Matching Items (10)
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- All Subjects: religion
- All Subjects: gay
- Creators: Cohen, Adam
Description
Conversion to Judaism has a long history, and changes in Jewish law for converts over the centuries have reflected changes in the relationship between the Jewish community and the larger societies within which Jews have lived. As American Jews now live in the most open society they have encountered, a split is developing between Orthodox and liberal Jewish rabbinic authorities in how they deal with potential converts. This split is evident in books written to advice potential converts and in conversion narratives by people who have converted to Judaism. For this project over 30 people who were in the process of converting to Judaism were interviewed. Their stories reflect the ways in which liberal Judaism has been affected by American ideals and values, including feminism and an emphasis on spiritual individuality.
ContributorsCohen, Mariam (Author) / Gereboff, Joel (Thesis advisor) / Woodward, Mark (Committee member) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
A prior experiment by Li and colleagues found that when participants rated same sex faces in physical attractiveness, their self-reports of religiosity were higher in comparison to those that rated opposite sex faces. Could this be due to participants feeling their sexuality was threatened or misunderstood? In the current experiment, we attempted to replicate these findings and extend them by using a pseudo personality test that presented false feedback to participants. This feedback explained that their personalities were similar to homosexual or heterosexual people. Four hundred and fifty participants from Amazon Mturk were randomized into these conditions. We also measured homophobia, moral values, and the believability of the experiment. Results displayed no replication of the original findings. Men were more homophobic than women, while displaying lower moral values and religiosity. Those that self-reported being more homophobic also reported being more religious and moral. In conditions of sexual threat (homosexual personality, same sex faces) and sexual comfort (heterosexual personality, opposite sex faces), self-reports of moral values increased. Participants that reported believing the feedback displayed higher religiosity in both sexual threat and sexual comfort conditions. For a more concrete understanding of the relationship between religiosity, mating goals, and threats to sexuality, more research needs to be performed.
ContributorsHobaica, Steven Matthew (Author) / Cohen, Adam (Thesis director) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Neuberg, Steven (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / College of Public Programs (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
While the concept of healthcare is largely respected in Arab culture, the stigma underlying mental health is particularly startling. This study examined the differences in mental health treatment-seeking behaviors using data from Arabs living in Syria (12.9%) and Arabs (25.6%) and non-Arabs (61.5%) living in the United States of ages 18-60. A Web-based survey was developed to understand how factors like religiosity, acculturation, and positive attitudes towards psychological treatment increased help-seeking behaviors. This survey was also provided in Arabic to include non-English speaking participants. It was hypothesized that Arab-American individuals will be more open to pursuing professional psychological help when suffering from mental symptomology (i.e. anxiety) than individuals who identified as Syrian-Arabs. In contrast, both Syrian-Arabs and Arab-Americans would definitely pursue professional help when suffering from physical symptomology (i.e. ankle sprain). Striking differences were found based on Western acculturation. Findings suggested that Arab-Americans were less inclined towards treatment and more trusting of an in-group physician ("Dr. Ahmed") whereas Syrian-Arabs were more inclined to pursue psychological treatment and preferred to trust an out-group physician ("Dr. Smith"). The results of this study identify main concerns regarding Arab attitudes towards seeking mental health treatment, which can better inform future research and mental health services for this minority.
ContributorsRayes, Diana S (Author) / Brewer, Gene (Thesis director) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / Olive, Michael Foster (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
In the current study, the author investigated whether sociosexual orientation interacted with an experimental manipulation of sex ratios previously used by Li et al. (2010) which showed that men and women report greater religiosity after viewing profiles of attractive members of their own sex. The author predicted that only people of restricted sociosexual orientation would be reporting greater religiosity after viewing profiles of attractive members of their own sex. A sample of 171 undergraduate students (85 men, Mage = 19.5) from a large Southwestern university participated in the study for course credit. Participants were first administered the Sociosexual Orientation Index (Simpson & Gangestad, 1991). Then, under the pretense of assisting psychology faculty in designing a dating website for incoming students, participants viewed a set of profiles (photo and description) of either attractive men or attractive women, after which they answered a series of questions on a religiosity scale developed for the current study. Results showed that sociosexual orientation did not interact significantly with the experimental manipulation. Additionally, the results of the current study failed to replicate those of Li et al. (2010). The author discusses possibilities for why the results of the current study failed to replicate the results of Li et al., and for alternative explanations of the potential role of sociosexual orientation in responding to shifting sex ratios.
ContributorsCottengaim, Isaiah John (Author) / Cohen, Adam (Thesis director) / Neuberg, Steven (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Perceptions of the self differ between cultures, generally between those cultures in the West and East. Some of the ways that these individuals from these cultures may differ are in their self-construal, their collectivist and individualist tendencies, and how they perceive control in their lives. The current study proposes that some of these differences are influenced by different concepts individuals hold regarding the "soul", or inner self. These concepts may be promoted by the different religious beliefs prominent in different regions. The Soul Perception Index, being developed through this study, measures belief in multiple souls, a universal soul, a single soul, or no soul. It was predicted that a belief in a single soul will correlate with an individual view of the self (individualism, independent self-construal, internal locus of control), and a universal or multi-soul belief will correlate with an interdependent view of the self (collectivism, interdependent self-construal, and external locus of control). We found that these variables did not significantly differ in their relationships with soul belief. However, Indian Hindu participants and Chinese participants seemed to score highly on all self-view variables and all soul perception types indicating that individuals from these cultures may be more predisposed to hold opposing beliefs simultaneously while US Christians are not.
ContributorsNaidu, Esha Svetha (Author) / Cohen, Adam (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Johnson, Kathryn (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
In this honors thesis certain religious and moral beliefs were analyzed and used to predict active euthanasia acceptance for Christians in the United States. The factors used to predict euthanasia acceptance for a suffering, terminally ill individual were religiosity, empathy, God representations, and attitudes toward God. Negative correlations were observed between acceptance of euthanasia and religiosity, empathy, positive attitudes toward God, and a benevolent God representation. Positive correlations were observed between acceptance of euthanasia and negative attitudes toward God, whereas there was no significant correlation between support for euthanasia and an authoritarian God representation. When acceptance of euthanasia was regressed on these independent variables, religiosity was the most significant predictor of acceptance. It was concluded that highly religious Christians may tend to prioritize their religious teachings over their instinctual empathy for a suffering person because prematurely ending a patient’s life interferes with God’s will and reduces his role in worldly affairs.
ContributorsAustin, Richard Vincent (Author) / Johnson, Kathryn (Thesis director) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Trust was measured for a target profile that varied the target's religion and costly signaling behavior. Subjects were primed with a threat, romance, or neutral response previous to viewing the profile to determine if this had any effect on their trust ratings of the target. Participants were drawn from MTurk with ages ranging from 18 to 75 (M= 33.2) and various religious backgrounds (including 210 Christians, 190 atheists/agnostics, and 92 other religious believers). Participants were presented with the threat, romance, or neutral vignette, shown the target profile, and asked to rate the target's trustworthiness. There was no main effect of the vignette condition (p = .088) or costly signaling (p = .099) on the target's trustworthiness. There was a main effect of target religion (p = .006) wherein the Muslim target was trusted more than the Catholic target. These findings do not replicate previous findings on religion, costly signaling, and trust.
ContributorsBesaw, Courtney Michelle (Author) / Cohen, Adam (Thesis director) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
When discussing gay literature in the French, contemporary sphere, one of the most up
and coming and prominent authors is Édouard Louis. His works’ focus on the realism and
violence of the working class offers a critical and necessary perspective of the gay experience in
modern-day France. While recent in their creation, Louis’ works follow a connecting thread that
is inseparable from other autofiction novels that have a narrator with same sex attractions such as
Annie Ernaux’s Ce qu’ils disent or rien and Didier Eribon’s Retour à Reims. Often commonly
discussed as French LGBT literature, these autofictional works that extend from Gide to Eribon
to now Louis demonstrate how the proposed societal dualities, limitations, and hierarchies
described by philosophers like Michel Foucault and Judith Butler affect homosexual
performativity. Louis’ first novel En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule, published on January 2, 2014,
offers another illustration of this analysis. It specifically describes the metaphysical
(metaphysical being the relationship between the outer stimuli and internal perspective) effects
and constraints of current poverty on homosexual performativity. By analyzing En finir avec
Eddy Bellegueule through this theoretical framework of power and poverty, this thesis adds a
theoretical and intersectional nuance to the narrative voice that current literature focusing on the
novel’s landscape mentions but does not reflect on. I argue that it is important to attach an
autofictional timeline that is necessary to promote and apply future ontological doctrines to this
genre.
ContributorsYanez, Mariano (Author) / Canovas, Frédéric (Thesis director) / Agruss, David (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor, Contributor, Contributor, Contributor) / Dean, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Catholic confession is one of the most practiced and well-known religious acts in the world. Although Catholic confession has proven to be an important component in the lives of millions of people, little research has been conducted exploring trust engagement within Catholic confession or the variables that affect one’s willingness to confess. The purpose of this study was to examine Catholic confession and find whether variables such as perception of the sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, ability, benevolence, and integrity of the priest, Catholic Church, and pope, propensity to trust, trust, and intrinsic religiosity have a significant relation with one’s willingness to confess. This study was conducted through a series of anonymous questionnaires, including two measures that were created for the purpose of this study—the Sex Abuse Perception Measure and Willingness to Confess Measure. Linear regressions and correlations were used to analyze relation between variables. Results revealed that the perception one has of the sexual abuse within the Catholic Church is significantly related to the perceived ability, benevolence, and integrity for a priest, Catholic Church, and the pope. Additionally, ability and benevolence had a moderate positive relation with trust in a priest and the pope and benevolence and integrity had a moderate positive relation with trust in the Catholic Church. Surprisingly, there were no significant relations between propensity to trust and trust in the priest, Catholic Church, or the pope. Similarly, there were no significant relations between trust in the priest, Catholic Church, or the pope and one’s willingness to confess. Intrinsic religiosity did have a positive relation with willingness to confess. This study highlights that individual and organizational religious figures possibly have differing origins of trust (ability, benevolence, and integrity). This difference may be related to one’s perception of the sexual abuse that occurred within the Catholic Church.
ContributorsCervantes, Jasmine (Author) / Cohen, Adam (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Mayer, Roger (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
For centuries, religion has been a part of people's lives, impacting their well-being. Well-being includes both positive and negative emotions that make people feel satisfied. Religion can affect how people handle their physical health, social behavior, support, and stress. Interestingly, more people have been abandoning religion since 1990, even though it has positive effects on well-being. In this study, I sought to understand the extent to which leaving religion is associated with all aspects of well-being, including spiritual well-being. I asked 606 Arizona State University undergraduates to rate their well-being from two different time periods in their life. Participants were first asked if they were currently religious or nonreligious;135 said they had left/changed religions. If participants indicated that they did not leave/change religions, they were asked about their well-being before and after starting at ASU. I examined perceived change in well-being to understand how religion can influence many aspects of an individual’s life. Leaving or changing religion was positively associated with well-being. Those who reported leaving religion reported better environmental, emotional, social, educational, occupational, and spiritual well-being. In the control group (ASU), educational and spiritual well-being had a significant increase, which is interesting. The results showed that changing/leaving religion had a positive association on well-being.
ContributorsCarbine, Analy (Author) / Cohen, Adam (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Johnson, Kathryn (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2023-12