Conspiring under threats! An investigation of associations between COVID-19 health and economic threats and conspiracy beliefs in Italy and Argentina.

Theory and research suggest that threats aroused by a given crisis lead to conspiracy beliefs. Although crises involve the arise of multiple threats (e.g., economic, safety, etc.) diversely affecting various needs and outcomes (i.e., cognition, emotion and behaviour), no research has yet focused on specific relations that different threats may have with the endorsement of conspiracy beliefs. In this study, we distinguished between health and economic threats aroused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we tested their associations with conspiracy beliefs. Findings from two correlational studies conducted in Italy and Argentina showed that while COVID-19's economic threat was positively and consistently related to conspiracy beliefs, the relationship between COVID-19's health threat and conspiracy beliefs was negative and significant in the Italian sample and non-significant in the Argentinian sample. Results are discussed within the context of the effects of multiple threats elicited by crises on conspiracy beliefs.

Efectos de la necesidad cierre cognitivo en los estilos decisorios: un abordaje exploratorio

Resumen Los estilos decisorios se refieren a patrones cognitivos habituales que utilizan los sujetos en tareas decisorias cuando procesan la información. Recientes investigaciones han referido el rol que cumple la motivación epistémica de la Necesidad de Cierre Cognitivo en el procesamiento de la información. Esta influencia puede generar un procesamiento sesgado afectando la toma de decisiones. Esto se debe a que la NCC trae dos consecuencias en el procesamiento de la información. La primera es la Urgencia donde los individuos tienden a una búsqueda generalizada de la información generando mayores hipótesis hasta superar el umbral cognitivo. La segunda refiere a la Permanencia donde una vez superado el umbral, la información se cristaliza y se extrapola a otras áreas. El presente estudio exploratorio, tuvo como objetivo explorar la relación entre la Necesidad Cierre Cognitivo y los Estilos decisorios. Para ello, se tomó muestra de 378 individuos residentes en Ciudad de Buenos Aires y Gran Buenos Aires. Se utilizaron para evaluar las variables el Test Revisado de Necesidad de cierre cognitivo (TR NCC) y la escala de Estilos Decisorios (ED).Los resultados indican que si bien no existe una relación contundente entre ambas variables, este abordaje exploratorio debe seguir siendo explorado en futuras investigaciones.

Abstract Decisional styles refer to habitual cognitive patterns used by subjects in decision-making tasks when they process the information. Recent research has referred to the role played by the epistemic motivation of the Need for Cognitive Closure in information processing. This influence can generate a biased processing affecting decision making. This is because NCC brings two consequences in information processing. The first one is the Urgency where individuals tend to a generalized search for information generating more hypotheses until the cognitive threshold is exceeded. The second refers to Permanence, where once the threshold is surpassed, the information crystallizes and is extrapolated to other areas. The present exploratory study aimed to explore the relationship between the Need for Cognitive Closure and Decision Styles. For this purpose, a sample of 378 individuals residing in the City of Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires was taken. The Revised Test of Need for Cognitive Closure (TR-NCC) and the Decision-Making Styles (DE) scale were used to assess the variables. The results indicate that although there is no strong relationship between the two variables, this exploratory approach should be further explored in future research.

[Development and Validation of a German-language Short Form of the Coping Strategies Inventory]. / Entwicklung und Validierung einer deutschsprachigen Kurzform des Coping Strategies Inventory.

When an external and/or internal demand is found to be depleting one's resources, certain strategies are used to cope with the associated stress. Although a correlation between emotional suppression and a higher degree of pathological states has been demonstrated, there are no short instruments in German that include this stress coping strategy. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to translate the Coping Strategies Inventory and to develop a short version of the instrument. The sample (n=272) was collected via a web-based survey; an exploratory factor analysis revealed the existence of nine stress coping strategies captured by the instrument instead of eight. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed not only appropriate psychometric properties of the nine-factor structure, but also its superiority compared with a higher-level factor structure. Significant correlations with all personality traits confirm the convergent validity of the instrument, so that its short version can be used in German-speaking countries.

Factor Structure and Internal Consistency on a Reduced Version of the Revised Test of Need for Cognitive Closure.

The need for cognitive closure is a construct postulated by Kruglanski that explains the motivational aspects which influence decision-making and its impact on the social environment. Initially, it was assessed through a unidimensional scale, later criticized for its poor satisfactory reliability and validity. Regarding these criticisms, Pierro and Kruglanski developed a new 14-item scale to measure two dimensions, which were not previously evaluated: urgency tendency and permanence tendency. Although the Revised Test of Need for Cognitive Closure is more economical in terms of assessment time, it would be optimal to develop a reduced test that can assess faster while maintaining validity and reliability. The present research aims to reduce the Revised Test of Need for Cognitive Closure scale to the Argentinian context. To this end, we worked on a non-experimental design, assessing this scale within a sample of 690 Argentinian university students (Women = 81.16%, Men = 18.84%), and proceeded to perform reliability, as well as confirmatory factor analysis, convergent validity, and factorial invariance analysis. The results indicate a bi-factorial structure of a Need for Cognitive Closure instrument with eight items and two dimensions: urgency tendency (α = 0.76) and permanence tendency (α = 0.64), suggesting good reliability in both of them. In addition, well convergent validity was checked with other validated instruments, and finally, the factor loadings were shown to be invariant. In conclusion, it was demonstrated the reliability and validity of reducing the Revised Test of Need for Cognitive Closure in our social environment.

La evaluación del perdón, los modos regulatorios y la necesidad de cierre cognitivo: construyendo una agenda de investigación / Assessment of forgiveness, regulatory modes, and the need for cognitive closure: developing a research agenda

El perdón comenzó a ser estudiado por la psicología a fines del siglo XX intentando vislumbrar que factores psicológicos influyen en el mismo. En los últimos años, se comenzó a estudiar el papel de dos factores motivacionales como son: los modos regulatorios y la necesidad de cierre cognitivo. Por un lado, la teoría del modo regulatorio describe cómo las personas abordan las situaciones cuando desean alcanzar una meta. Por otro lado, la necesidad de cierre cognitivo es la tendencia humana de buscar certeza epistémica como modo de evitar la incertidumbre. Si bien, recientemente comenzaron a emerger una serie de estudios acerca del papel que juegan ambas variables en el perdón, aún no contamos en nuestro contexto y en nuestro idioma con estudios al respecto. La presente investigación estudiará la influencia de estas variables sobre el perdón con el objetivo de desarrollar ulteriores líneas de investigación en nuestro contexto(AU)

Forgiveness began to be studied by psychology in the late twentieth century trying to glimpse what psychological factors influence it. In recent years, the role of two motivational factors such as regulatory modes and the need for cognitive closure began to be studied. On the one hand, regulatory mode theory describes how people approach situations when they want to achieve a goal. On the other hand, the need for cognitive closure is the human tendency to seek epistemic certainty as a way to avoid uncertainty. Although a series of studies recently began to emerge on the role that both variables play in forgiveness, we do not yet have studies on this in our context and in our language. The present research will study the influence of these variables on forgiveness with the aim of developed further lines of investigation in our context(AU)

Aportes a la axiología desde la psicología social / Contributions to axiology from social psychology

La axiología es una rama de la filosofía que se caracteriza por el estudio de la naturaleza de los valores. Si bien históricamente se abordó desde una rama de la filosofía desde una perspectiva argumentativa, durante el siglo XX comienzan a surgir una serie de estudios empíricos para abordar este fenómeno desde la psicología. Ésta abordó los valores desde estudios empíricos con distintos autores: Rockeach (1973), Hofstede (1991), Schwartz (1992) e Inglehart (1997). Estas distintas perspectivas para el estudio de los valores, son generalmente interpretadas como sustitutivas, producto de las perspectivas sesgadas de análisis y no se evidencian estudios que hayan analizado los diferentes abordajes, y como pueden aportar todos, considerando las particularidades de cada enfoque, al estudio de la axiología. El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido analizar las diferencias entre las distintas perspectivas, y discutir los principales aportes a la axiología desde la psicología social

Axiology is a branch of philosophy that is characterized by the study of the nature of values. Although historically it was approached from a branch of philosophy from an argumentative perspective, during the twentieth century a series of empirical studies began to emerge to address this phenomenon from psychology. This one approached the values from empirical studies with different authors: Rockeach (1973), Hofstede (1991), Schwartz (1992) and Inglehart (1997). These different perspectives for the study of values, are generally interpreted as substitutes, product of the biased perspectives of analysis and there are no evidences that have analyzed the different approaches, and how they can all contribute, considering the particularities of each approach, to the study of axiology. The aim of this work has been to analyze the differences between the different perspectives, and to discuss the main contributions to axiology from social psychology