The Politics of Religious Nones

Americans with no religious affiliation (aka religious “Nones”) are not a politically homogeneous community. Just as there are political differences between groups of Christians, there are political differences between groups of religious Nones. I use nationally representative survey data to examine the political activities and perspectives of atheists, agnostics, and those who are “nothing in particular.” Results show that Americans who report that their religion is nothing in particular are relatively uninterested in politics and unlikely to be politically active; atheists are relatively liberal and likely to experience political conflict and follow political news; and agnostics are particularly likely to vote and feel politically isolated from their families. In many ways, the “softer” secularism of those who are nothing in particular is politically more similar to religious affiliates than the “harder” secularism of agnostics and especially atheists. These results have important implications for the future of American politics as Nones now have the potential to rival evangelical Protestants as a politically relevant constituency.     

Character Attacks and Their Effects on Perceptions of Male and Female Political Candidates

The study examined the perceptions of political candidates (male and female) who make negative statements about the personality and integrity of their political opponents. Male and female participants (Sex of Participant factor) indicated their impressions of a male or female political candidate (Sex of Candidate factor) who either attacked or did not attack the character of his/her opponent (Attack factor) in a political leadership debate. Participants who read a speech given by a candidate of their own gender tended to rate the candidate as having greater integrity when the candidate attacked his/her opponent than when he/she did not. When judging a candidate of the opposite gender, participants tended to rate the candidate who attacked his/her opponent as having less integrity than a candidate who did not attack his/her opponent. Results are discussed with regard to the impact that aggressive campaign tactics can have on voter perceptions, and how similarity between voters and candidates may affect perceptions of such tactics.     

Examining the Intertextuality of Fictional Political Comedy and Real-World Political News

This study examines the intertextuality of a fictional political comedy and a political news article. In an experiment, participants watched the political comedy Man of the Year or a control film, read a politically relevant news article on electronic voting, and were asked their discussion intention about the political issue featured in the news article. Beyond direct effects, the mediating influence of elaboration about the politically relevant news article on discussion intent was analyzed. Results revealed no main effect of political comedy viewing on discussion intent, and no mediating effect of elaboration either. However, viewing the fictional political comedy was associated with higher levels of elaboration about the related news article, which shows evidence of intertextuality among media texts. Moreover, perceived external realism of the fictional political comedy was a significant positive predictor of discussion intent about the news article. Results also showed perceived external realism about the fictional political comedy to be a nearly significant moderator of the elaboration and discussion intent relationship. A broader discussion regarding the theoretical and practical implications of the findings is included.     

The Bridging Role of Television in Immigrant Political Socialization

A survey of Korean-American immigrants in California compares television news with other socialization factors in the acquisition of knowledge about American politics. U. S. television news exposure ranks alongside the newspaper as a positive predictor of U.S. political learning for this sample of Korean immigrants and is more important than other predictors, including years of schooling. Among long-time U.S. residents and those with strong English language skills, the newspaper is the main predictor of political learning, as is the case in other studies of adult Americans. But for those who have been in the U.S. a short time and who lack skill in English, TV news is the stronger predictor for these immigrants, as it is in studies of indigenous American adolescents.     

Priming a new identity: self-monitoring moderates the effects of nonself primes on self-judgments and behavior

When a construct is primed, people often act in construct-consistent ways. Several accounts for this effect have been offered, including ideomotor theory and a social functional perspective. The authors tested an additional perspective, the Active-Self account, whereby primes can temporarily alter self-perceptions. In Study 1, non-African American participants reported feeling more aggressive on an implicit measure following an African American prime. In Study 2, participants reported feeling luckier on an implicit measure following a number 7 (vs. 13) prime. In both studies, these effects were obtained only for low self-monitors, who are more likely to change self-conceptions in response to diagnostic self-information and to use their internal states in guiding behavior. Study 3 showed that low self-monitors also show larger behavioral effects of primes.     

Politics, schadenfreude, and ingroup identification: The sometimes happy thing about a poor economy and death

Political campaigns are often characterized by the various events occurring that move the tide in favor of one candidate or another. Each event, depending on which candidate it favors or harms, produces either happiness or sadness for those who care about the outcome. This research examined whether such reactions would hold for events that are misfortunes for other people and even when they negatively affect society more broadly regardless of political party affiliation. Ingroup (i.e. political party) identification was examined as an important moderating variable. In four studies, undergraduate participants gave their emotional reactions to news articles describing misfortunes happening to others (e.g. poor economic news and house foreclosures). Party affiliation and the intensity of ingroup identification strongly predicted whether these events produced schadenfreude.     

Media violence and the self: The impact of personalized gaming characters in aggressive video games on aggressive behavior

A recent development in video games is that players can design and personalize their own in-game characters. It was predicted that this innovation could lead to elevations in the intensity of the psychological effects of video games. The present study confirmed this hypothesis, revealing that participants who played an aggressive video game using their own, personalized character exhibited higher levels of aggressive behavior than participants who played an aggressive game with a non-personalized character. The aggressive behavior levels of the own-character players also exceeded those of individuals who played a non-aggressive game, regardless of whether or not they used a personalized character. Process analyses revealed that participants playing a violent video game with a personalized game character experienced more arousal and self-activation than they did when playing with an impersonal, default game character, which in turn increased aggressive responses.     

Personifying the Radical

This study examines relationships among individual dispositions, news framing of civil liberties restrictions, security concerns, and political tolerance. We theorize that news frames condition the effects of individual dispositions on security and tolerance attitudes. To explore these relationships, an online‐survey experiment was conducted with 650 respondents. This experiment presented alternative versions of news stories about domestic security policies following September 11, and the policies' implications for a fringe activist group. One factor was whether the activists targeted by the government advocated for a cause supported or opposed by the respondent; another factor was whether the story framed government actions against the activists at the individual or group level. Findings show that individual framing—as opposed to group framing—made participants less tolerant of radicals they opposed and more tolerant of radicals they supported. Similar effects were observed for political ideology. Implications of personification as a framing device are discussed.     

Backbiting and bloodshed in books: short-term effects of reading physical and relational aggression in literature

The current research consisted of two studies examining the effects of reading physical and relational aggression in literature. In both studies, participants read one of two stories (containing physical or relational aggression), and then participated in one of two tasks to measure aggression. In Study 1, participants who read the physical aggression story were subsequently more physically aggressive than those who read the relational aggression story. Conversely, in Study 2, participants who read the relational aggression story were subsequently more relationally aggressive than those who read the physical aggression story. Combined, these results show evidence for specific effects of reading aggressive content in literature.     

Optimistic update bias holds firm: Three tests of robustness following Shah et al.

A diverse body of research has demonstrated that people update their beliefs to a greater extent when receiving good news compared to bad news. Recently, a paper by Shah et al. claimed that this asymmetry does not exist. Here we carefully examine the experiments and simulations described in Shah et al. and follow their analytic approach on our data sets. After correcting for confounds we identify in the experiments of Shah et al., an optimistic update bias for positive life events is revealed. Contrary to claims made by Shah et al., we observe that participants update their beliefs in a more Bayesian manner after receiving good news than bad. Finally, we show that the parameters Shah et al. pre-selected for simulations are at odds with participants’ data, making these simulations irrelevant to the question asked. Together this report makes a strong case for a true optimistic asymmetry in belief updating.     

Filial ethics and judgments of filial behaviour in Taiwan and the United States

Parent-child relationships are fundamental human relationships in which specific norms govern proper parent-child interactions. Such norms, or filial ethics, have been observed in different cultures, including in the United States and Taiwan, but important differences may exist in how filial practices are viewed across cultures. From a traditional view of power as domination over others, if filial relationships are viewed to reflect power differentials between parents and children, actors who follow filial ethics should be viewed as less powerful than actors who do not follow filial ethics for maintaining or enhancing positive parent-child relationships. Alternatively, power can be conceptualized as the ability to meet one's needs (e.g., for communal care and trust), and actors who follow filial ethics should be viewed as more powerful and trustworthy than actors who do not follow filial ethics because they have the ability to maintain or enhance positive parent-child relationships. Based on a power-trust model, we compared American and Taiwanese perceptions of actors in an experiment using vignettes describing filial behaviours. We conducted a path analysis with a sample of 112 American and 74 Taiwanese participants to test the proposed relations. Results showed that both Taiwanese and Americans rated actors more favourably (i.e., as more powerful and trustworthy) when actors behaved according to filial ethics than when they did not. Some cross-cultural differences were also observed: Taiwanese attributed trust-traits to actors who performed filial practices to a larger degree than did Americans. We discuss implications for the implicit nature of filial relationships and conceptualization of power cross-culturally.     

Trait Aggressiveness and Aggressive Behavior in the Context of Provocation and Inhibition

Aggressive behavior often occurs despite salient cues within the immediate environment that indicate aversive consequences will likely follow. Prior research has shown high trait aggressiveness to be related to sensitivity to situational provocation; however, little research has examined whether it is also related to insensitivity to situational inhibitors. This study examines the relationship between trait aggressiveness and aggressive behavior in a provocative context with, and without, an unambiguous inhibitory stimulus. Prior to experiencing provocation and being afforded the opportunity to retaliate, participants who varied in trait aggressiveness were explicitly given (or not given) an instruction that aggressive behavior might lead to aversive consequences and, thus, one should not behave aggressively. Findings revealed that without the instruction, those higher in trait aggressiveness exhibited steeper increases in aggressive responding as provocation increased. In the group that received the instruction, trait aggressiveness was unrelated to aggressive responding at all levels of provocation.     

Beyond Anti-thinking: Psychoanalysis as Politics*

This paper discusses the political nature of psychoanalytic audacity in an era of fake news and disinformation as receptive populations accustom themselves to societal and political misrepresentations of anti-thinking. Against the aggressive rise of anti-thinking that cauterizes individual and societal registration of precarity, the ideological foundation of psychoanalytic inquiry is in the freeing of that which emotionally and ideationally, has felt to be impenetrable, making such contents and expressions available for clarification within the consensual understandings between two very different individuals. Psychoanalysis, in its dyadic pairing, its regularity of meetings, and its continuous action of recognizing what is obscure or hidden, is the heir to the Enlightenment motto, “aude sapere” the ongoing act of daring to question (Kant, 1784). Operating against defensive foreclosure, psychoanalysis conditions the toleration of painful states of mind toward contingent consideration of the causes and effects from which productive future action might be considered. The dyadic engagement of psychoanalytic participants operates as a unitary political organization in witness of the human condition, from within which what was unthinkable becomes nameable, and what is named becomes spoken in clarification of anti-thinking’s foreclosures.     

Fighting death with death: the buffering effects of learning that worldview violators have died

According to terror management theory, the annihilation of people who threaten one's worldview should serve the function of defending that worldview. The present research assessed this hypothesis. A sample of Christian participants read either a worldview-threatening news article reporting on the Muslimization of Nazareth or a nonthreatening article about the aurora borealis. Half of the participants in the worldview-threat condition were informed at the end of the article that a number of Muslims had died in a plane crash on their way to Nazareth. Although reading the threatening news article increased death-thought accessibility and worldview defense relative to reading the neutral article, these increases were not observed among participants who learned that a number of Muslims were dead. Implications for understanding protracted intergroup conflict are discussed.     

Conservatives Anticipate and Experience Stronger Emotional Reactions to Negative Outcomes

The present work examined whether conservatives and liberals differ in their anticipation of their own emotional reactions to negative events. In two studies, participants imagined experiencing positive or negative outcomes in domains that do not directly concern politics. In Study 1, 190 American participants recruited online (64 male, M_age = 32 years) anticipated their emotional responses to romantic relationship outcomes. In Study 2, 97 Canadian undergraduate students (26 male, M_age = 21 years) reported on their anticipated and experienced emotional responses to academic outcomes. In both studies, more conservative participants predicted they would feel stronger negative emotions following negative outcomes than did more liberal participants. Furthermore, a longitudinal follow‐up of Study 2 participants revealed that more conservative participants actually felt worse than more liberal participants after receiving a lower‐than‐desired exam grade. These effects remained even when controlling for the Big Five traits, prevention focus, and attachment style (Study 1), and optimism (Study 2). We discuss how the relationship between political orientation and anticipated affect likely contributes to differences between conservatives and liberals in styles of decision and policy choices.     

An Examination of Aggressive Beliefs and Attitudes in Relation to Political Affiliation and Candidate Endorsement in the United States

Abstract

Social cognition provides insight into why Americans are largely divided with strong partisan rifts. The purpose of this set of studies was to examine social cognitive forms of aggression in relation to political party affiliation and political candidate endorsement. In Study 1 (N?=?1,657), all forms of aggressive social cognitions (hostile attribution, potency, retribution, victimization by powerful others, derogation of target, and social discounting) were significantly associated with one or more political parties in some respect (Democrat, Republican, Independent). In Study 2 (N?=?579), participants who endorsed Bernie Sanders reported higher scores on victimization, while participants who endorsed Donald Trump reported scores high on potency (social cognitive forms of aggression were unrelated to support for Hillary Clinton or Ted Cruz beyond political ideology). Results suggest that current political division goes beyond mere differences in political ideology as fundamental aggression-related individual differences appear to covary with how partisans see political parties and primary candidates. Implications include the potential application of our findings to better managing political interpersonal dynamics. For example, knowing that divergent political beliefs and behaviors are associated with fundamental differences in how people perceive the same stimuli may ease partisan hostility, facilitate dialog, and increase willingness to compromise.     

The effects of colour and valence on news evaluation

Research across different fields of psychology has reported effects of colour cues on a variety of cognitive processes. Especially, the colour red has been shown to have striking influences. In the context of media reception, however, colour effects have been widely neglected so far. This study made a first step in this direction by investigating the effects of the colour red (compared with blue and grey) on the way news articles are evaluated. Two types of news were framed by a coloured border while the valence of the news content additionally varied. Based on 369 participants who read and evaluated the news articles online, we observed effects for colour cues and news valence in the absence of an interaction effect, indicating that the colour red induced approach motivation. However, only the contrast between red and grey reached statistical significance, indicating that chromatic and achromatic colours may differ in their perceived visual saliency. Overall, these results provide an important complement to previous studies and have practical implications for media researchers and producers.     

Reappraising the situation and its impact on aggressive behavior

Much work has focused on how reappraisal is related to emotions, but not behaviors. Two experiments advanced aggression theory by (a) testing how cognitive and attributional forms of reappraisal are related to aggressive affect and behavior, (b) testing variables that theoretically mediate the relation between attributional reappraisal and aggressive behavior, (c) testing the moderating influences of cognitive and attributional reappraisal on aggressive behavior, and (d) developing and testing an intervention aimed at reducing vengeance through reappraisal training. Study 1 used an essay writing task in a 3 (feedback: provocation, no feedback, praise) × 2 (mitigating information: present, absent) experimental design. Provoked participants who did not receive mitigating information were significantly more aggressive than provoked participants who received mitigating information. State vengeance was a significant mediator. Study 2 examined an experimental intervention on vengeance over a 16-week semester. Intervention participants who had the largest increase in reappraisal displayed the greatest decrease in vengeance. Overall, these findings suggest that reappraisal reduces vengeance and aggressive behavior.     

Language use depending on news frame and immigrant origin

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of the media on individuals’ specific language use in relation to a news story on immigration: the influence of the news frame and group cue. Abstraction, complexity of language use, and negative affective language were evaluated. The 523 participants were randomly distributed to each of the four experimental conditions: news frame (crime versus economic contribution) by group cue (geographical origin of the immigrants involved: Moroccans versus Latin Americans). Through content analysis of the ideas and reflections that arose after the participants read the different news stories, using the Linguistic Category Model (LCM; Semin & Fiedler, 1991) to measure abstract language and the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC; Pennebaker, Booth, & Francis, 2007) to analyze complex language and negative affective language, it emerged that abstract language and negative affective language were more frequent in the participants assigned to the news frame on crime. Complex language was more commonly used when the news frame referred to the economic contribution of immigrants. Regression analyses showed the mediating role of attitude to immigration in the effects of news frame on negative affective language. The bootstrap method was used to assess the magnitude of the indirect effect. A significant mediator effect was also found through structural equation modeling. Analyses of covariance showed one interaction between news frame and group cue: Among those who read the news story in a frame linking immigration to crime and Moroccan origin, abstract language was more characteristic. The results are discussed from the theoretical perspective of framing.     

The Effect of Anger on the Hostile Inferences of Aggressive and Nonaggressive People: Specific Emotions,Cognitive Processing,and Chronic Accessibility

The effects of anger, sadness, and happiness on the hostile inferences of aggressive and nonaggressive people were examined. In a cued recall paradigm, anger was associated with more hostile inferences than sadness, happiness, or neutrality in aggressive participants. Anger was not associated with hostile inferences in nonaggressive participants. Measures intended to capture depth of processing were also included. These results, as well as a mediational analysis, suggested that anger affects the hostile inferences of aggressive, but not nonaggressive participants, because people are not sufficiently reflective when angry and thus rely on their chronically accessible explanations. Implications about aggression and the effects of specific emotions on cognitive processing are discussed.