James M. Day

The narrative approach to moral development: From the epistemic subject to dialogical selves

The narrative approach to the study of moral development is based on central theoretical assumptions about self that are described in this article. Careful attention to narrative yields an approach in which language plays a much larger role in structuring moral life, generating moral experience, and shaping a far more social kind of self than assumed by the cognitive-developmental approach. The narrative approach entails a move away from a paradigm of cognitive representations and internally held principles, in which the self is regarded as a disembodied, transcendental, epistemic subject? toward a paradigm of social construction and intersubjectively possible forms of discourse, in which selves are assumed to be embodied, relational, and thus fundamentally dialogical.

Role‐taking Revisited: narrative and cognitive‐developmental interpretations of moral growth

Abstract For some decades the cognitive‐developmental approach to moral psychology has dominated discussions of moral action and growth, and the concept of role‐taking has been central to related understandings. Narrative, both as conceptual approach and as method of investigation and interpretation, is presented here as a critical and complementary adjunct to the cognitive‐developmental case.

From Structuralism to Eternity? Re-Imagining the Psychology of Religious Development After the Cognitive-Developmental Paradigm

Structuralist approaches to the psychology of religious development, particularly those worked out by Fowler (1981, 1987, 1991, 1996), Oser (1990, 1991, 1996a, 1996b), and other neo-Piagetians, have held that religious development proceeds in a uniform way across a series of universal, hierarchical, and irreversible stages. It follows a course that moves the human being from heteronomy to autonomy, in a process of ongoing meaning-making centered in the cognitive structures of individuals disposed, as philosophers, to an ongoing concern with questions of ultimate meaning, the nature of the sacred, and relationships between human and divine activity. These same authors have held that the process of religious development is intimately tied up with the process of moral development, which they conceive in terms drawn from the constructs of Kohlberg (1963, 1969, 1981, 1984) and his associates. In this article I explore some of the weaknesses of the constructivist arguments, which form the groundwork for these theoretical positions, demonstrate how contemporary research challenges the fundamental assumptions of the cognitive-developmental paradigm, and argue for a different vision of religious development rooted not in efforts to apprehend deep structural features of individual cognitive functioning, but in the networks of speech and narrative that shape human communication and conceptions of the world.

Development of the Sexual Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-S): Validation Among a Community Sample of French-Speaking Women

It has been recently demonstrated that mindfulness-based intervention may be particularly suitable for addressing sexual difficulties in women. Although the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) is currently one of the most widely used scales to assess mindfulness, no adaptation and validation of the FFMQ to measure female sexual functioning has been published. The main aim of this study was to develop and validate a sexual version of the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-S) to specifically measure mindfulness in the context of sexual encounters. A total of 251 healthy, French-speaking female volunteers were administered the FFMQ-S, the original FFMQ, and the Female Sexual Distress Scale (FSDS-R). Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the FFMQ-S exhibits a five-factor model, as implied by the original FFMQ. Good scale reliability was observed. The FFMQ-S showed significant correlations with the FSDS-R and the usual FFMQ. Scores on the FFMQ-S correlated significantly more negatively with the total FSDS-R score than with the total score of the original version of the FFMQ. These findings clearly support the relevance of developing a version of the FFMQ tailored to sexual functioning.

Epistemic subjects, discursive selves, and dialogical self theory in the psychology of moral and religious development : mapping gaps and bridges

This article charts various communalities and differences between cognitive-developmental and socio-cultural models in the psychology of moral and religious development, with particular attention to Hubert Hermanss model of the dialogical self. The authors propose that, despite marked differences, even oppositions, between conceptual models and visions of the human subject in these two ways of conceiving psychological functioning, the cognitive-developmental approach and the narrative-dialogical approach show meaningful correlations and overlap. Arguing for a “meta-dialogical” perspective benefiting from both cognitive-developmental and dialogical self contributions, the article goes on to explore some implications for moral and religious education.

Human Development and the Model of Hierarchical Complexity: Learning from Research in the Psychology of Moral and Religious Development

Critical consideration is given the empirical evidence for psychological models of religious development, its supposed relationship to other domains of psychological development, and especially, moral development. Significant problems with stage conceptions in these models augur a fundamental rethinking of religious development as a construct in developmental psychology. Model of Hierarchical Complexity has demonstrable promise for enabling greater precision in constructs and methods. This may resolve some central problems and advance research in the field.

Mindfulness skills are associated with female orgasm

Mindfulness was studied in relation to sexual distress and the ability to achieve orgasm. The initial hypotheses were that mindfulness abilities would predict womens level of sexual distress and that orgasmic women would possess greater mindfulness skills. In total, 251 women (176 orgasmic women and 75 anorgasmic women) responded to several questionnaires online: the Female Sexual Distress Scale – Revised (FSDS-R), the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), and the Sexual Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-S). According to our results, mindfulness during dyadic sexual activities (FFMQ-S) explained 54% of the variability in sexual distress (FSDS-R). Overall, orgasmic women reported more mindfulness than anorgasmic women, both in daily life (FFMQ) and significantly more during dyadic sexual activities (FFMQ-S). In conclusion, our results support the evaluation of womens level of mindfulness during dyadic sexual activities and the integration of mindfulness training in future sex therapy treatments.

Convergence and Conflict in the Development of Moral Judgment and Religious Judgment.

In this article the authors present results from research that tested well-established assumptions and explored longstanding dissatisfactions concerning questions about the relationship between moral development and religious development. Relying upon classical constructs derived from the work of Lawrence Kohlberg, Fritz Oser, and certain of their colleagues, the authors translated, revalidated, and employed a measure developed by John Gibbs for the measurement of moral judgment, and developed, validated, and employed a new measure of religious judgment for the purpose of comparing moral judgment and religious judgment levels in a population of French-speaking Belgian adolescents and young adults. Their findings introduce the beginning of a large-scale empirical effort in the testing of claims central to the literature of developmental psychology and the practice of developmental education where moral and religious judgment are concerned. The results of their research also raise a series of interesting questions about conflict and convergence in moral and religious development. Readers are invited to regard these findings both as a source of reinvigoration for the constructivist case about the relatedness of moral and religious development, and as an opportunity to enquire collaboratively into a series of perplexing questions which arise therein.

Culture, psychology, and religion: critically appraising Jacob Belzen's contributions

This article presents a critical consideration of Jacob Belzens contributions to and advocacy of a cultural psychology of religion; contributions of longstanding place and influence in the psychology of religion, summarised in Belzens recent book Towards cultural psychology of religion: principles, approaches, applications. Belzens contributions are commended to readers, and his book is championed as a major work of importance to anyone interested in mental health, religion, and culture. A critical appraisal suggests areas for further consideration and inclusion in future efforts.

Discursive Practices and Their Interpretation in the Psychology of Religious Development

Scholars and practitioners interested in the varied dimensions of human religious conduct at any point in the lifespan owe a particular debt to those who, inspired by Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg, brought the study of religious development into the mainstream of the psychology of religion and the psychology of human development.