Sharp
Biographic Data
| ID | 17113 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sharp |
| FAMILY NAME | Sharp |
| SIGNATURE | SHARP |
| AFFILIATIONS | Northern Illinois University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9893-3786 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 125 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Challenge at the Intersection of Race and Kink
Heaven, hell, and attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide
Using data from the 2007 Baylor Religion Survey, I evaluate whether beliefs in heaven and hell are associated with attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide. I find that those who believe in heaven and those who believe in hell tend to have negative attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide, even when controlling for other religiosity and sociodemographic variables. I also find that the belief in hell mediates the effect of the belief in heav…
Religious Interaction Ritual
Witnessing and Experiencing Miraculous Healings and Attitudes toward Physician-Assisted Suicide
Drawing on insights from cognitive psychology, I argue that the religious experiences of witnessing and/or experiencing a miraculous physical healing event will be negatively associated with attitudes towards physician-assisted suicide. I evaluate this argument using data from the 2007 wave of the Baylor Religion Survey (N = 1598). I find that those who have witnessed and/or experienced a miraculous physical healing have more negative attitudes t…
Prayer and Charitable Behavior
I propose a theoretical framework to understand how prayer influences charitable volunteering and financial giving. Drawing on work from symbolic interaction and cognitive psychology, I argue that individuals’ concepts of divine others become more cognitively accessible during the act of prayer. Because most people attribute the characteristics of omniscience and the desire for humans to help others to divine others, people are more likely to hel…
Prayer and Helping
I propose a theoretical framework to understand how the religious practice of prayer influences helping. Drawing on work from symbolic interaction and cognitive psychology, I argue that individuals’ concepts of divine others become more cognitively accessible during the act of prayer. Because most people attribute the characteristics of omniscience and the desire for humans to help others to divine others, people are more likely to help known and…
The bible and attitudes toward voluntary euthanasia
Are beliefs about and behaviors toward the Bible associated with voluntary euthanasia attitudes? Using General Social Survey data and multivariate logistic regression, I find that individuals' views of the authorship and epistemological status of the Bible; the importance of the Bible in making decisions; and the frequency in which individuals read the Bible are associated with negative voluntary euthanasia attitudes, even when controlling for ot…
Beliefs in and About God and Attitudes Toward Voluntary Euthanasia
Belief in Life After Death and Attitudes Toward Voluntary Euthanasia
Research has documented associations among religious affiliation, religious practice, and attitudes toward voluntary euthanasia, yet very few studies have investigated how particular religious beliefs influence these attitudes. I use data from the General Social Survey (GSS; N = 19,967) to evaluate the association between the belief in life after death and attitudes toward voluntary euthanasia. I find that those who believe in life after death ar…
Traditional God Images and Attitudes towards Voluntary Euthanasia
I use data from the General Social Survey (N = 8905) to evaluate whether imagining God in traditional ways is associated with attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia. Bivariate analysis reveals that individuals who imagine God as a father, a master, and a king have negative attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia. The associations between imagining God as a father and as a master and attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia hold after controlling for…
The Use of Prayer to Manage Anger
Research has established that individuals use prayer to manage negative emotions, yet little is known about how the characteristics of individuals' emotional experiences-such as how long the emotions last and the source of emotions-influence the use of this emotion management strategy. Using data from the 1996 General Social Survey emotion module (N = 1114), we evaluate the extent to which the use of prayer to manage anger is associated with: the…
Belief in miracles and attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia
Results of logistic regression analysis of data from the General Social Survey (N = 1,799) find that those who have a strong belief in miracles are more likely to say that a person with an incurable illness should not be allowed to accept medical treatments that painlessly hasten death than those who have a less strong belief in miracles or do not believe in miracles, net of respondents' religious affiliations, frequency of religious attendance, …
Gender, race, and the use of prayer to manage anger
Women and blacks are more likely than men and whites to use prayer to manage negative emotions such as anger. However, the pathways explaining these associations are not fully understood. Using data from the 1996 General Social Survey’s emotion module, we evaluate four potential mechanisms that might account for these associations: women’s and blacks’ relatively high levels of religious participation, relatively low socioeconomic status, extended…
Resisting Religious Coercive Control
Religious coercive control refers to the use of religious beliefs and doctrine as means to coercively control intimate partners. Scholars have shown that some abusive partners use the Christian doctrine of submission as a means of religious coercive control. I explore how victims who experience the doctrine of submission qua religious coercive control actively resist it. I argue that victims' successful resistance of the doctrine is contingent on…
Monotheistic Theodicy as Imaginary Face‐Work
In this article, I outline the cognitive process involved in accomplishing monotheistic theodicy, or the act of reconciling the belief in an omnipotent and morally perfect God with personal experiences of suffering. Based on in‐depth interviews with intimate partner violence victims, I argue that believers accomplish monotheistic theodicy by performing imaginary face‐work—or protective face‐work on the behalf of significant imagined others—that s…
When Prayers Go Unanswered
Many Americans believe God answers prayers, but scholars know little about how individuals handle situations in which they perceive that prayers have gone unanswered. Using data from an in-depth interview project with current and former victims of intimate partner violence, I argue that perceived unanswered prayers cause challenges to belief systems that elicit attribution processes-or cognitive processes through which individuals try to explain …
How to Do Things with Prayer Utterances
While the social scientific study of prayer is growing, little work has investigated prayer utterances-or statements where social actors say the term 'prayer' or various cognates-in everyday talk. Drawing on insights from ordinary language philosophy, I argue that prayer utterances are performative utterances that help social actors accomplish a variety of actions in social interactions. To illustrate the performative nature of prayer utterances,…
For a Social Psychology of Prayer
Prayer is one of the most common religious activities practiced by Americans. In this review, I make the argument that prayer is a social psychological phenomenon that scholars should treat as such. After a discussion of the use of prayer as a proxy for overall religiosity and a brief excursus on current typologies of prayer, I provide three main arguments for the claim that prayer is a social psychological phenomenon. First, I review evidence th…
Prayer Utterances as Aligning Actions
Social actors use prayer utterances (e.g., statements such as 'prayed over,''prayed about,' or 'spent time in prayer') as aligning actions that justify problematic or questionable courses of action and prevent possible negative characterizations. The prayer utterance functions as an aligning action in American society because of Americans' beliefs and actions concerning the efficacy of prayer in solving problems and because prayer is viewed as a …
The Making of Pro-Life Activists
How Does Prayer Help Manage Emotions
Many individuals use prayer to manage negative emotions, but scholars know little about how prayer accomplishes this task. Using in-depth interview data from victims of intimate partner violence, I argue that prayer is an imaginary social support interaction that provides individuals with resources they use to perform individual emotion management strategies. In particular, interactions with God through prayer provide individuals (1) an other to …
Teaching Beginning Undergraduates How to Do an In-depth Interview
In-depth interviewing is now a common method in sociology. Although there are many potential benefits of in-depth interviewing assignments for both majors and nonmajors, few have developed tools one can use to teach this method at the first and second year, especially in substantive classes where instruction in interviewing is constrained by time and practical circumstances. In this note, the authors present an in-class exercise and tip sheet the…
Escaping Symbolic Entrapment, Maintaining Social Identities
Journal Article Escaping Symbolic Entrapment, Maintaining Social Identities Get access Shane Sharp Shane Sharp University of Wisconsin—Madison Direct correspondence to: Shane Sharp, University of Wisconsin, Department of Sociology, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI, 53706. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Social Problems, Volume 56, Issue 2, 1 May 2009, Pages 267–284, h…
The “Shirt-Weenie”
ERVING GOFFMAN Is one of the most im portant sociologists of the twentieth century. Popular textbooks in sociology (e.g., Gid dens, Duneier, and Appelbaum 2005; Ma cionis 2007) and social psychology (e.g., Aronson, Wilson, and Akert 2006; Cahill 2007; DeLamater and Myers 2007) devote large sections and entire chapters to Goff man's ideas concerning the presentation of self, face-work, the management of stigma and framing, among others. However, w…
How Does Prayer Help Manage Emotions
Many individuals use prayer to manage negative emotions, but scholars know little about how prayer accomplishes this task. Using in-depth interview data from victims of intimate partner violence, I argue that prayer is an imaginary social support interaction that provides individuals with resources they use to perform individual emotion management strategies. In particular, interactions with God through prayer provide individuals (1) an other to …
For a Social Psychology of Prayer
Prayer is one of the most common religious activities practiced by Americans. In this review, I make the argument that prayer is a social psychological phenomenon that scholars should treat as such. After a discussion of the use of prayer as a proxy for overall religiosity and a brief excursus on current typologies of prayer, I provide three main arguments for the claim that prayer is a social psychological phenomenon. First, I review evidence th…
Escaping Symbolic Entrapment, Maintaining Social Identities
Journal Article Escaping Symbolic Entrapment, Maintaining Social Identities Get access Shane Sharp Shane Sharp University of Wisconsin—Madison Direct correspondence to: Shane Sharp, University of Wisconsin, Department of Sociology, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI, 53706. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Social Problems, Volume 56, Issue 2, 1 May 2009, Pages 267–284, h…
Teaching Beginning Undergraduates How to Do an In-depth Interview
In-depth interviewing is now a common method in sociology. Although there are many potential benefits of in-depth interviewing assignments for both majors and nonmajors, few have developed tools one can use to teach this method at the first and second year, especially in substantive classes where instruction in interviewing is constrained by time and practical circumstances. In this note, the authors present an in-class exercise and tip sheet the…
Belief in miracles and attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia
Results of logistic regression analysis of data from the General Social Survey (N = 1,799) find that those who have a strong belief in miracles are more likely to say that a person with an incurable illness should not be allowed to accept medical treatments that painlessly hasten death than those who have a less strong belief in miracles or do not believe in miracles, net of respondents' religious affiliations, frequency of religious attendance, …
When Prayers Go Unanswered
Many Americans believe God answers prayers, but scholars know little about how individuals handle situations in which they perceive that prayers have gone unanswered. Using data from an in-depth interview project with current and former victims of intimate partner violence, I argue that perceived unanswered prayers cause challenges to belief systems that elicit attribution processes-or cognitive processes through which individuals try to explain …
Prayer Utterances as Aligning Actions
Social actors use prayer utterances (e.g., statements such as 'prayed over,''prayed about,' or 'spent time in prayer') as aligning actions that justify problematic or questionable courses of action and prevent possible negative characterizations. The prayer utterance functions as an aligning action in American society because of Americans' beliefs and actions concerning the efficacy of prayer in solving problems and because prayer is viewed as a …
Monotheistic Theodicy as Imaginary Face‐Work
In this article, I outline the cognitive process involved in accomplishing monotheistic theodicy, or the act of reconciling the belief in an omnipotent and morally perfect God with personal experiences of suffering. Based on in‐depth interviews with intimate partner violence victims, I argue that believers accomplish monotheistic theodicy by performing imaginary face‐work—or protective face‐work on the behalf of significant imagined others—that s…
Heaven, hell, and attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide
Using data from the 2007 Baylor Religion Survey, I evaluate whether beliefs in heaven and hell are associated with attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide. I find that those who believe in heaven and those who believe in hell tend to have negative attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide, even when controlling for other religiosity and sociodemographic variables. I also find that the belief in hell mediates the effect of the belief in heav…
Prayer and Charitable Behavior
I propose a theoretical framework to understand how prayer influences charitable volunteering and financial giving. Drawing on work from symbolic interaction and cognitive psychology, I argue that individuals’ concepts of divine others become more cognitively accessible during the act of prayer. Because most people attribute the characteristics of omniscience and the desire for humans to help others to divine others, people are more likely to hel…
Traditional God Images and Attitudes towards Voluntary Euthanasia
I use data from the General Social Survey (N = 8905) to evaluate whether imagining God in traditional ways is associated with attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia. Bivariate analysis reveals that individuals who imagine God as a father, a master, and a king have negative attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia. The associations between imagining God as a father and as a master and attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia hold after controlling for…
Resisting Religious Coercive Control
Religious coercive control refers to the use of religious beliefs and doctrine as means to coercively control intimate partners. Scholars have shown that some abusive partners use the Christian doctrine of submission as a means of religious coercive control. I explore how victims who experience the doctrine of submission qua religious coercive control actively resist it. I argue that victims' successful resistance of the doctrine is contingent on…
The “Shirt-Weenie”
ERVING GOFFMAN Is one of the most im portant sociologists of the twentieth century. Popular textbooks in sociology (e.g., Gid dens, Duneier, and Appelbaum 2005; Ma cionis 2007) and social psychology (e.g., Aronson, Wilson, and Akert 2006; Cahill 2007; DeLamater and Myers 2007) devote large sections and entire chapters to Goff man's ideas concerning the presentation of self, face-work, the management of stigma and framing, among others. However, w…
Prayer and Helping
I propose a theoretical framework to understand how the religious practice of prayer influences helping. Drawing on work from symbolic interaction and cognitive psychology, I argue that individuals’ concepts of divine others become more cognitively accessible during the act of prayer. Because most people attribute the characteristics of omniscience and the desire for humans to help others to divine others, people are more likely to help known and…
Gender, race, and the use of prayer to manage anger
Women and blacks are more likely than men and whites to use prayer to manage negative emotions such as anger. However, the pathways explaining these associations are not fully understood. Using data from the 1996 General Social Survey’s emotion module, we evaluate four potential mechanisms that might account for these associations: women’s and blacks’ relatively high levels of religious participation, relatively low socioeconomic status, extended…
How to Do Things with Prayer Utterances
While the social scientific study of prayer is growing, little work has investigated prayer utterances-or statements where social actors say the term 'prayer' or various cognates-in everyday talk. Drawing on insights from ordinary language philosophy, I argue that prayer utterances are performative utterances that help social actors accomplish a variety of actions in social interactions. To illustrate the performative nature of prayer utterances,…
The bible and attitudes toward voluntary euthanasia
Are beliefs about and behaviors toward the Bible associated with voluntary euthanasia attitudes? Using General Social Survey data and multivariate logistic regression, I find that individuals' views of the authorship and epistemological status of the Bible; the importance of the Bible in making decisions; and the frequency in which individuals read the Bible are associated with negative voluntary euthanasia attitudes, even when controlling for ot…
The “Shirt-Weenie”
ERVING GOFFMAN Is one of the most im portant sociologists of the twentieth century. Popular textbooks in sociology (e.g., Gid dens, Duneier, and Appelbaum 2005; Ma cionis 2007) and social psychology (e.g., Aronson, Wilson, and Akert 2006; Cahill 2007; DeLamater and Myers 2007) devote large sections and entire chapters to Goff man's ideas concerning the presentation of self, face-work, the management of stigma and framing, among others. However, w…
Escaping Symbolic Entrapment, Maintaining Social Identities
Journal Article Escaping Symbolic Entrapment, Maintaining Social Identities Get access Shane Sharp Shane Sharp University of Wisconsin—Madison Direct correspondence to: Shane Sharp, University of Wisconsin, Department of Sociology, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI, 53706. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Social Problems, Volume 56, Issue 2, 1 May 2009, Pages 267–284, h…
How Does Prayer Help Manage Emotions
Many individuals use prayer to manage negative emotions, but scholars know little about how prayer accomplishes this task. Using in-depth interview data from victims of intimate partner violence, I argue that prayer is an imaginary social support interaction that provides individuals with resources they use to perform individual emotion management strategies. In particular, interactions with God through prayer provide individuals (1) an other to …
Teaching Beginning Undergraduates How to Do an In-depth Interview
In-depth interviewing is now a common method in sociology. Although there are many potential benefits of in-depth interviewing assignments for both majors and nonmajors, few have developed tools one can use to teach this method at the first and second year, especially in substantive classes where instruction in interviewing is constrained by time and practical circumstances. In this note, the authors present an in-class exercise and tip sheet the…
The Making of Pro-Life Activists
For a Social Psychology of Prayer
Prayer is one of the most common religious activities practiced by Americans. In this review, I make the argument that prayer is a social psychological phenomenon that scholars should treat as such. After a discussion of the use of prayer as a proxy for overall religiosity and a brief excursus on current typologies of prayer, I provide three main arguments for the claim that prayer is a social psychological phenomenon. First, I review evidence th…
Prayer Utterances as Aligning Actions
Social actors use prayer utterances (e.g., statements such as 'prayed over,''prayed about,' or 'spent time in prayer') as aligning actions that justify problematic or questionable courses of action and prevent possible negative characterizations. The prayer utterance functions as an aligning action in American society because of Americans' beliefs and actions concerning the efficacy of prayer in solving problems and because prayer is viewed as a …
When Prayers Go Unanswered
Many Americans believe God answers prayers, but scholars know little about how individuals handle situations in which they perceive that prayers have gone unanswered. Using data from an in-depth interview project with current and former victims of intimate partner violence, I argue that perceived unanswered prayers cause challenges to belief systems that elicit attribution processes-or cognitive processes through which individuals try to explain …
How to Do Things with Prayer Utterances
While the social scientific study of prayer is growing, little work has investigated prayer utterances-or statements where social actors say the term 'prayer' or various cognates-in everyday talk. Drawing on insights from ordinary language philosophy, I argue that prayer utterances are performative utterances that help social actors accomplish a variety of actions in social interactions. To illustrate the performative nature of prayer utterances,…
Resisting Religious Coercive Control
Religious coercive control refers to the use of religious beliefs and doctrine as means to coercively control intimate partners. Scholars have shown that some abusive partners use the Christian doctrine of submission as a means of religious coercive control. I explore how victims who experience the doctrine of submission qua religious coercive control actively resist it. I argue that victims' successful resistance of the doctrine is contingent on…
Monotheistic Theodicy as Imaginary Face‐Work
In this article, I outline the cognitive process involved in accomplishing monotheistic theodicy, or the act of reconciling the belief in an omnipotent and morally perfect God with personal experiences of suffering. Based on in‐depth interviews with intimate partner violence victims, I argue that believers accomplish monotheistic theodicy by performing imaginary face‐work—or protective face‐work on the behalf of significant imagined others—that s…
Belief in miracles and attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia
Results of logistic regression analysis of data from the General Social Survey (N = 1,799) find that those who have a strong belief in miracles are more likely to say that a person with an incurable illness should not be allowed to accept medical treatments that painlessly hasten death than those who have a less strong belief in miracles or do not believe in miracles, net of respondents' religious affiliations, frequency of religious attendance, …
Gender, race, and the use of prayer to manage anger
Women and blacks are more likely than men and whites to use prayer to manage negative emotions such as anger. However, the pathways explaining these associations are not fully understood. Using data from the 1996 General Social Survey’s emotion module, we evaluate four potential mechanisms that might account for these associations: women’s and blacks’ relatively high levels of religious participation, relatively low socioeconomic status, extended…
Beliefs in and About God and Attitudes Toward Voluntary Euthanasia
Belief in Life After Death and Attitudes Toward Voluntary Euthanasia
Research has documented associations among religious affiliation, religious practice, and attitudes toward voluntary euthanasia, yet very few studies have investigated how particular religious beliefs influence these attitudes. I use data from the General Social Survey (GSS; N = 19,967) to evaluate the association between the belief in life after death and attitudes toward voluntary euthanasia. I find that those who believe in life after death ar…
Traditional God Images and Attitudes towards Voluntary Euthanasia
I use data from the General Social Survey (N = 8905) to evaluate whether imagining God in traditional ways is associated with attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia. Bivariate analysis reveals that individuals who imagine God as a father, a master, and a king have negative attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia. The associations between imagining God as a father and as a master and attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia hold after controlling for…
The Use of Prayer to Manage Anger
Research has established that individuals use prayer to manage negative emotions, yet little is known about how the characteristics of individuals' emotional experiences-such as how long the emotions last and the source of emotions-influence the use of this emotion management strategy. Using data from the 1996 General Social Survey emotion module (N = 1114), we evaluate the extent to which the use of prayer to manage anger is associated with: the…
Prayer and Helping
I propose a theoretical framework to understand how the religious practice of prayer influences helping. Drawing on work from symbolic interaction and cognitive psychology, I argue that individuals’ concepts of divine others become more cognitively accessible during the act of prayer. Because most people attribute the characteristics of omniscience and the desire for humans to help others to divine others, people are more likely to help known and…
The bible and attitudes toward voluntary euthanasia
Are beliefs about and behaviors toward the Bible associated with voluntary euthanasia attitudes? Using General Social Survey data and multivariate logistic regression, I find that individuals' views of the authorship and epistemological status of the Bible; the importance of the Bible in making decisions; and the frequency in which individuals read the Bible are associated with negative voluntary euthanasia attitudes, even when controlling for ot…
Witnessing and Experiencing Miraculous Healings and Attitudes toward Physician-Assisted Suicide
Drawing on insights from cognitive psychology, I argue that the religious experiences of witnessing and/or experiencing a miraculous physical healing event will be negatively associated with attitudes towards physician-assisted suicide. I evaluate this argument using data from the 2007 wave of the Baylor Religion Survey (N = 1598). I find that those who have witnessed and/or experienced a miraculous physical healing have more negative attitudes t…
Prayer and Charitable Behavior
I propose a theoretical framework to understand how prayer influences charitable volunteering and financial giving. Drawing on work from symbolic interaction and cognitive psychology, I argue that individuals’ concepts of divine others become more cognitively accessible during the act of prayer. Because most people attribute the characteristics of omniscience and the desire for humans to help others to divine others, people are more likely to hel…
Heaven, hell, and attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide
Using data from the 2007 Baylor Religion Survey, I evaluate whether beliefs in heaven and hell are associated with attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide. I find that those who believe in heaven and those who believe in hell tend to have negative attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide, even when controlling for other religiosity and sociodemographic variables. I also find that the belief in hell mediates the effect of the belief in heav…
Religious Interaction Ritual
Challenge at the Intersection of Race and Kink
Psychology (21 works) · Social Psychology (18 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (17 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (12 works) · Political science (10 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Law (8 works)