An Investigation of Islamic Well-Being and Mental Health

An Investigation of Islamic Well-Being and Mental Health. Ali Eryilmaz, Naci Kula. Journal of Religion and Health, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-018-0588-0

Abstract: The overall aim of this study was to develop the Islamic Well-Being Scale and examine the relationship between mental health and Islamic well-being. In this study, four sub-studies were performed to create the one-factor Islamic Well-Being Scale, perform a confirmatory factor analysis and validate the Islamic Well-Being Scale, differentially predict ill-being and well-being outcomes using the Islamic Well-Being Scale, and compare individuals with different Islamic belief levels using the Islamic Well-Being Scale. In total, 170 adults, 209 adults, 216 theological faculty students and 152 undergraduate educational faculty students participated in each sub-study. Several scales related to well-being and ill-being were used in this study. The Islamic Well-Being Scale was found to be valid and reliable. Islamic well-being was related to certain indicators of well-being and ill-being.

Keywords: Islam Well-Being Ill-Being Scale

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From the Islamic perspective, three important criteria of happiness are evident. First, all Muslims who claim to be Muslims must first believe in the basic principles of Islam (Eryılmaz 2015; Joshanloo 2013; Skinner 2010). Therefore, they must believe in Allah, the prophets, the angels, the Hereafter, fate and scripture (Qur’an, 4/136). In essence, the principles of faith in Islam enable individuals to feel self-confident because they believe in Allah’s existence and power and remember and trust Him. According to the Qur’an, ‘‘Hearts find peace only by commemoration of God’’ (Qur’an, 13/28). Second, Islam means surrendering to the will of God (Haque 2004; Husain 1998). In Islam, followers must obey God’s divine laws. These rules include evaluating Islamic rituals, ethics, individual and social problems and the solutions to these problems from the perspective of the creator. These divine laws explain how happiness can be reached on Earth and in the Hereafter (Nasr 2003). Indeed, the attainment of happiness on Earth and in the Hereafter by mankind is expressed in relation to the fulfillment of the divine laws as follows: ‘‘Whosoever doth the law of Allah, his bans, and his respect, his righteousness is on the right hand of this Lord’’ (Qur’an, 22/30). The term ‘‘Fad/Fardh’’ describes the rules that should be observed at least at a minimum level. Fulfilling these obligations is necessary for one to be happy on Earth and in the Hereafter (Sajedi 2008). According to the Qur’an, ‘‘Allah does not lose the reward of those who do good works’’ (Qur’an, 9/120–121). Third, individuals must be called to Allah’s will to be happy both on Earth and in the Hereafter (Haque 2004; Joshanloo 2013). Therefore, Muslims must avoid the following seven major sins: human killing (Qur’an, 2/85, 178; 4/29, 92–93), adultery (Qur’an, 17/32, 4/15, 25; 24/2–10; 25/68–69; 33/30/65/1), drinking (Qur’an, 2/219; 5/90–91), breaking bonds with relatives (Qur’an, 4/1; 13/21–25), gambling (Qur’an, 2/219; 5/90–91) and bearing false witness against another (Qur’an, 4/135; 5/8; 25/75). To engage in such behavior is to be a party to corruptions that harm the Islamic religion (Qur’an, 4/117; 7/152; 10/32; 57/27).

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Religion and spirituality are related to individual happiness (Hills and Argyle 2001; Tellegen et al. 1999; Ellison 1991; Francis and Robbins 2000; Wills 2009). Many studies have investigated religion and well-being (Paloutzian and Park 2005; Pargament and Abu-Raiya 2007; Spilka et al. 2003). Many of these studies focused on Christian populations (Abu-Raiya and Pargament 2011; Hills and Argyle 2001) and Muslim populations (Abdel-Khalek and Lester 2007; Abdel-Khalek and Naceur 2007; Abdel-Khalek and Thorson 2006; Alavi 2007; Baroun 2006; Eryılmaz 2014, 2015). However, studies examining happiness among adherents of Islam are lacking. Most studies have explored individual happiness in terms of Western concepts of well-being. Moreover, in these studies, the definition of happiness is humanistic rather than religious. From a humanistic perspective, happiness is a matter of what happens between birth and death. From a religious perspective, happiness extends to include periods before and after birth and death. Islam and well-being have only been examined theoretically or in review studies (Husain 1998; Joshanloo 2013; Nasr 2003; Sajedi 2008; Skinner 2010). Most scale development studies are based on Islamic religiosity. Abu-Raiya and Pargament (2011) reviewed 14 scale development studies in their literature review. However, no scale that directly measured Islamic well-being was identified in these studies. Abu-Raiya and Pargament (2011) state that studies on Islamic well-being should be conducted separately from studies of wellbeing in other cultures and should not consider Muslim life, worldviews and communication styles. Moreover, there are very few empirical studies on Islamic well-being because valid and reliable measurement tools are limited, making this an emerging field. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the relationships between Islamic well-being and mental health.

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According to the results of this study, there is a weak positive relationship between Islamic well-being and mental health. Many reasons explain this relationship, such as the view of Islam on life, humans and happiness. According to Islam, the mind, heart and soul are required to reach man’s ultimate reality, which reveals the ultimate knowledge and happiness that is pre-emptive of a healthy mind. Islamic scholars believe that virtues and a good character will emerge by declining nafs-i emmareyi (animal spirit) and nafs-i lavvamah (logic soul), which directs human behavior according to the thoughts of the body angels. Happiness is in the heart of man in Islam. Mental calmness, calmness, feelings of well-being and comfort are the indicators of happiness. Happiness is the result of proper behavior both internally and externally, and a strong belief is the main source of happiness. Allah stated that ‘‘Whoever acts properly as a believer, we will bestow a good life on him who cannot go astray or suffer from my advice. But whoever turns away from my advice lives a difficult life’’ (Quran 16: 97). Ghazali stated in his book, ‘‘The Alchemy of Happiness,’’ that happiness can only be found by turning to God. To understand life and obtain happiness, one must understand himself/herself as if he/she were God and the world and that he is a lifesaver. One can only obtain true peace and maintain long-term purity by submitting to the will of God and following his rules (Husain 1998, p. 282). To achieve happiness in this world and the world to come, Muslims must choose to experience happiness in the Hereafter. In Islamic philosophy, happiness and apocalyptic science are interrelated. According to Islam, adherent Muslims can live in this world and the other world with positive feelings, such as peace, satisfaction, happiness and gratitude (Joshanloo 2013). There are approaches that treat happiness as a departure from the id (Khademi 2009; Mattila 2011) and those that deny, ignore or kill the id. However, to be a human being is a part of the id personality, and the id only dies when the individual does. Another perspective in Islamic terms is not to kill the id but to fulfill its wishes and anticipations while meeting Islamic criteria. Therefore, satisfaction based on the rules of instinct will make people happy to a certain extent. The accuracy of this explanation is indicated by the results of this study.

Given these explanations, it is necessary to underline the important points of Islamic well-being. Islamic well-being recommends modest pleasure rather than unlimited pleasure. Happiness derived from personal growth and capacity building is more important in the Hereafter than in this life because of the limited scope for personal growth and capacity building in the secular world. Islam views well-being in terms of the afterlife and its possibilities because compared to eternity, life on earth is but a drop in the ocean.

Is bilingualism associated with enhanced executive functioning in adults? It seems not.

Lehtonen, M., Soveri, A., Laine, A., Järvenpää, J., de Bruin, A., & Antfolk, J. (2018). Is bilingualism associated with enhanced executive functioning in adults? A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000142

Abstract: Because of enduring experience of managing two languages, bilinguals have been argued to develop superior executive functioning compared with monolinguals. Despite extensive investigation, there is, however, no consensus regarding the existence of such a bilingual advantage. Here we synthesized comparisons of bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ performance in six executive domains using 891 effect sizes from 152 studies on adults. We also included unpublished data, and considered the potential influence of a number of study-, task-, and participant-related variables. Before correcting estimates for observed publication bias, our analyses revealed a very small bilingual advantage for inhibition, shifting, and working memory, but not for monitoring or attention. No evidence for a bilingual advantage remained after correcting for bias. For verbal fluency, our analyses indicated a small bilingual disadvantage, possibly reflecting less exposure for each individual language when using two languages in a balanced manner. Moreover, moderator analyses did not support theoretical presuppositions concerning the bilingual advantage. We conclude that the available evidence does not provide systematic support for the widely held notion that bilingualism is associated with benefits in cognitive control functions in adults.

Psychosocial factors affecting resilience in Nepalese individuals with earthquake-related spinal cord injury

Psychosocial factors affecting resilience in Nepalese individuals with earthquake-related spinal cord injury: a cross-sectional study. Muna Bhattarai, Khomapak Maneewat, Wipa Sae-Sia. BMC Psychiatry, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2Fs12888-018-1640-z

Abstract

Background: One of many types of injuries following an earthquake is spinal cord injury (SCI) which is a life-long medically complex injury and high-cost health problem. Despite several negative consequences, some persons with SCI are resilient enough to achieve positive adjustment, greater acceptance, and better quality of life. Since resilience is influenced by several factors and can vary by context, it is beneficial to explore factors that affect the resilience of people who sustained spinal cord injury from the 2015 earthquake in Nepal.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study included 82 participants from the Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Center and communities in Nepal. Participants completed the Demographic and Injury-related Questionnaire, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Moorong Self-efficacy Scale, Intrinsic Spirituality Scale, and Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Pearson’s correlation and point biserial correlation analyses were performed to examine associations between resilience and independent variables. A hierarchical regression analysis was used to identify the influence of certain factors.

Results: Findings indicated significant associations between resilience and social support (r = 0.42, p < 0.001), self-efficacy (r = 0.53, p < 0.001), depressive mood (r = − 0.50, p < 0.001) and demographic variables which included sex (r = 0.47, p < 0.001), employment (r = 0.27, p = 0.016), and current living location (r = 0.24, p = 0.029). There was a non-significant association between resilience and spirituality (r = − 0.12, p > 0.05). In hierarchical regression analysis, an overall regression model explained 46% of the variance in resilience. Self-efficacy (β = 0.28, p = 0.007) and depressive mood (β = − 0.24, p = 0.016) significantly determined resilience after controlling the effect of demographic variables. Among the demographic factors, being male significantly explained the variance in resilience (β = 0.31, p = 0.001).

Conclusions: Multiple psychosocial and demographic factors were associated with resilience in people who sustained an earthquake-related SCI. Mental health professionals should demonstrate concern and consider such factors in allocating care in this group. Development of intervention research concerning resilience is recommended to strengthen resilience in order to improve rehabilitation outcomes and enhance reintegration of individuals with SCI into their communities.

Keywords: Resilience Social support Self-efficacy Spirituality Depressive mood Earthquake Spinal cord injury Nepal

Voice pitch predicts electability, but does not signal leadership ability

Voice pitch predicts electability, but does not signal leadership ability. Casey A. Klofstad, Rindy C. Anderson. Evolution and Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.02.007

Abstract: Voice pitch, the perceived “highness” or “lowness” of a voice, influences how humans perceive and treat each other in various ways. One example is the selection of leaders. A growing number of studies, both experimental and observational, show that individuals with lower-pitched voices are more likely to win elected office. This leads to the yet untested question of whether individuals with lower voices are actually better leaders. That is, is voice pitch a reliable signal of leadership ability? Here we address this question with an observational study of the vocal pitch and leadership ability of elected officials, and an experiment where subjects were asked to respond to persuasive political policy statements made by speakers with different pitched voices. Both studies lead to the same conclusion: voice pitch does not correlate with leadership ability.

Keywords: Voice pitch, Leadership, Vote choice, Persuasion, Perception

If there’s a penis, it’s most likely a man: Investigating the social construction of gender using eye tracking

If there’s a penis, it’s most likely a man: Investigating the social construction of gender using eye tracking. Frederike Wenzlaff, Peer Briken, Arne Dekker. PLOS One, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193616

Abstract: In their foundational work on the social construction of gender, Kessler and McKenna (1978) investigated the relationship between gender attribution and genital attribution. We used digital reproductions of the original stimuli to replicate their findings in the current social context. To further investigate the underlying decision processes we applied eye tracking. The stimuli shown varied in the composition of gender cues: from those more commonly associated with maleness to associated with femaleness. Applying the ethnomethodological approach originally used, participants were asked to decide for each stimulus whether they saw a man or a woman and to indicate subjective confidence with the decision. In line with the original results we found that the genital attribution contributed immensely to the gender attribution. Also, male gender was ascribed more often when the penis was present than was female gender when the vulva was shown. Eye tracking revealed that overall most dwell time as a proxy for important information was dedicated to the head, chest and genital areas of all the stimuli. Total dwell time depended on whether the gender attribution was made in line with the depicted genital, if the genital was a penis. Attributing female gender when a penis was present was associated with longer total dwell time, unlike attributing male gender with a vulva shown. This is indicative of higher cognitive effort and more difficulty ignoring the penis as opposed to the vulva. We interpret this finding in context of the persistent male dominance as well as to the socio-cultural understanding of the vulva as a concealed and therefore seemingly absent organ. In summary, we were able to show that the gender attribution is still closely linked to genital attribution when having a binary forced choice task and that the penis is a special cue in this attribution process.

Jünger, Gerlach, & Penke, 2018. No Evidence for Ovulatory Cycle Shifts in Women’s Preferences for Men’s Behaviors in a Pre-registered Study

Jünger, Julia, Tanja M Gerlach, and Lars Penke 2018. “Jünger, Gerlach, & Penke, 2018. No Evidence for Ovulatory Cycle Shifts in Women’s Preferences for Men’s Behaviors in a Pre-registered Study”. PsyArXiv. March 1. psyarxiv.com/7g3xc

Abstract: The existence of ovulatory cycle shifts in women’s mate preferences has been discussed controversially. There is evidence that naturally cycling women in their fertile phase, compared to their luteal phase, evaluate specific behavioral cues in men as more attractive for short-term relationships. However, recent research has cast doubt on these findings. We addressed this debate in a large, pre-registered within-subject study including salivary hormone measures and luteinizing hormone tests. One-hundred-fifty-seven female participants rated natural videos of 70 men in flirtatious dyadic interactions on sexual and long-term attractiveness. Multilevel comparisons across two ovulatory cycles revealed significant cycle shifts: When fertile, women’s ratings of men’s sexual and long-term attractiveness increased. Contrary to previous findings, behavioral cues as displayed in men’s flirting behavior did not interact with cycle phase to predict these shifts. Effects were only found for partnered women, not for singles. Hormonal mechanisms and implications for estrus theories are discussed.

Found that luck is more important than good traits for lifetime reproductive success

Pluck or Luck: Does Trait Variation or Chance Drive Variation in Lifetime Reproductive Success? Robin E. Snyder, and Stephen P. Ellner. The American Naturalist, https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/696125

Abstract: While there has been extensive interest in how intraspecific trait variation affects ecological processes, outcomes are highly variable even when individuals are identical: some are lucky, while others are not. Trait variation is therefore important only if it adds substantially to the variability produced by luck. We ask when trait variation has a substantial effect on variability in lifetime reproductive success (LRS), using two approaches: (1) we partition the variation in LRS into contributions from luck and trait variation and (2) we ask what can be inferred about an individual’s traits and with what certainty, given their observed LRS. In theoretical stage- and size-structured models and two empirical case studies, we find that luck usually dominates the variance of LRS. Even when individuals differ substantially in ways that affect expected LRS, unless the effects of luck are substantially reduced (e.g., low variability in reproductive life span or annual fecundity), most variance in lifetime outcomes is due to luck, implying that departures from “null” models omitting trait variation will be hard to detect. Luck also obscures the relationship between realized LRS and individual traits. While trait variation may influence the fate of populations, luck often governs the lives of individuals.

Keywords: reproductive skew, lifetime reproductive success, trait variation, individual stochasticity, Rissa tridactyla, Pseudoroegneria spicata, Artemisia tridentata

No Evidence for Unethical Amnesia for Imagined Actions: A Failed Replication and Extension

Stanley, Matthew, Brenda W Yang, and Felipe De Brigard 2018. “No Evidence for Unethical Amnesia for Imagined Actions: A Failed Replication and Extension”. PsyArXiv. March 1. psyarxiv.com/kn8ce

Abstract: In a recent paper, Kouchaki and Gino (2016) suggest that memory for unethical actions is impaired, regardless of whether such actions are real or imagined. However, as we argue in the current paper, their claim that people develop “unethical amnesia” confuses two distinct and dissociable memory deficits: one affecting the phenomenology of remembering and another affecting memory accuracy. To further investigate whether unethical amnesia affects memory accuracy, we conducted three studies exploring unethical amnesia for imagined ethical violations. The first study (N = 228) attempts to directly replicate the only study from Kouchaki and Gino (2016) that includes a measure of memory accuracy. The second study (N = 232) attempts again to replicate these accuracy effects from Kouchaki and Gino (2016), while including several additional variables meant to potentially help in finding the effect. The third study (N = 228) is an attempted conceptual replication using the same paradigm as Kouchaki and Gino (2016), but with a new vignette describing a different moral violation. We did not find an unethical amnesia effect involving memory accuracy in any of our three studies. These results cast doubt upon the claim that memory accuracy is impaired for imagined unethical actions. Suggestions for further ways to study memory for moral and immoral actions are discussed.

Self-Presentation Concerns of Appearing Overly Moral

Good, but Not a Goody Two-Shoes: Self-Presentation Concerns of Appearing Overly Moral. Colleen M. Cowgill. Thesis presented to the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University, August 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1492991431186931

People are generally motivated to appear moral to others in order to gain trust and be liked. However, there may be conditions under which people may be motivated to appear less moral to others in order to be liked. Given previous research that people often tend to derogate and dislike "do-gooders" and "moral rebels," we hypothesized that people will be motivated to downplay their level of morality in interpersonal interactions after privately receiving feedback that they are far more moral than their peers. Furthermore, we predicted these effects would occur in the realm of morality, but not the realm of intelligence. Hypotheses were partially supported by the results of four studies. Although studies provided evidence that people prefer to be seen as intellectually superior to their peers rather than morally superior on affective measures, other studies provided no behavioral evidence that fear of being seen as a "goody-two-shoes" leads people to downplay their moral behavior.

Keywords: morality; self-presentation; overly moral; optimal distinctiveness

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A recent study showed that participants derogated "moral rebels" who refused to participate in a racist task that the participants themselves agreed to take part in (Monin, Sawyer, Marquez, 2008). This effect was driven by the imagined or implicit reproach of the "moral rebels" against the complicit participants. In another study, participants who were asked to freely associate words with a target group (vegetarians) selected more words with negative connotations if they expected that target group to identify themselves as morally superior to the participants, who were meat-eaters (Minson &Monin, 2012).

Other research has shown that this phenomenon of derogating potentially morally superior others even appears in young children. Although children rated their peers as more likable if they were generous they liked generous children significantly less if those children were more generous than themselves - presumably because those children represented a threatening upward social comparison (Tasim, Dominquez, & Winn, 2015). These do-gooder derogation effects highlight an important potential drawback to being identified as "holier than thou." People tend not to like those they perceive as morally superior to themselves, or those they imagine as deeming themselves morally superior. Additionally, people in danger of being perceived as “holier than thou” may even face social penalties in the form of antisocial punishment.

Demographically diverse crowds are typically not much wiser than homogeneous crowds

Demographically diverse crowds are typically not much wiser than homogeneous crowds. Stephanie de Oliveira and Richard E. Nisbett. PNAS 2018 February, 115 (9) 2066-2071. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1717632115

Significance: Leveraging social diversity to maximize group performance is an important challenge in the organizational sphere. Reported studies examine the effects of demographic diversity on the accuracy of “crowd” judgment—statistically aggregated individual judgments. Results suggest that demographic diversity does not boost crowds’ cognitive diversity to the extent necessary to make diverse crowds much wiser than homogeneous ones. A strong implication is that a decision to seek diverse opinion on matters of fact should be based on a cost/benefit analysis: Will a search for diversity likely pay off in increased accuracy? Payoffs can be maximized by using stronger correlates of cognitive diversity than demographic variables.

Abstract: Averaging independent numerical judgments can be more accurate than the average individual judgment. This “wisdom of crowds” effect has been shown with large, diverse samples, but the layperson wishing to take advantage of this may only have access to the opinions of a small, more demographically homogeneous “convenience sample.” How wise are homogeneous crowds relative to diverse crowds? In simulations and survey studies, we demonstrate three necessary conditions under which small socially diverse crowds can outperform socially homogeneous crowds: Social identity must predict judgment, the effect of social identity on judgment must be at least moderate in size, and the average estimates of the social groups in question must “bracket” the truth being judged. Seven survey studies suggest that these conditions are rarely met in real judgment tasks. Comparisons between the performances of diverse and homogeneous crowds further confirm that social diversity can make crowds wiser but typically by a very small margin.

Individuals cheat significantly more when they interact with a machine rather than a person, regardless of whether the machine is equipped with human features. When interacting with a human, individuals are particularly reluctant to report unlikely favorable outcomes

Honesty in the Digital Age. Alain Cohn, Tobias Gesche and Michel Maréchal (2018), University of Zurich, Working paper series / Department of Economics No. 280, http://www.econ.uzh.ch/static/workingpapers.php?id=959

Abstract: Modern communication technologies enable efficient exchange of information, but often sacrifice direct human interaction inherent in more traditional forms of communication. This raises the question of whether the lack of personal interaction induces individuals to exploit informational asymmetries. We conducted two experiments with 866 subjects to examine how human versus machine interaction influences cheating for financial gain. We find that individuals cheat significantly more when they interact with a machine rather than a person, regardless of whether the machine is equipped with human features. When interacting with a human, individuals are particularly reluctant to report unlikely favorable outcomes, which is consistent with social image concerns. The second experiment shows that dishonest individuals prefer to interact with a machine when facing an opportunity to cheat. Our results suggest that human interaction is key to mitigating dishonest behavior and that self-selection into communication channels can be used to screen for dishonest people.

Keywords: Cheating, honesty, private information, communication, digitization, lying costs

What is mood? A computational perspective

What is mood? A computational perspective. James E Clark, Stuart Watson and Karl J Friston. Psychological Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291718000430

Abstract: The neurobiological understanding of mood, and by extension mood disorders, remains elusive despite decades of research implicating several neuromodulator systems. This review considers a new approach based on existing theories of functional brain organisation. The free energy principle (a.k.a. active inference), and its instantiation in the Bayesian brain, offers a complete and simple formulation of mood. It has been proposed that emotions reflect the precision of – or certainty about – the predicted sensorimotor/interoceptive consequences of action. By extending this reasoning, in a hierarchical setting, we suggest mood states act as (hyper) priors over uncertainty (i.e. emotions). Here, we consider the same computational pathology in the proprioceptive and interoceptive (behavioural and autonomic) domain in order to furnish an explanation for mood disorders. This formulation reconciles several strands of research at multiple levels of enquiry.

What do undergraduates learn about human intelligence? An analysis of introductory psychology textbooks

Warne, R. T., Astle, M. C., & Hill, J. C. (2018). What do undergraduates learn about human intelligence? An analysis of introductory psychology textbooks. Archives of Scientific Psychology, 6(1), 32-50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/arc0000038

Abstract: Human intelligence is an important concept in psychology because it provides insights into many areas, including neurology, sociology, and health. Additionally, IQ scores can predict life outcomes in health, education, work, and socioeconomic status. Yet, most students of psychology do not have an opportunity to take a class on intelligence. To learn what psychology students typically learn about intelligence, we analyzed 29 textbooks for introductory psychology courses. We found that over 3/4 of textbooks contained inaccurate statements. The five most commonly taught topics were IQ (93.1% of books), Gardner’s multiple intelligences (93.1%), Spearman’s g (93.1%), Sternberg’s triarchic theory (89.7%), and how intelligence is measured (82.8%). We learned that most introductory psychology students are exposed to some inaccurate information about intelligence and may have the mistaken impression that nonmainstream theories (e.g., Sternberg’s or Gardner’s theories) are as empirically supported mainstream theories (such as Spearman’s g).

Impact of Quran in Treatment of the Psychological Disorder and Spiritual Illness: 92.6% support the contention that the Quran has a significant healing influence

Impact of Quran in Treatment of the Psychological Disorder and Spiritual Illness. Ali Ali Gobaili Saged et al. Journal of Religion and Health, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-018-0572-8

Abstract: This paper studies the effect of Quranic therapy on psychological diseases and spiritual diseases. The experiments have been conducted on a random sample with 121 patients from both genders. The procedures that have been followed were different sessions with the patients, who were given some verses from the Holy Quran to listen within a specific period of time. After that, each patient was given a remedy program. This study aimed to measure the effectiveness and responsiveness of patients to receive treatment through Quran. This study highlighted the employment of a quantitative research, which achieved its objective through validity and reliability. The results of the effectiveness factor came after ability and willingness and gave a result of 92.6% for those who support the contention that the Quran has a significant healing influence. Also, some of the patients who regularly attended Quranic therapy sessions have been successfully cured, 81.8% of the sample believe that Quranic therapy sessions support their health needs. This study has empirically proved that the sound of the Holy Quran is an effective treatment for those who suffer from spiritual and psychological issues. Folk medicine and other traditional methods of treatment are important field of study that require further investigation. The study also illustrates that it’s highly important for patient to have confidence in his doctor or healer. Furthermore, our results show that the ability and willingness positively and significantly are related to the effectiveness and responsiveness, also effectiveness positively and significantly related to the responsiveness. Therefore, the patients satisfied to receive treatment through Quran and they have the ability and willingness to do so as they believe that Quran is an essential part of their life.

Individual variations in ratings of physical attractiveness were broadly unrelated to rater BMI and suggest that mutual attraction is an unlikely explanation for assortative mating for obesity

Wang, G., Ekeleme-Egedigwe, C. A., El Hamdouchi, A., Sauciuvenaite, J., Bissland, R., Djafarian, K., Ojiambo, R., Ramuth, H., Holasek, S., Lackner, S., Diouf, A., Hambly, C., Vaanholt, L. M., Cao, M., Hacker, M., Kruger, H. S., Seru, T., Faries, M. D. and Speakman, J. R. (2018), Beauty and the Body of the Beholder: Raters’ BMI Has Only Limited Association with Ratings of Attractiveness of the Opposite Sex. Obesity, 26: 522–530. doi:10.1002/oby.22092

Abstract

Objective: Assortative mating for adiposity increases the genetic burden on offspring, but its causes remain unclear. One hypothesis is that people who have high adiposity find other people with obesity more physically attractive than lean people.

Methods: The attractiveness of sets of images of males and females who varied in adiposity were rated by opposite sex subjects (559 males and 340 females) across 12 countries.

Results: There was tremendous individual variability in attractiveness ratings. For female attractiveness, most males favored the leanest subjects, but others favored intermediate fatness, some were indifferent to body composition, and others rated the subjects with obesity as most attractive. For male images rated by females, the patterns were more complex. Most females favored subjects with low levels of adiposity (but not the lowest level), whereas others were indifferent to body fatness or rated the images depicting individuals with obesity as the most attractive. These patterns were unrelated to rater BMI. Among Caucasian males who rated the images of the thinnest females as being more attractive, the magnitude of the effect depended on rater BMI, indicating limited “mutual attraction.”

Conclusions: Individual variations in ratings of physical attractiveness were broadly unrelated to rater BMI and suggest that mutual attraction is an unlikely explanation for assortative mating for obesity.

Cross-national study, USA, Iran, Turkey, shows that the embodiment of an ideal sense of humor was predominantly a male figure

Is an Ideal Sense of Humor Gendered? A Cross-National Study. Sümeyr Tosun, Nafiseh Faghihi and Jyotsna Vaid. Front. Psychol., February 27 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00199

Abstract: To explore lay conceptions of characteristics of an ideal sense of humor as embodied in a known individual, our study examined elicited written narratives by male and female participants from three different countries of origin: United States, Iran, and Turkey. As reported in an earlier previous study with United States-based participants (Crawford and Gressley, 1991), our study also found that the embodiment of an ideal sense of humor was predominantly a male figure. This effect was more pronounced for male than for female participants but did not differ by country. Relative mention of specific humor characteristics differed by participant gender and by country of origin. Whereas all groups mentioned creativity most often as a component of an ideal sense of humor, this attribute was mentioned significantly more often by Americans than by the other two groups; hostility/sarcasm was also mentioned significantly more often by Americans than Turkish participants who mentioned it more often than Iranian participants. Caring was mentioned significantly more often by Americans and Iranians than by Turkish participants. These findings show a shared pattern of humor characteristics by gender but group differences in the relative prominence given to specific humor characteristics. Further work is needed to corroborate the group differences observed and to pinpoint their source.

How Pervasive Is Mind Wandering?

Seli, Paul, Roger E Beaty, James A Cheyne, Daniel Smilek, and Daniel L Schacter 2018. “How Pervasive Is Mind Wandering, Really?”. PsyArXiv. February 26. psyarxiv.com/9pruj

Abstract: Recent claims that people spend 40-50% of their waking lives mind wandering (MW) (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010; Kane et al. 2007) have become widely accepted and frequently cited. While acknowledging attention to be inconstant and wavering, and MW to be ubiquitous, we argue and present evidence that such simple quantitative estimates are misleading and potentially meaningless without serious qualification. MW estimates requiring dichotomous judgments of inner experience rely on questionable assumptions about how such judgments are made and the resulting data do not permit straightforward interpretations. We present evidence that estimates of daily-life MW vary dramatically depending on response options provided. Offering participants a range of options in estimating task engagement yielded variable MW estimates, from approximately 60% to 10%, depending on assumptions made about how observers make introspective judgments about their MW experiences and how they understand what it means to be on- or off-task.

‘You Do You’ Feminism: Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer Women’s Perspectives on the Dildo

‘You Do You’ Feminism: Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer Women’s Perspectives on the Dildo. Michaela Madraga, Elly-Jean Nielsen, Todd G. Morrison. Sexuality & Culture, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-018-9507-5

Abstract: Historically, feminists have engaged in a contentious debate about the dildo. Some assert that it is an oppressive tool of the patriarchy whereas others proclaim that it is a practical means of expressing lesbian, bisexual, and queer women’s sexuality. To gain some perspective into the current status of this debate, seven non-heterosexual women were interviewed about their attitudes toward dildos. Interviews were examined using inductive thematic analysis, and viewed through the lens of social constructionism. Rather than taking sides in the dildo debates, participants embraced a you do you ideology (i.e., there is no “right” or “wrong” answer when it comes to choosing whether to use or not use dildos). Three themes clustered around this overarching ideology: dildos are optional (à la carte dildo), meanings of dildos are contextually and phenomenologically determined (contextuality of the dildo), and dildos have theoretical implications (critically conscious queers). Participants’ eschewal of the binarized debate about the dildo may be entwined with changing understandings of feminist, gender, and queer theory.

Journalists continue to live in bubbles in their online interactions with each other; most journalists were more likely to interact with journalists who have the same gender, work in the same organization, on the same beat or in the same location

Journalistic Homophily on Social Media: Exploring journalists’ interactions with each other on Twitter. Folker Hanusch & Daniel Nölleke. Digital Journalism, https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2018.1436977

Abstract: Journalists have for considerable time been criticized for living in their own bubbles, a phenomenon industry commentators have referred to as groupthink, while in scholarship the tendency of individuals to connect with people who are like them is termed homophily. This age-old process has come under scrutiny in recent times due to the arrival of social network sites, which have been viewed as both working against but also leading to more homophily. In journalism scholarship, these processes are still little understood, however. Focusing on the social network site Twitter and drawing on a large-scale analysis of more than 600,000 tweets sent by 2908 Australian journalists during one year, this study shows that journalists continue to live in bubbles in their online interactions with each other. Most journalists were more likely to interact with journalists who have the same gender, work in the same organization, on the same beat or in the same location. However, the study also demonstrates some notable exceptions as well as the importance of differentiating between types of interaction.

Keywords: homophily, interactions, journalist, social media, Twitter, groupthink, bubble

There are no specific neurophysiological systems of positive or negative affect, and emotional valence is rather an integrative product of many brain systems during estimations of needs and the capacities required to satisfy these needs

Functionality versus dimensionality in psychological taxonomies, and a puzzle of emotional valence. Irina Trofimova. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0167

Abstract: This paper applies evolutionary and functional constructivism approaches to the discussion of psychological taxonomies, as implemented in the neurochemical model Functional Ensemble of Temperament (FET). FET asserts that neurochemical systems developed in evolution to regulate functional-dynamical aspects of construction of actions: orientation, selection (integration), energetic maintenance, and management of automatic behavioural elements. As an example, the paper reviews the neurochemical mechanisms of interlocking between emotional dispositions and performance capacities. Research shows that there are no specific neurophysiological systems of positive or negative affect, and that emotional valence is rather an integrative product of many brain systems during estimations of needs and the capacities required to satisfy these needs. The interlocking between emotional valence and functional aspects of performance appears to be only partial since all monoamine and opioid receptor systems play important roles in non-emotional aspects of behaviour, in addition to emotionality. This suggests that the Positive/Negative Affect framework for DSM/ICD classifications of mental disorders oversimplifies the structure of non-emotionality symptoms of these disorders. Contingent dynamical relationships between neurochemical systems cannot be represented by linear statistical models searching for independent dimensions (such as factor analysis); nevertheless, these relationships should be reflected in psychological and psychiatric taxonomies.

Media usage diminishes memory for experiences

Media usage diminishes memory for experiences. Diana I. Tamir et al. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 76, May 2018, Pages 161–168, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.01.006

Highlights
•    Media use during an experience impairs memory for that experience.
•    Media use impairs memory in controlled and naturalistic studies, solo and social experiences.
•    Using media does not reliably reduce engagement or enjoyment of that experience.

Abstract: People increasingly use social media to record and share their experiences, but it is unclear whether or how social media use changes those experiences. Here we present both naturalistic and controlled studies in which participants engage in an experience while using media to record or share their experiences with others, or not engaging with media. We collected objective measures of participants' experiences (scores on a surprise memory test) as well as subjective measures of participants' experiences (self-reports about their engagement and enjoyment). Across three studies, participants without media consistently remembered their experience more precisely than participants who used media. There is no conclusive evidence that media use impacted subjective measures of experience. Together, these findings suggest that using media may prevent people from remembering the very events they are attempting to preserve.

Keywords: Media; Sharing; Pictures; Memory; Engagement; Enjoyment

Preschoolers’ knowledge about language-specific properties of writing

Otake, S., Treiman, R. and Yin, L. (2018), Preschoolers’ knowledge about language-specific properties of writing. Br J Dev Psychol. doi:10.1111/bjdp.12240

Abstract: According to the differentiation hypothesis, young children's attempts to write show characteristics common to all writing systems, such as linearity. Characteristics that are specific to the writing system of the child's culture emerge only later. We tested this hypothesis by presenting adults who knew both Chinese and English with written productions of Chinese and United States 2- to 5-year-olds and asking them to judge the nationality of the writer. Adults performed significantly above the level expected by chance even with the productions of 2- and 3-year-olds, suggesting that knowledge of language-specific characteristics emerges earlier than previously thought. Children appeared to show more language-specific characteristics in their names than in other writings, for adults performed better with children's names than with other items.

Comment on US’ Taiwan Travel Act challenges Beijing’s red line, by Ling Shengli

To the editor, Global Times

Sir, I read US’ Taiwan Travel Act challenges Beijing’s red line, by Ling Shengli (www.globaltimes.cn/content/1089576.shtml). The author concludes the pamphlet with this sentence: "If any US high-level official pays an official visit to Taiwan, Beijing will treat it as severe provocation and adopt all possible countermeasures, including uniting Taiwan by military force." All of them? All possible measures? Not many, not some, not the most forceful?

Before, he exhibits more of the lack of nuance of someone writing for the hand that feeds him: "Once the Taiwan Travel Act goes into effect, the foundation of Sino-US relationship will be shaken and damage to the ties will be immeasurable." With no hesitation they will be so damaged?

I am worried that the author may be ill, or perhaps entering into senility. I offer him as a suggestion to retire soon and look for a nursing home where to live his last years, since the Jinping Xi regime will take care of him for his use of his brains writing such materials.

Another suggestion is for the editor to stop publishing texts like this one from people that, as academics with a Ph. D., should as a minimum show moderation in the form. The same things could have been said with much better effect with the author just appearing less of a lackey.

Sincerely,

       [name, phone, other data]
       [not keeping here the signature with a personal name as a precaution due
       to the government's aggressiveness with opposing views]

Higher sex ratio at sexual maturity is linked to higher later-life male mortality, likely due to stress caused by low mate availability

Does the sex ratio at sexual maturity affect Men's later-life mortality risks? Evidence from historical China. Emma Zang, Hui Zheng. Social Science & Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.02.024

Highlights
•    Higher sex ratio at sexual maturity is linked to higher later-life male mortality.
•    This association is likely due to stress caused by low mate availability.
•    A high sex ratio at sexual maturity mitigates the health benefits of marriage.
•    A high sex ratio at sexual maturity exacerbates health disadvantages.

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between the male-to-female sex ratio (measured as the proportion male) at sexual maturity and later-life mortality risks in the context of pre-industrial northeast China, using registration data from the Qing Dynasty. We find that a higher male-to-female sex ratio at sexual maturity is associated with a higher later-life mortality risk among men. This association is likely due to the long-term adverse consequences of stress caused by low mate availability at sexual maturity. We further find that a high sex ratio at sexual maturity mitigates the health benefits of marriage and exacerbates the health disadvantages of holding an official position in Qing China.

Keywords: Sex ratio at sexual maturity; Mortality risks; Life course