Belmont University | Achievers


August 28, 2009

Shen-Miller Publishes Article, Presents Paper

Dr. Seraphine Shen-Miller, assistant professor of psychology, has published an article in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, a top tier journal in the field. The title of the article, coauthored with her major professor and others, is "Patterns of Thinking in Militant Extremism." The article describes a cross-cultural project in which they examined multiple violent extremist groups from a diverse range of continents, cultures and political and religious orientations. Based on content analyses of statements by and about these groups, they identified 16 themes common to the militant-extremist mindset. Among these themes were perceptions of a crisis involving violations of sacred values, along with justifications for violence to remediate such problems.

Shen-Miller also recently presented a paper at the American Psychological Association's annual convention held in Toronto, Canada , August 6-9. The paper's title is "Materialism and Maladaptive Psychosocial Tendencies: What Accounts for the Relation?" She presented a project in which facets of materialism demonstrated distinct patterns of associations with aspects of maladaptive psychosocial tendencies, and that it would be useful to treat each facet of materialism as a separate construct. She also talked about findings which suggested that materialism was not the only source of associations with maladaptive psychosocial tendencies.


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