Allport's prejudiced personality today: need for closure as the motivated cognitive basis of prejudice

In the long history of psychological research on prejudice, Allport's (1954) book The Nature of Prejudice is undoubtedly the foundational work, advancing ideas that remain highly influential and relevant to this day. Guided by the seminal ideas of this leading scholar, we illustrate how contemporary psychological research has accumulated evidence for a basic, motivated cognitive style underlying prejudice in its different forms. Specifically, we demonstrate that Allport's classic conception of this basic cognitive style is exceptionally well captured by the contemporary construct of need for cognitive closure (NFC), and we review the recent evidence for NFC effects on racism and sexism. Integrating Allport's writings with contemporary research, we also show that the effects of motivated cognition on prejudice are explained (i.e., mediated) by essentialist thinking and authoritarian ideology. Finally, we discuss recent evidence indicating that, in contrast to Allport's pessimistic predictions, intergroup contact is especially effective in reducing prejudice among people high in NFC. It is concluded that recent research on NFC provides a solid empirical basis for Allport's hypothesis that a general motivated cognitive style lies at the basis of prejudice

Personality effects on cardiovascular reactivity: need for closure moderates the impact of task difficulty on engagement-related myocardial beta-adrenergic activity

An experiment assessed the joint effect of dispositional need for closure (NFC) and task difficulty on engagement-related myocardial beta-adrenergic activity. Participants who scored either low or high on the NFC scale performed an ambiguous categorization task with either low or high difficulty. Confirming the theory-derived predictions, task difficulty effects on pre-ejection period (PEP) reactivity were moderated by NFC. If difficulty was low, PEP reactivity was low and independent of the participants NFC level. If difficulty was high, participants with high NFC showed increased PEP reactivity compared to participants with low NFC. These results extend previous research on Wright's model of engagement-related cardiovascular reactivity and suggest that the model may provide a useful framework for assessing the impact of personality on cardiovascular response

Openness as a predictor of political orientation and conventional and unconventional political activism in Western and Eastern Europe

The present study provides a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between Openness and political orientation and activism in Europe. Analyses were conducted on the four waves of the European Social Survey, including large representative samples in up to 26 European countries (total N > 175,000). In line with previous studies, a robust, positive relationship between Openness and left-wing political orientation was obtained in Western Europe. However, in Eastern Europe, the relationship between Openness and political orientation was weaker, and reversed in three out of four waves. Moreover, Openness yielded significant positive relationships with unconventional activism and to a lesser degree with conventional activism. The magnitude of the relationship between Openness and activism was dependent on political orientation and region. Stronger associations between Openness and activism were found for those having a left-wing orientation in Western Europe, whereas in Eastern Europe, Openness was somewhat stronger related to activism for those having a right-wing orientation. In the discussion we elaborate on the role of the geo-political context in the relationship between Openness and political variables

Need and ability to achieve closure: relationships with symptoms of psychopathology

status: publishe

Positive neighborhood norms buffer ethnic diversity effects on neighborhood dissatisfaction, perceived neighborhood disadvantage, and moving intentions

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Impaired performance as a source of reduced energy investment in judgement under stressors

Adaptive mechanisms to protect cognitive performance under stressors through compensation in energy investment have previously received much research attention. However, stressors have also often been found to substantially reduce both performance and investment. The mechanisms underlying this dual negative effect are still unclear. This study tested the hypothesis that stressors can immediately hamper performance, which in turn reduces energy investment in later phases. In an experiment (N = 103), we compared control and stressor conditions (noise or time pressure), investigating the effects of stressors on performance and information-sampling investment (as behavioural measure of energy investment) in two phases of a judgement task. The results showed an instant negative effect of stressors on performance and a delayed negative effect on information-sampling investment. Furthermore, impaired initial performance predicted the decline in investment over time. Finally, the effects of stressors on investment decline were partially mediated through initial performance level. The present findings contribute to theories aiming to explain the relationship between hampered performance and motivational losses

Diversity and Out-Group Attitudes in the Netherlands: The Role of Authoritarianism and Social Threat in the Neighbourhood

Previous studies have obtained divergent findings for the association between ethnic diversity and majority members’ attitudes towards immigrants, suggesting that this relationship is moderated by individual or contextual difference variables. In a community sample of Dutch citizens (N = 399), we investigated the role of two potential moderators: right-wing authoritarianism and social threat in the local neighbourhood. Moreover, we assessed diversity and social threat in the neighbourhood with both subjective and objective measures. The results indicated that diversity was negatively related to positive attitudes towards immigrants among high authoritarians and among people experiencing their immediate environment as threatening. Conversely, diversity was positively related to out-group attitudes among low authoritarian individuals and among people residing in more secure neighbourhoods. The theoretical and practical implications of these person–environment and environment–environment interactions are discussed

Disliked but free to speak : cognitive ability is related to supporting freedom of speech for groups across the ideological spectrum

Freedom of speech for all citizens is often considered as a cornerstone of democratic societies. In three studies, we examined the relationship between cognitive ability and support for freedom of speech for a variety of social groups across the ideological spectrum (N (1) varies between 1,373 and 18,719, N (2) = 298, N (3) = 395). Corroborating our theoretical expectations, although cognitive ability was related to more affective prejudice toward relatively conservative groups and less affective prejudice toward relatively liberal groups (Study 2), people with higher levels of cognitive ability were more in favor of freedom of speech for all target groups (Studies 1-3). The relationship between cognitive ability and freedom of speech support was mediated by intellectual humility (preregistered Study 3). These results indicate that cognitive ability contributes to support for the democratic right of freedom of speech for all social-ideological groups