But why are accountanting professors so religious?
The blog Epiphenom, which looks at the crossroads where science, atheism and humanism meet, has a post on a study published in the journal of Sociology of Religion, which shows that there aren’t that many intersections where religion crosses paths with psychologists.
As an atheist studying psychology myself, it’s interesting to see that “fifty percent of professors of psychology at US universities and colleges do not believe in any god, and another 11% are agnostic.” Out of the 1,500 professors in 20 academic fields, it turns out that accounting profs are the most religious.
“Those who are oriented primarily toward research are less likely to believe in God, less likely to have a traditionalistic view of the Bible, less likely to attend religious services, more likely to describe their overall religious orientation as “not religious,” and less likely to consider themselves spiritual persons.”
Not really shocking results, but further proof of what we know, which is what science is all about.
— Psychologists are the least religious of American Professors
Measuring burnout in the public domain vs. copyright methods
June 1st, 2009
"One Hundred and Sixty" by Stibbons
Most everyone knows what professional burnout feels like, but measuring it and describing it objectively seems to be an elusive goal, akin to describing the color blue to a blind person. Burnout is a part of my current job.
Not my own burnout1 but professional burnout among educators, the people who Teacher Support Network2 serve. Our online and telephone support services did help rekindle my interest in psychology and get me on the path back to school, and I tend to spend some time looking at new ways to bring tools to teachers to measure their own stress levels, work/life balance, etc., but how to best measure burnout overall? What’s the best method for people to assess themselves, and how can a school system best look at the burnout rate of its educators? Read the rest of this entry »
Does fake amnesia lead to the real thing?
May 28th, 2009
How well do people remember a made up account?
A lot of people like the idea that faking an illness should have the karmic result of having to eventually suffer the real deal. There’s a sort of “boy who cried wolf” ethic that permeates our cultural sense of justice. But just because we think something is deserved, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will actually happen to the guilty party.
Dave Munger at Cognitive Daily has reported on new studies regarding faked amnesia. Apparently, “focal retrograde amnesia” is a common defense in murder trials. The article says amnesia is claimed by defendendents in 45 percent of murders (I believe this has to be U.S. murder cases and not global, and it would be good to see a citation on that statistic somehwere.) “Psychologists know that this sort of amnesia is actually quite rare,” Munger writes, “so it’s very likely that most, if not all of these defendants are faking amnesia.” Read the rest of this entry »