The psychological effects of terrorism are moderated by cultural worldviews

Terrorism cannot be easily studied experimentally for obvious reasons. We report the results of a laboratory study (N = 149) testing the effect of cultural worldviews on feelings of threat and hostility toward Muslims in France that include in the design the deadly terrorist attack of January 7th 2015 in Paris as a naturally occurring independent variable. The results replicate past research by showing that in a natural context, people felt more threatened and more hostile toward Muslims after the terrorist attack than before. However, the reverse occurred in an experimental condition that made the French cultural worldview of colorblind equality salient: People felt less threatened and less hostile after the terrorist attack than before. These results provide, for the first time in the context of a real terrorist attack, support for Terror Management Theory's proposal that cultural worldviews are an effective buffer against terror

Light-cone averaging in cosmology: formalism and applications

We present a general gauge invariant formalism for defining cosmological averages that are relevant for observations based on light-like signals. Such averages involve either null hypersurfaces corresponding to a family of past light-cones or compact surfaces given by their intersection with timelike hypersurfaces. Generalized Buchert-Ehlers commutation rules for derivatives of these light-cone averages are given. After introducing some adapted "geodesic light-cone" coordinates, we give explicit expressions for averaging the redshift to luminosity-distance relation and the so-called "redshift drift" in a generic inhomogeneous Universe.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures. Comments and references added, typos corrected. Version accepted for publication in JCA

Backreaction on the luminosity-redshift relation from gauge invariant light-cone averaging

Using a recently proposed gauge invariant formulation of light-cone averaging, together with adapted "geodesic light-cone" coordinates, we show how an "induced backreaction" effect emerges, in general, from correlated fluctuations in the luminosity distance and covariant integration measure. Considering a realistic stochastic spectrum of inhomogeneities of primordial (inflationary) origin we find that both the induced backreaction on the luminosity-redshift relation and the dispersion are larger than naively expected. On the other hand the former, at least to leading order and in the linear perturbative regime, cannot account by itself for the observed effects of dark energy at large-redshifts. A full second-order calculation, or even better a reliable estimate of contributions from the non-linear regime, appears to be necessary before firm conclusions on the correct interpretation of the data can be drawn.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures. Comments and references added, Fig. 1 modified. Version accepted for publication in JCA

What is dust? - Physical foundations of the averaging problem in cosmology

The problems of coarse-graining and averaging of inhomogeneous cosmologies, and their backreaction on average cosmic evolution, are reviewed from a physical viewpoint. A particular focus is placed on comparing different notions of average spatial homogeneity, and on the interpretation of observational results. Among the physical questions we consider are: the nature of an average Copernican principle, the role of Mach's principle, the issue of quasilocal gravitational energy and the different roles of spacetime, spatial and null cone averages. The observational interpretation of the timescape scenario is compared to other approaches to cosmological averaging, and outstanding questions are discussed.Comment: 39 pages, 3 figures, Invited review accepted by Classical and Quantum Gravity for the special issue "Inhomogeneous Cosmological Models and Averaging in Cosmology

Eyes Are Windows to the Chinese Soul: Evidence from the Detection of Real and Fake Smiles

How do people interpret the meaning of a smile? Previous studies with Westerners have found that both the eyes and the mouth are crucial in identifying and interpreting smiles, yet less is known about Easterners. Here we reported that when asking the Chinese to judge the Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles as either real or fake, their accuracy and sensitivity were negatively correlated with their individualism scores but positively correlated with their collectivism scores. However, such correlations were found only for participants who stated the eyes to be the most useful references, but not for those who favored the mouth. Moreover, participants who favored the eyes were more accurate and sensitive than those who favored the mouth. Our results thus indicate that Chinese who follow the typical Eastern decoding process of using the eyes as diagnostic cues to identify and interpret others' facial expressions and social intentions, are particularly accurate and sensitive, the more they self-report greater collectivistic and lower individualistic values

« Je suis Charlie » : New Findings on the Social and Political Psychology of Terrorism [« Je suis Charlie » : Nouvelles Avancées en Psychologie Sociale et Politique du Terrorisme]

International audienc

Stratégies d’acculturation, jugement et (dés)approbation sociale chez les immigrés : une approche intra-groupe

International audienc

The Psychological Effects of Terrorism are Moderated by Cultural Worldviews [Les Effets Psychologiques du Terrorisme sont Modérés par les Normes Culturelles]

International audienc

La laïcité et la fabrique des normes de diversité

International audienc

Confiance bornée et évolution des opinions extrêmes : expérience en ligne

International audienceLe modèle d'influence "bounded confidence" est ici partiellement confronté aux résultats d'expériences on-line. Le caractère borné de l'influence est confirmé. Cette influence dépend de la distance relative à un individu (relativement à la distance aux autres individus influenceurs). Les résultats montrent par ailleurs que l'influencé est sensible aux nombre d'influenceurs du groupe dans lequel il se situe. Des expériences complémentaires sont nécessaires pour aller plus loin