Men in the Office,Women in the Kitchen? Contextual Dependency of Gender Stereotype Activation in Spanish Women

In a set of two studies, we tested whether gender-stereotypical associations are automatically activated by Spanish women in a categorization task, and how this process is conditioned by the context in which the target is presented (kitchen vs. office). We hypothesized that gender stereotypes would be activated implicitly when the target (men vs. women) appeared in an office context (associated with male dominant roles), but not when they appeared in a kitchen context (traditionally associated with female roles). The studies were conducted with two samples (N?=?44; N?=?47) of female undergraduate students from the University of Granada (Spain). In both studies, a priming effect was found, indicating that a traditional, role-congruent stereotype pattern (men-competence, women-warmth) emerged when primes appeared in an office context, but not in a kitchen context. Further, negative competence traits were evaluated faster when a male prime was presented in the context of a kitchen (role-incongruent). The purpose of Study 2 was to clarify the implicit nature of this contextual contingency effect by manipulating the controllability of the priming effect (i.e., Stimulus Onset Asynchrony duration-SOA, and restricted response time). The results of Study 1 were replicated in only the short SOA condition, which implies faster and presumably less controlled processing of the stimuli. Theoretical implications for stereotyping and gender role research are discussed.     

Limits of control: The effects of uncontrollability experiences on the efficiency of attentional control

Two experiments were conducted to explore the effects of experiencing uncontrollability on the efficiency of attentional control. The experience of uncontrollability was induced either by unsolvable tasks (Experiment 1) or by tasks in which non-contingent feedback was provided (Experiment 2). A version of the Attentional Network Test-Interactions with an additional measure of vigilance (ANTI-V) was used to evaluate the efficiency of the attentional networks (i.e., alerting, orienting, and executive). Results of both experiments revealed a decreased efficiency of executive attention in participants who experienced stable control deprivation but no negative effects in participants who were able to restore their sense of previously deprived control. Additionally, when participants were asked to perform unsolvable tasks and did not receive feedback (Experiment 1), detrimental effects on the orienting network and vigilance were observed. The motivational and cognitive mechanisms underlying the effects of various uncontrollability experiences on conflict resolution and attentional control are discussed.     

Personality and individual differences in responses to aggression triggering events among prisoners and non-prisoners

This paper examines the relationships between individual differences in situational triggers of aggressive behaviors (STAR) and the FFM personality traits. The investigation, conducted among Polish male and female offenders and students, revealed different relationships across samples. Among students, higher sensitivity to frustration and provocation was related to higher Neuroticism and lower Agreeableness and sensitivity to provoking situations to lower Openness to Experience. Among prisoners, however, lower Agreeableness was negatively linked to being more sensitive to provocation. Furthermore, the study found sex differences in STAR scales in the student sample but not the prisoners’ sample.     

Positive experiences in the parent–child relationship during the COVID-19 lockdown in Poland: The role of emotion regulation,empathy, parenting self-efficacy,and social support

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak being largely negative on parents and children, for some families, lockdown could also bring about some positive effects, for example, increased emotional closeness, and more time for joint activity. The aim of the current study was to investigate cross-sectionally the most important correlates of the positive experiences in the parent–child relationship among Polish mothers and fathers during the lockdown in the initial phase of the COVID-19 outbreak. In May 2020, 228 mothers and 231 fathers completed the Brief version of the Empathic Sensitivity Questionnaire, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale Short Form, Social Support Scale, Parenting Self-Agency Measure, and Scale of Positive Experiences in Parent–Child Relationship during the COVID-19 lockdown. Our results showed that parenting self-efficacy and social support were the strongest correlates of positive experiences in the parent–child relationship in both mothers and fathers during the lockdown. Perspective-taking was positively related to the positive experiences in mothers, whereas personal distress was positively associated with the positive experiences in the parent–child relationship in fathers. Our results point to factors of potential importance in designing preventive and therapeutic interventions for mothers and fathers to enhance positive experiences in the parent–child relationship during the pandemic.     

Motivational determinants of reasoning about social relations: The role of need for cognitive closure

The role of need for cognitive closure (NFCC) in reasoning about social relations was investigated. Participants learned pairwise liking/disliking relations between people who could also be categorised on the basis of nationality and then had to group them into social cliques. The social clique structures were either consistent or inconsistent with the nationality categorisation, and the diagnostic information that was necessary to determine the number of cliques appeared either early or late in the information sequence. We expected participants under conditions of high (vs low) NFCC to rely more on heuristic processing. As predicted, high (vs low) NFCC participants were less accurate in their representations of cliques when the clique structure was inconsistent with the nationality category (Study 1 and 2) and when the diagnostic information was presented late (Study 1). The implications regarding the influence of NFCC on reasoning and the role of specific NFCC manipulations are discussed.     

Openness,economic freedom and democracy moderate the relationship between national intelligence and GDP

Recent studies have shown a consistent relationship between per-capita GDP and the average intelligence of the population. In the present paper we show that intelligence is indeed a powerful predictor of GDP. However, other variables significantly moderate the relationship. The rise in GDP with rising intelligence proved more pronounced in countries exhibiting high levels of openness, Freedom/Democracy, and economic freedom. These conditions appear to enable a country to translate its cognitive capital into material wealth.     

Toward a New Geography of Hasidism

The geography of Hasidism has long been one of the most contentious issues in the history of the movement. This article represents an attempt to free hasidic geography from outmoded preconceptions by proposing a new conceptualization of the hasidic leadership and its following in Eastern Europe. Based on an original, extensive database of hasidic centers, the authors drew five maps in sequence showing the development of Hasidism from its inception to the Holocaust. The five periods into which the database is divided are demarcated by four historically significant landmarks: the years 1772, 1815, 1867, and 1914. The article offers some possible interpretations of the maps, and draws a number of conclusions arising from them. The authors examine the dynamics and tendencies of the expansion of the movement within geographical frameworks, including the shift of hasidic centers from Podolia and Volhynia in the eighteenth century to Galicia and the southeastern provinces of Congress Poland in the nineteenth century, and subsequently to Hungary and Romania in the twentieth century; hasidic penetration into Jewish Eastern Europe, reaching its peak in the period between 1815 and 1867; and the metropolization of the hasidic leadership after 1914. The article also analyzes the patterns of concentration and diffusion of the hasidic leadership, and the impact of political factors upon these parameters.     

Differential sensitisation to central cardiovascular effects of angiotensin II in rats with a myocardial infarct: relevance to stress and interaction with vasopressin

The purpose of the present study was to elucidate if rats with myocardial infarction manifest altered responsiveness to central cardiovascular effects of low doses of angiotensin II (ANG II), and if ANG II and vasopressin (VP) cooperate in the central regulation of cardiovascular functions at rest and during stress. Conscious Sprague-Dawley rats with myocardial infarction induced by left coronary artery ligation, or sham-ligated (SL) controls were infused intracerebroventricularly with artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF), ANG II, ANG II + VP or ANG II + V1a receptor antagonist (V1ANT) 4 weeks after cardiac surgery. In the infarcted but not in the SL rats, the resting mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) was significantly elevated by infusions of ANG II and ANG II + VP, while infusion of ANG II + V1ANT was not effective. During administration of aCSF, the pressor, and tachycardic responses to an air-jet stressor were significantly greater in the infarcted than in the SL rats. In the SL rats, the pressor responses to the stressor were significantly greater during infusions of ANG II, ANG II + VP and ANG II + V1ANT than during infusion of aCSF. The tachycardic response in the SL rats was enhanced only by the combined infusion of ANG II + VP. In the infarcted rats, the pressor and the tachycardic responses to the stressor were similar in all groups. It is concluded that: (1) under resting conditions the infarcted rats manifest sensitisation to the central pressor effect of ANG II and that this effect depends on concomitant stimulation of V1a VP receptors, (2) central ANG II may enhance the pressor response to an alarming stressor in the SL rats through an action which does not depend on the concomitant stimulation of V1a receptors, (3) the cooperative action of ANG II and VP is required for intensification of the tachycardic response to the alarming stressor in the SL rats and (4) exaggeration of the cardiovascular responses to the alarming stressor in the infarcted rats cannot be further augmented by an additional stimulation of central ANG II receptors or combined stimulation of ANG II and VP receptors.     

Women are not less field independent than men—the role of stereotype threat

Prior research has shown that females are less field independent (FI) than males. However, when gender identity is salient, performance on tests assessing constructs similar to FI may be hindered, because of stereotype threat. This study examined the impact of stereotype threat on gender differences in FI. We expected that (a) reporting one's own gender prior to FI testing and (b) having an opposite‐gender experimenter would activate stereotype threat, and in turn result in lower performance on a test of FI among females. Overall, 170 participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions in a between‐participants design varying the participant's gender, experimenter's gender and timing of the gender question (before vs. after test). Results showed that reporting one's gender before the FI test led to lower FI performance among females. Furthermore, females achieved higher FI when experimenters were females and gender questions were administered after the FI test.