Modelling the effect of religion on human empathy based on an adaptive temporal-causal network model.

Background: Religion is a central aspect of many individuals' lives around the world, and its influence on human behaviour has been extensively studied from many different perspectives.

Methods: The current study integrates a number of these perspectives into one adaptive temporal-causal network model describing the mental states involved, their mutual relations, and the adaptation of some of these relations over time due to learning.

Results: By first developing a conceptual representation of a network model based on the literature, and then formalizing this model into a numerical representation, simulations can be done for almost any kind of religion and person, showing different behaviours for persons with different religious backgrounds and characters.

Building cooperative care communities.

Four of the individuals behind an unusual Dutch project to bring together, under one overall "umbrella", a range of integrated healthcare, social care, educational and leisure facilities within a multicultural, multi-activity centre located in one of Amsterdam's most socially diverse "problem" districts, describe how the project evolved, and its ambitious short- and long-term goals.

Why religion's burdens are light: from religiosity to implicit self-regulation.

To maintain religious standards, individuals must frequently endure aversive or forsake pleasurable experiences. Yet religious individuals on average display higher levels of emotional well-being compared to nonreligious individuals. The present article seeks to resolve this paradox by suggesting that many forms of religion may facilitate a self-regulatory mode that is flexible, efficient, and largely unconscious.

Age and violent-content labels make video games forbidden fruits for youth.

Objective: To protect minors from exposure to video games with objectionable content (eg, violence and sex), the Pan European Game Information developed a classification system for video games (eg, 18+). We tested the hypothesis that this classification system may actually increase the attractiveness of games for children younger than the age rating.

Participants And Methods: Participants were 310 Dutch youth.