Determinants of Human Rights Attitudes and Behavior: A Comparison and Integration of Psychological Perspectives

Following several political-psychological approaches, the present research analyzed whether orientations toward human rights are a function of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), basic human values in the sense of Schwartz (1992 ), and political ideology. Three dimensions of human rights attitudes (endorsement, restriction, and enforcement) were differentiated from human rights knowledge and behavior. In a time-lagged Internet survey ( N   =  479), using structural equation modeling, RWA, universalism and power values, and political ideology (measured at Time 1) differentially predicted dimensions of human rights attitudes (measured at Time 2 five months later). RWA and universalism values also predicted self-reported human rights behavior, with the effects mediated through human rights endorsement. Human rights knowledge also predicted behavior. The psychological roots of positive and negative orientations toward human rights, consequences for human rights education, and the particular role of military enforcement of human rights are discussed.     

Loneliness and the Big Five Personality Traits: A Meta-analysis

This preregistered meta-analysis (k = 113, total n = 93 668) addressed how the Big Five dimensions of personality (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness) are related to loneliness. Robust variance estimation accounting for the dependency of effect sizes was used to compute meta-analytic bivariate correlations between loneliness and personality. Extraversion (r = −.370), agreeableness (r = −.243), conscientiousness (r = −.202), and openness (r = −.107) were negatively related to loneliness. Neuroticism (r = .358) was positively related to loneliness. These associations differed meaningfully in strength depending on how loneliness was assessed. Additionally, meta-analytic structural equation modelling was used to investigate the unique association between each personality trait and loneliness while controlling for the other four personality traits. All personality traits except openness remained statistically significantly associated with loneliness when controlling for the other personality traits. Our results show the importance of stable personality factors in explaining individual differences in loneliness. © 2020 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology.     

Contextual Fear after Signalled versus Unsignalled Shocks: Effect of Extent of Prior Experience with Context and Signal

In the first two experiments, rats were differentially familiarized with a discrete stimulus and/ or a context prior to receiving either shocks signalled by that stimulus or unsignalled shocks in that context. As indexed by freezing, in none of the pre-exposure conditions did the signalled-shock rats consistently acquire less contextual fear than the unsignalled-shock animals. Both pre-exposure to the stimulus and relatively short pre-exposure to the future conditioning context resulted in more contextual fear in the signalled-shock than in the unsignalled-shock subjects. In a third experiment, freezing in the target conditioning context was especially enhanced in rats that had been familiarized with a stimulus, conditioned with the stimulus as a signal for shock, and subsequently further conditioned to the stimulus in a different, non-target context. The level of freezing to the stimulus in a neutral test context was positively related to the level of freezing in the target conditioning context in all experiments. These results were discussed in terms of context-shock, stimulus-shock, and context-stimulus associations.     

A comparison of event-related potentials of humans and rats elicited by a serial feature-positive discrimination task

The purpose of this experiment was to compare components of the human and rat auditory event-related potential (ERP) in a serial feature-positive discrimination task. Subjects learned to respond to an auditory target stimulus when it followed a visual feature (X → A+), but to not respond when it was presented alone (A−). Upon solving the task, the N2 component, which has been suggested to reflect the activation of inhibitory processes, was temporarily more negative in response to the target on A− than on X → A+ trials in both species. However, whereas a P3 component was present in the human participants, this component was absent in the rats. In both species, the amplitude of several ERP components, including the N2, decreased in the course of training. These results are discussed in the framework of contemporary models of associative learning.     

The effect of an extinction cue on ABA-renewal: Does valence matter?

The present human fear conditioning study examined whether the valence of an extinction cue has a differential effect on attenuating renewal that is induced by removal of the extinction context. Additionally, the study aimed to assess whether such attenuating effect is based on a modulatory or safety-signal role of the cue. In acquisition, extinction, and test stages of the experiment, human participants received pairings of human faces, presented against a particular background color, with the presence or absence of an aversive auditory stimulus. Experimental groups differed in the valence of a cue that was presented during extinction, in whether or not extinction took place against a different background color than present during acquisition and testing, and in whether the extinction cue was present or absent at test. The conditioned response consisted of auditory-stimulus expectancy ratings. It was hypothesized that a positively valued extinction cue yields faster extinction, stronger attenuation of renewal, and better transfer of its inhibitory power to non-extinguished stimuli than a negatively valued cue. All three hypotheses were confirmed, suggesting that the positive, but not the negative, cue had become a safety signal. The results were discussed in the framework of extinction-based exposure treatments.     

Serotonin transporter knockout rats show improved strategy set-shifting and reduced latent inhibition

Behavioral flexibility is a cognitive process depending on prefrontal areas allowing adaptive responses to environmental changes. Serotonin transporter knockout (5-HTT(-/-)) rodents show improved reversal learning in addition to orbitofrontal cortex changes. Another form of behavioral flexibility, extradimensional strategy set-shifting (EDSS), heavily depends on the medial prefrontal cortex. This region shows functional changes in 5-HTT(-/-) rodents as well. Here we subjected 5-HTT(-/-) rats and their wild-type counterparts to an EDSS paradigm and a supplementary latent inhibition task. Results indicate that 5-HTT(-/-) rats also show improved EDSS, and indicate that reduced latent inhibition may contribute as an underlying mechanism.     

Evidence for the Role of Shape in Mental Representations of Similes

People mentally represent the shapes of objects. For instance, the mental representation of an eagle is different when one thinks about a flying or resting eagle. This study examined the role of shape in mental representations of similes (i.e., metaphoric comparisons). We tested the prediction that when people process a simile they will mentally represent the entities of the comparison as having a similar shape. We conducted two experiments in which participants read sentences that either did (experimental sentences) or did not (control sentences) invite comparing two entities. For the experimental sentences, the ground of the comparison was explicit in Experiment 1 (“X has the ability to Z, just like Y”) and implicit in Experiment 2 (“X is like Y”). After having read the sentence, participants were presented with line drawings of the two objects, which were either similarly or dissimilarly shaped. They judged whether both objects were mentioned in the preceding sentence. For the experimental sentences, recognition latencies were shorter for similarly shaped objects than for dissimilarly shaped objects. For the control sentences, we did not find such an effect of similarity in shape. These findings suggest that a perceptual symbol of shape is activated when processing similes.     

Work conditions and employees' self-set goals: goal processes enhance prediction of psychological distress and well-being

Although previous theory and research suggest that employee well-being should be predicted by work conditions (viz., Karasek and colleagues' job demands-control-social support [J-DCS] model), other factors are also likely to be important. In this study, the authors consider correlates of employee psychological distress and well-being using a goal-focused approach grounded in Ford's (1992) motivational systems theory. Specifically, work conditions and midlevel work goal processes (WGP) were examined in a questionnaire study of health care employees. Regarding predictions derived from the J-DCS model, the authors found full support for the iso-strain, partial support for the nonlinearity, and no support for the buffer hypothesis. Of importance, however, WGP (i.e., cognitions and emotions involved in the pursuit of self-set work goals) explained variance in job satisfaction, burnout, depression, and somatic complaints, over and above that of the J-DCS model. This suggests that investigation of WGP can enhance our understanding of employee psychological distress and well-being.     

No sex difference in contextual control over the expression of latent inhibition and extinction in Pavlovian fear conditioning in rats

Three experiments with Wistar rats searched for a sex difference in contextual control over the expression of latent inhibition and extinction. Experiment 1 used a latent inhibition procedure; Experiments 2 and 3 employed an extinction preparation. All experiments used a shock as the unconditioned stimulus, a tone as the conditioned stimulus, and suppression of food magazine visits as the measure of conditioned responding to the tone. Each experiment revealed a reliable context effect on conditioned responding to the tone; after conditioning in a separate context, conditioned responding in the former latent inhibition or extinction context was attenuated relative to conditioned responding in a control context. There was no sex difference in the magnitude of this effect. These results are discussed in the framework of sex differences in the hippocampus and of the putative role of this structure in various instances of contextual learning.     

The motivational bases of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation: relations to values and attitudes in the aftermath of September 11, 2001

Research suggests that different motivational dynamics underlie right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO). These differences may be framed in the theory of basic human values. RWA may trace back to conservation versus openness-to-change values, and SDO to self-enhancement versus self-transcendence values. Based on a large-scale German survey, associations of RWA and SDO with personal values and attitudes in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, were analyzed. Results indicated that RWA related more strongly than SDO to conservation values and threat-related attitudes toward Islam as an expression of the motivational goals of social control and security, whereas RWA and SDO related equally to self-enhancement versus self-transcendence values and concern for negative consequences of military action as an expression of the motivational goal of altruistic concern. Thus, the motivational bases of RWA and SDO appear to be only partly different.