Reminders of secular authority reduce believers' distrust of atheists

Atheists have long been distrusted, in part because they do not believe that a watchful, judging god monitors their behavior. However, in many parts of the world, secular institutions such as police, judges, and courts are also potent sources of social monitoring that encourage prosocial behavior. Reminders of such secular authority could therefore reduce believers' distrust of atheists. In our experiments, participants who watched a video about police effectiveness (Experiment 1) or were subtly primed with secular-authority concepts (Experiments 2-3) expressed less distrust of atheists than did participants who watched a control video or were not primed, respectively. We tested three distinct alternative explanations for these findings. Compared with control participants, participants primed with secular-authority concepts did not exhibit reduced general prejudice against out-groups (Experiment 1), prejudice reactions associated with functional threats that particular out-groups are perceived to pose (specifically, viewing gays with disgust; Experiment 2), or general distrust of out-groups (Experiment 3). These findings contribute to theory regarding both the psychological bases of prejudices and the psychological functions served by gods and governments.     

Photovoice as a Methodological Tool to Address HIV and AIDS and Gender Violence amongst Girls on the Street in Rwanda

There has been limited international and South African research on the career development of rural and socioeconomically disadvantaged children. The present research provides baseline information on the career development of rural, low socioeconomic status, Black upper elementary school children (N = 292; 154 girls and 138 boys) in relation to their occupational interests and aspirations. Interests and aspirations were classified in terms of Holland's typology and status level. The results revealed that the children were more interested in and aspired more towards professional status level occupations in Social (i.e., people) and Investigative (i.e., scientific) type categories. Several significant gender differences were found. Girls aspired more to Social type occupations and boys more to Investigative type occupations, with the children's occupational aspirations reflecting gender traditionality. The implications of the present findings present the field with challenges in terms of career theory, research and practice     

Implied body action directs spatial attention

Research confirms that the body influences perception, but little is known about the embodiment of attention. We investigated whether the implied actions of others direct spatial attention, using a lateralized covert-orienting task with nonpredictive central cues depicting static, right/left-facing bodies poised in midaction. Validity effects (decreased response times for validly compared with invalidly cued trials) indicated orienting in the direction of the implied action. In Experiment 1, we compared action (running, throwing) with nonaction (standing) cues. Only the action cues produced validity effects, suggesting that implied action directs attention. The action cues produced faster responses overall, suggesting that action cues prime motor responses. In Experiment 2, we determined whether action cues shifted attention in a specific direction rather than to a general side of space: Two cues had similar action speed and motor effort but differed in implied direction (jumping, vertical; throwing, horizontal). Validity effects were found only for the throw cues for which the implied motion direction was consistent with lateralized target locations. In Experiment 3, we compared block-like stimuli to the throwing action stimuli to examine whether lower level perceptual information could account for the attention effects alone. Validity effects were found only for the human-action stimuli. Overall, the results suggest that predictive simulations of action shift attention in action-consistent directions.     

Power and the creation of patronizing environments: the stereotype-based behaviors of the powerful and their effects on female performance in masculine domains

This work tested the following hypothesis: When powerful men stereotype their female subordinates in masculine domains, they behave in patronizing ways that affect the performance of their subordinates. Experiment 1 examined the stereotyping tendencies and patronizing behaviors of the powerful. Findings revealed that powerful men who stereotyped their female subordinates (i.e., those who were weakness focused) gave female subordinates few valued resources but much praise. In Experiment 2, low-power participants received resources (valued or devalued positions) and praise (high or low) from a powerful man. Subordinates who were assigned to a devalued position but received high praise (i.e., the patronizing behavior mirrored from Experiment 1) were angry. However, men performed better in the anger-inspiring situation, whereas women performed worse.     

‘So Help Me God’? Does oath swearing in courtroom scenarios impact trial outcomes?

In countries such as Britain and the US, court witnesses must declare they will provide truthful evidence and are often compelled to publicly choose between religious (“oath”) and secular (“affirmation”) versions of this declaration. Might defendants who opt to swear an oath enjoy more favourable outcomes than those who choose to affirm? Two preliminary, pre-registered survey studies using minimal vignettes (Study 1, N = 443; Study 2, N = 913) indicated that people associate choice of the oath with credible testimony; and that participants, especially religious participants, discriminate against defendants who affirm. In a third, Registered Report study (Study 3, N = 1821), we used a more elaborate audiovisual mock trial paradigm to better estimate the real-world influence of declaration choice. Participants were asked to render a verdict for a defendant who either swore or affirmed, and were themselves required to swear or affirm that they would try the defendant in good faith. Overall, the defendant was not considered guiltier when affirming rather than swearing, nor did mock-juror belief in God moderate this effect. However, jurors who themselves swore an oath did discriminate against the affirming defendant. Exploratory analyses suggest this effect may be driven by authoritarianism, perhaps because high-authoritarian jurors consider the oath the traditional (and therefore correct) declaration to choose. We discuss the real-world implications of these findings and conclude the religious oath is an antiquated legal ritual that needs reform.     

Identification confusions among letters of the alphabet

Black, uppercase letters, subtending 6.0' of arc in height, were presented tachistoscopically to 6 subjects. An exposure duration was chosen to keep the subject's identification performance at about 50% correct. On each trial a single letter was presented, and the subject was required to identify the letter by verbal response. The resulting 26 X 26 confusion matrix was based on 3,900 trials (150 trials per letter). Several models of visual processing were used to generate predicted confusions among letter pairs. Models based on template overlap, geometric features, and two-dimensional spatial frequency content (Fourier transforms) were tested. The highest correlation (.70) between actual and predicted confusions was attained by the model based on the Fourier transformed letters filtered by the human contrast sensitivity function. These results demonstrate that the spatial frequency content of visual patterns can provide a valuable metric for predicting their psychological similarity. The results further suggest that spatial frequency models of visual processing are competitive with feature analysis models.     

Atheists

Atheists represent an inconspicuous minority, identifiable only by their disbelief in God(s). Despite being highly stigmatized and disliked, until recent scientific endeavors, little has been known about this group including why they don't believe, how many people are atheists, and why they trigger intense reactions. Thus, this paper aims to synthesize what is known about atheists (so far) and to help explain the widespread negative attitudes and prejudice towards atheists; the possible cognitive, motivational, and cultural origins of disbelief; and the unique challenges facing the study of religious disbelievers. To do so, we will explore current findings in psychological research on atheism by considering the complex interactions of cultural learning, motivations, and core cognitive processes. Although significant scientific progress has been made in understanding the factors underlying atheism, there remains much to be explored in the domain of religious disbelief.     

How Does Family Connectedness Contribute to Youths’ Health? The Mediating Role of Coping Strategies

Family connectedness has important implications for adolescents’ well-being, contributing to their physical, psychological, and social health. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying these effects. The present longitudinal study examined the process by which family connectedness, as perceived by adolescents, predicted greater positive and fewer negative health behaviors in adolescents over time. In particular, we sought to determine whether adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies mediated the link between family connectedness and adolescents’ self-reported health status. Data were obtained from 1,774 New Zealand adolescents aged 10–17 years, who completed a self-report survey three times at one-year intervals. With longitudinal mediation path models, we tested whether maladaptive and adaptive coping strategies at T2 functioned as mediators between family connectedness at T1 and overall health, vitality, sleep sufficiency, body satisfaction, substance use, and self-harm at T3. Findings revealed that family connectedness predicted greater levels of adaptive coping, which, in turn, predicted better health indicators but not decreases in ill-health indicators. Furthermore, family connectedness predicted lower maladaptive coping, which, in turn, predicted higher levels of positive health outcomes and fewer negative health outcomes. Results showed that the positive effect of family connectedness on adolescents’ health occurred through increased use of adaptive coping strategies, decreased use of maladaptive coping strategies, or both. These results have important implications for practitioners working with adolescents and parents, as well as for health promotion program developers.