The longitudinal relationships of interpersonal openness trait,hostility, and hostile attribution bias

While the relationship between personality, hostility, and hostile attribution bias (HAB) has been explored in previous studies, their longitudinal relationship is unclear, and no related study has utilized the indigenous Chinese personality. This research explored the longitudinal relationships of interpersonal openness (IO; an indigenous Chinese personality construct), hostility, and HAB. The 942 valid participants (38.5% male, mean age = 20.83, standard deviation = 1.04) were from six different provinces in China. Measurements were completed on two separate occasions (Times 1 and 2), with a 6-month interval. Results showed that IO has longitudinal effects on hostility, after controlling for the Big Five, and HAB could be longitudinally predicted by IO and hostility as well. Moreover, hostility served as a mediator in the relationship between IO and HAB. These results suggest that IO can affect the development of hostility and HAB, and some indigenous Chinese personality factors may complement Western personality theories.     

Can imagined intergroup contact change (internal) dialogues on differences between ingroup and outgroup?

Several positive functions have been ascribed to integrative internal dialogues (IDs), which are based on mutual openness to a partner's viewpoint and a readiness to consider his/her arguments in order to potentially modify one's own stance. As the technique of imagined intergroup contact (IIC) favorably influences attitudes towards outgroup members, it was hypothesized that IIC would have a beneficial impact on IDs with an outgroup member when the dialogue is focused on differences between ingroup and outgroup. In the experiment, 151 people (80 women) participated. It revealed that after IIC, both the dialogue author's confrontational attitude and the interlocutor's integrative attitude decreased. Thus, IIC made participants less inclined to gain an advantage over their imagined outgroup interlocutors and more inclined to give them freedom in IDs. However, the effect was significant only when the author's involvement in ID was high or medium.     

Violence Exposure and Sexual Risk Behaviors for African American Adolescent Girls: The Protective Role of Natural Mentorship and Organizational Religious Involvement

African American adolescent girls are at increased risk of being exposed to community violence and being diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection. Fewer studies, however, have examined the protective roles of natural mentorship and organizational religious involvement as potential moderators that could lessen the effects of violence exposure on health risk behavior. Data from 273 African American ninth grade girls were used to test hypothesized independent and moderated‐moderation models. Results suggest that natural mentorship and religious involvement were protective for girls who reported at least one mentor and moderate to high levels of religious involvement. Our findings may be relevant for community stakeholders and organizations that directly interact with religious institutions and community programs that focus on outreach to African American adolescent girls.     

Overcoming the “Holy Hush”: A Qualitative Examination of Protestant Christian Leaders’ Responses to Intimate Partner Violence

Described as a “holy hush,” past research has noted a general silence about and reluctance to address intimate partner violence (IPV) in religious congregations. To explore this, we interviewed 20 Protestant Christian religious leaders about how they understood and responded to IPV. Based on a thematic content analysis, our study revealed some of the challenges, tensions, and complexities that may be barriers to leaders speaking about and responding to IPV, and also the ways religious leaders in our sample attempted to overcome these challenges. For example, results revealed religious leaders understood violence on a gradation from less to more severe, and linked a need for and type of response to the level of violence. Throughout, religious leaders expressed a tension between their leadership role and responding to IPV. Furthermore, religious leaders acknowledged their need for greater training and connections to service providers, however, they reported not currently being connected to other IPV resources or organizations in the community. We discuss how the findings illuminate challenges and tensions for religious leaders in responding to IPV and how some leaders in this study were navigating these tensions to respond. We also discuss how findings may inform future research and the development of trainings and protocols for religious leaders and congregations on responding to IPV, promoting survivor safety, and fostering a greater understanding of IPV. Implications for collaboration with other community‐based IPV organizations are also discussed.     

Socially Valued Roles,Self‐Determination,and Community Participation among Individuals Living with Serious Mental Illnesses

Decades after deinstitutionalization, individuals living with serious mental illnesses remain isolated, socially disengaged, and devalued members of communities. Burgeoning research and services need conceptual clarity to improve such social conditions. This qualitative inquiry used grounded theory and participatory approaches to conduct an in‐depth exploration of community participation for individuals living with serious mental illnesses based on key stakeholder perspectives (n = 45). Results revealed that community participation is a multifaceted construct with layers of meaning for individuals living with serious mental illnesses. Overarching themes are contextualized in Self‐Determination Theory and presented with deidentified illustrations. Implications for services, research, and policy are discussed.     

The effect of shame on anger at others: awareness of the emotion-causing events matters

Numerous studies have found that shame increases individuals’ anger at others. However, according to recent theories about the social function of shame and anger at others, it is possible that shame controls individuals’ anger at others in specific conditions. We replicated previous findings that shame increased individuals’ anger at others’ unfairness, when others were not aware of the individual’s experience of shameful events. We also found for the first time that shame controlled or even decreased individuals’ anger at others’ unfairness, when others were aware of the individual’s experience of shameful events. The results were consistent when shame was induced by either a recall paradigm or an imagination paradigm, and in either the ultimatum game or the dictator game. This suggests that shame strategically controls individuals’ anger at others to demonstrate that they are willing to benefit others, when facing the risk of social exclusion. Our findings highlight the interpersonal function of shame and deepen the understanding of the relationship between shame and anger at others.     

Collective Narcissism: Political Consequences of Investing Self‐Worth in the Ingroup’s Image

This article proposes a new theoretical framework for the reviewed state‐of‐the‐art research on collective narcissism—the belief that the ingroup’s exceptionality is not sufficiently appreciated by others. Collective narcissism is motivated by the investment of an undermined sense of self‐esteem into the belief in the ingroup’s entitlement to privilege. Collective narcissism lies in the heart of populist rhetoric. The belief in ingroup’s exceptionality compensates the undermined sense of self‐worth, leaving collective narcissists hypervigilant to signs of threat to the ingroup’s position. People endorsing the collective narcissistic belief are prone to biased perceptions of intergroup situations and to conspiratorial thinking. They retaliate to imagined provocations against the ingroup but sometimes overlook real threats. They are prejudiced and hostile. Deficits in emotional regulation, hostile attribution bias, and vindictiveness lie behind the robust link between collective narcissism and intergroup hostility. Interventions that support the regulation of negative emotions, such as experiencing self‐transcendent emotions, decrease the link between collective narcissism and intergroup hostility and offer further insights into the nature of collective narcissism.