Cultural worldviews and climate change: A view from China
We investigated the association between cultural worldviews and climate change risk perceptions, support for climate friendly policies and climate change mitigation behaviours in a large Chinese sample. Items from Dake's cultural theory scales and Kahan's cultural cognition scale were presented to a Qualtrics online panel consisting of 515 Mandarin-speaking residents of Beijing. A series of factor analyses revealed that the combined item sets were best represented by four-dimensions: hierarchism, individualism, egalitarianism and fatalism. Mediation analysis revealed that respondents with egalitarian and non-fatalist worldviews perceived greater risk associated with climate change, which in turn predicted greater support for policies to manage climate change and increased mitigation behaviour. In addition, respondents who scored high on individualism were less likely to support climate change policies, but this effect was not mediated by risk perceptions. Overall, our results suggest cultural worldviews may influence policy support both directly and indirectly through risk perceptions.
The role of cultural worldviews in predicating gambling risk perception and behavior in a Chinese sample
Objectives: We investigated the relationships between cultural worldviews, gam-bling risk perception, and gambling behavior with a sample of tourists in Macao.
Methods: Participants were enrolled at famous landmarks and casinos in Macao, China. Data were collected using several instruments to assess an individual's cultural world views, gambling risk perceptions, and gambling intentions.
Results: We found that the three-dimensional solution was valid for the Chinese version of the gambling expectancy scale. Correlational and mediational analyses revealed that the relationship between an individualistic worldview and gambling intention was fully mediated by gambling risk perception. Respondents with an egalitarian worldview perceived greater risk associated with gambling than those with other worldviews.
Conclusion: These findings demonstrated the important influence of cultural variables on perceived risk and behavior in gambling. Moreover, understanding gamblers' worldviews could be beneficial for problem gambling interventions. Future research directions and the limitations of the findings were discussed.
Why Do Some Men Go Too Far? Arousal, Working Memory Capacity, and Sexual Decision-Making
Decisions to pursue risky sexual encounters, despite the clear potential negative consequences, have long intrigued researchers. A host of explanations have been proposed (e.g., the effects of sexual arousal and/or substance intoxication on decision-making, an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms in sexual response). However, the role of working memory capacity in sexual decision-making has received relatively little attention. The current study investigated whether working memory capacity (WMC) moderates the relationship between arousal and sexual aggression. Fifty-nine male volunteers viewed 20 consensual and 20 non-consensual images of heterosexual interaction while their physiological arousal levels were recorded using skin conductance response. Participants also completed an assessment of working memory capacity, Towse's Sentence Completion Task (Towse, Hitch, & Hutton, 2000) and a date-rape analogue task (developed by Bernat, Calhoun, & Adams, 1999) for which they had to identify the point at which an average Australian male would cease all sexual advances in response to verbal and/or physical resistance from a female partner. Participants who were more aroused by and spent more time viewing the non-consensual sexual imagery nominated significantly later stopping points on the date-rape analogue task. Consistent with our predictions, the relationship between arousal and nominated stopping point was strongest for participants with lower working memory capacity. For participants with high working memory capacity, arousal was unrelated to nominated stopping point. Results of the current study support the role of working memory capacity as a moderator of the relationship between arousal and sexual decision-making/behavior. Deficits in working memory capacity have been shown to be related to other types of dysregulated behavior (e.g., problematic alcohol use, aggression), suggesting that problems with attentional control make it challenging for individuals to both look beyond immediate rewards and gratification and to consider the often very real likelihood of significant negative outcomes in the future. This may be especially true with stimuli that are highly salient and very rewarding (e.g., sex), leaving these individuals vulnerable to engaging in sexually risky behavior. Future research could explore further whether high working memory capacity may serve as a protective factor by directing decision-making toward less risky behavior even when a person is highly aroused. Results should be replicated on clinical populations. Limitations and additional future directions are discussed.
Development and validation of a revised measure of codependency
This study assessed the factor structure, internal consistency, and concurrent validity of a revised instrument, the Composite Codependency Scale (CCS), a 19-item measure designed to assess codependent traits. Exploratory factor analysis of the CCS, using data from 301 adults from the general population and 49 attending members of Codependents Anonymous (CoDA), yielded three factors: self-sacrifice, interpersonal control, and emotional suppression. The scale and its subscales exhibited good internal consistency. Consistent with the tenets of the codependency model, higher codependency scores were significantly associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and familial dysfunction and lower levels of narcissistic tendencies, self-esteem, and emotional expressivity. Furthermore, the revised measure effectively discriminated members of CoDA from those in the general population.
Pacific Islanders' understanding of climate change: Where do they source information and to what extent do they trust it?
The experience of environmental stress and attitudes towards climate change was explored for 1226 students at the University of the South Pacific, the foremost tertiary institution serving the independent nations of the Pacific. Students sourced information regarding climate change from media including television, radio, and newspapers; the community (typically via their village, church, and extended family); the University and their friends; and in addition to regional agencies such as the Pacific Community. Most students concluded that they could not believe all of the informations provided by these sources. The findings demonstrate that most students-the future elite of the region-rank global environmental change as the highest future risk. Although nearly all respondents believed that climate change was happening, more than half of respondents believed that the risk was exaggerated and only one-third believed that science would find an answer, suggesting a lack of trust in scientific sources of information. Results also showed that these attitudes varied across demographic factors such as age, region, and gender. The understanding of contemporary attitudes towards global environmental change among a cohort that is likely to include future national leaders in the Pacific Islands region presents unique opportunities for long-range planning of intervention and support strategies. Of particular note for effective intervention and support is the breadth and trustworthiness of various information sources including Pacific Island leaders.
Role of affect, expectancies and dual processes of cognition in predicting adult cigarette smoking
This study examined the role of affect, smoking expectancies and mode of cognition in predicting cigarette use in a sample of 185 Australian adults. Mediation analysis indicated that the relationship between respondents' affective associations about smoking and their cigarette use was partially mediated by smoking expectancies. The present results also indicated that preferred mode of cognition (rational vs. experiential) moderated the relationship between affective associations and cigarette use. Affect was a significant predictor of cigarette use for all respondents except those with a strong, exclusive preference for rational cognition. No evidence was found to support the hypothesis that preferred mode of cognition moderated the relationship between smoking expectancies and cigarette use. The results of the study are discussed in the context of Epstein's (1994) cognitive experiential self theory and Slovic, Finucane, Peters, and MacGregor's (2002) affect heuristic model.
Smoking cessation in adults: A dual process perspective
This study applied Cognitive Experiential Self Theory to investigate the role of smoking expectancies and experiential associations with cigarette use in predicting smoking cessation in a sample of 155 Australian adults. Two discrete changes in the cessation process were investigated. The first involved a cognitive transition from not intending to quit smoking to intending to quit, and the second involved a behavioral transition from intending to quit to successful cessation. Multinomial logistic regression analyses suggested that experiential associations played no role in the transition from not intending to intending to quit, but moderated the effects of three types of smoking expectancies (negative consequences, positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement) on the transition from intending to quit to successful cessation. The facilitative effects of smoking expectancies on cessation were substantially attenuated in participants who possessed more positive experiential associations with smoking.
Age and synchrony effects in performance on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test
Background: There is evidence that individuals perform better on some memory tasks when tested at their preferred time of day, a phenomenon named the synchrony effect. There is also evidence of a predictable change from evening to morning preference during the adult life span. Together, these findings suggest that age effects on memory measures may be overestimated when time of testing is ignored. The aim of this study was to investigate whether synchrony effects could partially explain the well-documented age-related decline in performance on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Methods: Groups of 42 younger adults (aged 18-33 years) and 42 older adults (aged 55-71 years) were administered the RAVLT at either their optimal (n = 21) or non-optimal (n = 21) time of day. Results: Although both age groups benefited moderately from being tested at their optimal time, this effect was greater for older participants and extended to all facets of RAVLT performance except proactive interference. However, younger adults outperformed older adults on three of the five RAVLTs. Conclusions: These findings add to existing evidence of synchrony effects, particularly in memory functioning of older adults, and highlight the need for clinicians to consider optimal time of testing when administering and interpreting the RAVLT.
Working memory capacity and cognitive styles in decision-making
Human decision-making is thought to involve the interplay of two distinct information processing systems: a rational (logical) system and an experiential (intuitive) system (Epstein, 1994). Moreover, the ability to engage in rational processing is believed to be constrained by working memory capacity (WMC) (Feldman Barrett, Tugade, & Engle, 2004). Accordingly, preference for rationality, but not preference for experientiality, was expected to mediate the relationship between WMC and performance on cognitive tasks that require logical reasoning. Path analysis using AMOS 18, with data from 269 non-paired twins, confirmed this mediation hypothesis. Higher WMC was predictive of stronger preference for rationality, which, in turn, was predictive of better syllogistic reasoning, lower susceptibility to gambling biases, and lower superstitiousness and categorical thinking. As expected, WMC was unrelated to preference for experiential processing, and higher experientiality predicted poorer performance on the syllogistic reasoning task, higher susceptibility to gambling biases and greater superstitiousness.
Effects of Gender Group Norms on the Endorsement of Same-Sex Attraction, Behavior, and Identity
Previous studies have often revealed differences between the acknowledgment of same-sex attraction and rates of bisexual or homosexual identification. This study contends that social influences (including the perception that same-sex sexual attraction is not gender normative) as well as prejudice toward bisexual persons (biphobia), may help explain this discrepancy. In this study, the authors tested whether, in line with a social identity approach, manipulating social factors regarding the gender normativity of bisexuality influenced participants' self-perceptions of their sexualities and expression of biphobia. Male and female participants (N = 416) were randomly assigned to read one of two narratives comprising fictitious neurological research evidence, which claimed that their own gender was more naturally bisexual than the other gender (Condition 1), whereas a control group (Condition 2) did not receive any information regarding the gender normativity of bisexuality. Results indicated that men endorsed significantly more same-sex attraction when bisexuality was presented as being more normative for their gender. Gender-normative information produced no significant difference in terms of men's sexual behavior and identity, or women's sexual attraction, behavior, and identity. Results also indicated no significant differences between conditions in biphobia toward bisexual persons of either gender. Irrespective of condition, male and female participants endorsed significantly more biphobia toward bisexual men than bisexual women.
- 1 (current)
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5