Social representations of history and the legitimation of social inequality: the form and function of historical negation

Three studies examined the form and function of ideologies that negate (versus recognise) the historical basis of claims for reparation for past injustices. Historical negation (a) predicted opposition towards the resource‐specific aspects of social policy and (b) functioned as the mechanism though which majority group members high in a threat‐driven security‐cohesion motivation (indexed by right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA)) legitimated policy opposition in both undergraduate student (Study 1) and general population (Study 2) samples of the majority group (New Zealand Europeans/Pakeha). Study 3 experimentally manipulated historical negation in a general population sample using extracts adapted from political speeches, and demonstrated that historical negation increased opposition among liberal voters towards the resource‐specific aspects of bicultural policy. These results suggest that history serves an important symbolic function in mobilising support for public policies regarding intergroup relations because temporal continuity is central to claims of legitimacy, especially where resources are involved. Research in this area is important for any nation with a history of intergroup conflict, as it aids not only in understanding the form and function of historical narratives that legitimate social inequality, but also provides insight into the ways in which such discourses can be countered and re‐formulated in order to promote social equality. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The error protection impact of inhibitory after-effects in a location-based task and its preservation with practice

In location-based tasks, responses related to (prime trial) distractor-occupied locations automatically undergo activation, followed by inhibition, which causes these responses to become execution-resistant (ER). Distractor-response ER takes time to override, delaying target reactions that later require this response (e.g., probe, ignored-repetition trials), causing the spatial negative priming (SNP) phenomenon. We learned in this study that distractor-response ER affords this output a degree of error protection. Specifically, when the probe target appeared at a new location, former (prime) distractor responses were used erroneously significantly less often than their control response counterparts, likely due to their ER feature, which discourages their inappropriate selection (i.e., “ER” provides error protection). This error protection also was evident when a previous distractor response was activated by a distractor on the probe (i.e., distractor-repeat trial). Notably, error protection remained effective over extensive practice, as did SNP size (i.e., ER override time) after an initial decline.     

Adolescents’ perceptions of health and well-being: Influences of urban contemporary music

The study aimed to explore adolescents’ perceptions of how urban contemporary music influences health and well-being among them. Data on health and well-being effects of music consumption were gathered from a convenience sample of 16 participants (male = 50%, females = 50%) between the ages of 15 and 17 in a series of two focus group interviews. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings suggest the adolescents to perceive both positive and negative influences of contemporary music on their health and well-being. Positive influences included emotional well-being and sense of social belongingness. Negative influences included promotion of risky behaviours, including substance use, misogyny, sexual behaviour and violence. The findings suggest that urban contemporary music serves as a tool of normalisation as well as a catalyst for encouraging risky behaviour in adolescence.     

The Influence of Multiple Group Identities on Moral Foundations

Moral foundations theory provides a theoretical framework for understanding the universal and societal aspects of morality. The focus thus far has been on understanding the influence of group categories on moral foundations by controlling for relevant factors and then examining the unique contribution of a single factor. Although this type of analysis was critical to demonstrate the efficacy of the Moral Foundations Theory and Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ), the current study examines moral responses from the intersection of culture, ethnic identity and gender group membership in the United States and India. Significant results suggest that moral foundations are better understood through a multiple group identity perspective and that the MFQ is equipped to capture differences in moral foundations within subgroups.     

Self-Reported Health Status of Older Adults in Malaysia and Singapore: Evidence from the 2007 Global Ageing Survey

The aim of this study is to investigate the correlates of self-reported health (SRH) among older adults in Malaysia and Singapore. The study uses data collected in the Global Ageing Study (GLAS) 2007, one of the largest surveys of its kind, specially designed to investigate attitudes towards later life, ageing and retirement. Data were collected from 1002 and 1004 respondents from Malaysia and Singapore respectively. The study found that Singaporeans report a healthier life than Malaysians. The two countries have consistent results with regard to the influences of selected covariates on individual health. Poorer health is more prevalent among people with lower education, among those widowed, divorced or separated, and those working in blue-collar occupations. Although social support is found to be an important determinant of SRH, the effects are partially confounded with other covariates. These findings enhance our knowledge about the health status of older people, and in turn will be useful for governments to ensure effective policy making.     

On the Eye Movement Control of Changing Reading Direction for a Single Word: The Case of Reading Numerals in Urdu

Typically orthographies are consistent in terms of reading direction, i.e. from left-to-right or right-to-left. However, some are bidirectional, i.e., certain parts of the text, (such as numerals in Urdu), are read against the default reading direction. Such sudden changes in reading direction may challenge the reader in many ways, at the level of planning of saccadic eye movements, changing the direction of attention, word recognition processes and cognitive reading strategies. The present study attempts to understand how readers achieve such sudden changes in reading direction at the level of eye movements and conscious cognitive reading strategies. Urdu readers reported employing a two-stage strategy for reading numerals by first counting the number of digits during right-to-left fixations, and only then forming numeric representation during left-to-right fixations. Eye movement findings were aligned with this strategy usage, as long numerals were often read with deliberate forward-and-backward fixation sequences. In these sequences fixations preceding saccades to default reading direction were shorter than against it, suggesting that different cognitive processes such as counting and formation of numeric representation were involved in fixations preceding left- and right-directed saccades. Finally, the change against the default reading direction was preceded by highly inflated fixation duration, pinpointing the oculomotor, attentional and cognitive demands in executing sudden changes in reading direction.     

Daughter-to-Father Attachment Style and Emerging Adult Daughter's Psychological Well-Being: Mediating Role of Interpersonal Communication Motives

Journal of Adult Development - This study investigated insecure attachment of emerging adult daughters with their fathers and how it affects daughter's psychological well-being, with...