Monday, July 10, 2017

Standards of Beauty: The Impact of Mannequins in the Retail Context

Standards of Beauty: The Impact of Mannequins in the Retail Context. By  Jennifer Argo & Darren Dahl
Journal of Consumer Research, https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jcr/ucx072/3861627/Standards-of-Beauty-The-Impact-of-Mannequins-in?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Abstract: Across six studies, a female mannequin is demonstrated to have negative implications for both male and female consumers low in appearance self-esteem. In particular, consumers who are lower in appearance self-esteem evaluate a product displayed by a mannequin more negatively as compared with consumers higher in appearance self-esteem. As mannequins signal the normative standard of beauty and consumers with low self-esteem in regard to their appearance believe they fail to meet this standard, these consumers become threatened by the beauty standard when exposed to a mannequin and in response denigrate the product the mannequin is displaying. Evidence for the underlying process is provided in three ways: 1) the finding that the effect for male and female consumers with low appearance self-esteem only arises when the mannequin is displaying an appearance-related product, 2) through mediation analysis that demonstrates that the mannequin conveys society’s standard of beauty and that this negatively impacts product evaluations, and 3) the mitigation of the effect by removing the presence of threat via a self-affirmation task or decreasing the mannequin’s beauty (e.g., marking its face, removing its hair, or removing its head). Multiple avenues for future research are forwarded.

Keywords: mannequins, global comparisons, retail

Facial Profiling: Race, Physical Appearance, and Punishment

Facial Profiling: Race, Physical Appearance, and Punishment. By Brian Johnson & Ryan King
Criminology, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-9125.12143/abstract

Abstract: We investigate the associations among physical appearance, threat perceptions, and criminal punishment. Psychological ideas about impression formation are integrated with criminological perspectives on sentencing to generate and test unique hypotheses about the associations among defendant facial characteristics, subjective evaluations of threatening appearance, and judicial imprisonment decisions. We analyze newly collected data that link booking photos, criminal histories, and sentencing information for more than 1,100 convicted felony defendants. Our findings indicate that Black defendants are perceived to be more threatening in appearance. Other facial characteristics, such as physical attractiveness, baby-faced appearance, facial scars, and visible tattoos, also influence perceptions of threat, as do criminal history scores. Furthermore, some physical appearance characteristics are significantly related to imprisonment decisions, even after controlling for other relevant case characteristics. These and other findings are discussed as they relate to psychological research on impression formation, criminological theories of court actor decision-making, and sociological work on race and punishment.

The Effect of Terrorism on Judicial Confidence - Providing due process for suspected terrorists

The Effect of Terrorism on Judicial Confidence. By Steven Miller
Political Research Quarterly, http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1065912917716337

Abstract: Independent judiciaries prevent democratic reversals, facilitate peaceful transitions of power, and legitimate democracy among citizens. We believe this judicial independence is important for citizen-level judicial confidence and faith in democratic institutions. I challenge this and argue that citizens living under terror threats lose confidence in their independent judiciaries. Terror threats lead citizens to enable the state leader to provide counterterrorism for their security, which has important implications for interbranch relations between the executive and the judiciary. Citizens lose confidence in independent judiciaries that provide due process for suspected terrorists. I test my argument with mixed effects models that incorporate the Global Terrorism Database and four waves of European Values Survey. The analyses demonstrate the negative effects of terror threats on judicial confidence when interacting terror threats with measures of judicial independence. My findings have important implications for the study of democratic confidence and the liberty-security dilemma.

The impact of bereaved parents’ perceived grief similarity on relationship satisfaction

The impact of bereaved parents’ perceived grief similarity on relationship satisfaction. By Buyukcan-Tetik, Asuman; Finkenauer, Catrin; Schut, Henk; Stroebe, Margaret; Stroebe, Wolfgang
Journal of Family Psychology, Vol 31(4), Jun 2017, 409-419. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/fam0000252

Abstract: The present research focused on bereaved parents’ perceived grief similarity, and aimed to investigate the concurrent and longitudinal effects of the perceptions that the partner has less, equal, or more grief intensity than oneself on relationship satisfaction. Participants of our longitudinal study were 229 heterosexual bereaved Dutch couples who completed questionnaires 6, 13, and 20 months after the loss of their child. Average age of participants was 40.7 (SD = 9.5). Across 3 study waves, participants’ perceived grief similarity and relationship satisfaction were assessed. To control for their effects, own grief level, child’s gender, expectedness of loss, parent’s age, parent’s gender, and time were also included in the analyses. Consistent with the hypotheses, cross-sectional results revealed that bereaved parents who perceived dissimilar levels of grief (less or more grief) had lower relationship satisfaction than bereaved parents who perceived similar levels of grief. This effect remained significant controlling for the effects of possible confounding variables and actual similarity in grief between partners. We also found that perceived grief similarity at the first study wave was related to the highest level of relationship satisfaction at the second study wave. Moreover, results showed that perceived grief similarity was associated with a higher level in partner’s relationship satisfaction. Results are discussed considering the comparison and similarity in grief across bereaved partners after child loss.

Overstated evidence for short-term effects of violent games on affect and behavior: A reanalysis of Anderson et al. (2010)

Overstated evidence for short-term effects of violent games on affect and behavior: A reanalysis of Anderson et al. (2010). By Hilgard, Joseph; Engelhardt, Christopher R.; Rouder, Jeffrey N.
Psychological Bulletin, Vol 143(7), Jul 2017, 757-774. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000074

Abstract: Violent video games are theorized to be a significant cause of aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Important evidence for this claim comes from a large meta-analysis by Anderson and colleagues (2010), who found effects of violent games in experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal research. In that meta-analysis, the authors argued that there is little publication or analytic bias in the literature, an argument supported by their use of the trim-and-fill procedure. In the present manuscript, we reexamine their meta-analysis using a wider array of techniques for detecting bias and adjusting effect sizes. Our conclusions differ from those of Anderson and colleagues in 3 salient ways. First, we detect substantial publication bias in experimental research on the effects of violent games on aggressive affect and aggressive behavior. Second, after adjustment for bias, the effects of violent games on aggressive behavior in experimental research are estimated as being very small, and estimates of effects on aggressive affect are much reduced. In contrast, the cross-sectional literature finds correlations that appear largely unbiased. Third, experiments meeting the original authors’ criteria for methodological quality do not yield larger adjusted effects than other experiments, but instead yield larger indications of bias, indicating that perhaps they were selected for significance. We outline future directions for stronger experimental research. The results indicate the need for an open, transparent, and preregistered research process to test the existence of the basic phenomenon.

Risk factors for PTSD and depression in female survivors of rape

Risk factors for PTSD and depression in female survivors of rape. By Mgoqi-Mbalo, Nolwandle; Zhang, Muyu; Ntuli, Sam.
Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, Vol 9(3), May 2017, 301-308. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tra0000228
Abstract
Objective: To investigate association of the sociodemographic factors, characteristics of rape and social support to the development of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder at 6 months after the rape. Method: A cross-sectional survey with female survivors of rape was carried out in 3 provinces of South Africa 6 months after the rape.

Results: One hundred female survivors of sexual assault were interviewed. More than half (53%) were from Limpopo, 25% from Western Cape, and 22% from KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). 87% reported high levels of PTSD and 51% moderate to severe depression post rape. The major risk factors for PTSD and depression were the unmarried survivors of rape and those living in KZN. The female survivors of rape in KZN province were 7 times more likely to experience symptoms of depression compared to other provinces, while married/cohabiting female rape survivors were 6 times less likely to report symptoms of depression compared to the unmarried female rape survivors.

Conclusion: These findings add support to existing literature on PTSD and depression as common mental health consequence of rape and also provide evidence that survivors’ socio- demographics—marital status, employment status—are significant contributors to the development of symptoms of depression and PTSD after rape. The results have research and clinical practice relevance for ensuring that PTSD and trauma treatment focuses on an in-depth understanding of the various aspects of the sociodemographic factors and rape characteristics that contribute to survivors’ mental state and how these compound stress and depression symptoms over time post rape victimization.

Newcomer adjustment: Examining the role of managers’ perception of newcomer proactive behavior during organizational socialization

Newcomer adjustment: Examining the role of managers’ perception of newcomer proactive behavior during organizational socialization. By Ellis, Allison M.; Nifadkar, Sushil S.; Bauer, Talya N.; Erdogan, Berrin
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 102(6), Jun 2017, 993-1001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/apl0000201

Abstract: Separate streams of organizational socialization research have recognized the importance of (a) newcomer proactivity and (b) manager support in facilitating newcomer adjustment. However, extant research has largely focused on the newcomers’ experience, leaving the perspectives of managers during socialization relatively unexplored—a theoretical gap that has implications both for newcomer adjustment and manager-newcomer interactions that may serve as a basis for future relationship development. Drawing from the “interlocked” employee behavior argument of Weick (1979), we propose that managers’ perception of newcomers’ proactive behaviors are associated with concordant manager behaviors, which, in turn, support newcomer adjustment. Further, we investigate a cognitive mechanism—managers’ evaluation of newcomers’ commitment to adjust—which we expect underlies the proposed relationship between newcomers’ proactive behaviors and managers’ supportive behaviors. Using a time-lagged, 4-phase data collection of a sample of new software engineers in India and their managers, we were able to test our hypothesized model as well as rule out alternative explanations via multilevel structural equation modeling. Results broadly supported our model even after controlling for manager-newcomer social exchange relationship, proactive personalities of both newcomers and managers, and potential effects of coworker information providing. The implications of our findings for theory and practice are discussed.

Racial Diversity and the Dynamics of Authoritarianism

Racial Diversity and the Dynamics of Authoritarianism. By Yamil Ricardo Velez & Howard Lavine
Journal of Politics, April 2017, Pages 519-533, http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/688078

Abstract: Past work on the political impact of racial diversity has focused on direct effects, demonstrating that diverse environments are associated with more negative - or in some circumstances, more positive - racial attitudes and race-targeted policy preferences. We show that diversity functions in a second way, as a variable that magnifies the political impact of individual differences in the psychological disposition of authoritarianism. Using a national sample, we find that in white areas with minimal diversity, authoritarianism had no impact on racial prejudice, political intolerance, and attitudes toward immigration. As diversity rises, however, authoritarianism plays an increasingly dominant role in political judgment. In diverse environments, authoritarians become more racially, ethnically, and politically intolerant and nonauthoritarians less so. We conceptually replicate these findings in a dorm setting with plausibly exogenous levels of local diversity and discuss the implications of our findings in terms of the various ways in which ethno-racial diversity structures political attitudes.

Keywords: diversity, context, public opinion, polarization, personality, authoritarianism.


Stealth Democracy Revisited: Reconsidering Preferences for Less Visible Government.

Stealth Democracy Revisited: Reconsidering Preferences for Less Visible Government. By Kathryn VanderMolen
Political Research Quarterly, http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1065912917712478

Abstract: Understanding public preferences for governing processes is an understudied area of research. In this paper, I evaluate a set of critical assumptions relating to process preferences that the literature has thus far not addressed. I specifically address the claims made by John Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse in their seminal book, Stealth Democracy, which suggests that people prefer political decisions to be made via expert-based governing arrangements to promote a level of efficiency and effectiveness within the government that elected officials cannot provide. Using original questions from the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, I find concurring evidence that citizens are not strongly attached to standard participatory processes found in democracy. However, upon using more precise measurements and placing expert processes into contemporary context, preferences weaken and appear to be shallow in nature. In an era where process preferences are receiving more attention as trust in government wanes, it is important to understand the depth of these preferences and their potential to change politics. These results suggest it is imperative for future scholars to approach the study of process preferences with care.