Preference for consistency and value dissimilarities in dehumanization and prejudice toward asylum seekers in Australia

Recent research has highlighted the importance of differential attribution of uniquely human characteristics in dehumanization and prejudice. Relatively little is known, however, about the importance of perceiving dissimilarities between the ingroup and outgroup in different types of values (beyond prosocial values), or the role of preference for consistency (PFC). This study investigated values, perceived dissimilarities in values, and PFC, in dehumanization of and prejudice toward asylum seekers in Australia. Results from a survey of 140 Australians revealed a strong relationship between dehumanization and prejudice. Individuals with stronger conservation and self‐enhancement values, and greater perceived dissimilarity to asylum seekers on self‐transcendence and self‐enhancement values, dehumanized asylum seekers more and were more prejudiced toward them. The relationships between perceived self‐transcendence and self‐enhancement dissimilarities and prejudice were mediated by dehumanization, whereas PFC moderated the relationship between conservation value differences and dehumanization. These findings offer important insight into the conditions that promote dehumanization and prejudice, which may in turn help explain the negative perceptions of asylum seekers in Australia. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influences of lateral preference and personality on behaviour towards a manual sorting task

Differences in task behaviour between left- and right-handers and left- and right-eared individuals have been reported (e.g.  and ) with left-handers taking longer to begin a task and right-eared individuals having a more disinhibited approach. Personality measurements are also important when examining approach behaviour. Jackson (2008) reported that those with higher neuroticism levels and a right-ear preference react faster to tasks. The current study investigated the effects of lateral preference and personality on behaviour towards a manual sorting task. Eighty-five participants completed laterality and personality scales and a card-sorting task. Degree of hand preference was found to influence behaviour towards the task with strong left-handers taking longer to begin. Those with a left congruent lateral preference (left-hand, left-ear) took significantly longer to begin the task than those with a right congruent preference. Neither neuroticism nor extraversion influenced task approach. We concluded that hand preference, and more specifically a strong left-hand preference is a good predictor of a longer initiation time on a manual task. Ear preference on its own does not predict initiation time.     

The Role of Anxiety Sensitivity Components in Mediating the Relationship Between Childhood Exposure to Parental Dyscontrol and Adult Anxiety Symptoms

This retrospective study investigated the relationship between childhood exposure to parental dyscontrol (i.e., loss of control behaviors) and levels of anxiety sensitivity (AS) components in early adulthood. Four-hundred-and-sixty-five undergraduate students completed self-report measures including the Dyscontrol Experiences Questionnaire. Specificity emerged between AS components and particular dyscontrol experiences. Although exposure to parental dyscontrol related to negative emotional states was significantly positively correlated with all AS dimensions, exposure to parental dyscontrol related to drinking was significantly positively correlated with psychological concerns only. Mediator regression analyses showed AS psychological concerns to play a significant mediating role between parental dyscontrol related to anger and drinking and both general and panic-related anxiety symptoms in the adult offspring. Results suggest that specific parental behaviors may be etiologic in the development of AS, and acquired AS may help explain relations between childhood learning experiences and the development of psychopathological symptoms in young adulthood.     

Mathematics—a Critical Filter for STEM-Related Career Choices? A Longitudinal Examination among Australian and U.S. Adolescents

Although women have made progress in entering scientific careers in biology, they remain underrepresented in mathematically intensive fields such as physics. We investigated whether gender differences in mathematics motivation and socialisers’ perceptions impacted choices for diverse STEM careers of varying mathematical intensity. Drawing on expectancy-value theory, we tested structural equation models in which adolescents’ preferred careers related to each of physics, biology, chemistry, and mathematics were predicted by prior mathematical performance, motivations, and mothers’ perceptions. We explored potential differences in gendered processes of influence using multigroup models. Samples were 331 Australian adolescents followed from 9th to 11th grade in 1998 and 277 U.S. adolescents from 9th to 12th grade in 2009–10. In both samples female adolescents preferred biological careers more than males did; male adolescents preferred physics-related careers and also mathematical careers in the Australian sample. Mothers’ perceptions were important to female and male adolescents’ mathematics motivations; gendered motivations were more evident in the Australian sample. Mathematics interest played the strongest role in male adolescents’ preferred careers, whereas actual or perceived mathematical achievements were most important for females, demonstrating the impacts of mathematical motivations on preferences for diverse STEM careers.     

Creativity and ease of ambiguous figural reversal

Two studies examined the relationships between self-rated and objectively measured creative ability and ease of perceiving alternative interpretations of the ambiguous Duck-Rabbit figure. The studies found empirical support for what has previously been a largely analogical connection between figural reversal and creativity, using both self-rated trait creativity and objectively scored creative productivity. We discuss the hypothesis that executive functioning is the likely common cognitive factor linking perception of ambiguous figures and creative ability.     

Factor structure of the Spielberger Anger Expression scales when used with Australian prisoners

The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory administered to prison inmates has supported the factor structure of the three anger expression scales although this structure has not been verified with Australian participants. Data collected from 397 Western Australian male prisoners produced a factor structure consistent with the scale structure outlined in the 1991 manual. Scale means and standard deviations were similar to those reported for U.S. and Canadian prisoners. It is therefore appropriate to use the standard scoring procedures with Australian male prisoners.     

The visual control of reaching and grasping: binocular disparity and motion parallax

The primary visual sources of depth and size information are binocular cues and motion parallax. Here, the authors determine the efficacy of these cues to control prehension by presenting them in isolation from other visual cues. When only binocular cues were available, reaches showed normal scaling of the transport and grasp components with object distance and size. However, when only motion parallax was available, only the transport component scaled reliably. No additional increase in scaling was found when both cues were available simultaneously. Therefore, although equivalent information is available from binocular and motion parallax information, the latter may be of relatively limited use for the control of the grasp. Binocular disparity appears selectively important for the control of the grasp.     

Reexamining the job satisfaction-performance relationship: the complexity of attitudes

The present article argues that organizational researchers tend to adopt an overly simplistic conceptualization and operationalization of job satisfaction (and job attitudes in general). Specifically, past research has failed to examine the affective-cognitive consistency (ACC) of job attitudes and the implications this has for the strength of the attitude and its relationship with behavior (e.g., job performance). Results from Study 1 suggest ACC is a significant moderator of the job satisfaction-job performance relationship, with those employees higher in ACC showing a significantly larger correlation between job satisfaction and performance than those lower in ACC. Study 2 replicated these findings. Implications for the study of job attitudes, limitations of the current studies, and multiple avenues for future research are discussed.     

Visibility and anonymity effects on attraction and group cohesiveness

This study investigated attraction and group cohesiveness under different visibility and anonymity conditions for social categories that differed in their capacity to be visually cued. Using computer‐mediated communication in 36 mixed gender (visually cued category) and nationality (non‐visually cued category) groups, we manipulated social category salience (via discussion topic), and anonymity versus visibility (via live video links). Under high salience, the effects of anonymity versus visibility were moderated by availability of visible category cues. Visibility increased attraction and cohesiveness for visually cued groups, whereas anonymity increased attraction and cohesiveness for non‐visually cued groups. Path analysis showed that, under high salience, effects of visibility and anonymity were mediated by self‐categorization processes, triggered by prototypicality of self in the case of non‐visually cued groups under anonymity. In low salience conditions, visibility directly cued attraction independently from self‐categorization, in line with relational attraction processes. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.