Emotional reactions,coping and long‐term consequences of perceived discrimination among the Mapuche people of Chile

Although a substantial body of research has now documented the negative mental and physical health impacts of discrimination on various minority/non‐dominant groups, little has been reported on the impacts of such discrimination on indigenous populations. In this study, we investigated the self‐reported emotional reactions, coping responses and long‐term impacts of discriminatory experiences among 50 Mapuche adults in Chile. The limited literature suggests that a substantial proportion of the Chilean majority society is prejudiced and discriminatory towards the indigenous Mapuche population, and that the Mapuche experience discrimination. Interviews with participants indicated that discrimination was psychologically wounding, and aroused anger, undifferentiated bad feelings, shame and a sense of powerlessness. Participants responded with self‐protective, self‐controlled or confronting actions. Although negative long‐term effects were reported, ethnic re‐affirmation and strengthening of bonds within the Mapuche community were positive outcomes that seem to provide resilience for the participants. This does not discount however, the need for more research assessing the impacts of discrimination in Chile nor the need for anti‐discrimination measures to be implemented. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What's wrong with promising to try?

There is often something wrong with merely promising to try to φ. In this article I explain what is wrong with such promises. I argue that a promise to try to φ, when it is entirely up to us to φ, is always wrong because it hides a possible choice under the veil of our susceptibility to circumstances beyond our control. I furthermore argue that this is often also the case when matters are not entirely up to us. Finally, I contend that sometimes the promise to try places undue burdens on the promisee.     

“Who said it?” How contextual information influences perceived profundity of meaningful quotes and pseudo-profound bullshit

Psychological research on pseudo-profound bullshit—randomly assembled buzz words plugged into a syntactic structure—has only recently begun. Most such research has focused on dispositional traits, such as thinking styles or political orientation. However, none has investigated contextual factors. In two studies, we introduce a new paradigm by investigating the contextual effect on pseudo-profound bullshit and meaningful quotes. In Study 1, all participants rated the profundity of statements in three contexts: (a) isolated, (b) as allegedly said by a famous author, or (c) within a vignette (short story). Study 2 serves as a conceptual replication in which participants rated statements in only one of three contexts. Overall, our results demonstrate that although contextual information such as author's name increases the perceived profundity of bullshit, it has an inconsistent effect on meaningful quotes. The present study helps to better understand the bullshit receptivity while offering a new line of research.