Rhett Diessner | Lewis-Clark State College (original) (raw)
Papers by Rhett Diessner
The Journal of Baha’i Studies
Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research
Frontiers in Psychology
Moral elevation is the prototypical emotional response when witnessing virtuous deeds of others. ... more Moral elevation is the prototypical emotional response when witnessing virtuous deeds of others. Yet, little is known about the role of individual differences that moderate the susceptibility to experiencing this self-transcendent emotion. The present experiment investigated the role of personality traits as moderators of elevation and its behavioral effects using economic games as a measure for prosocial behavior. One aim was to replicate prior findings on trait Engagement with Moral Beauty as moderator for experimentally induced state elevation. A second aim was to explore new potential moderators that were found to be connected to the moral realm: Honesty-Humility, Agreeableness vs. Anger, and Need for Cognition. Third, the present study is among the few investigating the effects of elevation on different prosocial actions and intentions. A sample of US American college students (N = 144) was randomly assigned to either watch a morally uplifting or a humorous video clip. Afterwards, all participants played a dictator game and an ultimatum game, and were asked to volunteer in another time-consuming experiment. In line with our hypotheses, experimentally induced state elevation promoted prosocial behavior, however, only within the dictator game. Also in line with our hypotheses, higher levels of Need for Cognition and higher levels of Engagement with Moral Beauty (but not higher levels of Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness vs. Anger) increased prosocial behavior within the experimental group. In contrast to our hypotheses, none of the investigated personality traits moderated the proneness to experience the state of elevation after seeing an elevating video clip; only the behavioral consequences of elevation were moderated. Our results replicate and extend prior findings on moderators for elevation and exemplify the importance of investigating the role of personality traits in the context of the moral elevation phenomenon.
The Journal of Baha’i Studies
This article aims to illustrate four major concepts shared by the protagonists of cognitive-devel... more This article aims to illustrate four major concepts shared by the protagonists of cognitive-developmentalism, such as Piaget, Kohlberg, and Kegan, and the primary authors of the sacred writings of the Bahá’í Faith—Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi. These concepts include: a developmental teleology, the stage-like nature of development, the importance of an epistemic focus, and selflessness. As the Bahá’í teachings stress a developmental approach to self and a universal approach to moral education, and as the Faith is rapidly growing, it would be helpful for psychologists and educators a universal approach to moral education, and as the Faith is rapidly growing, it would be helpful for psychologists and educators to become familiar with a Bahá’í view of development. Additionally, as the Bahá’í writings stress access to science, it will be beneficial for Bahá’í readers to become acquainted with the cognitive-developmental research program as an important body of psychologi...
Review of General Psychology
This review of the trait of appreciation of beauty (AoB) draws from the literature in personality... more This review of the trait of appreciation of beauty (AoB) draws from the literature in personality psychology, philosophy, religion, neuroscience, neuro-aesthetics, evolutionary psychology, and the psychology of morality. We demonstrate that AoB can be mapped onto a definition of appreciation that includes perceptual, cognitive, emotional, trait, virtue, and valuing elements. A classic component of defining beauty, unity-in-diversity, is described based on the works of a variety of major philosophers. We next describe that there are at least four channels of appreciation of beauty: natural beauty, artistic beauty, moral beauty, and beautiful ideas. Examining the neuro-aesthetics research indicates that many networks of the brain are involved in mental acts of appreciating beauty, but the medial orbital front cortex (mOFC) is implicated across all four channels of beauty. We then explain how the trait of AoB is a member of three different families of traits: traits of love, traits of ...
Educational and Psychological Measurement
ABSTRACT The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery and the Sequential Tests of Educational P... more ABSTRACT The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery and the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress were given to a sample of 37 Yakima Indian students. The predictive validity of the Academic Ability Scale was statistically significant with respect to four of five STEP subtests.
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
A tragedy of beauty has occurred in Western culture and perhaps worldwide: The importance of beau... more A tragedy of beauty has occurred in Western culture and perhaps worldwide: The importance of beauty for a flourishing and self-actualizing life is largely going unnoticed by both the general public and by psychologists. Philosophers, sacred scriptures, and a range of empirical findings point to the centrality of engaging with beauty for a meaningful life and suggest engagement with beauty as a means of pursuing self-actualization. However, not only American culture but humanistic psychologists have severely undervalued the fulfillment of aesthetic needs and a life engaged by beauty. We examined the relationship between the Engagement with Beauty Scale and the Short Index of Self-Actualization ( N = 252). Very small, nonsignificant correlations were found between the Short Index of Self-Actualization and engagement with natural beauty, engagement with artistic beauty, and engagement with moral beauty. This indicates that persons high in self-actualization have no more interest in bea...
Review of General Psychology, 2016
The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 2016
ABSTRACT Danto has argued that beauty isn’t simply a value we live by, but a value that defines w... more ABSTRACT Danto has argued that beauty isn’t simply a value we live by, but a value that defines what a human life is. It is, therefore, important to help support students’ development of their understanding of experiences of beauty. The research described herein provides a tentative roadmap for teachers to apply toward the cognitive development of their students’ understandings of their experiences of beauty. A preliminary cognitive-developmental schema of stages of understanding experiences of beauty is presented. A cross-sectional group of participants, N = 105, ranging from ages four to 89 completed the Understanding Beauty Interview (UBI). Subjects’ responses to the UBI were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed vis-a-vis cognitive-developmental stage level. Inter-rater reliability and concurrent validity were demonstrated, respectively, by a kappa coefficient of .76 and a strongly positive correlation (r = .92) with a well-established measure of cognitive development, Kohlberg’s Moral Judgment Interview. A high-moderate correlation of UBI stage with age (r = .61) supported the UBI’s criterion-related validity; and discriminative validity was reflected in a medium-low correlation of the UBI with a measure of trait engagement with beauty (r = .39). No gender differences were found regarding stage levels of understanding beauty. It appears that analysis of Understanding Beauty Interviews can produce a reliable and valid cognitive developmental stage schema. Implications for the educational application of this cognitive-developmental schema are addressed in the Discussion section.
ABSTRACT L. Kholberg's model of moral development and the social learning theory both pro... more ABSTRACT L. Kholberg's model of moral development and the social learning theory both provide methods of perceiving the relationship between cognitive and moral development, and both are useful in application to the intellectually gifted child. Educating gifted children toward high levels of moral behavior is a particularly important concern. (Author/SEW)
Psychology in the Schools, 1985
... Citation. Database: PsycINFO. [Journal Article]. The use of Wechsler Scales in the assessment... more ... Citation. Database: PsycINFO. [Journal Article]. The use of Wechsler Scales in the assessment of Native Americans of the Columbia River Basin. McCullough, C. Sue; Walker, Jacqueline L.; Diessner, Rhett. Psychology in the Schools, Vol 22(1), Jan 1985, 23-28. ...
Merrill Palmer Quarterly, Mar 31, 1994
ABSTRACT Investigated the relationship between identity and moral reasoning in 76 female and 58 m... more ABSTRACT Investigated the relationship between identity and moral reasoning in 76 female and 58 male students (aged 16–30 yrs). A newly developed care-based measure of moral reasoning, the Ethic of Care Interview (ECI), was found to be significantly related to age, identity, and Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Interview (MJI). The relationship between identity and the ECI was significantly higher for women than for men. Furthermore, only for women was the ECI more strongly related to identity than was the MJI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Journal of American Indian Education, 1985
At Orchards Elementary School (Idaho), curriculum inquiry is focusing on the nature of a democrat... more At Orchards Elementary School (Idaho), curriculum inquiry is focusing on the nature of a democratic school. As democracy is more of a process than a specific content, the Orchards faculty have concentrated more on changes in methods of delivering curriculum than on changing specific items of curriculum. Questions of worth and value have all cir slated around the concept of "shared decision making," which is the central ideal of the multifaceted restructuring efforts that have occurred during Orchards' involvement in the Mastery in Learning Project. From initial focus on faculty autonomy/decison making and student discipline, the faculty is moving towards democracy and shared decision making within their classrooms, involving students in curriculum decisions, playground arbitration, and other aspects of their school lives. (Author) *
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 00224549809600365, Apr 2, 2010
The Journal of Baha’i Studies
Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research
Frontiers in Psychology
Moral elevation is the prototypical emotional response when witnessing virtuous deeds of others. ... more Moral elevation is the prototypical emotional response when witnessing virtuous deeds of others. Yet, little is known about the role of individual differences that moderate the susceptibility to experiencing this self-transcendent emotion. The present experiment investigated the role of personality traits as moderators of elevation and its behavioral effects using economic games as a measure for prosocial behavior. One aim was to replicate prior findings on trait Engagement with Moral Beauty as moderator for experimentally induced state elevation. A second aim was to explore new potential moderators that were found to be connected to the moral realm: Honesty-Humility, Agreeableness vs. Anger, and Need for Cognition. Third, the present study is among the few investigating the effects of elevation on different prosocial actions and intentions. A sample of US American college students (N = 144) was randomly assigned to either watch a morally uplifting or a humorous video clip. Afterwards, all participants played a dictator game and an ultimatum game, and were asked to volunteer in another time-consuming experiment. In line with our hypotheses, experimentally induced state elevation promoted prosocial behavior, however, only within the dictator game. Also in line with our hypotheses, higher levels of Need for Cognition and higher levels of Engagement with Moral Beauty (but not higher levels of Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness vs. Anger) increased prosocial behavior within the experimental group. In contrast to our hypotheses, none of the investigated personality traits moderated the proneness to experience the state of elevation after seeing an elevating video clip; only the behavioral consequences of elevation were moderated. Our results replicate and extend prior findings on moderators for elevation and exemplify the importance of investigating the role of personality traits in the context of the moral elevation phenomenon.
The Journal of Baha’i Studies
This article aims to illustrate four major concepts shared by the protagonists of cognitive-devel... more This article aims to illustrate four major concepts shared by the protagonists of cognitive-developmentalism, such as Piaget, Kohlberg, and Kegan, and the primary authors of the sacred writings of the Bahá’í Faith—Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi. These concepts include: a developmental teleology, the stage-like nature of development, the importance of an epistemic focus, and selflessness. As the Bahá’í teachings stress a developmental approach to self and a universal approach to moral education, and as the Faith is rapidly growing, it would be helpful for psychologists and educators a universal approach to moral education, and as the Faith is rapidly growing, it would be helpful for psychologists and educators to become familiar with a Bahá’í view of development. Additionally, as the Bahá’í writings stress access to science, it will be beneficial for Bahá’í readers to become acquainted with the cognitive-developmental research program as an important body of psychologi...
Review of General Psychology
This review of the trait of appreciation of beauty (AoB) draws from the literature in personality... more This review of the trait of appreciation of beauty (AoB) draws from the literature in personality psychology, philosophy, religion, neuroscience, neuro-aesthetics, evolutionary psychology, and the psychology of morality. We demonstrate that AoB can be mapped onto a definition of appreciation that includes perceptual, cognitive, emotional, trait, virtue, and valuing elements. A classic component of defining beauty, unity-in-diversity, is described based on the works of a variety of major philosophers. We next describe that there are at least four channels of appreciation of beauty: natural beauty, artistic beauty, moral beauty, and beautiful ideas. Examining the neuro-aesthetics research indicates that many networks of the brain are involved in mental acts of appreciating beauty, but the medial orbital front cortex (mOFC) is implicated across all four channels of beauty. We then explain how the trait of AoB is a member of three different families of traits: traits of love, traits of ...
Educational and Psychological Measurement
ABSTRACT The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery and the Sequential Tests of Educational P... more ABSTRACT The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery and the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress were given to a sample of 37 Yakima Indian students. The predictive validity of the Academic Ability Scale was statistically significant with respect to four of five STEP subtests.
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
A tragedy of beauty has occurred in Western culture and perhaps worldwide: The importance of beau... more A tragedy of beauty has occurred in Western culture and perhaps worldwide: The importance of beauty for a flourishing and self-actualizing life is largely going unnoticed by both the general public and by psychologists. Philosophers, sacred scriptures, and a range of empirical findings point to the centrality of engaging with beauty for a meaningful life and suggest engagement with beauty as a means of pursuing self-actualization. However, not only American culture but humanistic psychologists have severely undervalued the fulfillment of aesthetic needs and a life engaged by beauty. We examined the relationship between the Engagement with Beauty Scale and the Short Index of Self-Actualization ( N = 252). Very small, nonsignificant correlations were found between the Short Index of Self-Actualization and engagement with natural beauty, engagement with artistic beauty, and engagement with moral beauty. This indicates that persons high in self-actualization have no more interest in bea...
Review of General Psychology, 2016
The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 2016
ABSTRACT Danto has argued that beauty isn’t simply a value we live by, but a value that defines w... more ABSTRACT Danto has argued that beauty isn’t simply a value we live by, but a value that defines what a human life is. It is, therefore, important to help support students’ development of their understanding of experiences of beauty. The research described herein provides a tentative roadmap for teachers to apply toward the cognitive development of their students’ understandings of their experiences of beauty. A preliminary cognitive-developmental schema of stages of understanding experiences of beauty is presented. A cross-sectional group of participants, N = 105, ranging from ages four to 89 completed the Understanding Beauty Interview (UBI). Subjects’ responses to the UBI were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed vis-a-vis cognitive-developmental stage level. Inter-rater reliability and concurrent validity were demonstrated, respectively, by a kappa coefficient of .76 and a strongly positive correlation (r = .92) with a well-established measure of cognitive development, Kohlberg’s Moral Judgment Interview. A high-moderate correlation of UBI stage with age (r = .61) supported the UBI’s criterion-related validity; and discriminative validity was reflected in a medium-low correlation of the UBI with a measure of trait engagement with beauty (r = .39). No gender differences were found regarding stage levels of understanding beauty. It appears that analysis of Understanding Beauty Interviews can produce a reliable and valid cognitive developmental stage schema. Implications for the educational application of this cognitive-developmental schema are addressed in the Discussion section.
ABSTRACT L. Kholberg's model of moral development and the social learning theory both pro... more ABSTRACT L. Kholberg's model of moral development and the social learning theory both provide methods of perceiving the relationship between cognitive and moral development, and both are useful in application to the intellectually gifted child. Educating gifted children toward high levels of moral behavior is a particularly important concern. (Author/SEW)
Psychology in the Schools, 1985
... Citation. Database: PsycINFO. [Journal Article]. The use of Wechsler Scales in the assessment... more ... Citation. Database: PsycINFO. [Journal Article]. The use of Wechsler Scales in the assessment of Native Americans of the Columbia River Basin. McCullough, C. Sue; Walker, Jacqueline L.; Diessner, Rhett. Psychology in the Schools, Vol 22(1), Jan 1985, 23-28. ...
Merrill Palmer Quarterly, Mar 31, 1994
ABSTRACT Investigated the relationship between identity and moral reasoning in 76 female and 58 m... more ABSTRACT Investigated the relationship between identity and moral reasoning in 76 female and 58 male students (aged 16–30 yrs). A newly developed care-based measure of moral reasoning, the Ethic of Care Interview (ECI), was found to be significantly related to age, identity, and Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Interview (MJI). The relationship between identity and the ECI was significantly higher for women than for men. Furthermore, only for women was the ECI more strongly related to identity than was the MJI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Journal of American Indian Education, 1985
At Orchards Elementary School (Idaho), curriculum inquiry is focusing on the nature of a democrat... more At Orchards Elementary School (Idaho), curriculum inquiry is focusing on the nature of a democratic school. As democracy is more of a process than a specific content, the Orchards faculty have concentrated more on changes in methods of delivering curriculum than on changing specific items of curriculum. Questions of worth and value have all cir slated around the concept of "shared decision making," which is the central ideal of the multifaceted restructuring efforts that have occurred during Orchards' involvement in the Mastery in Learning Project. From initial focus on faculty autonomy/decison making and student discipline, the faculty is moving towards democracy and shared decision making within their classrooms, involving students in curriculum decisions, playground arbitration, and other aspects of their school lives. (Author) *
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 00224549809600365, Apr 2, 2010