Research largely shows that religion and spirituality have a positive correlation to psychological well-being. However, there has been a great deal of confusion and debate over their operational definitions. This study attempted to delineate the two constructs and categorise participants into different groups based on measured levels of religious involvement and spirituality. The groups were then scored against specific measures of well-being. A total of 205 participants from a wide range of religious affiliations and faith groups were recruited from various religious institutions and spiritual meetings. They were assigned to one of four groups with the following characteristics: (1) a high level of religious involvement and spirituality, (2) a low level of religious involvement with a high level of spirituality, (3) a high level of religious involvement with a low level of spirituality, and (4) a low level of religious involvement and spirituality. Multiple comparisons were made between the groups on three measures of psychological well-being: levels of self-actualisation, meaning in life, and personal growth initiative. As predicted, it was discovered that, aside from a few exceptions, groups (1) and (2) obtained higher scores on all three measures. As such, these results confirm the importance of spirituality on psychological well-being, regardless of whether it is experienced through religious participation.

Abstract■ Aphasic patients with multimodal semantic impairment following pFC or temporo-parietal (TP) cortex damage (semantic aphasia [SA]) have deficits characterized by poor control of semantic activation/retrieval, as opposed to loss of semantic knowledge per se. In line with this, SA patients show "refractory effects"; that is, declining accuracy in cyclical word-picture matching tasks when semantically related sets are presented rapidly and repeatedly. This is argued to follow a build-up of competition between targets and distractors. However, the link between poor semantic control and refractory effects is still controversial for two reasons.(1) Some theories propose that refractory effects are specific to verbal or auditory tasks, yet SA patients show poor control over semantic processing in both word and picture semantic tasks. (2) SA can result from lesions to either the left pFC or TP cortex, yet previous work suggests that refractory effects are specifically linked to the left inferior frontal cortex. For the first time, verbal, visual, and nonverbal auditory refractory effects were explored in nine SA patients who had pFC (pFC+) or TP cortex (TP-only) lesions. In all modalities, patient accuracy declined significantly over repetitions. This refractory effect at the group level was driven by pFC+ patients and was not shown by individuals with TP-only lesions. These findings support the theory that SA patients have reduced control over multimodal semantic retrieval and, additionally, suggest there may be functional specialization within the posterior versus pFC elements of the semantic control network. ■

Self-actualization is described as an individual's expression of their full potential and a desire for self-fulfilment. It is the leading need in Maslow's hierarchical motivation theory (Maslow, 1943) which does not specify an age range for each level, believing that individuals progress through the hierarchy at different rates. However, he recognises older adults are more likely than young adults to be concerned with higher motivation (Maslow, 1970). Previous work has revealed that people over the age of 36 have a tendency to be concerned with higher motives and people under this age with lower motives (Reiss & Havercamp, 2005). This study looks at the influence of age on the level of self-actualization and discovered that on 8 out of the 12 Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) scales, participants over the age of 36 showed higher levels of self-actualization than participants under the age of 36. These results indicate the relevance of developmental issues in this matter and back up the hypothesis that there is a relationship between one's age and levels of self-actualization. However, results also showed a degree of overlap of self-actualization scores across age groups, suggesting further research may find other important factors, beyond age, which have a relationship with self-actualization.What allows people to progress toward advanced stages of self-fulfilment? In a society where an individual's growth is championed and cultivated, this question is increasingly attracting the interest of both employers and psychologists.Since the beginning of the twentieth century, psychologists have been developing the idea that human need can be classified into different categories (Johnmarshall, 2008;Langer, 1937;Schaffer, 1953), Maslow's (1943, 1970 hierarchy of needs is based on the idea that there is distinction between higher and lower motives and that there are "real psychological and operational differences between those needs called 'higher' and those called 'lower'" (Maslow, 1970, p. 97). Compared to lower, more physiological motives (such as hunger and sex), higher motives (such as altruism and morality) emerge at an older age, are less relevant to survival, and are closer to self-actualization.Maslow's work on self-actualization stems from that of Carl Jung (1928), who describes the process toward achieving self-realization. This is a state at which our unconscious and consciousThe authors report no fi nancial or other confl ict of interest relevant to the subject of this article. The study was conducted in compliance with an appropriate Ethical Code of Conduct.

. Mindfulness meditation and curiosity: The contributing factors to wellbeing and the process of closing the self-discrepancy gap. International Journal of Wellbeing, 1(3),[316][317][318][319][320][321][322][323][324][325][326][327] Abstract: Actual/ideal self-discrepancy is the measurable difference between an individual's beliefs about who they think they are (actual self) and their image of the person they would ideally like to be (ideal self). When the self-discrepancy gap is small, higher psychological wellbeing exists. Mindfulness meditation, by means of greater awareness of the continuous fluctuation of thought from one point to another, has been shown to increase self-acceptance, which can lead to minimizing self-discrepancy. Additionally, curiosity is an important third factor in motivating the change required to reduce self-discrepancy. This study hypothesises that mindfulness meditation reduces actual-ideal self-discrepancy. Additionally, it hypothesises that higher trait curiosity will lead to a larger reduction in self-discrepancy. One hundred and twenty participants took part in a mindfulness meditation course. Before and after this, participants completed a Selves questionnaire and the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory. The findings confirm that mindfulness meditation can effectively reduce the gap between actual/ideal self attributes. In addition, curiosity is an influencing factor in making the largest changes in selfdiscrepancy after meditation.

Person-centred and cognitive-behavioural therapies are two divergent theoretical orientations and students of each may offer systematically different personality traits. In this study, potential variations in empathy and gender roles between postgraduate student groups (person-centred, cognitive-behavioural and social sciences) were examined. Seventy participants from UK educational institutions completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and two subscales of Davis’ Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Results revealed that the person-centred group had higher empathic concern, and more individuals classified as androgynous, while the cognitive-behavioural group scored higher on perspective taking. Empathy was strongly associated with femininity, regardless of the group or gender. Knowledge of how trainee therapists differ across orientations could potentially be of use in improving the working alliance, as clients could be better matched to therapists according to their personal need