La représentation sociale des droits de l'homme: Une recherche internationale sur l'étendue et les limites de l'universalité

La perception des violations des droits de l'homme par de jeunes individus insérés dans des contextes nationaux différents est-elle organisée selon des principes comparables à ceux d'experts ou d'institutions internationales? La présente étude contribue à élucider cette question en la situant dans le champ de la psychologie sociale. La représentation sociale des droits humains a été analysée par le biais d'un questionnaire standardisé soumis à des sujets de quatre pays (Costa Rica, France, Italie et Suisse) âgés de 13 à 20 ans. Les résultats montrent que les individus partagent dans une large mesure une conception institutionnelle des droits humains. De fortes variations à l'intérieur et entre les contextes nationaux apparaissent néanmoins, en particulier dans la délimitation des libertés individuelles et du contrôle étatique.     

Human rights studied as social representations in a cross‐national context

A questionnaire study using the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was conducted in 35 countries (N=6791 students). The basic assumption was that human rights can be studied as social representations following the model of Doise, Clémence, & Lorenzi‐Cioldi (1993). The existence of a shared meaning system concerning the 30 articles in different countries was demonstrated. Individual attitudes toward the whole set of rights were proven to be highly consistent. However, individuals differed systematically in beliefs about their own and the government's efficacy in having human rights respected. An individual‐level and a pancultural analysis (Kenny & La Voie, 1985; Leung & Bond, 1989) converged in the definition of four groups of respondents: advocates (most favorable responses towards human rights), sceptics (less favorable responses), personalists (high personal involvement and scepticism about governmental efficacy) and governmentalists (low personal involvement and strong belief in governmental efficacy). Analyses of anchoring started either from assessing individual positionings or from maximizing between‐country differences. Individual‐level analyses show that positionings are anchored in value choices as well as in perception and experience of social conflicts. Pancultural analyses confirm the importance of national context concerning the attitudes of scepticism or advocacy, personalism and governmentalism. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The categorisation process in intergroup relations

In the first two parts of the paper a distinction is made between a ?conflict or convergence of interests' approach (Sherif) and a ?categorisation' approach (Tajfel) in the area of the experimental study of intergroup relations. Some recent experimental findings are mentioned, and a theoretical development of the categorisation approach is proposed. In the third part a new experiment illustrating the relevance of the categorisation approach is described.     

An apparent exception to the extremization of collective judgments

A reanalysis of data obtained by Kogan and Wallach, 1966 is presented. Wherever the original analysis showed the extremity of unanimous group judgments in general not to be different from the average extremity of individual judgments, the present analysis indicates that these group judgments differ from the average of individual judgments: they are significantly more extreme than the average positions of the individuals.     

Levels of explanation in the European Journal of Social Psychology

The nature of explanation in experimental social psychology is the subject of much controversy. To advance the debate, the present article provides a grid of analysis allowing a more [thorough study of experimental social psychologists] work. Four levels of explanation are distinguished as works can be seen as studying intra-individual processes (level 1), interindividual but intra-situational dynamics (level 2), effects of social position in a situational interaction (level 3) and intervention of general beliefs (level 4). An important characteristic of experimental work is the possibility of combining different levels of analysis in the same study, and of surpassing, in this way, the old dichotomy between [psychologizing] and [sociologizing] explanations. Experiments published in the first seven volumes of the European Journal of Social Psychology were explored within this framework.     

La double dynamique sociale dans le développement cognitif

Dès les débuts de la psychologie sociale et développementale deux mécanismes ont été vus à l'oeuvre dans le développement cognitif: le conflit et l'imitation. Le premier devait rendre compte de l'innovation, le second de l'appropriation de l'héritage culturel. Les recherches actuelles sur le marquage social montrent que celui-ci peut remplir certaines fonctions réservées traditionnellement à l'imitation, mais ce rôle de reproduction peut nécessiter l'intervention du conflit. Une recherche est rapportée qui montre que, pour des enfants d'environ six ans et demi (N=160), l'intervention combinée du marquage social et du conflit socio-cognitif est un facteur important de progrès à une tâche de conservation de quantités.     

Political Responses to Dissatisfaction in Russia

This paper seeks to determine how Russian citizens deal politically with the widespread discontent in the Russian Federation. Citizens are not only dissatisfied with their personal life, their job, and their financial situation but their dissatisfaction is also extremely high with government performance on several public problems. To analyze the responses to this deteriorating situation in the Russian Federation, a modified theory of Hirschman (1970) is used.The problems that beset citizens in their daily lives are not translated in political activity. In order to cope with self-located problems on housing, job and financial conditions, private rather than political means are activated. However, when we look at socially located problems, that are objects of government policy – e.g., employment, rising prices, crime rise – the readiness to voice concerns on these issues through political activities is rather small; citizens that are ready to voice prefer to do this by means of voting.Citizens that do not consider the voice alternative as a reaction to their dissatisfaction, cannot be equated to loyal citizens. Silent non-voice lumps together two phenomena. One form of silence may be loyalty, the other form of silence can be covered by the concept of neglect. Political neglect – in the literature sometimes under the label of political alienation or political apathy – is a serious alternative, that deserves a place next to Hirschman's options of active opposition (voice) and diffuse positive support (loyalty). Empirically, the phenomenon of neglect appears to be a widespread response to political dissatisfaction in the Russian Federation.The voice and loyalty response – although treated as alternatives in Hirschman's theory – are different sort of variables. Loyalty is an attitude, whereas voice is an action. Both are related. Loyalty can activate voice, whereas neglect can hamper the operation of voice. Although neglect and loyalty can be treated as mutually exclusive attitudes, voice can manifest itself in combination with both feelings. Voice can thus manifest as a loyal voice and a cynic voice. It is shown in the analysis that if people are ready to voice in Russia it is a voice of the latter kind, with little hope on future improvement.     

Expanding and Reconceptualizing Aberrant Personality at Work: Validity of Five‐Factor Model Aberrant Personality Tendencies to Predict Career Outcomes

This study proposes and tests an alternative methodology to conceptualize and assess aberrant personality tendencies at work beyond the dark triad. A sample of college alumni (N= 247) were administered the NEO PI‐R prior to entering the labor market and 15 years later when their professional careers had unfolded. Drawing on the dimensional perspective on personality functioning, 6 five‐factor model (FFM) aberrant compounds were computed as indicators of aberrant personality tendencies. As expected, FFM aberrant personality tendencies were highly stable across time, with test–retest correlations ranging from .61 (Narcissistic) to .73 (avoidant). With regard to predictive validity, borderline, schizotypal, and avoidant tendencies were negatively associated with extrinsic and intrinsic career outcomes. The obsessive‐compulsive tendency was largely unrelated to career outcomes, whereas individuals with antisocial and narcissistic characteristics tended toward higher hierarchical and financial attainment. In addition, relative importance analyses indicated that (a) FFM aberrant personality tendencies showed incremental validity in the prediction of career outcomes beyond FFM general traits, and that (b) both FFM general and FFM aberrant personality tendencies are important predictors when considered jointly. It is concluded that FFM aberrant personality tendencies suggest interesting avenues for personnel psychologists to form new linear combinations of FFM facets, complementing FFM general domains.