Christopher J Einolf

Daily Spiritual Experiences and Prosocial Behavior

Christopher J. Einolf — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 06:13:32 PDT

This paper examines how the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES) relates to range of prosocial behaviors, using a large, nationally representative U.S. data set. It finds that daily spiritual experiences are a statistically and substantively significant predictor of volunteering, charitable giving, and helping individuals one knows personally. Daily spiritual experiences better predict helping to distant others than to friends and family, indicating that they may motivate helping by fostering an extensive definition of one’s moral community. The relationship between the DSES and helping is not moderated by sympathy and is robust to the inclusion of most religiosity measures. However, the relationship becomes non-significant for most helping behaviors when measures of meditation, prayer, and mindfulness are included in a regression equation. The DSES is particularly effective in predicting helping behaviors among people who do not belong to a religious congregation, indicating that it may measure spiritual motivations for helping among people who are not conventionally religious.

Religion and Helping Others: The Role of Values, Ideas, and Language

Christopher J. Einolf — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 15:16:59 PST

This study used life narrative interview data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study to examine how religious values, ideas, and language motivate prosocial behaviors. Open coding of eighty-eight in-depth interviews revealed six themes: defining morality in religious terms, considering religion an important aspect of one’s identity, feeling that one’s life involves carrying out God’s mission, making an increased commitment to religion over time, drawing an explicit connection between religion and helping others, and, for Christian respondents, finding inspiration for helping in Jesus’ teaching, example, and sacrifice. Using ratings from independent coders, statistically significant relationships were found between most of the themes and prosocial behaviors, particularly for respondents who engaged in multiple helping behaviors. In addition to documenting the relationship between religious ideas and values and helping behaviors, the study demonstrates how language mediates the relationship between the social and personal aspects of religion.

The Timing of Generative Concern: Evidence from a Longitudinal Survey

Christopher J. Einolf — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:22:43 PDT

Longitudinal data taken at a ten year interval from a large, nationally representative sample were used to examine whether generative concern, as measured by a reduced form of the Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS), changed through the life course. Men aged 25-30 in 1995 scored significantly higher on the LGS in 2005 (p < .05), and women aged 41-50 and 61-74 in 1995 experienced slight but statistically significant (p < .05) decreases. With these exceptions, mean levels of generative concern remained constant, suggesting that generative concern may be a stable personality trait, not associated with a particular life stage.

Gender Differences in the Correlates of Volunteering and Charitable Giving

Christopher J. Einolf — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:02:09 PDT

Psychological research has found that women score higher on most measures of the traits, motivations, and values that predict helping others, and women are more likely to help family and friends. However, sex differences in the institutional helping behaviors of volunteering and charitable giving are small. This paper seeks to explain this apparent contradiction with the hypotheses that men have more resources and more social capital than women, which compensates for their lower level of motivation. The paper tests these hypotheses using data from the 1995 Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) survey. The data show partial support for these hypotheses, as men score higher on measures of income, education, trust, and secular social networks. However, women have broader social networks through religious participation.

Who Volunteers? Constructing a Hybrid Theory

Susan M. Chambre et al. — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:03:21 PDT

This paper is an effort to initiate the development of a hybrid theory of volunteering. It describes three major theoretical perspectives: sociological theories which stress the importance of social context, social integration and social networks; prosocial and value orientations which emphasize the impact of individuals’ attitudes and beliefs regarding the importance of altruistic behavior and a sense of social responsibility; and resource theories that focus on the human capital and economic factors which both allow individuals to volunteer in meaningful ways and make them attractive to organizations.

Using the Midlife in the United States dataset, we operationalized the three theories to the extent possible using the available measures. We examined the relative explanatory power of each of the theortetical perspectives. Bivariate and multivariate regression analysis found that variables from all three theoretical traditions predict volunteering. The most predictive variables were those measuring social context, roles, and integration, followed by measures of values, and then measures of resources. Combining variables from all three traditions with demographic controls predicted 40.7% of the variation in volunteering. A parsimonious model with eight variables from the three traditions predicted 36.1% of the variation in volunteering.

The Fall and Rise of Torture: A Comparative and Historical Analysis

Christopher J. Einolf — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:45:01 PDT

Torture was formally abolished by European governments in the nineteenth century, and the actual practice of torture decreased as well during that period. In the twentieth century, however, torture became much more common. None of the theories that explain the reduction of torture in the nineteenth century can explain its resurgence in the twentieth. This paper argues that the use of torture follows the same patterns in contemporary times as it has in earlier historical periods. Torture is most commonly used against people who are not full members of a society, such as slaves, foreigners, prisoners of war, and members of racial, ethnic, and religious outsider groups. Torture is used less often against citizens, and is only used in cases of extremely serious crimes, such as treason. Two general twentieth century historical trends have caused torture to become more common. First, an increase in the number and severity of wars has caused an increase of torture against enemy guerrillas and partisans, prisoners of war, and conquered civilian populations. Second, changes in the nature of sovereignty have caused an expansion in the definition of acts constituting treason.

Explaining Abu Ghraib: A Review Essay

Christopher J. Einolf — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:26:13 PDT

Four books written by social scientists and published in 2007 are reviewed: The Trials of Abu Ghraib: An Expert Witness Account of Shame and Honor, by Stjepan Mestrovic; The Lucifer Effect, by Philip Zimbardo; Torture and the Twilight of Empire : From Algiers to Baghdad, by Marnia Lazreg; and Torture and Democracy, by Darius Rejali. Prior research on torture has left unsettled the question of the importance of training and direct orders as causes of torture, and the role of liberal democratic institutions in preventing torture. The four books demonstrate that the Abu Ghraib torturers did not act on their initiative, but were encouraged to commit torture by their superior officers and by the effects of their social environment. The torturers did not receive formal training in methods, but did receive informal instruction from CIA and Guantanamo interrogators. While democratic states use torture less frequently than non-democratic ones, they nevertheless do use torture sometimes when faced with severe threats to security. Of the four books, Rejali’s Torture and Democracy stands out for its depth of research and quality of analysis.

Sorority Membership and Risk for Campus Sexual Assault

Christopher J. Einolf et al. — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:14:23 PDT

This study tested the relationship between sexual assault victimization, sorority membership, and participation in a range of sorority activities, using data from a large-sample (N = 779) survey conducted at a mid-size public university. 28.9% of sorority women reported having been sexually assaulted while in college, nearly four times the rate (6.8%) among non-sorority members. The difference between Greek and non-Greek women remained large even when controls were included for alcohol consumption and attendance at Greek parties where alcohol is served. Among sorority members, participation in social events not involving alcohol correlated negatively with sexual assault, indicating a possible protective effect.

Does Extensivity Form Part of the Altruistic Personality? An Empirical Test of Oliner and Oliners' Theory

Christopher J. Einolf — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:44:14 PDT

This paper tests Samuel and Pearl Oliner’s theory that extensivity is a cause of prosocial behaviors, using data from the 1995 and 2005 waves of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) survey. Principal components analysis of a set of nineteen questions about moral obligations supports the Oliners’ contention that some individuals have a constricted moral sense, meaning that they feel stronger obligations to help family members and friends than strangers, while others have an extensive moral sense and feel obligated to help both close and distant others. Tobit regression demonstrates that people with extensive moral obligations are more likely than people with constricted obligations to engage in volunteer work and charitable giving. These results provide independent support for the Oliners’ theory, and encourage further research on extensivity.

The Mercy Factory: Refugees and the American Asylum System

Christopher J. Einolf — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:35:06 PDT

The Mercy Factory presents the stories of five asylum seekers, fleeing torture and persecution in their home countries, as they present their cases to immigration officers and judges and await the results. It also describes the system from the perspective of immigration officers, judges, and attorneys.

George Thomas: Virginian for the Union

Christopher J. Einolf — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:22:17 PDT

George Thomas was one of the Civil War's most prominent Southern Unionists, known for his heroic leadership at Mill Springs, Chickamauga, and Nashville. A slave owner before the war, he commanded African American soldiers at the Battle of Nashville and the experience transformed him into a stalwart defender of Civil Rights. During Reconstruction, he led the fight against the Ku Klux Klan as the commander of U.S. army troops in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Empathic concern and prosocial behaviors: A test of experimental results using survey data

Christopher J. Einolf — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:13:13 PDT

This study uses survey data to test the correlation between empathic concern and fourteen different prosocial behaviors, including informal help to individuals and formal helping through institutions. Statistically significant correlations were found for ten behaviors, but substantively meaningful correlations were only found for three, all of which were spontaneous, informal helping behaviors, where the individual needing help was directly present. The findings indicate that empathic concern may not be an important motivator for planned decisions to help others who are not immediately present, which often occurs with volunteering, charitable giving, and blood donation. The weak correlation between empathic concern and most helping behaviors indicates that individual differences in dispositional empathy may not play much a role in decisions to help others.

Will the Boomers Volunteer During Retirement? Comparing the Baby Boom, Silent, and Long Civic Cohorts

Christopher J. Einolf — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:52:43 PDT

Data from the 1995 and 2005 waves of the Midlife in the United States panel study were used to compare rates of volunteering among the baby boomers with earlier cohorts and to predict boomers’ future volunteering. When age was kept constant through the use of panel data, the first baby boom cohort (born 1946 to 1955) did more volunteering than did the “silent” cohort (born 1936 to 1945), and the silents volunteered more than did the “long civic” cohort (born 1926 to 1935). The author generated regression equations that used nine 1995 variables to predict 2005 volunteering and used the boomers’ 2005 values on these variables to predict their 2015 volunteering. These equations slightly predict higher volunteering among the boomers in 2015 than the silents did in 2005. This result, combined with the large size of the boomer cohort, indicates that the total number of elderly volunteers will probably increase in the next decade.