Stereotypical beliefs and psychological well-being of African American adolescent girls: Collective self-esteem as a moderator

African American women are often times characterized by stereotypes that can be traced back to slavery. Those stereotypes have been found to affect many outcomes in an array of domains related to work, intimate relationships, and personal well-being. The literature does not address how these stereotypes may affect adolescent African American girls. This study aimed to fill that gap by examining how the endorsement of stereotypes affects the psychological well-being, specifically stress, in 144 African American adolescent girls (N = 144) who ranged from 12–19 years old. This study goes a step further to investigate whether collective self-esteem can serve as a buffer between endorsement of stereotypes and perceived stress. Using combined mediation–moderation model, the analysis showed that there is a significant positive relationship between stereotypic beliefs and perceived stress that is buffered by moderate to high levels of collective self-esteem. Implications for treatment and policy, as well as educational recommendations are discussed.     

想象积极群际接触对利他型集体行动意愿的影响:系统公正感和群际评价的中介作用

集体行动是维护和实现社会公平正义的有效途径之一。以往研究主要聚焦于弱势群体利己型集体行动,很少有研究考察利他型集体行动的影响因素。本研究采用双随机设计,通过三个实验探讨积极群际接触与利他型集体行动的中介效应因果模型。实验1采用想象性群际接触范式操纵积极群际接触,发现积极群际接触促进利他型集体行动,系统公正感和群际评价中的热情维度起中介作用。实验2与实验3分别操纵系统公正感和热情,检验中介变量与因变量间的因果关系,证实了积极群际接触-系统公正感、热情-利他型集体行动的因果关系链。     

The cultural dimension of intergroup conspiracy theories

Although conspiracy theories are ubiquitous across times and cultures, research has not investigated how cultural dimensions may predict conspiracy beliefs. The present research examined intergroup conspiracy beliefs in United States and Chinese samples at the peak of the trade war. In two studies (one pre-registered; total N = 1,092), we asked US participants to what extent they believed Chinese institutions and companies were conspiring against the United states and Chinese participants to what extent they believed US institutions and companies were conspiring against China. Results revealed that such beliefs were stronger among Chinese than US participants due to higher power distance values and vertical collectivism. In particular, these cultural dimensions were associated with increased psychological involvement in intergroup conflict (as reflected by higher levels of collective narcissism and perceived outgroup threat), which in turn predicted intergroup conspiracy beliefs. Exploratory analyses suggested that particularly power distance values mediate these effects. We conclude that cultural dimensions that promote hierarchy in society are associated with increased intergroup conspiracy beliefs.     

Successfully Contesting the Policy Sphere: Examining Through the Press a Case of Local Protests Changing New Ecological Laws

It is crucial to gain better insights into how psychosocial processes can limit the power of the political/legislative sphere for promoting social change through new laws. One form of accomplishing this is by illuminating the arguments and the content and value of social representations at play in cases in which the public sphere succeeds in contesting new laws. In this article, we explore a case of successful resistance to new ecological laws in a Portuguese Natura site. The laws, restricting recreational fishing, were made less stringent after meeting with local opposition. Content analysis of 122 articles published from 2006 to 2014 in regional and national newspapers reveals that protestors (fishermen, local authorities) received higher visibility and support and had more direct voice than the political sphere in both presses. Dialogical analysis of direct quotations of protestors shows how they seek legitimacy by establishing common ground with valued representations, vividly invoking people‐place bonds and tradition, and also how they attempt to undermine the law's legitimacy by linking local and national concerns, avoiding (potentially devalued) “Nimby” (“not in my backyard”) arguments. The discussion highlights what can be learned from using the press to investigate policy struggles that successfully organized their argumentation to contest new laws.     

In Politics We Trust…or Not? Trusting and Distrusting Demonstrators Compared

This article sheds light on the debate regarding political trust and protest activity. The debate boils down to the question whether trust in politics is positively or negatively related to protest activity. We exploit a dataset encompassing data on about 9,000 demonstrators spread over seven European countries. These demonstrators' trust in their parliaments varies widely, ranging from trustworthy capable, to corrupt incapable. We examine the diverging sociodemographic profiles and motivational dynamics that turn distrusting and trusting citizens into demonstrators. We hypothesize and show that distrusting demonstrators turn their back to institutionalized politics; for them, demonstrating substitutes the party politics they distrust. For trusting demonstrators, demonstrating supplements party politics. Trusting and distrusting demonstrators also differ considerably in terms of motivation. Distrusting demonstrators are stronger motivated to demonstrate than trusting demonstrators. Moreover, while political cynicism amplifies the motivation of distrusting demonstrators, it suppresses the motivation of trusting demonstrators. We conclude that the question to be answered is not so much whether people who engage in protest activity trust or distrust their political elites, but rather who the trusting and distrusting protesters are and why they protest.     

集体仪式促进群体情绪感染的机制

近年来, 诸多学者将研究视角投向群体情绪感染, 即群体内部成员间的情绪感染交互过程。群体情绪感染不仅包括个体间的直接情绪感染, 而且受到群体认同、共同行为以及集体规则等多方面因素的影响。基于集体仪式的过程框架, 分析集体仪式的三要素即同步动作、共享注意和共享意义与群体情绪感染的关系, 能更清楚阐述群体情绪感染的发生与增强过程：集体仪式通过自我定型和自我锚定增强群体认同, 在认同基础上的身份融合促进个体关注群体身份, 导致个体的自我表征发生转化, 社会自我的突出使其更容易接受群体的观点和情感表达, 最终增强了群体情绪感染。未来研究应进一步考察群体情绪感染的影响因素并丰富其测量方法。     

A Study of the Conceptual Structure of Growth Mindsets and Their Impact on Self-Improvement Motivation

This study examined the conceptual structure and motivational effects of growth mindsets based on the perspective of character strengths. An internet survey was conducted with 1,000 workers (500 males and 500 females; age range 20–59 years, M = 40.1 years, SD = 10.7 years). Participants were presented with 25 strengths (i.e., intelligence and 24 character strengths) and were asked to rate their perceived competence, growth mindset, and improvement intention for each strength. The exploratory factor analyses on perceived competence, growth mindset, and improvement intention identified five common factors: wisdom, willpower, temperance, transcendence, and groupness. Moreover, regression analyses indicated that a growth mindset was more strongly related to improvement intention than perceived competence. Furthermore, regression analyses found domain-specific effects of growth mindsets on improvement intention. Thus, the intention to improve a particular strength was more closely related to that particular growth mindset than to other growth mindsets. The theoretical and educational implications are aired in the discussion section.     

Self-Concepts of Hospitalized and Day-Care Psychiatric Patients

Abstract

The authors administered questionnaires to 44 hospitalized and 55 day-care psychiatric patients in Hong Kong. The groups were similar in sex, age, and education. The hospitalized participants, compared with the day-care participants, showed significantly higher self-concepts in general as well as in the particular aspects of social and personal aspirations. The findings indicate that support at the community level is important to help the psychiatric patients' transition from hospital care to day care.     

Attitudes toward Women in Northern Ireland

ABSTRACT

Previous research has shown that priming the individual self can increase the accessibility of individual self-cognitions. In turn, we hypothesized that blame for immoral behaviors also would increase, leading to higher assignments of punishment, but that the size of this effect would depend on whether the behaviors violated perfect or imperfect duties. To test these hypotheses, participants assigned yearly bonus penalties to employees who had performed dishonest, disloyal, unfriendly, or uncharitable acts. As expected, the individual prime increased punishments, and this effect was accentuated for violations of perfect duties relative to violations of imperfect duties.