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After reading an essay attributed to a college freshman, male and female college students evaluated both the essay's quality and the writer's ability. By means of a photograph, the subjects knew writer's sex and physical attractiveness (high, medium, or low). The essays also varied in "objective" quality (high, medium, or low). Significant main effects for essay quality were found in all dependent measures and a sigrdficant main effect for physical attractiveness was found for Composite Essay Quality. Analysis of significant three-way interactions between physical attractiveness, sex-of-subject, and sex-of-writer for the Composite Essay Quality and Writer's Overall Ability revealed that individuals of high and medium physical attractiveness were evaluated differently by members of the opposite sex or same sex. That is, highly attractive individuals received the highest evaluations from members of the opposite sex, while individuals of medium physical attractiveness received the highest evaluations from members of the same sex. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of physical attractiveness to relationships between members of the same and opposite sex.The halo effect of physical attractiveness on first impressions and person perception has been well documented (Berscheid & Walster, 1974). Despite the lack of knowledge about the potential effect of physical attractiveness on long-term relationships, physically attractive individuals are initially seen as having more admirable characteristics (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972;Miller, 1970; Anderson, Note 1), more likable (e.g., Berscheid, 1.

This article introduces the Body Intelligence Scale (BIS) to humanistic, transpersonal, and positive psychologists, the most likely initial users of the BIS. I invite research collaboration and clinical trials with individuals in appropriate health care and clinical populations to evaluate the efficacy of the BIS. Theory and research relevant to body intelligence are reviewed and the concept of body intelligence is defined. The combination of qualitative and quantitative methods employed in scale development supports a multimethod approach to scale development, especially as relevant to assessing subtle human qualities. The current BIS is composed of three subscales: the Energy Body Awareness, Comfort Body Awareness, and Inner Body Awareness subscales. Future research should evaluate the reliability and validity of the BIS, usefulness of the BIS as a tool for the enhancement of body intelligence generally, and the relationship of the scale to appropriate clinical populations, particularly individuals with weight-management challenges, history of trauma and abuse, and/or physical illnesses clearly aggravated by stress.

In The Polarized Mind, Kirk Schneider presents an insightful and provocative exploration of what many of us might call the problem of human evil, the denigration and violence committed against others in the pursuit of a ''noble'' cause. Although Schneider employs existential and humanistic language rather than theological language, the topic of the book is related to the Christian theological construct of theodicy, that is, the paradox between the beauty and majesty that surrounds in nature and the cosmos and the violence and mayhem that have characterized human history across time.In Part I, Schneider analyzes the social and historical preconditions that precede violence and atrocities perpetrated against others in world history. By examining mythological, scriptural, and historical accounts, including the mass killings of Muslims and Jews in medieval Spain, the exploitation of India by the British Empire, the Stalinist era in Russia of violence against dissenters, Imperial Japan in the conquest of China, the Third Reich in Germany in the genocide of Jews and gypsies, and Maoist China in the execution of political dissidents, he concludes that the demonization of others is the result of a polarized mind in society and individuals that prefers black-and-white thinking to confronting the existential realities of life especially when life as it is feels especially fragile. According to Schneider: Existential anxiety is not just the fear of physical death but the fear of the implications of physical death. Existing in a universe that has no calculable end and no calculable beginning-that is a radical mystery. It is terror of our bewildering fragility, our nothingness before the vastness of space and time, and our steady transformation from matter to inexplicable dust. Trauma, shock, and disruption all signal us to this incomprehensible state of affairs. (p. 8)Although the linking of demonization with violence is familiar, especially for those of us who read the newspapers during the Vietnam War and witnessed the ongoing characterization of the Correspondence should be addressed to Rosemarie Anderson,

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