ABSTRACT
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, across six correlational studies in four different countries (total N = 4937), we examined the link between citizens' anger with and admiration for the government's actions and decisions (i.e., system-based anger and admiration) and engagement in preventive behaviour. The internal meta-analyses showed that individuals who admired the government's actions were more likely to adopt personal hygiene and social distancing behaviour. Yet, the link between emotions and preventive behaviour differed concerning the target of emotions, especially for anger. Specifically, anger about restrictions imposed by the government was negatively related to preventive behaviours, but this relationship was not significant when the target of anger was the government's overall handling of the pandemic. Our findings emphasise the importance of citizens' emotions and the targets of those emotions during the crisis.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , Pandemics , Self Report , Anger , GovernmentABSTRACT
This commentary identifies two problems concerning the switch mechanism: The model explains too few instances of switching, and the switching mechanism itself seems fallible. The improvements we suggest are to clarify the nature of the competing intuitions as the initial intuition and its negation or alternative ways to solve the problem, and to incorporate cognitive disfluency into the switching mechanism.
Subject(s)
Intuition , HumansABSTRACT
When people consider what is good for their country, they might face a conflict between the country's short-term and long-term interests. We suggest that resolving this conflict depends on people's form of national identification and future time perspective. Across four studies (N = 4,274), we showed that constructive patriotism, but not conventional patriotism or glorification, was positively associated with future time perspective. Moreover, we showed that this further translated into people's responses to intertemporal conflicts. Specifically, constructive patriotism was indirectly linked to higher support for national policies with long-term advantages (despite short-term disadvantages) and lower support for national policies with long-term disadvantages (despite short-term advantages), and these links were mediated by future time perspective. Overall, our results demonstrate that distinct forms of national identification are differently linked to future time perspective. Likewise, this helps explain differences in how much people care about their country's present and future.
ABSTRACT
In order to clarify the perceptual underpinnings of critical national attachment, we examined the links between constructive (critical) and conventional patriotism, and evaluations of the actual and ideal representations of the country. Across four studies conducted on US and Polish samples (total N = 3457), perception of a discrepancy between the actual and the ideal representations of the country was positively linked to constructive but negatively to conventional patriotism. Moreover, constructive patriotism was linked positively and conventional patriotism negatively with being critical of the actual functioning of the country. However, both constructive and conventional patriotisms were positively linked with the height of expectations of how the country should function. Additionally, we showed that discrepancy may motivate constructive patriots to be civically engaged (Study 4). Overall, the findings suggest that the difference between constructive and conventional patriots lies principally in how they evaluate the actual state of the country rather than in the degree to which they set high expectations or standards for the country.
Subject(s)
Social Identification , Sugars , Humans , Motivation , PolandABSTRACT
We examined the link between constructive patriotism, glorification, and conventional patriotism and COVID-19-related attitudes and behaviors at different stages of the pandemic in Poland. In Study 1 (N = 663), constructive patriotism was positively associated with support for internal measures (e.g., raising awareness about health practices). Glorification was negatively linked to support for such measures and positively connected to support for external measures (e.g., closing the borders). In Study 2 (N = 522), constructive patriots showed greater compliance with hygiene and social distance practices. In Study 3 (N = 633), the attribution of responsibility for fighting the crisis to the state and particularly to individuals underlined the link between constructive patriotism and compliance with health practices. Additionally, constructive patriotism was linked to support for international collaboration. Study 4 (N = 1051), conducted on a representative sample, further corroborated these findings. The results regarding conventional patriotism were not consistent across studies.
ABSTRACT
The aim of the current study was to examine whether action monitoring is associated with religious fundamentalism. Participants performed a stop-signal task that required response inhibition to a simple auditory tone. The level of their religious fundamentalism was measured on a scale. Analysis with mixed-effects linear models revealed significantly larger error-related negativity, correct-related negativity, and post-error positivity components in individuals scoring higher on religious fundamentalism, pointing to their increased engagement in response monitoring. However, it was not accompanied by improved behavioral performance. The electrophysiological results of our study suggest that individuals high in religious fundamentalism engage more in monitoring for conflict between outcomes of their actions and standards of correct behavior. Our findings also point to a possible association between a fundamentalist mindset and higher levels of negative affect, uncertainty, anxiety, and distress, as measured by response-related brain activity.
Subject(s)
Evoked Potentials/physiology , Inhibition, Psychological , Religion and Psychology , Acoustic Stimulation , Adult , Affect/physiology , Anxiety/psychology , Electroencephalography , Female , Humans , Linear Models , Male , Reaction Time , Religion , Stress, Psychological/psychology , Task Performance and Analysis , Uncertainty , Young AdultABSTRACT
This research investigated the influence of observed touch on the perceptions of communality and dominance in dyadic interactions. We manipulated four key situational features of haptic behavior in two experiments: the initiation, reciprocity, the degree of formality of touch (Studies 1 and 2), and the context of the interaction (Study 2). The results showed that the default perception of touch, irrespective of whether it is initiated or reciprocated, is the communal intention of the toucher. Furthermore, the initiation of touch was seen as an act of dominance, particularly, when the contact between the actors was primed as being hierarchical. Reciprocation neutralized the perceived asymmetry in dominance, but such inferences seemed to hinge on the fit of the touch with the context: reciprocation of formal touch reduced the asymmetry in the hierarchical context, whereas reciprocation of informal touch reduced the asymmetry in the non-hierarchical context.
ABSTRACT
In this article, we suggest that dogmatic beliefs, manifested as strong beliefs that there is no God (i.e., dogmatic atheism) as well as strong beliefs in God (i.e., religious orthodoxy), can serve as a cognitive response to uncertainty. Moreover, we claim that people who dogmatically do not believe in religion and those who dogmatically believe in religion are equally prone to intolerance and prejudice towards groups that violate their important values. That is because prejudice towards these groups may be an efficient strategy to protect the certainty that strong beliefs provide. We tested these assumptions in two studies. In Study 1 and Study 2, we demonstrated that dogmatic beliefs mediate the relationship between intolerance to uncertainty and both, religious orthodoxy and dogmatic atheism. In addition, in Study 2 we showed that both the religiously orthodox and dogmatic atheists become prejudiced towards groups that violate their values and that these effects are especially strong under experimentally induced uncertainty. In this study, we focused on atheists and homosexuals as groups that pose a threat to Christian's religious worldviews, and Catholics and pro-life supporters as groups that pose a threat to the values of atheists. The results are discussed in relation to past research on dogmatism and religion, as well as with reference to what this means for the study of prejudice.
Subject(s)
Prejudice/psychology , Religion and Psychology , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Regression Analysis , Young AdultABSTRACT
We seek in three studies to better understand constructive patriotism by identifying perceptual and motivational factors that predict it above and beyond conventional patriotism and by examining one of its distinctive consequences (total n = 573). Study 1 (Polish students) shows that constructive patriotism is predicted by the perceived discrepancy between actual and ideal representations of the nation. Study 2 (Polish and Israeli students), which draws on Schwartz's theory of values, shows that constructive patriotism is negatively associated with the pursuit of self-interests. In Study 3 (Israeli adults), we broadened our investigation of constructive patriotism and conventional patriotism by examining the willingness to write examples of what constitutes a contribution to the nation, and analysed the content of these written statements. Individuals who scored higher on constructive patriotism wrote more examples, as well as more distinctive examples, of contributions to the nation. These findings provide the first empirical evidence for predictors and potential consequences of constructive patriotism that go beyond the love of one's nation.