Cleveland Explores Religion, Self-Awareness

Christena Cleveland, assistant professor of psychology, presents a Phi Kappa Phi Paul C. Wilt Address, “Amazing Grace: Cultural Differences in Protestant Theology and Self-Awareness,” Tuesday, March 9, at 7p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge. The lecture is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Cleveland, who earned her Ph.D. in 2008 at UC Santa Barbara, specializes in group/team motivation and performance. She joined the Westmont faculty in 2008.

Cleveland’s research adopts a cultural psychology perspective and begins to examine the ways in which differences in Protestant theological worldview affect how we perceive and respond to information during the course of everyday, secular situations.

“When discussing theological differences amongst Protestants, we (non-theologians) often talk about splitting hairs and wonder to what extent these differences really matter and whether they matter at all,” Cleveland says.

She says the experimental research suggests that Calvinists and Arminians exhibit significantly different levels of self-esteem and self-awareness in response to certain situations.

Respondents to Cleveland’s talk include Maurice Lee, assistant professor of religious studies and Ray Paloutzian, professor emeritus of psychology.