Beliefs Contributing to HIV‐related Stigma in African and Afro‐Caribbean Communities in the Netherlands

Thirty years after the first diagnosis, people living with HIV (PLWH) around the world continue to report stigmatizing experiences. In this study, beliefs contributing to HIV‐related stigma in African and Afro‐Caribbean diaspora communities and their cultural context were explored through semi‐structured interviews with HIV‐positive (N = 42) and HIV‐negative (N = 52) African, Antillean and Surinamese diaspora community members in the Netherlands. Beliefs that HIV is highly contagious, that HIV is a very severe disease, and that PLWH are personally responsible for acquiring their HIV infection were found to contribute to HIV‐related stigma, as did the belief that PLWH are HIV‐positive because they engaged in norm‐violating behaviour such as promiscuity, commercial sex work, and, for Afro‐Caribbean diaspora, also homosexuality. These beliefs were found to be exacerbated and perpetuated by cultural taboos on talking about HIV and sexuality. HIV‐related stigma reduction interventions should focus on changing these beliefs and breaking cultural taboos on HIV and sexuality in a manner that is participatory and consistent with the current theory and empirical findings. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Indonesian leadership styles: A mixed‐methods approach

Indonesian leadership characteristics were examined in three studies, using mixed methods. In the first, qualitative study 127 indigenous characteristics of Indonesian leadership were identified from interviews and focus group discussions with Indonesian managers and staff. In the second study, a questionnaire based on the characteristics found in the first study was administered to Indonesian managers to identify Indonesian leadership styles. Using factor analysis, two highly correlated dimensions were extracted, labelled benevolent paternalism and transformational leadership. In the third study, a questionnaire consisting of leadership characteristics from the GLOBE study, supplemented with a selection of 49 items from the Indonesian questionnaire, was administered to another sample of Indonesian managers. We found that Indonesian leadership has two components; the first involves a more local modernization dimension that ranges from (traditional) benevolent paternalism to (modern) transformational leadership, the second is a more universal person‐ versus team‐oriented leadership dimension. We conclude that Indonesian leadership has both emic and etic aspects.     

The Teacher Belief Q-Sort: A measure of teachers' priorities in relation to disciplinary practices, teaching practices, and beliefs about children

The present study advances a new method for assessing teacher beliefs and priorities. This paper describes the development and psychometric properties of the Teacher Belief Q-Sort (TBQ), an assessment technique that examines teachers' priorities and beliefs about discipline practices, classroom practices, and beliefs about children (see www.socialdevelopmentlab.org. Further, this paper describes the usefulness of this tool by examining differences in beliefs and priorities among four groups of teachers (experienced teachers trained in the Responsive Classroom (RC) Approach, experienced teachers with no such training, pre-service teachers planning on teaching elementary school, and pre-service teachers planning on teaching middle/high school) with the goal of demonstrating the way priorities are sensitive to specialized training and teaching experience. The study establishes the TBQ as a reliable, valid, and useful method. Findings showed that RC teachers hold discipline and teaching practice priorities consistent with training in the RC Approach and that pre-service teachers placed greater priority on spontaneity and collaboration and held more negative views about children's likeability and motivation than in-service teachers. Findings are discussed in terms of the ways in which teacher priorities are sensitive to specialized training and teaching experience and offer an early indicator of integrity of implementation.     

An Existential Perspective of Body Beliefs and Health Assessment

Successful health assessments are ongoing and rely on a clinician/client interaction, which is influenced by both the client’s and the clinician’s beliefs about their bodies. These beliefs about the human body arise out of religious and cultural contexts. Theories often explain cultural context by comparison of differences and similarities between the client and the clinician and/or between the client and the dominant culture. This approach can carry a bias inherent in the comparison to dominant beliefs held by those with the most power and economic advantage. The author suggests an existential approach in which client and clinician bodies interact each as adept, autonomous individuals with a conglomerate of beliefs about body and health.The author is an Interdisciplinary PhD candidate in Music Therapy and Health Psychology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. Her research goals include the interrelationship of music, spirituality, and cardiovascular health. She is a Board Certified music therapist and has served in that capacity since 1980 in mental health facilities, hospice, and private practice.     

The Presence of Left-Wing Authoritarianism in Western Europe and Its Relationship with Conservative Ideology

The presence of left-wing authoritarianism (LWA) as well as its relationship with right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and conservative ideology was tested in three Flemish samples. In the first study conducted on a sample of ordinary voters ( N =  208), a newly developed LWA scale was found to be internally consistent and to show high construct validity. In the second study, another voter sample ( N =  264) and a sample of political activists ( N =  69) were tested. In the two samples of ordinary voters, only a few people obtained high LWA scores. Moreover, the aggression and submission items did not load on distinct components and LWA was positively related to RWA and cultural conservatism and negatively to economic conservatism. Conversely, in the political activist sample high LWA scores were common among left-wing extremists and evidence was found for a two-dimensional LWA aggression-submission structure. LWA was negatively related to RWA, cultural conservatism, and economic conservatism. The concept of LWA and its theoretical underpinnings are discussed.     

Paranormal beliefs: their dimensionality and correlates

Lack of conceptual clarity and multivariate empirical studies has troubled research on superstitious, magical and paranormal beliefs. We defined paranormal beliefs as beliefs in physical, biological or psychological phenomena that feature core ontological properties of another ontological category. The aim was to bring together a range of beliefs and their potential correlates, to analyse whether the beliefs form independent subsets, and to test a structural model of the beliefs and their potential correlates. The results (N = 3261) showed that the beliefs could be best described by one higher‐order factor. There were also four lower‐order factors of paranormal beliefs but their explanatory power was low. Magico‐religious beliefs were best explained by high intuitive thinking, a humanistic world view and low analytical thinking. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An experimental test of a core REBT hypothesis: evidence that irrational beliefs lead to physiological as well as psychological arousal

While numerous studies support Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Theory (REBT), they tend to be limited by their use of correlational designs, simulated scenarios and self-report measures. This study tested a core REBT hypothesis in an experimental design using multiple physiological as well as psychological measures. Ninety patients from a medical practice were placed in a real-life stressful situation while holding either a rational, an irrational, or an indifference belief. Those holding a rational belief reported the greatest increase in concern whereas those holding an irrational belief reported the greatest increase in anxiety. Of particular significance, those holding a rational belief showed a decrease in systolic blood pressure whereas those holding an irrational belief showed an increase (diastolic blood pressure increased in both conditions). These results not only support the core REBT hypothesis, but also suggest a way to differentiate between beliefs and emotions by measuring physiological as well as psychological changes.     

Applying social psychology to the study of environmental concern and environmental worldviews: contributions from the social representations approach

Recently some social psychological approaches have intensified their contributions to research in the environmental domain, helping it to focus more consistently on the shared aspects of all environment related experiences. The goal of this paper is that of joining these efforts, exploring the contributions of the social representations approach to research on environmental concern and environmental thought, as another area for applying social psychological knowledge. The paper first sketches how the environmental concern of the publics emerged in the 70s as a problem for the social sciences and proceeds to summarizing the main characteristics of this research, focusing on three problematic areas: (1) incipient theoretical integration among the frameworks dominating research; (2) insufficient reflection about the assumptions and measurement of the concepts employed; (3) a need for new research questions that push studies beyond the analysis of the socio‐demographical correlates of beliefs. Afterwards a presentation of social representations theory will be undertaken and the usefulness of the approach to deal with some aspects of the problematic areas identified will be explored, with examples from recent research, and highlighting the importance of focusing on contradiction, polyphasia, and the articulation of the local and the global. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Relation of Personal Epistemology to Parenting Style and Goal Orientation in College Mothers

This study sought to establish the relevance of mothers’ epistemic beliefs to their parenting style and preferred academic goals for their child. College mothers (N = 163) from primarily working class families completed a variety of self-report measures including a modified version of Schommer’s [(1990). Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 498–504] Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire, the Parental Attitudes Questionnaire-Revised [Reitman, Rhode, Hupp, & Altobello (2002). Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 24(2), 119–127], and several goal orientation scales. Results indicated that a view of learning as effortful and under the learner’s control and a view of knowledge as actively constructed were associated with an authoritative parenting style and with a preference for their child to focus on learning, improvement, and effort in approaching academic tasks. By contrast, a view of learning as quick, straightforward, relatively passive and as based in innate constraints and a view of knowledge as consisting of discreet, unambiguous facts were associated with authoritarian and permissive styles and the adoption of performance goals for one’s child. Portions of this study were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in Atlanta, April, 2005.     

因果判断中经验与共变信息的结合及各自作用

研究使用相继呈现信息的方法控制了被试获得信息的顺序,从而将经验和共变信息在因果判断中所起到的作用分离了出来。结果表明：（1）个体综合两种信息进行因果判断的过程既不是简单的相加操作,也不是使用经验信息控制共变信息的进入,而是先判断经验信息,再判断共变信息是否与之一致,当出现不一致的情况时又重新考虑经验信息。（2）在改变先前判断的过程中,经验信息所起的作用更大,其中又以当其证明待判断原因不可信时所产生的改变更大。