Western Psychology Research Articles

Relevansi Taubat dengan Kesehatan Mental dalam Islam

The purpose of this study is to reveal: 1) The concept of repentance according to Sufism (the Sufis) and psychology; 2) The concept of mental health according to western psychology and Sufism; and 3) The relevance of repentance to mental health according to Islam. This research belongs to the type of research (library research), using descriptive qualitative methods, and western psychological theory and the concept of repentance according to the Sufis as a knife of analysis. The findings in this study are: First, repentance according to the Sufis must be carried out solely for the sake of Allah and is determined to leave sins that have been committed in the past and not to repeat them. While repentance in the psychological view is defined as a person's encouragement to always fill himself with positive things and behaviors that direct him to foster peace of mind. Second, mental health in psychology is a psychological condition of a person in adjusting himself to his problems, whether it is within himself or outside himself by showing his abilities. Meanwhile, in Sufism's view, mental health is an ability to control mental functions, so that a good adjustment will be created, between oneself, other people, the environment, the universe or with God. Third, the relevance of repentance and mental health in Islam is the result of the process of cleansing the soul, so a mentally healthy person is a person whose soul is clean. The relationship between mental health and repentance in Islam cannot be separated, because the steps to achieve health can be produced through repentance. Repentance and mental health come from religious teachings. If the two are combined well, they can form a perfect soul, in other words, they can give birth to human beings.

Exploration on The Psychological Mechanism of Mindfulness Meditation

With the accumulation of social understanding and practical experience of mindfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation has been accepted and applied by more people in practical life situations. Mindfulness meditation has become one of the important research topics today. Due to the current research focus being more on the correlation research and hypothesis description of influencing factors of mindfulness meditation, there is less empirical research on the mechanism exploration of mindfulness meditation. Further summarize the existing relevant research results and methods, and explore the psychological mechanisms of mindfulness meditation from its origins, concepts, and development, providing case and theoretical support for subsequent empirical research on mechanisms. A large number of researchers have found that mindfulness meditation has a positive regulatory effect on negative emotions in various contexts, and the concept of “mind” related to Buddhism and Zen in mindfulness meditation has similarities with the self-concept studied in Western psychology. Correctly understand the complexity of the development of mindfulness meditation, grasp core concepts in future empirical exploration and research on the psychological mechanisms of mindfulness meditation, and fully utilize new technologies to create more possibilities.

Fifty years that transformed Western psychology

Fifty years that transformed Western psychology

Pembinaan Kesehatan Mental Peserta didik melalui Kegiatan Keagamaan

Mental health is a mental state or psychological state that shows a person's ability to make adjustments or problem solving to problems that exist within oneself (internal) and problems that exist in the external environment (external). Mental health refers to the way individuals think, feel and act that are efficient and effective in dealing with life's challenges and life stressors. Religious activities are an important means of fostering a healthy mentality. The phenomenon of mental health that occurs among students is very concerning. For example, stress, depression, anti-social behavior, and other psychological problems experienced by students. Therefore, it is necessary to develop students' mental health from an early age. This study uses a qualitative approach. The author's research report contains data excerpts to provide an overview of the complete presentation of the report. Based on the research above, this research is directed at fostering the mental health of students through religious activities at SD NU Metro. This observation was carried out by observing and taking notes directly on the object of research, namely by observing the activities in SD NU Metro City. Interviews were conducted by asking the principal, teachers and students at the educational institution. The results of the study indicate that the concept of mental health development is related to the concept of healthy human nature both physically, spiritually and mentally, which is based on the Qur'an and Hadith as well as the thoughts of Muslim and Western psychologists, as manifested in its definition, namely the realization of harmony between mental functions. and the creation of self-adjustment between the individual and his environment, based on faith and piety, to achieve a meaningful and happy life in this world and in the hereafter. Mental health coaching through religious exercises and habituation since childhood, exemplary through commendable behavior from the school environment, providing experiences through religious activities, and evoking the emotions of students in believing in Islam. Religious activities carried out at NU Metro Elementary School have a good influence on fostering the mental health of students who are instilled from an early age.

Psikologi Islam Ibn Miskawaih Dalam Rehabilitasi Penyakit Mental Manusia

This article aims to examine the urgency of Ibn Miskawaih's Islamic psychology in rehabilitating human mental illness by referring to one of his magnumopuses entitled Tahdzīb Al-Akhlāq and several studies on his frame of mind. By using descriptive analysis, it is concluded that Ibn Miskawaih's Islamic psychology is studied through the discourse of al-quwwah al-ghadābiyyah which affects human feelings and thoughts as an indicator of the creation of suffering, depression, and sadness. In order to overcome the mental illness faced by modern humans, Ibn Miskawaih through his philosophical discourse on the soul views the problems of suffering, depression, and sadness based on the anxiety of the human soul in thinking and stimulating everything in reality. The soul is the essence of human existence that affects human actions, thoughts, and feelings so that individuals must practice the perfection of their essence through al-quwwah an-natiqah. In addition to offering a philosophical discourse on the soul as a mental illness rehabilitation process, Ibn Miskawaih's paradigm also responds to the views of western psychologists, such as Aaron Beck and Sigmund Freud who assess mental illness can be treated through social relationships. As a result, human mental rehabilitation is only studied materially, without seeing the essence that is seen as the core of human existence in reality. The result of this paper is to perfect the offer of western psychologists in the discourse of science through Ibn Miskawaih's Islamic psychology.

Psychology of the Lvov-Warsaw School and the shape of postcommunist Polish psychology (unfinished dialog with Brentanian tradition).

This article presents the development of Polish psychology from the perspective of the most important intellectual formation in Poland-the Lvov-Warsaw School of Kazimierz Twardowski. The representatives of the school played an extraordinary role in the history of Polish psychology in the first half of the 20th century. Unfortunately, this influence was halted by the outbreak of the war in 1939 and by communist oppression and propaganda after the war. After 1989, Polish psychology underwent a deep transformation in the spirit of Western psychology but with no continuation of the most significant achievements of Twardowski's School. Although this process has integrated Polish psychologists into the mainstream of psychology in the world, it has not led to the integration of one of the most original European psychological traditions into world psychology.

Towards an Islamic Psychology and Psychotherapy

Due to the destructive legacy of colonialism within the Islamic world, traditional or premodern wisdom has, in large part, been brushed aside in favor of a materialistic and reductionistic outlook based on the shifting sands of modern intellectual fashions. Modern Western psychology emerged through the secularizing trajectory of the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment project; all of which contributed to the purging of metaphysics and the human soul’s intrinsic connection to the spiritual dimension within the discipline. Due to the growing interest in restoring this vital dimension, Islamic psychology—akin to other traditional understandings of the mind known as perennial psychology—addresses this need to understand human behavior in light of the sacred.

Cognitive fusion and personality traits in the context of mindfulness: A cross-sectional study.

ObjectivesMeditation and mindfulness, though rooted in eastern traditions, have been increasingly embraced in western psychology. However, questions remain regarding the mechanisms through which the beneficial effects of mindfulness occur. The present study aimed to address cognitive fusion as a potential mediator between mindfulness and negative affect and whether the mindfulness-cognitive fusion link is moderated by personality factors in an international sample of frequent meditators.MethodsAn international sample of 739 frequent meditators completed measures of mindfulness (Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire), cognitive fusion (Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire), negative affect (Brief Symptom Checklist), and personality (Big Five Inventory) in an online survey. Using SPSS Process Macro, cognitive fusion was examined as a mediator between mindfulness and negative affect. Furthermore, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism were investigated as moderators in the mediation model.ResultsCognitive fusion was found to be a partial mediator between mindfulness and negative affect (b = -0.249; 95% CI, [-0.289, -0.203]), whereas the examined personality factors were not found to moderate the present model (E: t(734) = 0.951, p = .342); C: t(734) = -0.042, p = .967; N: t(734) = -2.271, p = .023).ConclusionsThis study suggests that cognitive fusion plays a significant role in the association between mindfulness and negative affect. These findings indicate the importance of how individuals internally respond and relate to experiences and the instrumental value of mindfulness effects beyond and outside of mindfulness-based interventions.

Theory and Meditation of Confucian Mindfulness: Analysis Based on the Concept of Vigilance in Solitude in Chinese Confucianism.

Mindfulness has become an area of great interest in Western psychology, but it has been criticized for its de-religionization. Based on Chinese Confucianist Liu Zongzhou's concept of shendu (; vigilance in solitude), this study attempts to present a complete overview of the Confucian mindfulness meditation system from the theoretical basis and training method. The unique value of Confucian mindfulness meditation is that it directly points to morality, which can make up for the deficiency of mindfulness in Western psychology. Furthermore, Confucian mindfulness meditation can provide more suitable training methods for individuals who are culturally Chinese.

Trajectories of East Asian Buddhism in South Africa: a comparative perspective

ABSTRACT In this article I take my cue from Michel Clasquin-Johnson’s reflections on six main themes (lay practice, gender equality, adhesion to democratic principles, impact of Western psychology, social engagement, creation of a non-sectarian tradition) underlying the development of mainstream South African Buddhism to explore three forms of East Asian Buddhism operating in the country: the Dharma Centre (Korean Sŏn)—a representative of mainstream South African Buddhism—and the local branches of two large new religious movements—the Japan-based Soka Gakkai International (Nichiren Buddhism) and the Taiwan-based Foguangshan (Chinese Pure Land/Chan Buddhism)—which include a more diverse section of the South African population. Besides providing a detailed analysis of these forms of East Asian Buddhism in the country, I test the applicability of Clasquin-Johnson’s themes to the case studies and explore four further topics for the comparative study of South African Buddhism: interactions with local religions, proselytization, hybridization, the promise of worldly benefits.

Invisibility of Asians, Asian Americans, and Buddhist roots in Western psychology

As mindfulness has gained increasing popularity both in the mental health and medical field, it is more important than ever to examine its cultural appropriateness. However, among the criticism of cultural appropriateness, not many have examined this issue through the lens of Asian and Asian American identities and the religious oppression they suffered. Our letter sheds light on religious oppression, White privilege, and the invisibility of Asians and Asian Americans. More importantly, we illustrated how such oppression and privilege have informed the practices of mindfulness in psychology. The publication of our letter will bring attention to the importance of, 1) Recognition of Buddhist roots when using mindfulness in psychology 2) Recognition of the White internalization of the current use of mindfulness 3) Awareness of the racial and cultural harm that misapplication of mindfulness may cause for the Asian and Asian American community. • Asian immigrants brought Buddhism to the West and have faced religious oppression. • White researchers separated and rebranded mindfulness from Buddhism. • There is a lack of acknowledgment of mindfulness's Buddhist roots. • Research on mindfulness must recognize the history of oppression against Buddhism.

Majnūn or Mental Disorders: Between Cultural Traditions and Western Psychology in Jordan.

Mental disorders or altered psychological states are prevalent in all populations, regardless of race or ethnic origin, while at the same time, culture also shapes the conceptions of mental disorders. Religion is deeply rooted in the daily life of the Muslim-majority countries, while Arab countries are affected by an ongoing modernization. Thus, how does the traditional religious conception of mental disorders interact with Western psychological conceptions in contemporary Arab-Muslim society? This study explores the conceptions of mental disorders and their causes among Muslims in contemporary Jordan. By employing cognitive anthropological method (free listing), forty participants were asked to provide three lists of (a) typical names of mental disorders, (b) causes of mental disorders and (c) determining features of mental disorders. Collected qualitative data have been quantitatively analysed and interpreted in the context of relevant ethnographic and interview data. While Western terms of mental disorders are well known among young and educated Jordanians, the study demonstrates that Jordanians employ cultural and religious notions alongside. This co-existence of different conceptions confirms an importance of Islamic notion in the modern rendering of mental health. As a result, despite rapid modernization, mental health is still highly stigmatized.

Spirituality as The Foundation of The Hierarchy of Needs in The Humanistic Psychology of Abraham Maslow and Sufi Psychology of Said Nursi

Abraham Maslow’s theory discredits the existence of religion and substitutes it with secular spirituality. It provides a space for anthropocentrism and materialism philosophy, freedom, authorization, and a single human potentiality. On the other hand, Said Nursi’s Sufi Psychology sets religious teachings as the radiance of spirituality. It identifies the genuineness of human beings as creatures who are obedient to God. This study aims to reveal how humanistic psychology and Sufi psychology perceive the need for spirituality by referring to Abraham Maslow and Said Nursi. Researchers identify, select, and formulate relevant and constructive narratives to support each theory stated. They then conducted a deductive content analysis of the references using the available variables, categories, and content tabulations. This research finds that Maslow's spirituality relies on subjective human experience, and life satisfaction can be achieved by maximizing one's potential. On the other hand, Nursi's spirituality is based on the Shari'a and leads to fundamental happiness. For Maslow, the existence of God has been alienated from the human mind, and religion has become a secondary component. At the same time, Nursi has a Tauhidic perspective on reality and believes that religion is the primary guidance of life. Meanwhile, secular spirituality promises nothing but illusory pseudo-happiness. This concept originated from the confusion of Modern Western Psychology on the nature of God, religion, and human psychology. This confusion will vanish if it refers to religious teaching as the ultimate truth. Although both have differences in their ontological nature and conceptual psychological foundations, they both present a similar understanding of recognizing a Higher Entity capable of controlling human life. This entity is called God. In conclusion, Nursi's concept of Tawhid-based spirituality offers a solution to modern man's anxiety, emptiness, and powerlessness of their life problems.

Towards a Christian Psychology or Cure of Souls

The Enlightenment project took root in the modern West. It was not a natural outgrowth of Christianity but, rather, a repudiation of its sacred tenets. Prior to the gradual secular trajectory of the West, the Christian tradition shared a common metaphysical understanding of reality with other spiritual traditions of the world. It is this sacred epistemology that provides a unitive understanding of the human being and a psychology or “science of the soul” that integrally connects the person to the Divine. The development of modern Western psychology as a distinct discipline is due to the European Enlightenment and its desacralization and reductionism, which is its inescapable legacy that it still has not come to terms with. Paradoxically, psychology is the study of the psyche or soul, yet its science denies the existence of Spirit and therefore it cannot be an authentic psychology. In fact, in the Middle Ages we nd the Latin expression cura animarum, or “cure of souls,” which conveys the integration of spirituality and psychology, always situating the human psyche within the spiritual domain that transcends and includes it.

Culturing the Mind: China as a Glocal Site of Epistemological Innovation.

Modern scientific psychology came into being with a pursuit of universalistic knowledge. As an analytic category, culture was a latecomer and it presents a new set of questions for psychological research. This special issue addresses questions surrounding cultural psychology using interdisciplinary insights based in China and the Chinese diaspora. Contributions to this special issue are organized around the central idea that China is a glocal site, namely one that simultaneously displays both global and local characteristics. This is the case in the historical formation of Chinese psychology through its distinction from, as well as interaction with, Western psychology. Colonialism, another source of glocality, has left an enduring impact on China’s nationhood as well as on how Chinese individuals maintain their mental health. Meanwhile, colonialism also gives rise to the question of how scholars should address Chinese psychological phenomena without making orientalist assumptions. Glocal China as a diverse phenomenon could be conceptualized in terms of a spectrum, in which both creative inter-cultural belonging and racist exclusion are to be found. The diversity of glocal China further requires deconstructive reflection on how the unitary concept of China/Chinese might be misleading. To move forward, Chinese cultural psychology could use existing interdisciplinary resources to further explore how culture and power relations intertwine.

Upregulating positive affect through compassion: Psychological and physiological evidence

Positive emotion regulation, that is, upregulating, maintaining, and savoring positive emotions, also bears the potential to counteract and thus mitigate negative affect. In this narrative review, we report on the social emotion of compassion as a particularly efficient form of positive emotion regulation. Compassion emerges as an affiliative response to the suffering of others. It is characterized by feelings of warmth and kindness and an initiation of prosocial caring behavior towards others. The inherent positivity of compassion is also in line with its related neural correlates. Compassion is associated with activity in the ventral striatum, the (subgenual) anterior cingulate cortex, and the orbitofrontal cortex, brain regions related to strong positive emotions, such as romantic and maternal love. In addition to its long tradition in Eastern philosophy, the practice of compassion has in recent years found its way into interventions in Western psychology, for example, within compassion-focused therapy. Recent findings confirm that affect-related mental training promoting compassion is also linked to functional and structural changes in neural networks associated with positive emotions and emotion regulation. This compassion-related plasticity in the neural systems of positive emotion regulation suggests that incorporating compassion into psychological interventions could prove to be a particularly effective way to support positive emotion regulation.

Psychology of Coloured People: A Critical Note to the Dominance of Euro-American-Oriented Psychology over the Psychology of Non-Western Countries

Whether psychology is universally or regionally determined is examined in this article. Implicitly, this question is about the general validity of statements of psychological research, theories and practices (such as testing, therapy, recruitment, etc.). If psychology is culturally and regionally rooted, statements based on psychological research, theory and practice are not universally valid. Moreover, once it is established that psychology is cultural and regional in nature, the underlying question arises: is there a psychology of coloured and white people? The findings of this article are based on a reasoned literature review. First of all, the origins of Western psychology are in broad terms mapped out. In the period between and after the first and second European and Asian World Wars, American and European psychologists made psychology big and important. Psychology had the wind in its sails because the American defence put an immense amount of money into test, social and clinical psychology. This was necessary to be able to select soldiers, maintain an army and take care of veterans. The Americans then used this Psychology to colonise the world (especially the non-Western world). With that, the original psychology from the non-Western world has gone into the 'dustbin'. Only now the non-Western world is rediscovering that their millennia-old psychology needs to be taken out of the ‘dustbin’. That ancient non-Western psychology rooted in philosophy is mapped out in this article for China, India and Africa. The tentative conclusion is that psychology is regionally and culturally determined. We could call this psychology holistic psychology. After all, we humans represent and are humanity as a whole, our ancestors, born and unborn children, gods and spirits, mother earth (fauna and flora) and the cosmos. In this psychology there is also room for spirituality and consciousness. In fact, there is a psychology of and for people of colour anywhere in the world. It is not clear whether this also applies to the research methods.

Buddhism in Addiction Recovery

Buddhism was established by Guatama Buddha as a practice to liberate sentient beings from suffering. Mindfulness-Based interventions (MBIs) are Western psychologists’ adaptation of mindfulness/Vipassana to treat mental illnesses. In addition to mindfulness, Buddhist recovery peer-support programs also adopt the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the Five Precepts, which are the Buddha’s prescription to cease suffering and to discipline one’s ethical conduct.

Theoretical and methodological problems of preschoolers’ readiness to study in primary school: foreign experience

The given article presents burning issues of theory and methodology of preschoolers‘ readiness (aged 5-6 ) to learning at a primary school on the basis of the review of the latest western psychology research. Disputable definitions of the notion readiness to school learning, its structure components and specifics of psychological diagnostics instruments usage are provided. Future perspectives of scientific investigation on the optimal and effective ways of readiness elaboration in starters at a primary school are outlined in different cross-cultural environments.

Acculturation Scale to Russia for Chinese Students: Development and Psychometric Verification

The topic on diagnosing intercultural adaptation and psychological acculturation to a new socio-cultural environment is relevant in connection with the processes of globalization and, in particular, with the growth of academic mobility in education. Research on this problem are especially relevant for Russian science due to the lack of acculturation scales, which are widely represented in Western and international psychology. In 2019, a research team led by Professor A. Ardila developed the Russian-language Acculturation Scale for Russia (ASR), which was validated on a sample of international university students from 71 countries of the world. The aim of the present study was to adapt the ASR for the Chinese students studying in Russian universities. Chinese students are the largest group of international students from far abroad studying at Russian universities, while many of them experience significant difficulties in adapting to a new socio-cultural environment, as well as in learning the Russian language. In total, the study involved 213 Chinese students (59% - female) studying at Russian universities, of which 93 students (58% - female) completed the Russian-language version of the ASR, and 118 students (61% - female) completed the Chinese version of the ASR, which was designed using the back translation. Both ASR versions were psychometrically tested using Cronbachs and MacDonalds coefficients, as well as bifactorial analysis. The methods of descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon W-test were used to compare the Russian-language and Chinese versions of the ASR. The normalization was carried out by means of non-linear percentile normalization (stanines). As a result, a high consistency of the Russian-language and Chinese versions of the ASR and their equivalence with each other were shown. Both versions can be used to assess the level of acculturation of Chinese students to Russia, while the Chinese version is recommended for the Chinese students who have been living in Russia for less than 1-1.5 years and/or have a poor Russian proficiency.