Social Psychology Commons^™

The Influence Of Religion On The Criminal Behavior Of Emerging Adults, Christopher Salvatore, Gabriel Rubin

Gabriel Rubin

Recent generations of young adults are experiencing a new life course stage: emerging adulthood. During this ‘new’ stage of the life course, traditional social bonds and turning points may not be present, may be delayed, or may not operate in the same manner as they have for prior generations. One such bond, religion, is examined here. Focusing on the United States, emerging adulthood is investigated as a distinct stage of the life course. The criminality of emerging adults is presented, a theoretical examination of the relationship between religion and crime is provided, the role of religion in emerging adults’ lives …

Pulse - A Consultation, Barry J. Mauer

Barry Mauer

On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. We may never know or understand what was in Mateen’s mind, but we can situate his attack within the history of eliminationism in America. Islamist terrorism is just part of a larger phenomenon: right wing eliminationism. But despite centuries of right wing eliminationist words and deeds in the U.S., there is little or no mainstream recognition of the phenomenon. Instead, we are treated to more denial, more distraction, more obfuscation. Until we look this problem squarely in the face, it will …

Revolutionary Coalition Strength And Collective Failure As Determinants Of Status Reallocation, H. Andrew Michener, Edward J. Lawler

Edward J Lawler

This experiment investigated the effects of collective performance and coalition strength on the redistribution of status prerogatives in triads. A status hierarchy was established within triads, such that one person held higher control status and the two others held lower status. Each group performed an ambiguous, decision-making task over two trials. Collective performance (i.e., success vs failure) was manipulated via bogus feedback regarding the group’s performance, while coalition strength was manipulated by varying the extent to which the two low-status members, acting together as a revolutionary coalition, could damage the outcomes received by the high-status member. Results indicate a collective-performance …

The Impact Of Status Differences On Coalitional Agreements: An Experimental Study, Edward J. Lawler

Edward J Lawler

This experiment investigated the impact of status differences between subordinates and face-to-face coalition negotiations on insurgent coalitional action. The effects of these variables were examined in stratified groups, where a leader established inequitable pay-rates, and subordinates could coalesce and destroy a portion of the leader’s outcomes. The results showed that status differences (as opposed to status similarity) undermined the sense of common interests between subordinates and reduced the severity of coalitional action against the leader. Face-to-face negotiations engendered a more cautious approach to coalition negotiations and also reduced the severity of insurgent action. The results suggest that status differences pose …

Cooptation And Coalition Mobilization, Edward J. Lawler, George A. Youngs Jr., Michael D. Lesh

Edward J Lawler

The question addressed by this research was, “When structural circumstances make revolutionary action likely, under what conditions will a cooptation strategy prevent subordinate revolts?” Experimental procedures established a group status hierarchy consisting of a leader and two subordinates. Groups earned collective outcomes, and the leader usurped an inequitable portion of these outcomes. In this context, the first experiment shows that a cooptation strategy (i.e., offer of a promotion to one of two subordinates) inhibits subordinate revolts. Two additional experiments indicate that the cooptation strategy is most effective (a) if the offer (strategy) provides the target of cooptation a source of …

Endorsement Of Formal Leaders: An Integrative Model, H. Andrew Michener, Edward J. Lawler

Edward J Lawler

This experiment develops an integrative, path-analytic model for the endorsement accorded formal leaders. The model contains four independent variables reflecting aspects of group structure (i.e., group success-failure, the payoff distribution, the degree of support by others members for the leader, and the vulnerability of the leader). Also included are two intervening variables reflecting perceptual processes (attributed competence and attributed fairness), and one dependent variable (endorsement). The results indicate that endorsement is greater when the group's success is high, when the payoff distribution is flat rather than hierarchical, and when the leader is not vulnerable to removal from office. Other support …

I Share, Therefore It's Mine, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

The Relevance Of Emotions In Presidential Public Appeals: Anger’S Conditional Effect On Perceived Risk And Support For Military Interventions, José D. Villalobos, Cigdem V. Sirin

José D. Villalobos

Oedipus Is So Bourgeois: ŽIžEk And The Mediating Subject, Luigi Russi

Luigi Russi

This paper is a review of R.C. Smith's "The Ticklish Subject? A Critique of Žižek’s Lacanian Theory of Subjectivity, with Emphasis on an Alternative" . Whereas Lacan places central importance on the Oedipal phase as a necessary step on the road to the acquisition of subjectivity, R.C. Smith views it as a fundamentally authoritarian moment in early child development. This disagreement, in turn, puts Smith at odds with Žižek’s rupture between the Real and the Symbolic, leading him to advance instead an understanding of the subject as engaged in constant mediation in concert with others. The political ramifications of a …

Socio-Demographic And Psychological Determinants Of Political (In)Tolerance: Hungary At The Dawn Of The 21st Century, Bojan Todosijević

Bojan Todosijević

The paper presents a socio-psychological causal model of political intolerance in Hungary, on the basis of a national random sample survey data (N=1002). The research improves on the existing models in two directions: by constructing a more complete model through inclusion of a wider set of potentially relevant variables, and by using more reliable operationalisation of the examined concepts. The results indicate that political tolerance in Hungary, as defined by the “content free” method, can only weakly be explained by an extensive set of socio-demographic, psychological and political variables. Contrary to the commonly reported results, socio-economic status variables displayed a …

Civil Society At The Negotiation Table, Legitimacy Beliefs And Durable Peace, Direnç Kanol Dr.

Direnç Kanol

It is argued that including civil society at the negotiation table can increase the perceived legitimacy of peace treaties. As a result, it can contribute to the consolidation of peace. In this paper, the author presents the findings from a controlled experiment in order to test the impact of inclusive peace negotiations on the perceived legitimacy of peace treaties. Contrary to the expectations of the scholars working on the inclusiveness and the consolidation of peace hypothesis, the results show that the treatment group in the experiment does not perceive inclusive peace agreements to be more legitimate.

Easing The Heavy Hand: Humanitarian Concern, Empathy, And Opinion On Immigration, Benjamin J. Newman, Todd K. Hartman, Patrick L. Lown, Stanley Feldman

Todd K. Hartman

The bulk of the opinion research on immigration identifies the factors leading to opposition to immigration among the American public. In contrast, we identify a key factor and condition under which citizens embrace more permissive and supportive positions on immigration. Past research indicates that humanitarianism is a core value orientation promoting support—albeit limited—for social welfare policy. Extending this research into another highly salient policy domain—immigration—we find that humanitarian concern serves as a significant source of support for permissive positions on government immigration policy. Relying upon secondary analysis of national survey data and an original survey experiment, we demonstrate that humanitarian …

Book Review: Policing And The Poetics Of Everyday Life., Rodger E. Broome Phd

Rodger E. Broome

Policing and the poetics of everyday life. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008. 256 pp. ISBN 978-0-252-03371-1 (cloth). $42.00. Policing and the Poetics of Everyday Life is a hermeneutical-aesthetic analysis within a human scientific approach of modern policing in the United States. It is an important study of police-citizen encounters informed by hermeneutic aesthetic thought and the author’s professional experience as a veteran with a Seattle area police department in Washington, USA.

Decoding Prejudice Toward Hispanics: Group Cues And Public Reactions To Threatening Immigrant Behavior, Todd K. Hartman, Benjamin J. Newman, C. Scott Bell

Todd K. Hartman

Consistent with theories of modern racism, we argue that white, non-Hispanic Americans have adopted a “coded,” race-neutral means of expressing prejudice toward Hispanic immigrants by citing specific behaviors that are deemed inappropriate—either because they are illegal or threatening in an economic or cultural manner. We present data from a series of nationally representative, survey-embedded experiments to tease out the distinct role that anti-Hispanic prejudice plays in shaping public opinion on immigration. Our results show that white Americans take significantly greater offense to transgressions such as being in the country illegally, “working under the table,” and rejecting symbols of American identity, …

Social Dominance And The Cultural Politics Of Immigration, Benjamin J. Newman, Todd K. Hartman, Charles S. Taber

Todd K. Hartman

We argue that conflict over immigration largely concerns who bears the burden of cultural transaction costs, which we define as the costs associated with overcoming cultural barriers (e.g., language) to social exchange. Our framework suggests that the ability of native-born citizens to push cultural transaction costs onto immigrant outgroups serves as an important expression of social dominance. In two novel studies, we demonstrate that social dominance motives condition emotional responses to encountering cultural transaction costs, shape engagement in cultural accommodation behavior toward immigrants, and affect immigration attitudes and policy preferences.

[Impact Factor: 1.614 (2011); Rank: 12 of 148 (Political Science); …

Psychological Vulnerabilities And Propensities For Involvement In Violent Extremism, Randy Borum

Randy Borum

Research on the psychology of terrorism has argued against the idea that most terrorist behavior is caused by mental illness or by a terrorist personality. This article suggests an alternative line of inquiry – an individual psychology of terrorism that explores how otherwise normal mental states and processes, built on characteristic attitudes, dispositions, inclinations, and intentions, might affect a person’s propensity for involvement with violent extremist groups and actions. It uses the concepts of “mindset” – a relatively enduring set of attitudes, dispositions, and inclinations – and worldview as the basis of a psychological “climate,” within which various vulnerabilities and …

Examining The Distinct Effects Of Emotive Triggers On Public Reactions To International Terrorism, Cigdem V. Sirin, Nehemia Geva

Cigdem V. Sirin

心态决定国运 (Attitude Determines National Destiny), Shanghai, China: Oriental Morning Post, July 11, 2013., Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

The Coevolution Of Networks And Political Attitudes, David Lazer, Brian Rubineau, Carol Chetkovich, Nancy Katz, Michael Neblo

Brian Rubineau

How do attitudes and social affiliations co-evolve? A long stream of research has focused on the relationship between attitudes and social affiliations. However, in most of this research the causal relationship between views and affiliations is difficult to discern definitively: Do people influence each other’s views so that they converge over time or do they primarily affiliate (by choice or happenstance) with those of similar views? Here we use longitudinal attitudinal and whole network data collected at critical times (notably, at the inception of the system) to identify robustly the determinants of attitudes and affiliations. We find significant conformity tendencies: …

Socially-Mediated Internet Surveys (Smis): Recruiting Participants For Online Experiments, Erin C. Cassese, Leonie Huddy, Todd K. Hartman, Lilliana Mason, Christopher R. Weber

Todd K. Hartman

Socially-Mediated Internet Surveys (SMIS) is a new method to obtain web-based, adult samples for experimental political science research. SMIS targets central figures in online social networks to help recruit participants, who visit their websites. We present data from six samples collected using the SMIS method and compare them to those gathered by other sampling approaches such as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. While not representative of the general adult population, our SMIS samples are significantly more diverse than undergraduate convenience samples, not just demographically but also politically. Moreover, we also discuss how the SMIS approach can be used to target special subpopulations …

On Dialogue Studies, Donal Carbaugh

Donal Carbaugh

The study of dialogue is a way to open several intellectual arenas for investigation while at the same time offering insights into multiple scenes of practical yet culturally diverse human practices. This article reviews several such arenas including studies of dialogue as a culturally distinctive form of communication, dialogue as an approach to understanding social practices, dialogic ethics, as well as dialogue as an integrative view of not only cultural practice but also natural environments. Throughout, dialogue studies are cast as a broad field with distinct disciplines within it, as holding deep value for understanding diversity in peoples’ practices, as …

Decreasing The Economy’S Impact On Evaluations Of The President: An Experiment On Attribution Framing, Brian Newman

Brian Newman

Decades of research has shown that economic considerations are strongly tied to evaluations of the president. Many studies have found that framing (often called priming) by news coverage, events, and presidential rhetoric can increase the weight of economic and other considerations in presidential evaluations. I use a survey experiment to show that attribution frames can decrease the weight of economic considerations on presidential evaluations. The finding holds implications for the public’s capacity to hold the president accountable and presidents’ legislative strategies.

Analyzing The Determinants Of Group Identity Among Alevis In Turkey: A National Survey Study, Cigdem V. Sirin

Cigdem V. Sirin

This study systematically explores the factors that affect collective identity associations within the Alevi community in Turkey by employing the social identity approach and examining survey data collected through fieldwork. The results show that Kurdish Alevis express lower levels of attachment to their religious identity as compared to Turkish Alevis. The results also indicate that personal experiences of discrimination tend to increase one's prioritization of Alevi identity. Last, no significant differences are observed regarding group identity between Alevis who reside in urban areas and those who live in rural areas.

Deleuze & Guattari And Minor Marxism, Eugene W. Holland

Eugene W Holland

This paper suggests a version of Marxism - a minor Marxism - derived from Deleuze & Guattari's political philosophy.

Foreign Language Exposure, Cultural Threat, And Opposition To Immigration, Benjamin J. Newman, Todd K. Hartman, Charles S. Taber

Todd K. Hartman

In the present article, we extend the notion of cultural threat posed by immigrants beyond its current conceptualization as symbolic, collective-level threats to American culture and identity. Instead, we argue that routine encounters with non-English-speaking immigrants cause many individuals to feel threatened because of real barriers to interpersonal communication and exchange. We draw upon survey and experimental data to demonstrate that local contact with immigrants who speak little to no English, as well as incidental exposure to the Spanish language, heighten feelings of cultural threat, which increases anti-immigrant sentiment and policy preferences.

[Impact Factor: 1.614 (2011); Rank: 12 of 148 …

Η Σύγχρονη Τουρκική Στρατηγική Κουλτούρα Μέσα Από Τις Αραβικές Εξεγέρσεις [Contemporary Turkish Strategic Culture Through The Arab Uprisings], Zenonas Tziarras

Zenonas Tziarras

Το παρόν άρθρο επιζητεί την σύντομη παρουσίαση της τουρκικής στρατηγικής κουλτούρας - ή κουλτούρας ασφάλειας - μέσα από την ανάλυση των αντιδράσεων της Τουρκίας απέναντι στις εξεγέρσεις του αραβικού κόσμου. Για την επίτευξη αυτού του σκοπού ορίζεται αρχικά η έννοια «στρατηγική κουλτούρα» και στη συνέχεια εξετάζονται στοιχεία και παράγοντες που επηρέασαν και επηρεάζουν την τουρκική εξωτερική πολιτική, περιφερειακή πολιτική και στρατηγική συμπεριφορά. Το θεωρητικό και ιστορικό πλαίσιο της τουρκικής στρατηγικής κουλτούρας θα εφαρμοστεί στην περίπτωση της πολιτικής της Τουρκίας απέναντι στις αραβικές εξεγέρσεις σε μια προσπάθεια επεξήγησης των κινήσεων της Άγκυρας και των παραγόντων που επηρεάζουν τις στρατηγικές της επιλογές.

The Law Of The Sea Convention, The Eastern Mediterranean, And Clinton’S Testimony, Zenonas Tziarras

Zenonas Tziarras

Since the U.S. is still the world’s sole superpower, its participation in international conventions is very important for both itself and the better function and implementation of the various International Legal Frameworks. As such, a possible future ratification of the [Law of the Sea] Convention by the U.S. would have broad politico-legal implications for other states and areas in the world, where the Treaty has not been signed or ratified and maritime disputes are in place. One such region is the Eastern Mediterranean. This paper firstly looks at the development of the Law of the Sea, the contested provisions of …

Fanon: Violence And The Search For Human Dignity, Winston Langley

Winston E. Langley

Fanon informs us that interdependence in economics, politics, ethics, or aesthetics (and/or the social institutions with which they are associated) encompasses the interdependence of psyches in the form of confrontations, threats, forbearances, negotiations, accommodations, control, and domination, as persons and groups of persons seek to influence the conduct and shape the social being of others. Today, global and sub-global interdependence is often neither based on reciprocity nor equality. Rather, what one generally finds in the multiplicities of continuing and new (sometimes, instantaneous) connections, is a system of non-reciprocal, imposed interdependence, where one's peace is another's subjugation, one's wealth another's poverty, …

Motivated Reasoning, Political Sophistication, And Associations Between President Obama And Islam, Todd K. Hartman, Adam J. Newmark

Todd K. Hartman

Recent polls reveal that between 20% and 25% of Americans erroneously indicate that President Obama is a Muslim. In this article, we compare individuals' explicit responses on a survey about religion and politics with reaction time data from an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to investigate whether individuals truly associate Obama with Islam or are motivated reasoners who simply express negativity about the president when given the opportunity. Our results suggest that predispositions such as ideology, partisanship, and race affect how citizens feel about Obama, which in turn motivates them to accept misinformation about the president. We also find that these …

Η Τουρκική Περιφερειακή Πολιτική Ασφάλειας Σε Νέο Γεωπολιτικό Περιβάλλον, Zenonas Tziarras

Zenonas Tziarras

Το 2011 μπορεί να χαρακτηριστεί δικαίως ως μια χρονιά ορόσημο για τις διεθνείς σχέσεις και ειδικότερα για τη Μέση Ανατολή και τον Αραβικό κόσμο. Όντας στην καρδιά των αραβικών εξεγέρσεων και άλλων περιφερειακών φλεγόντων ζητημάτων, η Τουρκία δεν θα μπορούσε να μείνει ανεπηρέαστη αλλά ούτε και παθητική απέναντι στις αλλαγές που επήλθαν γειτονιά της. Κάνοντας αναφορές στο «δόγμα Νταβούτογλου» της τουρκικής εξωτερικής πολιτικής και στην εξέλιξή του κατά την τελευταία δεκαετία, η παρούσα μελέτη εξετάζει την προσαρμογή της τουρκικής περιφερειακής πολιτικής ασφάλειας στο νέο γεωπολιτικό περιβάλλον που αναδύεται στην Μέση Ανατολή και την Ανατολική Μεσόγειο. Καταλήγει στις αδυναμίες και τις …