Summer 2003

4Abstracts for Articles in English

Feelings of Control and the Self-Concept of Jordanian Prisoners
Fayez Simadi | UAE University & Jordan University
Adnan Atoum | Yarmouk University
Ayesh Gharaybeh | University of Jordan

The Changing Status of Arab Migrant Workers in the GCC
Andrzej Kapiszewski | Jagiellonian University

“Out of Mind, Out of Sight”: Why Is She Left Out of the Lebanese Political Discourse?
Nijmeh Hajjar | The Australian National University

4Abstracts in English for Articles in Arabic

The Prophet (PBUH) in Assessing Individual Personalities
Saleh Ridah

The Algerian Crisis as Perceived by Emirati University Students
Mohamed Kirat

Contributing to a Modern Arab Psychology
Salma Dumluj

Environmental Education and the Qualifications of Teachers of the Mentally Retarded in Bahrain
Khalid Al-Alawi, Fathi Abdelgadir Salih Elsheikh , and Ismail Mohamed Al-Madany

Summer 2003 4 Abstracts for Articles in English

Feelings of Control and the Self-Concept of Jordanian Prisoners
Fayez Simadi | UAE University & Jordan University
Adnan Atoum | Yarmouk University
Ayesh Gharaybeh | University of Jordan

Psychology recognizes two loci of control for a person's perceptions and behavior. In an external locus of control, a person feels controlled by outside factors, and such persons tend to engage in self-destructive behaviors, such as smoking and drinking, and socially destructive behaviors that may result in breaking the laws. In an internal locus of a control, persons feel that they are in control of the situation, which corresponds to various kinds of socially approved achievements and greater personal satisfaction. This study addresses the relationship between locus of control and self-concept among Jordanian prisoners, and the extent to which social and demographic factors—such as gender, age, level of education, kind of crime, place of residence, occupation, incomes and time spent in jail—predict the locus of control. These data allow cause and effect modeling and suggestions for corrective rehabilitation within the Arab world.

The Changing Status of Arab Migrant Workers in the GCC
Andrzej Kapiszewski | Jagiellonian University

The oil-generated economies of the Gulf countries have necessitated the influx of guest workers, which is now a permanent part of the infrastructure of society. The early waves of immigrant workers from the nearby Arab countries, who were initially sought as a good cultural and religious fit to the societies of the Gulf region, have been outweighed by workers now sought from South Asia . This study analyses both the political and economic reasons for the shift in policy in seeking South Asians over foreign Arabs as guest workers.

“Out of Mind, Out of Sight”: Why Is She Left Out of the Lebanese Political Discourse?
Nijmeh Hajjar | The Australian National University

A formal linguistic analysis of the words and phrases employed in charting and amending the rules for participation in the political process in Lebanon are traced from the parliamentary debates of the 1920s, in the later records and documents of the government programs established during the first two generations of the Republic, in the documents related to national reconciliation following the civil war of the 1970s, and in the published speeches and communications of Lebanese officials and intellectuals since. A formal analysis of wording and phrasing is meant to lend support to the hypothesis that women are rather intentionally excluded from participating in the political process and are relegated to more passive or supportive roles. The linguistic analysis spans the founding of the Republic of Lebanon up through the past several years. In particular, this study seeks to highlight the way in which current political discourse, with Lebanon as the case study, persists in absenting women by using a strictly masculine language; “she” is given, thus, a passive voice in the public domain.

Summer 20034Abstracts in English for Articles in Arabic

The Prophet (PBUH) in Assessing Individual Personalities
Saleh Ridah

From the rich documentary sources that pertain to the times of the Prophet (PBUH), this psychological-historical analysis relates significant observations on how individual differences in personality and behavior were known and recorded by the events demonstrated by Prophet's own behavior. Patterns of psychology are thus generalized from the Prophet's (PBUH) conduct for: human trends in general, memorization, understanding and creating knowledge within a body of theory, for persons vis-à-vis society, for the idiosyncratic sides of personality, and how the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) dealt with the individual differences among his companions. Specific recommendations for behavior are offered from this body of verified and authoritatively related psychological traits.

The Algerian Crisis as Perceived by Emirati University Students
Mohamed Kirat

This study investigates the various levels of awareness within a sample of students at the United Arab Emirates University for events surrounding the Algerian crisis. Specifically we analyze data on the news sources relied upon by students for information about the events in Algeria , the students' opinions on accuracy, objectivity and background of the coverage of the crisis, identifying the main players in the crisis, the outside forces impacting the Algerian crisis, and the potential solutions to the crisis. Surprisingly, only a minority of students are knowledgeable about the crisis in the most general terms. As to what caused the crisis, two-thirds of the respondents indicated that political issues were the main cause whereas about half said that terrorist groups drove the events. The majority of the students (90 percent) think that it is necessary to have the international powers involved to speed up its solution, and that cooperation and consolidation among Arab states are key factors to resolving the conflict.

Contributing to a Modern Arab Psychology
Salma Dumluj

This study follows in the steps of the modern psychology in the Arab world and focuses on the contributions of its pioneers to establish the basic methods for understanding the rules of society and for creating models of interpretation that fit the normative behaviors and cultural patterns of the Arab world. We also relate the great thrust forward in psychological understanding by practitioners in recent generations who tried to interdigitate psychological understanding with Arab cultural patterns, what is sometimes called culture and personality. These psychologists are trying to implement the new information and move the dissemination of knowledge from the theoretical to implementation in the clinic and classroom as practical use. Together, the build up of psychological knowledge will enable us to sufficiently invest in the social and economical growth to face the great changes and challenges inherent in the incessant globalization.

Environmental Education and the Qualifications of Teachers of the Mentally Retarded in Bahrain
Khalid Al-Alawi, Fathi Abdelgadir Salih Elsheikh , and Ismail Mohamed Al-Madany

The study assesses the extent to which Bahraini mental retardation teachers have mastered (1) basic environmental information, and, (2) the levels of academic training and years of teaching experience and how these two sets of information co-vary. The data from an environmental information test taken by teachers were statistically analyzed by using ANOVA, t-test, chi-square test and confidence intervals. To summarize the results, the teachers' mastery level of basic environmental information fell short of the requirements of their role in environmental education. In further comparisons, the differences in environmental knowledge between university graduates in general and the teachers specifically were so negligible to indicate the inadequacy of university coursework in providing basic environmental literacy. Yet, when compared to the less qualified teachers, the university graduates were more aware of the importance of environmental education. Additionally, the mastery of environmental information and awareness of the importance of environmental education did not relate to years of teaching experience.