The Spirit of Truth

This article reflects on the theme of the “spirit of truth” in a post-truth era – a time in which objective truth seems to no longer exist, any given claim can be substantiated, and it is no longer possible to tell falsehood and truth apart. Focusing on the objectivity of science, the humanity of truth, and the spirit of truth revealed by divinity, the article argues for the adoption of a humane and ecological wisdom, seeing it as a way to deal with humanity’s immense knowledge in a way that is conducive to life, to avoid optimizing humans in a “trans-human” way and making the earth uninhabitable.     

程序公正与权威信任:公共政策可接受性机制

中国正处于深刻的社会转型和社会变迁时期,社会风险加剧。其中一个重要的表征就是群体性事件频发。事件的背后,反映出民众对公共政策的不认可,如果公共政策的制定和执行不能充分考虑民众的接受性,极有可能构成新的社会风险,威胁社会稳定。因此,如何有效地提高民众对公共政策的接受性已经成为我国亟需解决的重大问题。项目欲建立程序公正、结果宜人性和权威信任(认知信任和情感信任)对公共政策可接受性、政府满意度的影响模型,从而有效提升政策可接受性。拟在不同的公共政策情境中通过Scenario、实验室模拟实验和问卷调查,探明程序公正和结果宜人性对政策可接受性、政府满意度的交互作用机制,以及权威信任对此交互作用机制的边界效应,并在此基础上进一步分析认知信任和情感信任对于政策可接受性、政府满意度及其因子关系的调节作用。研究成果可用于提高民众对政策的满意度,为政府制定政策提供科学依据。     

How Politicians’ Reelection Efforts Can Reduce Public Trust,Electoral Support,and Policy Approval

Politicians’ desire for reelection motivates them to be responsive to voters’ policy preferences. In the traditional view, voters choose between candidates based on their delivery of favorable outcomes such as ideologically appealing policies or a prospering economy. However, research in psychology shows that, in addition to outcomes, people care about procedural fairness and, particularly, impartial decision‐makers who make decisions without personal motives and interests. This, I argue, confronts politicians with a delicate task: politicians must present voters with favorable policy outcomes but without appearing as if they pursue these policies based on a personal, vote‐maximizing motive for reelection. In four survey experiments, I find support for this argument. Participants were significantly less inclined to trust and vote for politicians and support their policies when political decisions were described as motivated by reelection considerations than when no such motive was present. The findings advance our understanding of how citizens view political representation and have important implications for research on public opinion, legislative behavior, and democratic theory.     

Assessing the Predictive Accuracy of hMLH1 and hMSH2 Mutation Probability Models

Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is characterized by a susceptibility to colorectal and extra-colonic cancers. Several guidelines exist for the identification of families suspected of having HNPCC, however these guidelines lack adequate sensitivity and specificity. In an attempt to improve accuracy for the detection of individuals with HNPCC, the Wijnen pre-test probability model (1998) and Myriad Genetics Laboratory prevalence table (2004) were developed. Here we evaluate the Wijnen model and Myriad table at predicting the presence of a mutation in individuals undergoing genetic testing for HNPCC. Forty-nine patients who had undergone genetic testing for germline mutations in hMLH1 and/or hMSH2 were part of our analysis. Our results revealed that the revised Bethesda guidelines performed with the highest sensitivity for germline mutations (94.4%), however the specificity was low (12.9%). Using a 10.0% mutation probability threshold, the Wijnen model and Myriad table had sensitivities of 55.6 and 60.0%, respectively and specificities of 54.8 and 23.8%, respectively. The Wijnen model and Myriad table were poor predictors of mutation prevalence, which is shown by the areas underneath their corresponding receiver operator characteristic curves (0.616 and 0.400, respectively). The results of this study demonsrate that neither the Wijnen model nor the Myriad table are sensitive or specific enough to be used as the only indication when to offer genetic testing for HNPCC.     

Trust in hybrid human-automated decision-support

Research has examined trust in humans and trust in automated decision support. Although reflecting a likely realization of decision support in high-risk tasks such as personnel selection, trust in hybrid human-automation teams has thus far received limited attention. In two experiments (N₁ = 170, N₂ = 154) we compare trust, trustworthiness, and trusting behavior for different types of decision-support (automated, human, hybrid) across two assessment contexts (personnel selection, bonus payments). We additionally examined a possible trust violation by presenting one group of participants a preselection that included predominantly male candidates, thus reflecting possible unfair bias. Whereas fully-automated decisions were trusted less, results suggest that trust in hybrid decision support was similar to trust in human-only support. Trust violations were not perceived differently based on the type of support. We discuss theoretical (e.g., trust in hybrid support) and practical implications (e.g., keeping humans in the loop to prevent negative reactions).     

Don't trust anybody: Conspiracy mentality and the detection of facial trustworthiness cues

Conspiracy theories express mistrust in common explanations and epistemic authorities. Independent of concrete content, the extent of endorsing conspiracy theories has also shown associations with interpersonal mistrust. Arguing from an evolutionary and error-management perspective, this increased interpersonal mistrust could either represent an enhanced sensitivity to untrustworthiness cues, or a limited ability to recognize trustworthiness, or non-specific mistrust without differentiations between (un)trustworthiness cues. In two experimental studies (N = 563), we manipulated facial trustworthiness and tested the differentiation of trustworthiness evaluations as a function of conspiracy mentality. We found that conspiracy mentality was associated with a generalized tendency to perceive others as untrustworthy, independent of facial trustworthiness, speaking to non-specific manifestations of mistrust. However, the association between conspiracy mentality and trust became non-significant once age was accounted for in Study 1. We discuss how conspiracy mentality may be associated with an increased propensity to view the world as having malevolent intentions.     

The adjustment of social trust and Internet use on cognitive bias in social status: Perspective of performance perception

People in different social statuses have different perceptions due to differences in cognition. Combined with the characteristics of public behaviour and cognition, this study examined the impact of the widespread cognitive biases in social status on performance perception. This study used the ordinary least squares model to verify that the cognitive bias in social status has a significant positive impact on the perception of social governance performance. At the same time, a moderated mediation model was constructed to verify that social trust plays a partial mediating role in the influence mechanism of cognitive bias in social status on the perception of social governance performance. The use of the Internet significantly inhibited the influence of cognitive bias in social status on the perception of social governance performance. Although it also weakened the influence of cognitive bias in social status on social trust, the moderating effect on the mediating effect is not obvious. This study verifies and analyses the internal relationship and mechanism of social status cognition deviation and perception of social governance performance from multidisciplinary dimensions, which enriches the social cognition theory of social status, and expands the research on the perception of social governance performance.     

Proximate Exposure to Conflict and the Spatiotemporal Correlates of Social Trust

How does exposure to conflict events shape social trust? Research in political psychology predicts that conflict exacerbates group divisions, enhancing ingroup solidarities while simultaneously reducing outgroup trust. Experimental research has found support for these predictions, and yet measuring the impact of conflict on trust beyond the laboratory is difficult. For example, questions about the lasting salience of experimental treatments remain a challenge in the study of conflict. We develop an empirical strategy using geo-coded individual-level survey data from the Afrobarometer project and geo-coded conflict-event data. We draw spatial and temporal buffers around each survey respondent that allow us to test whether proximate exposure to conflict events correlates with lower social trust, as well as how far and long that salience lasts. We find that exposure to conflict reduces generalized and outgroup trust, as predicted. Contrary to our expectations, we find that it reduces ingroup trust. We investigate further and find that ingroup trust suffers most when respondents live in homogenous ethnic enclaves. Furthermore, we advance an argument that the effects of exposure to conflict are mitigated over distance and time. Our results indicate that the effect diminishes over both time and space.     

Forms of trust in education and development

In this article an analysis of trust is given and two basic forms of trust are distinguished, viz., trust in powers and trust in inclinations. These forms of trust allow us to gain a better understanding in the pivotal role trust plays in the relationship between caretakers, parents and children. It is argued that it makes no sense to speak about basic mistrust of infants, and that having unlimited trust in the inclinations of adults is only a virtue in children. By having trust in both the powers and inclinations of children, parents stimulate the development of their self-confidence and moral identity.     

组织内信任对任务绩效的影响效应

通过问卷调查,对组织内信任与工作绩效之间的关系进行了研究。研究采用结构方程建模方法,通过建构6个嵌套模型和2个非嵌套模型,将其与假设模型进行比较验证研究假设。结果表明,个体对于直接领导、同事和高层管理者的信任都会对个体的工作绩效产生影响,并且彼此间的效应相互独立,彼此互补。同时,研究也讨论了多种不同信任对个体工作行为产生影响的过程中,个体对不同对象知觉对其行为复杂影响,并发现对高层管理者信任对工作绩效的影响效应部分由对直接领导的信任中介