The closed mind: ‘Experience’ and ‘cognition’ aspects of openness to experience and need for closure as psychological bases for right‐wing attitudes

Openness to Experience and Need for Closure (NFC) are dispositional variables related to social‐cultural right‐wing attitudes. The present study investigated their joint effects. Factor analysis revealed an ‘experiential’ dimension with high loading openness items, and a ‘cognition’ dimension with high loadings for most NFC items and about a quarter of the openness item set. The experiential openness items were weakly related to right‐wing attitudes, demonstrating little predictive value. Conversely, the cognitive openness and NFC items were powerful predictors of right‐wing attitudes, and also played an important role in integrative models, both as a predictor of authoritarianism‐based racism and as a mediator of age related increments in right‐wing attitudes. It is concluded that right‐wing attitudes should be primarily understood in terms of (motivated) cognition, and to a smaller extent in terms of experiential openness. The distinction between ‘experiential’ and ‘cognitive’ openness is critically assessed, and it is asserted that because cognition is a multifaceted construct openness contains more than one cognitive dimension. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impaired appetitively as well as aversively motivated behaviors and learning in PDE10A-deficient mice suggest a role for striatal signaling in evaluative salience attribution

Phosphodiesterase 10A (PDE10A) hydrolyzes both cAMP and cGMP, and is a key element in the regulation of medium spiny neuron (MSN) activity in the striatum. In the present report, we investigated the effects of targeted disruption of PDE10A on spatial learning and memory as well as aversive and appetitive conditioning in C57BL/6 J mice. Because of its putative role in motivational processes and reward learning, we also determined the expression of the immediate early gene zif268 in striatum and anterior cingulate cortex. Animals showed decreased response rates in scheduled appetitive operant conditioning, as well as impaired aversive conditioning in a passive avoidance task. Morris water maze performance revealed not-motor related spatial learning and memory deficits. Anxiety and social explorative behavior was not affected in PDE10A-deficient mice. Expression of zif268 was increased in striatum and anterior cingulate cortex, which suggests alterations in the neural connections between striatum and anterior cingulate cortex in PDE10A-deficient mice. The changes in behavior and plasticity in these PDE10A-deficient mice were in accordance with the proposed role of striatal MSNs and corticostriatal connections in evaluative salience attribution.     

Look what I have felt: unidentified haptic line drawings are identified after sketching

This study examined the influences of semantic characteristics of objects in real-world scenes on allocation of attention as reflected in eye movement measures. Stimuli consisted of full-color photographic scenes, and within each scene, the semantic salience of two target objects was manipulated while the objects' perceptual salience was kept constant. One of the target objects was either inconsistent or consistent with the scene category. In addition, the second target object was either smoking-related or neutral. Two groups of college students, namely current cigarette smokers (N=18) and non-smokers (N=19), viewed each scene for 10s while their eye movements were recorded. While both groups showed preferential allocation of attention to inconsistent objects, smokers also selectively attended to smoking-related objects. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed.     

To whom does voice in groups matter? Effects of voice on affect and procedural fairness judgments as a function of social dominance orientation

The authors investigated the effects of voice--the opportunity to provide input in decision-making processes--on perceptions of procedural fairness. In particular, the authors studied the moderating role of social dominance orientation (SDO) in shaping this relation. SDO is an important individual differences variable that causes people to favor unequal relationships within and between social groups. Results revealed that voice was more strongly related to fairness judgments when participants had a high rather than low SDO. Moreover, positive affect mediated this moderation effect. The authors interpreted these results to indicate that high-SDO participants were especially sensitive to voice manipulations because such manipulations enhance perceptions of control over group resources and outcomes. The authors conclude by discussing alternative explanations based on other fairness theories.     

Does materialism predict racism? materialism as a distinctive social attitude and a predictor of prejudice

Previous research reported that Right‐Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) constitute the individual's ideological space and are strong dispositional determinants of racism. In the present study, materialism was examined as a third social attitude and a potential predictor of racism. In a student (N = 183) and heterogeneous adult sample (N = 176) analyses revealed that RWA, SDO and materialism constitute three separate dimensions and that each of them explains a unique part of the variance in racism. In addition, Structural Equation Modelling showed that the relationship between materialism and racism was largely mediated by selfish motives. In the discussion we go further into the role of materialism as a third social attitudinal dimension. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Linear systems analysis of infant visual pattern preferences

Karmel's check-pattern preference data for 13-week-old infants were reanalyzed using linear systems analysis. The two-dimensional Fourier amplitude spectrum was calculated for each of his eight checkerboard and random check patterns. The mean contrast sensitivity data for 3-month-old infants of Banks and Salapatek and the spatial frequency amplitudes of the patterns were used to derive three metrics to predict the looking times observed by Karmel. One was based on the sensitivity of the visual system to the single pattern component highest above threshold (maximum amplitude), the second was based on the total amount of pattern energy above threshold (total summation), and the third was based on the maximum amplitude with summation over nearby spatial frequency components (limited summation). The predictive power of the maximum amplitude and the total summation metrics depended on whether the pattern type was checkerboard or random check. The limited summation metric predicted looking times well for both pattern types. A linear function of the logarithm of the limited summation metric accounted for 91% of the total variance in looking time.     

Exposure to violence, quality of life, and health status in a group of farm workers in South Africa: a preliminary report

Farm workers (N=52), ages 18 to 60 years (M=34.1, SD=11.1), completed the Survey of Exposure to Community Violence, General Health Questionnaire-28, and the Quality of Life Inventory. Farm workers reported average Exposure to Violence, very low Quality of Life, and subaverage Health Status. No significant correlation was found between scores on Exposure to Violence and Quality of Life. Exposure to Violence was significantly correlated with poor Health Status in women but not in men. The implication of these results is discussed.     

Football hooliganism: comparing self‐awareness and social identity theory explanations

The emergence of research interest in group violence in general and football hooliganism in particular has been explained by various models generally relying on situational or individual differences accounts. Yet, these two research traditions have largely evolved independently, showing little or no interaction. In the present study (N = 109), we integrate measures of these two approaches and the results reveal that social identity was more predictive of self‐reported physical aggression than of loss of private and public self‐awareness. Moreover, attitudes towards violence were the most marked predictor variables of both physical and verbal aggression. In the discussion, the moderator effect of social identity and attitudes about violence on physical aggression is elaborated upon. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.