Does social dominance generate prejudice? Integrating individual and contextual determinants of intergroup cognitions

Social dominance orientation (SDO) has been proposed as an important variable in the explanation of prejudice. We distinguish between three conceptualizations of SDO: SDO as a personality trait (personality model), SDO as a moderator of the effects of situational variables (Person x Situation model), and SDO as a mediator of the effect of social position on prejudice (group socialization model [GSM]). Four studies (N = 1.657) looking at the relations between social positions, SDO, and prejudice in a natural setting and in a laboratory setting provide strong support for the GSM. In contrast to previous correlational findings, there is evidence of a cause (dominant social position), an effect (prejudice increases), and a mediator (SDO). These results suggest new perspectives on the integration of individual and contextual determinants of prejudice.     

Would you be happier if you moved more? Physical activity focusing illusion

Current Psychology - Research shows that individuals who are more physically active also report greater happiness. However, subjective well-being is prone to cognitive biases. For instance, people...     

Sedentary antlion larvae (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) use vibrational cues to modify their foraging strategies

Learning abilities are exhibited by many animals, including insects. However, sedentary species are typically believed to have low capacities and requirements for learning. Despite this view, recent studies show that even such inconspicuous organisms as larval antlions, which employ an ambush predation strategy, are capable of learning, although their learning abilities are rather simple, i.e., limited to the association of vibrational cues with the arrival of prey. This study demonstrates, for the first time, that antlion larvae can use vibrational cues for complex modifications of their foraging strategies. Specifically, antlion larvae rapidly learn to differentiate between the vibrational cues associated with prey of different sizes, and they save resources by ignoring smaller prey in favour of larger, more energetically profitable prey. Moreover, antlion larvae can learn to associate vibrational cues with the loss of their prey, and they respond by burying their victims under the sand more often and more rapidly than do individuals with no opportunities to form such associations. These findings provide not only new insights into the cognitive abilities of animals but also support for the optimal foraging strategy concept, suggesting the importance of maximizing fitness output by balancing the costs and benefits of alternative foraging strategies.     

The care-system for homeless youth in The Netherlands: perceptions of youngsters through a peer research approach

The aim of this study was to examine the perceptions of homeless youth of the care they receive. Since we wanted to involve homeless youth as participants in this project, we adopted the approach of peer-research. This form of collaborative research has a major role for homeless youth in making an inventory of the problems. A parallel is drawn between the parent-adolescent relationship and the relationship between social worker and homeless adolescent.     

Retrieval‐induced forgetting in normal ageing

The retrieval‐induced forgetting (RIF) paradigm was used to assess the integrity of unintentional inhibitory functioning in normal ageing. The paradigm was adapted to explore the RIF effect under conditions that allow us to differentiate the contribution of intentional and automatic retrieval processes to performance. The results showed the presence of equivalent and significant RIF effects in young and older adults, for both the intentional and automatic retrieval performance. These results suggest that unintentional inhibitory processes are spared in normal ageing and confirm that RIF effect is independent of the kind of memory processes involved in task performance.     

Verelendung psychotherapeutischer Rahmenbedingungen

Relationships of dependence in psychotherapeutic training, its high training costs and the taboo against discussing money and power, result in therapists being unable to adequately deal with their counter-transference with the particularly rich and powerful and vice versa with poor patients. In this article characteristic types of counter-transference and its associated entanglements are discussed. Psychotherapy does not take place beyond social developments nor is it able to compensate for their consequences especially in poor, badly educated and disintegrated patients. The author states that psychotherapy cannot be a substitute for a failed social, family, migration or educational policy.