Personality and Attitude Toward Christianity Among Undergraduates

Four samples of 454, 333, 292, and 224 undergraduates completed the Francis Scale of attitude toward Christianity together with the short form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The data demonstrate that a positive attitude toward Christianity is unrelated to either extraversion or neuroticism but is negatively correlated with scores on the psychoticism scale.     

The Impact of Personality and Religion on Attitudes toward Alcohol among 16–18 Year Olds in Northern Ireland

Background: Previous research demonstrates a negative relationship between attitude toward alcohol and religiosity. However, what is less apparent is if this relationship may, at least in part, be a function of individual differences in personality, as previous research has demonstrated a relationship between certain measures of personality and both attitude toward alcohol and attitude toward religiosity. The aim of the present study was to explore the impact of personality and the relative efficacy of different markers of religiosity in predicting attitude toward alcohol among a sample of 16–18 year olds in Northern Ireland. Method: The Francis Scale of Attitude toward Alcohol (Francis, 1992c. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 31, 45–50) was administered alongside the Abbreviated Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Francis, Brown, & Philipchalk, 1992. Personality and Individual Differences, 13(4), 443–449), the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity (Francis & Stubbs, 1987. Personality and Individual Differences, 8, 741–743) and measures of frequency of personal prayer and church attendance among a sample of 243 16- to 18-year-old sixth-form students in Northern Ireland. Results and conclusion: The data demonstrate that a more prohibitive attitude toward alcohol was correlated with lower psychoticism scores (tendermindedness) and a more positive attitude toward Christianity. Multiple-regression analyses confirm the importance of attitude toward religion in predicting individual differences in attitude toward alcohol.     

Biases and their impact on opinions of transgender bathroom usage

The relationship between personality traits and biased assimilation, evaluating arguments, and persuasive messages more favorably if supporting pre-existing attitudes, lacks adequate research. Research suggests that higher narcissistic traits are associated with biased reactions. Additionally, research suggests that people with greater scientific reasoning abilities have more biased reactions to information that challenges their attitude, as they more easily locate flaws on topics that oppose their beliefs. Participants (N = 260) completed measures to identify their views on trans bathroom use, as well as other personality and attitude measures. They were randomly assigned to read one of the two articles using fake scientific data that either supported trans people using a bathroom reflecting their gender identity or that they should use a bathroom matching their sex-assigned at birth. Participants rated the quality of the article significantly higher when their opinion on bathroom use was congruent with the article than when it was incongruent. We used regression analyses with participants' perceptions of the quality of the article as the outcome variable and scientific reasoning scores, narcissism personality index scores, open-mindedness scores as predictor variables. In the mismatch group, the higher the scores on scientific reasoning, the lower the ratings of the quality of the opinion incongruent article. In the match group, the higher the scores on open-mindedness, the lower the ratings of the quality of the opinion congruent article. This research suggests that bias reduction is necessary to function in a world where scientific facts are called into question on a consistent basis.     

Dispositional resilience in treatment‐seeking patients with obsessive‐compulsive disorder and its association with treatment outcome

There is a lack of research on the relation between obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) and resilience. Dispositional resilience, as described and defined in literature on hardiness, consists of three facets, namely beliefs about having control in everyday living, having a sense of purpose or commitment, and a positive attitude toward challenges. This study explores associations between dispositional resilience (measured with the Dispositional Resilience Scale (DRS‐15‐R)), symptom severity, and treatment outcome in a sample of 89 patients treated with concentrated exposure therapy (cET), and compares the findings with scores from two reference groups (students and soldiers). The patient group had significantly lower resilience scores than the two reference groups. Weak correlations were observed between dispositional resilience and OCD symptoms. Differences in dispositional resilience were weakly related to remission status at follow‐up (odds ratio of 1.11). Furthermore, resilience improved from pre‐ to post‐treatment (Cohen's d of 0.65). Our results imply that patients’ initial resilience score does not hinder nor facilitate treatment effects to a great extent in this format of ERP treatment.     

Perfectionism and Eating Attitudes In Competitive Rowers: Moderating Effects of Body Mass,Weight Classification and Gender

Abstract

One purpose of the present research was to determine the relationship between perfectionism and eating attitudes among national level rowers. A second purpose was to determine if body mass, weight classification and gender moderate perfectionism-eating attitude relations. Rowers from New Zealand and Australia (W=449) completed the Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale (PANPS; Terry-Short, Owens, Slade and Dewey, 1995), the Eating Attitude Test-40 (EAT-40; Garner and Garfinkel, 1979), and the Short Form of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC-SDS; Reynolds, 1982). In addition, a Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated from the height and weight measurements of each participant. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that, after accounting for social desirability effects. Negative (unhealthy) Perfectionism scores were positively related to disturbed eating attitude scores, whereas Positive (healthy) Perfectionism scores were unrelated to disturbed eating attitude scores. In addition, body mass, weight classification and gender operated in a conjunctive fashion to produce a maximum moderator effect. That is, relations between Negative Perfectionism and disturbed eating attitudes were strongest for female lightweight rowers with higher BMI scores. Recommendations for future research are discussed.     

The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Medical Patients in Germany

Using the new developed SpREUK questionnaire (version 1.0b), we examined how German patients (n = 129) with cancer, multiple sclerosis and other diseases view the impact of spirituality and religiosity (SpR) on their health and how they cope with illness. Patients with both a religious and spiritual attitude (32%) had significantly higher values in the sub-scales dealing with the search for meaningful support, and the stabilizing effects of SpR than patients without such attitudes (20%), while patients with a non-spiritual religious attitude (35%) had lower perception of the beneficial effects of their SpR and had significantly lower scores in the search for meaningful support sub-scale. Just half of the non-spiritual religious group and 42% of religious patients are convinced that finding an access to a spiritual source has a positive influence on their illness.     

Belief Importance in Expectancy-Value Models of Attitudes1

In this study, 312 respondents were asked to indicate their attitude toward smoking and their smoking behavior. Attitudes were assessed by a direct attitude measure (4 items) and a series of 15 belief statements about the possible consequences of smoking. Next, respondents were asked to select the 3 consequences they found most important. Attitude scores derived from these important beliefs were more predictive of behavior than those based on all 15 beliefs, and far superior to attitude scores based on the remaining 12 beliefs. Differences between the 2 groups (smokers vs. nonsmokers) were more pronounced when attitude scores were based on important beliefs, and disappeared for scores based on nonselected, less important beliefs. It is argued that incorporating belief importance in expectancy-value models helps to assess the structure of attitudes and could improve our insight in the determinants of behavioral preference.     

研究生婚姻态度在自我价值感与主观幸福感之间的中介作用

了解研究生的婚姻态度,探讨婚姻态度在自我价值感和主观幸福感之间的中介作用。使用婚姻态度量表(MAS)、青少年学生自我价值感量表(SSA)和幸福感指数量表(IWBQ)对470名研究生进行测查,采用Bootstrap法检验婚姻态度在自我价值感与主观幸福感之间的中介作用。结果表明,MAS、SSA和IWBQ总分及各维度得分均呈显著正相关(r=0.247～0.997,均p<0.01)。Bootstrap法检验结果显示,自我价值感对主观幸福感的直接效应为[0.58,95%CI(0.46,0.67)],以婚姻态度为中介的间接效应为[0.11,95%CI(0.06,0.17)]。研究发现,研究生的婚姻态度总体较为积极,但在性别、婚恋状况和学科背景上差异显著; 婚姻态度在自我价值感和主观幸福感之间起部分中介作用。本研究结果对了解和调节研究生婚姻态度,提升幸福感体验有一定指导意义。     

The effects of modifying color-meaning concepts on racial concept attitudes in five- and eight-year-old children

Williams and Edwards (1969) found that changing the positive and negative evaluations given to color concepts by preschool children through reinforcement procedures over two sessions reduced their racial concept attitude scores measured during a third session. The present study replicated their negative reinforcement and control procedures with 5-year-old children, and extended their research to include 8-year-old children. The present results replicated the original findings and in fact showed a larger change in racial attitude scores. While the color-meaning concepts were modified to a greater extent in the older children, the effect of the negative reinforcement procedure on racial attitude scores was similar for the two age groups.     

Self-Presentational Motivations and Personality Differences in Self-Esteem

ABSTRACT  This article discusses the interpersonal motivations associated with different levels of self-esteem. Although self-esteem literally refers to an intrapsychic attitude, we propose that self-esteem scales often measure a self-presentational orientation. High self-esteem scores are associated with a tendency to present oneself in a self-enhancing fashion that is characterized by willingness to accept risks, focus on outstandingly good qualities, strategic ploys, and calling attention to self. Low self-esteem scores are associated with a tendency to present oneself in a self-protective fashion that is characterized by unwillingness to accept risks, focus on avoiding outstandingly bad qualities, avoidance of many strategic ploys, and reluctance to draw attention to self. Considerable evidence shows that most people rate themselves as above average on self-esteem scales; relatively few people score below any self-esteem scale's conceptual midpoint. Review of past literature yields the following conclusions: (a) Low scores on self-esteem scales are typically the result of neutral and intermediate rather than self-derogatory responses to scale items; (b) behavioral correlates of measured self-esteem sometimes depend on self-presentational variables such as audience presence; and (c) many past findings with self-esteem scales may be interpretable in self-presentational terms.     

A comparative investigation of seven indirect attitude measures

We compared the psychometric qualities of seven indirect attitude measures across three attitude domains (race, politics, and self-esteem) with a large sample (N?=?23,413). We compared the measures on internal consistency, sensitivity to known effects, relationships with indirect and direct measures of the same topic, the reliability and validity of single-category attitude measurement, their ability to detect meaningful variance among people with nonextreme attitudes, and their robustness to the exclusion of misbehaving or well-behaving participants. All seven indirect measures correlated with each other and with direct measures of the same topic. These relations were always weak for self-esteem, moderate for race, and strong for politics. This pattern suggests that some of the sources of variation in the reliability and predictive validity of the indirect measures is a function of the concepts rather than the methods. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) and Brief IAT (BIAT) showed the best overall psychometric quality, followed by the Go–No-Go association task, Single-Target IAT (ST-IAT), Affective Misattribution Procedure (AMP), Sorting Paired Features task, and Evaluative Priming. The AMP showed a steep decline in its psychometric qualities when people with extreme attitude scores were removed. Single-category attitude scores computed for the IAT and BIAT showed good relationships with other attitude measures but no evidence of discriminant validity between paired categories. The other measures, especially the AMP and ST-IAT, showed better evidence for discriminant validity. These results inform us on the validity of the measures as attitude assessments, but do not speak to the implicitness of the measured constructs.     

Manipulating the role of cognitive control while taking the implicit association test

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is one of the most widely used methods for measuring attitudes in the behavioral and social sciences. Recent studies have found that individual differences in cognitive control correlate with IAT scores. However, these studies did not collect independent measures of attitude, which makes it difficult to isolate the construct of attitude separate from cognitive control. Furthermore, no study has examined whether the role of cognitive control can be manipulated, which is necessary to establish a causal link between cognitive control and IAT performance. By collecting independent measures of attitude (explicit attitude ratings and the Affect Misattribution Procedure: AMP), Experiment 1 factored out the role of attitude for two different IATs and still found a relationship between IAT scores and cognitive control (Stroop and stop-signal). Experiments 2 and 3 manipulated the role of cognitive control through instructions and feedback regarding the race IAT's measurement goal. These manipulations increased average IAT scores (i.e., stronger preference for whites), increased the relationship with cognitive control (Stroop), and decreased the relationship with attitude (AMP). These results demonstrate that cognitive control influences IAT performance rather than merely correlating with IAT performance.     

Is Bradburn's measure of psychological well-being fair to introverts? A study among 16- to 18-yr.-old students

The relationship between dimensions of personality characteristics and the perceived rearing attitude of parents in the Japanese population were investigated. The scores on a measure of perceived parental attitude of 153 normal female students, measured on the Parker Parental Bonding Instrument, were correlated with personality features from the Japanese version of the Cloninger Temperament and Character Inventory. Self-directedness, especially the subclasses of Responsibility vs Blaming and Congruent Second Nature vs Incongruent Habits, was significantly related to high scores on Maternal Care and low scores on Maternal Overprotection. The subscale of Self-acceptance vs Self-striving correlated only with low scores on Maternal Overprotection. Paternal Care was only related to the total scale scores on Self-directedness. Results suggest that some personality traits may be related to the perceived attitudes of parents, especially of the mother, during childhood.     

The Interconnection Between Islamic Religiosity and Deviancy Among Australian Muslim Youth: A Partial Mediation Role of Life Satisfaction

The aim of the present study was to examine the extent to which life satisfaction mediates the relationship between Islamic religiosity and deviancy amongst Muslim youth. A sample of 200 Australian Muslims aged between 18 and 25 years (M_age = 21.18; SD = 1.89) participated in this study. An existing attitude toward Islam measure and Islamic religious practice measure developed for the current study purposes were used. Controlling for demographic variables and social desirability, the study findings revealed a negative association between Islamic religious practice and deviancy, and a positive association with life satisfaction. Participants’ life satisfaction was negatively associated with deviancy and partially mediated the association between participants’ Islamic religious practice and deviancy. Attitudes toward Islam scores were not associated with either deviancy or life satisfaction. Our findings suggest that strategies to encourage and support young Muslim’s life satisfaction hold the potential to protect them against deviancy.     

Attitude strength: Distinguishing predictors versus defining features

Attitudes play a fundamental role in many aspects of social psychology, but researchers have long recognized that attitudes vary in their susceptibility to change and their influence on behavior and cognitive processes. This insight lies at the heart of attitude strength, which is defined as an attitude's durability and impact. A variety of attitude attributes such as certainty and ambivalence have been shown to correlate with these aspects of attitude strength, which has made for some confusion as to what variables define strong attitudes versus predict an attitude's strength. In this article, we highlight this distinction between predictors and defining features of strength and review recent programs of research demonstrating the independence of strength‐related attitude attributes and attitude strength itself. Specifically, although some attitude attributes are associated with the attitude's durability and impact, there are conditions under which those attributes fail to predict attitude strength or even have the opposite effects. Throughout, this review reveals nuances in the attitude strength literature and provokes new questions for future inquiry.     

The Emotional Maturity of Pre- and Post-Menarcheal Girls

The aim of this investigation was to test the hypothesis that early developing adolescent girls have a less favorable attitude towards school than late developers. The Ss were 104 grammar school girls of mean age 14 years 1 month. All Ss were given Fitt's test of attitude towards school. Twenty-two pairs of early and late developers, matched for chronological age, IQ, and social class, were compared with regard to their mean attitude score and their responses to individual items of the attitude scale. The early developers were found to have a significantly less favorable mean attitude score. There was also a tendency for more early developers to endorse unfavorable items and for more late developers to endorse favorable items.     

Effect of alcohol on quantity of creative production using the Purdue tests

An experiment was performed to test whether a moderate dose of alcohol (1 ml of 100% alcohol/kg body weight) facilitates the production of creative solutions as measured with a standard creativity test and whether a creative attitude interacts with alcohol in this respect. The 60 subjects were randomly assigned to either an alcohol, a placebo, or a control group, with 10 women and 10 men in each group. Two different personality tests measuring the creative attitude were administered a priori. Analysis indicated that both the placebo and alcohol groups produced significantly less creative solutions to the ten stimulus pictures. The a priori attitude scores significantly predicted the creativity scores for the placebo and alcohol subjects but not for the control subjects. Results were discussed in terms of disinhibition and cognitive changes under alcohol.     

The psychology of hate: Moral concerns differentiate hate from dislike

We investigated whether any differences in the psychological conceptualization of hate and dislike were simply a matter of degree of negativity (i.e., hate falls on the end of the continuum of dislike) or also morality (i.e., hate is imbued with distinct moral components that distinguish it from dislike). In three lab studies in Canada and the United States, participants reported disliked and hated attitude objects and rated each on dimensions including valence, attitude strength, morality, and emotional content. Quantitative and qualitative measures revealed that hated attitude objects were more negative than disliked attitude objects and associated with moral beliefs and emotions, even after adjusting for differences in negativity. In Study 4, we analysed the rhetoric on real hate sites and complaint forums and found that the language used on prominent hate websites contained more words related to morality, but not negativity, relative to complaint forums.