Religious Attributions Research Articles

Features of the Worldview of Pediatric Palliative Care Physicians: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Pediatric palliative care is a multidisciplinary branch of medicine and health care that includes both biomedical techniques of patient care and social and psychological practices. At the same time, its goal differs from that of curative approaches in medicine and is predominantly to alleviate patients’ suffering. We used the qualitative method of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), which allows us to uncover the «inside», emotional and existentially significant dimensions of respondents’ personal and intersubjective experiences. This method provides an «insider» perspective of the community under study. The article presents the results of IP. interviews with nine doctors of pediatric palliative care working in the Russian health care system and taking specialized advanced training courses. The goals of the study were to identify the most subjectively significant factors for physicians of palliative care for children, influencing the ethical and communicative aspects of interaction with patients and their parents, and to identify the most important problems and issues of concern to specialists, with an emphasis on worldview. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using a specially designed questionnaire and mainly addressed the topics and issues of worldview of palliative care physicians (including the role of faith and religion) in the context of communication with patients and their parents. As a result, it was found that doctors typically assess their work as a vocation (in a number of cases — with explicitly religious attribution), and this is used by part of the respondents as a justification of their activities in front of a critically minded environment. A common view of a hospice is that of a place that needs to be comfortable, home-like. Subjectively, the majority of respondents evaluate themselves as Orthodox Christians, but emphasize the «non-fanatical» nature of their faith. At the same time, respondents note the significant influence of parental religiosity on communication patterns and acceptance of inevitable disease outcomes. Most respondents noted a high need for a spiritual counsellor in the hospice. Respondents do not necessarily insist that the counsellor be a priest, but his or her figure in the physicians’ descriptions has distinct confessional features.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Religious Attributions. An Exploratory Study in Italy

In 2020, over 2 m Italian people contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus and more than 105 thousand died. A pandemic of this magnitude and the very stringent countermeasures adopted were unprecedented also in terms of its psychological, social, and economic far-reaching effects on people's lives. One of the principal effects of such a tragic and unexpected situation is that of triggering people's cause-seeking process. The exploratory study described in this article focuses on the search for causes carried out by people and prompted by the climate of great uncertainty that still characterizes the situation. In particular, the religious attributions for a possible contagion are examined, both for theoretical advancement and practical reasons, that is to limit the extent of the outbreak. The study involved 575 participants and analyzed the relationship between the reported causal attributions and respondents' characteristics, such as their religiosity. The main findings highlight that religious causal attributions have been chosen very rarely, even regardless of the perceived centrality of religion in one's life. Possible explanations are discussed, such as the "democratic" dynamic with which the contagion spread, the lack of gratification linked to the sense of uniqueness, and the sensation of controllability of the contagion given the overexposure to information.

The Embodied Meaning of “Disease” in Analects of Confucius and Interpretation of Body-Life Management

The tension between “body” and “life” has always been the core theme of Chinese philosophy. However, a close reading of Analects of Confucius from the perspective of “disease” reveals a harmony between body and life. Confucius traced the religious attribution of disease from ancient times and advocated the goodness of body and life in the pursuit of a good life, which indicates a non- constructive body view with the presence of the body, and reflects his realistic view on life. In addition, Confucius argued the pursuit of life despite disease should be realized through individual cultivation in ethical life, which suggests the integration of body and life can be achieved through spiritual transcendence over the restrictions of physical disease. Therefore, self-body-life management is of great significance, which reflects the philosophical connection between the ancient theory of self-cultivation and disease. In terms of “social governance” of diseases, though Confucius did not illustrate how “self-cultivation to pacify the common people” could be presented as a kind of social medical construction, he highlighted the sociality of diseases in the humanistic sense, and advocated the special settlement of “peace in disease” in human relations, which can be regarded as the embodiment of ancient ethical social governance of diseases, and is of significance to the construction of medical system today.

Croatization of the Bosnian Middle Ages in Light of the Religious Character of Stećak Tombstones (About a model of the changing the historical memory)

The nationalist approach to Croatianhood formed within the Croatian Party of Rights and and the concept of political Catholicism were both introduced into the Croatian historiography of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. This phenomenon, along with a new historical perspective on Croatia as „mother-land“, led to attemptsto Croatize the Bosnian Middle Ages. As a result, an extensive historiography was created with the aim of presenting the Bosnian Middle Ages as part of Croatian medieval national history. These efforts were also reflected in a false ethnic and religious attribution of stećaks – Bosnian medieval tombstones – which were and still are attributed exclusively to Croatians andCatholics. The extent of the Croatization of the Bosnian Middle Ages, and thus of stećaks too, changed withthe changing political regimes. In the Austro-Hungarian period (1878–1918) two authors, Fran Milobar and Ivo Pilar, published books and articles based on the theory, propagated by the Croatian Party of Rights, about the „original territorial acquisition.“They set up and developed a pseudoscholarly thesis about the ethnic and dynastic Croatian character of the Bosnian Middle Ages. During the first Yugoslavia (1918–1941) the thesis was picked up and further developed by Josip Horvat in his monumental synthetic work on a thousand years of Croatian culture. During the same period a number of articles were published in an issue of the People’s Calendar, put out by Napredak, the Croatian Cultural Society of Bosnia-Herzegovina,which propagated this historiographic error to a wider readership. During the quisling state called The IndependentState od Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, 1941–1945), the Croatization of the Bosnian Middle Ages was “standardized” in a publication produced by Napredak and entitled The History of Croatian Lands in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Earliest Times until 1463; the main contributors were Filip Lukas, Oton Knezović, Ćiro Truhelka, Ljubo Karaman, VladimirVrana and Mate Tentor. The theory of Croatian Bosnia was also popularized through textbooks. Ante Pavelić, the head of The Independent State od Croatia, dealt with the same topic in his writings, using the Bosnian Middle Ages as the central motif. Particularly manifest in these writings are historiographical and geopolitical delusions concocted in order to legalizeThe Ustasa regime: 1. The Drina river – the civilizational boundary between two worlds in the context of national and ideological topography with the inclusion of the Drina river in the lyrics of the Croatian national anthem. 2. Croatians – the outer wall ofWestern Europe. 3. Iranian/Gothic origin of Croats. 4. The supposed centuries-old continuity of Croatian statehood as a legitimizing factor for The Independent State of Croatia. 5. Bosnia – body and heart of the Independent State of Croatia.In the period since 1945, father Dominik Mandić – a prominent name in historic scholarship to this day – went further than anybody else in the Croatization of the Bosnian Middle Ages. Some encyclopedic publications, even the latest ones, as well as of course the Internet as the most suitable tool for the globalization of such delusions, were not exempt from the“virus” of bad scholarship. Abandoning the Croatian myth of Greater Croatia, invented by the Croatiann Party of Rights, of Croatian Bosnia since “the seventh century” and the placing of the “Croatian question” in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the context of its creation – since the nineteenth/twentieth century – ought to be the primary goal of historical scholarship as a “secondary” discipline in the creation of democratic political culture. The Croatization of stećaks and of the Bosnian Middle Ages cannot contribute to the achievement of this goal because, apart from being factually unsound, it reflects a state of political immaturity. Scholarly maturity is a prerequisite to the maturity of political culture and its „relocation“ from the worldof submissive and parochial culture into the world of participatory and civic culture.

Knowledge, Awareness, and Attitudes toward Tsunamis: A Local Survey in the Southern Coast of Iran

In regions with low tsunami risk probability, mitigation plans are unlikely to resonate with residents. Empirical data regarding people’s knowledge, awareness, and attitudes about tsunamis represent a keystone for better risk management and improved disaster preparedness. This study evaluated these factors on the southern coast of Iran, Makran, by conducting a field survey. The results presented in this paper indicate a low level of awareness and willingness to evacuate among residents and a low level of trust in the government in regard to risk management. Moreover, the results show a significant religious attribution affecting respondents’ risk perception and evacuation behavior that, along with the aforementioned factors, increases residents’ vulnerability. Based on our findings, we provide some recommendations to help policymakers understand how to shape mitigation and evacuation plans such that they will become more evidence-based, sensitive, informed, and cost-effective.

Exploring mental illness attributions and treatment-seeking beliefs in a diverse Muslim-Australian sample

ABSTRACT Background and Purpose: Prior research has shown that Muslim individuals attribute cultural beliefs in explaining mental illness aetiology, which may impact help-seeking behaviours. However, little research has been conducted with Muslim-Australians, nor across different cultural groups within Muslim minority populations. This research explored relationships between ethnocultural identity, cultural attributions of mental illness, and treatment-seeking beliefs in a sample of 182 Muslim-Australians. Method: A multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the relationship between ethnocultural identity and cultural belief use, as measured by the Cultural Beliefs about Mental Health Problems (CBMHP) scale. Analyses examined differences in endorsement of specific beliefs across ethnocultural groups.Results: Muslim-Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds (Middle Eastern, European, Asian, and others) endorsed cultural beliefs more strongly than those from non-CALD, Anglo/Caucasian backgrounds. Both groups endorsed environmental and biological attributions for mental illness; however, supernatural explanations and both traditional/cultural treatments and Qur’anic recitation as effective psychological treatment methods were more strongly endorsed by CALD ethnocultural groups. Moreover, CALD Muslim-Australian respondents less strongly endorsed psychological counselling as effective. Findings also revealed differences in belief endorsement between ethnocultural groups. These findings provide insight into the intersection of culture with mental illness attributions and treatment-seeking behaviour. KEY POINTS Muslim-Australians appear to endorse biological and environmental explanations of mental illness to a similar extent, despite their ethnocultural identity; Muslim-Australians often employ cultural, religious, spiritual, and traditional attributions to explain mental illness aetiology; however, the extent to which Muslim-Australians use such attributions appears to differ depending on their ethnocultural background; Muslim-Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds appear to more strongly adhere to cultural and religious-based explanations of mental illness (including supernatural phenomena) and more strongly endorse the effectiveness of traditional/religious treatment methods for mental ill-health than Muslim-Australians with non-CALD, Anglo-Caucasian ethnocultural backgrounds. Therefore, clinicians should be aware of such beliefs and should provide culturally appropriate and safe treatment interventions when working with Muslim-Australians from CALD backgrounds.

Attitudes towards mental illness in American Evangelical communities, supernaturalism, and stigmatisation

ABSTRACT Social-cognitive variables and religious attributions regarding mental illness were examined with a homogeneous sample of 180 American Evangelical Christians, using a novel tool and the Mental Health Knowledge Scale (MAKS). In the first trial, participants were randomly assigned to one of two Bible verse priming conditions, which made salient willpower, faith and anxiety-reduction or the suffering Christ. Priming effects revealed that those exposed to the willpower-faith admonishment condition showed lower stigma on the MAKS and stronger condition recognition scores. Participants who endorsed unilateral religious causes and solutions to mental illness also presented with less knowledge about mental health disorders and lower condition recognition, but the latter was unrelated to positive views regarding religiously-informed interventions. Females showed higher levels of condition recognition and fewer stigmatising attitudes.

Religious belief and Tibetans’ response to earthquake disaster: a case study of the 2010 Ms 7.1 Yushu earthquake, Qinghai Province, China

Based on data from a questionnaire survey about the 2010 Ms 7.1 Yushu earthquake in Qinghai Province, China, this study examines the impacts of belief in Tibetan Buddhism on Tibetans’ response to the earthquake disaster. The results reveal that (1) impacted by their belief in Tibetan Buddhism, some Tibetans attribute the cause of the earthquake to punishment from God even though some of them understand a naturalistic explanation of the earthquake. Religious attribution of the earthquake has negative effects on Tibetans’ awareness of the importance of earthquake disaster risk reduction such as learning about earthquakes and developing earthquake survival skills; their ability with regard to their behavioral response is affected, but their psychological reaction is not. (2) Tibetan Buddhist belief and Tibetan Buddhist clergy served as important resources and support to help Tibetans cope with the earthquake disaster. The degree of religiosity was found to be positively correlated with people’s willingness to seek religious support and with their self-evaluations on the importance of religious support for disaster response. The findings of this study highlight the need to carefully consider local religious beliefs when planning disaster risk reduction strategies in Tibetan communities.

The Religious Attribution Scale: further validation with an American sample

ABSTRACTThe Religious Attribution Scale (RAS) was developed recently and validated with a predominantly Muslim Indonesian sample. This study aimed to demonstrate the validity of the RAS with a sample of individuals from the US. Students from two US colleges participated in this research. In addition to the RAS, other constructs such as meaning in life and life satisfaction were assessed. Reliabilities for all measures were acceptable. Similar to the findings reported for the Indonesian sample, positive religious attribution was associated positively with the presence of meaning in the US sample. However, different relations were observed between positive attribution and search for meaning in life in the US and Indonesian sample. We also found that positive religious attribution had positive correlations with life satisfaction and negative religious attribution factors were negatively related to life satisfaction. Mediational analysis revealed that meaning in life was a potential mediator for religious attribution and life satisfaction.

Religious and non-religious predictors of life satisfaction in a sample of American college students

ABSTRACTTo promote understanding of young people behavioural mechanisms related to health, we evaluated religious attribution, meaning in life, and emotion regulation strategies as predictors of life satisfaction in the sample of 791 religious and non-religious American college students. Participants completed Religious Attribution Scale, Meaning in Life Questionnaire, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. A multiple linear regression revealed that the strongest predictor of life satisfaction for both groups was the presence of meaning in life, followed by the use of cognitive reappraisal. We found that participants with high levels of presence of meaning in life, regardless of their religious identity, were able to benefit from the use of cognitive reappraisal. Presence of meaning in life and emotion regulation strategy reside outside of the religious confines, supporting the notion that religiosity is not a singular meaning making system. By identifying constructs related to life satisfaction, we can acquire better understanding of what mechanisms contribute to positive coping strategies that religious and non-religious young adults use to achieve positive life outcomes.

Accounting for Lebanese Muslims’ perspectives on the Islamic state (ISIS): religious militancy, sectarianism and personal attributions

ABSTRACTThis article seeks to determine the correlates of Lebanese Muslims perceptions of the Islamic State (ISIS) which are measured using the hypotheses that commitment to political Islam, young age, education and occupational status would predict approval of ISIS. In view of the accentuated polarisation between Sunnis and Shiis along sectarian lines, it is proposed that dislike for the Shiis would enhance the level of support for ISIS. The study was based on a cross-sectional survey Lebanese Muslims (N = 302) administered during the fall of 2015.The suggestion is that adherence to the tenets of political Islam, sectarianism and educational attainment are major predictors of endorsement for ISIS.

A Religious Attribution Influence on Participation into Community Development Activities

A Religious Attribution Influence on Participation into Community Development Activities

Films and fiction leading to onset of psycho-phenomenology: Case reports from a tertiary mental health center, India

Mind is influenced by socio-cultural religious belief systems, experiences and attributions in the development of psychophenomenology. Film viewing is a common entertainment among young adults.ObjectivesInfluence of repetitive watching of films of fiction and horror genres on onset phenomenology in young adults.MethodTwo case reports on onset of psychotic features and mixed anxiety depressive phenomenology were seen in two patients aged 16 and 20 years respectively and based on the fantastic imagination created by films. The 28-year-old female patient diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder had onset at 16 years of age and the course of phenomenology was influenced by the fiction movie ‘Jumanji’ with partial response to medications over 10 years. The depressive and anxiety symptoms of less than 6 months duration of a 20-year-old male patient was influenced by film ‘Hannibal’ and responded to antidepressant and cognitive behavior therapy.ConclusionsHorror and fiction films can influence the thinking patterns and attribution styles of a young adult by stimulating fantasy thinking which if unrestrained can lead to phenomenology. Viewing films compulsively, obsessive ruminations on horror and fictional themes can lead to onset of psychopathology of both psychosis and neurotic spectrum. Further research on neurobiological, psychological correlates is needed. Parental guidance and restricted viewing of horror genre films with avoidance of repeated stimulatory viewing of same genre movies in children, adolescents, young adults and vulnerable individuals is required.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

«Бог как каузальный агент»: религиозная атрибуция в православном контексте

The paper summarises the process of adaptation of the God as a Causal Agent Scale (GCA) carried out on a sample of students of orthodox educational institutions. This scale aims to measure religious attribution in an individual, that is, is/her inclination to attribute the causes of events to divine agents. The data obtained in the study proved that all items of the GCA Scale have acceptable internal consistency. The first stage of validisation involved analysing the correlations with the rates of the Subjective Control Scale (SCS). Weak positive correlations were found with the rates of internality in all scales of the SCS except for the Interpersonal Relationships scale. The second stage invovled a quasiexperimental study that revealed positive correlations between the GCA and supernatural attribution. Moreover, the outcomes of factor analysis of variance showed significant differences between the subjects with high and low rates in GCA in their likeliness to use supernatural explanations. All these findings suggest that the GCA Scale is an effective tool for measuring one’s inclination to religious attribution within the Russian orthodox context.

Development and validation of Religious Attribution Scale: in association with religiosity and meaning in life among economically disadvantaged adolescents in Indonesia

ABSTRACTReligious attribution has known to be important not only for individual religiosity but also for individual psychological states. Studies have shown there is a need to have a religious attribution measurement which derive from culture and socio-economic status different than the Western. In this present study, we developed a Religious Attribution Scale with a sample of economically disadvantaged adolescents in Indonesia. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out in two studies. The results supported factorial validity of scales to measure positive and negative religious attribution. Both scales had adequate alpha reliabilities. Participants also responded to religiosity scale and meaning in life scales. Positive religious attribution was related to religiosity and meaning in life. Negative religious attribution subscales was related to one of meaning in life indices but not related to religiosity. Positive religious attribution was found to be the best predictor for meaning in life. Findings are discussed in this study.

Invigorating spiritual engagement: reflections for organisational leaders, managers, and “people-of-faith”

In the context of intensifying globalization, and emanating from their responsibilities in large or small businesses, leaders, managers, and people-of-faith must respond to the impacts of increasing competition for resources, jobs, and liveable environments along with everybody else. These competitive dynamics exacerbate tensions among individuals, communities, organizations, and nations. Such tensions are often given religious attributions. Encouragement to express religious influences openly may further exacerbate such tensions. Paradoxically perhaps, we advocate for greater engagement with religious diversity as a source of value rather than a driver of divisions. Managers must ensure such value is realized. We posit that dangerous competitiveness must be transformed to life-sustaining ways of being human. We encourage management educator and practitioner participation in conversations at the conceptual level in order to contribute pragmatically to the confluence of faith, hope, and love to achieve organizational well-being based on ideals of universal justice, environmental restoration, and global peace.

Religiosity as a source of comfort and struggle in members of religious movements: a comparative analysis of the Neocatechumenal Way and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal

AbstractThis study aims to examine various aspects of religiosity in members of the Neocatechumenal Way and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. First, we assigned intergroup differences in Emotions toward God, Religious Comfort and Strain and Religious Attributions. Next, we estimated the net effects of Emotions toward God, Religious Comfort and Strain and Religious Attributions on religiosity. One hundred fifty–five people participated in the research, 81 members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and 74 members of the Neocatechumenal Way. We applied the Religious Comfort and Strain Scale by Yali, Exline, Wood, and Worthington, the Emotions toward God Scale by Huber and the Religious Attributions Scale by Exline, Park, Smyth and Carey. The results suggest that members of the Neocatechumenal Way do not differ from the Catholic Charismatic Renewal’s members in Religious Comfort and Positive Emotions toward God. However, the members of the Neocatechumenal Way scored higher in Religious Strain. A moderating effect of the religious movement on the relation between Fear of God and religiosity was observed.

God May save your Life, but you have to Find your Own Keys

Previous research has found that people make religious attributions under certain conditions. In this study, we used causally ambiguous vignettes to confirm some previous findings regarding religious attributions and extend these findings by testing: (a) whether implicit priming increased the odds of making causal attributions, and (b) whether atheists also exhibit an attribution bias. Like previous studies, we found that people who were less religious (i.e., atheists in our study) were substantially less likely to make religious causal attributions. Unlike previous studies, we found that atheists were more likely to attribute events to probability and/or luck. We also found, like previous studies, that religious people were more likely to make causal attributions when presented with vignettes involving health-related or life-and-death situations but not with quotidian events, like losing one's keys. Finally, we found no effect for implicit religious priming.

Parental Explanatory Models of Child’s Intellectual Disability: a Q Methodology Study

This study with families caring for an individual with an intellectual disability in a mid-sized Indian city explored the diverse explanatory models that parents constructed of causes, preferred treatment approaches and perceived social effects of their child’s intellectual disability. Seventeen mothers and three fathers rank ordered 48 disability related statements and participated in a qualitative interview. The intercorrelations and factor analysis of participant sorts helped to generate three parental explanatory models which were named religious resilience, in search of treatment and social change, and it is a burden to bear. The three models extracted 23%, 20% and 9% variance respectively. Interpretations based on factor arrays, consensus and differentiating statements, and qualitative interviews indicated that the first explanatory model utilised religion and spirituality to positively frame their child’s intellectual disability. The second explanatory model rejected religious notions and did not dwell on the cause of disability, but rather focused on optimal rehabilitation of individuals with an intellectual disability. The third model was characterised by maladaptive religious attributions and rehabilitation approaches.

Prevalence and Social-Cognitive Predictors of Anger Toward God in a Polish Sample

ABSTRACTBased on empirical studies, we may assume religion is an important source of support, consolation, and a sense of life for many individuals. However, notwithstanding the psychological benefits religion provides, it is also a reason for discomfort and struggle. The research presented in this article is an attempt at analyzing one of religious struggle types: anger toward God. Our study addresses the following issues: (a) prevalence of anger toward God in a national Polish sample; (b) predictors of anger toward God (religious attributions and God concepts); and (c) moderation of relationships between religious attributions, God concepts and anger toward God by centrality of religiosity. We applied the social-cognitive perspective for explaining the phenomenon of anger toward God. The results showed that anger toward God is frequently a reaction to negative experiences, and its intensity is low, lower than the intensity of positive emotions toward God. Anger toward God correlated positively with assigning negative intentions and the responsibility for suffering to God. A moderating effect of centrality on the relation between attributions and perception of God and anger toward God was observed.