Gerasimos Prodromitis

Social dominance in context and in individuals: Contextual moderation of robust effects of social dominance orientation in 15 languages and 20 countries.

We tested the internal reliability and predictive validity of a new 4-item Short Social Dominance Orientation (SSDO) scale among adults in 20 countries, using 15 languages (N = 2,130). Low scores indicate preferring group inclusion and equality to dominance. As expected, cross-nationally, the lower people were on SSDO, the more they endorsed more women in leadership positions, protecting minorities, and aid to the poor. Multilevel moderation models showed that each effect was stronger in nations where a relevant kind of group power differentiation was more salient. Distributions of SSDO were positively skewed, despite use of an extended response scale; results show rejecting group hierarchy is normative. The short scale is effective. Challenges regarding translations, use of short scales, and intersections between individual and collective levels in social dominance theory are discussed.

Parasite stress and pathogen avoidance relate to distinct dimensions of political ideology across 30 nations

Significance Pathogens, and antipathogen behavioral strategies, affect myriad aspects of human behavior. Recent findings suggest that antipathogen strategies relate to political attitudes, with more ideologically conservative individuals reporting more disgust toward pathogen cues, and with higher parasite stress nations being, on average, more conservative. However, no research has yet adjudicated between two theoretical accounts proposed to explain these relationships between pathogens and politics. We find that national parasite stress and individual disgust sensitivity relate more strongly to adherence to traditional norms than they relate to support for barriers between social groups. These results suggest that the relationship between pathogens and politics reflects intragroup motivations more than intergroup motivations. People who are more avoidant of pathogens are more politically conservative, as are nations with greater parasite stress. In the current research, we test two prominent hypotheses that have been proposed as explanations for these relationships. The first, which is an intragroup account, holds that these relationships between pathogens and politics are based on motivations to adhere to local norms, which are sometimes shaped by cultural evolution to have pathogen-neutralizing properties. The second, which is an intergroup account, holds that these same relationships are based on motivations to avoid contact with outgroups, who might pose greater infectious disease threats than ingroup members. Results from a study surveying 11,501 participants across 30 nations are more consistent with the intragroup account than with the intergroup account. National parasite stress relates to traditionalism (an aspect of conservatism especially related to adherence to group norms) but not to social dominance orientation (SDO; an aspect of conservatism especially related to endorsements of intergroup barriers and negativity toward ethnic and racial outgroups). Further, individual differences in pathogen-avoidance motives (i.e., disgust sensitivity) relate more strongly to traditionalism than to SDO within the 30 nations.

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 beliefs 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.

Relationship of locus of control, psychological distress, and trauma exposure in groups impacted by intense political conflict in Egypt.

INTRODUCTION Social and political instability have become common situations in many parts of the world. Exposure to different types of traumatic circumstances may differentially affect psychological status. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to compare the relationship between personal perceptions of control over the events happening in ones life and psychological distress in two groups who experienced physical trauma but differed as to whether the trauma was a result of political upheaval and violence. Views on the extent to which the state was interested in the individual were also assessed. METHODS The sample consisted of 120 patients who were injured in the Cairo epicenter and 120 matched controls from the greater Cairo area whose injuries were from other causes. The Brown Locus of Control Scale and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL 90-R) were administered approximately three months after the January 2011 start of the demonstrations and subsequent overthrow of the government. RESULTS The groups did not differ on locus of control. For both groups, externality was associated with greater distress, suggesting a relationship between perceived helplessness in controlling ones life and distress. The Cairo group scored significantly higher than the control group on the SCL 90-R Global Severity Index (GSI) and Positive Symptom Total (PST). Perceptions of state interest in the population were low; overall, 78% viewed the state as having little or no interest in them. Discussion The relationship between exposure intensity and psychological distress is examined. In addition, differences in findings in populations experiencing political chaos compared with other types of disasters are considered. CONCLUSION Beliefs regarding personal control over ones life circumstances are more closely associated with psychological distress than the circumstances in which the trauma occurred.

Social dominance in context and in individuals: Contextual moderation of robust effects of social dominance orientation in 15 languages and 20 countries (vol 4, pg 587, 2013)

Pratto, F., Çidam A., Stewart, A. L., Zeineddine, F. B., Aranda, M., Aiello, A., Chryssochoou, X., Cichocka, A., Cohrs, J. C., Durrheim, K., Eicher, V., Foels, R., Górska, P., Lee, I.-C., Licata, L., Liu, J. H., Li, L., Meyer, I., Morselli, D., Muldoon, O., Muluk, H., Papastamou, S., Petrovic, I., Petrovic, N., Prodromitis, G., Prati, F., Rubini, M., Saab, R., van Stekelenburg, J., Sweetman, J., Zheng, W., Henkel, K. E. (2013). Social dominance in context and in individuals: Contextual moderation of robust effects of social dominance orientation in 15 languages and 20 countries. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4(5), 587-599. (Original DOI: 10.1177/1948550612473663) On page 587 of the above article published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, author Monica Rubinis institutional affiliation was listed as the University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland; however, her institutional affiliation was with the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy.