Exploring Public Attitudes Towards Immigrants in Georgia: Trends and Policy Implications

Public attitudes towards immigrants are becoming an increasingly important issue in many countries and are not always positive. In Georgia, CRRC's Caucasus Barometer survey data show that public attitudes towards immigrants remain quite ambivalent. The changes in reported attitudes between 2015 and 2017 are not necessarily positive. Negative attitudes towards immigrants are more widespread among those who have not had personal contact with immigrants, thus supporting the 'contact hypothesis.' The empirical evidence also supports the economic self-interest theory, with higher shares of people living in better-off households reporting positive attitudes towards immigrants in Georgia

Moral Competence and Self-Control: The Moderating Role of Personality Traits

Using the virtue approach of moral competence and the strength model of self-control, the study aims to discover how effective self-control is linked with moral competence. Additionally, we analyze HEXACO personality traits as a potential moderator of the proposed relationship. Participants (n = 319; 76.5% female), with a mean age of 22.75 years (SD = 3.64) completed the questionnaires aimed at measuring the HEXACO personality traits – Self-Control and Moral Competence. Results show self-control and moral competence are strongly and positively associated; therefore, self-control significantly predicts moral competence. Moreover, the effect of self-control on moral competence is most apparent when the specific impact of personality traits is considered. Specifically, Conscientiousness and Humility moderate the relationship between self-control and moral competence. Guided by the perspective of positive psychology, the study extends previous empirical research and theoretical conceptualizations of the relationship between two major areas of psychology – morality, and self-control – by placing a special focus on personality traits

Self-control and Self-consciousness: Regulation or Acceleration of Self-discrepancy Distress?

The present study explores the connection between the actual/ideal (A/I) and actual/ought (A/O) self-discrepancies and negative emotional states such as stress, anxiety and depression. Moreover, it seeks to understand the effects of potentially intervening variables, self-control //and self-consciousness, on the affect-discrepancy relationship. 638 participants (60% female, aged 18-55) participated in the study. They filled out questionnaires measuring actual/ideal self-discrepancy, actual/ought self-discrepancy, self-control, private/public self-consciousness and psychological distress (depression, anxiety and stress; DAS). The results revealed that both, A/O and A/I self-discrepancies, are positively associated with DAS but do not have a predictive value for them. However, depression, anxiety and stress are significantly predicted by low self-control and high personal self-consciousness. Also, the study confirms that self-control and self-consciousness moderate affect-discrepancy relationship: self-control is a significant moderator of the relationships between (1) A/I and A/O self-discrepancy and depression and (2) A/I and A/O self-discrepancy and stress. Also, public self-consciousness moderates the relationship between A/O self-discrepancy and stress. In this respect those who have high self-control and high self-consciousness are less likely to experience negative emotional reactions related to the discrepant self-constructs

Public Opinion in Georgia: New Caucasus Barometer Results

ISSN:1867-932

Exploring Homophobia in Tbilisi, Georgia

The purpose of this study is to determine statistical predictors of homophobic attitudes among the residents of Tbilisi, Georgia. We analyze 2013 survey data from a representative sample of the Tbilisi adult population. Residents were asked about their attitudes, beliefs, and political and social values in the context of the May 17, 2013 attack on LGBT activists on the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT). Findings show that homophobia is significantly predicted by male gender, lower levels of education, acceptance of social inequality, nonliberal attitudes, and perceiving homosexuals as a \u201cthreat to national security.\u201d However, psychological perceptions and personal experiences also indirectly influence homophobic attitudes: the findings suggest that males report homophobic attitudes more often than females do and tend to be even more homophobic when they believe that homosexuality is inborn rather than acquired. The study also found that people without liberal attitudes tend to be more homophobic when they have personal contacts with homosexuals. This article highlights the need for a more comprehensive approach to education and the promotion of liberal values as well as legal equality for LGBTQ individuals to decrease the level of homophobia in Georgian society and, specifically, in Tbilisi

Does Perfectionism Lead to Well-Being? The Role of Flow and Personality Traits

Perfectionism is a personality trait that plays an important role in understanding human behavior and functioning. There has been a focus on the negative aspects and outcomes of perfectionism, and less is known about whether and how perfectionism relates to adaptive characteristics of personality and normal functioning. We investigated associations between different aspects of perfectionism and psychological well-being in two studies by determining the role of dispositional flow and personality traits in this relationship. In Study 1, participants completed questionnaires for perfectionism, psychological well-being and flow. In Study 2, personality traits from the HEXACO model of personality were additionally measured. We found that psychological well-being had a positive correlation with conscientious perfectionism and a negative correlation with self-evaluative perfectionism. Flow mediates the relationship between conscientious perfectionism and psychological well-being. There was no correlation between self-evaluative perfectionism and dispositional flow. After controlling for relevant personality traits, dispositional flow remains the mediator between conscientious perfectionism and psychological well-being, but the relation becomes negative. Implications for the understanding of how different components of perfectionism are related to psychological well-being and how flow experience contributes to this relationship are discussed