Motivated Resistance to Counterattitudinal Arguments: The effects of affirmation, argument strength and attitude importance

In this study we explored some of the factors associated with biased processing of attitude-relevant information. We were particularly interested in the possibility that a self-affirmation, by reducing self-evaluative concerns, might increase participants' willingness to impartially evaluate information that conflicts with their current views. We examined students' reactions to arguments about increasing tuition as a function of four factors: attitude importance, argument strength, the congruence of arguments with existing attitudes, and our experimental manipulation of affirmation. We found that affirmation reduced biased evaluation only for participants who rated the issue as important. We also found that affirmation dramatically impacted the perception of argument strength. Stronger counterattitudinal arguments were rejected by non-affirmed participants, who did not distinguish them from weak arguments, presumably because of the esteem threat posed by a strong ideological challenge. Affirmed participants, though, evaluated strong counterattitudinal arguments more positively

Colorblind and Multicultural Prejudice Reduction Strategies in High-Conflict Situations

We tested colorblind and multicultural prejudice-reduction strategies under conditions of low and high interethnic conflict. Replicating previous work, both strategies reduced prejudice when conflict was low. But when conflict was high, only the colorblind strategy reduced prejudice (Studies 1 and 2). Interestingly, this colorblind response seemed to reflect suppression. When prejudice was assessed more subtly (with implicit measures), colorblind participants demonstrated bias equivalent to multicultural participants (Study 2). And, after a delay, colorblind participants showed a rebound, demonstrating greater prejudice than their multicultural counterparts (Study 3). Similar effects were obtained when ideology was measured rather than manipulated (Study 4). We suggest that conflict challenges the tenets of a colorblind ideology (predicated on the absence of group differences) but not those of a multicultural ideology (which acknowledges difference)

The India Face Set: International and Cultural Boundaries Impact Face Impressions and Perceptions of Category Membership

This paper serves three specific goals. First, it reports the development of an Indian Asian face set, to serve as a free resource for psychological research. Second, it examines whether the use of pre-tested U.S.-specific norms for stimulus selection or weighting may introduce experimental confounds in studies involving non-U.S. face stimuli and/or non-U.S. participants. Specifically, it examines whether subjective impressions of the face stimuli are culturally dependent, and the extent to which these impressions reflect social stereotypes and ingroup favoritism. Third, the paper investigates whether differences in face familiarity impact accuracy in identifying face ethnicity. To this end, face images drawn from volunteers in India as well as a subset of Caucasian face images from the Chicago Face Database were presented to Indian and U.S. participants, and rated on a range of measures, such as perceived attractiveness, warmth, and social status. Results show significant differences in the overall valence of ratings of ingroup and outgroup faces. In addition, the impression ratings show minor differentiation along two basic stereotype dimensions, competence and trustworthiness, but not warmth. We also find participants to show significantly greater accuracy in correctly identifying the ethnicity of ingroup faces, relative to outgroup faces. This effect is found to be mediated by ingroup-outgroup differences in perceived group typicality of the target faces. Implications for research on intergroup relations in a cross-cultural context are discussed. &nbsp;</p

Signal Detection on the Battlefield: Priming Self-Protection vs. Revenge-Mindedness Differentially Modulates the Detection of Enemies and Allies

Detecting signs that someone is a member of a hostile outgroup can depend on very subtle cues. How do ecology-relevant motivational states affect such detections? This research investigated the detection of briefly-presented enemy (versus friend) insignias after participants were primed to be self-protective or revenge-minded. Despite being told to ignore the objectively nondiagnostic cues of ethnicity (Arab vs. Western/European), gender, and facial expressions of the targets, both priming manipulations enhanced biases to see Arab males as enemies. They also reduced the ability to detect ingroup enemies, even when these faces displayed angry expressions. These motivations had very different effects on accuracy, however, with self-protection enhancing overall accuracy and revenge-mindedness reducing it. These methods demonstrate the importance of considering how signal detection tasks that occur in motivationally-charged environments depart from results obtained in conventionally motivationally-inert laboratory settings.National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) (Grant MH64734)U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (Grant W74V8H-05-K-0003)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant BCS-0642873

Monitoring and prevalence rates of metabolic syndrome in military veterans with serious mental illness

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality among patients with serious mental illness (SMI) and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome-a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors-is significantly higher in these patients than in the general population. Metabolic monitoring among patients using second generation antipsychotics (SGAs)-a risk factor for metabolic syndrome-has been shown to be inadequate despite the release of several guidelines. However, patients with SMI have several factors independent of medication use that predispose them to a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Our study therefore examines monitoring and prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with SMI, including those not using SGAs. Methods and Findings: We retrospectively identified all patients treated at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center with diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder during 2005-2006 and obtained demographic and clinical data. Incomplete monitoring of metabolic syndrome was defined as being unable to determine the status of at least one of the syndrome components. Of the 1,401 patients included (bipolar disorder: 822; schizophrenia: 222; and schizoaffective disorder: 357), 21.4% were incompletely monitored. Only 54.8% of patients who were not prescribed SGAs and did not have previous diagnoses of hypertension or hypercholesterolemia were monitored for all metabolic syndrome components compared to 92.4% of patients who had all three of these characteristics. Among patients monitored for metabolic syndrome completely, age-adjusted prevalence of the syndrome was 48.4%, with no significant difference between the three psychiatric groups. Conclusions: Only one half of patients with SMI not using SGAs or previously diagnosed with hypertension and hypercholesterolemia were completely monitored for metabolic syndrome components compared to greater than 90% of those with these characteristics. With the high prevalence of metabolic syndrome seen in this population, there appears to be a need to intensify efforts to reduce this monitoring gap