Attitudes towards credit and finances among college students in China and the United States

Although there is growing concern about the issue of credit card debt among college students in China, little research has examined attitudes to money and debt among that group. The present study compared financial self‐confidence, perceived financial wellbeing, attitudes to debt, and parent education about money and debt in 410 college students from the US and China. Although college students in China reported fewer credit cards and less debt, they also reported lower levels of financial self‐confidence and financial wellbeing. In both cultures, delay of gratification and parental education predicted both self‐confidence and financial wellbeing.     

Presleep Suggestion Related to a Phobic Object: Successful Manipulation of Reported Dream Affect

Twenty-four female subjects with a strong dislike of snakes slept for four nonconsecutive nights in the laboratory. They were divided into four groups of six, each group receiving a different presleep suggestion on Nights 3 and 4. On Nights 2, 3, and 4, before sleep, the subjects saw but did not have to touch a live snake and their dreams were collected for each REM period. The results showed that, when compared with the subjects who received the negative affect suggestions, subjects who received positive affect suggestions had significantly higher levels of positive emotions in their dreams, rated their own dreams as more pleasant, and had significantly lower levels of anxiety, sadness, and aggression. These results support the hypothesis that presleep suggestion can be an effective technique in influencing the affective dimension of the dream.     

Luria's Motor Method and Word Association in the Study of Deception

The present study investigated the variables of method of stimulus presentation, type of focal instance, type of strategy, and sex, in a conjunctive concept attainment task. The results indicated that an all positive series of focal cards resulted in the most efficient performance. The all negative-specified group was significantly better than the all negative-unspecified group. There was no significant difference between a focus gambling strategy and a conservative focusing strategy. The simultaneous method of stimulus presentation was shown to be superior to a successive method of presentation. There was no finding of a sex difference in concept attaining ability for each experimental condition.     

Organizational Commitment,Job Satisfaction,and Effort in the Service Environment

Investigations of the causal relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction have yielded contradictory findings. Little empirical research has looked at this complex relationship in the context of work effort. The purpose of this study was to determine how these variables interact in the service environment. Using a sample of 425 employees in two service organizations, the author tested two structural equation models. The hypothesized model with organizational commitment as a moderator between job satisfaction and service effort fit better than a model with job satisfaction as moderator did. Conceptual implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are made.     

How Do Romantic Relationship Satisfaction,Gender Stereotypes,and Gender Relate to Future Time Orientation in Romantic Relationships?

The present study is an investigation into how romantic relationship satisfaction and attitudes toward gender stereotypes about romantic relationship and gender are related to future time orientation in romantic relationships (FTORR). Four hundred and thirteen (208 men and 205 women) university students taking elective psychology courses at Middle East Technical University were given a scale including items about FTORR, romantic relationship satisfaction, and attitudes toward gender stereotypes about romantic relationships. All the participants were then involved in a heterosexual romantic relationship. Multiple regression results showed that for the women, attitudes toward men's assertiveness and men's dominance in relationships were more important predictors of FTORR than relationship satisfaction. For the men, attitudes toward men's assertiveness and romantic relationship satisfaction were important predictors of FTORR, but attitude toward men's dominance was not a predictor of FTORR. Women were more future oriented in their ongoing romantic relationships than were men. Finally, participants who were highly satisfied with their relationships scored higher on FTORR than those who were less satisfied.     

Perceived threat of infectious disease and its implications for sexual attitudes

A study (n = 411) investigated the relationship between chronic individual differences in germ aversion and sociosexual attitudes (short-term mating orientation, long-term mating orientation, and anticipated future sexual promiscuity), and also tested whether the magnitudes of these relations differ depending on the temporary perceptual salience of disease threat. Results revealed person-by-situation interactions. When the threat of disease was temporarily salient, germ aversion correlated negatively with short-term mating orientation and with future sexual promiscuity, and correlated positively with long-term mating orientation; these effects were either weaker or nonexistent under control conditions. These effects emerged most clearly among women.     

Personality and social attitudes: Evidence for positive-approach motivation

Extensive research has linked general personality factors to social attitudes, but there has been comparatively little work on the roles played by specific approach-avoidance personality factors, especially positive-approach ones. Here we relate such factors to the two main clusters of social attitudes (Right-Wing Authoritarianism, RWA; and Social Dominance Orientation, SDO), and related cognitive constructs (Need for Cognition and Need for Closure). Results revealed: (a) positive-approach motivation is consistently related to both RWA and SDO, with little contribution from negative-avoidance motivation; and (b) negative-avoidance motivation played a part in Need for Cognition (negatively related) and Need for Closure (positively related). These data challenge previous theorizing concerning the role of fear/anxiety in social attitude formation and prejudice more generally. We conclude that, to a larger extent than previously thought, approach-related personality factors underpin the positive reinforcement of social attitudes and prejudice. Our results may help to account for the failure of programmes designed to reduce prejudice which have been based on the reduction of negative emotion and motivation.     

Financial capability,money attitudes and socioeconomic status: Risks for experiencing adverse financial events

The risk of experiencing adverse financial events (e.g. bankruptcy) depends on the world economy and on individual differences in financial and psychological variables. Analysing data from 109,472 British survey respondents, this study reports the risks associated with financial capabilities, money attitudes, and socio-economic status for suffering negative financial outcomes. The results show that (1) socio-economic status is associated with financial capabilities but not with money attitudes; (2) money attitudes and financial capabilities are largely independent; (3) money attitudes and financial capabilities each contribute independently to the risk of experiencing adverse financial outcomes, even after adjusting for socio-economic status; and (4) financial capabilities are greater risk factors of adverse financial outcomes than money attitudes; the latter, however, are likely to be promising targets for interventions.     

Tracing the Path from Personality — via Cooperativeness — to Conservation

Ecological behaviour is often conceptualized as an instance of cooperating in a social dilemma situation. Thus, it has been argued to relate to dispositional tendencies of moral virtue and pro‐social orientation. To embed such notions in models of basic personality, we herein predicted that the recently proposed sixth basic personality factor, Honesty–Humility — which specifically pertains to individual differences in cooperativeness — is linked to environmental attitudes and ecological behaviour. Results from two studies (N = 137 and N = 531, respectively) supported these hypotheses and showed that Honesty–Humility explains incremental variance beyond the remaining, more classical five factors of personality. In addition, mediation analyses revealed that Honesty–Humility exerts part of its influence via individual differences in pro‐social value orientations. Individual tendencies to cooperate in social dilemma situations could thus be shown to form a bridge between basic personality dimensions and ecological behaviour. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does it matter how I perceive my nation? National symbols,national identification and attitudes toward immigrants

We examined how the ways of imagining one's own nation relate to the relationship between national identification and individuals’ attitudes towards immigrants. National imagination is studied through two types of national symbols representing the nation in terms of confrontation between groups (i.e., war and sports) and a unique entity (i.e., nature and traditional culture). We found that national identification was positively associated with the degree to which individuals perceived their nation through a historical war and sports, which, in turn, enhanced negative attitudes toward immigrants. Unexpectedly, the degree to which individuals perceived their nation through nature and traditional culture was positively associated with positive intergroup attitudes. The results emphasize that the degree to which individuals perceive their nation through different national symbols is an important factor for understanding intergroup relations.