Disparagement humor permits unsafe COVID-19 behaviors: A prejudiced norm perspective

Extending prejudiced norm theory, we hypothesized that memes diminishing the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic promote tolerance of unsafe pandemic behaviors (as in contrary to contemporary advice of public health agencies, i.e., not wearing a protective mask) by establishing a perceived norm of tolerance for such behaviors. In Spring 2021, members of several Reddit communities (n = 106) reported their perceived threat of COVID-19 and then completed a roleplay exercise in which they imagined they were with a group of friends in a church setting. In this context, participants viewed memes shared among their friends that belittled COVID-19 (COVID-19 disparagement condition) or memes unrelated to COVID-19 (control condition). Then, participants responded to a vignette describing a woman confronting an usher about a couple who violated protocol by not wearing masks. The results supported our hypothesis. First, participants in the COVID-19 disparagement condition perceived a greater norm of tolerance of the mask protocol violation among others in the immediate context compared to those in the control condition. Second, for participants who viewed COVID-19 as a low threat, that local norm resulted in greater personal tolerance of the mask protocol violation. However, for participants who view COVID-19 as a high threat, the local norm had no impact on their personal tolerance.     

Does Ideology Transcend Culture? A Preliminary Examination in Romania

This article represents a preliminary attempt to develop a culturally universal structural model of ideology. In Study 1, an indigenous model of Romanian ideology was developed. The structural model was created by converting 245 dictionary definitions of Romanian ideological concepts into questionnaire items. Using a sample of 420 Romanians, the most replicable structure indicated four broad dimensions that appeared to roughly correspond to the four factors in Saucier's (2000) American model of ideology. Study 2 replicated the structural model and compared it with existing ideological measures. Authoritarianism and traditional religiosity were a key component of the largest factor. Communism and some aspects of social dominance orientation were key components of the second largest factor. The findings may represent the beginnings of a culturally universal structure model of ideology.     

Nietzsche on the sociality of emotional experience

In this paper, I explore the sociality of emotional experience in the work of Friedrich Nietzsche. Specifically, I describe four key mechanisms through which an individual's sociocultural context shapes her emotional experience on Nietzsche's view—emotional contagion as habitual affective mimicry, the production of emotions' felt character through the assimilation of dominant social beliefs and norms, affective interpretation à la Christopher Fowles, and the imposition of dominant notions of emotional appropriateness—fleshing out a dimension of Nietzsche's thought which is largely taken for granted but remains undertreated. After detailing these mechanisms, I argue that attending to the sociality of emotional experience in Nietzsche's thought is crucial not only for understanding key elements of his moral psychology (including certain of his reflections on freedom and self-transformation), but also for understanding his interpretation of nihilism as a psychological-affective phenomenon produced by the society to which one belongs. On Nietzsche's view, attending to the sociality of emotion helps individuals recognize the way in which the sociocultural contexts they inhabit might undermine their flourishing—and also helps them envision the conditions (especially sociocultural conditions) requisite for healthier, more empowering emotional lives.     

GESTURE, SPEECH, AND LEXICAL ACCESS:

Abstract— In a within-subjects design that varied whether speakers were allowed to gesture and the difficulty of lexical access, speakers were videotaped as they described animated action cartoons to a listener. When speakers were permitted to gesture, they gestured more often during phrases with spatial content than during phrases with other content. Speech with spatial content was less fluent when speakers could not gesture than when they could gesture, speech with nonspatial content was not affected by gesture condition. Preventing gesturing increased the relative frequency of nonjuncture filled pauses in speech with spatial content, but not in speech with other content. Overall, the effects of preventing speakers from gesturing resembled those of increasing the difficulty of lexical access by other means, except that the effects of gesture restriction were specific to speech with spatial content. The findings support the hypothesis that gestural accompaniments to spontaneous speech can facilitate access to the mental lexicon     

The effects of labelling,expert testimony,and information processing mode on juror decisions in SVP civil commitment trials

Expert witnesses offering testimony in sexually violent predator civil commitment trials may use diagnostic labels that are either familiar (e.g. ‘psychopath’) or unfamiliar (e.g. ‘paraphilia’) to jurors. Using predictions based on cognitive experiential self-theory, we explored the influence of testimony type (clinical versus actuarial) and diagnostic label (psychopath versus paraphilia) on jurors motivated to adopt either an experiential processing mode (PM; in which heuristic cues may be strongly relied upon) or an analytic rational PM. Consistent with previous research, our results indicated that when given a psychopathic diagnostic label, mock jurors motivated to process information experientially were more influenced by clinical testimony, whereas mock jurors induced into a rational mode were more influenced by actuarial testimony. However, experientially oriented jurors given a paraphilia diagnostic label did not show the expected influence of clinical expert testimony, and instead were more persuaded by actuarial testimony. These findings are discussed from a judgement and heuristics cues framework. The implications of several procedural suggestions are examined. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship of perceived stress with depression: complete mediation by perceived control and anxiety in Iran and the United States

This study sought to clarify the importance and cross-cultural relevance of associations between generalized perceived stress and depression. Also tested was the hypothesis that perceived stress would correlate more strongly with anxiety than with depression, whereas control would be more predictive of depression than of anxiety. Relationships between perceived stress, anxiety, depression, and perceived control were examined in samples of Iranian (n = 191) and American (n = 197) undergraduates. Correlations among these variables were generally similar across the two societies. Perceived stress did predict anxiety better than depression, but perceptions of control predicted depression significantly better than anxiety only in the United States. Best fitting structural equation models revealed that anxiety and perceived control completely accounted for the linkage between perceived stress and depression in both societies. An equally acceptable and more parsimonious model described perceived stress as a consequence rather than as an antecedent of anxiety and perceived control. Structural equation models were essentially identical across the two cultures except that internal control displayed a significant negative relationship with anxiety only in Iran. This result seemed to disconfirm any possible suggestion that a supposedly individualistic process like internal control could have no noteworthy role within a presumably more collectivistic Muslim society like Iran. Overall, these data documented the importance of anxiety and perceived control in explaining the perceived stress-depression relationship cross-culturally and therefore questioned the usefulness of perceived stress in predicting depression. Whether this understanding of the stress-depression relationship deserves general acceptance will require additional studies that measure the frequency of stressful life events and that utilize a longitudinal design.     

Using the variability of continuous relative phase as a measure to discriminate between healthy and injured runners

Several studies have used variability of continuous relative phase (CRP) to investigate overuse injuries, since low variability is thought to be related to running injuries. This study investigates whether the analysis of CRP variability leads to additional information about possible differences or similarities between healthy and injured runners. Further, a decision about future applications of CRP variability should be based on the ability to implement and interpret data. 18 healthy female runners (CO) and 18 female runners who suffered from iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) were evaluated by calculating CRP variability for 4 coupling pairs. Besides analyzing continuous variability of CRP, we also averaged it for the whole stance phase and for four predefined stance phase intervals. Confidence intervals were displayed and independent t-tests for comparing the two groups were conducted. During initial and terminal stance phase as well as after heel-off an increase in CRP variability was detected for both groups of runners. In contrast, the foot flat period was characterized by stable joint coordination and a decrease in variability. This paper presents possible interpretations of CRP variability but no statistically significant differences in CRP variability were found between the two groups of runners. Despite the missing statistical significance, a relationship between high CRP variability and injury seems to be conceivable, since the injured runners demonstrated an increased variability for all couplings in the first half of the stance phase. Further application of CRP variability in biomechanical research is essential to determine whether a relationship exists between injury and coordination variability.     

A Longitudinal Investigation of Observed Adolescent Text-Based Sexting and Adjustment

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Despite strong concerns that sexting poses risks for adolescents’ well-being, previous research finds mixed results. Moreover, these studies...     

Toward understanding Malaysian fishermen's decision making on the use of fishing technology: A mental model approach

The vast majority of Malaysia's fishermen are located in rural areas, specifically in the Western and Eastern coastal regions of Peninsular Malaysia and the Sabah and Sarawak central zones. In these areas, the fishing industry is relied upon as a major economic contributor to the region's residents. Despite the widespread application of various modern technologies into the fishing industry (i.e., GPS, sonar, echo sounder, remote sensing), and the Malaysian government's efforts to encourage their adoption, many small‐scale fishermen in the country's rural areas continue to rely on traditional fishing methods. This refusal to embrace new technologies has resulted in significant losses in fish yields and needed income, and has raised many questions regarding the inputs to decision making of the fishermen. Drawing on multiple literatures, in this article we argue for the use of a mental model approach to gain an in‐depth understanding of rural Malaysian fishermen's choices of technology adoption according to four main constructs—prior experience, knowledge, expertise and beliefs or values. To provide needed inputs to agricultural specialists and related policy makers for the development of relevant plans of action, this article aims to provide a way forward for others to understand dispositional barriers to technology adoption among fishermen who use traditional methods in non‐Western contexts.