Dynamics of Interpersonal Political Environment and Party Identification: Longitudinal Studies of Voting in Japan and New Zealand

The dynamical systems theory of groups claims that interpersonal political environment and party identification are dynamically interrelated to provide heuristics under uncertainty. Panel data over the course of a year examined the longitudinal dynamics between social networks, social identifications, and voting behavior among a national sample of registered voters in Japan and a regional sample in Wellington, New Zealand. Respondents with more stable party identification had greater stability in the political preferences of their interpersonal network in both countries; moreover, stability in party identification was predicted by interpersonal political environment and older age in both countries. Stability of party identification predicted voting consistency in both countries, whereas stability of interpersonal political environment made an independent contribution to voting consistency in Japan only. There were cultural differences in levels of interpersonal political environment stability, but the amount of political discussion and ideological stability did not make independent contributions to any of the three main variables. Results provided support for the dynamical systems theory of groups.     

An exploration of the interplay between psychological sense of community,social identification and salience

Past research indicates that there is a strong relationship between the constructs of psychological sense of community (PSOC) and social identification. The current study draws on data (N = 219) examining participants' membership in a number of different communities to present an examination of the relationship between these constructs. In particular, the study examines the relative strength of the separate aspects of social identification (based on Cameron's 2004, Three Factor Model of Social Identification) as predictors of overall PSOC, accounting for situational salience. Results indicate that Ingroup Ties is consistently the strongest predictor of PSOC and that the strength of Ingroup Affect and Centrality alter according to the group or community context. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed in terms of the interplay and overlap of these important community processes. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

聋生汉字识别的同音判断与启动效应实验研究

本研究采用暂同形似、音同形异、音异形似和无关字四类汉字字组为实验材料．每类字组都按汉字使用频率分为低频字、中频字、高频字三种．对使用手语聋生和使用口语聋生进行了同音判断和启动效应实验,旨在探究聋生在汉字识别过程中语音编码所起的作用。实验结果表明,在聋生汉字识别中,字形的知觉加工对提取语音具有非常重要的作用,但语音的提取对聋生来说非常困难。不同字频对不同字组的同音判断成绩的影响不同,表明聋生对不同汉字的语音意识不同。聋生在汉字识别中存在语音混淆和字形混淆的现象,说明语音编码和字形编码在汉字识别过程中都起了重要的作用。字频对聋生汉字识别的影响也不同,同频字产生语音特征的影响;低频字产生字形特征的影响;而中频字都不产生语音特征和字形特征的影响。     

Research on face recognition: The Aberdeen influence

The review of ‘Recognizing faces’ by Hadyn Ellis, published in the British Journal of Psychology in 1975, marked the genesis of a distinct field of research. This seminal review sprang from a broader programme of research on face recognition conducted at the University of Aberdeen, whose influence continues to be felt in what has become an internationally important research area. We discuss the background to the Aberdeen research, summarize some of its achievements, and offer reasons why it proved so successful. These reasons include the synergy between theory and practice‐based studies, the value of combining different perspectives and sources of evidence, sound techniques that led to easily reproducible findings, and the emphasis on testing even the most ‘common sense’ assumptions.     

Fitting identity in the reasoned action framework: A meta-analysis and model comparison

Several competing models have been put forth regarding the role of identity in the reasoned action framework. The standard model proposes that identity is a background variable. Under a typical augmented model, identity is treated as an additional direct predictor of intention and behavior. Alternatively, it has been proposed that identity measures are inadvertent indicators of an underlying intention factor (e.g., a manifest-intention model). In order to test these competing hypotheses, we used data from 73 independent studies (total N = 23,917) to conduct a series of meta-analytic structural equation models. We also tested for moderation effects based on whether there was a match between identity constructs and the target behaviors examined (e.g., if the study examined a “smoker identity” and “smoking behavior,” there would be a match; if the study examined a “health conscious identity” and “smoking behavior,” there would not be a match). Average effects among primary reasoned action variables were all substantial, rs = .37–.69. Results gave evidence for the manifest-intention model over the other explanations, and a moderation effect by identity-behavior matching.     

Nostalgia in response to group‐based exclusion: The role of attachment‐related avoidance

We proposed that nostalgia, by virtue of its sociality, can be an indirect strategy to counteract relational deficiencies stemming from group‐based exclusion. We instructed Greek participants to recall an event in which they experienced exclusion on the basis of their nationality versus a control event. We anticipated that participants would react to group‐based exclusion with increased nostalgia. Specifically, because low attachment‐related avoidance facilitates proximity‐seeking in response to distress, we hypothesized that group‐based exclusion would increase nostalgia (a form of proximity‐seeking) more strongly when avoidance is low. Results supported this moderation hypothesis. In turn, increased nostalgia in response to group‐based exclusion predicted stronger ingroup identification. For low‐avoidants, then, group‐based exclusion fortified ingroup identification via increased nostalgia (moderated mediation).     

Group identity as a source of threat and means of compensation: Establishing personal control through group identification and ideology

Compensatory control theory proposes that individuals can assuage threatened personal control by endorsing external systems or agents that provide a sense that the world is meaningfully ordered. Recent research drawing on this perspective finds that one means by which individuals can compensate for a loss of control is adherence to ideological beliefs about the social world. This prior work, however, has largely neglected the role of social groups in defining either the nature of control threat or the means by which individuals compensate for these threats. In four experiments (N = 466), we test the possibility that group‐based threats to personal control can be effectively managed by defensively identifying with the threatened group and its values. We provide evidence for the specificity of these effects by demonstrating that defensive identification and ideology endorsement are specific to the content of the group‐based threat.     

Evaluating Political Acculturation Strategies: The Perspective of the Majority and Other Minority Groups

Applying the acculturation framework to the political domain, this research examines how Dutch majority members and members of different minority groups evaluate the political acculturation strategies of an immigrant‐origin group. Using an experimental vignette design (N = 664), the results show that the strategy of political assimilation (only advance the interests of society) was evaluated most positively, followed by integration (advance the interest of society and of the minority group), and then separation (only advance the interest of the minority group). This was found for the native Dutch as well as the immigrant‐origin groups. This suggest that minority members do not view minority outgroups as potential allies to counter the dominance of the majority group, but rather as competitors for political influence. Furthermore, the role of dual identification for the evaluation of ingroup political acculturation depended on the type of political acculturation strategy.     

Inflammatory projective identification in fundamentalist religious and economic terrorism

Abstract

This paper contains the reflections and thoughts of the author, a psychoanalyst and consultant psychotherapist who through his work with violent patients at the Portman Clinic, and later as a specialist consultant with migrants, asylum seekers and political groups has developed some understanding of lone attackers and terrorist behaviour. He uses psychoanalytic theories such as inflammatory projective identification to understand how people can become inflamed through their experience of exploitation, economic and political hegemony, and loss of identity, so that they turn to violent evacuations into others. This violence toward the other is also reflected he says in western economic policy which has also been violent toward those who have been exploited through colonialism and more recently an unfettered market driven economy. This provides the drive to grievance and hate that can be so easily exploited by unscrupulous fundamentalist regimes.     

Culture and group-based emotions: could group-based emotions be dialectical?

Group-based emotions are experienced when individuals are engaged in emotion-provoking events that implicate the in-group. This research examines the complexity of group-based emotions, specifically a concurrence of positive and negative emotions, focusing on the role of dialecticism, or a set of folk beliefs prevalent in Asian cultures that views nature and objects as constantly changing, inherently contradictory, and fundamentally interconnected. Study 1 found that dialecticism is positively associated with the complexity of Chinese participants’ group-based emotions after reading a scenario depicting a positive intergroup experience. Study 2 found that Chinese participants experienced more complex group-based emotions compared with Dutch participants in an intergroup situation and that this cultural difference was mediated by dialecticism. Study 3 manipulated dialecticism and confirmed its causal effect on complex group-based emotions. These studies also suggested the role of a balanced appraisal of an intergroup situation as a mediating factor.