Search

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects and correlations of the perceived religious affiliation on a fictitious terrorism case. Participants were 402 French adults who completed a questionnaire after reading a scenario involving the arrest of a person (French vs. North African; man vs. woman) wearing an explosive belt. They indicated the level of the perpetrator's religious affiliation and judged her/him and the act. The participants' level of social dominance orientation (SDO) was measured and studied along in its two dimensions. The results showed an effect of ethnicity on perceived religious affiliation, which was correlated with judgment and mediated the effect of social dominance on judgment. The implications of this study are discussed in terms of intergroup interactions and religious prejudice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Men and women are well aware of the gender pay gap. The present study involved four experiments (N = 341, student sample, N = 203 general population sample) in which we indirectly measured empathy by asking participants to rate the non-complex and complex emotions they felt when reading a scenario in which a woman described her pay situation. Experiments 1 (equal pay vs. unequal pay) and 2, 3 & 4 (angry vs. depressed reaction to pay inequality) investigate differences in empathy arousal between men and women by assessing their emotions. Globally, both men and women identified correctly emotions expressed by the women victim of pay inequity. On complex emotions, women express more other suffering emotions than men, only in Experiment 4. Coupled with expression of guilt/shame for men only, these results are discussed in the perspective of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attitudes toward affirmative action programs (AAPs) depend on the criteria on which these programs are based and on the ideological views in the relationships between groups. The present study examined the impact of the selection procedure (with or without AA) on the perception of justice and on attitudes toward the beneficiaries of these procedures in France, where the system makes it possible to compare beneficiaries of different origins. A group of 101 French students read scenarios describing the admission of a candidate, with either a French or a North African first name, to a prestigious school, based on either a standard selection procedure or AA. The standard procedure and its beneficiary were more positively judged, and the beneficiary was considered more competent, than one selected with AAP. These results were particularly significant for participants with a high level of social dominance orientation (SDO). Furthermore, participants perceived both selection procedures more positively and judged the candidate as being more competent when that person had a Frenchsounding name. High-SDO participants underestimated socioeconomic and ethnic discrimination. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very few studies have examined the influence of the acculturation strategies of an offender of foreign descent on the way a third party judges the personality and action of that offender. The aim of our study was thus to measure the effect of three variables (Seriousness of the harm suffered by the victim; Type of acculturation strategy of the offender; Level of Social Dominance Orientation [SDO]) of the person making the judgement) on the judgements and decisions made by a sample of students faced with a situation of physical aggression committed by a man of North African descent living in France. After reading a scenario describing a criminal act committed by a man of North African descent, who had or had not adopted French culture, 168 French students completed a judgement scale concerning the criminal act and the offender and an SDO scale. The results show that the crime was perceived as less serious when the perpetrator had adopted French culture than when he had not. The perpetrator was also judged less severely. Participants with higher levels of SDO advocated harsher punishment and attributed the crime to the offender's personality. We discuss these results and identify new avenues for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the conditions affecting the math performance of French female student nurses in a setting where they were likely to experience stereotype threat (supposedly poor scientific skills), but in a context which enhanced their status as women and strengthened their self-affirmation. We hypothesized that self-affirmation through their nursing identity would deflect the negative impact of the stereotype threat on performance and would reduce the threat's harmful impact on attentional processes, as reflected in perceived stress, perceived concentration and self-estimate of performance. Ninety-five female students enrolled in a nursing school in France carried out a dosage calculation-a typical nursing task-which drew directly on their math skills. They were assigned to one of four experimental conditions: 2 (threat: task presented as being diagnostic of women's difficulty in math calculation compared to men vs. no threat: task presented as a typical nursing-school exercise) x 2 (self-affirmation: choosing from a list and describing the most important characteristics for them as women and as nurses vs. control condition: same task but for the characteristics that were least important for them but important for other people). As expected, under stereotype threat relating to their math skills, women performed better under the self-affirmation condition than under the control condition. However, this improved performance was associated with a lower self-estimate of their performance. We discuss the consequences, in this specific occupational and cultural context, on the way women can overcome the negative impact of gender stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analysed two fields of the sociocultural, acculturative orientation of North African immigrants in France. The first is Immersion within the Society of Origin (ISO), which has two facets: "Orientation towards Members of the Ingroup" (OMI) and "Orientation towards the culture of origin" (OCO). The second, "Immersion within the Host Society" (IHS) also comprises two facets: "Orientation towards People of French Origin" (OPFO) and "Orientation towards French Culture" (OFC). The aim was to analyse the relationship between these four facets of sociocultural acculturative orientations and various socio-demographic and psychosocial variables. Two-hundred-and-ten North African immigrants in France answered a questionnaire adapted from Stephenson's Multigroup Acculturation Scale (SMAS). Stepwise multiple regression analyses show that OMI is linked to the country of origin and cultural identity, and OCO to satisfaction with life, family situation, sex and cultural identity. OPFO is linked to participation in club activities, and OFC to work/student activity and family situation. These results illustrate the relevance and value of studying immigrants' sociocultural, acculturative orientation on the basis of ISO vs. IHS models, and in the fields of their social relations and their relationship with the culture. They highlight the importance of looking at acculturation as a composite process, the various facets of which are related to different variables that can therefore be regarded as relevant indicators of immigrants' intercultural adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Police action is frequently discussed and almost always monitored. The aim of this systematic review is to identify the psychological and social factors underlying police officers' decisions to use force.Methodology: Scientific articles were selected from six databases (PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, HeinOnline, ScienceDirect, PubMed).Results: We found 923 articles matching our search, and 52 were retained based on their results regarding the psychological factors underlying police officers' decisions to use force and the decision-making process itself. We found that the most frequently studied factors were belonging to an ethnic minority, carrying a conducted energy device (CED), the police department's policies and managerial organization, and the environment in which the encounter occurred. However, it seems that the most predictive factor in the decision to use force is the resistance and behavior of the suspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between perceived ethnic discrimination and (physical and mental) health indicators among North African women and men living in France. METHODS This study included 82 North Africans, aged 18-64 years. Perceived discrimination was measured at both group level (PGD) and personal level (PPD). The physical health indicator was blood pressure. The mental health indicator was self-reported psychological distress. RESULTS Multiple regression analyses showed that higher levels of PGD predicted higher blood pressure. PPD was not related to blood pressure. PPD was positively related to psychological distress among women, but not among men. CONCLUSION PPD and PGD are associated with physical and mental health indicators in different ways among North African women and men in France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]