"A dim recognition." Religion as a font of psychological innovation.

While religion constituted one of the main topics of interest for early social scientists, faith traditions have silently slipped from this central role. When religion now appears in psychological research, it is usually relegated to the position of either the object of psychological investigation (which psychology purports to "explain") or a static piece in the empirical puzzle (as one variable among many when explaining clinical or social outcomes). In either case, religion is generally no longer seen as an equal partner to the social sciences in our attempts to better understand of the human condition.

The centrality of practice in ideographic communication, and the perennial puzzle of positivistic thinking.

To the extent that we expect ideographs to be closer to the reality they depict than spoken or written words we are succumbing to the perennial allure of positivistic thinking. Morin powerfully argues that human communication, including ideography, cannot be understood apart from practice, thus removing the positivistic assumption that made the "puzzle of ideography" puzzling in the first place.

The Individual Victim. Hypogeneralization within a New Social Type.

Over the past several decades we have seen increased attention paid to victimhood. However, many of these dialogues are only tangentially related to actual experiences of victimization. They are better understood as reflections of a new Simmelian social type, that is, a new pattern emerging within psycho-social interaction-namely, the Victim.

Female and male body image ideals among Arab immigrants and Germans in Germany.

The current study explores cross-cultural differences of male and female body image ideals within a rapidly developing intercultural, immigration context that has garnered a considerable degree of popular and scholarly interest; recent Arab immigration to Germany. One hundred eighty participants (Arab immigrants or ethnic Germans) completed self-report online questionnaires (in either Arabic or German) regarding male and female body image ideals, as well as an assessment of their own body image perception. The data suggest cross-cultural differences in the body image ideals of, and held by, men and women of both groups.

The Epistemic Imperialism of Science. Reinvigorating Early Critiques of Scientism.

Positivism has had a tremendous impact on the development of the social sciences over the past two centuries. It has deeply influenced method and theory, and has seeped deeply into our broader understandings of the nature of the social sciences. Postmodernism has attempted to loosen the grip of positivism on our thinking, and while it has not been without its successes, postmodernism has worked more to deconstruct positivism than to construct something new in its place.

Progress in Psychological Science. The Importance of Informed Ignorance and Curiosity-Driven Questions.

In recent decades we have seen an exponential growth in the amount of data gathered within psychological research without a corresponding growth of theory that could meaningfully organize these research findings. For this reason, considerable attention today is given to discussions of such broader, higher-order concepts as theory and paradigm. However, another area important to consider is the nature of the questions psychologists are asking.

Disgust Sensitivity and Support for Organ Donation: Time to Take Disgust Seriously.

Background: There are currently roughly 10,000 Germans on the organ waiting list, and that number is over 113,000 in the USA. There is a clear need to increase support for organ donation in general and to increase the number of registered donors in particular.

Objective: The current study examines the relationship between disgust sensitivity and attitudes towards organ donation and the possession of an organ donor card.