On the (In)Compatibility of Attitudes Toward Peace and War

Although attitudes toward peace and war are usually treated as two opposite poles of one dimension, in this article we argue that they may represent two distinct dimensions. To investigate this idea, we developed and tested a new balanced measure, the Attitudes Toward Peace and War (APW) Scale, in three studies (N = 4,742) in the United States and Denmark. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that attitudes toward peace and war formed two distinct, though negatively related, factors. Structural equation modeling showed that antecedents of attitudes toward peace included egalitarian ideological beliefs, the values of international harmony and equality, and empathic concern for others, and consequences included intentions to engage in peace‐related activities. On the other hand, antecedents of attitudes toward war included authoritarian ideological beliefs, the values of national strength and order, and less personal distress, and consequences included intentions to engage in warlike activities. Results also showed that political affiliation had an impact on the relationship between peace and war attitudes, with conservatives less likely to find the attitudes incompatible. The findings support the view that attitudes toward peace and war represent two distinct dimensions.     

The Effects of Television on Large-Scale Attitude Change: Viewing “The Day After”1

To examine the effects of viewing the television film, “The Day After”, a questionnaire designed to measure attitudes, cognitions, and feelings about the threat of nuclear war was administered to 537 subjects before and after the airing of the film. A factor analysis of pre-viewing test responses yielded a seven-factor solution. Pre–post factor scores indicated increased worry and concern about nuclear war, decreased belief that nuclear war could be survived, increased concern about the occurrence of nuclear war, and increased agreement with views espoused by the nuclear-freeze movement only among subjects who had viewed the film. Subjects who chose not to view the film differed from those who did watch it in terms of greater denial and less involvement in nuclear related activities. The efficacy of the film as an agent of attitude change and the utility of the present questionnaire were discussed.     

Protection Motivation Theory: Prediction of Intentions to Engage in Anti-Nuclear War Behaviors1

The present study examined potential mediators of intentions to engage in behaviors related to the prevention of nuclear war. Protection motivation theory (Rogers, 1975, 1983) suggested that perceived severity of the consequences of nuclear war, perceived likelihood of occurrence of nuclear war, perceived efficacy of responses designed to prevent nuclear war, and perceived capability of engaging in those responses would combine additively and interactively to predict behavioral intentions. The theory further suggested that the effects of a fear-arousing communication on behavioral intentions would be mediated indirectly by changes in the predictor variables. Thus, a second purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of the program “The Day After”, which dramatically depicted a nuclear holocaust, on viewers' affect (fear-arousal) and cognitions. Surprisingly, the program had no effects on viewers that we could document. We were, however, able to predict behavioral intentions, for both viewers and nonviewers (n= 282), from subjects' affect and cognitions, providing support for protection motivation theory in a new domain.     

Does medics' social identification increase handicap for mentally retarded patients?

Briefs about mentally retarded people are more negative than briefs about other social categories; professionals, such as medical doctors evaluate them most negatively of all. It was hypothesized (a) that medics' beliefs about mentally retarded people are mediated by psychological salience of their clinical social identification, rather than by personal characteristics that medics happen to share and (b) that such beliefs will bias decisions, rather than enhance accuracy. Forty-five doctors and medical students were randomly assigned to conditions designed to enhance salience of their shared clinical social identification or individual self-perceptions. Subjects completed semantic differentials about mentally retarded people and distinguished between slides of ‘mentally retarded’ and ‘normal’ children. Beliefs of subjects in the medical condition were significantly more negative than those in the personal condition. A signal detection analysis revealed no difference between conditions in subjects' ability to distinguish between children but showed that subjects in the medical condition were significantly more likely to judge a child ‘mentally retarded’ when in doubt. Results were discussed within an information processing framework and supported the idea that a salient clinical social identity can mediate beliefs that are likely to handicap patients.     

The effects on arousal of frustration and aggressive films

In two two-by-two factorial experiments, subjects were either frustrated or not, and then were shown either a film depicting aggression or a neutral film. In the first experiment, performance on a digit-symbol test was measured before and immediately after the manipulations. Subjects who had either been frustrated or who had watched the aggressive movie performed better on the second digit-symbol test than did subjects who had experienced neither or both of these manipulations. In the second experiment, blood pressure was measured before and immediately after the manipulations. On various indices of arousal, the most arousal was shown for subjects who had been frustrated and who had watched the aggressive film. Subjects who had not been frustrated and who had not watched the aggressive film showed the least arousal, and subjects who had experienced one or the other of these manipulations were in between. Given that performance on the digit-symbol test has been shown to be an inverted U function of arousal, both of these experiments support the notion that the effects on arousal of frustration and aggressive movies are additive. This is directly counter to the idea that movies involving aggression are tension reducing for either frustrated or nonfrustrated subjects.     

Stigma as framed on YouTube: Effects of personal experiences videos on students’ beliefs about medicalizing intersex

People with physical intersex characteristics can be subject to medical interventions that risk human rights to bodily integrity and self‐determination. Proponents and opponents of medicalization use personal narrative videos on YouTube to frame intersex as a stigma best understood through a medical or social identity frame. Ninety‐nine psychology students watched one of two YouTube videos with either a medical or social identity frame, or participated in a comparison group who watched no video. Participants extracted the videos’ medical or social identity framing in their own words. The social identity video increased participants’ sense that medicine was more harmful and less beneficial, and the medical video decreased participants’ sense that medicine was harmful. Although the videos aimed at bringing about social understanding of intersex people, neither video impacted stigmatizing beliefs about intersex people as a group. Rather, effects of the videos on beliefs about harms of medicalization were moderated by two stigma measures; social distance and gender binary beliefs. Medical intervention on intersex has been justified, in part, on grounds that stigma is inevitable. While intersex stigma has rarely been empirically examined, the present study shows that people with less propensity to stigmatize see less benefit from medicalizing intersex traits and are more open to learning few framings from personal experience videos.     

The Influence of a Multi-theme Park on Cultural Beliefs as a Function of Schema Salience: Promoting and Undermining the Myth of the Old West1

This study assessed the idea that theme park visits can influence cultural beliefs about the past and, further, that such effects depend on the schema of the park most available to the particular visitor. Subjects were randomly assigned to complete a questionnaire either before entering or after exiting Old Tucson, an Old West theme park and movie location. In addition, subjects were given either an “authentic Old West town” cue, a “famous movie location” cue, or no cue. It was expected that the cues would affect Old Tucson's impact on beliefs about the Old West. There was a significant entrance-exit by cue interaction for beliefs in the myth of the Old West. As expected, when no cue was provided, belief in the Old West myth was stronger for exit subjects than for entrance subjects. When the town cue was provided, belief in the myth of the Old West was not affected by the visit. When the movie cue was provided, belief in the Old West myth was weaker for exit subjects than for entrance subjects. For movie cue subjects, the Old Tucson experience seemed to debunk the myth.     

The Compatibility of Personality and Social Identity Processes: The Effect of Gender Identity on Neuroticism

In an experimental study (N = 186), we examined the effect of identity (gender versus personal) on participants' self‐rated neuroticism and estimates of mean neuroticism for men and women. Self‐rated neuroticism was measured before and after the identity salience manipulation. Following self‐categorization theory, we predicted that identity salience would affect levels of self‐rated neuroticism and the estimates (perceptions) of mean neuroticism for each sex. From a personality perspective, we expected substantial correlations between pre‐manipulation and post‐manipulation neuroticism scores in both identity conditions. The relation between participants' self‐rated neuroticism and their estimates of mean neuroticism for their own sex was also examined. The effect of identity salience was unclear with regard to self‐rated neuroticism levels, whereas the manipulation had apparent effects on estimated mean neuroticism levels for men and women. Also, self‐rated neuroticism was found to predict estimates of mean neuroticism for men and women in the gender, but not personal, identity condition. Finally, in line with a personality perspective, the relative positions in self‐rated neuroticism were highly stable in both conditions. The findings indicate a compatibility of self‐categorization theory and personality perspectives and suggest that both are valuable to understand the changeability and stability of the self. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

恐惧管理对道德五基准及道德判断的影响

本研究探讨恐惧管理理论对道德五种基本准则以及道德判断的影响。85名被试随机分配到实验组与控制组。全部被试首先完成道德五基准问卷。实验组被试接受死亡凸显提示后观看短片并完成一系列道德两难问题的判断;控制组接受一般负性事件提示。研究结果显示,相对于控制组而言,实验组被试倾向于作出直觉而非理性判断,并且死亡凸显对道德直觉判断的影响受到厌恶情绪的中介作用。同时,当故事情节发生转换时,实验组被试倾向于作出与原有道德直觉规范相一致的道德判断。本研究从恐惧管理理论出发,为道德判断的情理之争提供了启示。     

Issue Salience, Perceived Efficacy and Perceived Risk: A Study of the Origins of Anti-Nuclear War Activity

One hundred eleven college students participated in this two-session experiment designed to explore the origins of anti-nuclear war activism. In Session 1 participants completed questionnaires assessing a number of background characteristics and attitudes, the most important of which for this study's purpose was a measure of perceived political efficacy in the nuclear realm. One week later both the salience of the nuclear weapons issue and participants' sense of personalized risk were experimentally manipulated in a 2 × 2 × 2 (salience × risk × measured efficacy) design. Dependent measures were a behavioral intentions questionnaire and an actual opportunity to sign a petition which participants did not recognize as part of the experiment. High salience significantly increased both anti-nuclear war behavioral intentions and actual behavior as predicted. Individuals who felt highly efficacious were also significantly more likely to take action than others as predicted. A similar relation between efficacy and behavioral intentions was not found, although a salience by efficacy interaction was. Personalized risk influenced only behavioral intentions. Finally, the relative impact of these three variables and of other background and attitudinal variables measured in the first session was explored using regression techniques.     

Lights,camera, action: the role of editing and framing on the processing of filmed events

ABSTRACT

Filmmakers use various cinematic techniques in an effort to guide attention to certain aspects of these events. The present study was conducted to investigate how framing and editing can guide viewers’ attention toward character actions during event segmentation. Participants watched and segmented a movie that simultaneously showed two actors engaged in two related activities. Participants watched one of three versions of the movie: Static center version that did not foreground any character; Static off-center version that foregrounding one of the characters, and an edited version with a mix of shots that foregrounding both characters. Participants engaged in an event partonomy task in which they were asked to identify the boundaries between the events that were depicted in the movie. After watching the movie, they were asked to recall the events. The results showed converging evidence between the event segmentation and recall data, which both indicated that cinematic devices affect the perception and memory of the event structure depicted in the film.     

The Gods Are Watching: An Experimental Study of Religion and Traditional Belief in Burkina Faso

Traditional beliefs play an important role in many Sub‐Saharan African village societies. These beliefs imply immediate punishment for any breach of the moral code, and the possibility to influence an individual's life by the use of magic. We analyze the economic impact of traditional beliefs on behavior by conducting an experiment with microentrepreneurs in the environs of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). The salience of traditional beliefs is randomly varied through semistructured interviews. We find that priming traditional beliefs substantially increases prosocial behavior in the Trust Game. This effect is independent of age, gender, religious affiliation, or wealth.     

Maintaining Positive Self-Evaluations: Reducing Attention to Diagnostic but Unfavorable Social Comparison Information When General Self-Regard Is Salient

We predicted that when (1) people are faced with diagnostic but personally challenging social comparison information in a domain, and (2) their self-regard is salient, they will be less likely to use the comparison information when judging their standing in the domain (making the judgment less inductive). Participants in Study 1 estimated their standing on risk factors for two health problems, and some did so after their self-regard was made salient. Moreover, some received information (about their peers' standing on these risk factors) that challenged participants' self-serving comparative beliefs. As expected, estimates of personal risk factor standing among high self-regard salience/comparison information participants were less correlated with similar estimates collected 2 months earlier, suggesting the estimates had become less inductive. There was also tentative evidence that, in this condition, self-esteem played a greater role in constructing these estimates. In Study 2, participants were led to believe that their comparative standing on risk factors was better than it actually was, and in this case, they were more likely to use this information when making self-judgments about their personal risk. Evidently, the extent to which people use diagnostic comparison information inductively when making self-inferences depends on the favorability of that information.     

Thinking the Unthinkable: The Effects of Anchoring on Likelihood Estimates of Nuclear War1

“Anchoring” results from insufficient adjustment up or down from an original— often arbitrary—starting value. Six sets of surveys were designed to assess the effects of anchoring on subjective likelihood estimates of a nuclear war. Based on responses from 1600 students, results indicated that: (a) likelihood estimates were strongly susceptible to anchoring; (b) neither likelihood estimates nor the effects of anchoring were significantly influenced by the ease with which respondents could imagine a nuclear war (outcome availability), by instructions to list the most likely path to nuclear war (path availability), or by casting the problem in terms of the avoidance, rather than the occurrence, of nuclear war; (c) the effects of anchoring extended to estimates concerning the efficacy of strategic defenses; and (d) likelihood estimates were affected by anchoring even after correcting for social demand biases. In estimating the likelihood of nuclear war and otherwise attempting to “think the unthinkable”, many students responded in a manner consistent with denial; the paper concludes with a discussion of these individuals.     

Hopelessly mortal: The role of mortality salience,immortality and trait self-esteem in personal hope

Do people lose hope when thinking about death? Based on Terror Management Theory, we predicted that thoughts of death (i.e., mortality salience) would reduce personal hope for people low, but not high, in self-esteem, and that this reduction in hope would be ameliorated by promises of immortality. In Studies 1 and 2, mortality salience reduced personal hope for people low in self-esteem, but not for people high in self-esteem. In Study 3, mortality salience reduced hope for people low in self-esteem when they read an argument that there is no afterlife, but not when they read “evidence” supporting life after death. In Study 4, this effect was replicated with an essay affirming scientific medical advances that promise immortality. Together, these findings uniquely demonstrate that thoughts of mortality interact with trait self-esteem to cause changes in personal hope, and that literal immortality beliefs can aid psychological adjustment when thinking about death. Implications for understanding personal hope, trait self-esteem, afterlife beliefs and terror management are discussed.     

When being far away is good: Exploring how mortality salience,regulatory mode,and goal progress affect judgments of meaning in life

Research indicates that death‐relevant thoughts (mortality salience) have a nuanced effect on judgments of life's meaningfulness. Thoughts of death diminish meaning in life only among people who lack or do not readily engage psychological structures that confer meaning. Building on this past research, the current research examined how an important source of meaning, long‐term goal progress, affects the ways that death‐relevant cognitions impact judgments of life's meaning. In Study 1 (N = 118), mortality salience decreased perceptions of meaning in life only among participants who were induced to feel closer to (vs. farther from) completing a long‐term goal. Study 2 (N = 259) extended these findings by demonstrating the moderating influence of individual differences in locomotion. Mortality salience again decreased perceptions of meaning in life among participants who felt closer to accomplishing a long‐term goal, but it only did so among people who do not quickly adopt new goals to pursue (i.e., those low in locomotion). The implications of these findings for better understanding how people maintain meaning in the face of existential concerns and how aspects of goal pursuit affect these processes are discussed.     

Christ in the Limelight: Contemporary Films and Christological Discourse

The aim of this article is to show how theology can, through the medium of film, engage contemporary interpretations of Jesus’ person and work. Starting out by tracing the development taking place in films about Jesus throughout the twentieth century, the focus then moves to a theological reading of Mel Gibson's interpretation of the passion story for the twenty‐first century in his movie The Passion of the Christ.     

The time course of mood-induced decrements in colour-naming of threat-related words

The current study investigated the relationship between processing biases towards affectively negative words and a film-based mood manipulation procedure. Subjects either watched a film about nuclear war or sat alone for ten minutes and then colournamed sets of negative, positive and neutral words. Testing occurred after one of three possible time intervals. Impaired colour-naming of negative words was found both immediately and five minutes after watching the film. There was no consistent pattern of colour-naming impairments for the positive words. It was found that, when baseline Stroop performance was taken into account, and the semantic priming effect caused by stimulus homogeneity was controlled for, the resulting impairment in the colournaming of negative words was accounted for by state anxiety levels alone, and not the previously found interaction of state and trait anxiety.     

The meaning of observed violence: Effects on arousal and aggressive behavior

Eighty male subjects were either attacked by a confederate or treated neutrally and then watched a violent movie. Subjects were told beforehand that the fighting in the movie was motivated by either desires for revenge, by professionalism, or by altruism. Other subjects were shown the film without comment. Relative to subjects in all other conditions, subjects who had been attacked and told that the fight was motivated by revenge subsequently (1) gave more intense shocks to the confederate, (2) rated themselves as less restrained in aggressing, and (3) manifested higher levels of blood pressure at the conclusion of the film. The results indicate that the meaning attched to observed violence may affect the aggression elicited by that violence in at least two ways: by lowering inhibitions against aggressing, and by raising arousal levels.     

Die Hard in Notting Hill: Gender Differences in Recalling Contents from Action and Romantic Movies

We investigated the impact of movie genre preferences on memory for movie content. Starting from a well‐documented gender gap in movie preferences, we predicted that women would recall more contents from a romantic movie than from an action movie, whereas men were expected to recall more contents from an action movie than from a romantic movie. In two experiments, male and female participants watched 30‐minute clips from action and romantic movies and then answered 30 questions on movie content and additional questions. Both experiments showed that women recalled relatively more information from a romantic movie than from an action movie, whereas men showed the opposite pattern. Further analyses showed that these effects were independent from participants' familiarity with the movie and not mediated by participants' liking of a particular movie. In general, the results of our study provide further evidence for an effect of (gender‐related) interests on memory performance.Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.