Anti-immigrant prejudice and discrimination in Europe

Europe is a continent of immigration, emigration and internal migration. In this chapter, we review recent literature that demonstrates that immigrants to Europe face prejudice, discrimination, and violence. Levels of prejudice, discrimination and violence targeted at immigrants vary between European countries, over time and the particular immigrant group under scrutiny. Classical psychological explanations regarding causes and reasons for rejection are supported in the European context: These include dispositional influences, such as right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation; situational influences, such as high nationalistic identification, intergroup anxiety and threat, lack of contact; and macro-level influences, such as politics and media coverage. Based on the reviewed literature, we propose a model of micro-macro influences on prejudice, discrimination, and violence against immigrants that organizes the existing research and reveals important areas for future research, especially research investigating micro-macro interactions. Looking into the future, we criticize that the continuation of the current walling of Europe against immigrants will reinforce future processes of devaluation and dehumanization

Investigating the social embeddedness of criminal groups: Longitudinal associations between masculine honour and legitimizing attitudes towards the Camorra

The embeddedness of criminal groups within communities accrues from their ability to establish legitimacy, particularly among young people. A prototypical example are mafia claims to political authority in Italy. Intracultural Appropriation Theory proposes that embeddedness is partly derived from criminal groups’ ability to embody cultural ideologies of masculine honour, and to reinforce these ideologies in society through their actions. We tested these propositions using a three-wave longitudinal design involving Italian adolescents from the Campania region (N1stwave = 1,173). We also examined an alternative explanation rooted in individuals’ generic acceptance of group-based hierarchies, i.e., social dominance orientation. The longitudinal design enabled us to examine for the first time both between- and within-person processes. Between-person results indicated that higher levels of the masculine honour ideology and social dominance were associated with stronger legitimizing attitudes towards the Camorra, a mafia-type group. Within-person effects revealed a positive reciprocal association between masculine honour and legitimizing attitudes. These findings emphasize the importance of culture-specific ideologies in sustaining the legitimacy of criminal groups

Social evaluation at a distance – facets of stereotype content about student groups in higher distance education

In the academic domain, belonging to a negatively stereotyped group can impair performance and peer relationships. In higher distance education, stereotypes may be particularly influential as face-to-face contact is limited and non-traditional students who are at risk of being stereotyped are overrepresented. Still, research on stereotypes in higher distance education is sparse. The current research addresses this gap by investigating the Big Two of social perception (warmth, competence) and subordinate facets (friendliness, morality, assertiveness, ability, conscientiousness) in the context of higher distance education. It tests a) how well models with warmth/competence or the facets fit the data, b) whether stereotypes in higher distance education depend on the student group, and c) how the Big Two and subordinate facets predict intergroup emotions and behavioral intentions in higher distance education. An online survey with N = 626 students (74% female) of a large distance university showed that a measurement model with four facets (i.e., friendliness, morality, ability, conscientiousness) reveals adequate model fit for 12 student groups. Perceived stereotypes were positive for female students, older students, and students with children. However, migrant as well as younger students were perceived negatively. Across groups, stereotype content facets predicted intergroup emotions and behavioral intentions of facilitation or harm. Implications for the influence of negative stereotypes in higher distance education are discussed

Unobserved heterogeneity between individuals in Group-Focused Enmity

Group-focused enmity (GFE) and related research have mostly focused on variable-centred analyses such as structural equation modelling and factor analysis, implicitly assuming that the results apply uniformly to all participants in the sample. Person-centred research questions and analysis methods, which investigate unobserved heterogeneity in the sample, have been lacking in GFE research. Nonetheless, initial evidence exists from research on Islamophobia and GFE that various unobserved latent classes (i.e., subgroups) differing in their average prejudice can be identified within one dataset. In this manuscript, we applied factor mixture modelling to investigate unobserved heterogeneity using the data of the German GFE survey 2011. We found two latent classes of equivalent factor-analytical composition with consistently high versus low expressions of target-specific prejudice. No comparison of latent GFE means was possible. Membership in the high prejudice latent class was associated with higher age, right-wing political orientation, high right-wing authoritarianism and high social dominance orientation. Our findings demonstrate the importance of exploring unobserved heterogeneity in attitudes research and outline how person-centred research can complement variable-centred research in order to understand social-psychological phenomena

Myocardial Hypertrophy Overrides the Angiogenic Response to Hypoxia

Background: Cyanosis and myocardial hypertrophy frequently occur in combination. Hypoxia or cyanosis can be potent inducers of angiogenesis, regulating the expression of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF), vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF), and VEGF receptors (VEGFR-1 and 2); in contrast, pressure overload hypertrophy is often associated with impaired pro-angiogenic signaling and decreased myocardial capillary density. We hypothesized that the physiological pro-angiogenic response to cyanosis in the hypertrophied myocardium is blunted through differential HIF and VEGF-associated signaling. Methods and Results: Newborn rabbits underwent aortic banding and, together with sham-operated littermates, were transferred into a hypoxic chamber (FiO2 = 0.12) at 3 weeks of age. Control banded or sham-operated rabbits were housed in normoxia. Systemic cyanosis was confirmed (hematocrit, arterial oxygen saturation, and serum erythropoietin). Myocardial tissue was assayed for low oxygen concentrations using a pimonidazole adduct. At 4 weeks of age, HIF-1α and HIF-2α protein levels, HIF-1α DNA-binding activity, and expression of VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, and VEGF were determined in hypoxic and normoxic rabbits. At 6 weeks of age, left-ventricular capillary density was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Under normoxia, capillary density was decreased in the banded rabbits compared to non-banded littermates. As expected, non-hypertrophied hearts responded to hypoxia with increased capillary density; however, banded hypoxic rabbits demonstrated no increase in angiogenesis. This blunted pro-angiogenic response to hypoxia in the hypertrophied myocardium was associated with lower HIF-2α and VEGFR-2 levels and increased HIF-1α activity and VEGFR-1 expression. In contrast, non-hypertrophied hearts responded to hypoxia with increased HIF-2α and VEGFR-2 expression with lower VEGFR-1 expression. Conclusion: The participation of HIF-2α and VEGFR-2 appear to be required for hypoxia-stimulated myocardial angiogenesis. In infant rabbit hearts with pressure overload hypertrophy, this pro-angiogenic response to hypoxia is effectively uncoupled, apparently in part due to altered HIF-mediated signaling and VEGFR subtype expression

A light-reflecting balloon catheter for atraumatic tissue defect repair

A catheter-based technology reflects light to activate a photocurable adhesive for minimally invasive, atraumatic tissue defect closure

Time course and mechanisms of left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction in monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension

Although pulmonary hypertension (PH) selectively overloads the right ventricle (RV), neuroendocrine activation and intrinsic myocardial dysfunction have been described in the left ventricle (LV). In order to establish the timing of LV dysfunction development in PH and to clarify underlying molecular changes, Wistar rats were studied 4 and 6 weeks after subcutaneous injection of monocrotaline (MCT) 60 mg/kg (MCT-4, n = 11; MCT-6, n = 11) or vehicle (Ctrl-4, n = 11; Ctrl-6, n = 11). Acute single beat stepwise increases of systolic pressure were performed from baseline to isovolumetric (LVPiso). This hemodynamic stress was used to detect early changes in LV performance. Neurohumoral activation was evaluated by measuring angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) LV mRNA levels. Cardiomyocyte apoptosis was evaluated by TUNEL assay. Extracellular matrix composition was evaluated by tenascin-C mRNA levels and interstitial collagen content. Myosin heavy chain (MHC) composition of the LV was studied by protein quantification. MCT treatment increased RV pressures and RV/LV weight ratio, without changing LV end-diastolic pressures or dimensions. Baseline LV dysfunction were present only in MCT-6 rats. Afterload elevations prolonged tau and upward-shifted end-diastolic pressure dimension relations in MCT-4 and even more in MCT-6. MHC-isoform switch, ACE upregulation and cardiomyocyte apoptosis were present in both MCT groups. Rats with severe PH develop LV dysfunction associated with ET-1 and tenascin-C overexpression. Diastolic dysfunction, however, could be elicited at earlier stages in response to hemodynamic stress, when only LV molecular changes, such as MHC isoform switch, ACE upregulation, and myocardial apoptosis were present.Supported by Portuguese grants from FCT (POCI/SAU-FCF/60803/2004 and POCI/SAU-MMO/61547/2004) through Cardiovascular R&D Unit (FCT No. 51/94)