spatial separation from the following probe. We found (1) that Prime2 dominated the effects of Prime1; (2) that Prime2's updating was stronger when the Prime2-probe SOA was 200 as compared to 53 ms; and (3) that Prime2's updating was weaker when the Prime2-probe spatial separation was 58 as compared to 0 minarc. We conclude that these effects are due to an interaction of spatial attention and the state (conscious vs. nonconscious) of processing of Prime2.     

Exotic Dance Research: A Review of the Literature from 1970 to 2008

This article presents the process and findings of a review of the empirical research literature on exotic dance/dancers in the United States and Canada from 1970 to 2008. We present research methods represented in this sample, as well as the main purposes of these studies, the deployment of theory in exotic dance research, and the visibility of researcher subjectivities. Over time researchers have gradually moved from micro-level analysis with singular explanations toward multi-dimensional and contextual understandings of exotic dance/dancers. Contemporary researchers are less grounded in deviance, pathology, or victimization. We conclude with a discussion and a series of recommendations for future research.     

Four categories of women who work as topless dancers

Many involved in the feminist debates over sex work have polarized the construction of women in the sex industry as either victims of exploitation, or free agents who choose this work. This study examined the life circumstances of 30 women who worked as toplesS dancers to determine, how, if at all, the polarized debates reflect the realities of the women in this study. Four catagories of women who worked as topless dancers emerged: (1) survivors, (2) workers, (3) non-conformists, and (4) dancers. These categories suggest that there is a continuum of experience with varying degrees of choice, and demonstrate the limitations of dichotomous thinking when it comes to understanding the lived experiences of women in the sex industry.     

Religiosity and fear of death: a three‐nation comparison

Numerous studies have sought to determine if religiosity is correlated with fear of death. Findings have been anything but consistent, with reports of negative relationships, positive relationships, no relationship, and even curvilinear associations. To shed light on this still contentious issue, the present study was undertaken among college students in three countries – Malaysia, Turkey, and the United States. Overall, the patterns in all three countries were similar. When linearity was assumed, there is a substantial positive correlation between most religiosity measures and fear of death. Assuming curvilinearity added slightly to the strength of the relationships in the US data and nothing to data from Malaysia or Turkey. Other findings were that on average females were more religious and feared death more than did males, and Muslims expressed considerably greater fear than did members of any other major religion. Results were discussed in the context of a new theory – called death apprehension theory. Among other things, it specifically predicts that death apprehension will be positively related to most religious beliefs and practices.