scholarly journals Implicit pattern learning predicts individual differences in belief in God in the United States and Afghanistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam B. Weinberger ◽  
Natalie M. Gallagher ◽  
Zachary J. Warren ◽  
Gwendolyn A. English ◽  
Fathali M. Moghaddam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pattern Learning ◽  
Explicit Learning ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Belief In God ◽  
Global Presence ◽  
Increased Strength ◽  
Parental Belief

Abstract Most humans believe in a god, but many do not. Differences in belief have profound societal impacts. Anthropological accounts implicate bottom-up perceptual processes in shaping religious belief, suggesting that individual differences in these processes may help explain variation in belief. Here, in findings replicated across socio-religiously disparate samples studied in the U.S. and Afghanistan, implicit learning of patterns/order within visuospatial sequences (IL-pat) in a strongly bottom-up paradigm predict 1) stronger belief in an intervening/ordering god, and 2) increased strength-of-belief from childhood to adulthood, controlling for explicit learning and parental belief. Consistent with research implicating IL-pat as a basis of intuition, and intuition as a basis of belief, mediation models support a hypothesized effect pathway whereby IL-pat leads to intuitions of order which, in turn, lead to belief in ordering gods. The universality and variability of human IL-pat may thus contribute to the global presence and variability of religious belief.

Modernization and Religious Concord

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-250
Author(s):  
David Weakliem
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Intermediate Stage ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Belief ◽  
Belief In God ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractTocqueville said that Americans combined a general belief in God with a lack of interest in denominational differences. Although this outlook may be particularly prevalent in the United States, it is also visible in other Western societies, although combined with lower levels of religious belief. This paper investigates the possibility of a relationship between a belief that there is truth in many religions and modernization, using data from the Gallup International Millenium Survey. The belief that there is truth in many religions is more prevalent in more affluent nations. Moreover, this belief does not seem to be merely an intermediate stage in a move away from religion. The relationship is about equally strong among people of all religious backgrounds. The tendency for modernization to lead to “religious concord” may help to explain the relationship between modernization and democracy noticed by Lipset.

Faith and Goodness

1989 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 167-191
Author(s):  
Eleonore Stump
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
The Other ◽  
Alvin Plantinga ◽  
Belief In God ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Richard Swinburne ◽  
The Relationship

Recent work on the subject of faith has tended to focus on the epistemology of religious belief, considering such issues as whether beliefs held in faith are rational and how they may be justified. Richard Swinburne, for example, has developed an intricate explanation of the relationship between the propositions of faith and the evidence for them. Alvin Plantinga, on the other hand, has maintained that belief in God may be properly basic, that is, that a belief that God exists can be part of the foundation of a rational noetic structure. This sort of work has been useful in drawing attention to significant issues in the epistemology of religion, but these approaches to faith seem to me also to deepen some long-standing perplexities about traditional Christian views of faith.

scholarly journals Are you mentoring or coaching? Definitions matter

2020 ◽  
pp. 096100062096665
Author(s):  
Lisa Hussey ◽  
Jennifer Campbell-Meier
Keyword(s):  
Best Practice ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Research Question ◽  
The United States ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Explicit Learning ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Apply Theory ◽  
Implicit And Explicit ◽  
Implicit And Explicit Learning

New library and information science professionals, without previous experience in information organizations, are often left adrift, unsure how to apply theory or best practice to a new work environment. To bridge this gap, mentoring and coaching opportunities are often employed (or mandated) to provide new practitioners with required skills, knowledge, or networking. There are opportunities to harness implicit and explicit learning through experiences and interactions through mentoring and coaching. Definitions of mentoring and coaching in the profession are often used interchangeably when discussing the growth and development of an individual. This leads to the following questions: How do librarians define both mentoring and coaching? How do mentoring and coaching relate to professional development? To address the research question, 47 semi-structured interviews were conducted with librarians in Canada, New Zealand, and the United States between 2015 and 2016. Participants were asked about their mentoring and coaching experiences. During the interviews, participants were asked questions about their experiences as a mentor or mentee. In addition, participants were asked to define both “mentoring” and “coaching.” The authors used an inductive approach to data analysis, and interviews were coded by category.

Literal and Figurative Language of God

1981 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Whittaker
Keyword(s):  
Religious Belief ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Belief In God ◽  
The World ◽  
Object Of Knowledge

One of the most peculiar features of the belief in God is the accompanying claim that God is an indescribable mystery, an object of faith but never an object of knowledge. In certain contexts – in worship, for example – this claim undoubtedly serves a useful purpose; and so I do not want to dismiss the idea altogether. But when pious remarks about the ineffable nature of God are taken out of context and turned into philosophy, the result is usually an epistemological muddle. The trouble, of course, is that those who insist on God's mysteriousness still manage to say all sorts of things about him; he is an incorporeal spirit, he created the world, he loves his creatures, and so on. To assert these things is to presume some understanding of God, but no understanding is possible if God is completely incomprehensible. So if that is how it is, if the object of religious belief is utterly incomprehensible, then it makes no sense to say – or believe – anything about God.

Regionalism and Regionalisation in Britain and North America

2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Elcock
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Governance Structures ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
State And Local ◽  
The Government ◽  
Local Levels

Regionalism: the development of governments and governance structures intermediate between state and local levels has become increasingly significant in the government of both Britain and the United States. Functional issues concerned with the regeneration of rustbelt areas or controlling growth in prosperous areas have resulted in searches for regionalist solutions on both sides of the Atlantic. However, in Britain there are additional pressures from regions with distinctive cultures, as well as from the increasingly influential ‘Europe of the Regions’. Demands for regional government and governance may be generated from the bottom up by a region's politicians, business leaders and others but they are unlikely to be successful unless they are encouraged by higher levels of government, at state, national or supranational levels.

scholarly journals Affective Neuroscience Theory and Personality: An Update

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Montag ◽  
Kenneth L. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Brain Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Mammalian Brain ◽  
Short Version ◽  
Affective Neuroscience ◽  
Human Personality

AbstractThe present work gives a short overview of central aspects of Jaak Panksepp’sAffective Neuroscience Theory(AN theory) and its relevance for modern personality neuroscience. In contrast to the widely used Big Five approach to studying and understanding human personality, AN theory provides researchers with a distinct roadmap to the biological basis of personality, including molecular and neuroanatomical candidates, to understand individual differences in human behavior. Such molecular and neuroanatomical brain candidates have been derived by means of electrical brain stimulation and pharmacological challenges, while investigating primary emotional systems anchored in the subcortical mammalian brain. Research results derived from the study of emotions in mammals are also of relevance for humans because ancient layers of our minds—those layers where primary emotions originate—have been homologously conserved across species. From an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense because primal emotions represent “built-in tools for survival” for all mammals. In this context, Montag and Panksepp recently illustrated a potential ancient neurobiological effect by carving out robust associations between individual differences in primary emotions (assessed via self-report) and the Big Five in a cross-cultural study with data from the United States, Germany, and China. These associations together with some ideas derived from MacLean’s Triune Brain concept highlighted (a) that primary emotions likely represent the phylogenetically oldest parts of human personality and (b) that primary emotions influence human personality in a bottom-up fashion given their localization in ancient subcortical brain regions. A comment on the work by Montag and Panksepp asked for insights on putative links between primary emotions and facets of the Big Five. Therefore, we provide some first insights into such associations from recent Germany data. In addition, the present work provides a new short version of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales to assess individual differences in primary emotions.

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