Emotional range and value orientation: toward a cognitive view of emotionality

This study focused on emotional range--a personality variable introduced to the study of emotion. It is argued that individual differences in emotional responsiveness need to be described and analyzed not only in terms of emotional intensity but also in terms of emotional range. What are some of the factors that influence an individual's range of emotional experiences? Do cognitive factors play a significant role? Questions such as these were central to the present investigation. In accordance with recent cognitive formulations of emotion, we hypothesized that individual differences on the emotional range variable would be associated with differences in value orientations. Lending support to this proposition, the results revealed a pattern of emotional range--value associations that challenge the prevailing view of emotionality as intimately linked with primitivism and impulsivity. At the same time, the findings strongly suggest that emotionality cannot be understood as divorced from a person's mental life. Implications of the findings for the development of a cognitively oriented approach to the study of individual differences in emotional dispositions are discussed.     

Attitude toward Christianity,sexual orientation,and parental religiosity in a sample of Italian adolescents

Literature suggests that several demographic variables are linked with religiosity in adolescence, such as gender, age and parental religiosity. The sample consisted of 910 young people (53% female) between 14 and 19 years of age, attending secular secondary schools in Rome, Italy. They self-identified as heterosexual adolescents (91.6%), and lesbian/gay (LG) adolescents (8.4%). High scores of positive attitudes toward God, Jesus, the Bible, prayer and church were associated with female gender, higher father’s religiosity, and higher mother’s religiosity, but not with age of the participants. As expected, heterosexual orientation was associated with a more positive attitude toward Christianity, controlling for sex, age, and parental religiosity.     

Attitude toward the Ten Commandments

Summary

This study investigated helping behavior on Election Day, 1972, at 20 polling places in southeastern Michigan. One experimenter, posing as a “campaign worker,” dropped his political literature as he attempted to give some to a subject approaching or exiting from the polls, while a second experimenter recorded the subject's behavior and then ascertained the subject's presidential preference and/or party affiliation. It was found that (a) subjects were more likely to help the “campaign worker” if he had the same political preference; (b) McGovern supporters were more likely to help than were Nixon supporters; and (c) neither sex of subject or campaign worker, nor whether the interaction took place before or after voting, was significantly related to the likelihood of helping behavior occurring.     

Relating individual differences in Attitude toward Ambiguity to risky choices

Subjects (76 adult Italians of varying ages) completed a two‐part procedure. One part used an Ellsberg‐type task which allowed for both aggregate and individual level analysis of Attitude toward Ambiguity. The other part used an expanded risky choice task to assess the same subjects' Attitude toward Risk. While there was an overall tendency for subjects to be slightly ambiguity‐averse, there was a positive correlation between Attitude toward Ambiguity and Attitude toward Risk. This relation was particularly strong when the risky choice was to avoid a loss rather than to achieve a gain. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attitude toward Christianity and premarital sex

A Pearson correlation of .55 was found for a sample of 243 female undergraduates in Wales (M age=20.9 yr., SD=4.6) between high scores on the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity and rejection of premarital sex.     

The relationship of sex-role orientation to heterosexuals' attitudes toward homosexuals

It has been proposed that heterosexuals' negative attitudes toward homosexuals derives in part from perceptions that homosexuality threatens society's traditional sex role structure. This explanation suggests that persons who are more traditional in their sex role characteristics will hold more negative attitudes toward homosexuals. This hypothesis was tested using three aspects of sex role — sex role beliefs, sex role self-concept, and sex role behavior pattern — and four measures of attitudes toward homosexuals — attitudes toward male homosexuals, attitudes toward female homosexuals, personal responses to homosexual advances and feelings, and attitudes toward the social role of homosexuals. In general, for both female and male respondents, less negative attitudes were related to being older, being less conservative, and holding less traditional sex role beliefs. In addition, for women, less negativie attitudes were also associated with a more stereotypically masculine behavior pattern. The conceptual and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.I would like to thank Michael R. Stevenson for his helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.     

正确对待传统文化遗产

我国是个有五千年历史的文明古国,先人为我们留下了丰富的文化遗产.如何正确对待这些源远流长的传统文化,是个重要的问题. 　　1.两种完全错误的对待传统文化的态度和做法 　　一种是,采取虚无主义或取消主义的态度,不问青红皂白,全盘否定中国的传统文化,把它们统统归之为“封建、迷信、落后“,乃至“反动“的范畴,甚至把近代中国的贫弱、目前中国存在的困难统统归咎于传统文化.……     

关于中国青少年对神秘现象态度的分析

据专家的调查显示,中国青少年目前对神秘现象的热衷有增无减,尤其是对诸如特异功能、天外来客、星座、电脑预测等问题认识模糊,由此对超自然力的信奉而相信鬼神的存在,使得其身心、学习和生活受到影响.本文对此问题做一客观阐述,并简要分析其产生的原因.     

肯定类型对扩展接触改善同性恋态度的影响

采用单因素两水平(同伴肯定、权威肯定)的被试间实验,探究扩展群际接触干预下,不同的肯定类型对改善同性恋态度的效果差异。结果表明:(1)对于同性恋群体的外显态度比较积极,对同性恋群体的内隐偏见比较明显,二者存在分离现象;(2)扩展接触可以改善对同性恋群体的外显态度和内隐态度;(3)扩展接触情境下,相比同伴肯定,权威肯定能够明显改善对同性恋者的外显态度和内隐态度。     

Response styles to sadness are related to sex and sex-role orientation

Nolen-Hoeksema's (1987) response style theory states that women ruminate on sadness more than men, and that men distract themselves from sadness more than women. These response styles are assumed to develop through the socialization of sex-appropriate behavior. The present study extended this argument by examining the relation of sex-role orientation to response styles in an adult sample. It was hypothesized that greater femininity is associated with more rumination and less distraction in response to sadness, and that greater masculinity is associated with less rumination and more distraction in response to sadness. Male and female undergraduates completed the short form of the BSRI and a coping measure. Consistent with expectations, subjects' sex-role scores were significant predictors of coping responses. Higher femininity was associated with more rumination, whereas higher masculinity was associated with more distraction. As in previous research, sex differences emerged. Female subjects relative to male subjects reported more rumination and less distraction in response to sadness. The sex-role findings are discussed in relation to current conceptualizations of femininity and masculinity measures, and in relation to sex-role differences in depression.     

论犹太教对外邦人改宗的矛盾态度

犹太教是一个民族性的宗教。对改宗犹太教的外邦人,拉比们一方面给予他们积极的评价,另一方面又对他们表现出怀疑排斥的消极态度。从根本上说,这种矛盾态度是由犹太教对自身的不同理解造成的。一方面,犹太人将自身看成由律法塑造的宗教共同体;另一方面,犹太教又始终将自身理解为一个民族,甚至其改宗程序,也是为了在象征意义上建立改宗者与犹太人的血缘关系。犹太教对其民族性的坚持是她无法向外邦人敞开怀抱的主要原因。     

Personality Type and Attitude toward Christianity among Student Churchgoers

A sample of 82 student churchgoers completed the Keirsey Temperament Sorter together with the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity. The data demonstrate that feeling types hold a more positive attitude toward Christianity than thinking types.     

Social comparison orientation as related to two types of closeness

Two studies examined the relationship between social comparison orientation (SCO) and two types of closeness (dimensional closeness and psychological closeness) in the context of appearance-related comparisons among women. A pilot study showed that these two types were relatively independent constructs, and provided evidence for the differential validity of the constructs. Consistent with our expectations, women high in SCO perceived more dimensional closeness with other women in terms of appearance (Study 1, n = 94) and perceived more psychological closeness with other women (Study 2; n = 126) than women low in SCO. Overall, women, but especially women high in SCO, reported most dimensional closeness in response to the most attractive women and most psychological closeness in response to women of medium levels of attractiveness.     

Ambivalence toward imposed change: the conflict between dispositional resistance to change and the orientation toward the change agent

Following an analysis of the concept of "imposed change," we propose 2 factors that jointly contribute to an individual's experience of ambivalence to imposed change. In a secondary analysis of data (N = 172) and 2 field studies (N = 104, N = 89), we showed that individuals' personal orientation toward change interacts with their orientation toward the change agent and yields ambivalence. Specifically, among employees with a positive orientation toward the change agent (i.e., high trust in management, identification with the organization), the relationship between employees' dispositional resistance to change and ambivalence was positive. The opposite pattern emerged among employees with a negative orientation toward the change agent (Studies 2 and 3). Our findings suggest that researchers may have been misinterpreting employees' reactions to change, neglecting the possibility that some may simultaneously hold strong, yet conflicting, views about the change. By accounting for, and predicting, ambivalence, these studies provide a more accurate explanation of employees' responses to change.     

Discriminant validity of the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity with respect to religious orientation

This study examines the discriminant validity of the Francis Attitude towards Christianity Scale with respect to the extrinsic, intrinsic and quest orientations of the Religious Life Inventory, among a sample of 400 British students. It was concluded that the attitude scale is a selective measure of intrinsic orientation and that previously reported associations with extrinsic religiosity and quest can be explained by intercorrelations among the three orientations included in the Religious Life Inventory.