La représentation sociale des droits de l'homme: Une recherche internationale sur l'étendue et les limites de l'universalité

La perception des violations des droits de l'homme par de jeunes individus insérés dans des contextes nationaux différents est-elle organisée selon des principes comparables à ceux d'experts ou d'institutions internationales? La présente étude contribue à élucider cette question en la situant dans le champ de la psychologie sociale. La représentation sociale des droits humains a été analysée par le biais d'un questionnaire standardisé soumis à des sujets de quatre pays (Costa Rica, France, Italie et Suisse) âgés de 13 à 20 ans. Les résultats montrent que les individus partagent dans une large mesure une conception institutionnelle des droits humains. De fortes variations à l'intérieur et entre les contextes nationaux apparaissent néanmoins, en particulier dans la délimitation des libertés individuelles et du contrôle étatique.     

Information Exchange in Context: Effects of Gender Composition of Group,Accountability, and Intergroup Perception on Group Decision Making1

In the present study, the dissemination of shared and unshared information (cf. Stasser & Titus, 1985) in unstructured group discussion is analyzed. In previous experiments, several manipulations of the task itself were introduced, in search of conditions that could facilitate the exchange of unshared information. As such, these studies neglected the potential impact of context variables on group performance. In the present study, the effects of accountability, intergroup perception, and gender composition of group on information exchange are investigated. The results indicate that heterogeneous groups exchanged more information when a second group was present. Information exchange was not promoted by the presence of an outgroup for homogeneous groups. Groups in the accountability condition displayed more difficulties to reach agreement, but this did not lead to the mentioning of more information.     

Personality,Relationships with Others and Psychological Well-Being: A Pilot Study on the Gabonese Older People

Each Individual is linked to his social environment by support relationships. This concern both aid that the individual himself provides and his social resources. We studied the hypothesized mediator role, in aging, of relationship with others, including in particular perceived social support (PSS) and compassionate love (CL). PSS and CL were studied in the link between personality and psychological well-being (PWB) to Gabonese older people. The data were collected using Likert  questionnaires in a sample of 155 (94 men and 61 women) older people. Findings revealed the mediator role of CL between two dimensions of personality (agreeableness and openness) on the one hand and PWB on the other side. PSS was also found to be a mediator only between agreeableness and PWB. Our findings support the influence of relationship with others in enhancing PWB. The latter would be more fostered when individuals receive and give support. The present study has implications in nursing home as well as at home. It allows relatives to better interact and take their parents to foster their PWB. Similarly, it may contribute to health care research and provide knowledge about older people care at nursing home. It encourages the implementation of clinical interventions in a goal of promoting social interactions in which older people can give compassionate love and receive social support. Finally, the study highlights the importance of the development of person-centred practice in Nursing Home Services.     

Effect of consonant/vowel letter organisation on the syllable counting task: evidence from English

Recent studies in alphabetic writing systems have investigated whether the status of letters as consonants or vowels influences the perception and processing of written words. Here, we examined to what extent the organisation of consonants and vowels within words affects performance in a syllable counting task in English. Participants were asked to judge the number of syllables in written words that were matched for the number of spoken syllables but comprised either 1 orthographic vowel cluster less than the number of syllables (hiatus words, e.g., triumph) or as many vowel clusters as syllables (e.g., pudding). In 3 experiments, we found that readers were slower and less accurate on hiatus than control words, even when phonological complexity (Experiment 1), number of reduced vowels (Experiment 2), and number of letters (Experiment 3) were taken into account. Interestingly, for words with or without the same number of vowel clusters and syllables, participants’ errors were more likely to underestimate the number of syllables than to overestimate it. Results are discussed in a cross-linguistic perspective.     

Human rights studied as social representations in a cross‐national context

A questionnaire study using the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was conducted in 35 countries (N=6791 students). The basic assumption was that human rights can be studied as social representations following the model of Doise, Clémence, & Lorenzi‐Cioldi (1993). The existence of a shared meaning system concerning the 30 articles in different countries was demonstrated. Individual attitudes toward the whole set of rights were proven to be highly consistent. However, individuals differed systematically in beliefs about their own and the government's efficacy in having human rights respected. An individual‐level and a pancultural analysis (Kenny & La Voie, 1985; Leung & Bond, 1989) converged in the definition of four groups of respondents: advocates (most favorable responses towards human rights), sceptics (less favorable responses), personalists (high personal involvement and scepticism about governmental efficacy) and governmentalists (low personal involvement and strong belief in governmental efficacy). Analyses of anchoring started either from assessing individual positionings or from maximizing between‐country differences. Individual‐level analyses show that positionings are anchored in value choices as well as in perception and experience of social conflicts. Pancultural analyses confirm the importance of national context concerning the attitudes of scepticism or advocacy, personalism and governmentalism. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anonymous résumés: An effective preselection method?

During the preselection process, recruiters use cues from résumés to form attributions about applicants’ suitability. They rely on visible characteristics (e.g., origin) that activate stereotypes that can lead to discriminatory decisions. The anonymization of application forms is a possible intervention to avert discrimination. The few studies on this topic led to inconsistent conclusions. The present study aims to extend previous findings by comparing decisions on anonymous and standard résumés that differ in quality. Recruiters (N = 1,031) assessed a series of application forms whose profile (Caucasian, Moroccan, overweight, normal stature) and résumé content (experience, spelling errors) differed. Results show that anonymous application forms are rated more severely than standard forms, and are effective in neutralizing discriminatory behaviors toward overweight applicants.     

Inhibitory Control Deficits in Individuals with Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: a Meta-Analysis

Neuropsychology Review - Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) is a prodromal stage of Alzheimer’s disease that is characterized by impairments in episodic memory. Recent evidence has...     

A novel,short and easy-to-perform method to evaluate newborns’ social olfactory preferences

Animal Cognition - Humans’ early olfactory perception has been studied mainly within the framework of mother–offspring interactions and only a few studies have focused on...     

Social influence on the expression of robbing and bartering behaviours in Balinese long-tailed macaques

Animal Cognition - Animals use social information, available from conspecifics, to learn and express novel and adaptive behaviours. Amongst social learning mechanisms, response facilitation occurs...