bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mating roles, copulation duration and reproductive output in the hermaphroditic freshwater snail Planorbella trivolvis
Authors: Norton Cynthia G
Published: January 2024

Hermaphrodites exhibit a wide variety of reproductive strategies, yet empirical studies lag behind theories about their evolution. Planorbella trivolvis, a simultaneous hermaphrodite capable of reciprocal copulation and rare self-fertilization, provides a unique model system for studying reproduction. This study assessed sex roles during mating, demonstrating that mating is primarily reciprocal, and investigated the relationship between physical coupling and reproductive output for single copulation events. Snails were isolated before sexual maturity and placed in 10-l aquaria in size-matched groups. Upon copulation, pairs were removed to small cups until they separated; they were then kept isolated and eggs counted until egg production ceased. The frequency of reciprocal copulation (both members of a pair produced egg masses following copulation) was 95% (35/37 productive matings), higher than previously reported. The duration of egg production ranged from 19 to 197 days (mean ± SE = 110.13 ± 6.3 days) with a sharp drop in production of egg masses and eggs per mass occurring between 15 and 20 weeks postmating, consistent with previous estimates of sperm storage. There was no relationship between mating duration and total egg production (a biomarker of sperm availability) or the duration of egg production (a marker of sperm longevity). Further investigation is needed to directly estimate sperm transfer and tease apart the duration of reciprocal physical contact from gamete and accessory protein transfer.
Food and social cues modulate reproductive development but not migratory behavior in a nomadic songbird, the Pine Siskin
Authors: Vernasco Ben J , Cornelius Jamie M , Watts Heather E
Published: January 2024

Many animals rely on photoperiodic and non-photoperiodic environmental cues to gather information and appropriately time life-history stages across the annual cycle, such as reproduction, molt, and migration. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that the reproductive physiology, but not migratory behavior, of captive Pine Siskins (Spinus pinus) responds to both food and social cues during the spring migratory-breeding period. Pine Siskins are a nomadic finch with a highly flexible breeding schedule and, in the spring, free-living Pine Siskins can wander large geographic areas and opportunistically breed. To understand the importance of non-photoperiodic cues to the migratory-breeding transition, we maintained individually housed birds on either a standard or enriched diet in the presence of group-housed heterospecifics or conspecifics experiencing either the standard or enriched diet type. We measured body condition and reproductive development of all Pine Siskins and, among individually housed Pine Siskins, quantified nocturnal migratory restlessness. In group-housed birds, the enriched diet caused increases in body condition and, among females, promoted reproductive development. Among individually housed birds, female reproductive development differed between treatment groups, whereas male reproductive development did not. Specifically, individually housed females showed greater reproductive development when presented with conspecifics compared to heterospecifics. The highest rate of female reproductive development, however, was observed among individually housed females provided the enriched diet and maintained with group-housed conspecifics on an enriched diet. Changes in nocturnal migratory restlessness did not vary by treatment group or sex. By manipulating both the physical and social environment, this study demonstrates how multiple environmental cues can affect the timing of transitions between life-history stages with differential responses between sexes and between migratory and reproductive systems.
Frontiers of Cross-Cultural Organizational Behavior
Authors: Gelfand Michele J. , Erez Miriam
Published: January 2024

The quest to understand work behavior has been a global concern since antiquity. Yet, global perspectives in organizational behavior (OB) have only recently become a theoretical and empirical force within the field. Joining this intellectual momentum, contributors to this volume have collectively paved the way for a new global revolution in the field of organizational behavior. This chapter highlights common themes across all the Handbook chapters, including the call to (1) increase the global scope in the questions we ask and the contexts we study; (2) broaden our cultural toolkit to unpack the proximal and distal factors that explain cultural differences; (3) understand the complexity of the global context and the duality of global integration with local responsiveness; (4) focus on the dynamics of culture across levels of analysis; (5) cross-fertilize research in cross-cultural OB; and (6) build bridges between theory and practice.
The Technology-Enabled, Task-Specific, and Time-Variant Role of Culture in Teams
Authors: Gibson Cristina B. , Chia Terence , Singh Rukman
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines the role of culture in organizational teams, moving beyond the direct effects of culture that was the focus of prior reviews to evidence the more complex interaction of culture with other team features, including technology, task, and time. We explore questions such as: Can technology level the playing field such that culture takes a back seat? Or does technology play a catalytic role and accentuate cultural differences? Does team task type modify the influence of culture in guiding team processes? Does the effect of culture change over the lifespan of a team? We address these questions by reviewing and integrating the literature in the past decade. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as new research directions, are discussed.
Culture and Communication
Authors: Sharma Suraj , Liu Leigh Anne
Published: January 2024

Human cultural values and norms are developed and maintained through communication between and within individuals and between and within groups. The relationship between culture and communication is complex and challenging to study. On one hand, communication is the carrier of human interaction and culture, as values and norms are shared among its members through communication. On the other hand, culture may dictate how we communicate, since values and norms may prescribe our thinking and communication styles. In this chapter, we review the extant literature on culture and communication and explore how they influence and coevolve over time. We then propose new directions of research with theoretical and practical implications.
Culture and Conflict and Negotiation Strategy
Authors: Brett Jeanne M.
Published: January 2024

This chapter summarizes research and theory documenting cultural differences in the use of strategy in deal making and conflict management negotiations. Negotiation is the process by which parties with conflicting goals try to reach agreement. Negotiation strategy is the goal-directed behavior that people use when negotiating (Weingart et al., 1990). The strategy of sharing information is not effective in generating joint gains in non-Western cultures because of low trust. Negotiators can use multi-issue offers to generate insight into the counterpart’s priorities and joint gains, but doing so may require second-order processing of information from the offers. Cultural differences in how people express emotion and communicate may generate misunderstanding and conflict escalation. A major opportunity for future research is to use the emerging science of artificial intelligence (AI) and negotiation to understand strategic adjustment in intercultural negotiations.
Culture and Social Networks
Authors: Wang Mo , Fang Yanran
Published: January 2024

In this chapter, we will first introduce the importance of investigating the relationship between culture and social networks. In answering the question of why the social network approach should be adopted to understand the central role of culture in impacting employee work behaviors, we highlight two core characteristics of culture and social networks that connect them: the multilevel structures and the dynamic processes. We then derive an overarching theoretical framework to explain how culture and social networks at multiple levels are mutually constitutive and coevolving. On the basis of this theoretical framework, we review the literature on the effects of culture on social networks, the roles of social networks in relation to culture and the acculturation process, and discuss new theoretical and empirical directions for future research. We also summarize five key theoretical principles and five practical implications that we discovered in our review. Future research questions and directions are proposed at the end of the chapter.
National Culture and Organizational Change
Authors: Sverdlik Noga , Oreg Shaul
Published: January 2024

In this chapter, we examine the role of national culture for understanding organizational change. We review extant cross-cultural studies of organizational change and offer an integrative framework of micro and macro approaches. We then highlight the dimensions of national culture that are conceptually related to the notion of change and elaborate on a recently developed taxonomy of cultural change orientations, including the dimensions of cultural rigidity, cultural affective reactance, and cultural routine seeking. Drawing on this taxonomy we develop conceptual propositions linking national culture to key events and components in the evolution of organizational change, including the initiation of change, the change process, and recipients’ responses to organizational change. We conclude by discussing the implications of our framework for theory and practice.
Culture and Work–Family Dynamics
Authors: Shen Winny , Shockley Kristen M.
Published: January 2024

Awareness of the influence of culture has permeated work–family research since its inception. In this chapter, we first briefly review the history and evolution of cross-cultural work–family research, followed by a focus on the current state of work–family research in the last decade. Although cross-cultural work–family research has experienced stunning growth over the last three decades, it still tends to be heavily centered on a limited set of constructs (i.e., work–family conflict), use a narrow range of methods (i.e., quantitative cross-sectional survey research), concentrate on certain world regions (i.e., Anglo-Asian comparisons), and predictions are based predominantly on specific cultural values (i.e., individualism–collectivism). We identify key controversies in the literature and set an agenda for future research that expands our understanding of cross-cultural work–family concerns in multiple ways, including a call for a focus on process to refine theory-building and theory-testing and diversification of research designs and methods (e.g., experiments). Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.
National Culture and Alliances
Authors: Cuypers Youtha , Piaskowska Dorota , Cuypers Ilya R. P.
Published: January 2024

A large and diverse literature on the effects of national culture on cross-border alliances has developed in recent decades. This chapter provides a review and critical assessment of this literature and lays out a path for future research. First, we provide an overview of the evolution of scholarship on this topic, and we identify some trends in recent work. Second, we provide a roadmap for navigating this literature by conducting a structured and sequential review of how cultural traits and cultural distance affect each of the key stages in the life cycle of an alliance. Finally, we propose an agenda for future research by highlighting several overarching avenues worth pursuing in future research. We believe that our review of the impact of national culture on cross-border alliances offers valuable insights to both scholars and practitioners.
Multinational Enterprises and Global Human Resource Management
Authors: Cascio Wayne F. , Collings David G.
Published: January 2024

This chapter considers global or international human resource management (IHRM) and its role in multinational enterprises (MNEs). We begin by providing a brief history of international business and global HRM. We then introduce the role of strategy in IHRM, emphasizing the crucial role of competitive strategy in formulating an HR strategy. We consider the critical question of how MNEs balance standardization and localization of HR policies and practices in their global operations. We highlight a number of controversies in global HRM research, including the backlash against globalization; convergence versus divergence of HR practices; evolving structures in MNEs; job aid for spouses of overseas executives; and low retention rates among repatriates. We conclude by identifying key boundary conditions on the effects of global HRM, including HR practices as cultural variables, the effects of tight versus loose cultures, individualistic versus collectivistic cultures on HR practices, and the practical implications of these influences.
Cultural Intelligence and Global Identity
Authors: Ang Soon , Rockstuhl Thomas , Erez Miriam
Published: January 2024

Global leaders navigate complex intercultural interfaces. Cultural intelligence (CQ) and global identity are two major constructs that explain why some leaders are more effective in bridging cultural divides than others. Despite addressing the same question, CQ and global identity stem from very different theoretical bases. In this chapter, we review research on CQ and global identity, and we offer future research directions to integrate them more systematically. We begin with a review of the theoretical origins and conceptualizations of both constructs. We delineate their conceptual distinctiveness vis-à-vis intercultural competence and other cultural identities; and we also highlight key empirical findings. We then offer ideas to extend existing CQ and global identity research to the firm level. Specifically, we suggest that CQ and global identity complement each other in important ways to help global leaders (1) internationalize local firms; (2) sustain competitive advantage through building cosmopolitan human capital; and (3) resolve global–local tensions.
The Research-Practice Gap in Cross-Cultural Organizational Psychology and Behavior
Authors: Saari Lise
Published: January 2024

Today’s organizational psychology practitioners need to have cross-cultural expertise to effectively carry out their work for global organizations. This requires a deep understanding of cross-cultural research and theories. However, there are research-practice gaps. This chapter describes relevant cross-cultural theories and constructs for practitioners, such as Power Distance, Harmony, and Cultural Distance. Areas in need of additional research for practitioners where there are gaps are also described. The chapter then summarizes some of the challenges faced by practitioners and the practical solutions used by practitioners to carry out their global work. The chapter closes with key takeaways, including the point that although current cross-cultural theories may not be comprehensive for all practitioners’ needs, they are important as one set of information for working successfully across cultures.
Cross-Cultural Studies of Career Theories
Authors: Leong Frederick T. L. , Fan Weiqiao , Li Mengting , Wang Ting
Published: January 2024

To address the challenges of WEIRD science (Henreich et al., 2010) in vocational psychology. we adopted the framework of cultural validity and cultural specificity delineated by Leong and Brown (1995). Using this framework. this chapter provides a critical review of cross-cultural studies of career theories, including the career developmental theory, career trait and factor theory, social cognitive career theory, and career decision-making theory. Empirically, the cultural validity and cultural specificity of these career theories were supported across cultures. However, most evidence was based mainly on cross-sectional research design, and the corresponding longitudinal evidence is very much needed in future studies. The implications for career theory and practice across cultures are discussed, as are limitations of current research and promising directions for future research.
Culture and Job Attitudes
Authors: Wasti S. Arzu , Erdil Selin Eser
Published: January 2024

We reviewed the cross-cultural job attitudes research spanning the last decade (2010–2020), most of which focused on the moderating role of national culture regarding the antecedents of job attitudes. The findings largely support the role of individualism versus collectivism as it relates to the impact of job demands, supervisor and organizational support, the effectiveness of different leadership styles, and the binding nature of extra-organizational ties (e.g., family embeddedness). Although the implications of fairness and work–life balance appear to have many generalizable aspects, findings speak to the moderating effect of gender egalitarianism and power distance on the predictive value of organizational practices that influence perceived fairness and inclusiveness. The scarce evidence on the outcomes of job attitudes suggests that the turnover intentions–turnover link is stronger in countries higher in individualism and power distance and lower in masculinity. Finally, several studies show the importance of incorporating economic, political, and regulatory differences, in addition to cultural values.
The Palmyrene
Authors: Meyer Jørgen Christian
Published: January 2024

The Palmyrene area can be described as arid land best suited for pasture, but in the Roman period, villages and estates were founded in the northern hinterland, based on agriculture and horticulture, and other districts were put under the plough to feed Palmyra’s growing population. This chapter discusses how it was possible to practise stable agriculture with floodwater farming and the construction of check dams. The settlements were also centres for semi-nomadic groups integrated into the social and political structure of the city and part of the migration pattern of nomadic groups, outsiders, entering the territory from the southern dry steppe. This chapter discusses the changing relationship between the desert and the sown, from the Roman to the Umayyad period, after which the settlements disappeared. This was not due to climatic deterioration, but to changes in the political landscape in the Middle East.
Palmyra
Authors: Gawlikowski Michał
Published: January 2024

The city of Palmyra was not founded by an external power but grew progressively without a preconceived plan. Attempts to introduce an urban organization were limited and unsuccessful. Palmyra became a city only in the Roman period, and it developed for three centuries before shrinking in surface area and importance in the late Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic periods. Finally, it reverted to the state of insignificant village that had been its lot during the millennia before the coming of Rome and the international caravan trade. At its height, Palmyra illustrates the process of assimilation of Graeco-Roman architectural forms while retaining inherited local characteristics, both formal and functional.
The Palmyrene Diaspora
Authors: Schörle Katia
Published: January 2024

This chapter discusses the different forms of diasporas of members of the Palmyrene community during the first three centuries ad within the wider Roman world. Indeed, the Palmyrenes are known as far north as Hadrian’s Wall, India in the east, and the deserts of Africa to the south. But how to discern journeys, individual people or events, and long-term communal or individual settlement? The author proposes that only a case-by-case study can identify such differences, if at all, and that, when possible, scholars should distinguish the different types of newly founded settlements. As a result, different diasporas emerge for reasons that may be mercantile, institutional (esp. military), religious, or of another nature, whether known or simply unknown. Last but not least, identities may be multiple and complex, a fact that Palmyrenes sometimes chose to highlight: cases where Palmyrenes dedicated in bilingual (and more exceptionally) trilingual inscriptions enable scholars to determine their place of origin, at times perhaps better than most citizens of the Roman world.
Palmyrene Trading Networks
Authors: Seland Eivind Heldaas
Published: January 2024

The operation of long-distance trade between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean was a major economic activity and an important source of wealth for the Syrian desert city of Palmyra. Palmyrene mercantile activities are attested not only in Syria and Mesopotamia, but also in Egypt, Yemen, and Pakistan and are likely to have extended to Rome and the Western Roman Empire. Palmyrene agents seem to have had a hand in all elements of the chain of operation, from financing, organization, and production, to logistics, transport, and trade. Palmyra is unique in the Roman context not only in its well-attested involvement in long-distance trade, but also in the preserved epigraphic record, which allows the reconstruction, albeit imperfect, of its commercial organization and practice in unparalleled detail. This chapter surveys the context, evidence, substance, and historiography of Palmyrene trading networks.
Palmyrenes in Rome
Authors: Schneider Eugenia Equini
Published: January 2024

The Palmyrene community that was already present in Rome by the first century ad grew considerably during the second century and the first half of the third century, owing to the development of commercial relations with the eastern region of the empire. It was located in Trastevere, close to the slopes of Monteverde and the Janiculum Hill, where places of worship and civic life were concentrated. The many related archaeological findings and bilingual inscriptions in Latin–Greek, Palmyrene–Latin, and Palmyrene–Greek confirm the strong bonds between the Roman community and the community’s home city despite the Palmyrenes’ integration into Roman society. Particularly significant with respect to these close relations is the presence of many carved reliefs representing the same deities of the pantheon worshipped in the home city created by stonecutters in Rome using the same traditional figurative motifs.
A Bilingual World?
Authors: Yon Jean-Baptiste
Published: January 2024

This chapter deals with the blooming of the epigraphic habit at Palmyra during the Roman period. Although Aramaic was one of the spoken languages in Syria during the Roman period, Palmyra is unique in its use of Aramaic inscriptions. The balance between Greek and Aramaic inscriptions in the Palmyrene epigraphic corpus is clear. This chapter discusses particularly the use of Aramaic alongside Greek—and Latin—as an official language and the public bilingualism in inscriptions that makes Palmyra an almost unique case in the Roman Empire. It highlights the city’s original Semitic culture as well as its integration into the world of the Greek cities of the Roman East and Syria.
Climate and Environment of Palmyra and the Syrian Desert
Authors: Seland Eivind Heldaas
Published: January 2024

A significant part of Palmyra’s claim to fame both in antiquity and today rests on the apparent contradiction of a flourishing city located deep in the remote and arid region known as the Syrian Desert. In fact, the possibilities and restraints imposed by Palmyra’s geographical situation provide parts of the key to understanding other aspects of Palmyrene history, including the city’s rise to importance in the trade between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean and the hybrid sociopolitical organization argued by many scholars. This chapter addresses the natural environment of Palmyra and the surrounding region from a historical perspective, including climate and landforms, with brief discussions of their implications for subsistence, trade, and communication.
Domestic Architecture in Palmyra
Authors: Zenoni Gioia
Published: January 2024

Although the abrupt interruption of fieldwork in Palmyra in 2011 has meant that the gaps in knowledge of various sectors of the city and of certain historical periods cannot be filled at present, it has on the other hand obliged the archaeological missions to publish the results of recent investigations and review the older documentation, with fruitful results that encourage the sketching out of the evolution of the domestic architecture of Palmyra from the Hellenistic to the early Islamic period. This chapter presents the historical frame of research on the domestic architecture of Palmyra, surveying the archaeological fieldwork, scholars, and main perspectives of interpretation. The more significant domestic buildings brought to light in various sectors of the city are presented here with their striking features concerning layout, building techniques, and decoration systems.
Postludium
Authors: Sartre-Fauriat Annie
Published: January 2024

Since the beginning of the war in 2011, Syria has suffered much damage and looting. The site of Palmyra, one of the most beautiful antique sites in the country, was largely destroyed during the fighting from 2012 to 2017 between various groups of combatants and by the massive and deliberate destruction wrought by the Da‘esh horde. Because of this, humanity has lost the traces of many very important historical buildings and artefacts that stood as testimony to the glorious past and civilization of the site in antiquity. Now, many questions arise concerning opportunities for restoration or reconstruction. But before this is contemplated, it is necessary to analyse the situation and consider other methods by which to reconstitute the monuments using the reliable documentation already gathered.
Children in Palmyra
Authors: Bobou Olympia
Published: January 2024

This chapter presents the various epigraphic and iconographic sources available to scholars for the study of children in Palmyra. There is little evidence for the presence of children in domestic or public contexts in Palmyra; however, the funerary sphere can provide us with numerous representations of children alone or with their relatives, usually their mothers, less often their fathers or other relatives. The iconographic choices for the portraits of children reveal that childhood was a distinct period in a person’s life, one in which children could be carefree but also in need of protection. The end of childhood happened in stages that were associated with the assumption of public roles for male children and marriage for female ones.
Hellenistic Palmyra
Authors: Schmidt-Colinet Andreas
Published: January 2024

In the context of this chapter, the term ‘Hellenistic’ is intended in a purely chronological sense, meaning the period between the third century bc and the first century ad. First, all currently known literary, epigraphic, and archaeological data concerning this period are summarized. Then, the results of recent discoveries from the area south of the wadi are presented. Two trenches were opened in that area based on geophysical prospection and magnetogram data. A road system with adjacent dwellings was excavated. There, pottery finds, mostly of goods imported from the west (e.g., Rhodian amphora handles), make it possible to date the first constructions of mud brick walls to the second half of the third century bc. Several construction phases from the late third century bc—including a well dug in the second half of the second century bc—up to the time of the Emperor Augustus may be distinguished.
Palmyrene Identity and Community
Authors: Smith Andrew M.
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines what it meant to be a Palmyrene between the first century bc and the third century ad. Emphasis is placed on those factors involved in how the Palmyrenes constructed and maintained their unique identities and a sense of shared community between empires, particularly in terms of the interplay between their civic and tribal identities. Discussed here as well are Palmyrene responses to external pressures and influences over time that reveal a unique conservatism in their preservation of what ‘being’ a Palmyrene meant over the course of three centuries of instability and changing power dynamics in a volatile frontier zone.
Palmyra and the Third-Century Crisis
Authors: Hartmann Udo
Published: January 2024

This chapter discusses the history of Palmyra in the third century, especially the institutions of the colonia Palmyra, the political and economic crisis of the city after the collapse of the trade network, the establishment of a local dynasty under Odaenathus, and the end of the brief political interlude of the Palmyrene realm in the Roman East. It attempts to characterize the emergence of the Palmyrene realm in the 260s as the result of the political crisis of the third century of the Roman Empire. This eastern realm was an attempt to solve these problems by establishing local Roman rule led by a senatorial family from Palmyra.
Religion, Altruism, and Prosocial Behavior
Authors: Midlarsky Elizabeth , Malik Tanya
Published: January 2024

Altruism and religiousness are two important facets of human functioning. This chapter takes a chronological perspective on their development, from philosophical and rhetorically based discourse that discusses the link between these two phenomena to analyzing the definitions, and then offers a review of the empirical research. The chapter is structured in a way that provides readers with an overview of both these phenomena and the associated empirical research independently, and ultimately a symphony of the two. This platform addresses the question, “What empirical evidence exists about the manifestations of these phenomena and the extent to which they are related to one another?” To answer this, we acknowledge the compound, multifaceted nature of both altruism and religion and argue that exercising cross-disciplinary approaches is pertinent for progress to be made. Simultaneously, the chapter concludes that both altruism and religion are powerful enough to have both salutary and noxious effects that make it critical that they be the focus of research efforts. Suggestions for future research are then offered.
Journey From a Materialist to a Postmaterialist Perspective—A Portrait
Authors: Sperry Len
Published: January 2024

An individual’s professional and personal life tends to evolve over time. Sometimes this evolution involves significant changes in assumptions and premises about science and human nature. Chapter 13 described several facets of this evolution. How this evolution occurs has not been well charted, nor have there been many illustrations of this process in print, particularly of clinician-researchers. In this chapter, the evolution and career trajectory of a clinician-researcher is described. It illustrated three distinct phases that occurred in this individual’s life: materialistic, dualistic, and postmaterialistic. While this is an actual portrait, some aspects of it have been disguised to protect privacy.
Spiritual Aspects of Jungian Analytical Psychology
Authors: Wagenseller Joseph P.
Published: January 2024

This chapter includes a brief description of the life and work of Carl Gustav Jung, with particular attention to his personal experience of the objective psyche and its articulation into a theoretical framework. Special emphasis is placed upon the transpersonal/spiritual dimension of the psyche and the applicability of Jung’s theory and practice to achieve a dynamic relationship with the self. The individual’s experience with the transpersonal aspect of the psyche is illustrated with examples from symptoms, dreams, and the phenomenon of synchronicity. Jung’s psychological equivalent of a spiritual journey, known as the individuation process, is described and illustrated as an option for those for whom other, perhaps more traditional religious faiths and practices are no longer meaningfully effective. In conclusion, recommendations are made for future study and research.
The Spirituality–Physical Health Linkage
Authors: Park Crystal L. , Slattery Jeanne M. , Cao Tingyi
Published: January 2024

A large and expanding literature demonstrates links between religiousness/spirituality (R/S) and physical health; many different mediators of this relationship have been proposed. This chapter focuses specifically on one of these pathways, positive and negative emotions. We briefly review the literature regarding the effects of R/S on physical health and the effects of physical health on R/S, then present a model of the reciprocal influences of R/S and health and how positive and negative emotions may serve as potential mediators of these relationships. The chapter then reviews theory and research findings regarding these links, concluding with suggestions to guide future research.
Spirituality, Religion, Health, and Professional Psychology
Authors: Plante Thomas G.
Published: January 2024

Most people believe in the divine in some form and consider themselves to be spiritual, religious, or both. However, most psychologists and other mental health professionals perceive themselves as not religious and have little if any training or interest in spirituality and religious diversity. Psychologists and other healthcare professionals can use spiritual principles and practices to better serve their clients, even if they do not share the same or any religious or spiritual engagement. Benefits of religious/spiritual engagement for physical, social, and mental health are discussed in this chapter along with religious hazards to health. Spiritual tools commonly found within the major religious traditions are also discussed and suggested for use by psychologists and others. Assessment, intervention, ethical, and research issues are discussed as well.
Transformation of Brain Function Associated With Spiritual Experience
Authors: Newberg Andrew B.
Published: January 2024

This chapter reviews the transformations of brain structure and function associated with various spiritual experiences by considering the current state of neurophysiological investigations of spiritual experiences in terms of brain imaging, neurotransmitter studies, and hormone function. There are currently a number of techniques for studying the brain and its related functions. Such techniques include single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). As discussed in this chapter, these imaging techniques can observe the very broad function of different structures of the brain as well as detailed neurotransmitter systems with regard to spiritual experience. Additional studies of various hormone levels, autonomic activity, and other physiological processes can also be integrated into a comprehensive model that can be utilized to help better understand the biological correlates of spiritual experiences.
Neuroimaging and Spiritual Practice
Authors: Beauregard Mario
Published: January 2024

This chapter defines religious, spiritual, and mystical experiences (RSMEs) and then reviews clinical data suggesting a role for the temporal lobe in RSMEs. It may be possible to induce such experiences experimentally by stimulating the temporal lobe with weak electromagnetic currents. The limbic-marker hypothesis is another possibility. The chapter examines the findings of neuroimaging studies of RSMEs conducted to date. Since meditation is often associated with spiritual practice, the chapter reviews neuroimaging studies of diverse meditative states. The phenomenology of RSMEs with respect to the mind–brain problem is an area of discussion, with a special emphasis on near-death experiences. Finally, the chapter provides a few concluding remarks and proposes new opportunities for expanding the neuroscience of spirituality.
Near-Death Experiences and Spirituality
Authors: Greyson Bruce
Published: January 2024

Near-death experiences (NDEs) occur in 10–20% of people who come close to death, and they are similar to mystical experiences occurring in other settings. Their incidence and features are not influenced by prior religious beliefs, although cultural background may affect the interpretation of some of those features. However, NDEs profoundly influence one’s subsequent sense of spirituality, leading to increased compassion, altruism, and sense of purpose in life, and to decreased fear of death, competitiveness, and materialistic interests. They do not necessarily lead to an increased involvement in organized religion but rather tend to foster an internal sense of connection to the divine and to something greater than the self. The mechanism by which NDEs bring about these changes is unclear, but it may be related to their inescapable challenge to the materialistic model of mind–brain identity and the implication that there is a spiritual component to humans that appears, under extreme circumstances, to function independent of the physical body.
Nonlocality, Intention, and Observer Effects in Healing Studies
Authors: Schwartz Stephan A. , Dossey Larry
Published: January 2024

All research domains are based upon epistemological assumptions. Periodic reassessment of these assumptions is crucial because they influence how we interpret experimental outcomes. Perhaps nowhere is this reassessment needed more than in the study of prayer and intention experiments: If positive results from this field of research are sustained, the reality of nonlocal consciousness must be confronted. This chapter explores the current status of healing and intention research, citing a number of major studies and using the “Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in Cardiac Bypass Surgery Patients: A Multicenter Randomized Trial of Uncertainty and Certainty of Receiving Intercessory Prayer” as a case study of this line of research. The chapter argues that the dose-dependent model typical of drug trials, and adopted for use in the STEP and other studies, is not the optimal model for intention-healing research, and critiques this approach in detail, citing apposite research from which we draw our recommendations and conclusions. The chapter suggests that the usual assumptions concerning blindness and randomization that prevail in studies using the pharmacological model must be reappraised. Experimental data suggest that a nonlocal relationship exists among the various individuals participating in a study, one which needs to be understood and taken seriously. We argue that it is important to account for and understand the role of both local and nonlocal observer effects, since both can significantly affect outcome. Research is presented from an array of disciplines to support why we feel these issues of linkage, belief, and intention are so important to a successful, accurate, and meaningful study outcome. Finally, we offer suggestions for new lines of research and new protocol designs that address these observer-effect issues, particularly the nonlocal aspects. The chapter finally suggests that if these effects occur in intention studies, they must necessarily exist in all studies, although in pharmacological studies they are often overshadowed by the power of chemical and biological agents.
Spiritual Development During Childhood and Adolescence
Authors: Boyatzis Chris J.
Published: January 2024

This chapter reviews psychological research on spiritual and religious development, with an emphasis on work published since the first edition of this handbook. This research area continues to blossom, with recent refinements in definitions and increased attention to sociocultural factors. A social–ecology model of spiritual development is emphasized here, with a focus on the family and parent–child communication. The contexts of culture and nature are highlighted as potent influences on spiritual development, though the latter has been largely neglected. There is value in studying the interaction of multiple dimensions of religiosity and spirituality on children’s outcomes. The role of religion on adolescent well-being has received extensive attention, with recent surge in interest about spiritual exemplars, adolescents who are viewed by people who know them as extraordinarily spiritual. The conclusion offers a critique of our field’s current paradigm, with calls for more research featuring culturally diverse (rather than largely U.S.) samples, qualitative (rather than quantitative) methods, and longitudinal (rather than correlational) design. The conclusion also calls for a person-centered, intersectional approach that respects the children and youth who are developing as spiritual and religious beings (rather than a variable-centered approach that prioritizes statistical and conceptual relations between variables and often treats participants’ demographic factors as “noise” to be controlled for in analyses). Additionally, our field should recognize other disciplines (namely, cultural anthropology and child theology/religious education) as having value for psychological understanding of religious and spiritual development.
Questions Left Unaddressed by Religious Familism
Authors: Mahoney Annette , Krumrei-Mancuso Elizabeth J.
Published: January 2024

Given the growing pluralism in family structures, this chapter highlights the role of religiousness and spirituality in the formation and maintenance of diverse families. We outline commonalities and differences that exist among major world religions about forming and maintaining family relationships. Consistent with the predominant conceptual model called religious familism, most research on faith and family life focuses on traditional families (i.e., married heterosexual couples with children). We highlight key findings about these families and then turn our attention to emerging studies on religion and spirituality within nontraditional families. Specifically, we address the role of faith for families headed by single mothers, same-sex couples, and cohabitating couples. Overall, evidence suggests that greater religiousness and spirituality can be helpful to parents and partners in traditional as well as nontraditional families, despite their relatively lower participation in organized religious groups.
‘Thrice fairer than myself’
Authors: Austin Britton Dennis
Published: January 2024

This chapter draws attention to the hyper-whiteness of Adonis in Venus and Adonis, arguing that Shakespeare’s epyllion cannot produce a future for racial whiteness because sexual desire is darkened and linked to non-White people. Adonis’s hyper-whiteness points towards asexuality as absence of sexual desire, which, ironically, only makes Adonis more desirable to Venus. His whiteness is repeatedly threatened by Venus, whose body is less white than Adonis’s and darkened by sexual passion. Yet, in Adonis’s disinterestedness in Venus and sexual reproduction, his hyper-whiteness dies with himself. Although his whiteness has no future in the poem, it does in the desires of young, elite, White male readers. This chapter then suggests that the racial futures of whiteness can be traced through the history of reading, in how White readers read, quote, and use Shakespeare’s works.
Dispossessed and Unaccommodated
Authors: Dugan Holly
Published: January 2024

In this chapter, we analyse the torture scene in King Lear, arguing that metaphors of animality and enslavement attach to Cornwall’s unnamed servant in order to mitigate his attempts to intervene and stop the violence. Though a minor character, the servant’s fate reveals a wider map of power than the play is invested in representing. Furthermore, the insults hurled at him by Regan and Cornwall symbolically link animals with enslaved people and both with precarity and superfluity. Called both a dog and a slave by Regan and Cornwall, killed and tossed on a dunghill outside of Gloucester’s home, Cornwall’s servant’s death provides a useful opportunity to connect recent scholarship in premodern critical race studies with critical animal studies and critical disability studies.
‘Give me conquer’d Egypt’
Authors: Dadabhoy Ambereen
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines the Eastern Mediterranean geography of Antony and Cleopatra, arguing that the Islamicate cultures of this region provide an alternate context for the play’s empire-building project. The chapter offers a history of Islamicate Egypt and of Ottoman dominance in the region. Furthermore, it advances Islamic cognates for the play’s action and characters, suggesting alternative contexts for Shakespeare’s drama.
Shakespeare, Race, and Appropriation
Authors: Corredera Vanessa I.
Published: January 2024

As three concepts all deeply intertwined with power, appropriation, Shakespeare, and race potently speak to and inform one another. This chapter considers appropriation as both a power move and a form of reimagined work to spotlight the complexity of this interrelationship. I begin by examining how race and appropriation shape one another across numerous citations from Shakespeare’s dramatic oeuvre. Moving across genres, I trace a dynamic in which racialized identities are appropriated for the purpose of denigration and marginalization, thereby upholding various forms of white superiority. I then turn to two contemporary appropriations—the comedy sketch ‘Rome and Julissa’ from The Black Lady Sketch Show and appropriative moments in the Public Theater’s Much Ado About Nothing—to demonstrate how modern works appropriate yet sideline Shakespeare by using his cultural capital to explore and expose contemporary racial issues. These appropriative moves thereby highlight the very identities frequently disregarded and repressed in Shakespeare’s plays.
Coordinating Racisms in The Merchant of Venice
Authors: Kaplan M. Lindsay
Published: January 2024

A consideration of the construction of a Jewish racial identity in early and medieval Christian theology, and its coordination with ideas about Africans and Muslims, offers an explanatory lens on Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Premodern Christian texts construct powerful antiBlack, anti-Jewish, and anti-Muslim foundational myths that contribute to racial formation by positioning white Christians as superior to damned infidels. These discourses correlate negative associations of Blackness with sin and the demonic, creating an inferior status, not only for ‘Ethiopians’, but also for Jews and Muslims. A consideration of the play’s representations of the Prince of Morocco, the ‘negro … Moor’ woman, Shylock, and Jessica, viewed in the context of contemporary cultural discourses, reveals the persistence of earlier Christian racial forms. An awareness of the shared histories of these identities helps us understand the ideologies shaping contemporary intolerance and offers opportunities for better coalition-building in twenty-first-century challenges to systemic racism.
Monstrous Indigeneity and the Discourse of Race in Shakespeare’s England
Authors: Stevens Scott Manning
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines the intersections and distinctions between the fields of critical race studies and critical Indigenous studies regarding the study of Shakespeare’s works. In recent decades critics have become increasingly aware of the issue of race within Shakespeare studies and have also explored the place of colonialism within the same context, but what has come to be known as critical Indigenous studies has only recently become part of the broader discourse in early modern literary studies. ‘Race’ in the early modern era depended largely on descent and culture (i.e. language and religion), whereas ‘Indigeneity’, as we use the term now, did not exist. Its closest intellectual cognate would have been ‘native inhabitant’. With the rise of early modern imperialism came the establishment of settler colonialism, and I argue that a racialized notion of monstrosity was deployed to abrogate Indigenous sovereignty and dispossess them of their territories. Caliban, like other Indigenous figures, must first be rendered monstrous in order to legitimize European conquest and rule.