Richard Gorsuch

Fuller Theological Seminary · Department of Clinical Psychology

Spilka, Amatas, and Nussbaum published “The Concept of God: A Factor-Analytic Approach” in 1964. As each decade has passed it has been cited more frequently. The measurement technique has been adaptable to numerous situations and topics. The literature citing this work ranges from studies of how groups differ in conceptualization of God to studies...

This research examined the ways in which vocational interests of United Methodist candidates for ordained ministry are related to Emotional Competence (EC) as measured by Inventory of Religious Activities and Interests (IRAI) ministry interests and 16PF personality scales. Results show two primary clusters of ministry interests that are related to...

Understanding factors that influence screening receptivity may enhance African-American men's receptivity to prostate cancer screening. Men of African descent (N = 481) between the ages of 40 and 70 were recruited. The hypotheses that Fatalism would be related to Intrinsic Religiousness and Fear, Intrinsic Religiousness would act as a mediator betw...

In the current study, we explored the potential effects of hormone therapy (HT) on language functioning in healthy, postmenopausal women and compared them with men of similar ages. Language functioning on tasks of verbal fluency and object naming was examined in 100 participants (mean age: 61.9 years; 33 HT users, 15 HT non-users and 52 men) at bas...

In addition to the religious coping styles proposed by K. I. Pargament et al (1988), a surrender style of coping is proposed. Surrender is not a passive waiting for God to take care of everything; rather, it entails an active choice to relinquish one's will to God's rule. Analysis of 30 surrender-associated coping items rated by 151 Christian under...

To assist psychotherapists in understanding client religiousness, Richards and Bergin (2005) have suggested assessing clients' religiousness at a broad level initially, using ecumenical measures, followed by a more detailed assessment that uses measures particular to the client's religious affiliation. In this study, the utility of this approach wa...

Anger has been at the center of religiopolitical conflicts and has been associated with well-being. This study examined the role of Muslim anger in sociopolitical events perceived as a sacred violation. A Muslim sample (N = 151) identified adverse political events that have deeply affected them; and completed measures of anger, sacred violations, p...

Studies have typically found less substance abuse among highly religious people than among less religious people. Some research suggests that religiousness is associated with lower substance abuse because religious people have been socialized to accept antiabuse norms, are involved with antiabuse peers, and have a mechanism for satisfying needs for...

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: This interview is part of a project supported by Sandoz, Inc. Without the belief and support of Dr. Craig Burrell, the project would never have been initiated or completed.

This article describes the theoretical underpinnings of my research on iatrogenic addiction and relapse prevention (Recovery Training and Self Help). It is in the form of an interview with the journal editor Stanley Einstein, but my answers are much more detailed than is typical of an interview. The co-authors are other interviewees in the intervie...

This is an interview regarding the theoretical underpinnings of my research on iatrogenic addiction and relapse prevention. The apparent co-authors are other interviewees in this series and are not part of this publication. My answers to questions asked by the journal editor Stanley Einstein are more detailed than is typical of an interview and are...

This study was designed to examine the relationship between religiousness (organized, nonorganized, and intrinsic) and religious problem solving (collaborative, deferring, and self-directing) in prostate cancer screening (PCS) attitudes and behavior. Men (N = 481) of African descent between the ages of 40 and 70 participated. Hierarchical regressio...

Little is known about the effectiveness of Christian clinical programs accredited by the American Psychological Association in training students to use religious and spiritual interventions in therapy. We surveyed 162 student therapists from three such programs regarding their training experiences and use of religious and spiritual interventions. S...

Adult cognitive age differences in the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III Canadian normative data were curvilinear for most scales and for the Verbal Comprehension (VC), Perceptual Organization (PO), and Working Memory (WM) factors. These showed stable or increasing scores in early adulthood followed by decreasing scores, necessitating a nonline...

Recognizing the moral efficacy of nonviolent exemplars such as Gandhi, recent peace scale development emphasizes particular spiritual or religious priorities in measurement. Following this lead, the present study considered the psychometric integrity of a peacemaking scale constructed from a paradigm of 10 practices emphasizing justice and religiou...

Interpretation of the MMPI-2 Lie scale assumes all groups understand the items similarly. This study hypothesized that a Christian subculture would view certain items differently due to religious salience. In Study 1, it was confirmed that those immersed in a Christian subculture differed from die MMPI-2 norm sample's Lie scale as predicted on five...

This paper discusses the conceptual and mathematical relationships between three statistical models: 1) traditional, or "Simultaneous", Canonical Analysis, 2) hierarchical, or "Sequential", Canonical Analysis, and 3) Structural Equations Modeling, or confirmatory path analysis. The advantages of Sequential over Simultaneous Canonical Analysis are r...

Information is lacking regarding the prevalence of fraudulent psychiatric and cognitive symptoms in the "stress" claim workers' compensation population. Using various validity indices (Negative Impression Scale, the Malingering Index, and the Rogers Discriminant Function) of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), between 9 and 29% of 233 worke...

This study sought to find evidence for: (a) a relationship between increased levels of work-related social support and decreased burnout, (b) a relationship between personality traits and burnout, and (c) a significant interaction of social support and extraversion in relation to burnout. Seventy-six staff nurses and their supervisors at a private...

In a study of psychosocial factors related to prostate cancer screening (PCS) of African American men, researchers achieved significant success in recruitment. Key strategies included addressing specific barriers to PCS for African American men and placing recruitment efforts in a conceptual framework that addressed cultural issues (PEN-3 model). T...

Comment on "Does Psychology make a significant difference in our lives?" by P. Zimbardo (see record 2004-16479-003). We deeply appreciate the documentation and inspiration provided by Zimbardo on how psychology is reaching out to the public by "giving psychology away" (p. 340). We totally agree that psychology has much, much more to offer that coul...

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III; Wechsler, 1997) permits the calculation of both traditional IQ and Index scores. The Verbal Comprehension and Perceptual Organization indexes are the most highly "g" loaded compared to the Working Memory and Processing Speed indexes that may be more sensitive to some neuro-cognitive dis...

This study explored the use of religious and spiritual interventions in counseling by Christian therapists (N = 100). Use of religious and spiritual interventions correlated with personal religiousness and clinical training involving religious clients and religious and spiritual interventions. Course work involving either psychology or theology did...

A previous factor analytic study of the same data set was published as an incremental validity study of a new scale (Wong-McDonald & Gorsuch, 2000). The current analysis examines the multivariate domains of God concepts, motivation, religious coping, and locus of control for the prediction of Spiritual Well-Being. Questionnaires were completed by 1...

The authors conducted a 26-study meta-analysis of 5,759 therapists and their integration of religion and spirituality in counseling. Most therapists consider spirituality relevant to their lives but rarely engage in spiritual practices or participate in organized religion. Marriage and family therapists consider spirituality more relevant and parti...

Numerous models of interpersonal forgiveness and reconciliation have proliferated, while the number of constructs common to these models and how these constructs interrelate has gone untested. Sixteen path models of forgiveness and reconciliation were examined in 180 predominantly Christian college students. Results of factor analysis suggested fiv...

Chronicles the past history of psychology of religion (POR) from the 1950's to the 1980's from the viewpoint of individuals who have influenced the direction of POR (e.g., O. H. Mowrer; 1961). The 1950's–2960's marked a rebirth of cognitive psychology, including beliefs and values. In the 1960's–2970's, POR began to have established research progra...

This study explored the important mediating role of personal religious variables and God concept in the use of religious coping in threat, loss, and challenge situations. One hundred and twenty-nine undergraduates completed questionnaires which included a God concept adjective checklist (Schaefer and Gorsuch 1992), a stressor scenario (Bjorck and C...

It was hypothesized that the study of religion should distinguish between attitudes and religious values/moral obligations such that both aid in predicting religiously relevant behavior and changing either will change behavior. However, if they are distinct, then changing one will not necessarily change the other. For the 195 religious participants...

Cutrona and Russell's social support model was used to develop a religious support measure (C. E. Cutrona & D. W. Russell, 1987), including 3 distinct but related subscales respectively measuring support from God, the congregation, and church leadership. Factor analyses with the main sample's data (249 Protestants) and cross-validation (93 addition...

The 1900s' truth criteria were easily met in science but not easily met in the humanities and religions. This approach was founded in the classical view of science: describing the research so that others may replicate it. This new approach gave science a major way of establishing truth not available to humanities and religion. Physics was seen as t...

Research has begun to explore the relationship of dispositional forgiveness to personality traits [McCullough, M. E., Rachal, K. C., Sandage, S. J., Worthington Jr., E. L., Brown, S. W., & Hight, T. L. (1998). Interpersonal forgiving in close relationships II: theoretical elaboration and measurement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75...

Previous research has suggested that personality factors may be distally related to situational forgiveness. This study examined the relationship of five empirically derived dimensions of situational forgiveness and reconciliation to personality in a sample of 180 college students. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that dimensions o...

The 1900s' truth criteria were easily met in science but not easily met in the humanities and religions. This approach was founded in the classical view of science: describing the research so that others may replicate it. This new approach gave science a major way of establishing truth not available to humanities and religion. Physics was seen as t...

Who are gay and lesbian churchgoing Christians? How do gay and lesbian Christians use their faith to cope with difficulties related to sexual orientation, such as discrimination and homophobia? Results of this study indicate that gay and lesbian churchgoers demonstrate many of the same features as their heterosexual peers. Participants indicated th...

Research on the attitudes of heterosexual churchgoers is extensive. However, very little empirical information is available about the attitudes held by gay and lesbian Christians. In the current study, it was hypothesized that gay and lesbian Christians, unlike their heterosexual peers, would demonstrate desire for and acceptance of social closenes...

International relief and development personnel may be directly or indirectly exposed to traumatic events that put them at risk for developing symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In order to identify areas of risk and related reactions, surveys were administered to 113 recently returned staff from 5 humanitarian aid agencies. Responden...

International relief and development personnel may be directly or indirectly exposed to traumatic events that put them at risk for developing symptoms of Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In order to identify areas of risk and related reactions, surveys were administered to 113 recently returned staff from 5 humanitarian aid agencies. Responde...

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Third Edition (WAIS-III; D. Wechsler, 1997b) were conducted on a stratified sample of Canadian adults (n = 718). As was previously demonstrated for the children's version of this scale, the factor model of the American standardization sample was r...

Christian undergraduate students generated causal attributions by which religious people may explain God's involvement in the outcome of situations. These attributions were rated by 187 other undergraduates along dimensions of locus (located in person, God, or environment); controllability (controlled by person, God, or environment); and stability....

A Monte Carlo study involving 10,080 factor analyses examined the optimal value of k for promax factor rotations. The value of k was varied from 2 to 10 using three versions of promax. Error and bias of the sample factor pattern were found to be lower when k [.lessequal] 5 than when k > 5 but changed only slightly as k varied between 2 and 5. The b...

Fluctuating endogenous and exogenous estrogens influence cognition in women. In this study, cognitive functioning in elderly women was examined by applying methodology used in understanding the effects of chronic estrogen exposure on hormone-sensitive tissue other than the brain. An index, combining menstrual, reproductive, and physical markers ass...

Christian antihomosexual sentiment was hypothesized to be a function of respondents' Fundamentalist (F) beliefs, low Intrinsic (I) and high Extrinsic Social (Es) motivation, and a lack of a Questing (Q) approach. These hypotheses were confirmed. When Fundamentalism was controlled, high Intrinsics were more accepting of homosexuals than low Intrinsi...

The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Test, Verbal Fluency (FAS), and Auditory Consonant Trigrams are commonly used measures of prefrontal lobe dysfunction. However, insufficient data are available regarding the specific functions assessed by these tests and the relationship of the tests to each other. These four tests, as well as measures of IQ,...

The authors conducted a systematic review of research on religion in seven major American Psychological Association Journals and found that from 1991 to 1994, 62 of 2,302 (2.7%) quantitative studies include a religious or spiritual variable. In most cases (79%), measures consisted only of a single religious question. Only 18 of the 62 (29%) studies...

Research in perceived religious motivations is generally based upon Allport's intrinsic-extrinsic distinction. However, this approach never searched for multiple religious motivations and was developed within a North American Protestant para- digm. Theoretically, multiple religious motivations are expected that should transfer across religions and...

Exploratory common factors have been correlated with variables external to the factor analysis by either extension analysis estimates or by correlating the external variables with estimated factor scores. In item analysis, a set of such correlations with possible scales is often computed for final item selection. The purposes of the present article...

The special characteristics of items-low reliability, confounds by minor, unwanted covariance, and the likelihood of a general factor-and better understanding of factor analysis means that the default procedure of many statistical packages (Little Jiffy) is no longer adequate for exploratory item factor analysis. It produces too many factors and pr...

The effects of under- and overextraction on principal axis factor analysis with varimax rotation were examined in 2 Monte Carlo studies involving 6,420 factor analyses. It was found that (a) when underextraction occurs, the estimated factors are likely to contain considerable error; (b) when overextraction occurs, the estimated loadings for true fa...

Intrinsic/extrinsic religious orientations have been critiqued for lacking the conceptual clarity needed for clear theory and good measurement. Allport provided little theoretical base except that of implicit "functional autonomy" and provided a scale that mixed beliefs, behaviors, and motivation. These critiques can be answered in part by clearly...

Few psychological investigators have empirically defined forgiveness, although many theoretical and case study discussions exist. Two emergent views--forgiveness as unidimensional or as multidimensional--were considered by conducting a dimensional factor analysis and then relating the factors to religious variables. Over 1000 respondents, chosen by...

In this study, a state measure for Pargament's Self-Directing, Deferring, and Collaborative religious coping styles was developed to evaluate situational and personal variations in religious coping. Vignettes were used to vary situations. The state coping subscales were significantly correlated with their respective trait counterparts. Situational...

Altemeyer and Hunsberger (1992) analyzed fundamentalism and prejudice. Unfortunately, their article failed to provide data on several issues that past literature has established as crucial. The use of denominational affiliation, the failure to include intrinsic and extrinsic scales, and the failure to recognize the interaction of different value po...

In this paper, the Multivariate Belief-Motivation Theory of Religiousness is presented. This theory integrates the religious domains of motivation, belief, and problem-solving style within one framework for the prediction of psychological adjustment. Religious problem-solving style is incorporated in a mediating role. Motivation, belief, and proble...

Comments on J. Cohen's (see record 1991-11596-001) article on statistics in psychology and discusses 4 issues on which there are other perspectives. The issues are (1) the emphasis on graphics representation as the new way to understand data, (2) Cohen's suggestion that an overall test is needed in multiple correlation analysis, (3) the use of com...

Professional mandates, such as the Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests (APA, 1974), are but one source of demands for accurate administration of psychological tests. In spite of calls for precision, administration competencies for such widely used tests as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS—R) remain low. G. W. Moon...

This study assessed the efficacy of a comprehensive behavioral health program designed to promote self-initiated change in overweight healthy middle-aged adults (M=49 years). Three treatment groupss (total n=25) differing in type of social support provided (i.e., group plus professional versus group plus peer versus group only) received 13 treatmen...

Fishbein's reasoned action model of relationships among attitude, subjec- tive norm, intention, and behavior (Azjen & Fishbein, 1980) was tested on a sample of 110 Thai teachers' college students. The behavior investigated was the culturally well-established religious behavior of merit making during Buddhist Lent. The addition of two components to...

Reviews the common validity paradigm, drawn from social psychology, as it has been applied in the development of measures of religious behaviors and attitudes and provides guidelines for expanding this paradigm. Within an appropriate Christian approach to the psychology of religion, there should be less emphasis on scales and more on measuring chan...

Factor analyses of traditional and age-universal measures of intrinsic and extrinsic religion have identified two subcategories of extrinsicness, suggesting the original scales need revision. In this study, confirmatory multiple group factor analyses confirmed this suspicion, identifying extrinsic items concerned with social relationships ("Es") an...

Comments on R. P. Abelson's (see record 1988-23399-001) work noting the necessity of exploring conviction. The present author suggests 5 methods of measuring conviction/commitment that need to be compared in research using Abelson's approach. These include (1) ego involvement research by M. Sherif and C. W. Sherif (1956) and C. W. Sherif (1980), (2...

Compares component and common factor analysis using 3 levels of population factor pattern loadings (.40, .60, .80) for each of the 3 levels of variables (9, 18, 36). Common factor analysis was significantly more accurate than components in reproducing the population pattern in each of the conditions examined. The differences decreased as the number...

Compares component and common factor analysis using 3 levels of population factor pattern loadings (.40,.60,.80) for each of the 3 levels of variables (9, 18, 36). Common factor analysis was significantly more accurate than components in reproducing the population pattern in each of the conditions examined. The differences decreased as the number o...

Many researchers support a 5- to 8-factor personality theory; Cattell urges a 16-factor system. Factor analysis has been unable to resolve this controversy. Hence, the degree to which 6 and 16 factors related to a proposed new criterion (real-life data) was evaluated in 16 data sets. When factors were increased from 6 to 16, 88% of the studies show...

In an effort to explore the cross-cultural applicability of the prejudice-religiosity construct (as defined in the United States research) within a Latin American context, we administered the Religious Orientation Scale (Allport & Ross, 1967), the Quest scale (Batson, 1976), and a culturally adapted social distance scale to a Venezuelan sample of 2...

The Information Inventory (II), a short intelligence test for screening purposes, was compared to the Quick Test via administration to 111 adults for whom WAIS-Rs were available. The II was found to be equivalent or superior to the Quick Test with regard to psychometric properties and pragmatic considerations. The II had a mean like that of the WAI...

guide to the selection and interpretation of appropriate exploratory factor analyses for the researcher familiar with basic factor-analytic procedures and terminology mathematical versus scientific paradigms / factors-are-real versus factors-are-inventions / confirmatory versus exploratory factor analysis criteria for evaluating exploratory fac...

In recent years, the assessment of generalization effects has become a major priority of applied behavior analysis. In this paper we propose a set of procedures to increase the accuracy of generalization assessments by accounting for the degree of natural covariation between treated and untreated behaviors. Scatterplot analyses were used (a) to ass...

Researchers have recently reported that the established low correlation between intrinsic religiousness and prejudice is an artifact of social desirability. They found that only the quest orientation correlated negatively with prejudice. This study examined these developments in a culture in which prejudice against a certain group was not socially...

The MASTERY model has been documented to be an effective method of teaching skills in the administration of standardized intelligence tests. However, given the recent cutbacks in funding for clinical training, it is evident that for a training model to be widely used, it must be both cost effective and readily accessible to the majority of psycholo...

The MASTERY model has been documented to be an effective method of teaching skills in the administration of standardized intelligence tests. However, given the recent cutbacks in funding for clinical training, it is evident that for a training model to be widely used, it must be both cost effective and readily accessible to the majority of psycholo...