Proximate Exposure to Conflict and the Spatiotemporal Correlates of Social Trust

How does exposure to conflict events shape social trust? Research in political psychology predicts that conflict exacerbates group divisions, enhancing ingroup solidarities while simultaneously reducing outgroup trust. Experimental research has found support for these predictions, and yet measuring the impact of conflict on trust beyond the laboratory is difficult. For example, questions about the lasting salience of experimental treatments remain a challenge in the study of conflict. We develop an empirical strategy using geo-coded individual-level survey data from the Afrobarometer project and geo-coded conflict-event data. We draw spatial and temporal buffers around each survey respondent that allow us to test whether proximate exposure to conflict events correlates with lower social trust, as well as how far and long that salience lasts. We find that exposure to conflict reduces generalized and outgroup trust, as predicted. Contrary to our expectations, we find that it reduces ingroup trust. We investigate further and find that ingroup trust suffers most when respondents live in homogenous ethnic enclaves. Furthermore, we advance an argument that the effects of exposure to conflict are mitigated over distance and time. Our results indicate that the effect diminishes over both time and space.     

Individual differences in patterns of developmental opportunity and constraint during COVID-19: Implications for longitudinal well-being

Individual differences in sociodemographic characteristics and trait-like perceptions of opportunities and constraints may shape how people respond to adversities such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about how these factors combine to form multifaceted profiles of developmental opportunity and constraint or the implications of such profiles for longitudinal well-being following major life stressors. Using 1-year data from a national sample of U.S. adults (n = 293), we identified profiles based on relevant sociodemographic characteristics (age, socioeconomic status, chronic conditions, functional status) and trait-like perceptions of opportunity and constraints (perceived mastery, perceived constraints). Results of latent profile analyses showed that three common profiles emerged at pandemic onset (veridical opportunity, perceived constraints, perceived opportunity). Subsequent latent growth models showed that, despite reporting more sociodemographic constraints, the perceived opportunity profile exhibited better 1-year emotional well-being (positive and negative affect) during the pandemic than the perceived constraints profile. Findings advance the literature by identifying multifaceted individual differences in profiles of developmental opportunity and constraint and by showing these profiles have consequences for longitudinal well-being following the pandemic onset.     

The Psychology of Religion in Europe—A Contextual Report

Pastoral Psychology -     

Uncertainty and values: The case of environmental impact assessment

The increasing complexity of policy issues, as well as the centering of environmental issues in the policy arena, has led to an increased dependence on science in public policy. This has, in turn, led to increased attention to, among other things, the science-policy relationship and the way in which scientific uncertainty is treated in the public sphere. This article examines both problems in the field of environmental impact assessment (EIA). Our study reveals that, apart from the epistemic uncertainty concerned with the predictive capability of scientific theories, EIA brings additional components of uncertainty and challenges for the policymaker. We further confirm recent findings with respect to the inadequacy of the traditional rational model to account for extant science-policy relationships. The article also posits an alternative model that allows one to unpack the processual components of the science-policy relationship.     

Discrimination of loudness similarity

Interval and ratio scale values were derived from measures of variability in the discrimination of loudness similarity. The interval values are linearly related to interval values based on equisection judgments (Garner, 1954), cumulating jnds (Riesz, 1933), and the dispersion of absolute judgments (Gamer, 1952). Scale values based on three diverse discriminability procedures and on the method of equisection are thus in good agreement. The ratio lvalues, however, are at variance with ratio values determined by direct ratio estimations (Stevens, 1955).     

Statistical power analysis for one-way analysis of variance: A computer program

To facilitate the computation of statistical power for analysis of variance, Cohen developed the index of effect sizef, defined as theSD between groups divided by theSD within groups. A microcomputer program for statistical power allows the user to compute the value off in any of several ways: by specifying the mean andSD for every cell in the ANOVA; by specifying the mean value for the two extreme cells and the pattern of dispersion for the remaining cells; by estimating the proportion of variance in the dependent variable that will be explained by group membership; and/or with reference to conventions for small, medium, and large effects. The program will compute power for any single set of parameters; it will also allow the user to generate tables and graphs showing how power will vary as a function of effect size, sample size, andα.     

The Effect of Punishment Probability on Overconsumption and Stealing in a Simulated Commons1

In laboratory simulations of the commons dilemma, overconsumption depletes the shared resource, whereas allowing the players to steal from each other helps preserve the resource since players take from each other rather than from the central supply. In this study, we factorially crossed three levels of punishment probability for overconsumption (0%, 25%, 75%) with three levels of probability of punishment for stealing (0%, 25%, 75%). Subjects (n= 270) in three-person groups harvested points from a slowly regenerating central pool. Results indicated that punishment of overconsumption decreased overconsumption, increased stealing, and helped preserve the commons, whereas punishment of stealing decreased stealing, increased overconsumption, and facilitated depletion of the commons. Rather than punishment of one selfish behavior suppressing the other selfish behavior, a compensatory effect occurred: Punishment of one behavior increased the occurrence of the selfish alternative.     

Relationship between sex-role attitudes and personality traits and the revised sex-role behavior scale

Two hundred college men and women completed self-report measures of sex-role traits (Personal Attributes Questionnaire), attitudes (Attitudes Toward Women Scale), and behavior (Sex-Role Behavior Scale). Intercorrelations among the three measures were examined to test two competing theoretical perspectives which dominate sex-role research today. The social learning point-of-view of Janet Spence and her colleagues asserts a general independence of sex-role personality traits, attitudes, and behaviors. The cognitive-developmental theory of Sandra Bem asserts that sex-role phenomena are fairly closely interrelated, at least for sex-typed individuals whose gender schemas cause them to adhere closely to traditional sex-role norms in their self-concepts and behavior. Findings of moderate relationships between masculine, feminine, and sex-specific personality traits, and the corresponding interest/behavior scales of the Sex-Role Behavior Scale, and between sex-role attitudes and behaviors lend partial support to both perspectives.