Search

Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022. In this article the author name ‘Agustin Ibanez’ was incorrectly written as ‘Augustin Ibanez’. The original article has been corrected.

Teorije zavjera predstavljaju neutemeljena i neprovjerena vjerovanja da grupa ljudi tajno radi kako bi ostvarila zlonamjerne ciljeve. U jeku COVID-19 pandemije došlo je do pojave niza teorija zavjera o porijeklu koronavirusa, širenju infekcije i stopi smrtnosti. U isto vrijeme, pojavile su se brojne pseudoznanstvene informacije o liječenju i prevenciji infekcije koronavirusom (primjerice da velike količine češnjaka mogu spriječiti infekciju), a koje u konačnici mogu dovesti i do smrtnih ishoda. Uzevši u obzir dosadašnja istraživanja koja ukazuju na manju sklonost pridržavanja preventivnih mjera kod osoba sklonih teorijama zavjera, cilj ovog istraživanja je bio ispitati odnos vjerovanja u teorije zavjera i ponašanja u skladu s mjerama propisanim od strane epidemiološke struke. Pri tome su se ispitali medijacijski efekti stupnja povjerenja u Nacionalni stožer civilne zaštite i slaganja sa pseudoznanstvenim informacijama o prevenciji i liječenju infekcije. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 1864 sudionika prosječne dobi od 36.6 godina. Uz izvještavanje o različitim sociodemografskim informacijama, sudionici su ispunili Skalu vjerovanja u teorije zavjera o bolesti COVID-19, Skalu vjerovanja u pseudoznanstvene informacije, Skalu povjerenja u Nacionalni stožer, te Skalu pridržavanja službenih zaštitnih mjera. Sve su skale konstruirane u svrhu ovog istraživanja te nakon validacije pokazuju jednofaktorsku strukturu i zadovoljavajuće pouzdanosti. Rezultati pokazuju da žene izvještavaju o većem stupnju slaganja s teorijama zavjera u usporedbi s muškarcima. Također je dobivena negativna povezanost između dobi i stupnja slaganja s teorijama zavjera. U daljnjim je analizama utvrđen parcijalni medijacijski efekt povjerenja u Nacionalni stožer na negativan odnos između vjerovanja u teorije zavjere o COVID-19 i pridržavanja preventivnih epidemioloških mjera. S druge strane, vjerovanje u pseudoznanstvene informacije se nije pokazalo značajnim medijatorom. Uvođenjem sociodemografskih varijabli kao kovarijate, odnosi među varijablama u modelu su ostali isti. Nalazi generalno impliciraju da teorije zavjera o koronavirusu mogu predstavljati prijetnju u vidu povećanja rizika širenja i prijenosa infekcije uslijed nepridržavanja preventivnih mjera.

Tijekom prvog vala pandemije koronavirusa COVID-19, u razdoblju od 27. travnja do 4. svibnja 2020. proveli smo istraživanje na online uzorku punoljetnih hrvatskih građana temeljenog na kvotama spola i dobi. Prikupljeni podaci dio su velikog međunarodnog istraživanja o sociopsihološkim aspektima pandemije koronavirusa (COVID-19), uz sudjelovanje oko 60 zemalja. Istraživanjem se htjelo zahvatiti širok raspon sociodemografskih obilježja, društveno relevantnih stavova, osobina ličnosti, kvalitete života i drugih individualnih karakteristika kako bi se ispitala njihova uloga u objašnjavanju stavova i ponašanja u vezi s pandemijom koronavirusa COVID-19. Rezultati ukazuju da građani prihvaćaju sve anketom obuhvaćene oblike odgovornog ponašanja, odnosno fizičkog udaljavanja i izbjegavanja kontakata i pojačane higijene te u prosjeku snažno podržavaju i poduzete epidemiološke mjere u Hrvatskoj. Analitičko mišljenje, indeksirano kognitivnom refleksivnošću i razmišljanjem otvorenog uma povezano je s manjom sklonošću različitim teorijama zavjera o porijeklu i prirodi nastanka koronavirusa. Rezultati ukazuju na izostanak povezanosti analitičkog mišljenja s ponašanjima fizičkog udaljavanja i izbjegavanja kontakata tijekom pandemije, kao i s podrškom mjerama nacionalnog stožera. S druge strane, sklonost pojačanoj higijeni tijekom pandemije pokazala se negativno povezanom s kognitivnom refleksivnošću, dok veza s razmišljanjem otvorenog uma nije utvrđena. Očekivano, osobe sklonije vjerovanjima u teorije zavjera u vezi s COVID-19 iskazuju manju podršku epidemiološkim mjerama te manje izbjegavanje fizičkih kontakata iako ne i pojačane higijene. Osobito je zanimljiv nalaz da svijest o mogućim ekonomskim troškovima ograničavajućih mjera, odnosno stavovi hrvatskih građana o negativnim ekonomskim, te dugoročno neizravnim dodatnim zdravstvenim posljedicama, u odnosu na izravnije zdravstvene posljedice nije povezana s političkom i ekonomskom orijentacijom građana, a niti s indikatorima analitičkog mišljenja. S druge strane, povezana je sa sklonošću teorijama zavjere. Općenito, nalazi ne ukazuju na politizaciju i polarizaciju građana kontekstu stavova i ponašanja u vezi s pandemijom COVID-19.

U istraživačkom izvješću prikazani su rezultati istraživanja potreba i kvalitete življenja branitelja, članova njihovih obitelji i stradalnika domovinskog rata. Istraživanje je provedeno kombinacijom kvalitativnog (fokus-grupe) i kvantitativnog postupka (anketa na 5000 osoba).

The content and characteristics (e.g number of followers, etc.) of profiles on social media as well as motives for their use are known to be related to our personality. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between profile characteristics on Instagram and personality, as well as the relationship between motivation for Internet use and personality. For the purpose of this study, 184 students at the University of Zagreb were examined via online questionnaires. Results of the study indicate that personality traits (extraversion, openness and emotional stability) are positively correlated with the number of followers, the number of photos posted and the number of people followed. Furthermore, results also demonstrate that there is a positive correlation between extraversion, emotional stability, conscientiousness and motivation for internet use to obtaining information about products and services. Our results show a significant effect of personality traits on personal profiles on Instagram.

Recent research presented two competing theories on female preferences for outgroup members as prefered sexual partners. One line of research points to an increased female intergroup bias in mating contexts while the other demonstrated preference for strangers near ovulation. The former hypothesises that the bias could stem from the historical danger of sexual coercion, while the latter proposed the preference for strangers might reflect the need for increased genetic diversity. To tease out the effects of both the threat of and potential genetic benefits of outgroup membership, a sample of 111 normally cycling women evaluated a total of 20 images of both Croatian and Spanish men on attractiveness, suitability as long - term and short - term partners along with their physical formability. Their ovulatory cycle phase was assessed by measuring luteinizing hormone (LH) in urine. Independent raters previously evaluated the included images on attractiveness, dominance, strength along with their stereotypical Croatian or Spanish phenotype. The results further enlighten how the preferences across menstrual cycle are influenced by both formability and cues of outgroup membership.

Recent studies indicated reproductive moral views tend to be stronger predictors of religious belief and attendance than cooperation related moral beliefs. These findings question religious morality as primarily large-scale cooperation adaptation and propose religious communities and rituals are used mainly by individuals pursuing a more committed mating strategy to deter others from seeking a promiscuous sexual strategy. In our study, we aimed to examine these conflicting theories and test the extent to which religious belief and ritual attendance moderated our perceptions of, and reactions to, both sexual and cooperation based moral transgressions. Using an online survey we applied vignettes depicting sexual moral transgressions (cheating & promiscuity), and vignettes containing cooperation centered moral transgressions (disloyalty & betrayal) on a sample of 305 participants (M=94, F=2011). The results indicated that non-believers tend to perceive sexual transgressions as both less morally unacceptable and more forgivable. However, religious attendance and frequency of prayer were positively related to forgiveness of cooperation centered moral transgression. These findings indicate how it is possible that both hypotheses could simultaneously be plausible. Seeking religious affiliation will surround individuals with people who have more negative views on sexual transgressions while religious attendance seems to indicate a tendency toward more redemptive attitudes in cooperative moral transgressions, which could prove to be more beneficial for cooperative behavior in the long term.

Following the popularity of the Moral Foundations Theory, we examined the construct validity of the most widely used tool for accessing the moral dimensions proposed by this theory – The Moral Foundations Questionnaire. The instrument aimed initially at measuring five dimensions - Harm/Care, Fairness/Reciprocity, Ingroup/Loyalty, Authority/Respect, and Purity/Sanctity, was supplemented with new items aiming at the new potential foundation of Liberty/Oppression. We applied the six-dimensional MFQ on a sample of 649 students (self-ratings) and 649 their close acquaintances (peer-ratings) in Croatia. Factor analysis yielded a two-factor structure consisting of an individualizing factor and a binding factor, suggesting that two-factor solution may be the most acceptable. We discuss the relations between MFQ dimensions, Big-Five factors and morality dimensions derived from the natural language

Škola je počela, studenti se pripremaju za rješavanje ispita koji su im ostali od proljetnih rokova, a naše «to do» liste i sve obaveze koje smo početkom ljeta ostavili za «kasnije» su nas počele sustizati. Realnost svakodnevnih obaveza je ponovo pred nama, a s njom i neodoljiv poriv da ih odgodimo ili prebacimo za «malo kasnije»… Ta naša osobina da odgađamo izvršavanje obaveza, posebno prisutna u školskom i studentskom životu (recimo pisanje zadaća, predaja seminara ili učenje za ispite) toliko je česta da ima i svoj znanstveni naziv — Prokrastinacija Danas ćemo se dakle, bez odgađanja, u prvoj premijernoj Revoluciji, baviti odgađanjem obaveza iz psihološke perspektive — zbog čega se javlja, kakve posljedice ima naš život i možemo li, i kako, postati učinkovitiji u obavljanju obaveza i izvršavanju zadataka.

Ratna i poslijeratna iskustva čine vrlo specifičan set stresora koji je utjecao na živote branitelja Domovinskog rata. Za očekivati je kako su stres povezan s ratnim djelovanjem i poteškoće s povratkom u civilno društvo nakon rata ostavili traga na psihološku dobrobit ove populacije te utjecali na međuljudske odnose. Ovom knjigom željeli smo znanstveno pristupiti istraživanju karakteristika branitelja, prirode njihovih ratnih iskustava te potencijalnih posljedica koje su ta iskustva ostavila na njih kao pojedince, ali i na njihove odnose s obitelji, prijateljima i suborcima. Također, željeli smo istražiti kvalitetu potpore šire zajednice kako bismo osigurali podlogu za daljnji razvoj sustava psihosocijalne pomoći i podizanja kvalitete života hrvatskih branitelja. U prvom poglavlju knjige donosimo kratak pregled činjenica o Domovinskom ratu kroz brojeve, datume te pojedine specifičnosti vezane uz ustroj Hrvatske vojske. Drugo poglavlje bavi se psihološkim posljedicama sudjelovanja u borbi te prikazuje rezultate istraživanja odnosa izloženosti borbi, strategija suočavanja sa stresom, emocionalne kompetentnosti, regulacije i kontrole, kvalitete života i posttraumatskih stresnih simptoma kod branitelja Domovinskog rata. U trećem poglavlju usmjerili smo se na čimbenike vezane uz intergrupnu (odnosi između branitelja i ostalih društvenih skupina) i intragrupnu dinamiku (odnose unutar grupe branitelja) te njihove posljedice na društveni kapital. Knjigu završavamo predstavljanjem rezultata ankete o preferiranim aktivnostima unutar braniteljskih udruga te smjer kojih bi se branitelji željeli ostvariti. Razumijevanjem navedenih procesa i odnosa, a uzimanjem u obzir specifičnosti Domovinskog rata i položaja hrvatskih branitelja, pokušali smo definirati ključne probleme i otvoriti vrata za osmišljavanje informiranih programa koji će na individualnoj i grupnoj razini pružati braniteljima potporu upravo u onim dijelovima koji su ključni kako bi se osiguralo njihovo nesmetano funkcioniranje u širem društvu. Neprepoznavanjem i nerazumijevanjem problema koje donosi rat učinjeni su brojni propusti u pristupu braniteljskoj populaciji, no uvijek postoji mogućnost ispravljanja propusta i okretanja prema budućim koracima. Vjerujemo da će ovakvo rasvjetljavanje karakteristika i unutargrupnih odnosa u braniteljskoj populaciji ne samo osnažiti braniteljsku populaciju kako bi se njihovi potencijali za suradnju i suosjećanje usmjerili u svrhu poboljšanja kvalitete života branitelja, njihovih suboraca i obitelji, već i dugoročno pridonijeti boljitku lokalne zajednice u kojoj žive. U institucionalnim i pojedinačnim djelovanjima važno je služiti se znanstvenim temeljima, a ova studija može biti ishodište za ta djelovanja.

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of social media popularity on the perception of mate attractiveness. We focused on Instagram, a platform in which users gain followers and status by sharing content online. For the purpose of this study, we created different versions of female and male mock- up Instagram profiles, each with 28, 155 or 28, 000 “followers“ while holding all other aspects (number of posts, photos, etc.) constant. A higher number of followers was associated with increased status estimates for male profiles only and did not affect physical attractiveness ratings. By contrast, male assessments of female profiles were entirely unaffected by a number of followers.

The aim of the study was to investigate the possible influence of testing modality on psychometric properties of various social attitudes scales. We applied three instruments: General social attitudes were measured by SAS-G (Milas et. al, 2013) ; Authoritarianism was measured by RWA (Altemeyer, 2006), while Social Dominance Orientation was measured by SDO (Pratto et al., 2004). We randomly assigned respondents to offline and online conditions. Both online and offline self-rating samples consisted of ≈300 participants. Besides the main aim of the study, i.e. the psychometric validation of three instruments assessed offline versus online, the additional aims pertained to the comparison of mean values and the intercorrelations of three constructs in two modes of assessment. Discussed are also other potential challenges of online versus offline measurement such as privacy issues, anonymity, social desirability and validity of responses.

We employed the psycho-lexical approach to investigate the structure of virtues in the Croatian language and to explore the possibility of cultural universality of virtues. Furthermore, we used the lexically derived virtues and related them to measures of the Big-Five personality model, as well of Haidt’s Moral Foundations Theory. A total of 324 virtue descriptors was extracted from the Croatian dictionary and rated for self- and peer-descriptions by a large sample of (N=611) University of Zagreb students and their best acquaintances. We extracted five factors of virtues and labeled them as ; Empathy, Achievement, Loyalty, Benevolence, and Depravity. Those factors were compared with Dutch and English virtues factors, as well as with the Big-Five personality dimensions and six Moral Foundations. Discussed are the cross-cultural similarities and specificities of virtues and the relative rootedness of virtues in personality dimensions and moral intuitions.

Despite claims about the universality of religious belief, whether religiosity scales have the same meaning when administered inter-subjectively - or translated and applied cross-culturally - is currently unknown. Using the recent "Supernatural Belief Scale" (SBS), we present a primer on how to verify the strong assumptions of measurement invariance required in research on religion. A comparison of two independent samples, Croatians and New Zealanders, showed that, despite a sophisticated psychometric model, measurement invariance could be demonstrated for the SBS except for two noninvariant intercepts. We present a new approach for inspecting measurement invariance across self- and peer-reports as two dependent samples. Although supernatural beliefs may be hard to observe in others, the measurement model was fully invariant for Croatians and their nominated peers. The results not only establish, for the first time, a valid measure of religious supernatural belief across two groups of different language and culture, but also demonstrate a general invariance test for distinguishable dyad members nested within the same targets. More effort needs to be made to design and validate cross-culturally applicable measures of religiosity.

Ne tako davno stučnjaci društvenih i prirodnih znanosti predviđali su skori poraz religije u modernoj zapadnoj kulturi. U njihovim radovima, često korištena kao sinonim za praznovjerje, magijsko mišljenje i deluzije, religioznost je trebala ustupiti mjesto razumu i naturalističkom, znanstvenom pristupu otkrivanja svijeta. To se nije dogodilo. Ljudi i dalje s gotovo neumanjenom predanošću straju u takvim vjerovanjima.

Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je razviti hrvatsku taksonomiju deskriptora vrlina služeći se leksičkim pristupom. Uz to, u istraživanju smo se usmjerili i na usporedbu dimenzija vrlina dobivenih leksičkim pristupom u hrvatskom jeziku s dimenzijama dobivenim istim pristupom u drugim zemljama (Cawley i sur. 2000 ; De Raad i Van Oudenhoven, 2011) te na povezanost tako dobivene strukture vrlina s Velepetorim modelom ličnosti i dimenzijama moralnosti obuhvaćenima Teorijom moralnih temelja (Haidt i Joseph, 2007). U prvoj fazi istraživanja sudjelovalo je 11 psihologa / stručnih procjenitelja koji su iz master liste deskriptora ličnosti ekstrahirali 324 pridjeva koji će tvoriti Upitnik deskriptora vrlina. U drugoj su fazi ispitanicima (studentima Sveučilišta u Zagrebu) uručeni Upitnik deskriptora vrlina, markeri faktora vrlina iz nizozemskog (De Raad i Van Oudenhoven, 2011) i engleskog jezika (Cawley i sur., 2000), upitnik za procjenu Velepetore strukture ličnosti (IPIP) te upitnik moralnih temelja (MFQ). Sveukupno je prikupljeno 611 samoprocjena (423 Ž, 108 M ; . Mdob=20, 43, sd=2, 6) i uz njih vezanih procjena druge osobe, a primjenom psiholeksičke metodologije na Upitnik deskriptora vrlina ekstrahirali smo peterofaktorsku strukturu i kod samoprocjena i kod procjena druge osobe. Pet faktora kod samoprocjena nazvali smo Empatija, Postignuće, Odanost, Miroljubivost i Izopačenost, dok su kod procjena drugih osoba faktori imenovani Benevolentnost, Integritet, Izopačenost, Čestitost i Postignuće. Faktori iz navedenih struktura tek su djelomično kongruentni. Nadalje, pokazala se povezanost faktora Empatije, Postignuća i Miroljubivosti, tj. Benevolentnosti, Integriteta i Postignuća s dimenzijama Altruizma i Društvenosti te Postignuća, Energičnosti i Poštovanja iz nizozemske strukture te s dimenzijama Empatije i Staloženosti, Organiziranosti i Domišljatosti iz strukture dobivene u engleskom jeziku, kao i povezanost dimenzija ličnosti Ugodnost i Savjesnost s dimenzijama vrlina i kod samoprocjena (Empatija i Postignuće) i kod procjena druge osobe (Benevolentnost, Integritet i Postignuće). Povezanost vrlina u hrvatskom jeziku i moralnih temelja (Haidt i Joseph, 2007) opažena je na moralnim temeljima Brige i Pravednosti.

Despite the popularity of the morality construct, we know of no studies on the morality in the natural language. The relation between morality constructs and personality dispositions is also elusive as well as the position of morality in the context of virtues. Following the basic premise of the lexical approach that all significant individual differences are embodied in language (De Raad, 2000) we conducted a psycholexical study of morality in the Croatian language. In the first study, a group of 11 rated how well the 2045 adjectives from the natural language describe morality. The first study yielded 163 morality descriptors in the Croatian language. In the second study, those 163 adjectives were rated for self-descriptions by a large sample of (N = 611) University of Zagreb students and for peer-descriptions by (N = 611) students' best acquaintances. Factor analyses yielded four morality factors from the natural language: Benevolence, Honor, Loyalty and Depravity. Analysis of the relations between those factors and the Big-Five personality factors revealed that Benevolence was strongly related to Big-Five Agreeableness, while Honor correlated mostly with Conscientiousness. Loyalty was negatively related to Extraversion and Intellect, while Depravity had only slight relations with the Big-Five factors. Analysis of the relations between natural language morality factors and Haidt's Morality Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ) revealed that three MFQ dimensions were related to the morality factors from the natural language: Care, Fairness and Purity. Analysis of the relations between morality factors in the natural language and Cawley and De Raad's markers of virtues revealed a lot of complexity, depending on the dimension observed and the type of rater (self vs. peer). In conclusion, morality in the natural language has substantial relations with all three observed sets of constructs: "personality proper", Moral Foundations Theory and virtues.

In the light of the burgeoning interest on the subject of rituals, our study was aimed at examining the proces in which dysphoric war experiences are related to the emergence and implementation of various ritual modalities as well as in the role both the rituals and the intense combat experiences play on social cohesion and identity fusion within groups. Using Focus group methodology, we mobilised and conversed with a diverse sample of Croatian Homeland War veterans, which were involved in various levels of combat intensity, whilst also discriminating between voluntary and conscripted war participants. Our findings indicate that high level of involvement in direct combat activities is paired with a more rich and vivid recollection and incidence of rituals as well as a more intense sense of comradery and trust. The study yielded an exhaustive taxonomy of wartime ritual activity that emerged during the Croatian Homeland War and identified various components of veteran group cohesion.

„Teorija vidik-zaklon“ (Appleton, 1975) temelji se na pretpostavci da estetski doživljaj krajobraza odražava naše evolucijom određene preferencije ka staništima koja nam pružaju sigurnost. Teorijom se pretpostavlja kako će krajobraz koji omogućuje da promatramo (vidik) bez da budemo primijećeni (zaklon) biti percipiran kao privlačniji, ugodniji i sigurniji. Cilj eksperimentalnog istraživanja bio je ispitati utječe li dodavanje komponenti vidika i zaklona pri oblikovanju otvorenih javnih prostora na percepciju privlačnosti i ugodnosti tih prostora. Za oblikovanje anketnog ispitivanja izabrana su dva javna prostora: park Bundek i park Maksimir. Anketni upitnik sastojao se od ukupno 10 vizualnih prikaza koji su bili modifi cirani na način da se svaki vizualni prikaz sastojao od tri fotografi je istog područja, a na svakoj od fotografi ja bila je naglašena jedna od komponenti (vidik, zaklon, vidik-zaklon). Anketiranje je provedeno putem interneta i socijalnih mreža a sudjelovalo je 263 sudionika. Sudionici su na pet prikaza preferirali prostore koji su sadržavali komponente vidik-zaklon, na četiri prostore s naglašenim zaklonom, a u jednom slučaju podjednako su preferirali opciju vidik-zaklon i opciju samo zaklon. Na temelju dobivenih rezultata u ovom istraživanju možemo zaključiti da su postavke teorije vidik-zaklon samo djelomično potvrđene.

In order to explore the possibility of cultural universals in the structure of virtues, and to investigate the relation of cross-culturally derived virtue structures, we employed the Lexical approach that was previously shown to be extremely valuable in both personality and virtues structure research. Furthermore, we used the lexically derived virtues structures to examine the proposition of the existence of certain evolved moral foundations, as suggested by the Moral Foundations Theory. MFT proposes the existence of six distinct moral foundations- Harm/Care, Fairness/cheating, Liberty/oppression Loyalty/betrayal, Authority/subversion and Sanctity/degradation, which was developed though simultaneous review of current evolutionary views on morality and cross-cultural research on virtues. However the evidence for the existence of such structure in various cultures has not been adequately investigated. After extracting virtues descriptors from the natural language in Croatia, 324 adjectives were rated for self and peer descriptions by a large sample of (N=500) University of Zagreb students and their best acquaintances. The lexically acquired structure in Croatian language was compared with the lexical virtues structures from Dutch and English language, as well as the proposed moral foundations as measured by the Moral Foundations Questionnaire. Discussed is the underlying structure of virtues in Croatian language, the comparison of cross-culturally derived lexical structures as well as the relations with the dimensions proposed by the MFT.

The issue of morality became one of the most salient phenomena studied in psychology in recent years. However, despite the popularity of the construct, we know of no studies on the morality in the natural language. Following the basic premise of the lexical approach that all significant individual differences are embodied in language we conducted a psycholexical study of morality in the Croatian language, as a part of larger study on natural-language virtues. In the first study, a group of 11 judges used the 2045 adjectives classified as prototypical for the categories of dispositions and social aspects of personality from the Croatian taxonomy and rated how well these adjectives describe morality (or lack thereof). The first study yielded 163 morality descriptors in the Croatian language. In the second study, those 163 adjectives were rated for self-descriptions by a large sample of (N≈500) University of Zagreb students and for peer-descriptions by (N≈500) students’ best acquaintances. Discussed is the underlying structure of morality in the natural language, the relations of those dimensions with existing measures of morality, the Big-Five factors of personality, as well as the relations between morality and virtues in the natural language.

In the light of the misunderstanding between the religious and the non-religious, as well as misconceptions about the origins of the religious beliefs, our study aimed to examine the predictive value of personality and thinking dispositions in determining religious orientation. By applying the Post-Critical Belief Scale (Duriez, Fontaine & Hutsebaut, 2000) on a Croatian student population (N=307) we extracted three distinct dimensions of religious belief – Religiosity, Skepticism and Orthodoxy. Thinking dispositions, assessed by the Actively Open-Minded Thinking Scale (Stanovich & West, 2007) and the Need for Cognition Scale (Cacioppo et al., 1996), proved to be useful in discriminating between the Skeptical non-believers and both the Orthodox and the more open Religious believers. However, the personality dimension of Openness was shown to be the most reliable predictor of Skepticism. Furthermore, Agreeableness was a relevant predictor of Religiosity, whereas Conscientiousness contributed significantly to predicting Orthodoxy.

Važnost istraživanja psihološke dobrobiti na radnom mjestu ogleda se u studijama koje pokazuju pozitivnu povezanost dobrobiti i niza indikatora poslovne uspješnosti (Boehm & Lyubomirsky, 2008). Pri tome se radna angažiranost, kao pozitivno, ispunjavajuće afektivno i motivacijsko stanje, koje uključuje energiju, predanost, i zanesenost, razmatra kao jedan od osnovnih indikatora psihološke dobrobiti na poslu (Bakker i Oerlemans, 2011). Kako bismo stekli jasniji uvid u konstrukt radne angažiranosti u hrvatskom kontekstu, osnovni cilj ovoga istraživanja bio je ispitati strukturu i prediktore radne angažiranosti hrvatskih ispitanika. Nadalje, na osnovu modela radnih zahtjeva i resursa (Bakker i Demerouti, 2007) u ovome smo istraživanju nastojali ispitati ulogu radnih (podrška kolega, odnos s nadređenim, mogućnosti razvoja, dostupnost povratnih informacija) i osobnih resursa (samopodudarna motivacija) u odnosu između radnih zahtjeva i radne angažiranosti. Drugim riječima, ispitali smo mogu li resursi zaposlenika ublažiti negativne učinke visokog radnog stresa na angažiranost. Osnovno polazište modela radnih zahtjeva i resursa jeste da se, bez obzira na vrstu posla, psihosocijalne karakteristika posla mogu svrstati u dvije kategorije: a) radni resursi, koji potiču osobni razvoj i ostvarenje ciljeva te umanjuju stres ; i b) radni zahtjevi, koji podrazumijevaju kontinuirano ulaganje napora, što može rezultirati s fizičkim i/ili psihičkim gubicima. Sukladno tomu, autori su pretpostavili da su radni i osobni resursi zaposlenika pozitivno, a radni zahtjevi negativno povezani s anagažiranosti. Osim toga, autori su pretpostavili da resursi imaju ublažavajuću ulogu negativne učinke visokih radnih zahtjeva. U istraživanju sudjelovao je prigodan uzorak od 443 zaposlenika (338 žena i 105 muškaraca) iz različitih sektora, prosječne dobi od 38 godina (SD=9.26). Sudionici su ispunili on-line upitnik koji se sastojao od Utrecht skale radne angažiranosti (UWES ; Schaufeli i Bakker, 2004) ; Upitnika radnih resursa (Bakker, 2009) ; Upitnika radnih stresora (Rodell i Judge, 2009) ; Skale motivacije na poslu (MAWS, Gagne, i sur, 2010) ; te sociodemografskih podataka. Rezultati hijerarhijskih regresijskih analiza, u kojima je kriterij bila radna angažiranost, a prediktori radni i osobni resursi, te radni zahtjevi, potvrdili su postavljene hipoteze. U radu se dobiveni rezultati razmatraju u kontekstu modela radnih zahtjeva i resursa, te teorije konzervacije resursa (Hobfoll, 2002).

Building on the proposition that gender differences in mating strategies and intrasexual competition will be reflected in signaling behavior towards possible mates (i.e. Buss & Schmitt, 1993), we sought to examine if such strategies would be observable on social networking sites. A sample of 10 male and 10 female profile pictures was randomly selected from a large pool of Facebook users. The photographs were rated on nine criteria relevant to mate selection by 31 volunteer (15 male and 16 female, age span from 54 to 18). Previously established sexual differences were to a great extent confirmed in online social network setting. Ratings showed that males more frequently emphasized cues of social status, ambition and access to material resources, whereas females tended to emphasize features of physical appearance and of youthfulness. The categories of physical strength or athleticism, intelligence, high activity levels and flirtatious behavior were not in this case found to be gender-related. Finally, the perception of masculinity was mostly tied to the display of resources and physical strength, as was femininity to physical appearance and flirtatious behavior.The study shows the robustness of gender differences and mating-related behaviors, while offering guidelines for further exploration of human interactions through new media

The study presents the construct validation of a Croatian social attitudes scale (SAS_C) conceived to measure basic social attitudes dimensions. The sample consisted of 452 Croatian university students aged between 18 to 28 years and the same number of their peers aged between 15 and 75 years. All subscales showed reasonably high internal consistency as well as appropriate convergent and discriminant validity based on self/peer correlations. CFA conducted on both self- and peer-ratings yielded good structure and acceptable indices of fit. However, the validation against lexically based Saucier’s (2000) Isms instrument showed little convergence indicating that two approaches in general social attitudes scale construction lead to identification of entirely different basic constructs.

Kao što nam socijalna i kognitivna psihologija već godinama uspješno demonstriraju ; ljudi su skloni vjerovanju.Uz to i loše procjenjujemo vjerojatnosti, vrednujemo subjektivna iskustva puno više od znanstveno dokazanih činjenica, brzopleti smo u stvaranju uvjerenja i još tvrdoglaviji kada ih treba promijeniti. Ono što sada zasigurno znamo je da u svemu tome prste ima naša evolucijska povijest i iz nje je proizašla psihološka konstitucija s kojom se eto moramo nositi.Ovaj članak je pregled značajnijih suvremenih spoznaja kognitivne i evolucijske psihologije i antroplogije, te novog polja kognitivne znanosti religije, koje nam napokon daju odgovor na pitanje zbog čega smo toliko skloni vjerovanju u nadnaravno i kako je točno tekao proces evolucije homo paranormalisa i njegovih paranormalnih vjerovanja.

As a response to fairly inconsistent results regarding the role of personality traits, violent video-games and media in predicting violent behavior, the goal of our study was to examine those relations in a broad multivariate context. The study included a large sample of college students in Croatia (N=458). We used the following predictors of aggressiveness: gender, Five-Factor personality model, the exposure to domestic violence and finally the exposure to television and video game violence. Personality factors were assessed by a 50-item IPIP measure of Costa and McCrae's (1992) FFM. The exposure to domestic violence was assessed by 49-item Family Conflict Scale (Ferguson et al., 2008), designed to look at specific components of family violence exposure, including direct physical and sexual abuse, witnessing domestic violence, neglect and failure to provide for basic needs, the exposure to drug abuse, the use of spanking, verbal abuse and insulting language, the degree to which education was valued in the family and the degree to which the respondent felt loved. The exposure to violent content trough media and video games was assessed with a slightly modified version of Anderson and Dill (2000) media violence questionnaire. We used the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (AQ ; Buss & Perry, 1992), and modified Elliott, Huizinga, & Ageton (1985) Delinquency scale as measures of aggressiveness. The analyses showed, in slight contrast to previous findings, that Agreeableness was the strongest predictor of aggressiveness, while Neuroticism, exposure to video game, media and family violence had less predictive power. Further implications are discussed.

This talk addresses links between personality traits and another important domain of broadly defined individual differences, namely values. Using self-reports in a large sample of adolescents in Croatia, two factor structures were examined and compared: the IPIP Big-Five factor markers and Schwartz’s Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ). In addition, this talk discusses the relations between personality dimensions and values during adolescence. The International Personality Item Pool (50 items) is a cross-cultural instrument targeted to measure the Big-Five domains, adapted for adolescent ratings in this study. The Portrait Value Questionnaire is a cross-cultural instrument targeted to measure 10 motivational types of values. A large sample of adolescents in Croatia (N≈900), aged from 14 to 19 years used the IPIP50 and the PVQ40 to rate themselves (self-ratings). Unlike the studies that compared Schwartz’s 10 value types with personality, we explored the dimensionality of PVQ in adolescence and related the underlying value structure to personality. The five-factor adolescent personality structure was nearly identical to the adult structure. The scree test suggested the existence of 3 to 5 latent dimensions of PVQ, with the four factor solution being theoretically the most plausible one. The five personality factors were related moderately or strongly to the four value factors. The relation between the personality dimension of Agreeableness and values was the strongest, followed by Extraversion, Intellect and Conscientiousness, whereas link between Emotional Stability and Values was the weakest. Discussed also is the structure of personality and values as well as their relations for gender and age subgroups.

We compared self-other congruence of personality traits and social attitudes using participants of different relationships (friends, parents, girlfriends/boyfriends) and different lenghts of acquaintaince. Self-other congruence for personality traits was generally higher than for attitudes. The highest congruence for both was for girlfriends/boyfriends.

U ovom radu ispitivali smo mogućnost predviđanja temeljnih dimenzija društvenih stavova na temelju Velepetorog modela ličnosti. Istraživanje je provedeno kroz dva nezavisna mjerenja, na većem uzorku studenata (N≈ 500). Kao mjera ličnosti korištena je Goldbergova (1999) IPIP 100 skala, validirana u Hrvatskoj (Mlačić i Goldberg, 2007). Kao mjere društvenih stavova korištene su dvije skale, proizašle iz različtih teorijskih i metodoloških pristupa: LDS skala (Milas, 2004), izvedena iz Wilson-Patterson (1968) skale, koja se sastoji od dimenzija Religioznosti, Kozmopolitizma, Modernizma, Seksualnih sloboda i Radničkih prava ; te Saucierova ISMS skala, razvijena po uzoru na leksička istraživanja u ličnosti, koja se sastoji od dimenzija označenih kao α , β , γ i δ . U prvom dijelu rada bavili smo se ispitivanjem strukture korištenih mjera, pri čemu su IPIP i LDS replicirali očekivanu peterofaktorsku strukturu, a analiza ISMS skale pokazala je trofaktorska i četverofaktorska rješenja, što je u skladu s dosadašnjim istraživanjima Sauciera (2000). U drugom dijelu rada razmatrali smo dimenzije ličnosti kao prediktore društvenih stavova. Dobiveni nalazi potvrđuju dosadašnje rezultate istraživanja s LDS skalom, no s ISMS skalom dobiveni su ponešto različiti rezultati od prijašnjih Saucirovih rezultata sa sličnim mjerama.

This paper examines the relationship between Big Five personality factors and basic dimensions of social attitudes derived from two independent measures using a large sample of students in Croatia (N≈ 500). The goal of this research was to explore the relationship between the two psychological constructs in the context of contemporary theories. We used Goldberg’ s (1999) IPIP 100 scale as a measure of personality, validated in Croatia (Mlačić and Goldberg, 2007), while as measures of social attitudes we used two separate scales emerging from two different theoretical and methodological approaches. The first measure (LDS scale) created by Milas (2004), derived from Wilson-Patterson (1968) scale, and represented such dimensions as Religiousness, Cosmopolitism, Modernism, Sexual Freedoms and Labor Force Rights. The other measure, Sauciers ISMS scale, developed after the lexical research to personality and represented dimensions labeled as α , β , γ and δ . IPIP and LDS replicated expected five factor structures, while the analysis of ISMS followed the research by Saucier and extracted 3 and 4 factor structures, which are both represented in the paper. Personality dimensions of Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Intellect were moderately, however consistently, related to social attitudes. Regarding the LDS scale, the dimensions of Religiousness, Cosmopolitism and Sexual Freedoms had shown the highest correlations with personality dimensions, while the same effect was evident for Saucier’ s dimensions of α , β and a newly formed dimension of α γ . These findings replicate the previous research with LDS measure, but are significantly different from Saucier’ s results with similar measures.