生命史理论：进化视角下的生命发展观

传统的心理学研究很少从发展角度系统地考察童年早期经历和个体生物性发展之间的关系。然而，以进化理论为基础的生命史理论的研究表明，个体的幼年环境会影响一系列生命史事件的出现和持续时间。其要义在于，为了最大限度地成功繁衍，个体会根据环境线索来做出关乎生存和繁衍的具有适应性的权衡。特别地，性成熟时间是生命史理论区别于其他人类发展理论的核心变量。未来的研究一方面需要深入挖掘人类社会规范在生命史权衡中的意义，另一方面还要继续探索实证研究的新方法。     

Social exclusion lowers working memory capacity in gay-men but not in heterosexual-men

Because sexual orientation is a crucial factor in social discrimination, this study assessed how the working memory capacity of gay-men and heterosexual-men is affected by a social exclusion event (N = 88). To manipulate the experience of social exclusion participants were included or excluded from a game of Cyberball. To assess working memory capacity, participants had to recall a series of letters while performing math problems in an automated version of the operation span task. The results of this small study, showed the sexual orientation of participants interacted with variations in belonging such that being ostracized (but not being included) lowered the working memory capacity of gay-men relative to heterosexual-men. Implications for research on belonging, social exclusion, and stereotype threat are discussed.     

The Return of Ethnocentrism

The concept of ethnocentrism was introduced by Gumplowicz in the 1870s, popularized by Sumner in the 1900s, and first investigated psychometrically by Adorno and colleagues in the 1940s. It has become a fundamental concept in the social sciences, but over the last several decades, its popularity and usage in political and social psychology have decreased. Recent events, such as the growing popularity of ethno-nationalist and populist leaders and policies, show that ethnocentrism as a phenomenon has been resurging around the world. In addition, given its important explanatory power, an increasing number of political psychologists have started again to use the concept. This article presents an analysis of ethnocentrism reconceptualized as a hierarchical construct emanating from a strong sense of ethnic group self-centeredness and self-importance. It discusses the prevalence of ethnocentrism around the world, its conceptualization and measurement, and its theoretical underpinnings, supporting them with novel empirical research conducted with two abbreviated measures of ethnocentrism. The article argues that ethnocentrism ultimately stems from the need to strengthen one's own ethnic group at the expense of anyone who and anything that can weaken it.     

Territorial sense of community,ethnic prejudice and political orientation

This research focused on territorial sense of community and ethnic prejudice. In particular, we related these two constructs and investigated their relationship to individual characteristics (personal political orientation, contact with immigrants, etc.) and community‐level ones (such as ethnic composition and the political orientation of the local government). Two studies were conducted in four small towns in central and southern Italy. For each study, 160 people were contacted. The instruments used were a questionnaire, the Italian Sense of Community Scale and the Blatant Prejudice Scale. The results showed that territorial sense of community is not related to ethnic prejudice or to the ethnic heterogeneity of the territory. It was also found that people with right‐wing political sympathies revealed higher levels of prejudice than people with left‐wing sympathies. Finally, in a town with a stable and consolidated left‐wing orientation of the local government we found, when the influence of personal political orientation was controlled for, lower levels of prejudice than in a town with a right‐wing orientation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Age/Cohort Differences in Judgments About Criminal Transgressions

To examine possible age/cohort differences in social judgment processes, young and older adults were asked to evaluate criminal offenders described in case files that manipulated both race of offender and the extenuating circumstances preceding the crime. Direct mail was used to reach a wider sample; 218 young (M = 30.21 years) and 167 older (M = 68.57 years) adults provided usable responses. Older adults more strongly recommended parole and estimated less future crime than young adults. There were no age differences in attributions to the criminal's basic nature, but respondents from older age groups and earlier born cohorts more frequently attributed crimes to circumstances. Respondents' judgments of White and Black criminals were generally equitable. Findings suggest that older adults may attach greater importance to contextual factors in their judgments of criminals' actions and make more circumstantial attributions than young adults when there is sufficient context to offer a nondispositional account for behavior.     

Effects of racial prejudice and race of target on aggression

Three studies were conducted to investigate the relationship between prejudice and physical aggression using the competitive reaction time paradigm. In Study 1, high and low prejudiced subjects competed against either a black or white opponent. The race of the opponent did not differentially affect the aggressive behavior of either high or low prejudiced subjects. In Study 2, high prejudiced subjects were confronted with a competitor who behaved in a nonaggressive fashion. Under these conditions, the high prejudiced subjects attacked the black target more than the white target. In Study 3, high prejudiced subjects competed against an opponent who communicated nonaggressive intentions. The subjects behaved in a nonaggressive manner toward both the black and the white target. It was proposed that prejudice facilitates indiscriminate aggression in the presence of a clear threat and selective aggression in the presence of ambiguous threat.     

The relationship between aggressive and sexual behavior in male mice: Effects of testosterone and parachlorophenylalanine

The purpose of this study was to clarify the connection between aggressive and sexual behavior with the aid of testosterone propionate (TP) and parachlorophenylalanine (PCPA). Previous studies have indicated that aggressive and sexual behavior are positively correlated, and it has been suggested that both behaviors are related to the level of general arousal. Testosterone has documented effects on both aggressive and sexual behavior. It has been hypothesized that these effects are due to an increased level of general arousal. If this is the case, aggressive and sexual behavior could be restored by administration of drugs excitating the central nervous system, e.g., PCPA. The present study examined the effects of TP and PCPA on aggressive and sexual behavior in gonadectomized male mice. Control animals were injected with sesame seed oil or saline. The level of aggressiveness was assessed by means of dyadic tests with gonad-intact male opponents. For the sexuality tests, a receptive female was placed in the home cage of the experimental male. The results showed that male mice injected with PCPA were more aggressive than the males of the other groups, while the TP-exposed males expressed the most sexual activity. Compared to the control group, the PCPA and TP groups were more active in both the aggression and the sexuality tests. These findings lend support to the hypothesis that the earlier documented correlations between aggressive and sexual behavior could be due to both behaviors being dependent on a certain level of general activation. Aggr. Behav. 24:367–377, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Immigrant youth of Indian origin: Generational differences in self-critical perfectionism

A community sample of foreign-born first generation (n = 53) and U.S.-born secondgeneration (n = 57) youth of Indian origin (ages 18–25) was studied. Variables predicting self-critical perfectionism were perceived prejudice, enculturation, and communication difficulty with parents and their interaction with generation status. The differences between the two generations pointed to nuanced self-pressures of Indian immigrant youth, despite good academic standing and middle-class family income. Implications discuss counseling with Indian immigrant youth.     

Racial Colorblindness and Confidence in and Likelihood of Action to Address Prejudice

In this study, we examined the association between racial colorblindness and inaction to address prejudice. Conceptualized as a type of legitimizing ideology that maintains societal inequality, we hypothesized that colorblindness would be associated with less confidence in and lower likelihood of engaging in action to address prejudice. Our study examined the role of affective variables in explaining the link between colorblindness and inaction, as well as explored potential racial group differences. We used multigroup structural equation modeling analysis to test for measurement and structural invariance of our hypothesized model across White, Asian American, and Underrepresented racial minority (i.e., African American, Latinx American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Native American, and Multiracial students from Underrepresented groups) college students. In Study 1 (n = 1,125), we found that greater colorblindness was indirectly associated with less confidence in action through affective variables (e.g., intergroup empathy, and positive and negative emotions during intergroup interactions). In Study 2 (n = 1,356), we found that greater colorblindness was indirectly related to less likelihood of action through intergroup empathy. In both studies, we demonstrated measurement and structural invariance across racial groups, indicating that our hypothesized model functioned similarly across White, Underrepresented, and Asian American students. Our findings have implications for future research and practice to challenge colorblindness and to promote engagement in actions to reduce prejudice.