What should I do and who’s to blame?:A cross-national study on youth’s attitudes and beliefs in times of COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has had a major impact on youth. This study examined factors associated with youth's attitudes towards their government's response to the pandemic and their blaming of individuals from certain risk groups, ethnic backgrounds, and countries or regions. In a sample of 5,682 young adults (Mage = 22) from 14 countries, lower perceived burden due to COVID-19, more collectivistic and less individualistic values, and more empathy were associated with more positive attitudes towards the government and less blaming of individuals of certain groups. Youth's social identification with others in the pandemic mediated these associations in the same direction, apart from the COVID-19 burden on attitudes, which had a positive indirect effect. No evidence of country-level moderation was found

Saproxylic beetles in non-intervention and coppice-with-standards restoration management in Meerdaal forest (Belgium): an exploratory analysis

For many centuries, coppice-with-standards management was applied in the mixed oak stands of Meerdaal forest (Belgium). Over the last century, these stands were gradually converted to high forest. On an area of 20 ha, the coppice-with-standards management is being restored, with specific adaptations for biodiversity (conservation of dead wood and veteran trees). A survey of saproxylic beetles was performed at 8 locations in the forest, including one site within the coppice-with-standards restoration. This survey not only allowed an evaluation of the saproxylic beetle richness of the forest complex, but also made exploratory observations on the effect of this type of management, as compared to non-intervention, on species richness and composition of saproxylic beetles. The results show that the overall species richness in the forest complex was quite high and comparable to forest reserves in Germany. Both coppice-with-standards and high forest options appear to be equally species-rich, but consist of different communities, both containing specific, rare and notable species, with more thermophilous and light-demanding species in the coppice-with-standards plot. Based on these observations we suggest that a diversified management approach may be the most suitable to conserve and enhance diverse saproxylic beetle communities in formerly intensively managed semi-natural woodlands. This could include areas of active conservation management aimed at producing open-canopy stands with considerable amounts of sun-exposed deadwood, combined with areas of non-intervention in a matrix of multifunctional forests, where conservation of dead wood and veteran trees is fully incorporated in the management

Looking again, and harder, for a link between low self-esteem and aggression

Recent field studies have revived the hypothesis that low self-esteem causes aggression. Accordingly, we reanalyzed the data from a previous experiment and conducted a new experiment to study direct physical aggression in the form of blasting a fellow participant with aversive noise. We also conducted a field study using a measure of indirect aggression in the form of a consequential negative evaluation. High narcissists were more aggressive than others but only when provoked by insult or humiliation and only toward the source of criticism. The combination of high self-esteem and high narcissism produced the highest levels of aggression. These results support the view of aggression as stemming from threatened egotism and are inconsistent with the hypothesis that low self-esteem causes either direct or indirect aggression

Benefits of being ambivalent: The relationship between trait ambivalence and attribution biases

Ambivalence refers to the experience of having both positive and negative thoughts and feelings at the same time about the same object, person, or issue. Although ambivalence research has focused extensively on negative consequences, recently, scholars turned their lens to the positive effects of ambivalence, demonstrating beneficial effects on judgements and decision‐making processes. So far, this work has focused on state ambivalence, which is ambivalence as a direct response to a specific stimulus. However, there are substantial individual differences in ambivalence: Some people are just more ambivalent than others. Taking a first step in understanding how these individual differences relate to judgement and decision‐making, we examine the relationship between trait ambivalence and cognitive bias in social judgements tasks. Specifically, we look at two of the most pervasive and consequential attribution biases in person perception: correspondence bias and self‐serving bias. We find a negative relationship between trait ambivalence and correspondence bias. The higher individuals are in trait ambivalence, the smaller their bias towards attributing behaviour to a person’s disposition (Study 1A and B). We find the same for self‐serving bias (Study 2A and B). In sum, we show that trait ambivalence is negatively related to cognitive bias in person perception

Cluster B versus Cluster C Personality Disorders: A Comparison of Comorbidity, Suicidality, Traumatization and Global Functioning

A general clinical assumption states that cluster B personality disorders (PDs) represent a more severe form of PD than cluster C PDs. Consequently, most PD research is centered on cluster B PDs (especially borderline PD). Yet, prevalence ratings of cluster C PDs exceed those of cluster B PDs. In this explorative, cross-sectional study, we compared cluster B and C PD patients (N = 94) on a wide range of clinically-relevant severity measures, including comorbidity, suicidality, (childhood) traumatization and global functioning. Results showed that, although cluster B PD patients suffered more often from substance use disorders and lifetime suicide attempts, no difference could be established between groups for all other severity measures, including trauma variables. In our study, we additionally included a group of combined cluster B and C PDs, who were largely similar to both other groups. Although our study is insufficiently powered to claim a significant non-difference, these findings emphasize that high rates of comorbidity, suicidality, childhood traumatization and functional impairment apply to both cluster B and C patients. As such, our findings encourage more research into cluster C PDs, ultimately leading to more evidence-based treatments for this prevalent patient group. In addition, the high level of traumatization across groups calls for a routine trauma screening, especially since PD treatment may benefit from concurrent trauma treatment