Neurotheology: challenges and opportunities

During the last decades of the twentieth century scholars have proposed "neurotheology" as a new subdiscipline of the neurosciences. This article presents a review and discussion of different interpretations placed on neu- rotheology, and attempts to estimate the extent to which neuroscience is a challenge and/or an opportunity for theology and (for the study of) religion. On the neuroscientific side, neurotheology can be split into a reductionist and a religionist neuroscience of religion. On the theological side, it can be split into apologetic and integrative approaches. The appraisal of these differ- ent interpretations and of the relevance of neuroscience for the study of re- ligion is conducted from three points of view: philosophy and theology, cog- nitive science, psychology of religion and sciences of religions.

Interaction analysis and psychology: A dialogical perspective

Interaction analysis is not a prerogative of any discipline in social sciences. It has its own history within each disciplinary field and is related to specific research objects. From the standpoint of psychology, this article first draws upon a distinction between factorial and dialogical conceptions of interaction. It then briefly presents the basis of a dialogical approach in psychology and focuses upon four basic assumptions. Each of them is examined on a theoretical and on a methodological level with a leading question: to what extent is it possible to develop analytical tools that are fully coherent with dialogical assumptions? The conclusion stresses the difficulty of developing methodological tools that are fully consistent with dialogical assumptions and argues that there is an unavoidable tension between accounting for the complexity of an interaction and using methodological tools which necessarily "monologise" this complexity.

Cognitive and Emotional Deficits Associated with Minor and Serious Delinquency in High-Risk Adolescents

This study aims at evaluating how minor and serious delinquency relates to cognitive and emotional functioning in high-risk adolescents, taking problematic substance use into account. In 80 high-risk adolescent males (13-19 years), the frequency of minor and serious offences committed over the last year was predicted, in multiple regression analyses, from problematic substance use, intellectual efficiency, trait impulsivity, alexithymia (inability to express feelings in words), and cognitive coping strategies. Both minor and serious delinquency were more frequent in adolescents with more problematic substance use and higher intellectual efficacy. Minor delinquency was further related to a tendency to act out when experiencing negative emotions, and difficulties in focusing energy on instrumental action when under stress; while serious delinquency was predominantly and strongly related to rigid and dichotomous thinking. The results underline the heterogeneous nature of delinquency, minor offences being primarily associated with emotional regulation deficits, while major offences are related with a lack of cognitive flexibility.

Changing Religiosity, Changing Politics? The Influence of 'Belonging' and 'Believing' on Political Attitudes in Switzerland

Starting from theories of secularization and of religious individualization, we propose a two-dimensional typology of religiosity and test its impact on political attitudes. Unlike classic conceptions of religiosity used in political studies, our typology simultaneously accounts for an individual's sense of belonging to the church (institutional dimension) and his/her personal religious beliefs (spiritual dimension). Our analysis, based on data from the World Values Survey in Switzerland (1989-2007), shows two main results. First, next to evidence of religious decline, we also find evidence of religious change with an increase in the number of people who "believe without belonging." Second, non-religious individuals and individuals who believe without belonging are significantly more permissive on issues of cultural liberalism than followers of institutionalized forms of religiosity.

The role of the object and the mourning process in the child

The young child's ability to go through a genuine mourning process has been a source of controversy in the psychoanalytical literature. This may seem surprising, considering that mourning is essential for and inherent to psychic development. This paper attempts to show that the young child's ability to go through a mourning process does not depend mainly on ego maturity, nor just on an acknowledgment of a loss in the external world, nor on the child's understanding the idea of death at an intellectual and cognitive level. But it may depend mainly on the establishment of the primordial mourning process inherent to the separation of the transnarcissistic mother-child relation and on the existence of the objectalizing function (A. Green, 1986) in the remaining or substitute parent's psyche. A clinical example serves to illustrate these hypotheses.

Closeness in relationships as a mediator between sexual abuse in childhood or adolescence and psychopathological outcome in adulthood.

The risk of adverse psychological outcomes in adult victims of childhood and adolescent sexual abuse (CSA) has been documented; however, research on possible mediating variables is still required, namely with a clinical perspective. The attachment literature suggests that secure interpersonal relationships may represent such a variable. Twenty-eight women who had experienced episodes of CSA, and 16 control women, were interviewed using Bremner's Early Trauma Inventory and the DSM-IV Global Assessment of Functioning; they also responded to Collins' Relationship Scales Questionnaire, evaluating adult attachment representations in terms of Closeness, Dependence and Anxiety. Subjects with an experience of severe abuse reported significantly more interpersonal distance in relationships (low index of Closeness) than other subjects. The index of psychopathological functioning was correlated with both the severity of abuse and attachment (low index of Closeness). Regression analysis on the sample of abused women revealed that attachment predicted psychopathology when abuse was controlled for, whereas abuse did not predict psychopathology when attachment was controlled for. Therefore, preserving a capacity for closeness with attachment figures in adulthood appears to mediate the consequences of CSA on subsequent psychopathological outcome.

Perceptions of aging across 26 cultures and their culture-level associates

College students (N = 3,435) in 26 cultures reported their perceptions of age-related changes in physical cognitive, and socioemotional areas of functioning and rated societal views of aging within their culture. There was widespread cross-cultural consensus regarding the expected direction of aging trajectories with (a) perceived declines in societal views of aging, physical attractiveness, the ability to perform everyday tasks, and new learning; (b) perceived increases in wisdom, knowledge, and received respect; and (c) perceived stability in family authority and life satisfaction. Cross-cultural variations in aging perceptions were associated with culture-level indicators of population aging, education levels, values, and national character stereotypes. These associations were stronger for societal views on aging and perceptions of socioemotional changes than for perceptions of physical and cognitive changes. A consideration of culture-level variables also suggested that previously reported differences in aging perceptions between Asian and Western countries may be related to differences in population structure.

Dialogism and dialogicality in the study of the self

This article stems from the statement that dialogical approaches to a study of the self face a double challenge: that of developing a conception of the self that both avoids social reductionism and accounts for the stability of the self. In discussing this double challenge, we identify three much debated issues: (a) To what does the notion of "Alter" exactly refer? (b) How could we conceptualize the fact that Subject-Alter interactions are not only interpersonal but entail larger social entities, in particular institutions? (c)What importance should we attach to the materiality of objects? We discuss these three questions from two standpoints - that of linguistics and that of psychology - and illustrate our theoretical proposals with an analysis of an excerpt taken from a focus-group discussion. In conclusion, we argue that the dialogism of discourse provides us with some clues about the dialogicality of the mind, whereas the latter invites us to develop a theory showing the importance of interactions in the construction of the self, to pay more attention to the transpersonal dimension of the social, and to consider that the material world contributes to the construction of the self.

Instruments measuring spirituality in clinical research: a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Numerous instruments have been developed to assess spirituality and measure its association with health outcomes. This study's aims were to identify instruments used in clinical research that measure spirituality; to propose a classification of these instruments; and to identify those instruments that could provide information on the need for spiritual intervention. METHODS: A systematic literature search in MEDLINE, CINHAL, PsycINFO, ATLA, and EMBASE databases, using the terms "spirituality" and "adult$," and limited to journal articles was performed to identify clinical studies that used a spiritual assessment instrument. For each instrument identified, measured constructs, intended goals, and data on psychometric properties were retrieved. A conceptual and a functional classification of instruments were developed. RESULTS: Thirty-five instruments were retrieved and classified into measures of general spirituality (N = 22), spiritual well-being (N = 5), spiritual coping (N = 4), and spiritual needs (N = 4) according to the conceptual classification. Instruments most frequently used in clinical research were the FACIT-Sp and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale. Data on psychometric properties were mostly limited to content validity and inter-item reliability. According to the functional classification, 16 instruments were identified that included at least one item measuring a current spiritual state, but only three of those appeared suitable to address the need for spiritual intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Instruments identified in this systematic review assess multiple dimensions of spirituality, and the proposed classifications should help clinical researchers interested in investigating the complex relationship between spirituality and health. Findings underscore the scarcity of instruments specifically designed to measure a patient's current spiritual state. Moreover, the relatively limited data available on psychometric properties of these instruments highlight the need for additional research to determine whether they are suitable in identifying the need for spiritual interventions.