Monthly Archives: April 2021

Sophia Mun & Russ Bermejo

This is my second year at CBU. The thing that I love most working at CBU is that I am able to do faith integration in classrooms. One day in my first year, I got curious if I could measure the effectiveness of the faith integration I was doing in my classrooms. This led Professor Bermejo and I to start a small research project. In this blog, we would like to briefly share the process of this research and what we have found so far.  

Identify the General Study Idea

The integration of faith and learning is a key feature of Christian higher education. Faculty members in Christian institutions are encouraged to foster integration between students’ understanding of subjects and their faith. At CBU, professors integrate the “Core 4” outcomes in their course instruction so students are (1) academically prepared, (2) Biblically rooted, (3) globally minded, and (4) equipped to serve. Our shared vision of being “unapologetically Christian and academic rigorous” is challenging and inspiring. But how can we assess the effectiveness of faith integration in our classrooms?  

Choose the Research Topic  

First of all, we wanted to see whether our faith integration work in classrooms has an impact on the extent to which students work to integrate their faith with their discipline/class. Second, we also wanted to identify the factors contributing to student faith integration. The purpose of this project was to determine whether and how taking a class in a Christian institution predicts changes in students’ faith integration. Research questions of this project were “Is there any changes in the degree to which students engage in faith integration at the beginning and the end of semester?” And “What factors promote changes?”  

Formulate Plan and Methodology 

Professor Bermejo and I created an online survey to measure basic demographic information and student faith integration. Student faith integration was measured at Time 1 (beginning of semester) and Time 2 (end of semester) using the Psychology and Faith Integration (Psy-FI) Scale (Collison et al., 2019). The scale contains 27 items (e.g., “I often think about how psychology and my faith relate to each other.”) with response options ranging from 1 (Disagree strongly) to 6 (Agree Strongly). Changes in student faith integration were calculated by subtracting student faith integration Time 1 from Time 2. Other variables were also included as possible contributing factors: school year, the course they were taking (BEH or PSY), experience of taking psychology classes, instructor (Professor B. or M.), and spirituality (Instructor & Self).   

Collet Data  

The data was collected in 6 classrooms (PSY & BEH courses) in 2020 fall semester. Longitudinal data was collected from a sample of 161 students (students took the same survey twice at the beginning and the end of semester). The survey was distributed and data was collected via Qualtrics.  

Analyze Data & Present Findings   

We conducted a hierarchical multiple regression analysis to explore contributing factors in changes in student faith integration. Three significant predictors were found: student spirituality, experience of taking psychology classes, and students’ prior faith integration (Time 1, beginning of semester).  Regarding experience of taking psychology classes, we found that students who had not taken a psychology class before showed increases in the degree to which student engage in their faith integration. In addition, students with low faith integration at Time 1 reported increases in faith integration at the end of the semester. Overall, our results demonstrate that faith integration in our classrooms was promoted especially for students with lack of exposure to faith integration in lower-level courses and students with low prior faith integration.  

Summary & Discussion 

Our results show effects of faith integration in classrooms vary depending on students’ experiences and existing levels of faith integration. In summary, we found that faith integration in classrooms may not benefit all students in the degree to which student engage in faith integration. It should be attuned to differences among students in their experience and their prior level of faith integration (e.g., applying different approaches of faith integration to lower level and upper-level classes). 

References 

Collison, B., Eck, B. E., Edwards, J. M., & Allen, E. C. (2019). The Psy-FI Scale: A Measure of Psychology and Faith Integration. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 38(2), 67–80.  

Want to play a game of “never have I ever?” Here goes. Never have I ever been told to study basic brain functions when I want to know how to grow in my spiritual life. Is that shocking to you? Probably not.

And yet, I wholeheartedly (or, whole brain-edly) believe that how we relate to God changes with a basic understanding of how the brain creates neural networks as a function of our experience. Before I get to that specific claim, let me back up a bit.

Your brain is responsible for your engagement with the world. What you see, feel, think, remember, and do is all contingent on your brain processing. Engaging in the world—whether it be zoned out in front of the 1,732^nd TikTok video for the day or reciting Shakespeare in Stamps Courtyard—changes your brain. Your brain is constantly changing in response to huge amounts of incoming information from the external world. Many of these changes are temporary. Consider this example: you read something from a textbook, think you know it, and then fail to remember it come test time. What happened? The temporary brain change from the reading did not result in long-term reorganization/creation of the neural networks for the memory of the thing you read; that’s what happened. What studying does (especially effective studying), is that it takes that temporary brain change and slowly makes it permanent. An analogy I like to use is a comparison to creating a path through a forest. At first, there is no path. But, if you travel the same path every day, cutting away obstructive branches, compacting the ground beneath your feet, eventually a path is born. Think of the creation of neural connections in your brain as doing the same thing¹. With enough practice, the pathway is born and the brain change is more than temporary.

William James, a pioneer of early psychology, wrote that “my experience is what I agree to attend to.” If we think about this from a brain-based perspective, this is true because what we attend is the thing that is ultimately burned into our ever-forming neural circuitry. Attention changes what happens in our brain (something called neuromodulation); it is the gate keeper to neural network activation and creation.

So, when Scriptures tell us to think on what is true, honorable, pure, lovely, and good, to think on what is excellent and worthy of praise in Philippians 4:8, this is not just a platitude to “think happy thoughts.” I think that Paul is pointing us to focus on these things because what we pay attention to changes us. Luke 6:43-45 records Jesus teaching that we are recognized by our fruit, fruit that is the overflow of our hearts. He says that a good man brings good things stored out of his heart whereas an evil man brings forth the evil stored in his heart. Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So, what does this have to do with the neuroscience of attention? As I see it: everything.

The objects of our attention cause brain change. These brain changes reflect and represent the objects of our attention in the form of new neural networks. These neural networks, like the well-travelled path through the forest, work to increase the ease of which our brain can assess and make sense of an object of attention. In the forest, the path makes it easier to access the destination of the path within the forest. In our brains, the neural networks make it easier to remember and think about the object of our attention. So, when you look at your best friend’s face, you recognize them because the neural network that is the memory of their face (created from previous attention) is activated (the path is “travelled”).

Yet, when the objects of our attention cause brain change, it’s not just that we now “have a new memory.” It is something significantly more meaningful. That neural network now serves as a foundational network when your brain is trying to make sense of new information. Your brain is making constant calculations about what you will like, what you should say, what you might feel based on your previous experiences recorded in neural networks. Attention in and to these previous experiences is what creates these networks. Thus, every new experience we have is shaped, influenced, and interpreted through the lens of the neural networks created from our previous attention. This serves as the foundation for meaning making; our pre-existing beliefs, knowledge, expectations, desires (etc.) that we use to make sense of what is in front of us is, in part, driven by what we’ve previously attended to. Said directly, the brain we are creating today (out of our attention) is the filter through which we will make sense of all future experiences.

Researchers refer to the influence of what is already present in our heads on the meaning-making process of the moment as a “top-down influence.” This is how two people can look at the exact same stimuli and see different things. Remember the dress? Or Laurel/Yanni? These are all so interesting (and frustrating) because they illustrate the incredible power of top-down influences in how we make sense of the world. What we previously paid attention to shapes our brain to make sense of whatever might come next. This is efficient, but there are important real-world implications. This includes implications for our spiritual life because when we focus our attention on what is less than what we have been commanded to in Scripture, it has long-lasting implications for how we subsequently direct our attention and interpret the objects of that attention.

So, how we spend our time – the focus of our attention – matters beyond the individual moment of attention. We carry in our brains a representation of our previous attention history that serves as a filter for all subsequent interactions in the world. 

This is challenging, to be sure. But, importantly, we also worship a God of abounding grace. Neuroscience bears this out as well in a concept known as neuroplasticity. When we choose to re-direct our attention toward what is good, right, and true we, over time, change our brain’s neural networks, a change that is the direct result of the steadfast re-direction of attention. 

Dallas Willard wrote that “God does not ordinarily compete for our attention.” If attention is the gateway to the harvest of our heart, I think neuroscience research requires that we seriously ask about the objects of our attention. This is not a call to “look to the bright side of things” or to find that silver lining. I don’t believe that Scriptures call us to bury our heads in the sand instead of confronting problems. And yet, when we encounter problems or challenges, how do we comport ourselves in a manner fitting to our calling? What and to whom do we attend; how do we cultivate the daily habits and neural networks that produce that pleasing aroma of a life lived for Christ? 

One reason these questions may be challenging is that they make our small minutes meaningful. The good or the evil in our hearts is not harvested all at once, but rather developed over small, daily habits, habits all starting with our attention. These daily habits might not feel like they are doing much but they are slowly, and powerfully, changing our brains—brains out of which our behaviors flow.  

There is always data coming into and being processed by your incredible brain, even if you are not consciously aware of it. From a brain-based perspective, we are always attending to something. So, here’s the big question for you: what are you paying attention to? 

Footnote: 

1. The nerve cells in the brain are called neurons. They are the building blocks of the nervous system and, when they network together (neural networks), they form the foundation of all human functions ranging from the activation required to blink to the experience of love or misery. Your brain, through these neural connections and networks, carries a physical representation of your subjective, lived experience. 

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A version of this blog was translated into Spanish and published at Coalicion por el Evangelio.

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Note: This is the final post in a three part series. You can start here, but you might find it worthwhile to read the first and the second post in the series!

As I’ve previously discussed, content analysis can be used to investigate picture books. It can, of course, also be used to explore patterns in traditional novels and young adult (YA) literature. One area of YA literature that has traditionally been considered “taboo” to include is religion—especially positive depictions of religion. But as YA literature embraces a more diverse portrayal of young adults, wouldn’t that also include diverse depictions of their religious beliefs? To answer this question, Dr. Alspach and I set out to conduct a content analysis of recent YA literature.

We had three primary research questions:

1.) To what extent is religion referenced in contemporary young adult fiction?

2.) How diverse is that representation? Which religions (or areligious beliefs) are most often included? How well does this reflect the actual landscape of young adult religious practice?

3.) When religion is discussed, is the representation positive, negative, neutral or mixed/complicated?

Sample

Selecting a sample for content analysis can greatly influence the results of the study. Are we looking at all published books? The popular ones? The award winners? We chose to use several lists compiled by the American Library Association since many teachers and librarians use these lists to select which new books to purchase and use in the classroom. We used several different lists so our sample would represent both “good” literature and “popular” literature. The lists we investigated produced a research sample of 38 books, including fiction and nonfiction in a variety of formats.

Procedure

Each novel was read and coded independently by two of the three researchers. We examined the books looking for overt, explicit religious references, including the direct identification of religious ideas and affiliation (i.e., a narrator or character identifying someone as atheist or Protestant or Catholic, references to deities or religious organizations, etc.), religious personnel (priests, monks, bodhisattvas, etc.), religious artifacts and apparel (i.e., prayer beads, prayer mats, crucifixes, hijabs, etc.), or religious activity (i.e., service attendance, prayer, etc.). Our coding framework also included identifying which religion was mentioned and the depth of the reference: “background,” “supporting,” or “central” to the story. After each reader had independently coded the texts, we compared results and found a high level of inter-rater reliability in all categories.

Findings

Although we found many interesting aspects of the texts we coded (and wound up with many new questions), here’s a very brief summary. The majority (87%) of the books had some religious reference—ranging from mentioning a hijab to a deep exploration of religious identity. The most commonly depicted religion was Christianity, but other contemporary religions represented in the books included Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, atheism, voodoo, Baha’i, Zoroastrianism, and even fairly small sects such as Hutterites.

Previous literary scholars, such as Campbell (1994), had identified the propensity for young adult texts to portray religion and religious figures in a manner that merely vilifies those religious traditions. We were curious to see if texts had changed in that regard, and when we coded our sample, we found that they had. We noted 20% as neutral in their religious depictions, 10% as predominantly negative in their depiction, and about 13% of the texts as purely positive in their depictions. For the majority of the texts (55%), the religious representations were mixed or complicated.

Implications

Beyond satisfying our curiosity, this content analysis offers some insight into the current state of YA literature. The books in our sample depict a variety of religious viewpoints and reactions to those viewpoints, reflecting some of the diverse experiences young adults have in terms of religious engagement. These depictions offer young adults an opportunity to see themselves in their literature as well as to learn about the beliefs and practices of others.

Looking for these patterns and trends through content analysis offers a different way of looking at what’s important to our culture—the stories we create and consume both shape and are shaped by our perception of the world. The study of literature and social science research may at first seem an odd pairing, but at their heart, they are both ways of trying to understand human nature and behavior, investigating how we perceive the world and how we share our ideas, and, if we’re really lucky, sometimes that includes a really snazzy data visualization.

Think about what you’ve been reading lately: what do you think it might say about the culture that produced it and about you as someone who consumes it? Share your thoughts below.

References

Campbell, P. (1994). The sand in the oyster. Horn Book Magazine, 70(6), 756–759.

Travis, E.J., Alspach, B., & Keith, A. (2020). Let’s talk about it: Representations of religion in young adult literature. Manuscript in preparation. California Baptist University.

Note: This is part two of a series of three. You can start here, but you might find it worthwhile to read the first post in the series!

Often when we think of social science research, we think of experiments, surveys, interviews, and maybe even some fieldwork. We think of Baby Albert, the Stanford Prison experiments, and Likert scales. I would hazard to guess that most people assume that social science must involve, well, people. But there are other researchers who study people’s creations—diaries, letters, news articles, advertisements, blogs, Instagram accounts, books, and other artifacts—to see what they tell us about the people who crafted them and to consider how they, in turn, shape the people who consume them. One method these researchers employ is content analysis, the search for patterns in recorded communication that involves identifying and categorizing themes, concepts, depictions, and even word choice within a text.

“Content analysis tells us about the creators of material and how they shape the people who consume these creations”

Since I teach children’s literature, and have several children of my own, I am particularly interested in the content analysis of children’s books. What do the stories we tell children tell us about ourselves? Who gets to tell the stories? What picture of the world do they present to children? What’s normal? What’s not? Who gets what job? What is a family like? Who speaks and who stays quiet? Is your life like the life you see in the book?

Like all research, content analysis is inherently limited—we can’t consider all the things in all the books all the time. The sample is limited. And our coding frame might miss something, or the researcher might miscode something. The measurement is limited. These are the common concerns with all empirical research. One content analysis doesn’t “prove” anything. However, it does tell us something—so here are the kinds of things researchers consider through the content analysis of children’s books and a few interesting findings.

Common Themes

One focus for content analyses is the messages and values children’s books present as important. Showalter (2016) found that best-selling picture books tend to embrace the following “virtues”: Kindness, Love, Creativity, and Vitality. But traditional virtues such as Spirituality, Humility, Self-Regulation, Forgiveness, and Mercy were rarely found. The books did, however, also embrace Vanity, Impulsivity, and Indulgence. Burton (2020) found that children’s picture books most often expressed a need to love, to be loved, and to belong.

Children’s Experiences

Other researchers look at how narratives present real-life situations. Phillips & Sturm’s (2013) study of books about kindergarten suggests that while these books accurately portray the classroom and childhood development, they lack development of child/teacher relations, racial and ethnic diversity, family involvement, and children’s quiet/alone time. A content analysis of the depiction of disabilities in Newbery Award winners from 1975-2009 found that while the depiction of characters with disabilities was generally positive, it was not proportionate to real life, in either basic population or racial diversity (Leininger et al., 2010). Other studies detail depictions of cancer (Doering, 2020; Huang et al., 2017), bullying (Oppliger & Davis, 2016;Wiseman et al., 2019), transracial adoption (Sun, 2016), religion (Raina, 2016), and other life experiences.

Factors Influencing Behavior

Researchers are also interested in how reading may equip children to navigate real-life challenges. Goloway’s (2019) analysis of fairytales from 22 different cultures found that 96% of the fairytale studied contained “multiple specific references to the three-dominant evidence-based factors” of Masten’s model of resilience. Goloway links this emphasis on resilience as a positive way to increase resilience in the child reader, especially as a protective factor for children in families impacted by substance use disorder (SUD). A study of dietary behaviors in pictures book suggests that picture books portray a variety of problematic eating behaviors of interest to social science research and psychologists; however, the problem-solving strategies used in such books do not generally line up with research-based nutrition approaches (Matvienko, 2016). So, while the books bring up real problems, they don’t offer viable solutions.

Careers & Disciplines

Another large area of interest is how picture books present adults—how are different roles and careers visualized for young readers? Are these representations diverse? Limited? Kelly’s (2018) analysis of science trade books for children considers whether this type of children’s book has improved in the diversity of depictions of scientists—spoiler, it hasn’t. The fictional scientists pictured in the award-winners were mostly white and male. Furthermore, the books mostly depicted science as life science (rather than chemistry, astronomy, etc.), giving a rather limited view of what science is really all about. Similarly, Patterson (2019) found that almost half of the children’s books on the New York Times’ best-seller list included some politically relevant content, but that the depictions of democratic leaders were most often male while monarchial leaders were most often female and less likely to actively participate in a political process in the book. In investigating these monarchial leader narratives (i.e., princess stories), Dale et al. (2016) agreed that gender stereotypes were common in the books studied: The protagonists were most often distressed, naïve, beautiful princesses who quickly fell in love. As children’s book communicate ideas about worldview, reality, and future expectations, it’s important we understand what messages they convey.

This quick overview shows the wide variety in how content analysis can be applied to children’s picture books. As we live in a world that is increasingly aware of how powerful media, including books, can be in shaping the readers’ perception of reality, I imagine this field of study will only grow. And as it does, literary concerns like characterization, setting, theme, motifs, etc., will play an important part in the critical analysis of the texts.

Click here to read the final part of this series!

References

Burton, S. C. (2011). Childhood needs and children’s literature: A content analysis of award-winning books [ProQuest Information & Learning]. In Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences (Vol. 71, Issue 11–A, p. 3968).

Dale, L. P., Higgins, B. E., Pinkerton, N., Couto, M., Mansolillo, V., Weisinger, N., & Flores, M. (2016). Princess picture books: Content and messages. Journal of Research in Childhood Education,30(2), 185–199. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2016.1143415

Doering, K. L. (2020). Inclusivity in children’s literature: Examining quality of text, accuracy of representation of children with cancer in picturebooks, and children’s response to three specific texts[ProQuest Information & Learning]. In Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering (Vol. 81, Issue 5–B).

Goloway, S. (2018). Happily ever resilient: A content analysis of themes of resilience in fairytales [ProQuest Information &Learning]. In Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences (Vol. 79, Issue 3–A(E)).

Huang, X., Lee, S., Hu, Y., Gao, H., & O’Connor, M. (2015). Talking about maternal breast cancer with young children: A content analysis of text in children’s books. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 40(6), 609–621. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsu110

Kelly, L. B. (2018). An analysis of award‐winning science trade books for children: Who are the scientists, and what is science? Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 55(8), 1188–1210. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21447

Leininger, M., Dyches, T. T., Prater, M. A., & Heath, M. A. (2010). Newbery Award winning books 1975-2009: How do they portray disabilities? Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 45(4), 583–596.

Matvienko, O. (2016). Qualitative analysis of dietary behaviors in picture book fiction for 4-to 8-year-olds. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 48(9), 602–608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2016.06.005

Oppliger, P. A., & Davis, A. (2016). Portrayals of bullying: A content analysis of picture books for preschoolers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 44(5), 515–526. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-015-0734-1

Patterson, M. M. (2019). Children’s literature as a vehicle for political socialization: An examination of best-selling picture books 2012–2017. The Journal of Genetic Psychology: Research and Theory on Human Development, 180(4–5), 231–250. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2019.1635077

Phillips, E. C., & Sturm, B. W. (2013). Do picture books about starting kindergarten portray the kindergarten experience in developmentally appropriate ways? Early Childhood Education Journal, 41(6), 465–475. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-012-0560-7

Raina, S. A. (2010). Critical content analysis of postcolonial texts: Representations of Muslims within children’s and adolescent literature [ProQuest Information & Learning]. In Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences (Vol. 70, Issue 11–A, p. 4215).

Showalter, R. A. (2016). Virtue and vice in children’s literature: A content analysis of best-selling American picture books [ProQuest Information & Learning]. In Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering (Vol. 76, Issue 10–B(E)).

Sun, L. (2015). Critical content analysis of adoption texts: Representations of transracial Chinese adoption within children’s picture books [ProQuest Information & Learning]. In Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences (Vol. 75, Issue 12–A(E)).

Wiseman, A. M., Vehabovic, N., & Jones, J. S. (2019). Intersections of race and bullying in children’s literature: Transitions, racism, and counternarratives. Early Childhood Education Journal, 47(4), 465–474. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-019-00933-9