Rights and Morals, Issues, and Candidate Integrity: Insights into the Role of the News Media

In recent American political discourse, elections and debates tend to be presented by the news media as collisions of basic principles, with opposing parties advancing beliefs about what is right and what is wrong. When news coverage of an election campaign focuses on issues that emphasize rights and morals, voting behavior may be affected in two ways: Citizens become likely to form and make use of evaluations of the integrity of the candidates, and citizens become motivated to seek an issue-position "match" with candidates on those issues for which discourse is ethically charged (particularly when they hold a similar interpretation of the issue). These ideas were tested in an experiment in which labor union members and undergraduate students were presented with news stories about the contrasting positions of fictional candidates for elective office. Across three political environments, all information was held constant except for systematic alteration of a different issue in each environment. These three issues (abortion, gun control, and health care) vary in the types of value conflicts emphasized in news coverage. The results shed light on how individuals process, interpret, and use issue coverage in choosing among candidates.     

临床专业型研究生学术诚信问题研究——以口腔医学为例

近年来口腔医学专业型研究生培养规模不断扩大,随之而来也出现了包括学术失信在内的一系列问题,如何加强口腔医学专业型研究生的学术诚信已经成为医学教育者们的共同研究重点。根据多年来的研究生培养经验,从研究生首先应当树立正确的学术诚信观念;导师应当引导研究生共同实践学术诚信;院校应有力落实学术诚信的相关制度这三个角度出发,研究讨论如何加强专业型研究生的学术诚信。     

The interactive category schema of candidate competence: an Australian experience

The Education Committee of the Australian Psychoanalytic Society, inspired by David Tuckett's research, relating to the measurement of candidate competence, conducted a similar study that, they believe, added value to his earlier work. The indicators of analytic competence were more numerous and specific, and greater emphasis was placed on how these criteria could further be operationalized. Besides being used in the measuring of candidate competence, the author makes a case for how the criteria can be adapted for use in the selection of prospective trainees; the defining of teaching and supervisory objectives and processes; and as a basis for further research. The close resonance that the qualitative research method used has with analytic thought and practice is highlighted. It is proposed that this synchrony reduces the resistance that analysts often have in participating in such research. There were definite advantages that arose out of the Australian project aside from producing a society-specific schema of candidate capacities. The research process opened up a space for dialogue, debate and experimentation that increased group cohesion and society identity. Including the candidates in the survey facilitated the increase of transparency between candidates and members, contributing to the strengthening of the educational alliance.     

When Parsimony Subdues Distinctiveness: Simplified Public Perceptions of Politicians' Personality

Voters develop uniquely simplified perceptions of political candidates' personalities during election campaigns. In an earlier study, voters described their own personalities, and also those of celebrities, using the same five factors typical of the Big Five model of personality. In contrast, the appraisal of political candidates' personalities by voters in both Italy and the United States was reduced to only a few factors. The present research extends that exploration of the relationship between personality and politics to the public's perception of politicians' personalities across a wider variety of politicians and across a long time span after an election campaign. Two studies conducted in Italy, with more than 3,000 voters, replicated the earlier results: The factors of Energy and Agreeableness are primary anchors for evaluating politicians' personalities both during campaigns and for several years thereafter. Also uncovered were congruences between the ways that voters tend to present themselves (self-schemata) and the schemata they use to evaluate candidates representing their political preference.     

Baby face wins? Examining election success based on candidate election bulletin via multilevel modeling

A growing body of research suggests that many voters rely on facial cues from political candidates to elect their leaders. Our study proposes that having a baby face could be an asset for a political candidate in a collectivist culture. Using election bulletin photographs from Taiwan's 2004, 2008 and 2012 legislative election, we look at the extent to which a candidate's baby face is related to election outcomes. Our multilevel modelling includes the number of candidates as Level 1 units, and the number of counties in which the candidates competed as Level 2 units. Vote share is the outcome variable. After considering the candidates' traits (perceived babyfacedness, competence, attractiveness and warmth) and background characteristics, babyfacedness was the strongest predictor of vote share. Results across three elections show consistent patterns: the more babyfaced the candidate, the greater the percentage of votes a candidate received, regardless of the candidate's gender, political affiliation or incumbency status. Babyfacedness is more influential than perceived competence, attractiveness and warmth.     

Authors who have an impact on candidates' training

The authors consider the influence that a sense of geographical and cultural ties of candidates from different regions has on their theoretical interests. They question the way that this is taken into consideration in psychoanalytic training. The function of theory, both in terms of its transmission and the creation of new knowledge, is explored from this perspective. The results of an Internet survey are presented. The candidate sample for this survey (N = 250) was drawn from Europe, Latin America and North America, and candidates were asked to indicate their degree of interest for each of the 55 authors in a given list. The results showed that there were significant differences in the areas of theoretical interest of the candidates depending on the geographical region. Furthermore, what is also significant is how these differences in areas of theoretical interest were linked to those authors who had developed their work in the same geographical region as the candidates. These differences are shown to be connected to the candidates' sense of regional belonging. Data are also presented about which authors have the greatest impact in a given region, along with the influence values of the authors in relation to each one of the regions. Finally, the candidates' interest in each of the authors is specified in terms of a general mean rank and a regional mean rank, thus showing which authors candidates find most interesting in each of the regions. The study concludes by arguing that the results of the investigation enable us to question how psychoanalytic theory is transmitted, and, more specifically, how it is transmitted within institutions at a regional level. It is also suggested that the means be found to uncover the inconsistencies linked to cultural ties. It is proposed that further research be conducted to look more deeply into how cultural differences play a part in the different theoretical languages in the training of psychoanalysts.     

Recruiter Evaluation of Candidates for Employment: Does Study Abroad Make a Difference?

This analog study investigated recruiters’ evaluation of candidates for employment in regard to whether study abroad experience advantaged some in being selected for certain positions. Results found that candidates who completed study abroad and a relevant internship were ranked highest, with preference given by recruiters to long‐term Western experiences. However, the data also suggested that recruiter assessments varied somewhat depending on recruiters’ study abroad experience and their own characteristics. Overall, the effect of study abroad on the evaluation of candidates was simply one part of a complex of considerations.     

Implicit Candidate‐Trait Associations in Political Campaigns

While the study of political attitudes has incorporated implicit processes in its theoretical models, the predominant approach to candidate‐trait perception focuses exclusively on explicit processes. Our novel, dual‐process approach to candidate perception sees voters as holding both conscious, explicit impressions of candidate traits and automatic, implicit candidate‐trait associations that cannot be measured using traditional self‐report techniques. We examine implicit candidate‐trait associations for the first time using data from a three‐wave online panel conducted in the last month of the 2012 U.S. presidential election. First, we demonstrate that implicit candidate‐trait associations exist. Second, we show that implicit associations of warmth and competence with the candidates predict explicit candidate evaluations, economic evaluations, and vote choice, above and beyond conventional political science controls and explicit trait perceptions. Finally, we find that these effects are strongest among nonpartisans and partisans with conflicted feelings about their party's nominee. We suggest future directions for implicit political cognition research, including trait perception.     

From hierarchy to rivalry: Asian candidate evaluation in changing racial contexts

Existing studies on candidate evaluation have posited that racial cues would invoke negative attitudes toward outgroups, thus lowering support for minority candidates. However, recent studies have found that even implicit racial cues show no negative effect but actually work positively in favor of the minority candidates. In this study, I explore this puzzle by setting up a survey experiment that pairs an Asian candidate against competitors with varying racial backgrounds. Consistent with the existing evidence, I found that White voters tend to support an Asian candidate to a greater degree than a co‐ethnic, White competitor. However, departing from the previous studies that have explained this tendency as a reward for model minority, I argue that such a pattern is associated with reaffirming Whites’ ingroup identity in a racial hierarchy by compensating minorities. When the apparent racial hierarchy—White versus non‐White—is replaced with a minority‐only context, Whites no longer need to favor an Asian candidate and divide their support more evenly to the two minority candidates. I further show that this tendency is moderated by the intensity of their ingroup attitudes.     

Preliminary evidence that specific candidate genes are associated with adolescent-onset antisocial behavior

Though initially conceptualized as resulting from peer imitation of child-onset or life-course-persistent youth [Moffitt, 1993], there is mounting evidence from twin studies that adolescent-onset or adolescent-limited antisocial behavior may also be genetically influenced. This study sought to provide preliminary molecular genetic evidence in support of these findings. We further evaluated whether genetic associations varied between behavioral subtypes of ASB (i.e., physical aggression and nonaggressive rule-breaking), given that only the latter has been found to characterize adolescent-onset ASB. The sample consisted of 211 undergraduate men of European-American ancestry. Three polymorphisms with theoretical and/or empirical ties to ASB or related traits (i.e., tryptophan hydroxylase-A218C, 5HT(2A) His452Tyr, and the DAT1 variable nucleotide tandem repeat) were genotyped. Analyses revealed that two of the three polymorphisms (i.e., His452Tyr and DAT1) were associated with adolescent ASB. Moreover, these associations appeared to be specific to the nonaggressive, rule-breaking form of ASB, and did not extend to physical aggression, further supporting ties to adolescent ASB in particular. Such results thus constructively replicate earlier findings of genetic influence on adolescent ASB. They also offer preliminary evidence that the genetic processes underlying aggressive and nonaggressive antisocial behavior may be (at least partially) distinct.