How does the geography of surveillance affect collective action?

How does residing in the proximity of surveillance infrastructure—i.e., checkpoints, the separation barrier, and military installations—affect support for cooperative and confrontational forms of collective action? Cooperative actions involve engagement with outgroups to advance the ingroup cause (e.g., negotiations, joint actions, and peace movements), whereas confrontational actions involve unilateral tactics to weaken the outgroup (e.g., boycott, armed resistance). In the context of West Bank and Jerusalem, we combine geo‐coded data on the surveillance infrastructure with a representative survey of the adult population from 49 communities (N = 1,000). Our multilevel analyses show that surveillance does not affect support for confrontational actions but instead decreases support for cooperative actions. Moreover, we identify a new, community‐level mechanism whereby surveillance undermines cooperative actions through weakening inclusive norms that challenge dominant us‐versus‐them perspectives. These effects are empirically robust to various individual‐ and community‐level controls, as well as to the potential of reverse causality and residential self‐selection. Our findings illustrate how cooperative voices and the fabric of social communities become the first casualties of exposure to surveillance. They also speak to the importance of considering structural factors, with broader implications for the socio‐psychological study of collective action

Lawmakers\u27 Use of Scientific Evidence Can Be Improved

Core to the goal of scientific exploration is the opportunity to guide future decision-making. Yet, elected officials often miss opportunities to use science in their policymaking. This work reports on an experiment with the US Congress-evaluating the effects of a randomized, dual-population (i.e., researchers and congressional offices) outreach model for supporting legislative use of research evidence regarding child and family policy issues. In this experiment, we found that congressional offices randomized to the intervention reported greater value of research for understanding issues than the control group following implementation. More research use was also observed in legislation introduced by the intervention group. Further, we found that researchers randomized to the intervention advanced their own policy knowledge and engagement as well as reported benefits for their research following implementation

Lawmakers' use of scientific evidence can be improved.

Core to the goal of scientific exploration is the opportunity to guide future decision-making. Yet, elected officials often miss opportunities to use science in their policymaking. This work reports on an experiment with the US Congress-evaluating the effects of a randomized, dual-population (i.e., researchers and congressional offices) outreach model for supporting legislative use of research evidence regarding child and family policy issues. In this experiment, we found that congressional offices randomized to the intervention reported greater value of research for understanding issues than the control group following implementation. More research use was also observed in legislation introduced by the intervention group. Further, we found that researchers randomized to the intervention advanced their own policy knowledge and engagement as well as reported benefits for their research following implementation

Discrimination Distress and Depressive Symptoms for African American, Asian, Latino, and White Adolescents: Exploring the Joint Influence of Ethnic-Racial Socialization and Ethnic-Racial Identity

This study assessed the joint influence of ethnic-racial socialization (ERS), and ethnic-racial identity (ERI) status on the association between discrimination distress and depressive symptoms for a diverse group of adolescents. Participants were 384 9th grade African American, Asian, Latino, and Non-Hispanic White adolescents, attending schools in a northeastern city. Analyses were performed for the full sample, and exploratory analyses were performed separately for Asian, Latino, and Non-Hispanic White youth. Separate exploratory analyses were not performed for African American youth because of insufficient power (n = 49). Analyses of the full sample revealed no joint influence of ERS and ERI on the discrimination distress - depressive symptoms association. However, findings revealed a direct positive association between discrimination distress and depressive symptoms, and a direct exacerbating influence of preparation for bias on depressive symptoms. Moreover, youth who reported ERI diffused, moratorium, and foreclosed statuses, also reported higher depressive symptoms compared to achieved youth. The findings of the exploratory analyses revealed both distinct and similar ethnic-racial group influences of ERS and ERI on the discrimination distress - depressive symptoms association. Specifically, compared to Asian achieved youth, the influence of high cultural socialization was more beneficial to the depressive symptoms of Asian diffused youth who reported high discrimination distress. Alternatively, compared to Asian achieved youth, high cultural socialization exacerbated the depressive symptoms of Asian moratorium youth who reported high discrimination distress. Joint effects of ERS and ERI were not found for Latino and Non-Hispanic White youth. Assessment of the direct effects of discrimination distress, ERS, and ERI, on depressive symptoms revealed that high preparation for bias exacerbated the depressive symptoms of Asian, Latino, and Non-Hispanic White youth. Distinctions arose with respect to the association between discrimination distress and depressive symptoms. Specifically, compared to Asian and Non-Hispanic-White youth, Latino youth showed no association between discrimination distress and depressive symptoms. This study highlighted the importance of assessing contextual and developmental influences on the depressive symptoms of ethnic-racial minority youth. Implications and limitations of the study were discussed

The Geography of Military Occupation and Its Effect on Palestinian Community Cohesion, Norms, and Resistance Motivation

In the context of military occupation, surveillance is a commonly used tactic to decrease resistance, effectively undermining an oppressed group’s sense of solidarity and cohesion. Our study examines how community cohesion—ties to local community—shapes the willingness to engage in nonviolent, civil resistance in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). We examine the psychological processes underpinning the link between community cohesion and civil resistance, and how these processes are affected by the geography of military occupation—the spatial system of Israeli settlements and surveillance infrastructure (checkpoints, the separation barrier, military installations). We address these questions by combining a representative survey of the adult population (N = 1,000) from 49 communities across the West Bank and Jerusalem with geo-coded data of settlements and the surveillance infrastructure. Our findings show that community cohesion predicts increased willingness to resist directly, and indirectly via perceived community norms of solidarity. Additionally, living in communities closer to settlements or the surveillance infrastructure predicts decreased community cohesion, lower expectations of solidarity with resistance, and less willingness to engage in resistance. Our findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating the role of community cohesion and norms in motivating resistance and depicting how these psychological processes are undermined by the structural conditions of control exercised by military occupation. © 2023 American Psychological Associatio

How does the geography of surveillance affect collective action?

How does residing in the proximity of surveillance infrastructure—i.e., checkpoints, the separation barrier, and military installations—affect support for cooperative and confrontational forms of collective action? Cooperative actions involve engagement with outgroups to advance the ingroup cause (e.g., negotiations, joint actions, and peace movements), whereas confrontational actions involve unilateral tactics to weaken the outgroup (e.g., boycott, armed resistance). In the context of West Bank and Jerusalem, we combine geo‐coded data on the surveillance infrastructure with a representative survey of the adult population from 49 communities ( N = 1,000). Our multilevel analyses show that surveillance does not affect support for confrontational actions but instead decreases support for cooperative actions. Moreover, we identify a new, community‐level mechanism whereby surveillance undermines cooperative actions through weakening inclusive norms that challenge dominant us‐versus‐them perspectives. These effects are empirically robust to various individual‐ and community‐level controls, as well as to the potential of reverse causality and residential self‐selection. Our findings illustrate how cooperative voices and the fabric of social communities become the first casualties of exposure to surveillance. They also speak to the importance of considering structural factors, with broader implications for the socio‐psychological study of collective action.</p

The Geography of Military Occupation and its Effect on Palestinian Community Cohesion, Norms and Resistance Motivation

In the context of military occupation, surveillance is a commonly used tactic to decrease resistance, effectively undermining an oppressed group’s sense of solidarity and cohesion. Our study examines how community cohesion - ties to local community - shapes the willingness to engage in nonviolent, civil resistance in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). We examine the psychological processes underpinning the link between community cohesion and civil resistance, and how these processes are affected by the geography of military occupation - the spatial system of Israeli settlements and surveillance infrastructure (checkpoints, the separation barrier, military installations). We address these questions by combining a representative survey of the adult population (N=1000) from 49 communities across the West Bank and Jerusalem with geo-coded data of settlements and the surveillance infrastructure. Our findings show that community cohesion predicts increased willingness to resist directly, and indirectly via perceived community norms of solidarity. Additionally, living in communities closer to settlements or the surveillance infrastructure predicts decreased community cohesion, lower expectations of solidarity with resistance, and less willingness to engage in resistance. Our findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating the role of community cohesion and norms in motivating resistance and depicting how these psychological processes are undermined by the structural conditions of control exercised by military occupation

The geography of military occupation and its effect on Palestinian community cohesion, norms, and resistance motivation

In the context of military occupation, surveillance is a commonly used tactic to decrease resistance, effectively undermining an oppressed group’s sense of solidarity and cohesion. Our study examines how community cohesion—ties to local community—shapes the willingness to engage in nonviolent, civil resistance in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). We examine the psychological processes underpinning the link between community cohesion and civil resistance, and how these processes are affected by the geography of military occupation—the spatial system of Israeli settlements and surveillance infrastructure (checkpoints, the separation barrier, military installations). We address these questions by combining a representative survey of the adult population (N = 1,000) from 49 communities across the West Bank and Jerusalem with geo-coded data of settlements and the surveillance infrastructure. Our findings show that community cohesion predicts increased willingness to resist directly, and indirectly via perceived community norms of solidarity. Additionally, living in communities closer to settlements or the surveillance infrastructure predicts decreased community cohesion, lower expectations of solidarity with resistance, and less willingness to engage in resistance. Our findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating the role of community cohesion and norms in motivating resistance and depicting how these psychological processes are undermined by the structural conditions of control exercised by military occupation