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2017

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Full-Text Articles in Psychology

Introduction: Jewish Gamevironments – Exploring Understanding With Playful Systems, Owen Gottlieb Dec 2017

Introduction: Jewish Gamevironments – Exploring Understanding With Playful Systems, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

The study of Judaism, Jewish civilizationi, and games is currently comprised of projects of a rather small set of game scholars. A sample of our work is included in this issue.


Assessing Religious Orientations: Replication And Validation Of The Commitment-Reflectivity Circumplex (Crc) Model, Steven L. Isaak, Jesse R. James, Mary K. Radeke, Stephen W. Krauss, Keke L. Schuler, Eric R. Schuler Sep 2017

Assessing Religious Orientations: Replication And Validation Of The Commitment-Reflectivity Circumplex (Crc) Model, Steven L. Isaak, Jesse R. James, Mary K. Radeke, Stephen W. Krauss, Keke L. Schuler, Eric R. Schuler

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

The Commitment-Reflectivity Circumplex (CRC) model is a structural model of religious orientation that was designed to help organize and clarify measurement of foundational aspect of religiousness. The current study successfully replicated the CRC model using multidimensional scaling, and further evaluated the reliability, structure, and validity of their measures in both a university student sample (Study 1) and a nationally representative sample (Study 2). All 10 subscales of the Circumplex Religious Orientation Inventory (CROI) demonstrated good reliability across both samples. A two-week test-retest of the CROI showed that the subscales are stable over time. A confirmatory factor analysis of the CROI …


Mentalizing Skills Do Not Differentiate Believers From Non-Believers, But Credibility Enhancing Displays Do, David L. R. Maij, Frenk Van Harreveld, Will M. Gervais, Yann Schrag, Christine Mohr, Michiel Van Elk Aug 2017

Mentalizing Skills Do Not Differentiate Believers From Non-Believers, But Credibility Enhancing Displays Do, David L. R. Maij, Frenk Van Harreveld, Will M. Gervais, Yann Schrag, Christine Mohr, Michiel Van Elk

Psychology Faculty Publications

The ability to mentalize has been marked as an important cognitive mechanism enabling belief in supernatural agents. In five studies we cross-culturally investigated the relationship between mentalizing and belief in supernatural agents with large sample sizes (over 67,000 participants in total) and different operationalizations of mentalizing. The relative importance of mentalizing for endorsing supernatural beliefs was directly compared with credibility enhancing displays–the extent to which people observed credible religious acts during their upbringing. We also compared autistic with neurotypical adolescents. The empathy quotient and the autism-spectrum quotient were not predictive of belief in supernatural agents in all countries (i.e., The …


Virtue, Positive Psychology, And Religion: Consideration Of An Overarching Virtue And An Underpinning Mechanism, Lindsey M. Root Luna, Daryl R. Van Tongeren, Charlotte Vanoyen-Witvliet Aug 2017

Virtue, Positive Psychology, And Religion: Consideration Of An Overarching Virtue And An Underpinning Mechanism, Lindsey M. Root Luna, Daryl R. Van Tongeren, Charlotte Vanoyen-Witvliet

Faculty Publications

The virtues are a central focus of research at the intersection of positive psychology and the psychology of religion and spirituality. Humility, patience, and gratitude are addressed in the target articles of this special issue. Beyond examining each individual virtue, we argue here that the connections among virtues also warrant empirical attention. Specifically, we explain the unity of the virtues thesis, which suggests that individual virtues may be a part of a larger overarching construct, which we propose may be practical wisdom, or simply general virtuousness. Similarly, we propose that a common mechanism, such as automatic self-regulation, may facilitate these …


The Ethical Import Of Entheogens, Joshua Falcon Jun 2017

The Ethical Import Of Entheogens, Joshua Falcon

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The term entheogen refers to drugs—including the artificial substances and active principles drawn from them—which are known to produce ecstasy and have been used traditionally in certain religious and shamanic contexts. The entheogenic experiences provoked by entheogens are described by users in myriad ways, including in spiritual, religious, philosophical, and secular contexts. Entheogenic experiences have shown that they can create opportunities for individuals to generate meaning, including novel philosophical insights, which users claim to gain by way of experience. As such, entheogenic experiences exhibit the ability to influence a change in a user’s fundamental philosophical commitments, or live options, including …


Spiritual Media Experiences, Trait Transcendence, And Enjoyment Of Popular Films, Sophie Janicke, Srividya Ramasubramanian May 2017

Spiritual Media Experiences, Trait Transcendence, And Enjoyment Of Popular Films, Sophie Janicke, Srividya Ramasubramanian

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Recent scholarship on media psychology acknowledges that media entertainment offers not only purely hedonistic enjoyment but also meaningful experiences. This study expands our understanding of media enjoyment by exploring the role of media entertainment in evoking spiritual emotions and beliefs, such as those related to connectedness, blessedness, and transcendence. Results from an online survey (N=220) indicate that media entertainment elicits meaningful as well as spiritual emotions and increases the saliency of spiritual beliefs as related to self-actualization and spiritual experiences in everyday life. Furthermore, trait transcendence and eudaimonic media motivations add to the explanation of audiences’ mediated spiritual experiences. Open-ended …


Ignatian Pedagogy Certificate Final Project Assisnment, Loretta Stalans Apr 2017

Ignatian Pedagogy Certificate Final Project Assisnment, Loretta Stalans

Ignatian Pedagogy Educational Resources

No abstract provided.


Push To Pray: A Conceptual Framework For Significant Change In Prayer Frequency In One Church, Charles Alexander Elliott Apr 2017

Push To Pray: A Conceptual Framework For Significant Change In Prayer Frequency In One Church, Charles Alexander Elliott

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In recent years, an increasing amount of research has been conducted on the topic of personal spiritual practices, such as prayer. Fewer studies have been conducted on reasons for changes in the frequency of such practices within the church. Those that have addressed church behavior have most often measured attendance and membership. It is the goal of this study to conceptualize potential causes for changes in personal prayer practice at one church. A yearlong marketing campaign was used to help increase church attenders’ frequency of the personal spiritual practice of prayer. Two cross-sectional studies were conducted one-year apart and revealed …


An Analysis Of Positive Coping Mechanisms Utilized To Overcome Trauma In Post-Genocidal Rwanda, Danielle Marvin Apr 2017

An Analysis Of Positive Coping Mechanisms Utilized To Overcome Trauma In Post-Genocidal Rwanda, Danielle Marvin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

From April 7th to July 1st of 1994, one million Rwandan people were brutally murdered by their friends and neighbors in the meticulously planned and government-sponsored Genocide against the Tutsi. Survivors witnessed killings and sexual assault, had their lives threatened, lost multiple family members, and hid under dead bodies to evade the killers. To make matters worse, trust within communities and even within families was destroyed as Hutu perpetrators turned against Tutsis they had, days earlier, been inviting to family events. After the genocide, PTSD rates among adults in Rwanda were estimated at 20.5% for men and 30% for women …


A Survey Of Ethics Training In Undergraduate Psychology Programs At Jesuit Universities, Thomas G. Plante, Selena Pistoresi Jan 2017

A Survey Of Ethics Training In Undergraduate Psychology Programs At Jesuit Universities, Thomas G. Plante, Selena Pistoresi

Psychology

Training in ethics is fundamental in higher education among both faith-based and secular colleges and universities, regardless of one’s academic major or field of study. Catholic colleges and universities have included moral philosophy, theology, and applied ethics in their undergraduate curricula for generations. The purpose of this investigation was to determine what, if anything, Jesuit college psychology departments are doing to educate psychology majors regarding ethical issues. A survey method was used to assess the psychology departments of all 28 Jesuits colleges and universities in the United States. A total of 21 of the 28 schools responded and completed the …


Review Of Altered States: Buddhism And Psychedelic Spirituality In America By Douglas Osto, Ronald S. Green Jan 2017

Review Of Altered States: Buddhism And Psychedelic Spirituality In America By Douglas Osto, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.


Consumers, Clergy, And Clinicians In Collaboration: Ongoing Implementation And Evaluation Of A Mental Wellness Program, Glen Milstein, Dennis Middel, Adriana Espinosa Jan 2017

Consumers, Clergy, And Clinicians In Collaboration: Ongoing Implementation And Evaluation Of A Mental Wellness Program, Glen Milstein, Dennis Middel, Adriana Espinosa

Publications and Research

As a foundation of most cultures, with roots in persons’ early development, religion can be a source of hope as well as denigration. Some religious institutions have made attempts to help persons with mental health problems, and some mental health professionals have sought to engage religion resources. These programs have rarely been sustained. In 2008, the Mental Health Center of Denver (MHCD) developed a program to assess the utility of religion resources within mental health care. In response to positive feedback, MHCD appointed a director of Faith and Spiritual Wellness who facilitates community outreach to faith communities and spiritual integration …


Introduction To The Science Of Virtue, Why Positive Psychology Matters To The Church, Mark R. Mcminn Jan 2017

Introduction To The Science Of Virtue, Why Positive Psychology Matters To The Church, Mark R. Mcminn

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

My students look at me funny when I mention 1980, as if we are studying ancient history. It doesn’t seem that long ago to me, but most of them were ten years shy of being born. Mount St. Helens erupted that year, gifting my classmates and me with an inch of ash for our college graduation day in Portland, Oregon. Rubik’s Cube captured the world’s attention and more of my free time than I care to admit. And a concerned couple at my church approached my wife, Lisa, and me a few weeks before we packed our U-Haul for graduate …


Wisdom, Chapter 1 Of The Science Of Virtue: Why Positive Psychology Matters To The Church, Mark R. Mcminn Jan 2017

Wisdom, Chapter 1 Of The Science Of Virtue: Why Positive Psychology Matters To The Church, Mark R. Mcminn

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

The day before I started this chapter I played flag football with some of my doctoral students. Though I am thirty years their senior, I tried my best to keep up for three hours of great fun. Today my sore muscles scream any time I try to move. My wife, Lisa, would say they are reprimanding me for my foolishness. Typing on the keyboard is about the only motion that doesn’t hurt. It seems both fitting and paradoxical to begin writing about wisdom the morning after punishing my body in the name of a good time. Hopefully I haven’t just …


Forgiveness, Chapter 2 Of The Science Of Virtue: Why Positive Psychology Matters To The Church, Mark R. Mcminn Jan 2017

Forgiveness, Chapter 2 Of The Science Of Virtue: Why Positive Psychology Matters To The Church, Mark R. Mcminn

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

Forgiveness is close to the center of everything Christian. It shows up in the heart of the Lord’s Prayer, which is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, which is the centerpiece of how we understand Jesus and his astonishing critical wisdom. “Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” (Matt. 6:12).


A Gratitude Intervention In A Christian Church Community, Jens Uhder, Mark R. Mcminn, Rodger K. Bufford, Kathleen Gathercoal Jan 2017

A Gratitude Intervention In A Christian Church Community, Jens Uhder, Mark R. Mcminn, Rodger K. Bufford, Kathleen Gathercoal

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

This field experiment examined the effects of a gratefulness intervention in the context of a Christian church congregation. Two Christian congregations with comparable demographic and socio-economic characteristics were enrolled and assigned to the experimental and comparison conditions. The gratitude intervention was developed collaboratively with church leaders. Though within-subject effects were found for psychological well-being, spiritual well-being, life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, daily spiritual experiences, and favorable views of psychology and interdisciplinary collaboration, the comparison group showed similar increases to the intervention group. Thus, the effects of the gratitude intervention were supported within but not across groups. No significant changes …


The Effects Of Grace Interventions In Church Communities, Rodger K. Bufford, Mark R. Mcminn, Jeff A. Moody, Laura Geczy-Haskins Jan 2017

The Effects Of Grace Interventions In Church Communities, Rodger K. Bufford, Mark R. Mcminn, Jeff A. Moody, Laura Geczy-Haskins

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

Grace remains little studied though several recent studies have developed promising ways to measure grace. Here we report two studies involving grace interventions as part of an ongoing investigation of positive psychology in the context of Christian church communities, Study One used a crossover design in which two congregations were measured on grace and other variables at the outset, and again after phases one and two. One congregation received a grace intervention during phase one and the second during phase two. Results showed increased scores on grace but not an expected increase in marital satisfaction among married participants. Study Two …


Existence As Economy And As Charity An Essay On The Essence Of Christianity (1916) By: Antonio Caso, Antonio Caso, Alexander V. Stehn, Jose G. Rodriguez Jr. Jan 2017

Existence As Economy And As Charity An Essay On The Essence Of Christianity (1916) By: Antonio Caso, Antonio Caso, Alexander V. Stehn, Jose G. Rodriguez Jr.

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Antonio Caso rejects the effort of biologists to reduce life to the organic world, a sphere of existence that is defined by economy and egoism, best summarized in the formula: Life = Minimum Effort x Maximum Gain. The problem is that this cannot explain what he calls “disinterested activity,” such as play, art, and self-sacrifice. His primary example of disinterested or selfless activity is the life of Jesus, which Caso also believes is the height of human dignity. In other words, Caso not only argues that there is more than one order of life or existence; he also argues …


The Process Of Resolving Spiritual Struggle Following Adulthood Trauma, Aimee L. Keith Jan 2017

The Process Of Resolving Spiritual Struggle Following Adulthood Trauma, Aimee L. Keith

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Spiritual struggle has been described as a disruption in religious practice and spirituality resulting in questioning beliefs, experiencing discord within religious communities, decreasing spiritual practices, and experiencing painful cognitions such as the belief that one is being punished by God. This study used constructivist grounded theory to explore how women identifying as Protestant Christians at the time of the traumatic event resolve their spiritual struggles. Eleven conceptual categories, which are presented in a stage model, emerged from the data. The stages were Experiencing an Event Discordant with Beliefs, Emotional Reaction (following the traumatic event), Questioning (of beliefs, suffering and identity), …