The Internet is a scary place: How does evidence source and examinee race or ethnicity influence determinations of threat?

Violent rhetoric online is becoming increasingly relevant to the practice of forensic mental health assessment as examinee's virtual lives may transform into real-world acts of violence. With the rise of a diverse subculture of violent online communities, the aim of the present study was to inform how concerns with online sources of collateral data and racial/ethnic biases may influence determinations of violence potential. Using an experimental design, jury-eligible participants (N = 278) and forensic mental health experts (N = 78) were presented with mock Twitter (now referred to as X) posts that varied by data source (i.e., how information was accessed) and the examinee's race/ethnicity. Results showed no differences in participants' ratings of data credibility, how much weight they would place on the posts in a threat assessment, or how likely the examinee was to act violently against his intended target. Implications regarding the interpretation of social media evidence, relevant limitations, and future research are discussed.     

Effects of minority status in the classroom on children's intergroup attitudes

Three studies examined the effects of relative group size on the development of children's intergroup attitudes. The studies employed a novel group paradigm in which elementary school children attending a summer school program were assigned to larger (i.e., majority) or smaller (i.e., minority) novel groups in their classroom (denoted by colored tee-shirts). In each study, relative group size was situated within a different classroom context. Study 1 examined the effects of relative group size when teachers made functional use of the novel groups and were themselves members of the novel groups. Study 2 examined the effects of relative group size in the absence of functional use. Study 3 examined the effects of relative group size when the classroom environment contained implicit messages about group status. In each study, children's intergroup attitudes (e.g., trait ratings, group evaluations) were assessed following several weeks in the classroom. The effect of relative group size on in-group bias was complex, varying as a function of (a) the relative size and salience of groups, (b) the measure used to assess intergroup attitudes, (c) group status (higher or lower), and (d) children's age.     

心理疾病污名形成理论述评

心理疾病污名是加诸于患者身上的耻辱标记,妨碍患者的治疗和康复。心理疾病污名的成因理论包括功能主义和生物文化两个派别,污名的发展模型解释了污名的形成过程,身份威胁模型对污名的作用机制进行了阐述。通过抗议、教育和接触可以有效地减少污名。在中国开展相关研究应注重分析传统文化、心理疾病类型与污名的关系,探讨各种减少污名策略的可行性     

Plasticity for Affective Neurocircuitry: How the Environment Affects Gene Expression

ABSTRACT— We ( Fox et al., 2005 ) recently described a gene-by-environment interaction involving child temperament and maternal social support, finding heightened behavioral inhibition in children homozygous or heterozygous for the serotonin transporter (5HTTLPR) gene short allele whose mothers reported low social support. Here, we propose a model, Plasticity for Affective Neurocircuitry, that describes the manner in which genetic disposition and environmental circumstances may interact. Children with a persistently fearful temperament (and the 5HTTLPR short allele) are more likely to experience caregiving environments in which threat is highlighted. This in turn will exacerbate an attention bias that alters critical affective neurocircuitry to threat and enhances and maintains anxious behavior in the child.     

风险情景中的机会和威胁认知

随着近年来社会经济的高速发展 ,人们面临着越来越多的风险问题。该研究的目的在于深入分析个体成就动机、风险情景中的行为反应方式以及机会 -威胁认知三者之间的关系。研究采用问卷设计 ,由成就动机量表、抽彩游戏和机会 -威胁问卷三部分组成。被试来自北京和重庆地区的三所高校 (N =2 6 2 )。结果发现 :(1)成就动机中的“回避失败”变量对个体在风险情景中的反应方式以及机会 -威胁认知有显著性的影响 (p <0 0 5 ) ;(2 )机会 -威胁认知水平不同的个体在风险情景中的反应方式有着显著性的差异 (p <0 0 1) ,机会认知与行为变量的相关达到了显著性水平 (p <0 0 5 ) ;(3)四组被试分别表现出高机会 -低威胁等 4种认知组合 ,因此机会与威胁认知可能存在于两维空间     

Situational disengagement and persistence in the face of adversity

Research suggests that the experience of belonging to a group whose academic abilities are negatively stereotyped fosters disidentification over time, that is, the psychological insulation of the self from academic evaluations and outcomes (Crocker, Major, & Steele, 1998). This research tests whether the process of disidentification can ironically improve motivation when mobilized in response to specific situations. Black and White participants were given negative feedback on an ability-diagnostic or non-diagnostic task. Subsequently, all participants were given the opportunity to persist on the task and their level of disengagement was assessed. As hypothesized, Black participants in the diagnostic condition displayed the most persistence as well as the most disengagement and this persistence response was mediated by their disengagement. The results suggest that, in contrast to chronic disengagement, situational disengagement may help facilitate motivation and persistence.     

Victim’s innocence, social categorization, and the threat to the belief in a just world

This research studies people’s reactions to the suffering of victims, examining the hypothesis of the belief in a just world (BJW) (Lerner, 1980) according to which the awareness of innocent victims threatens people’s BJW, and extending the scope of BJW theory to intergroup contexts. An implicit measure of the threat to the BJW (Hafer, 2000a) is used in this research. After participants viewed a videotaped film containing the victimization story they performed an emotional modified Stroop task. Study 1 examined the threat to the BJW as function of the innocence of the victim at an interpersonal level of analysis. Results show that only the innocent victim threatens the observer’s BJW. Study 2 examined the threat to the BJW as function of the victim’s group and of the victim’s innocence. Results show that an ingroup victim threatens the participant’s BJW more than a victim belonging to an outgroup.     

Numerical representation and cross-cut role assignments: Majority members’ responses under cooperative interaction

This research investigates why cross-cutting role assignments, compared to those that converge, may worsen the intergroup attitudes of numerical majorities. Study 1 manipulated the numerical representation of groups and role assignments in a cooperative setting. As predicted, when the cross-cut role condition included the reintroduction of the numerical imbalance, the intergroup attitudes of majorities were more favorable than when the cross-cut condition did not reintroduce this discrepancy. Also, Study 1 showed that the intergroup attitudes of the majority were more positive when roles converged. Study 2 compared a convergent condition to one with converging roles that also reduced the salience of the majority’s numerical advantage. The results for this convergent-reduced-salience condition mimicked that of the cross-cut condition, revealing less positive majority attitudes. In both studies, results suggest that the processes of ingroup identification and relative ingroup homogeneity may mediate the effect of role assignments on ingroup bias. The findings are discussed in terms of the implications for cooperative interventions designed to improve intergroup attitudes.     

How Sports Fans Forge Intergroup Competition Through Language: The Case of Verbal Irony

In situations with rival groups, people strategically use language to strengthen group identity and foster intergroup competition. We distinguished 2 communication mechanisms to accomplish this: (a) linguistic aggression toward out‐group members, (b) communicating group expectancies. We contrasted these mechanisms across 2 experiments by studying verbal irony. Experiment 1 targeted speaker behavior and showed that Dutch soccer fans found irony more appropriate to comment on out‐group (vs. in‐group) members, regardless of behavioral valence. Experiment 2 demonstrated differential inferences from irony by neutral observers: Fans using ironic comments about competent (vs. incompetent) behavior were seen more as out‐group and less as in‐group members. Our experiments demonstrated a communication asymmetry between speaker behavior and addressee inferences.     

The Uncertainty Paradox: Perceived Threat Moderates the Effect of Uncertainty on Political Tolerance

People respond to dissimilar political beliefs in a variety of ways, ranging from openness and acceptance to closed‐mindedness and intolerance. While there is reason to believe that uncertainty may influence political tolerance, the direction of this influence remains unclear. We propose that threat moderates the effect of uncertainty on tolerance; when safe, uncertainty leads to greater tolerance, yet when threatened, uncertainty leads to reduced tolerance. Using independent manipulations of threat and uncertainty, we provide support for this hypothesis. This research demonstrates that, although feelings of threat and uncertainty can be independent, it is also important to understand their interaction.