Violent Extremism and Moral Disengagement: A Study of Colombian Armed Groups.

Violent extremism is commonly conditioned by a variety of psychological processes and mechanisms that when activated or deactivated aid implication in extreme behavior, including destructive actions with a large dose of cruelty against people and groups. One of those processes is moral disengagement, which was originally postulated by Bandura. To test this relationship, the present research focused on studying these mechanisms in members of Colombian illegal armed groups. Total sample size was 18 (14 males and four females) demobilized members of the Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia [AUC]) and guerrilla organizations (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia [FARC], National Liberation Army [ELN], among others), which had participated directly or indirectly in violent actions against people and groups, which included murders, tortures, and massacres. Qualitative methodology was used, specifically in-depth interviews and content analysis. This analysis led to the verification in the narratives of the participants of the use of all the mechanisms of moral disengagement described by Bandura aiming to justify their behavior within the armed group. The most noteworthy mechanisms were those that minimized participation (especially, attributing behavior to obeying orders: displacement of responsibility) and moral justification, especially, the context of confrontation. Moral disengagement processes are found in armed group members (such as insurgency, terrorist organizations, or militias). These mechanisms cancel ordinary psychological reactions of rejection, fear, and moral controls that oppose the carrying out of cruelty and extreme violence.

A Proposal for Evaluating Psychosocial Trauma.

BACKGROUND: The objective of the study was to design and validate the Psychosocial Trauma Scale (ETAPS) for assessing psychosocial consequences of collective violence. This instrument proposed the following dimensions: Pre-traumatic Situation, Destruction of Fundamental Beliefs, Intergroup Emotions, and Family and Community Destruction. METHOD: A total of 382 people participated who had been affected by political violence: civil war in El Salvador, forced displacement from Colombia and state violence from Chile. The study had three phases: (1) content validity of the items evaluated by experts; (2) exploratory factor analysis to study the structure of ETAPS, reducing the number of items; (3) convergent (post-traumatic stress symptomatology) and divergent (psychological and social well-being) validity. RESULTS: The EFA showed that ETAPS had a slightly different internal structure from that proposed. The dimensions found were Pre-traumatic Situation and Intergroup Emotions along with two new emerging dimensions: Destruction of Sociality and Personal and Collective Self-Efficacy. Divergent and convergent validity gave expected results except for the pre-traumatic situation. CONCLUSIONS: The ETAPS dimensions show that the effects of violence are broader than the symptoms measured by clinical scales. An instrument with adequate psychometric properties was obtained which will be useful for future studies in the area.

Effects of a community resilience intervention program on victims of forced displacement: A case study.

This article describes the effects of an intervention program that uses community resilience and the psychological, social, and subjective well-being of victims of forced displacement as a reference framework. Following a multiple instrumental case study methodology with pre-post-intervention measurements, the cases of eight people were analyzed, six women and two men between the ages of 30 and 65, low socioeconomic and educational level, all of whom had been victims of forced displacement and currently reside in Ibagué where the intervention program was performed. The reliable change index was applied to estimate the effects of the program. In each case, participation in the program significantly improved the results of certain variables, but there were differences between the cases concerning the improvement levels and intensity. Therefore, the development of programs that reinforce community resilience can have positive effects on the perceptions of the participants regarding their well-being and social relationships.

Para una psicología social crítica no construccionista: reflexiones a partir del realismo crítico de Ignacio Martín-Baró / For a Critic Social Psychology Non-Constructionist: Reflexions from the Critic Realism of Ignacio Martín-Baró

Resumen La naturaleza sociohistóricamente construida y compartida del conocimiento y de la subjetividad que el construccionismo social parece haberse arrogado en propiedad, forma parte de la historia de la ciencia social. Por otra parte, la crítica al modelo causal-mecanicista como única fuente de conocimiento, que el movimiento construccionista considera una de sus principales aportaciones epistemológicas, se remonta nada menos que a Kant. La verdadera aportación del construccionismo social ha consistido en suprimir la experiencia como fuente del conocimiento y de la subjetividad, negar la existencia de una realidad externa al sujeto, mantenerse ontológicamente mudo frente a ella y desconfiar de la posibilidad de cambiarla. Parece evidente que sobre estos cimientos no es posible, tal y como se ha pretendido, construir una psicología social crítica. Frente a ella, y en sus antípodas, el realismo crítico de Martín-Baró parte de la existencia de una realidad objetiva cuyas injusticias y miserias denunció de manera insistente, se vale de métodos cuantitativos para analizarla; la estructura social es su marco de referencia preferido a la hora de estudiar las diversas modalidades y manifestaciones del comportamiento humano, no renuncia a la existencia de verdades parciales y sociohistóricamente situadas y define como objetivo de su quehacer teórico, el cambio social.

The sociohistorically built and created nature of knowledge and subjectivity that social constructionism seems to have arrogated is part of the history of social Science. Moreover, criticism to the casual mechanistic model as the only source of knowledge #that the constructionist movement considers as one of its main epistemological contributions# goes back to none other than Kant. The real contribu tion of social constructionism has consisted in deleting experience as a resource for knowledge and subjectivity, denying the existence of an extemal reality to the subject, keeping ontologically quiet towards it, and distrusting the possibility of changing it. It seems evident that building a critical social psychology upon these foundations is not possible. Opposing this, Martin-Baró's critical realism is based on the existence of an objective reality of which injustices and wretchedness he insistently denounced. This critical realism malees use of quantitative methods to analyze this objective reality, it holds social structure as its preferred framework when studying the different modalities and manifestations of human behavior, it does not deny the existent of partial and sociohistorically situated truths, and it identifies social change as the objective of its theoretical work.

New Evidence of Construct Validity Problems for Pettigrew and Meertens' (1995) Blatant and Subtle Prejudice Scale.

Given the current debate over the distinction between subtle and blatant prejudice, this study provides new evidence regarding problems with the construct validity of the Pettigrew and Meertens' Blatant and Subtle Prejudice Scale. To assess these issues, an existing data sample of 896 Chilean participants collected in 2010 was reanalyzed. The main analysis method used was a confirmatory factor analysis. The model that best represented the original theory (a model of two correlated second-order factors) had an improper solution due to the unidentified model. The scale has substantial psychometric problems, and it was not possible to distinguish between subtle and blatant prejudice.

The eudaimonic component of satisfaction with life and psychological well-being in Spanish cultures.

BACKGROUND: In the study of well-being there are two partially overlapping traditions that have been developed in parallel. Subjective well-being (SWB) has been associated with the hedonistic approach of well-being, and psychological well-being (PWB) with the eudaimonistic one. However, satisfaction with life, the most common SWB indicator, is not strictly a hedonic concept and contains many eudaimonic components. The objective of this research is to examine whether a Eudaimonic Well-being G-Factor of Satisfaction with Life (SWLS) and Psychological Well-being Scales (PWBS) emerges. METHOD: 400 people from the general population of Colombia (Study 1) and 401 from Spain (Study 2), recruited via advertisement, voluntarily participated and filled in a booklet containing, in order of appearance, the PWBS and the SWLS. RESULTS: According to our hypothesis, parallel analysis, eigenvalues, scree plot graphs and exploratory factor analysis (Study 1) suggested the existence of a one-factor structure. Confirmatory factor analysis (Study 2) indicated that this one-factor model provided excellent data fit. Results of a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis confirmed cross-cultural factor invariance. CONCLUSIONS: These results question the view that the satisfaction with life indicator is uniquely hedonic and point to the need for a greater integration between hedonic and eudaimonic traditions.

La ruta psicosocial del desplazamiento: una perspectiva de género / Psychosocial Pathway of Displacement: A Gender Perspective

Con cerca de cuatro millones de personas afectadas, el desplazamiento forzado constituye hoy en día uno de los mayores problemas sociales a los que se enfrenta la sociedad colombiana. Alrededor de la mitad de estos cuatro millones son mujeres. Este artículo toma como punto de partida varios estudios realizados en los últimos años en el Departamento de Psicología de la Universidad del Norte (Barranquilla) utilizando una metodología cualitativa (8 grupos focales con mujeres desplazadas). Fruto de estos estudios es la conclusión de que la experiencia del desplazamiento en las mujeres está claramente marcada por una ruta que tiene los siguientes episodios: a) la añoranza de la vida en el campo; b) la intempestiva llegada de la violencia y la decisión de huir; c) la vida en la ciudad de acogida y d) la esperanza en el futuro.

With approximately four million affected people, forced displacement is nowadays one of the largest social problems Colombian society must face. About half of these four million are women. This article uses various studies carried out in the last years at the Psychology Department of the Universidad del Norte (Barranquilla) based on qualitative methodology (8 focal groups with displaced women) as a starting point. As a result of these studies it is concluded that the experience of displacement is clearly marked by a route that includes the following episodes: a) yearning for country life; b) the untimely arrival of violence and the decision to escape; c) life in the city of acceptance, and d) hope in the future.

Estudio psicosocial sobre las representaciones sociales de género / A Psychosocial Study about the Social Representations of Gender

Se presenta un estudio de las representaciones sociales acerca de lo masculino y lo femenino elaboradas por una muestra de 435 estudiantes de la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid. Para el análisis de dichas representaciones se ha utilizado el método de Asociación Libre de Palabras a un conjunto de estímulos inductores. Los resultados del escalamiento multidimensional que asocia los siete estímulos inductores muestran dos claros campos semánticos: el primero, formado por los estímulos inductores desigualdad y violencia; el segundo, formado por los estímulos inductores hombre, masculino, mujer, femenino. La formación del campo semántico indica similitud, una relación de proximidad entre los términos asociados. Los análisis y la discusión de los hallazgos se centran en torno a las representaciones sociales de lo femenino y lo masculino, eje central del debate propuesto.

The present study is about social representations of masculine and feminine held by a sample of 435 students from the Autonomous Community of Madrid. The analysis of the representations was made through a Free Word Association method to a number of inducing stimuli. The results of a multidimensional scaling that associates the seven inducing stimuli clearly show two semantic fields: the first includes inequality and violence as inducing stimuli, and the second is formed by man, masculine, woman, feminine as stimuli. The formation of the semantic field indicated similarity, a relationship of proximity among the associated terms. The analysis and the discussion of the findings are constructed around the social representations of what is masculine and feminine.

El sentido del mundo y el significado del yo: Inventario de Cogniciones Postraumáticas (ICPT) en población hispana / World Schema and Self Schema: The Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI) in Hispanic Population

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar, en población hispana, las propiedades psicométricas del Inventario de Cogniciones Postraumáticas (ICPT), un instrumento diseñado por Edna B. Foa para la medición de creencias y pensamientos relacionados con el trauma. El instrumento fue administrado a una muestra de 132 participantes de España, a una muestra de 363 personas de El Salvador, y a una muestra de 47 víctimas directas de los atentados terroristas del 11-M de España. La estructura factorial del ICPT fue analizada mediante Análisis Paralelo de Horn, análisis factorial exploratorio y confirmatorio. Los resultados señalaron la existencia de tres factores que explicaron un 51% de la varianza: Creencias Negativas sobre el Yo (35%), Creencias Negativas sobre el Mundo (10%) y Autoculpa (6%). Los análisis factoriales confirmatorios respaldaron esta estructura tanto con la ausencia (CFI = 0,93) como con la presencia de un factor general de segundo orden (CFI = 0,93). Las tres dimensiones mostraron una buena consistencia interna en todas las muestras con valores generales del α de Cronbach superiores a 0.90. El ICPT correlacionó con la severidad del trauma (r=0.61) así como con otros instrumentos para medir cogniciones postraumáticas. Finalmente el ICPT discriminó con precisión entre las personas que presentaron psicopatología postraumática de aquellas otras que no lo hicieron.

The main purpose of the present article was to analyze in Hispanic population the psychometric properties of Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI), a measure of trauma-related thoughts and beliefs developed by Edna B. Foa. The inventory was administered to 132 participants of general population of Spain, 363 participants of El Salvador, and 47 direct victims of 11-M terrorist attacks in Spain. The PTCI factorial structure was analyzed using Parallel Analyses of Horn and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Results showed three factors that explained 51% of variance: Negative Cognitions About Self (35%), Negative Cognitions About the World (10%), and Self-Blame (6%). CFA confirmed the three factors structure without a second order factor (CFI =0,93) and with this general factor (CFI = 0,93). The three dimensions showed good internal consistency with general Cronbach α levels higher than 0,70. PTCI correlated with trauma severity (r = 0,61) and with other measures of trauma-related cognitions. Finally, the PTCI discriminate with precision between traumatized and not traumatized individuals.

Emociones mixtas y conducta de riesgo / Mixed emotions and risk behavior

En este trabajo se explora el papel que la experiencia emocional mixta juega en la predicción de una conducta de riesgo (viajar en un vehículo sabiendo que el conductor ha bebido). Estas emociones se pueden diferenciar del componente evaluativo de las actitudes. En una muestra de jóvenes con experiencia en la práctica de esta conducta de riesgo, observamos que recordaban haber sentido emociones de valencia opuesta (alegría y miedo) antes, durante y después de realizarla. Esta experiencia emocional mixta, junto con la medida de actitud, son los indicadores que mejor predicen la intención de repetir la conducta en el futuro. Los resultados señalan que la experiencia emocional podría estar actuando como variable moderadora de la influencia de las actitudes sobre la intención conductual