Anger in Wikipedia: Perceived intentionality and threat appraisal as mediators of anger about man‐made attacks

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia has established strict guidelines for the objectivity of content. At the same time, Wikipedia includes articles on negative events, such as disasters or man‐made attacks. These events can elicit strong emotions, which in turn may spill over into Wikipedia articles. Previous research has shown that Wikipedia articles on man‐made attacks contain more anger‐related content than Wikipedia articles on disasters. Building on these findings, we aimed to investigate whether the threat that Wikipedia authors experience when they learn of an attack is relevant as a factor in explaining the anger effect. Threat is known to elicit active and engaged reactions, such as anger, which is why it is a likely explaining factor. Our research also aimed to replicate the findings from the linguistic analysis of the Wikipedia articles using controlled scenario‐based laboratory experiments. Three studies demonstrated that man‐made attacks (terrorist attack, shooting rampage) elicited more threat, more anger, and more expressions of anger‐related content in Wikipedia texts than nature‐made disasters (earthquake, flood) and man‐made disasters (train accident). Moreover, threat was relevant as a factor in explaining the effects on anger and anger‐related content in the Wikipedia texts. These mediations could be explained by the perceived intentionality of the event. This research highlights the findings that perceived intentionality and threat are relevant mediating factors for feelings and expressions of anger after man‐made attacks.     

Serious misapplications of military research: dysfunction between conception and implementation

Researchers and technologists involved in the development of weapon systems can take their work to such extremes as to cause unplanned injury or death to others and lasting damage to the environment, reviewed here. In some cases innocent human casualties and ecological harm may actually be programmed and achieved. An analysis is proffered, attributing blame, and indicating efforts to correct the situation. The ethics involved are “complexified”, moral boundaries are exceeded, and humanity is transgressed as it develops solutions to the problem. The license to make mistakes becomes more limited with the passing of the years... Primo Levi, chemist¹ To use the term coined in 1994 by John L. Casti of the Santa Fe Institute.     

Do Threats Galvanize Authoritarians or Mobilize Nonauthoritarians? Experimental Tests from 19 European Societies

Authoritarian predispositions and contextual threats are both thought to result in intolerance and prejudice towards immigrants and other minorities. Yet there is considerable dispute as to how authoritarianism and threat interact to produce an “authoritarian dynamic.” Some scholars argue that threats increase intolerance by “galvanizing” authoritarians. Others claim that authoritarians are always intolerant toward outgroups, with threat instead “mobilizing” nonauthoritarians. Using experimental manipulations of immigrant cultural threat embedded in nationally representative samples from 19 European societies, this study offers a test of these competing hypotheses. While we find some evidence for the “galvanizing” hypothesis, we find no evidence for the “mobilizing” hypothesis. The effects vary considerably across national samples however, with immigrants from Muslim societies being particularly likely to activate authoritarian predispositions. These findings show how the migration of culturally distinctive groups has the potential to activate authoritarian dispositions, thereby pushing the issue of immigration to the center of political debates.     

Paradoxical olfactory function in combat Veterans: The role of PTSD and odor factors

Stress- and trauma-related disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are characterized by an increased sensitivity to threat cues. Given that threat detection is a critical function of olfaction and that combat trauma is commonly associated with burning odors, we sought a better understanding of general olfactory function as well as response to specific trauma-related (i.e. burning) odors in combat-related PTSD. Trauma-exposed combat Veterans with (n = 22) and without (n = 25) PTSD were assessed for general and specific odor sensitivities using a variety of tools. Both groups had similar general odor detection thresholds. However, the combat Veterans with PTSD, compared to combat Veterans with comparable trauma exposure but without PTSD, had increased ratings of odor intensity, negative valence, and odor-triggered PTSD symptoms, along with a blunted heart rate in response to burning rubber odor. These findings are discussed within the context of healthy versus pathological changes in olfactory processing that occur over time after psychological trauma.     

Attentional biases for threat after fear-related autobiographical recall

Background : Previous studies suggested that affective state could enhance stimulus salience and modulate attention allocation for mood-congruent information, but contrasting data have been reported on the effects of mood induction on attentional biases for threat (ABTs) in non-clinical individuals.

Objective : We aimed to assess whether laboratory-induced negative mood can increase individuals’ tendency to allocate attention on threatening stimuli, thus determining a difficulty in attentional disengagement from threat. We also aimed at assessing whether level of trait anxiety could modulate the effect of mood induction on attentional biases.

Methods : We used an autobiographical episode recall procedure for mood induction (fear, happiness and neutral episode recall), and an exogenous cueing task with threatening and non-threatening images to assess attentional biases in 120 undergraduate students.

Results: Participants showed a significant difficulty in disengaging attention from threat after recalling fear-related episodes, independently from their trait anxiety level.

Conclusions: These findings clarify that the ABTs are not exclusive to anxiety disorders or high trait anxiety individuals, and could also arise in non-clinical individuals in a fearful context.     

Optimizing stress responses with reappraisal and mindset interventions: an integrated model

Background: The dominant perspective in society is that stress has negative consequences, and not surprisingly, the vast majority of interventions for coping with stress focus on reducing the frequency or severity of stressors. However, the effectiveness of stress attenuation is limited because it is often not possible to avoid stressors, and avoiding or minimizing stress can lead individuals to miss opportunities for performance and growth. Thus, during stressful situations, a more efficacious approach is to optimize stress responses (i.e., promote adaptive, approach-motivated responses).

Objectives and Conclusions: In this review, we demonstrate how stress appraisals (e.g., [Jamieson, J. P., Nock, M. K., & Mendes, W. B. (2012). Mind over matter: reappraising arousal improves cardiovascular and cognitive responses to stress. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141(3), 417–422. doi:10.1037/a0025719]) and stress mindsets (e.g., [Crum, A. J., Salovey, P., & Achor, S. (2013). Rethinking stress: The role of mindsets in determining the stress response. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(4), 716–733. doi:10.1037/a0031201]) can be used as regulatory tools to optimize stress responses, facilitate performance, and promote active coping. Respectively, these interventions invite individuals to (a) perceive stress responses as functional and adaptive, and (b) see the opportunity inherent in stress. We then propose a novel integration of reappraisal and mindset models to maximize the utility and effectiveness of stress optimization. Additionally, we discuss future directions with regard to how stress responses unfold over time and between people to impact outcomes in the domains of education, organizations, and clinical science.     

Immigrant students’ educational trajectories: The influence of cultural identity and stereotype threat

Research has shown that stereotype threat can inhibit immigrant students to unlock their full potential. Individual differences in cultural identity could be associated with immigrants’ stereotype vulnerability. This longitudinal study (n = 516) investigates the influence of recurring experiences of stereotype threat at school, and how adolescent immigrants’ cultural identity and stereotype vulnerability affect their educational achievement. The results show a stronger decline of immigrants’ (vs. non-immigrants’) GPA, domain identification, and sense of academic belonging, as well as higher dropout rates. Higher stereotype vulnerability predicted a stronger decline in GPA, and lower levels of academic belonging. Stronger ethnic identity was related to higher stereotype vulnerability. An experimental belonging treatment failed to improve students’ educational achievement. This research combines stereotype threat and acculturation research within the educational context.     

Show me what threatens you,and I can tell who you are: Perception of threat and the self

Abstract

This article proposes a methodical way to understand the self from the angle of psychologically meaningful threat. On the basis of systematic cross-cultural examination of threats to core self-motives, this comprises the notion of self as being most reliably described by instances in which a person shows a motivated response to information from the social environment. Building on accounts of cultural differences in self- construal, this approach allows insight into self-related processes, because motivated responses to self-threat should depend on how the self is defined in the social space. The research conducted from this approach has examined cultural differences to threats to freedom, belonging and consistency. For people with a collectivistic cultural background, as well as for those with a more interdependent self-construal within a given culture, responses to freedom, belonging and consistency threats were less intense, particularly when threats were directed at the individual sense of self. Looking at the self from this perspective further allows for insight into underlying mechanisms into self-related processes, as well as for more direct information on the influence of context on what constitutes the self.     

Features of Coping Strategies in Overcoming Extreme Critical Situations: A Study on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Liquidators and Antiterrorist Participants

The present study investigated and compared coping strategies and self-perception of psychopathological symptoms or disorders and radiation threat at different times in 122 cleanup workers (liquidators) of the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in 76 liquidators who were also evacuated from the contaminated area, in 81 participants in antiterrorist operations (ATO), and in 84 individuals who were not liquidators or ATO combatants. The results showed that liquidators used a variety of coping strategies, while ATO participants and control subjects mainly used problem-oriented strategies. In all groups, coping subscale scores showed positive correlations with the radiation hazard factor that in turn increased the self-perception of psychopathological symptoms or disorders. Taken together, these findings would suggest that life-threatening stressors related to IR might increase the vulnerability toward developing psychopathological disorders and symptoms.     

Will we be harmed,will it be severe,can we protect ourselves? Threat appraisals predict collective angst (and its consequences)

Across four studies, we applied the cognitive model of anxiety to explicate the appraisals that elicit collective angst (i.e., concern for the in‐group's future vitality). In Study 1a, consistent with the model, Québécois experienced collective angst when they appraised the following: (1) a threat as likely to harm their group, (2) a threat as severely harming their group, and (3) Québécois as not having efficacy to protect their group. In Study 1b, results were replicated in the context of the realistic threat that Islamic extremists pose to Christian‐Lebanese. In Studies 2a and 2b, we manipulated the three appraisals and found a similar pattern of results in the context of a potential terrorist attack on American soil by Islamic extremists. Importantly, collective angst mediated the threat appraisal effect on (non‐Muslim) Americans' prejudice towards Muslims. The utility of the appraisal model for regulating collective angst (and thus its consequences) is discussed.