Contact quality and positive attitudes towards immigrants: The moderation of generalised trust.

In the context of international migration, intergroup contact has been widely recognised as a strategy for enhancing host populations' positive attitudes towards immigrants. However, the moderating factors that influence this association have been relatively understudied. In this research, we propose that generalised trust plays a significant role as a moderator in the relationship between the quality and quantity of intergroup contact and the positive attitudes of Chileans towards Peruvian and Venezuelan immigrants. We hypothesize that both types of contact will be associated with more positive attitudes towards immigrants in hosts with generalised trust (vs. no generalised trust). Using a sample of 916 Chilean participants, we conducted a linear regression analysis to test our hypotheses, and results show us a moderation effect only with contact quality. These findings have theoretical and practical implications, particularly in understanding how the moderation effect of generalised trust can contribute to improving intergroup attitudes.

Happiness Maximization Is a WEIRD Way of Living.

Psychological science tends to treat subjective well-being and happiness synonymously. We start from the assumption that subjective well-being is more than being happy to ask the fundamental question: What is the ideal level of happiness? From a cross-cultural perspective, we propose that the idealization of attaining maximum levels of happiness may be especially characteristic of Western, educated, industrial, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies but less so for others. Searching for an explanation for why "happiness maximization" might have emerged in these societies, we turn to studies linking cultures to their eco-environmental habitat. We discuss the premise that WEIRD cultures emerged in an exceptionally benign ecological habitat (i.e., faced relatively light existential pressures compared with other regions). We review the influence of the Gulf Stream on the Northwestern European climate as a source of these comparatively benign geographical conditions. We propose that the ecological conditions in which WEIRD societies emerged afforded them a basis to endorse happiness as a value and to idealize attaining its maximum level. To provide a nomological network for happiness maximization, we also studied some of its potential side effects, namely alcohol and drug consumption and abuse and the prevalence of mania. To evaluate our hypothesis, we reanalyze data from two large-scale studies on ideal levels of personal life satisfaction-the most common operationalization of happiness in psychology-involving respondents from 61 countries. We conclude that societies whose members seek to maximize happiness tend to be characterized as WEIRD, and generalizing this across societies can prove problematic if adopted at the ideological and policy level.

Trust predicts COVID-19 prescribed and discretionary behavioral intentions in 23 countries.

The worldwide spread of a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) since December 2019 has posed a severe threat to individuals' well-being. While the world at large is waiting that the released vaccines immunize most citizens, public health experts suggest that, in the meantime, it is only through behavior change that the spread of COVID-19 can be controlled. Importantly, the required behaviors are aimed not only at safeguarding one's own health. Instead, individuals are asked to adapt their behaviors to protect the community at large. This raises the question of which social concerns and moral principles make people willing to do so. We considered in 23 countries (N = 6948) individuals' willingness to engage in prescribed and discretionary behaviors, as well as country-level and individual-level factors that might drive such behavioral intentions. Results from multilevel multiple regressions, with country as the nesting variable, showed that publicized number of infections were not significantly related to individual intentions to comply with the prescribed measures and intentions to engage in discretionary prosocial behaviors. Instead, psychological differences in terms of trust in government, citizens, and in particular toward science predicted individuals' behavioral intentions across countries. The more people endorsed moral principles of fairness and care (vs. loyalty and authority), the more they were inclined to report trust in science, which, in turn, statistically predicted prescribed and discretionary behavioral intentions. Results have implications for the type of intervention and public communication strategies that should be most effective to induce the behavioral changes that are needed to control the COVID-19 outbreak.

Analisis factorial de la escala de hostilidad de Cook y Medley. estudio en un grupo de estudiantes universitarios de Lima Metropolitana / A factorial analysis of Cook and Medley's hostility scale in a group of University students in Lima Metropolitan

La Escala de Hostilidad de Cook y Medley (Ho) ha sido descrita en numerosos artículos como uno de los reactivos psicométricos más empleados en la medición de esta variable psicológica. En reconocimiento de una relación positiva entre puntajes altos en la Ho y la presencia de enfermedades cardiovasculares, generó que los investigadores estudiaran con mayor detenimiento esta escala, concluyendo que lo que realmente estaría midiendo es una manifestación de la hostilidad llamada cinismo. El cinismo ha sido descrito como un conjunto de actitudes negativas de desprecio y falta de confianza en las personas. La presente investigación indagó en la estructura interna y la validez de constructor de la Escala de Cook y Medley aplicada a 1473 estudiantes universitarios de ambos sexos. Los resultados revelaron la presencia de 5 factores: Desconfianza cínica (29 items), Oportunismo (5 items), Hipocresía (3 items), Fariseísmo (4 items) y recelo (3 items).

La hostilidad y su relación con los trastornos cardiaco-coronarios: aspectos teoricos y validación de la escala de hostilidad de cook y medley en un grupo de estudiantes universitarios de Lima Metropolitana / The hostility and relation with the disorders cardiac-coronary: theorical aspects and validation oh the score of hostility of Cook and Medley in a group of university students at Lima Metropolotana

El presente trabajo reporta el proceso de validación, determinación de la confiabilidad y normalización de la Escala de Hostilidad de Cook & Medley en un grupo de estudiantes universitarios de Lima Metropolitana. Los autores hacen una revisión teórica de las relaciones entre hostilidad y problemas cardiovasculares, comentando los principales hallazgos reportados en la literatura internacional. Seguidamente, presentan la Escala de Hostilidad de Coof & Medley, un reactivo derivado del MMPI, discutiendo su origen, propiedades psicométricas e importancia para el estudio de los factores psicológicos en el origen de las enfermedades cardiaco-coronarias. Por último, informan acerca del proceso de aplicación de dicha escala a 1026 estudiantes universitarios entre 16 y 29 años de edad (490 hombres y 536 mujeres), quienes respondieron de modo anónimo y colectivo la versión castellana del reactivo. A través del procesamiento estadístico correspondiente se estableció una validación estadística satisfactoria para 37 de los 50 items que la escala tiene en su versión original. El alpha obtenido es asimismo alto (0.80). Se presentan las normas para la población con la cual se ha trabajado.

Validación del inventario de autoreporte de conducta tipo A de Blumenthal et al / Validation of the type A self-rating inventory by J. A. Blumenthal et al

Se describe el proceso de adaptación y validación del Type A Self-Rating Inventory, de J.A. Blumenthal et al. en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios. El instrumento comprende 21 items que evalúan el Patrón de Conducta Tipo A (PCTA), caracterizado por alta competitividad, impaciencia, intenso compromiso con el trabajo, hostilidad y un agudo sentido de urgencia; considerado por muchos investigadores como uno de los factores que originan transtornos coronarios; 7 iotems, que evalúan Conducta Tipo B (rasgos opuestos al PCTA)., 1145 estudiantes de una universidad privada de Lima Metropolitana (639 mujeres; 20.4 años de edad en promedio; y, 506 hombres, 21.3) respondieron una versión castellana preparada por los autores. Hombres y mujeres obtuvieron promedios muy parecidos (hombres 114.83, DS 15.31; mujeres, 116.48 DS 16.10) 14 de los 28 items arrojaron diferencias estadísticas significativas en relación al sexo. Las correlaciones item-total establecieron validez de 23 items (0.0001), mientras que 5 arrojaron correlaciones bajas pero estadísticamente significativas. La confiabilidad fue igualmente elevada (alpha = 0.76). Los autores presentan normas para la población con la cual trabajaron y formulan un conjunto de reflexiones acerca del PCTA y su significado para la psicología de la salud.