An online experiment on the influence of online user comments on attitudes toward a minority group

In recent years, there is interest in examining the effects of user comments on online content consumers’ attitudes and perceptions. Building on theoretical foundations from social psychology and using an online experimental design, we investigated whether exposure to online comments attached to news content affects attitudes toward refugees. We recruited students from a public university in the Mediterranean region and, after administering a printed pretest on their attitudes toward refugees, we assigned them into three groups: one that read a series of positive comments about refugees (positive experimental group), one that read a series of negative comments about refugees (negative experimental group) and one that did not read comments (control group). The comments and a neutral reference news video were communicated to the participants via email during a five-day period after the pretest. After the implementation of the experimental stimuli, we administered a modified version of the pretest as a posttest. We found that exposure to positive comments reduced prejudice and that the intensity of prior prejudice was positively associated with the magnitude of prejudice reduction. Exposure to negative comments did not affect prejudice. A repeat posttest, administered one week after the posttest, showed stability of the observed attitude change

Το διαδίκτυο στην Κύπρο 2010, Τελική Έκθεση

Για την αναπαραγωγή αυτής της έκθεσης σε κάθε άλλη μορφή πέραν της χρήσης συνοπτικών αποσπασμάτων απαιτείται ρητή γραπτή άδεια από το World Internet Project Cyprus.Χρηματοδοτούμενη από το ΤΕΠΑΚ, το δεύτερο κύμα της έρευνας «The Cyprus World Internet Project» διεξάχθηκε κατά το διάστημα Μάιος- Ιούνιος 2010 μέσω προσωπικών συνεντεύξεων ενός δείγματος 1000 ατόμων από την Ελληνοκυπριακή και 600 ατόμων από την Τουρκοκυπριακή κοινότητα. Το πρώτο κύμα της έρευνας πραγματοποιήθηκε το 2008 και αφορούσε μόνο τους Ελληνοκύπριους.Τεχνολογικό Πανεπιστήμιο Κύπρο

Measuring crime seriousness perceptions: What have we learned and what else do we want to know

Perceptions of crime seriousness have been studied since the 1960s. Based predominantly on data from surveys, researchers have identified characteristics of acts affecting seriousness perceptions and have examined the degree of consensus in perceived seriousness for a variety of deviant and criminal behaviors. Methodological issues (methods of measurement, questionnaire structure and content, level or measurement, etc.) have been discussed at length. This review presents the most important substantive and methodological accomplishments and challenges of this body of research. It also discusses possible future directions, including the establishment of connections to sociological theory and normative philosophy. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

The role of religiosity in the opposition to drug use

This study examines the causal mechanism linking religiosity to opposition to drug use. Using an electronic mail survey of university students, data were obtained about the participants' religious beliefs, their perceptions of drug use, and their attitudes toward the use of six common drugs (alcohol, cigarettes, cocaine, heroin, LSD, and marijuana). Based on the data, path models were estimated for each substance to investigate the causal structure underlying four constructs: religiosity, perceived immorality of drug use, perceived self-harm of drug use, and attitudes toward the control of drug use (control attitudes). The results support that religiosity affects control attitudes indirectly through perceived immorality of drug use

Interview control questions

This study presents a technique for enhancing causal validity in in-depth interview research. The technique is based on the logic of control, as applied in various research contexts such as experiments and statistical analyses. According to this logic, to detect the real effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable, all other variables must be held constant. By using interview control questions (ICQs), this study applies this principle in in-depth interviewing. An ICQ is a probe question that controls an independent variable in the participant's thinking. Two modes are presented: simple control (neutralizing an independent variable to examine whether it is a necessary condition for an outcome) and parallel control (isolating an independent variable to examine whether it is a sufficient condition for an outcome). In both modes, the method allows for additional independent variables to surface. Applications in in-depth interviews exploring attitudes toward victimless deviance are presented. © 2008 Taylor & Francis

Control attitudes and perceptions of drug use: An exploratory study

Control attitudes represent opinions about the formal or informal control of a behavior by society. This study investigates control attitudes toward drug use based on data from semistructured in-depth interviews. The analysis shows that control attitudes toward drug use consist of a normative component(philosophical principles)and a perceptive component(perceptions of harm and perceptions of immorality). In particular, control attitudes are shaped by combinations of(1)libertarian principles and perceptions of harm to others,(2)paternalistic principles and perceptions of self-harm, and(3)moralistic principles and perceptions of immorality. The implications of the results in the study of normative culture are discussed

Explaining the Prevalence of Sexual Content in Football Fans' Antagonistic Communication.

The role of chanting and banner display by fans during football games is both instrumental (performance enhancing) and expressive (identity affirming). Focusing on the latter function, it can be observed that fans express and affirm their identities not only by praising their own team (and its fans, i.e., themselves) but also by applying an "us vs. them" communicative model to contrast what they are to what they are not, imposing the latter on the opposite team's fans. Thus, the identities and superior qualities (whether athletic, physical, social, moral, etc.) of the ingroup are confirmed and praised by discrediting the identities and exposing the inferior qualities of the opponents. This is where prevailing texts of antagonistic communication during football games (chanting and banner displays) come from: by boldly discrediting, ridiculing and humiliating the opponent, fans praise and augment their own superiority. This study presents an in-depth analysis of the logic of this antagonistic communication by focusing on sex-related themes—which are by far more prevalent than other common themes (e.g., politics, racism, ethnocentrism, locality or religion)—in football fans' chants in Cyprus First Division games. It focuses on three specific themes: masculinity, heteronormativity and family reputation. Among the countless ways in which these themes are manifested in football fans' chants, the most intriguing are the uses of various insults and attacks on the integrity and reputation of the "others", e.g., calling the opponents "pussies", "gays" and their female family members, predominantly mothers, "whores" or "sluts". A large number of chants, extracted from observations of football games, were presented in 21 recently conducted interviews with football fans as stimuli for semi-structured discussion. The study asks why fans choose to use these themes and how they interpret them. Based on the data from the interviews, it concludes that (i) the primary purpose of these antagonistic communicative actions is to smash the reputation of the opponent, (ii) for this purpose, sex-related themes are more effective that other less prevalent ones and that (iii) this can—and actually does—happen because of the cultural milieu of sustained sexism, homophobia and the sacredness of the family, which are deeply internalized mainstream cultural elements in Cypriot society (and, by extension and at various degrees of intensity, in other Mediterranean and Western cultures)

Explaining the Prevalence of Sexual Content in Football Fans' Antagonistic Communication.

The role of chanting and banner display by fans during football games is both instrumental (performance enhancing) and expressive (identity affirming). Focusing on the latter function, it can be observed that fans express and affirm their identities not only by praising their own team (and its fans, i.e., themselves) but also by applying an "us vs. them" communicative model to contrast what they are to what they are not, imposing the latter on the opposite team's fans. Thus, the identities and superior qualities (whether athletic, physical, social, moral, etc.) of the ingroup are confirmed and praised by discrediting the identities and exposing the inferior qualities of the opponents. This is where prevailing texts of antagonistic communication during football games (chanting and banner displays) come from: by boldly discrediting, ridiculing and humiliating the opponent, fans praise and augment their own superiority. This study presents an in-depth analysis of the logic of this antagonistic communication by focusing on sex-related themes—which are by far more prevalent than other common themes (e.g., politics, racism, ethnocentrism, locality or religion)—in football fans' chants in Cyprus First Division games. It focuses on three specific themes: masculinity, heteronormativity and family reputation. Among the countless ways in which these themes are manifested in football fans' chants, the most intriguing are the uses of various insults and attacks on the integrity and reputation of the "others", e.g., calling the opponents "pussies", "gays" and their female family members, predominantly mothers, "whores" or "sluts". A large number of chants, extracted from observations of football games, were presented in 21 recently conducted interviews with football fans as stimuli for semi-structured discussion. The study asks why fans choose to use these themes and how they interpret them. Based on the data from the interviews, it concludes that (i) the primary purpose of these antagonistic communicative actions is to smash the reputation of the opponent, (ii) for this purpose, sex-related themes are more effective that other less prevalent ones and that (iii) this can—and actually does—happen because of the cultural milieu of sustained sexism, homophobia and the sacredness of the family, which are deeply internalized mainstream cultural elements in Cypriot society (and, by extension and at various degrees of intensity, in other Mediterranean and Western cultures)