Paranormalna vjerovanja i osobine ličnosti u Hrvatskoj

The goal of this study was to assess the relationship between the Five Factor Model of personality and the belief in the paranormal. Participants (N=307) were students from the University of Zagreb, Croatia. The measures used were the IPIP version of the Five Factor Model questionnaire (Goldberg et al., 2006) along with the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (Tobacyk, 1988). The factor analysis of the latter yielded three previously unreported paranormal belief dimensions named: General paranormal belief, Traditional religious belief and Rituals and practices. The most significant personality correlations with all three factors were found for Openness, Conscientiousness and Neuroticism, respectively. Results to an extent confirmed previous findings, suggesting that open individuals accept more General paranormal beliefs, while rejecting Traditional religious belief. Conscientiousness displayed an opposite trend being positively related to Traditional religious beliefs and negatively to General paranormal beliefs. Finally, Neuroticism was related to Rituals and practices, i.e. superstitions, divinations and occult control of life outcomes. The relations are however modest ranging from 0.11 to 0.25. Both the novel paranormal belief structure and its significance to personality are discussed within an evolutionary perspective, with guidelines for further research highlighted in the end.Cilj ove studije bilo je istraživanje povezanosti peterofaktorskoga modela ličnosti i paranormalnih vjerovanja. Sudionici istraživanja (N=307) bili su studenti Sveučilišta u Zagrebu (Hrvatska). Od mjera je primijenjena IPIP verzija upitnika peterofaktorskoga modela (Goldberg i sur., 2006.) te revidirana skala paranormalnih vjerovanja (Tobacyk, 1988.). Faktorska analiza revidirane skale paranormalnih vjerovanja upozorila je na, do sada nezabilježenu, trofaktorsku strukturu, pri čemu su dobivene dimenzije nazvane: generalna paranormalna vjerovanja, tradicionalna religijska vjerovanja i rituali i prakse. Najznačajnije povezanosti ličnosti s dimenzijama paranormalnih vjerovanja nađene su za faktore otvorenosti, savjesnosti i neuroticizma. Rezultati su djelomično potvrdili prijašnje nalaze, pokazujući sklonost otvorenijih pojedinaca prema generalnim paranormalnim vjerovanjima i odbacivanju tradicionalnih religijskih vjerovanja. Dimenzija savjesnosti pokazala se pozitivno povezana s tradicionalnim religijskim, a negativno s generalnim paranormalnim vjerovanjima. Neuroticizam se pokazao povezan s ritualima i praksama, tj. praznovjerjem, proricanjem i okultnim praksama. Povezanosti su se pokazale umjerenima (0,11 – 0,25), a novootkrivena struktura paranormalnih vjerovanja i njezina povezanost s osobinama ličnosti promatrana je kroz evolucijsku perspektivu. Ograničenja i smjernice za buduće istraživače naznačene su na kraju

Prüfung der Schutz-und-Ausblick-Theorie am Beispiel von Stadtparks

„Teorija vidik-zaklon“ (Appleton, 1975) temelji se na pretpostavci da estetski doživljaj krajobraza odražava naše evolucijom određene preferencije ka staništima koja nam pružaju sigurnost. Teorijom se pretpostavlja kako će krajobraz koji omogućuje da promatramo (vidik) bez da budemo primijećeni (zaklon) biti percipiran kao privlačniji, ugodniji i sigurniji. Cilj eksperimentalnog istraživanja bio je ispitati utječe li dodavanje komponenti vidika i zaklona pri oblikovanju otvorenih javnih prostora na percepciju privlačnosti i ugodnosti tih prostora. Za oblikovanje anketnog ispitivanja izabrana su dva javna prostora: park Bundek i park Maksimir. Anketni upitnik sastojao se od ukupno 10 vizualnih prikaza koji su bili modificirani na način da se svaki vizualni prikaz sastojao od tri fotografi je istog područja, a na svakoj od fotografi ja bila je naglašena jedna od komponenti (vidik, zaklon, vidik-zaklon). Anketiranje je provedeno putem interneta i socijalnih mreža a sudjelovalo je 263 sudionika. Sudionici su na pet prikaza preferirali prostore koji su sadržavali komponente vidik-zaklon, na četiri prostore s naglašenim zaklonom, a u jednom slučaju podjednako su preferirali opciju vidik-zaklon i opciju samo zaklon. Na temelju dobivenih rezultata u ovom istraživanju možemo zaključiti da su postavke teorije vidik-zaklon samo djelomično potvrđene.Prospect-refuge theory (Appleton, 1975) is based on the assumption that human aesthetic experience of landscape is the reflection of our preferences toward certain types of locations, which have evolved for survival. The theory predicts that those landscapes which combine unimpeded visual prospects (prospect-dominant areas) and opportunity for concealment (refuge-dominant areas) will be more attractive, more pleasant and safer. The aim of this experimental research was to examine whether the addition of certain features related to prospect and refuge in the design of public spaces will affect the perception of attractiveness and pleasantness of those areas. Two public spaces were selected: urban park Bundek and urban park Maksimir, both located in Croatian capital Zagreb. The questionnaire consisted of 10 visual representations, modified so that each representation consisted of three photographs of the same area with different emphasis on one of the three features related to prospect and refuge (prospect, refuge and prospect-refuge). The survey was conducted via the internet and social networks. There were a total of 263 respondents. The respondents preferred the areas which contained prospect-refuge components in five representations, they preferred refuge components in four representations, and both prospect-refuge and refuge components in one representation. Based on these results, we conclude that the predictions of prospect-refuge theory are only partially confirmed.Die Schutz-und-Ausblick-Theorie (Appleton, 1975) beruht auf der Annahme, dass das ästhetische Erlebnis der Landschaft unsere durch die Evolution bestimmte Präferenzen für Wohnräume widerspiegelt, die uns Schutz bieten, sie nimmt an, dass die Landschaft, die es uns ermöglicht zu blicken (Ausblick), ohne bemerkt zu werden (Schutz) als anziehender, angenehmer und sicherer wahrgenommen wird. Das Ziel der Experimentalforschung war zu prüfen, ob die Zugabe von Ausblick- und Schutzkomponenten bei der Gestaltung von offenen öffentlichen Räumen die Wahrnehmung der Attraktivität und Angenehmheit beeinflusst. Zur Befragung wurden zwei öffentliche Räume gewählt: der Park Bundek und der Park Maksimir. Der Fragebogen bestand aus insgesamt 10 visuellen Darstellungen, die so modifiziert waren, dass jede visuelle Darstellung aus drei Fotos eines Parkteils bestand, wobei auf jedem Foto eine andere Komponente betont war (Ausblick, Schutz, Ausblick - Schutz). Die Umfrage wurde über Internet und soziale Netze durchgeführt und daran haben 263 Personen teilgenommen. Die Teilnehmer haben an fünf Darstellungen Räume vorgezogen, die die Komponente Ausblick - Schutz beinhalteten, an vier Räume mit dem betonten Schutz und in einem Fall haben sie sich gleich für die Option Ausblick - Schutz und Option nur Schutz entschlossen. Auf Grund der Ergebnisse können wir schließen, dass die Thesen der Schutz-und-Ausblick-Theorie nur teilweise bestätigt worden sind

Modelling threat causation for religiosity and Nationalism in Europe

Europe's contemporary political landscape has been shaped by massive shifts in recent decades caused by geopolitical upheavals such as Brexit and now, COVID-19. The way in which policy makers respond to the current pandemic could have large effects on how the world looks after the pandemic subsides. We aim to investigate complex questions post COVID-19 around the relationships and intersections concerning nationalism, religiosity, and anti-immigrant sentiment from a socio-cognitive perspective by applying a mixed-method approach (survey and modelling); in a context where unprecedented contagion threats have caused huge instability. There are still significant gaps in the scholarly literature on populism and nationalism. In particular, there is a lack of attention to the role of evolved human psychology in responding to persistent threats, which can fall into four broad categories in the literature: predation (threats to one's life via being eaten or killed in some other way), contagion (threats to one's life via physical infection), natural (threats to one's life via natural disasters), and social (threats to one's life by destroying social standing). These threats have been discussed in light of their effects on religion and other forms of behaviour, but they have not been employed to study nationalist and populist behaviours. In what follows, two studies are presented that begin to fill this gap in the literature. The first is a survey used to inform our theoretical framework and explore the different possible relationships in an online sample. The second is a study of a computer simulation. Both studies (completed in 2020) found very clear effects among the relevant variables, enabling us to identify trends that require further explanation and research as we move toward models that can adequately inform policy discussions

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multinational data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar results were found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, and collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-neglible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic.Peer reviewe

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic.

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = -0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (vol 13, 517, 2022) : National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (Nature Communications, (2022), 13, 1, (517), 10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9)

Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.In this article the author name ‘Agustin Ibanez’ was incorrectly written as ‘Augustin Ibanez’. The original article has been corrected.Peer reviewe

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multinational data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar results were found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, and collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-neglible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic

Author Correction: National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Correction to: Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9, published online 26 January 2022