Identity and expression memory for happy and angry faces in social anxiety

We examined the influence of social anxiety on memory for both identity and emotional expressions of unfamiliar faces. Participants high and low in social anxiety were presented with happy and angry faces and were later asked to recognise the same faces displaying a neutral expression. They also had to remember what the initial expressions of the faces had been. Remember/know/guess judgements were asked both for identity and expression memory. For participants low in social anxiety, both identity and expression memory were more often associated with "remember" responses when the faces were previously seen with a happy rather than an angry expression. In contrast, the initial expression of the faces did not affect either identity or expression memory for participants high in social anxiety. We interpreted these findings by arguing that most people tend to preferentially elaborate positive rather than negative social stimuli that are important to the self and that this tendency may be reduced in high socially anxious individuals because of the negative meaning they tend to ascribe to positive social information.     

Acquisition of dispositional attributions: effects of sample size and covariation

Two experiments examined whether dispositional attributions are sensitive to the sample size of the evidence indicating a given level of covariation between person and behavior. Participants were given high or low levels of covariation (i.e. consensus and distinctiveness), and the acquisition of dispositional attributions was monitored by requesting dispositional trait ratings at fixed intervals. The results showed that dispositional attributions were sensitive to sample size, and increased given more evidence on high person‐behavior covariation while they decreased given more evidence on low person‐behavior covariation. Additional analyses suggested that in making dispositional inferences (e.g. about the actor), there was a slight preference for agreement information (e.g. low distinctiveness) over difference information (e.g. low consensus). The effects of sample size are inconsistent with current statistical or probabilistic models of covariation, but are in line with connectionist networks using an error‐correcting learning algorithm. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relational Spirituality and Forgiveness of Offenses Committed by Religious Leaders

In the present article, we extend a model of relational spirituality and forgiveness to the context of major offenses by clergy. In Study 1, undergraduate students (N = 208) described a major offense that they had experienced by a religious leader and then completed several questionnaires in relation to the offense and the religious leader. Appraisals of relational spirituality were significantly associated with forgiveness, after controlling for known predictors of forgiveness (i.e., hurtfulness, time since the offense, and commitment to God or another source of spirituality). In Study 2, we replicated and extended the findings from Study 1 using an independent sample of undergraduates (N = 365). In a series of structural equation models, we found that relational engagement of God (or another source of spirituality) partially mediated the relationship between anger toward God (or another source of spirituality) and unforgiving motivations. We conclude by discussing implications for future research.     

Individualism-Collectivism as a Boundary Condition for Effectiveness of Minority Influence in Decision Making

Results of this experiment demonstrate that individualists and collectivists react differently to minority influence. Based on the distinction between objectivity and preference norms in the minority influence literature, we hypothesize that individualism and collectivism influence (A) responses to minority influence (focusing on the target of influence) and (B) effectiveness of minority influence (focusing on the influence agent). Our results replicate past research and demonstrate improved decision quality for individuals exposed to a minority perspective. Moreover, minority influence targets with high horizontal individualism and low horizontal collectivism made higher quality decisions. Influence targets with high vertical collectivism demonstrated higher quality decisions when the influence agent held a high status position in the group. Results also demonstrate that influence agents with high vertical individualism experienced less role stress than those with low vertical individualism. Finally, influence agents with low role stress were more effective in influencing the decision making of others. We discuss our findings in terms of boundary conditions to the minority influence process.     

The Impact of Home Ownership on Life Satisfaction in Urban China: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis

China has implemented a series of socioeconomic reforms since 1978. One of the reforms allows urban residents to purchase their own houses rather than renting houses from state institutions which has resulted in a rapid increase in home ownership. This paper estimates the impact of home ownership on life satisfaction in urban China on the basis of the 2010 wave of the China General Social Survey. Special attention is paid to the methodological problem of confoundedness between the determinants of home ownership and life satisfaction. Propensity score matching (PSM) is applied to control it. The results show that PSM reduces upward estimation bias caused by confoundedness and that it is more appropriate to control confoundedness than ordered probit regression. The estimates furthermore indicate that home ownership has a significant positive impact on life satisfaction of medium- and high income urban residents. For low income urban residents, the impact is also positive, though insignificant. The outcomes connect to the objectives of national development policy and thus have several important policy implications. First, the central and local governments, especially in provinces where it is still low, may want to continue stimulating home ownership as it enhances life satisfaction. Secondly, specific programs may be designed to make home ownership financially affordable for low income groups. Thirdly, local governments may want to initiate or intensify urban (renewal) programs to improve poor public facilities including public transportation, green space and sports accommodations in the immediate vicinity of depressing low income neighborhoods.     

Religious Quest Orientation and Anti‐Gay Sentiment: Nuancing the Relationship Between Religiosity and Negative Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Among Young Muslims and Christians in Flanders

Public opinion research has repeatedly shown that religious people generally report more prejudice against homosexuality. However, previous research exploring the general mechanisms that underpin this relationship mostly relied on Christian samples in North America. Studies outside North America are few in number and limited in the forms of religiosity they address. Of all indicators that have been studied so far, a religious quest orientation was found to be the only one negatively related to anti‐gay sentiments. This leaves open the question whether the mechanisms for different forms of religiosity can also be found outside North America. Against that background this research note assesses how religious quest orientation, self‐rated religiosity, religious behavior, and authoritarianism are related to prejudice against homosexuality among Christian and Muslim youth aged 14–23 in Flanders (N = 2,834). This study is the first that investigates the relationship between religious quest orientation and anti‐gay sentiments among Muslims. For both Christians and Muslims, we found that even taking into account a wide range of social background and religious characteristics, having a religious quest orientation is related to less prejudice toward homosexuality.     

The effect of layout and pacing on learning from diagrams with unnecessary text

Although the presentation of extraneous (i.e., irrelevant or unnecessary) information hinders learning, it is unclear whether and how layout and pacing influence this effect. In two experiments, participants learned how the heart functions using four different layouts: a diagram presented without unnecessary text (diagram only), with unnecessary text separated from the diagram (separated) or integrated into the diagram (integrated), or with separated unnecessary text and the instruction to integrate (integration instruction). In Experiment 1, study time was self‐paced for half of the participants and system paced for the other half. There were no effects of layout and of pacing on learning, although system pacing was more effortful than self‐pacing. In Experiment 2, which was system paced and employed eye tracking, the integrated condition showed worse learning outcomes than the separated condition. Moreover, in the integrated condition, participants made more integration attempts between the unnecessary text and the diagram than in the separated condition.     

Socialism in One Country: A Reassessment

Until 1917 Lenin and Trotsky believed that an isolated revolutionary Russia would have no chance of survival. However, from 1917 to 1923 Lenin's standpoint on this matter underwent a complete reversal. First he came to the conclusion that socialism could be built in an isolated Russia, although it would remain incomplete in the absence of the world revolution. By 1923 he was abandoning that latter qualification too. The standpoint of Stalin and Bukharin in the debate on socialism in one country of 1925–26 was more orthodox-Leninist than the position taken by Trotsky, who had at first also embraced the notion of incomplete socialism, but subsequently returned to the old concept, abandoned by Lenin, that the restoration of capitalism was inevitable in the absence of the world revolution.