Size Versus Intensity of Majority and Minority Consensus to a Persuasive Message: From the Source of Influence to Its Recipients

This study examines the effects of the evaluation of the majority or minority consensus attributed to a message on the influence the latter can exert, in a between subjects factorial design 2 (consensus status: 'majority' vs 'minority') × 3 (orientation of the consensus evaluation: 'non-evaluation, size evaluation, intensity evaluation'). Its innovative aspect consists in its explicit focus on participants’ evaluation of the intensity and size of the support allegedly attributed to the message of the source. The main results show that with regard to direct influence: a) in a non-evaluation condition, the majority consensus tends to be more influential than the minority consensus, whereas in the intensity evaluation condition, the minority consensus is the most influential; b) the impact of minority consensus increases when its intensity is evaluated compared to the non-evaluation condition. Regarding the indirect influence: a) the non-evaluation of the majority consensus favors its impact compared to that obtained by the minority consensus, but b) the evaluation conditions make this difference fade away, by decreasing the influence of majority consensus while increasing that of minority consensus. We discuss the significance and the limitations of these results, which seem to put aside the barriers usually encountered by the sources of influence (diminished direct influence for the minority and restricted indirect influence for the majority)

Accepting Austerity or Grexit? Predicting Acceptance of Crisis Solution Strategies from People’s image of the Greece-Eu Relationship, their own Position and Norms of Justice

In recent years Greece has faced a terrible economic crisis that became social, political and humanitarian and challenged its relationship with the European Union. In this paper, through a survey research with an opportunity sample of Greek people (N = 739) of different ages and professions, we investigate whether participants’ image of the relationship between Greece and the EU relates to their agreement with a) harsh austerity and decrease of national sovereignty, b) decrease of the public sector and c) Grexit measures. We hypothesized and observed that this relationship is mediated by beliefs about norms of justice and beliefs of individual mobility and relative position. In particular, a positive relationship between Greece and EU predicts agreement with harsh austerity and decrease of the public sector through justice beliefs of equity whereas the relationship with Grexit is not mediated by beliefs about norms of justice. In addition, perceiving the GR-EU relationship as a relationship of domination predicts the different measures through feelings of personal or relational relative position. Legitimation of a relationship of domination and acceptance of harsh measures is observed the less people feel relatively deprived personally in comparison to their past position or in comparison to others, whereas this relationship with Grexit is observed the more relative relational deprivation is felt. These results highlight that perception of asymmetric relationships and status (at an individual or group level) between the national group and the EU and distribution of resources should be taken into account when discussing measures to combat the crisis

Trust in institutions in Greece amidst the COVID-19 era: ideological and existential parameters

COVID-19 pandemic brought us face to face with existential threats, a sense of insecurity and ideological challenges. Trust in institutions is a key issue for compliance with the measures and restrictions we were called upon to follow during the pandemic. Our studies explored with a mixed-methods approach the role of ideological and existential parameters in trust in institutions during COVID-19 pandemic. Students from several departments of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and University of West Attica participated in our studies (219 in study 1 and 166 in study 2). Study 1, through a correlational and repeated cross-sectional survey explored the relationship of political orientation on trust in institutions in college students during the 1st (June-July 2020) and 3rd (November-December 2021) wave of pandemic. Participants in 3rd wave reported statistically significant lower scores on trust on Prime Minister, Government, Doctor and Nurses and National Health System during 3rd wave of pandemic in comparison to 1st wave. In both waves, right political orientation was correlated with strong trust in Prime Minister, Government, Greek Army, Church and Greek Police. Study 2, through a quasi-experimental and correlational design, explored the role of ideological and existential parameters in trust in institutions during the second wave of the pandemic (February –April 2021). Exposure to mortality salience was introduced in the experimental group by administering the Mortality Attitudes Personality Survey, while participants of the control group responded to a questionnaire about TV watching. Measures for both groups included the Social Dominance Orientation, the Right-Wing Authoritarianism, the Global Belief in a Just World, the Connection of the Soul Scale and a questionnaire included 16 domains of trust. Five factors were explicitly extracted in the Exploratory Factor Analysis (Political institutions, Health/Law institutions/Law, Local authorities, Executive institutions, Established order). Participants in mortality salience condition presented higher support in the Health/Law institutions. Mortality salience moderated the relationship between Social Dominance Orientation and trust in institutions. Predictive indicators of institutional trust emerged the post mortem expectations for connection with God and belief in a just world. Policy-making implications of these findings are discussed

Facing the Economic Crisis in Greece: The Effects of Grievances, Real and Perceived Vulnerability, and Emotions Towards the Crisis on Reactions to Austerity Measures

This research was conducted in Greece during a period of major economic crisis when everyday events contributed to a changing and threatening socio-political environment. The paper looks at the structure of reactions Greek people (N=1040) have towards the crisis. Informed by social psychological theories of collective action and relative deprivation it is hypothesized that these reactions would depend on people's actual financial position, their sense of grievances and feelings of vulnerability and the emotions they felt towards the crisis. Results show that people have multiple ways of reacting that go from radical and even violent practices towards individual solutions and depression. These reactions are differently predicted by people's position, feelings of vulnerability and sense of grievances and by different emotions. It is not people's actual position that influences reactions and feelings of vulnerability are a major predictor. Moreover, sense of grievances are linked to more radical forms of action but also to depression. Emotions play an important role in predicting reactions to the crisis. Anger is confirmed as a predictor of political participation and collective action whereas fear and frustration are a major predictor of depression. Positive emotions also predict collective action with the exception of violent practices

How Political Orientation and Vulnerability Shape Representations of the Economic Crisis in Greece and Italy

In the current research, we investigated the lay representations of the recent economic downturn, that had severe consequences on the lives of the involved people. We compared data of respondents from two countries that were affected to a different degree by the crisis: Greece ('N' = 529) and Italy ('N' = 327). We examined laypeople’s representations of the perceived causes of the crunch (e.g., overconsumption, obscure power conspiracy), the strategies that are believed to be useful to overcome it (e.g., conforming to EU request, EU exit), and the political participatory activities (e.g., legal and illegal activism) that people intend to adopt. These variables were analyzed in light of two main predictors: political orientation and subjective economic vulnerability. The main hypothesis was that self-positioning on the left/right axis may be a strong driver of lay representations and political participation. However, we expected that in conjunction with the linear effect of this variable, its quadratic effect should be considered as well. The latter specifies that in some circumstances the opinions of people self-positioned at the poles of the political spectrum may be closer to each other than to the opinions of the people that position themselves in the center which sometimes do not behave as moderate but appear more conformist. Additionally, we hypothesized that vulnerability may be a motive to seek for explanations of the crisis, to find strategies and to engage in activities to overcome it. Findings were generally in line with predictions and were discussed in the light of recent research and the context of analysis

Predictors of the perceived efficacy of actions against austerity measures

In this paper, we analyse the responses of 450 students from Greece, Portugal and Italy, who were asked to assess the efficacy of 32 actions as reactions against the austerity measures implemented to deal with the financial and economic crisis. These actions were organized into six types by a principal component factor analysis, and were ranked as follows from the most effective to the least effective: protectionism, civic participation, political resistance to government measures, individual financial protection, economic resistance to government measures and violence. Results showed that Greek respondents, who were in the most difficult socioeconomic situation, viewed all types of actions, except civic participation and individual financial protection, as more effective than the other respondents did. Regression analyses revealed, however, that crisis-related variables, in particular the attribution of responsibility for the crisis to internal factors and not to the people, and individual-related variables, such as political orientation and the intensity of depressive feelings, were strong predictors of the assessment of the efficacy of actions, in addition to the socioeconomic situation of the countries

Disgust sensitivity relates to attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women across 31 nations

Previous work has reported a relation between pathogen-avoidance motivations and prejudice toward various social groups, including gay men and lesbian women. It is currently unknown whether this association is present across cultures, or specific to North America. Analyses of survey data from adult heterosexuals (N = 11,200) from 31 countries showed a small relation between pathogen disgust sensitivity (an individual-difference measure of pathogen-avoidance motivations) and measures of antigay attitudes. Analyses also showed that pathogen disgust sensitivity relates not only to antipathy toward gay men and lesbians, but also to negativity toward other groups, in particular those associated with violations of traditional sexual norms (e.g., prostitutes). These results suggest that the association between pathogen-avoidance motivations and antigay attitudes is relatively stable across cultures and is a manifestation of a more general relation between pathogen-avoidance motivations and prejudice towards groups associated with sexual norm violations

ΨΥΧΟΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΚΟΙ ΚΙΝΔΥΝΟΙ ΕΡΓΑΣΙΑΣ ΣΤΙΣ ΑΣΤΙΚΕΣ ΣΥΓΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΕΣ: ΔΙΕΡΕΥΝΗΤΙΚΗ ΠΡΟΣΕΓΓΙΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΥΠΑΡΧΟΥΣΑΣ ΑΝΤΙΛΗΨΗΣ ΑΠΟ ΑΤΟΜΑ ΕΥΘΥΝΗΣ ΤΩΝ ΟΡΓΑΝΙΣΜΩΝ = WORKPLACE PSYCHOSOCIAL RISKS IN URBAN TRANSPORT: AN EXPLORATORY APPROACH OF THE EXISTING PERCEPTION OF KEY STAKEHOLDERS WITHIN TRANSPORT ORGANIZATIONS

Η παρούσα ερευνητική εργασία αποτέλεσε μιαν αρχική αποτύπωση της παρούσας κατάστασης σε σχέση με τους ψυχοκοινωνικούς κινδύνους στον επαγγελματικό χώρο των ελληνικών αστικών συγκοινωνιών. Βασικοί στόχοι ήταν η διερεύνηση της αντίληψης των Ψυχοκοινωνικών Κινδύνων Εργασίας (ΨΚΕ) και των πολιτικών διαχείρισής τους εκ μέρους των εμπλεκόμενων ατόμων ευθύνης εντός των οργανισμών που εκτελούν αστικές συγκοινωνίες. Στην έρευνα συμμετείχαν επτά συμμετέχοντες, οι οποίοι επιλέχθηκαν με σκόπιμη δειγματοληψία, λόγω της θέσης/ρόλου ευθύνης που κατείχαν στον οργανισμό τους. Ακολουθήθηκε ποιοτική μέθοδος και τα δεδομένα αναλύθηκαν θεματικά. Στα ευρήματα περιλαμβάνονται οι θεωρούμενοι επικρατέστεροι ΨΚΕ για το επάγγελμα του οδηγού. Επισημαίνεται ταυτοχρόνως ότι για κάποιους από αυτούς τους κινδύνους η εκδήλωση και ο τρόπος επίδρασής τους διαφοροποιούνται ουσιωδώς ανά εργασιακό πλαίσιο. Αναδείχθηκε ειδικότερα το ζήτημα της βίας και παρενόχλησης στην εργασία, το οποίο ερμηνεύεται και ως ξεχωριστός ΨΚΕ και ως αποτέλεσμα των υπαρχόντων ΨΚΕ. Η εργασία συζητά επίσης τη μέχρι τώρα εφαρμογή πρόσφατων νομικών διατάξεων από τους οργανισμούς αστικών συγκοινωνιών σε σχέση με την πρόληψη και αντιμετώπιση των ΨΚΕ.Τhis research project was an initial recording of the present situation in the professional field of Greek urban transport in relation to the workplace psychosocial risk factors. The aim was to investigate the perception of workplace psychosocial risks and the respective management policies by key stakeholders within urban transport organizations. There were seven participants who were selected through purposeful sampling based on their role/position within their organization. A qualitative method was used, and thematic analysis was implemented. The findings include the most prevalent perceived psychosocial risks for drivers. For some of them, their manifestation and impact are differentiated depending on workplace. Workplace violence and harassment were especially highlighted. This was interpreted both as an independent psychosocial risk and as an outcome of other existing psychosocial risks. The paper also discusses the extent to which the recent legal framework on psychosocial risk management has been implemented by the Greek urban transport organizations

Public trust, conspiracy theories and political ideology in the COVID-19 era: A cross-sectional Greek study

This socio-political cross-sectional study describes public trust in Greece and investigates its ideological determinants soon after the national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our web-based questionnaire included 22 domains of trust and was completed by 438 participants. Our aim was to explore the relationship between trust domains and belief in conspiracy theories, conservatism, institutional liberalism, and political orientation within the spectrum extreme left-extreme right. We found that the level of public trust regarding the pandemic management was broadly low and that there was considerable dissemination of conspiracy theories in Greek society. Adjusting for demographic characteristics and political attitudes we saw that age was the most influencing demographic determinant of public trust. Belief in conspiracy theories and conservativism were also robustly significant determinants. Our findings feed the research body and the public discussion about the socio-political dimensions of the pandemic under the prism of public health

Locus of Control and Psychopathology in Relation to Levels of Trauma and Loss: Self-Reports of Peloponnesian Wildfire Survivors

This study investigated whether relations between belief about the personal controllability of reinforcing events and levels of psychopathology were differentiated with respect to levels of trauma and loss experienced in a series of devastating wildfires. In contrast with studies of combat veterans and professional firefighters, in wildfire survivors external locus of control beliefs and psychopathology were correlated only in respondents who experienced higher levels of trauma and loss; specifically, for residents of designated disaster areas (N = 409), but not for a demographically matched sample of residents of adjacent, non-fire-damaged areas (N = 391). The conflicting findings across studies are interpreted with respect to probable differences in contingencies of reinforcement for causal attributions in professionals and in novices in disaster management