Search

It has been purported that univariate analyses may be too simplistic when studying correlates of religiosity and spirituality (Thoresen & Harris, 2002). Consequently, the current study evaluated the relationships between religiosity, spirituality, and personality at both the univariate and multivariate levels. Our results suggest strong relationships between these constructs at both levels. At the univariate level, all religiosity and spirituality variables, excluding the Extrinsic orientation, demonstrated significant associations with the Big Five. However, at the multivariate level, the Extrinsic orientation, in conjunction with the Quest orientation and the Intrinsic orientation, demonstrated a significant association with the Big Five. These findings support the supposition that religious and spiritual constructs ought to be examined at a multivariate level and further explicates the nature of religious and spiritual constructs by grounding them within a comprehensive taxonomy of personality.

The nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR) is a polysynaptic withdrawal reflex typically assessed from biceps femoris electromyogram (EMG) following noxious stimulation of the ipsilateral sural nerve. Electrophysiological evidence suggests the reflex is elicited following the activation of small diameter A-delta afferents. As a result, the NFR is assumed to be a categorically distinct construct that emerges from EMG activity only following nociceptor activation. Despite the widespread use of the NFR in pain research, there has been little attempt to verify the latent structure of the NFR. The present study used "coherent cut kinetics" taxometric analyses to examine whether the latent structure of biceps femoris EMG reflects the taxonic structure that would be predicted from electrophysiological evidence. To achieve this end, preliminary analyses first compared different methods of scoring NFR magnitude. Results suggested the presence of a taxon in the covariance of biceps femoris EMG and stimulus intensity that is likely to be the NFR. Furthermore, preliminary analyses suggested the best method of scoring NFR magnitude was using Cohen's d. Implications of these results are discussed.

Objective A ruminative cognitive style has been associated with a variety of mood and anxiety disorders. This study examined whether a ruminative cognitive style is associated with health anxiety, even when controlling for negative affect. Method College students ( N =198) completed measures of health anxiety, rumination, and negative affect and estimated the likelihood that ambiguous symptoms were indicative of catastrophic illnesses. These data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results A ruminative cognitive style was both indirectly associated with health anxiety via its strong relationship with negative affect and was also directly associated with health anxiety. Furthermore, catastrophizing ambiguous symptoms was also directly related to health anxiety. Conclusion High health anxiety individuals not only hold dysfunctional beliefs about health and illness but they also think about their distress in a ruminative manner. A more complete cognitive–behavioral model of health anxiety should include not only cognitive contents (“what”) but also cognitive style (“how”).

The question of whether the Jungian preferences are categorical or continuous has been a debated issue. We empirically addressed this question using taxometric analysis. Two bootstraps taxometric methods (MAMBAC and MAXCOV-HITMAX) were used with three Jungian personality measures: the Singer–Loomis Type Deployment Inventory (SL-TDI), the Personal Preferences Self-Description Questionnaire (PPSDQ), and the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Results suggested there is not a true, non-arbitrary taxon underlying Jungian preferences measured by any of these measures. In other words, the preferences appear to manifest as continuous dimensions. Possible future research and implications for the measurement of the Jungian constructs are discussed.