In this study, the relationship between essentialism, religious beliefs, and views of change was investigated. Participants were given surveys containing three sets of items and a demographic questionnaire. Item sets included the Intrinsic/Extrinsic-Revised Scale of Religiosity, the Essentialist Belief Scales, and the Change Vignettes. Results indicated those with gradualist religious views were not more likely to endorse essentialist views when compared to those with conversionist views. Those who essentialized at high levels were not less likely to endorse the possibility of change in comparison to those who essentialized at lower levels. Participants with high levels of extrinsic religiosity were not more likely to demonstrate essentialist beliefs as compared to those with low levels of extrinsic religiosity. In addition, individuals did not view change as more plausible as they were determined to be more intrinsically religious. No relationship was found between religious affiliation and views of change or measures of essentialist thought. Those belonging to Fundamentalists and Liberalist denominational groups were found to be similar in regard to beliefs about change, and essentialism, as well as intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity. Those classified as Others were significantly different from Fundamentalist and Liberalists, excluding ratings of the importance of good deeds.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-10-06T17:47:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 maurorochabaptista.pdf: 1613259 bytes, checksum: 89a94dfec1d0c704b2b60565402cd7ce (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-10-07T12:14:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 maurorochabaptista.pdf: 1613259 bytes, checksum: 89a94dfec1d0c704b2b60565402cd7ce (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-07T12:14:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 maurorochabaptista.pdf: 1613259 bytes, checksum: 89a94dfec1d0c704b2b60565402cd7ce (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-07-31 / Este trabalho visa promover uma leitura de Franz Kafka que apresente em suas narrativas algumas possibilidades de religiosidade que podem ser reveladas em um texto não-religioso. Apontamos na literatura kafkiana três posturas que cumprem esta função: A religiosidade institucional que se estrutura em torno da lei. Ela mantém os seus associados em completa alienação, beneficiando-os com respostas vagas às suas dúvidas. Apesar de não responder, ela possibilita uma sensação de resposta dada. Uma sensação que a maioria dos personagens de Kafka opta por sentir. A esta religiosidade se contrapõe uma ação negativa que parte dos heróis. Eles despertam da alienação porque se sentem perseguidos pela mesma instituição que deveria lhes garantir a harmonia social. Uma vez despertos se propõe a lutar contra a lei conforme ela é apresentada pela religiosidade institucional. Todas as suas forças são dedicadas a esta negação. A terceira postura, a religiosidade do humor, se apresenta como crítica dos extremismos gerados pelas duas anteriores. Através da formatação de seus textos Kafka possibilita uma revisão da simples valorização da postura de seus heróis. Pelo humor a instituição é questionada em sua postura impositiva e a negação em sua arrogância, desta forma o humor se apresenta como uma religiosidade refinada de todo extremismo. / This work intends to promote a reading of Franz Kafka which presents in his narrative some possibilities of religiosity that can be reveled in a non-religious text. We point out in Kafka‟s work three postures which cover that function: the institutional religiosity that is structured around the law. It keeps its associates in a complete alienation, benefiting them with vague answers to their queries. Although it does not really answer, it gives them the feeling of an answer given. A feeling that most of Kafka‟s characters choose to have. A negative religiosity, which comes from the heroes, is opposed to the previous one. They wake up from the alienation because of the feeling of being pursued by the same institution that should guarantee them a social harmony. Once waken, they propose to fight against the law the way it is presented by the institutional religiosity. All their strength is dedicated to that negation. The third posture, the religiosity of humor, is presented as a criticism of the extremisms generated by the others. By a correct understanding of the format of Kafka‟s texts, we are able to revise the valorization of the posture of his heroes. Through humor the institution is questioned on its imposing posture as well as the negation on its arrogance. This way, humor is presented as a religiosity refined from any extremism.

Despite the prediction that religion would wane in the 21st century, evidence suggests otherwise. It is important therefore for mental health professionals to understand the role of religion in the lives of their clients and to appreciate its impact on mental health. Research suggests a moderate inverse relationship between religion and depression and anxiety with some cross-cultural support. The relationship is however complex and context needs to be taken into account. The effect of culture and the importance of intrinsic religiosity are discussed. Much research is conducted in the US in the field of psychiatry, suggesting a gap in the British psychological literature. Some implications for clinical practice are discussed. The interplay between religion, culture and wellbeing is discussed

The purposes of this study were to estimate: (a) the extent of biblical literacy among convenience samples of adults from randomly selected religious and non-religious groups, (b) the extent to which American adults are religious, and (c) the association between religiosity and biblical literacy.

The study of social networks has become well established in social science. As part of this development, the past several decades have seen an increasing interest in adolescent social relations. Some of the relevant research has focused on explaining similarity patterns in friendship with respect to social categories and have found homophily (the tendency to select similar friends) to be an important factor, or mechanism, influencing friendships. Although the study of social networks has also documented the importance of several other factors for the formation/maintenance of friendships, it has paid little attention to how different factors might interact. Surprisingly little attention has also been paid to how culturally constructed desires and beliefs might influence friend selection. Focusing on social categories relating to immigration background and religiosity, this research examines how homophily interacts with, or is affected by, a school’s classroom organization, and whether students’ beliefs and desires influence the formation and maintenance of friendships. Specifically, the four studies that constitute the second part of this work examine (1) whether native/immigrant background homophily varies depending on whether ties are formed/maintained within or across classroom boundaries, (2) whether adolescents tend to select friends with similar preferences for cultural diversity, and whether reporting a stronger preference for cultural diversity is associated with i) having more friends in school and ii) being more inclined to select dissimilar friends with respect to parents’ birth region, (3) whether adolescents tend to select similar friends in terms of religiosity (defined as the importance attributed to religion), and whether adolescents are influenced by the religiosity of their friends, and finally (4) whether selection of friends with similar beliefs brings with it similarity among friends in terms of behaviors such as alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking. All four studies are based on three observations of the complete friendship network of a cohort of adolescents during the first year in upper secondary education (N=115) and statistical models for social network analysis, so-called stochastic actor-oriented models. The results suggest adolescents’ inclination to select similar friends in terms of social categories varies with a school’s classroom structure and (for a smaller number of students) diversity preferences. Diversity preferences are also found to play a role in friend selection processes in other ways. In addition, so is religiously. Friend selection based on similarity in religiosity is found to lead to similarity among friends with respect to drinking behaviors. These findings suggest that considering the interplay between different tie formation mechanisms as well as individual desires and beliefs can be important for better understanding the evolution of social networks. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Submitted. Paper 2: Submitted. Paper 3: Submitted. Paper 4: Submitted.</p><p> </p>

THE PROTECTIVE ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT ON TOBACCO USE BEHAVIORS By: Brittany M. Berry, B.A. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2011 Major Director: Aashir Nasim Associate Professor Department of Psychology The primary aim of this study was to determine the protective effects of psychological empowerment (i.e., the belief that one has the knowledge, capabilities, and authority to be an active agent in their own life and in the surrounding community) on the tobacco use behaviors of young adults. A secondary aim was to examine whether religiosity confers a protective advantage to psychologically empowered individuals within an African American subsample. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the main and interaction effects of psychological empowerment and religiosity on the current cigarette use behaviors of 798 young adult, college students. The findings suggest a link between empowerment, religiosity, and tobacco use such that the protective effects of empowerment and religious support on cigarette use behaviors may be codependent. This research provides insight on the mutual dependence of protective factors for tobacco use and suggests an expansion of current risks and protective factors models.

<p>The associations between religiosity, popularity, problem behavior, and adolescent romantic involvement were examined with both concurrent regressions and longitudinal cross-lagged models in this three-year longitudinal study of 869 high-school Indonesian Muslim adolescents. A problem behavior construct was formed from three variables (i.e., self-reported tobacco use, self-reported alcohol use, and self-reported deviancy). Religiosity, problem behavior, and adolescent romance were self-reported, and popularity was peer-reported. Indonesian adolescents reported high percentages of romantic involvement across three grades, and their romantic involvement increased with age. In the concurrent analyses, both problem behavior and popularity were positively associated with romance at tenth grade, but the main effect of popularity was significant for girls only. Religiosity was negatively associated with romance for girls at tenth grade. In the cross-lagged models, tenth-grade popularity was positively associated with changes in adolescent romance from tenth to eleventh grade. Bidirectional associations emerged between problem behavior and adolescent romance across three grades. No gender difference emerged in the longitudinal analyses. These patterns of association showed both similarities and differences to those found in the US. This study provides evidence that adolescent romance is intertwined with other aspects of adolescent development in Indonesia, and highlights the importance of exploring the influences of culture on adolescent romance in future studies.</p>

The aim of this thesis was to test whether the protestant faith or the protestant tradition is the cause of the protestant suppressive effect on corruption and whether this effect prevails on an individual level. This was done using multilevel hierarchical regression models and over 350 000 survey questionnaires to avoid bias as well as national and cultural effects. This thesis shows that identifying oneself as protestant has a significant effect on ones tolerance of corruption, but this effect is severely reduced when controlling for socioeconomic and political factors. We further show that the level of religiosity is a relevant predictor in individual tolerance for corruption for protestants. The individual religious identity is, however, not as strong a predictor as documented aggregated levels of Protestantism, indicating that, while still relevant, national factors are more important in explaining variation in corruption. / <p>2019-06-04</p>

O fenômeno de Sincronicidade apresenta-se como um tipo de raciocínio que considera os eventos como elementos significativamente correspondentes inseridos em campos, e não tão somente a partir da ligação causal existente entre eles. A Sincronicidade pode oferecer respostas muitas vezes até mais eficazes do que o raciocínio causal e mostra-se passível de categorização. É hipótese desse trabalho que esse tipo de apreensão da realidade apresente-se mais desenvolvido em indivíduos pertencentes a uma esfera mais religiosa. Para investigar a ocorrência e sua percepção do modo sincronístico de apreensão da realidade em indivíduos de diferentes tipos de religiosidade, foram conduzidas entrevistas semi-dirigidas com representantes de diferentes cultos religiosos e indivíduos supostamente de raciocínio mais cartesiano ou incrédulos, para posterior análise fenomenológica. Trazemos aqui as análises das entrevistas de, por um lado, um indivíduo supostamente mais afetado pelo fenômeno sincronístico - uma praticante sufi - e, por outro, entre os supostamente menos afetados, de um ateu. Notou-se claramente um desenvolvimento maior de uma apreensão sincronística da realidade entre os indivíduos supostamente mais afetados pelo fenômeno e, na medida do possível, conceitou-se particularidades do fenômeno de Sincronicidade, assinalando-se a possibilidade de caracterizá-lo como evento sagrado, em conformidade às concepções apresentadas do fenômeno sacral / Synchronicity presents itself as a kind of reasoning that considers the events as significantly corresponding elements inserted into fields, and not solely from the causal link between them. Synchronicity can offer answers often more effective than causal reasoning and shows itself liable to categorization. Working hypothesis here is that this kind of apprehension of reality presents itself more developed in individuals belonging to a sphere more religious. To investigate the occurrence and perception of synchronistic way of apprehending reality in individuals of different types of religiosity were conducted semi-structured interviews with representatives of different religious cults and individuals supposed more Cartesian or unbelievers, for further phenomenological analysis. We bring here the analysis of interviews, on the one hand, an individual supposedly most affected by the phenomenon synchronistic - a Sufi practitioner - and, secondly, between the supposedly less affected, an atheist. It was noted clearly further development of a seizure synchronistic reality between individuals allegedly most affected by the phenomenon, and to the extent possible, it is thought particularities of the phenomenon of synchronicity, indicating the possibility to characterize it as a sacred event, according to the conceptions of the phenomenon presented sacral

A religiosidade tem sido estudada nas diferentes fases do ciclo vital, em especial na adolescência, como fator protetivo a prática do ato infracional. Para compreender esta dimensão da vida sob a ótica de adolescentes autores de atos infracionais, o estudo visou a investigar os significados de fé e religiosidade para adolescentes em conflito com a lei, norteado pelos conceitos de Mauro Amatuzzi. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa exploratória, realizada com seis adolescentes, com idades entre 15 e 17 anos, em cumprimento de Medida Socioeducativa, Liberdade Assistida, de uma cidade do interior do estado de São Paulo. O estudo utilizou como instrumentos de coleta de dados a entrevista semiestruturada e a fotografia. Inicialmente foi realizada uma oficina de fotografia, na qual os adolescentes receberam a questão a ser respondida em fotografias: \"Como você pode representar a sua fé em fotografias?\". Após a oficina, os adolescentes fotografaram, com o seu próprio aparelho celular, imagens do seu cotidiano que representavam a sua fé. Em seguida, foi realizada uma entrevista individual a fim de conhecer a história do participante, explorar suas expressões de fé e conversar sobre as imagens capturadas e seus respectivos significados. Por fim, foi realizado um grupo em que os adolescentes puderam ver todas as fotografias impressas, sem que fossem identificados seus respectivos autores, e manipulá-las de forma a agrupá-las conforme os sentidos, construindo categorias. As categorias foram nomeadas pelos próprios participantes como: Tudo, Fé em Deus, É o plano, Paz e Família. Os dados foram analisados por meio da Análise de Conteúdo das entrevistas individuais, que serviram de apoio para a compreensão do material fotográfico. As categorias formadas foram: Proteção, Motivação, Deus onipresente, Identificação, Sentido de ligação afetiva, Referências e Símbolos, Ações e Rituais. A partir dos resultados obtidos foi possível compreender que este grupo de adolescentes em conflito com a lei apresenta diferentes experiências e significados de fé. No entanto, todos revelam relação com o enfrentamento das adversidades cotidianas e projeto de vida, principalmente relacionado a conquistas de bens materiais. Percebemos que o instrumento fotográfico facilitou a participação dos adolescentes na pesquisa e possibilitou aos mesmos o encontro com a própria experiência, evidenciando-se como um recurso efetivo para a compreensão do significado e mediação da narrativa / Religiosity has been studied in the different phases of the life cycle, especially in adolescence as a protective factor the practice of the infraction. In order to understand this dimension of life from the point of view of adolescent offenders, the study aimed to investigate the meanings of faith and religiosity for youth in conflict with the law, guided by the concepts of Mauro Amatuzzi. This is an exploratory qualitative research carried out with six adolescents, aged between 15 and 17 years old, in compliance with the Socioeducational Measure, Assisted Liberty, of a city in the interior of the state of São Paulo. The study used semistructured interviews and photography as instruments of data collection. Initially a photography workshop was held, where the adolescents received the question to be answered in photographs: How can you represent your faith in photographs? After the workshop, the adolescents photographed, with their own mobile devices, images of their daily lives that represented their Faith. Then an individual interview was conducted to learn the story of the participant, to explore their expressions of faith and to talk about the images and their respective meanings. And finally, a group a meeting was done for the adolescents could see all the printed photographs, without identification of the respective authors, and manipulate them in order to group them into categories. The categories were named by the participants as: All, Faith in God, It is the plan, Peace and Family. The data were analyzed through the content analysis of the individual interviews, which served as support for the understanding of the photographic material. The categories formed were: Protection, Motivation, Omnipresent God, Identification, Sense of affective bonding, References and Symbols, Actions and Rituals. From the results it was possible to understand that this group of adolescents in conflict with the law presents different experiences and meanings of faith, however, all reveal relation with the confrontation of daily adversities and life project, mainly related to achievements of material goods. From the results, it was noticed that the photographic instrument facilitated the participation of the adolescents in the research and enabled them to encounter their own experience, proving themselves as an effective resource for understanding the meaning and mediation of the narrative