Thinking like a patriot : criticizing the country and the nation is linked to the differences in thinking style and cognitive ability

Some forms of national identification facilitate criticism of one's own country and nation, whereas others prevent it. The critical form of national identification - constructive patriotism - is characterized by the willingness to criticise the group in order to improve it. The uncritical form of national identification - glorification - is characterized by seeing the group as superior to others and by intolerance of criticism of the group. We used dual-process theories to examine whether differences in thinking style and cognitive ability help predict the emergence of the critical and uncritical form of national identification. We ran three correlational studies (total N = 2509) in Poland including two samples representative of Polish society. We ran an internal meta-analysis to summarise the obtained results from all studies. We found that constructive patriotism was positively linked with need for cognition (i.e., the willingness to engage in slow, effortful information processing; for the random effect model r = 0.18). Constructive patriotism was also positively linked with cognitive ability (r = 0.07). In contrast, glorification was negatively associated with need for cognition (r = -0.26) and cognitive ability (r = -0.09). Glorification was also positively linked with faith in intuition (r = 0.14)

The impact of threat to control and group agency on attitudes towards refugees from Middle East

Kiedy ludzie doświadczają zagrożenia dla ich poczucia kontroli, mogą je odzyskać poprzez zwrócenie się w kierunku grupy własnej. Model kontroli grupowej wyjaśnia, dlaczego w reakcji na zagrożenie kontroli ludzie podejmują działania nastawione na obronę i wspieranie swojej grupy, czego wyrazem może być np. faworyzacja grupy własnej i dewaluacja grup obcych, ale też podejmowanie konstruktywnych działań w celu odzyskania kontroli. Model ten zakłada także, że jeśli dodatkowo osoba doświadczy zagrożenia na kolektywnym poziomie – zakwestionowana zostanie sprawczość jej grupy, to reakcje te będą jeszcze silniejsze. Celem badania było sprawdzenie, jakie konsekwencje dla stosunku wobec uchodźców z krajów Bliskiego Wschodu ma doświadczenie zagrożenia dla kontroli indywidualnej i sprawczości grupowej oraz czy reakcje na to zagrożenie pozwolą odzyskać poczucie kontroli. Wyniki pozwoliły na częściowe potwierdzenie hipotez. Zaobserwowano poprawę w postrzeganiu uchodźców i stosunku wobec nich w przypadku doświadczenia tylko jednego rodzaju zagrożenia, co pozwoliło na odzyskanie kontroli tylko wtedy, gdy zagrożona była sprawczość grupy. Z kolei w sytuacji podwójnego zagrożenia uchodźcy postrzegani byli najbardziej negatywnie, a dewaluacja uchodźców okazała się skuteczną strategią na odzyskanie kontroli.The model of group – based control explains why a threat to personal control leads to actions aimed at defense and support for ingroup, e. g. ingroup bias, outgroup derogation or engaging in constructive behaviours to restore a sense of control. In addition, this model predicts that if one experiences also a threat to ingroup agency, these actions will be more intense. The aim of the present study was to test how threat to control and group agency influences attitudes towards refugees from Middle East and whether reactions to this threat can restore sense of control.The hypotheses have been partially confirmed. Perception of refugees and attitude towards them were more positive in single threat condition and more negative when double threat was experienced

The role of national identification in explaining political and social civic engagement

The present research examines the relationship between distinct forms of national identification-constructive patriotism, conventional patriotism, and glorification-and both political and social engagement. Three correlational studies were conducted in Poland. In Study 1 (N = 234) and Study 2 (N = 316), using self-report measures, it was found that constructive patriotism positively predicts both forms of civic engagement. Conventional patriotism positively predicted social engagement (Studies 1 and 3). Glorification negatively predicted political engagement. Study 3 (N = 969) supported the link between these different forms of national identification and political and social engagement, using both self-report and behavioural measures of civic engagement. The findings suggest that national identification can both promote and deter civic engagement

Is patriotism helpful to fight the crisis? : the role of constructive patriotism, conventional patriotism, and glorification amid the COVID-19 pandemic

We examined the link between constructive patriotism, glorification, and conventional patriotism and COVID-19-related attitudes and behaviors at different stages of the pandemic in Poland. In Study 1 (N = 663), constructive patriotism was positively associated with support for internal measures (e.g., raising awareness about health practices). Glorification was negatively linked to support for such measures and positively connected to support for external measures (e.g., closing the borders). In Study 2 (N = 522), constructive patriots showed greater compliance with hygiene and social distance practices. In Study 3 (N = 633), the attribution of responsibility for fighting the crisis to the state and particularly to individuals underlined the link between constructive patriotism and compliance with health practices. Additionally, constructive patriotism was linked to support for international collaboration. Study 4 (N = 1051), conducted on a representative sample, further corroborated these findings. The results regarding conventional patriotism were not consistent across studies