Department of Educational and School Psychology

This study aims to explore the relationships between spirituality and personality in Catholics living in the Czech Republic. The research sample consisted of 152 Catholics (divided by the degree of their perceived identification with the Church). We examined correlations between spirituality measured by Prague Spirituality Questionnaire (PSQ) and Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (SISRI-24), and personality traits of Big Five. We also examined whether and how spirituality is predicted by personality traits. Two comparing groups consisted of spiritual but not religious respondents (n = 50) and atheists (n = 55). The whole sample consisted of 257 respondents (126 males and 128 females) aged between 18 to 72 years old. The mean of age was 33.4 (SD = 11.1). The results revealed that among Catholics the strongest correlation was found between Openness and the whole rate of spirituality measured by PSQ (r(152) = 0.35; p < 0.01) and the whole rate of spirituality measured by SISRI-24 (r(152) = 0.32; p < 0.01). Openness was also the strongest predictor of spirituality in both cases. Among spiritual respondents not belonging to any world religion, the strongest correlation was found between Openness and the whole rate of spirituality measured by PSQ (r(50) = 0.55; p < 0.01) and the whole rate of spirituality measured by SISRI-24 (r(50) = 0.74; p < 0.01). The correlations were stronger than in the group of Catholics. Openness predicted the whole rate of spirituality measured by PSQ and the whole rate of spirituality measured by SISRI-24 stronger than by the group of Catholics. Our study complements previous research findings on spirituality in Czech Republic and brings new knowledge about Catholic believers.

The main goal of this study was to examine the subjective benefits of participating in the men's groups in the Czech Republic. The research was completed between 2011 and 2012 with 200 members of these groups. A special questionnaire, "Men's group inventory-MGI", which has five open-ended questions, was used for the purpose of this research. The answers were processed qualitatively. The results show the main benefit of being a member of such a group is the chance to freely share inner feelings in a secure environment. Research also suggests the need for honest communication and positive relationships among men in terms of helping them to mature.

The concept of spiritual intelligence is highly discussed topic in the current field of
psychology of religion. The big discussion of this concept was started by Emmons (2000).
In this discussion, Gardner (2000) refuses the term spiritual intelligence, which in his view
evokes too strong an inclination towards a specific religion. Instead of spiritual intelligence
he therefore speaks of existential intelligence. King (2013) states that any intelligence must
include mental abilities, and spiritual intelligence cannot be an exception. As a result, he
speaks of four dimensions of spiritual intelligence (CET Critical existential thinking, PMP
Personal meaning production, TA Transcendental awareness, and CSE Conscious state
expansion).
The research sample consisted of 502 respondents: 170 males, 305 females (27 respondents
did not state their gender). The average age was 35 years (SD = 14.2; 33 respondents did
not state their age). Together with examining reliability and confirmation factor analysis
of the Czech version of the test Czech standardization was made. The data were collected
from four different researches realized at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts,
Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. The results were then compared to those
originally presented by King (2009). The reliability (Cronbach α) of the Czech version was
higher than 0,7 in all four dimensions. The confirmation factor analysis demonstrated good
results in four dimensions of spiritual intelligence, and indicated a need to reformulate one
item of the inventory to reflect better Czech cultural environment.
The relationship between spiritual intelligence and demographic variables (i.e. age, gender)
was examined. By comparing the differences between respondents strong identified to
Christianity and the rest of the respondents, significant differences were found in the
dimensions Personal meaning production, and Transcendental awareness, where respondents
strong identified to Christianity scored on average higher than the rest of the respondents.
To explore the construct validity, correlations between dimensions of spiritual intelligence
and personality traits measured by NEO-PI-III inventory were examined on the part of
the respondents. The strongest correlations were founded in scale CET Critical existential
thinking, which correlated positively to Neuroticism and Openness and negatively to
Extraversion. The results showed the pertinence of detailed construct validity on scale on
item level.
One of the limitations of our study could be online data collection from two thirds of the
respondents. Because of this, representativeness of the sample for the whole Czech population
is not guaranteed. On the other hand, the relative size of the sample (N = 502) could partially
compensate for this limitation. Another limitation is the lack of data concerning education
level of the respondents, which could be an important intervening variable.
Despite the aforementioned limitations to our study, we believe that SISRI could become
useful instrument for spirituality research, and enrich the small number of spirituality
inventories validated for Czech population.

The aim of the research was to analyze information about Covid-19 as it relates to religion in a fundamentalist Catholic periodical and to point out places in the articles that are not supported by scientific facts. We also examined whether the Covid-19 information found contained some coping strategies to deal with the pandemic situation. The object of the study was the Czech monthly Regina in the year 2020. Thematic analysis was used as a method. Two main themes were found-Trivialization and Combat between Good and Evil. At first, the disease was underestimated, from the September issue it was presented as a sign of the end times. The theme of Trivialization was divided into two subthemes: Exaggerated restrictions and Covid-19 is not the only problem of mankind. This theme was assigned to coping strategy Denial. The theme of Combat between Good and Evil was divided into three subthemes: Sign of the End Times, Evil's quest to establish a new world order, and Vaccination breaks the relationship with God. This theme was assigned to a coping strategy Marking Religious Boundaries. The texts possessed much unfounded information stimulating fear and anxiety instead of active coping strategies to promote the reader's hope of improving the epidemiological situation.

The aim of the research was to analyze information about Covid-19 as it relates to religion in a fundamentalist Catholic periodical and to point out places in the articles that are not supported by scientific facts. We also examined whether the Covid-19 information found contained some coping strategies to deal with the pandemic situation. The object of the study was the Czech monthly Regina in the year 2020. Thematic analysis was used as a method. Two main themes were found – Trivialization and Combat between Good and Evil. At first, the disease was underestimated, from the September issue it was presented as a sign of the end times. The theme of Trivialization was divided into two subthemes: Exaggerated restrictions and Covid-19 is not the only problem of mankind. This theme was assigned to coping strategy Denial. The theme of Combat between Good and Evil was divided into three subthemes: Sign of the End Times, Evil’s quest to establish a new world order, and Vaccination breaks th...

The concept of spiritual intelligence is highly discussed topic in the current field of psychology of religion. The big discussion of this concept was started by Emmons (2000). In this discussion, Gardner (2000) refuses the term spiritual intelligence, which in his view evokes too strong an inclination towards a specific religion. Instead of spiritual intelligence he therefore speaks of existential intelligence. King (2013) states that any intelligence must include mental abilities, and spiritual intelligence cannot be an exception. As a result, he speaks of four dimensions of spiritual intelligence (CET Critical existential thinking, PMP Personal meaning production, TA Transcendental awareness, and CSE Conscious state expansion). The research sample consisted of 502 respondents: 170 males, 305 females (27 respondents did not state their gender). The average age was 35 years (SD = 14.2; 33 respondents did not state their age). Together with examining reliability and confirmation fac...

The main goal of this study was to examine the subjective benefits of participating in the men's groups in the Czech Republic. The research was completed between 2011 and 2012 with 200 members of these groups. A special questionnaire, "Men's group inventory-MGI", which has five open-ended questions, was used for the purpose of this research. The answers were processed qualitatively. The results show the main benefit of being a member of such a group is the chance to freely share inner feelings in a secure environment. Research also suggests the need for honest communication and positive relationships among men in terms of helping them to mature.