Morris A Okun
Biographic Data
| ID | 159347 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Morris A Okun |
| GIVEN NAMES | Morris A |
| FAMILY NAME | Okun |
| SIGNATURE | OKUN M A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Arizona State University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 59 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 300 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 59 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1974 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Is Seeing Believing? A Longitudinal Study of Vividness of the Future and Its Effects on Academic Self-Efficacy and Success in College
This research followed students over their first 2 years of college. During this time, many students lose sight of their goals, leading to poor academic performance and leaving STEM and business majors. This research was the first to examine longitudinal changes in future vividness, how those changes impact academic success, and identify sex differences in those relationships. Students who started college with clear pictures of graduation and lif…
Faith and science mindsets as predictors of Covid-19 concern: A three-wave longitudinal study
Development and validation of the five-factor Lambi measure of God representations
God representations are complex and there is no standard, relatively short, and easy to administer measure reflecting both anthropomorphic and abstract representations of God. We developed a new measure with five dimensions: Limitless, Authoritarian, Mystical, Benevolent, and Ineffable (the LAMBI scale). In Study 1, we used exploratory factor analysis to examine the factor structure of a preliminary list of 41 common adjectives that people might …
The Road Not Taken: Fostering Research on the Psychology of Religiosity and Spirituality via Underused Representative, Open-Access Datasets (Roads)
Psychologists studying religiosity and spirituality (R/S) often face several challenges when conducting their research, such as collecting data from nationally representative samples, cross-cultural generalizability, statistical power, and integrated multilevel approaches. We examined one potential solution—the use of Representative, Open-Access Datasets (ROADs), which are currently underutilized. In this article, we define ROADs; discuss afforda…
Science, God, and the cosmos: Science both erodes (via logic) and promotes (via awe) belief in God
SBNR Identity: The Role of Impersonal God Representations, Individualistic Spirituality, and Dissimilarity With Religious Groups
We conducted two studies investigating the extent to which self-identification as Spiritual but not Religious (SBNR) was associated with (H1) the development of idiosyncratic religious beliefs and exposure to religious diversity and/or (H2) negative attitudes toward organized religion and being hurt by members of a religious group. In Study 1, SBNRs scored higher than religious and nonreligious participants on belief in God as an impersonal cosmi…
Feeling Closer to the Future Self and Doing Better: Temporal Psychological Mechanisms Underlying Academic Performance
This research examined the function of future self‐continuity and its potential downstream consequences for academic performance through relations with other temporal psychological factors and self‐control. We also addressed the influence of cultural factors by testing whether these relations differed by college generation status. Undergraduate students enrolled at a large public university participated in two studies (Study 1: N = 119, M age = 2…
The Effects of a Female Role Model on Academic Performance and Persistence of Women in STEM Courses
Women are more likely to leave science, technology, engineering, and mathematics compared to men, in part because they lack similar role models such as peers, teaching assistants, and instructors. We examined the effect of a brief, scalable online intervention that consisted of a letter from a female role model who normalized concerns about belonging, presented time spent on academics as an investment, and exemplified overcoming challenges on aca…
God is watching you…but also watching over you: The influence of benevolent God representations on secular volunteerism among Christians
The Psychosocial Context of Financial Stress: Implications for Inflammation and Psychological Health
OBJECTIVE: Psychological distress may contribute to chronic activation of acute-phase inflammation. The current study investigated how financial stressors influence psychosocial functioning and inflammation. This study examined a) the direct relations between financial stress and inflammation; b) whether the relationships between financial stress and inflammation are mediated in part by negative interpersonal events, psychological distress, and p…
The mind of the Lord: Measuring authoritarian and benevolent God representations
Who Helps the Samaritan? The Influence of Religious vs. Secular Primes on Spontaneous Helping of Members of Religious Outgroups
There is a debate as to whether religion increases prosociality. Darley and Batson’s (1973) classic Good Samaritan study provided evidence against religious prosociality because priming religion among Christian seminary students did not increase the likelihood of helping an ailing confederate. Conceptually replicating this study, we primed undergraduate Christians with benevolent verses attributed to the Bible, benevolent verses attributed to u.s…
Antecedents and outcomes of level and rates of change in perceived control: The moderating role of age
Perceived control is interrelated with aging-related outcomes across adulthood and old age. Relatively little is known, however, about resources as antecedents of longitudinal change in perceived control and the role of perceived control as a buffer against mortality risk when these resources are low. We examined functional limitations, depressive symptoms, and emotional support as antecedents of level and rates of change in perceived control and…
Are Volunteer Satisfaction and Enjoyment Related to Cessation of Volunteering by Older Adults
The dynamics of volunteer cessation are important because a volunteer shortage is forecasted and because the benefits of volunteering may attenuate when volunteering stops. Future research should test the proposed causal sequence using longitudinal data with at least 3 waves
Value-Expressive Volunteer Motivation and Volunteering by Older Adults: Relationships With Religiosity and Spirituality
Religiosity may provide the way, and value-expressive volunteer motivation the will, to volunteer. The implications of our findings for the forecasted shortage of older volunteers are discussed
Volunteering by older adults and risk of mortality: A meta-analysis.
Organizational volunteering has been touted as an effective strategy for older adults to help themselves while helping others. Extending previous reviews, we carried out a meta-analysis of the relation between organizational volunteering by late-middle-aged and older adults (minimum age = 55 years old) and risk of mortality. We focused on unadjusted effect sizes (i.e., bivariate relations), adjusted effect sizes (i.e., controlling for other varia…
Friends in high places: The influence of authoritarian and benevolent god-concepts on social attitudes and behaviors
Intrinsic Religiosity and Volunteering During Emerging Adulthood: A Comparison of Mormons with Catholics and Non-Catholic Christians
Emerging adulthood is a period when religious beliefs are likely to be shaped. Studying the influence of religious culture on prosocial behavior among emerging adults aids our understanding of the process and effects of religious socialization. Mormon religious culture places a particularly strong emphasis on caring for family and fellow Mormons. Because intrinsically religious individuals internalize their religious community's values, we hypoth…
American Indian students’ difficulties in Introduction to Psychology
Does volunteering moderate the relation between functional limitations and mortality
Contents, Vol. 21, 1978
Race and Subjective Well-Being in Adulthood
Meta-analytic techniques were used to synthesize findings on black-white differences in subjective well-being among noninstitutionalized adults. The dependent variable was zero-order estimates of the race/subjective well-being relation. Predictors were a composite of quality of study ratings, age midrange, and year of publication. We found that race is related to subjective well-being, with whites reporting slightly higher levels of subjective we…
Adult Age and Cautiousness in Decision
After a brief description of the hypotheses proposed to account for adult-age differences in cautiousness, this article reviews findings from eight cross-sectional investigations. Adult-age differences were observed on the choice dilemmas instrument (the predominant methodology) only in the case when adults were permitted to refrain from responding to the life situations depicted in the items. In recent research, using behavioral measures of risk…
Implications of Riegel’s Dialectic Approach for Adult Instruction
The application of the dialectic orientation to adult education is discussed. More specifically, the dialectic framework developed by Riegel is used to sketch a model of instruction and to delineate some implications for teaching adults. The dialectic view is compared and contrasted with contemporary humanistic and cognitive perspectives on teaching. Although each of these different approaches to instruction provides a useful plan for teaching ad…
Dispositional happiness and college student GPA: Unpacking a null relation
Religion and Subjective Well-Being in Adulthood: A Quantitative Synthesis
A Research Synthesis of Gender and Social Class as Correlates of Subjective Well-Being
Meta-analytic techniques were used to synthesize findings from the extant empirical literature on gender and social class as predictors of subjective well-being among U.S. adults. Based upon Rubin's (1979) research, we tested a family of hypotheses that gender, relative to social class, accounted for more variation in subjective well-being. Examination of zero-order and first-order effect sizes revealed that men have slightly higher subjective we…
Positive and negative social ties among older adults: Measurement models and the prediction of psychological distress and well‐being
The factor structure of positive and negative social ties was studied among 246 older adults who were either recently physically disabled, recently conjugally bereaved, or matched controls. Covariance structure analyses were carried out on a network measure to determine whether positive and negative social ties represent independent domains of social experience, and to assess the degree to which their structure is invariant across groups undergoi…
Marital Status and Subjective Well-Being: A Research Synthesis
Marilyn Haring-Hidore, William A. Stock, Morris A. Okun, Robert A. Witter, Marital Status and Subjective Well-Being: A Research Synthesis, Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 47, No. 4 (Nov., 1985), pp. 947-953
Life regrets and current goals as predictors of psychological adjustment
Life regrets and current goals were examined as predictors of psychological adjustment in a sample of 155 Ss who rated these constructs along 13 theoretically derived dimensions. Relative to regrets, goals were perceived as more impactful, important, controllable, achievable, socially supported, and desirable, and as occupying more time and energy. Hierarchical regression models indicated that regret ratings account for an additional 19.8% of the…
Grade level differences in school satisfaction
Cross-sequential analysis of adult personality
Assessing volunteer motives: A comparison of an open‐ended probe and Likert rating scales
The purpose of the present study was to compare the motives of volunteers (career, esteem, protective, social, understanding, and value) as assessed by an open‐ended probe and the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) which employs a Likert rating scale. One‐hundred‐and‐twenty‐nine individuals, who volunteered for an organization that focuses on episodic volunteering in the community, completed both measures of volunteer motives and reported their …
SBNR Identity: The Role of Impersonal God Representations, Individualistic Spirituality, and Dissimilarity With Religious Groups
We conducted two studies investigating the extent to which self-identification as Spiritual but not Religious (SBNR) was associated with (H1) the development of idiosyncratic religious beliefs and exposure to religious diversity and/or (H2) negative attitudes toward organized religion and being hurt by members of a religious group. In Study 1, SBNRs scored higher than religious and nonreligious participants on belief in God as an impersonal cosmi…
Does volunteering moderate the relation between functional limitations and mortality
Faith and science mindsets as predictors of Covid-19 concern: A three-wave longitudinal study
Antecedents and outcomes of level and rates of change in perceived control: The moderating role of age
Perceived control is interrelated with aging-related outcomes across adulthood and old age. Relatively little is known, however, about resources as antecedents of longitudinal change in perceived control and the role of perceived control as a buffer against mortality risk when these resources are low. We examined functional limitations, depressive symptoms, and emotional support as antecedents of level and rates of change in perceived control and…
Rigor in Data Synthesis: A Case Study of Reliability in Meta-analysis
The subject of this study was the reliability among persons coding information from primary research sources for use in a metaanalysis. Meta-analysis is a quantitative procedure for synthesizing data in primary research reports (Glass, 1976; 1977). As such, it is one of a number of quantitative procedures proposed as alternatives to the traditional, verbal review of literature. This study rests on the assumption that meta-analysis in particular, …
Value-Expressive Volunteer Motivation and Volunteering by Older Adults: Relationships With Religiosity and Spirituality
Religiosity may provide the way, and value-expressive volunteer motivation the will, to volunteer. The implications of our findings for the forecasted shortage of older volunteers are discussed
Science, God, and the cosmos: Science both erodes (via logic) and promotes (via awe) belief in God
Intrinsic Religiosity and Volunteering During Emerging Adulthood: A Comparison of Mormons with Catholics and Non-Catholic Christians
Emerging adulthood is a period when religious beliefs are likely to be shaped. Studying the influence of religious culture on prosocial behavior among emerging adults aids our understanding of the process and effects of religious socialization. Mormon religious culture places a particularly strong emphasis on caring for family and fellow Mormons. Because intrinsically religious individuals internalize their religious community's values, we hypoth…
Buffer and booster effects as event‐support transactions
Positive and negative affect: A maximum-likelihood approach
Dispositional happiness and college student GPA: Unpacking a null relation
Cooperation and competition in coacting groups
Form of evaluation and audience expertness as joint determinants of audience effects
Are Volunteer Satisfaction and Enjoyment Related to Cessation of Volunteering by Older Adults
The dynamics of volunteer cessation are important because a volunteer shortage is forecasted and because the benefits of volunteering may attenuate when volunteering stops. Future research should test the proposed causal sequence using longitudinal data with at least 3 waves
Who Helps the Samaritan? The Influence of Religious vs. Secular Primes on Spontaneous Helping of Members of Religious Outgroups
There is a debate as to whether religion increases prosociality. Darley and Batson’s (1973) classic Good Samaritan study provided evidence against religious prosociality because priming religion among Christian seminary students did not increase the likelihood of helping an ailing confederate. Conceptually replicating this study, we primed undergraduate Christians with benevolent verses attributed to the Bible, benevolent verses attributed to u.s…
The Effects of Personal Relevance of Topic and Information Type on Older Adults’ Accurate Recall of Written Medical Passages About Osteoarthritis
Older adults with osteoarthritis were more likely than older adults without osteoarthritis to misrepresent the content of the passages as supporting their misconceptions
Relation between preference for intermediate risk and adult age in men: A cross-cultural validation
Form of evaluation and audience expertness as joint determinants of audience effects
Cooperation and competition in coacting groups
Relation between preference for intermediate risk and adult age in men: A cross-cultural validation
Effects of Unequal Power on Cooperation in Conflict
Participants were randomly assigned to be high or low power and interacted with another who consistently cooperated, or consistently competed, or alternatively cooperated and competed. Results indicate that low power participants acted more cooperatively, were more attracted to, and wanted to facilitate the other's outcomes to the extent the other had cooperated; the cooperativeness of the high power participants was unaffected by the low power p…
Cross-sequential analysis of adult personality
Risk taking through the adult life span
Research on aging in general and on cautiousness in adulthood in particular has been plagued by several problems including (a) drawing of samples from the extremes of the adult age range; (b) relying on single criterion variables; and (c) paucity of data on the psychometric properties of scales. In the present study, three measures of risk taking were administered to a sample ranging from 18-78 years old. Reliability estimates indicated that the …
Rigor in Data Synthesis: A Case Study of Reliability in Meta-analysis
The subject of this study was the reliability among persons coding information from primary research sources for use in a metaanalysis. Meta-analysis is a quantitative procedure for synthesizing data in primary research reports (Glass, 1976; 1977). As such, it is one of a number of quantitative procedures proposed as alternatives to the traditional, verbal review of literature. This study rests on the assumption that meta-analysis in particular, …
Health and Subjective Well-Being: A Meta-Analyis
A meta-analysis was conducted of the health/subjective well-being relationship, based upon studies of United States adults published prior to 1980. Dependent variables were zero-order and first-order correlations. A total of 231 zero-order effect size estimates were extracted from 104 different sources, while a total of 189 first-order effect sizes were extracted from thirty-three different sources. The majority of effect sizes were derived from …
Education and Subjective Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis
The influence of serious personal losses or misfortunes on life satisfaction
Most of the research examining the link between life events and adaptation has focused on psychological distress and illness. The present study investigated the influence of serious personal loss or misfortune on life satisfaction. A secondary data analysis was conducted on a subsample of 375 adults obtained from 9,570 respondents to health risk appraisal questionnaires collected in 12 cities across the United States. A significant inverse relati…
A Research Synthesis of Gender and Social Class as Correlates of Subjective Well-Being
Meta-analytic techniques were used to synthesize findings from the extant empirical literature on gender and social class as predictors of subjective well-being among U.S. adults. Based upon Rubin's (1979) research, we tested a family of hypotheses that gender, relative to social class, accounted for more variation in subjective well-being. Examination of zero-order and first-order effect sizes revealed that men have slightly higher subjective we…
Literacy in the Open-Access College
Religion and Subjective Well-Being in Adulthood: A Quantitative Synthesis
Marital Status and Subjective Well-Being: A Research Synthesis
Marilyn Haring-Hidore, William A. Stock, Morris A. Okun, Robert A. Witter, Marital Status and Subjective Well-Being: A Research Synthesis, Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 47, No. 4 (Nov., 1985), pp. 947-953
The construct validity of subjective well-being measures: An assessment via quantitative research syntheses
The construct validity of subjective well-being was assessed by quantitative research syntheses of U.S. studies of the correlates of subjective well-being appearing before 1980. The classes of evidence examined in this article include reports of reliability, estimates of correlation between different measures of subjective well-being, and estimates of correlation between measures of subjective well-being and measures of other constructs (adjustme…
Buffer and booster effects as event‐support transactions
Positive and negative affect: A maximum-likelihood approach
Positive and negative social ties among older adults: Measurement models and the prediction of psychological distress and well‐being
The factor structure of positive and negative social ties was studied among 246 older adults who were either recently physically disabled, recently conjugally bereaved, or matched controls. Covariance structure analyses were carried out on a network measure to determine whether positive and negative social ties represent independent domains of social experience, and to assess the degree to which their structure is invariant across groups undergoi…
A meta-analysis of subjective well-being interventions among elders
A meta-analysis of subjective well-being interventions among elders
Grade level differences in school satisfaction
Motives and intent to continue organizational volunteering among residents of a retirement community area
Over 40% of elders are estimated to engage in organizational volunteering. Research on older volunteers' motives is hampered by the tendency of investigators to analyze data on an item-by-item basis. In the present study, we examined the implications of taking unidimensional and multidimensional approaches to aggregating motive items for predicting elders' intent to continue volunteering. The sample consisted of 242 community service volunteers w…
Life regrets and current goals as predictors of psychological adjustment
Life regrets and current goals were examined as predictors of psychological adjustment in a sample of 155 Ss who rated these constructs along 13 theoretically derived dimensions. Relative to regrets, goals were perceived as more impactful, important, controllable, achievable, socially supported, and desirable, and as occupying more time and energy. Hierarchical regression models indicated that regret ratings account for an additional 19.8% of the…
The Relations of Dispositional Regulation and Emotionality to Elders' Empathy‐Related Responding and Affect While Volunteering
Researchers recently have proposed that various empathy‐related reactions are differentially related to individual differences in emotional intensity and regulation. This idea was tested with a sample of elderly hospital volunteers. As predicted, dispositional sympathy was associated with high levels of both dispositional regulation and negative emotional intensity. Personal distress was linked with low regulation and high negative emotional inte…
Staying in College: Moderators of the Relation between Intention and Institutional Departure
Additional informationNotes on contributorsMorris A. OkunMorris A. Okun is professor of psychologyMary BeninMary Benin is associate professor of sociology at Arizona State UniversityAnn Brandt-WilliamsAnn Brandt-Williams is chair and professor of psychology at Glendale Community College
Psychology (57 works) · Social Psychology (40 works) · Social Psychology (22 works) · Medicine (21 works) · Developmental psychology (20 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Clinical Psychology (13 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (13 works) · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction (12 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (10 works)