Psychology Commons^™

Changes In Spirituality Partly Explain Health-Related Quality Of Life Outcomes After Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction., Jeffrey M Greeson, Daniel M Webber, Moria J Smoski, Jeffrey G Brantley, Andrew G Ekblad, Edward C Suarez, Ruth Quillian Wolever

Jeffrey M. Greeson

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is a secular behavioral medicine program that has roots in meditative spiritual practices. Thus, spirituality may partly explain Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction outcomes. Participants (N = 279; M (SD) age = 45(12); 75% women) completed an online survey before and after an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis that, following Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, the relationship between enhanced mindfulness and improved health-related quality of life is mediated by increased daily spiritual experiences. Changes in both spirituality and mindfulness were significantly related to improvement in mental health. Although the initial mediation hypothesis …

The Evolution Of Animal Play, Emotions, And Social Morality: On Science, Theology, Spirituality, Personhood, And Love, Marc Bekoff

Marc Bekoff, PhD

My essay first takes me into the arena in which science, spirituality, and theology meet. I comment on the enterprise of science and how scientists could well benefit from reciprocal interactions with theologians and religious leaders. Next, I discuss the evolution of social morality and the ways in which various aspects of social play behavior relate to the notion of “behaving fairly.” The contributions of spiritual and religious perspectives are important in our coming to a fuller understanding of the evolution of morality. I go on to discuss animal emotions, the concept of personhood, and how our special relationships with …

Assessing The Psychoeducational Approach To Transcendence And Health (Path) Program : An Intervention To Foster Self-Transcendence And Well-Being In Community-Dwelling Older Adults., Valerie Lander Mccarthy, Sharon Bowland, Lynne A. Hall, Jennifer Connelly

Valerie L. McCarthy

The late-life developmental process of self-transcendence shapes elders’ perspectives on self, others, the nature of this world, and of a dimension beyond the here and now. This qualitative pilot study evaluated the Psychoeducational Approach to Transcendence and Health (PATH) Program, a psychoeducational intervention to promote self-transcendence and well-being in community-dwelling women at a senior center. The intervention involved eight weekly group sessions using group processes, mindfulness practices, creative experiences, and independent at-home practice. The findings supported the underlying theory-based structure and content of the intervention and indicated the intervention may empower elders to attend to self-care, develop acceptance, and learn …

Domestic Violence And Integrating Spirituality, Shelly Erbe

Shelly Erbe

Abstract: Through empirical research methods, validity has been given to integrating a spirituality based style intervention into a counseling program for Intimate Violence Survivor’s. This type of program has been shown to empower the IPV survivor’s, where spirituality will function as a component of healthier coping mechanisms. This hypothesis is based upon a hypothetical research study. In my proposed research: a non-random sample of 1000 or more female identified persons who have endorsed experiencing some form of intimate partner violence within the past five years. This study will consist of a 2X2 factorial design method, with spirituality and levels of …

Suffering And Sacrifice: Individual And Collective Benefits, And Implications For Leadership, Scott T. Allison, Gwen Setterberg

Scott T. Allison

In this chapter, we review the ways in which suffering and sacrifice are beneficial to human beings. In our review, we draw from both ancient and modern spiritual traditions and a large body of psychological research on the determinants of happiness and mental health. Our review is necessarily an abbreviated one; a thorough treatment of this topic would surely fill an entire volume. This chapter represents an initial attempt to illuminate basic insights, using broad brushstrokes, about the ways in which suffering and sacrifice contribute to people’s emotional, behavioral, and spiritual wellness. In addition to describing the psychological and spiritual …

The Roles Of Flourishing And Spirituality In Millenials’ Leadership Development Activity, Allison O'Malley, Denise Williams

Alison L. O'Malley

Confronted by today’s epidemic of corporate meltdowns, broken institutional paradigms, unethical decision-making, and demand for innovative competencies in order to remain competitive, educators and researchers are challenged to examine how today’s future leaders develop the skill and will to be effective. Whether labeled GenY, Generation Next, Generation Tech or Millennials (i.e. individuals born between 1982 and 2003), this group of change agents differs in attitudes, behaviors, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivations from older generations (e.g. Taylor & Keeter, 2010; Twenge, Campbell & Freeman, 2012). The scholarly debate on the role of meaning making (Park, 2005) describes the Millennial on a …

Developmental And Narrative Perspectives On Religious And Spiritual Identity Development For Clinicians, Paul Wink, Jonathan Adler, Michele Dillon

Jonathan M. Adler

Identity gives an individual a sense of sameness and continuity (Erikson, 1968) and provides answers to questions about the nature, purpose, and meaning of life (Kiesling, Sorell, Montgomery, & Colwell, 2006). William James (1910/1968) placed spiritual identity, encompassing intellectual, moral, and emotional development at the center of personality. Given that the search for personal meaning is a vital component of a person's identity, it is not surprising that religion and spirituality play a key role in the identity development of many Americans.

Triz And Spirituality: The Methods Of Maximizing Happiness, Umakant Mishra

Umakant Mishra

TRIZ is a method of high level of commonsense and can be applied in any field, whether social, economical, technical or spiritual. In this article we analyzed the concept of happiness, the ultimate goal of human being, and demonstrated the application of different TRIZ concepts like Ideality, contradictions, Principles, Resources and Trends in different theories of maximizing happiness.

Triz And Society: An Alternative Way Of Winning Enemies Without Fighting, Umakant Mishra

Umakant Mishra

Although we are born and brought up in society, we are sometimes hurt by the offensive behavior of some people in our family and society, may be by the so-called friends or rivals or enemies. If we suppress our anger and don’t fight with them then we suffer from depression, frustration and other emotional disorders. On the other hand if we express our anger to fight back then the situation may become worse by inviting bigger fights and more violence. The question arises, how to solve this problem?

There are both fighting solutions and non-fighting solutions to this problem. Non-fighting …

Perceiving Sacredness In Life: Correlates And Predictors, Carrie Doehring, Ann Clarke, Kenneth I. Pargament, Alice Hayes, Dean Hammer, Markos Nickolas, Patricia Hughes

Kenneth I Pargament

Building on research demonstrating relationships between well being and perceptions of aspects of life as sacred, this study describes the rationale for and development of a scale measuring perceiving sacredness in life. It then explores associations between perceptions of sacredness in life and these four domains: religious/spiritual (intrinsic/extrinsic religiosity, quest, mysticism, religious/spiritual history, worship attendance, frequency of prayer, importance of religion/spirituality), personal (purpose in life, commitment to empiricism, narcissism, self esteem, relational attachment), social (community service attitude and helping, social support, imagination tutoring), and situational (enjoyment and frequency of everyday pleasant events, impact of negative events, positive childhood recollections). Participants …

Measuring The Unmeasurable: Maternal Piety Scales, Siti Aishah Hassan Ph.D.

Siti Aishah Hassan Ph.D.

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument that measures maternal spiritual characteristics. Particularly, the instrument aims to measure a domain of spirituality which is commonly regarded as “the un-measurable” i.e. Maternal Piety.The results provided evidence that the instrument achieved sound psychometrics properties.TLI, and CFI were > 0.90 and RMSEA was < 0.08 which were evidences for construct validity. Moreover, the findings supported the postulation that MP positively influenced MQR as evidence for the criterion-related validity. In short, Maternal Piety Scales is a reliable and valid instrument