University of Kansas

About: University of Kansas is a education organization based out in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 38183 authors who have published 81381 publications receiving 2986312 citations. The organization is also known as: KU & Univ of Kansas.

Religion and the Individual: A Social-Psychological Perspective

Abstract: What leads a person to become religious? What happens psychologically in a religious experience? Does religion make a person happier, more open, more psychologically healthy, more tolerant, more caring? Bold and thoughtful, this book employs social-psychological theories and research to build an understanding of the source, nature and consequences of religion in individual life The authors' goal is to provide an integrated and coherent perspective, one that honours the diversity and mystery of individuals' experience of religion, yet is scientifically sound Drawing on the classic psychological treatment of religion by William James, Sigmund Freud and Gordon Alloort, as well as the more recent empirical literature, the authors develop a three-dimensional model of different ways of being religious as a means to self-serving ends, as an end in itself, and as an open-ended quest They explore the origins of these dimensions of personal religion, tracing them to more or less creative responses to such existential questions as: What is the meaning and purpose of my life? and How do I deal with the fact that I am going to die? They then explore the consequences of each of the three dimensions, both for the religious individual and for others in society Finally, building on the foregoing analysis, the authors address one of the basic questions of our age - whether relgiion is a force for good or evil in human life

The Development and Validation of the Children’s Hope Scale

Abstract: Assuming that children are goal-oriented, it is suggested that their thoughts are related to two components--agency and pathways. Agency thoughts reflect the perception that children can initiate and sustain action toward a desired goal; pathways thoughts reflect the children's perceived capability to produce routes to those goals. Hope reflects the combination of agentic and pathways thinking toward goals. A six-item dispositional self-report index called the Children's Hope Scale is introduced and validated for use with children ages 8-16. Results suggest that the scale evidence internal consistency, and is relatively stable over retesting. Additionally, the scale exhibits convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity. Limitations and uses of the scale are discussed.

Contemporary approaches to assessing mediation in communication research.

Abstract: tionships. Whether it is examining the persuasive impact of public service announcements on attitudes and behavior, determining the impact of viewing political debates on political knowledge or voter turnout, or assessing whether success in achieving one’s Internet browsing goals prompts greater interest in e-commerce, communication scholars frequently conduct research to answer questions about cause. Data analysis usually focuses on examining if the putative causal variable, whether manipulated or measured, is related to the outcome using a linear model such as analysis of variance or linear regression. In many arenas of research, such analyses, when accompanied by good research design, are sufficient to answer the question as to whether variation in X causes variation in Y. But deeper

New developments in museum-based informatics and applications in biodiversity analysis

Abstract: Information from natural history collections (NHCs) about the diversity, taxonomy and historical distributions of species worldwide is becoming increasingly available over the Internet. In light of this relatively new and rapidly increasing resource, we critically review its utility and limitations for addressing a diverse array of applications. When integrated with spatial environmental data, NHC data can be used to study a broad range of topics, from aspects of ecological and evolutionary theory, to applications in conservation, agriculture and human health. There are challenges inherent to using NHC data, such as taxonomic inaccuracies and biases in the spatial coverage of data, which require consideration. Promising research frontiers include the integration of NHC data with information from comparative genomics and phylogenetics, and stronger connections between the environmental analysis of NHC data and experimental and field-based tests of hypotheses.