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Focuses on the three doubt-belief theory of inquiry. Psychology of inquiry; Requirements for the genuineness of doubt based from Charles Sanders Peirce's writings on doubt and belief; Analysis of feigned heistancy.

The article comments on the concept of H. C. Triandis about race as determinant of social distance. This asserts that Triandis perception concerning race as a more important determinant of social distance rather than belief, is quite contrary on the findings of the study undertaken. Triandis evaluation which is undertaken on different races is questioned due to the different philosophy employed into each subject. The author further contends that on the basis of his study which is published in his book "The Open and Closed Mind," belief outweighs race to be the basis of social discrimination and not the other way around.

In this article, the author attempts to pull together information and opinion relevant to an assessment of the religious significance of psychedelic drugs. The author states that the evidence indicates that these substances are not dangerous if responsibly used, and that they are non-habit-forming. Most researchers agree that a physiological tolerance is built up with regular use. The author discusses some of the results of his brief study on sixteen students who had taken LSD in their college campus. There were a number references to self-objectification, and to gains in insight about oneself. There was great variation in the degree of love experienced; some felt closer to other persons, others felt more separated and isolated. Certain types of inner events are experienced as fearful and hallucinatory by some subjects, and ecstatic, religious and highly beneficial by others. The relation between preparation for the drug session and the nature of the experience is problematical. One clear result of research so far is that set and setting are of considerable importance in determining what happens.

Since the very beginning a lack of methodological sophistication has plagued the psychology of religion. Unfortunately, methodological liberalization brought with it a greater use of paper and pencil tests, especially questionnaires. Despite the fact that every behavioral scientist knows the severe limitations of paper-and pencil. Instruments, they continue to be the dominant method employed in the psychological study of religious phenomena. The timed cross-examination approach is actually a combination of two instruments rolled into one. One Instrument is the personality test or attitude scale already validated and reliable; the other instrument is the timed cross-examination do vice, superimposed on the former. This particular scale consists of 45 statements designed to express subjects' sentiments toward the chunk To use the scale for timed cross-examination purposes, it is first necessary to write polar opposite statements for each statement appearing in the original. Study of religious beliefs and attitudes. As was indicated early in this paper, practically all of the generalizations about religious beliefs and attitudes are based on paper and-pencil instruments.

If religion is faith concerning man's fate, how can this faith find expression today? This is a historical question: for all that will follow about shedding received notions and holding tradition in abeyance, this tradition, this received notion of the relevance of history, of man's historicity, cannot be done without in assessing surrender and hence its relevance for religion. There are some expectations, in particular two, that the title of this paper may raise but that are false; they should be dissipated at once. One, there will be no discussion of the social aspects of religion. Nor will there be any comparison between the analysis of surrender and innumerable extant comments on related phenomena, such as religious or mystical experiences. In this late historical phase, when there even is a sense in which we might be past history, or might soon be past history, religion may well appear as the mood embraced in an effort to come to terms with two unanswerable questions-it is the phase in our history in which one knows that these questions are unanswerable.

Examines the philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce's attack on Rene Descartes methodological doubt. Theory of doubt; Basic principles of Peirce's theory of knowledge; Relations between doubt and inquiry.

The article presents information on research papers related to psychoanalysis published in various journals. In his research paper "Play, the mediator between opposites- its concretization in arson," published in a 1971 issue of "British Journal of Medical Psychology," Anneliese Pontius makes a contribution to ideas about the origin of arson. In another research paper "Parting, clinging, individuation," published in a 1972 issue of the journal "Guild of Pastoral Psychology, its author J.W.T. Redfearn treats parting and clinging as the problem of achieving autonomy without a cut from roots which inevitably leads to a lack of solid conviction.

The full time religious professional in a religious collectivity occupies a strategic position in the social system in which he is professionally involved. The multifarious tasks in which he engages are to be seen as due, in part, to the diffuseness of his responsibilities, a diffuseness which is characteristic of leadership roles in any social system. The coordinating and harmonizing facets of any leadership role demand this kind of generalized or diffuse role definition. While this diffuseness is characteristic of any leadership role in any social system, goals or objectives of the social system which sustains the full time professional religious leader are themselves more diffuse and less amenable to rational evaluation than are the goals of most organizations in this society. In its own understanding, the church exists to cure souls, to save souls, and/or to witness to God's saving act in Jesus as the Christ; hence, as conceived internally, its ultimate goal transcends moral, cognitive and emotive goals or objectives, although dimensions of each goal are involved in the objectives of the social system that constitutes the church and in the theological understanding that informs these goals.

This paper examines the homogeneity and heterogeneity of church members' beliefs at the denominational and congregational levels. Homogeneity is defined as the extent to which one pattern of belief tends to dominate all others. Heterogeneity is defined as the extent to which more than one pattern of belief exists within a group. Data were obtained from Baptist and Methodist members of two middle class and two working class congregations. The data indicated that heterogeneity prevailed in both denominations and in three of the four congregations. A discussion of these findings focuses on some of the functional implications of heterogeneity and the role of heterogeneity in some of the crises religious groups are facing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modernization is a multidimensional phenomenon that includes socio-demographic, structural and cultural changes. So far, however, the theoretical and empirical implications of this multidimensionality have not been dealt with comprehensively and systematically. This paper constitutes a preliminary attempt at a more systematic approach and integrated approach. In subsequent research, doubts became more prevalent and this scepticism was greatly enhanced by the new concern with retraditionalisation and the breakdown of political systems in various developing societies. These two phenomena which are by no means causally connected show that the various indices of modernization do not necessarily follow a linear, parallel development. Uneven development, in fact, is one of the most crucial factors determining the stability of developing countries The extent of this unevenness can be examined at several levels. It can be assessed by considering the status of individuals or small groups, by comparing the rate of modernization in specific institutional spheres and by analyzing the relationship between more generalized and diffuse entities, such as the "center" and the "periphery."

The article presents a case of disruption, social location and interpretive practices in Wayne, New Jersey. Wayne's lack of social integration as a community is related not only to this highly fragmented and decentralized ecology, but also to the rapid growth in population and high turnover of residents in recent years. Social segregation did much to prevent these isolated incidents from erupting into an overt conflict between Christians and Jews. In fact, before the school board election incident, which is the subject of this paper, there was a prevailing belief in the tolerance and brotherhood of the community by all parties. The school board issue shattered this belief. The current article, thus, examine the interpretive responses made by the Jewish residents of Wayne, New Jersey, to religious allegations that arose in the course of a school board election. The most significant results were as follows: the positive relationship between Jewish participation-identification and increased enthnocentrism was stronger among those Jewish residents who did not discuss the issue with Gentiles, and likewise the negative relationship between cross-ties and increased ethnocentrism was stronger for the low discussion group.

This paper discusses the extent to which the changes in religious belief and organization are a function of urbanization in an urban community in Ghana. The raison d'etre of every Christian church at Keta is evangelization and conversion to the Christian faith, but it is also the means of acquiring formal education, of rearing or training children. In this way, the church has become one of the foremost interpreters of Western ideals and values to the African. Each church at Keta, is a center of social life in the community, providing a field of activity in which members could acquire status and exercise leadership. Opportunities for status and leadership are not restricted to elderly presbyters and committee men, because there are voluntary organizations in which the youth can play their role and be made to feel that they matter in the church, such as choirs or singing bands, youth fellowships, or Bible classes.

The article offers the author's insights concerning personnel management abroad. The author explores the concept of cross-cultural approach of anthropologists and theory of communication developed by Bell Telephone Co. He states that cross-cultural approach has been applied in various fields including sociology, education, and literature. He says that the original papers and books on communication theory are strictly for the people having mathematical bent. Furthermore, the author associates the cross-cultural approach and communication theory in explaining personnel management in terms of their use in the interpretation and communication of beliefs on personnel problems.

This paper questions the assumption that religion, or its functional alternatives, inevitably provides the basis for the cultural integration of all societies. In modern societies the process of differentiation has reached the point at which a normative order based on religious beliefs and values is no longer possible. This development, however, coincides with increases in productive capacity which tend to make less difficult the tasks of motivating enough individuals to work and of providing legitimacy for the social order. As a religious basis to the normative order becomes less necessary, religion will continue to have functions for certain strata and for private individuals, but these functions will be more likely to be expressive than utilitarian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings of a study dealing with some factors associated with religious and political affiliation in a college population. Specifically, relationships between religious affiliation, belief and participation, political orientation and socio-economic status are examined. The influence of religion on secular activity has long been of interest to sociologists. The classical works of sociologist Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Among college populations, the study provides the most comprehensive body of empirical data on students' religious values and their correlates. The article reports that religious belief is widespread but that commitment is rare. Substantial differences are found among major religious groups. Catholic students score highest on a scale of religiousness and Jewish students score lowest with Protestants falling in between. This article also deals with the relationship between parents' religious orientation and the students' religious beliefs.

The article presents a discussion on the unity of thought and belief. In recent years there have appeared a number of empirical studies on the relation between social belief and cognition. In most of these studies the specific social belief under scrutiny was ethnic prejudice, or the authoritarianism conceived to underlie it. The research program regarding the relations between belief, as measured by the Dogmatism Scale, and thought, as measured by cognitive tasks, is being derived solely from the cognitive model, which attempts to tie together the organization of thought with that of belief. The concepts employed in describing such properties seem to be equally applicable to both lines of inquiry and permit one to flit with relative ease from belief to thought-and back again to belief, so much so that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to delineate where believing ends and thinking begins. The outcome of the cognitive studies discussed in this paper suggests that the model provides a fertile basis for further research relating belief to thought. Thus, the researchers intend to return to Doodleland to test other properties of the thought-belief model.

The paper is a brief report of a study of the way of life followed by the caipiras who inhabit the Paraitinga Valley in the eastern part of the state of Sāo Paulo, Brazil. It is limited largely to considerations of the population and its characteristics; health, diet, housing and related aspects of the level and standard of living; labor contracts and work techniques; religious beliefs and practices; social participation; and the rights enjoyed by these humble folk who are similar in so many ways to the bulk of the rural inhabitants of other sections of the Brazilian nation. Most of the description and analysis is based upon a long period of personal observation and study by the Brazilian co-author of the report. For almost two decades the author has been in intimate contact with families in the region studied, making detailed observations and records of various aspects of social organization and social participation. Caipira is a term widely used in Sāo Paulo to designate the humble rural folk who inhabit the less advanced sections of the state. It usually has a depreciative connotation.

When a persuasive communication causes a change in belief, will behavior relevant to the belief also change? Past experiments have shown both successes and failures in obtaining such behavior change. The present study offers a reconciliation of these differences in findings by showing that the pattern of belief change with no behavior change occurred only in subjects who, before a communication, committed themselves to a position opposing it. Without this commitment, subjects showed no immunity against the effects of the communication on behavior. Some theoretical implications of this finding are discussed. A condensed version of this paper was read at the American Psychological Association meetings in Los Angeles in 1964. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines cultural beliefs about success, reflected in stereotypes about social classes, and their influence upon the degree of correspondence between objective class position and subjective class identification. The formulated hypothesis stating that the greatest degree of discrepancy between objective and subjective class position will tend to be found in the social classes most affected by unfavorable cultural stereotypes was supported by data available in two contrasting cultural milieus: the United States and Greece. The greatest degree of discrepancy is found in the American lower class and the Greek upper class which are most affected by corresponding negative stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical studies indicated little evidence for generational differences on the level of beliefs traditionally referred to as attitudes (see Rokeach's typology). At the intermediate level of beliefs, those concerning authority, there appeared more possibility of generational discontinuity, especially in relation to the legitimacy of national institutions. Although very little research has been done on value orientations, studies of political attitudes have indicated higher parent-child agreement on partisan attitudes than on political value orientations. Data from a sample of college students and their parents indicate striking generational differences on another value orientation, a measure of time perspective. It appears that writers who have argued that a counterculture is emerging among the younger generation are concentrating on the value orientation level, while the debunkers of the notion of a generation gap have focused almost entirely upon the level of attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the relationship between religious persuasion and fear of death in physically healthy persons and terminally ill patients. No differences in the intensity of fear of death were Fear of Death found between believers and unbelievers. Personal nearness to death also did not reveal any meaningful differences between believers and unbelievers. What did emerge was a pattern generally characteristic of all the populations studied, highpointing an ambivalent acceptance-avoidance approach toward fear of death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a discussion on the source of beliefs, their saliency, and prediction of attitude. Researchers had predicted that estimates of attitude based on the elicited beliefs would yield better predictive validities than estimates based on the eight standard beliefs (common to the population), which, in turn, would lead to better prediction than estimates based on the 15 "arbitrary" beliefs. This article points out that these results are not necessarily consistent with the assumption that the best estimates of attitude will be obtained from a consideration of the individual's own beliefs and the assumption of a strong positive relationship between the position of a belief in the response hierarchy and the strength of that belief. The article tests the hypothesis that while some of the beliefs may be nonsalient for a given individual, it may well be that, over all subjects, the technique involving the use of standard sets of beliefs actually includes fewer nonsalient beliefs than a technique that utilizes all the beliefs elicited by a subject.

The article focuses on the strength, relevance and source of beliefs about an object. This study examines three issues relevant to the beliefs used in the prediction paradigm: the relationship between strength of belief and the position of beliefs in the belief hierarchy of the subject; the relevance of the beliefs to the measurement situation; and the source of the beliefs employed in attitude measurement. It follows that those beliefs that are high in the individual's habit family hierarchy will be those that are elicited first when a subject is asked about his beliefs about some attitude object; those beliefs low in the hierarchy will come forth later in his listing, if at all. Subjects in the present study were asked to list their beliefs about a particular attitude object, and then to indicate the strength of these beliefs. The "relevance" of a belief will be defined as the degree to which a particular belief is important to a subject in evaluating an attitude object when a special criterion is used.

The article presents a research on farm and nonfarm families differences in religious beliefs and practices. Generally, it is believed that farm families hold more traditional religious beliefs and are more active in church and home religious activities than nonfarm families. Social changes have been occurring in rural American society, which may invalidate these propositions. Yet, since religious beliefs and practices are rooted in value systems, which are not subject to major changes in a short time span, it is probable that the traditionally assumed farm-nonfarm differences in religious beliefs and practices still exist. No current research is available, however, to test these hypotheses. Some limited data are offered to test the hypothesis that Protestant farm parents and farm-reared college students adhere to more conservative religious beliefs and engage more actively in religious practices than nonfarm parents and their college students. Data were obtained from 38 farm girls and 30 farm boys and from 73 nonfarm girls and 24 nonfarm boys who were students at Iowa State University.

The nineteenth century began with a partial reaction against the abstract rationalism of the enlightenment and saw a growing awareness of the complex role of religion in the development of human consciousness. Yet at the same time the certainty grew among the secular intellectuals that Christianity, still defended largely by the old arguments and the old formulas, could not be taken seriously in its own terms. There grew up alongside of the continuing use of consequential reductionism, several varieties of what the author calls "symbolic reductionism." From this point of view religion is not entirely fraudulent. Much of nineteenth-century social science developed out of the search for the truth hidden in the falsity of religion, the truth behind symbols. It is the author's contention that implicit in the work of the great symbolic reductionists was another possible position with entirely different implications for the place of religion in culture, a position he will call "symbolic realism." Two secular intellectuals Herbert Fingarette and Norman Brown oppose any kind of symbolic reductionism.

The theoretical schema of the sciences of action developed by the sociologist Talcott Parsons in "The Social System," is fundamentally inimical with the Christian tradition conceived almost as broadly as possible without reducing that tradition to a minority. In this article the ordering of the sciences according to the schema developed by Parsons has been outlined. In addition, the bases of the classification of types of belief systems have been examined, and the fundamental notions on the basis of which the schematism stands or falls will be suggested. Finally, these fundamental notions have been criticized from an alternative perspective related to a different conception of the social studies. The whole schematism that has been reviewed here is inextricably related to the classification of belief systems. Parsons develops a four-fold typology of belief systems and contrasts non-scientific types of belief systems with scientific belief systems. In conclusion, the author of this article turn to an external critique of Parsons. Formulations from an alternative perspective have been contrasted with those of Parsons.

The article discusses various dimensions of religion. Members of different class strata, have different styles of religious expression: various dimensions of religion appeal quite differently to those variously placed in the class structure. Religion, then, cannot he seen to be of a single piece. It must be conceived of as containing a number of different facets, some of which can be thought of as being almost contradictory to others. This raises a host of questions. To begin with: How do two of these dimensions of religious expression, formal religious activity, such as church attendance, and religious feeling or involvement, relate to one another? Since each relates to a third variable, social class, in the opposite manner, yet both are aspects of religious sociation, the question might legitimately be raised as to how they themselves correlate. The article discusses, by introducing formal non church participation: How does it relate to social class? It further discusses whether it relate in the same direction and to the same degree as church participation.

Provides information on the concept of indubitable belief of philosopher Charles S. Peirce. Overview of the doctrine of Critical Common Sensism; Logical limits to the notion of doubt; Stages in the development of common sensism.

The specification of religiosity arid religious affiliation as independent dimensions yields an initial four-fold classification of religious member, a-religious member, religious independent, and residual a-religious. Wizen survey data are related to these categories, significant differences in religious attitudes and belief are revealed. An expanded typology of eight categories is proposed in order to include irreligious affiliates and non-affiliates. Uses for this typology are suggested in the study of tile institutionalization and de-institutionalization of religion and the study of patterns of religious conversion and deconversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mr Armbruster's article consists of an edited version of his speech presented at the AAA Meeting in Chicago. October. 1973. It is an exposure to the philosophy of Belief Dynamics, namely, how advertising creates beliefs and beliefs cause behavior. Examples are given of how this works (or fails) with 'paid advertisements', and also how it works in other human behavior situations. Mr. Armbruster discusses how to apply Belief Dynamics to yourself, to get yourself to do what you'd really like to do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are there really "dissonant consumers?" That is, consumers beset with doubt after a purchase that they have made the correct choice? The author examines this question, using the findings of his study of new automobile owners; and he discusses the issue of the advertiser's responsibility to the recent purchaser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines beliefs from the area of college physical education for the general student that are viewed as one of the forces serving as triggers-to-human action. Beliefs are limited to the philosophic type such as values and generalizations. Beliefs are intimately a part of an individual and his life so they are a force in human action. Beliefs are impregnated with feeling. Beliefs work unlabelled due to their incognito status. The reason for the difficulty of examining beliefs is explained. The individual is responsible for his actions and behavior but the control and manipulation stem from beliefs.

The article describes the problem of survey respondents who are confused or decide to guess while being interviewed and discusses the scope of the problem and possible solutions. A survey in which numerous respondents claimed to recognize the work of a fictional person is presented. The question presented deals with how to account for these 'confused' and innacurate responses in the survey's final results. A solution is presented which minimizes guesswork. The author wishes to provoke further possible solutions to accounting for error in market research.

The article focuses on the author's comment on the paper "The Effect of Organization Size Upon Normative Diversity," by D. Michael Betz, that appeared in the March 1972 issue of the journal "Social Science Quarterly." Conceptually, the norm construct is weakened to the point of triviality by reasoning that "where two or more individuals share a perspective or attitude such shared perspectives represent a normative environment for those individuals and other individuals in their midst." In standard usage, the norm concept has reference to widely shared sets of beliefs regarding appropriate behavior where these beliefs are not only shared but believed to be shared and are supported by social mechanisms encouraging conformity. Betz has examined attitude diversity, not norm diversity and has shown that with respect to three questions, diversity of attitudes is more common in large organizations than in small. Only Betz's unfortunate definition of the norm concept permits labeling these attitudes norms.

The article presents notes on a research paper related to the analysis of public policy in the U.S. According to the author, this recent analysis is a most useful and needed clarification of a very emotion charged issue within the social sciences. In this study the researcher identifies a certain dialectical process which takes place between paradigms, as perceptions of social problems in terms of Paradigm II are translated into actions which fit the available technology of Paradigm I, and then lose their effectiveness by blaming the victim. The difficulty for the program planner or administrator is that there is no acceptable institutionalized thought structure, specifically, there is no belief-value system on which to base action within the second paradigm. Something more is involved than finding a satisfactory belief-value basis with which to induce a large qualitative change in social structure. The author remarks that within political science the challenge to empiricism for its own sake has been clearly made on the precise ground that much of its research outcomes are socially irrelevant.

Evidence is presented that 2 major factor dimensions that jointly account for major proportions of the variance of the social-emotional functioning of young children represent relatively enduring personality predispositions. Kindergarten children (N = 287) were rated by their teachers on classroom functioning and by testers on test-taking behavior; most of the children (N = 271) were rated again by their classroom teacher at the end of the first grade and by testers in the first half of the second grade. The factor dimensions were found to have moderate stability over time and across settings. Longitudinal stability was enhanced substantially when matching factor scores were pooled across settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A reinforcement analysis of fertility, emphasizing the principles of applied behavior analysis, shifts attention from response-inferred constructs (beliefs, attitudes, wishes, and preferences) to manipulable environmental variables demonstrated to be functionally related to fertility behavior. The analysis suggests a variety of relevant target behaviors to be strengthened by setting up appropriate reinforcement contingencies (incentive systems). Attention is paid to the practical difficulties that are met in any effort to manipulate important reinforcers for large masses of people. It is concluded that a functional analysis offers both practically useful techniques and a powerful research paradigm; the analysis should facilitate efforts by governments and other social agencies to lower fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An association between doctrinal beliefs and positions on social issues is posited. This study of the clergy in an industrial city demonstrated that doctrinal orthodoxy had an independent effect on positions taken on issues related to social control, personal morality, use of power by the elite, civil liberties, minority rights, and welfare support. Absolutist clergymen with a doctrinally conservative other-worldly focus were reluctant to change society: they supported social control, personal morality, and considerable use of force by the power elite. Evolutionist, this-worldly clergymen who were more doctrinally liberal were open to change and focused more on issues such as civil liberty, minority rights. and welfare support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several explanations of social movements rest on the assumption that participants are bonded together by a commonly-held set of beliefs differentiating them from non-participants. This is especially true of Smelser's theory of collective behavior and its central concept, the generalized belief. Components of the generalized belief are examined in light of recent studies of groups within the environmental movement; results disclose significant heterogeneity, especially regarding responsibility for environmental problems and visions of solutions. Data from a total census of a focal group within one urban environmental coalition are presented and the distribution of beliefs across its structure described. The degree of homogeneity of beliefs decreases with movement from the center to the periphery of the group. These analyses suggest that collective action by social movement organizations results from emergent internal processes and structures rather than initial consensus among movement participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the constructive support for the Aristotelian view concerning individual reasons for doing things. Identification of reasons for action; Levels of rationality and deliberateness in conduct; Flexibility of the basis constituent concepts of desire and beliefs; Connection between desire and motivation.

In recent years some scholars of religion have observed that religious belief in the United States is so declining rapidly that a post-Christian era seems both inevitable and imminent. Survey data for national samples of Americans suggest, however, that there has been no appreciable decline in levels of religious belief in recent years and that the generational factor does not play as crucial a role as has been thought. Analysis of Gallup data shows that between 1957 and 1968 levels of belief in two basic Christian tenets (belief in an afterlife and belief in the devil) remained about the same. At the same time, however, there was a marked decline in the proportion of Americans expressing uncertainty regarding these beliefs, and an increase in the proportions openly espousing disbelief. It is our contention that past researchers have failed to distinguish between decline in belief and increase in disbelief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Operationalized categories for the experience of transcendence were developed from Stace's criteria of introvertive mysticism. From 123 Ss who took Allport's Religious Orientation Scale, 25 extremely extrinsic Ss and 25 extremely intrinsic Ss were identified based upon independent use of the Extrinsic and Intrinsic subscales. These Ss were then asked to volunteer for interviews concerning their most significant personal experience. These completed interviews (20 intrinsic, 21 extrinsic) were then coded on the basis of our operationalized categories for the experience of transcendence. Results indicated that, as predicted, groups of intrinsically oriented Ss reported more experiences codifiable as transcendent than did groups of extrinsically oriented Ss. The importance of these data for the validity of Allport's assumption of experiential aspects of intrinsic religiosity as operationalized in the Allport-Ross Intrinsic Scale is discussed. Also, the importance of the sympathetic study of these paradoxical experiences is briefly emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of current occupational status and intergenerational differences in occupational status upon individual beliefs in doctrinal orthodoxy are examined in light of three hypotheses. A dissociative hypothesis would predict excessively high levels of orthodoxy for mobile persons, suggesting that the consequences of social mobility would work to counteract processes of secularization. An acculturation hypothesis would predict that mobile persons will be intermediate in degree of orthodoxy to persons at their strata of origin and destination, suggesting that in the societal context of an excess of upward over downward mobility, social mobility would generate a net increase in secularization. A cognitive dissonance hypothesis would predict excessively low levels of orthodoxy among mobile persons, suggesting that social mobility reinforces processes of secularization. The data generally best fit a model consistent with the acculturation hypothesis, though sufficient deviations occur to warrant a discussion of the conditions which foster dissociative and dissonance effects as manifested in orthodox religious beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers four formulations of cognitive organization, each of which makes different implicit assumptions about the criteria subjects use to organize their beliefs and attitudes: the subjective probability model; congruity theory; cognitive balance theory; and symbolic psychologic theory. In each case, the existence of the Socratic effect is used as a basis for assessing the general validity of the formulation and the extent of its generality over different types of beliefs. The Socratic effect, or the tendency for cognitions to increase in consistency once they have been made salient to a subject in close temporal proximity, is viewed as a criterion for the validity of alternative theoretical formulations of cognitive organization. Three studies were performed to test the generality of this effect. Beliefs hypothesized to be related in a manner described by four different laws of mathematical probability became more consistent over time; these changes were similar in magnitude regardless of the importance of the issue to which the beliefs pertained, and regardless of whether these beliefs were evaluative or nonevaluative. However, consistency as defined by congruity theory, balance theory, and the principles of symbolic psychologic did not increase once the cognitions involved were made salient. Implications of these findings for cognitive organization processes are discussed.

The problem of order and the age-old debate over conflict and consensus continues to animate modern social theory. The article critically appraises sociologist Edward Shils' relatively uncelebrated contribution in the rescue of the classical consensual view of society from its current state of disrepute by fusing it with tenets derived from conflict framework. Shils' theory of society builds upon the premise that 'Every society, seen macro-sociologically, may be interpreted as a centre and a periphery.' These 'zones' have both a structural and a cultural aspect. Defined in terms of structure, the centre consists of those institutions and roles which exercise authority, while the periphery consists of those strata or sectors of society which are recipients of commands and of beliefs which they do not themselves create or cause to be diffused. Alongside the institutional structure of authority relations, Shils suggests that every society also acquires a central cultural system. Unlike 'orthodox' consensus theorists who see consensus deriving from a natural identity of interest served by a common stake in cooperative activity, Shils explicitly rejects the notion that a fundamental harmony of interest undergirds social order.

The article demonstrates that rationality in belief is worth achieving and that a successful argument can help in achieving it. Rationality is a relation between a belief, a person and a time according to Mavrodes. He suggests that rationality is clearly a propositional concept of term. Mavrodes seems also to suggest that all person-relative propositional concepts are subjective. It is evident that rationality is person-relative and hence, person-variable which are necessary conditions on any adequate account of the rationality of belief. Plantinga, for very good reason argues that a sound argument is not sufficient to constitute a proof in the sense in which natural theologians have offered proofs that God exists. Mavrodes produces three possible interpretations of Plantinga's requirement. What they all have in common, and what is clearly sanctioned by Plantinga's statement, is that none of them can be met by an argument such that not all its premises are true. A necessary condition of being convincing of being cogent is being sound. Hence, an argument which is thus convincing for a person is also an argument which is at least a sound argument. Plantinga says that anyone who meets his requirement succeeds in showing that these beliefs are rational.

This article discusses religious beliefs and practices in relation to peace and justice. Compassion has probably been the central concept in most of the world's great religions at least since about 800 B.C. On the basis of sacred scriptures of the great religions, one might expect to find favorable religious attitudes toward peace, equality, freedom, love and other such values. However the results of attitude studies conducted during the last 40 years do not confirm this hypothesis, at least so far as conventional religious beliefs are concerned. Attitude studies of the last 40 years strongly suggest that orthodox followers of the great religions today are more compulsive and conformist that they are compassionate. There are exceptions, of course, but the general rule remains that religious attitudes today among clergy and laity alike are generally opposed to peace, equality, freedom, love and other such compassionate human values. Whatever happened to religious compassion in the historical process of civilization? Russell argued that nothing happened so far as Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism are concerned, since their basic beliefs as recorded in the Old Testament were originally authoritarian, militaristic and punitive.

This article reports that in contemplating the possibility of an ethics of belief, two major difficulties immediately loom up which seem to make such a notion both misguided and misconceived. The first of these difficulties concerns the broad distinction which one is ordinarily inclined to make between thought and action, or, roughly speaking, between what goes on in one's mind and what one does in the world. A teacher may think what he likes on political questions, but when he moves into action by teaching his opinions to his classes, then others acquire a legitimate interest in what he is doing. To be unable to believe, or to find difficulty in believing, is not to suffer from some obscure defect of will, or to be in need of urging to try harder. It is a more cognitive matter of finding the evidence unacceptable, or unsatisfactory, in its bearings on the proposition in question. Ethical considerations maybe amongst the many other considerations bearing on the belief, but those ethical considerations will still bear logically on that belief.

The article talks about conscience and individual. Individualism as the belief that the individual is the ultimate bearer of value in society opposes the idea that human beings have a worth or dignity that ought to be recognized by society only because of their participation in larger social wholes. Individualism as the belief that the individual ought to be a rational egoist is an explicit theory of human conduct, a theory of what should guide an individual in determining how to act. The components of the belief that an individual must be morally and religiously autonomous include that a person's moral and religious beliefs ought to rule his desires, judgment and conduct, and that each individual has an inalienable responsibility to determine the truth in moral and religious matters.