Public Trust in (or Cynicism about) Other Nations across Time

This study uses survey data from 1994 and 1999 to examine the nature, causes, and consequences of Americans generalized beliefs about other nations during the decade prior to September 11, 2001—a relatively sedate era in international relations compared to the Cold War and post-September 11 periods. As was the case after the terrorist attacks, relatively few citizens expressed high levels of trust in other nations; more did in 1999 than in 1994, however. Partisanship, beliefs about government, age, and education were related to trust in other nations at the individual level, with some of these relationships varying over time. Trust in other nations, in turn, was related to preferences for diplomacy and support for military interventions. The strength of the former relationship varied over time, whereas the nature of the latter relationship depended on the nature of the intervention in question. The findings raise the question of why so few Americans trust other nations not only during periods of external threat but also during quieter times.     

The Development of System Justification in the Developing World

System justification theorists have proposed that under some circumstances ‘‘people who suffer the most from a given state of affairs are paradoxically the least likely to question, challenge, reject, or change it’’ Jost et al. (2003). These claims are contrary to theories that suggest that group members seek to enhance their self-interest or group-interest (e.g., realistic group conflict theory, rational choice models). The present study, conducted in one of the poorest countries in the world, Bolivia, tested if even the most impoverished people of the world will endorse beliefs justifying the status quo. A survey of 356 Bolivian school children found that low-status children endorse beliefs in the effectiveness of government in meeting the people’s needs more than their high-status counterparts. The results suggest that system-justifying beliefs are endorsed by low-status group members in even the most extreme cases of poverty, and even among the youngest politically aware members of society, and they raise questions about the capacity for true social change in those parts of the world that may need it the most.

信念转型:列宁面对的历史考察及其启示

本文通过对列宁时期苏俄社会主义信念转型的历史考察 ,力图总结出社会信念转型期信念建设的一般规律。文章在分析后指出 ,社会主义信念转型是客观的规律 ;而信念的理论转型和实践转型 ,是社会主义信念转型的两个基础性前提 ;在前提具备条件下 ,积极有效的信念建设措施是巩固信念的手段选择 ,而“三个代表”思想也正是巩固社会主义建设信念的战略举措。     

论信念在认识中的作用

信念在认识中具有多方面的作用 ,其中最基本的是以下三种作用 :信念是认识事物的精神支柱 ;信念是认识活动的内部参照系 ;信念是通向真理的内在要素。主体信念的变化与其所处的外部社会文化环境的变化并非绝对同步的 ,主体信念具有自身的相对独立性。     

Intergroup Bias and Inequity: Legitimizing Beliefs and Policy Attitudes

Policy attitudes relating to group-based inequities are in many cases founded on tenuous legitimizing beliefs which are contradicted by empirical evidence. Policy issues, and their attendant legitimizing beliefs, are considered, including affirmative action, colorblindness/“racial privacy,” hate crime legislation, same-sex marriage, and, in greater depth, capital punishment and racial profiling. Primary themes underlying the legitimizing beliefs include denials that group-based biases and inequities exist, overestimations of the societal costs of inequity-reducing policies, valuing public safety above civil liberties, and discounting the adverse effects of inequity-reducing policies.     

Academic Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Quality of Experience in Learning

This study investigated learning activities and associated quality of experience of students with different levels of perceived academic self-efficacy. Two groups were formed out of 130 Italian adolescents (age 15–19), one with high and one with low academic self-efficacy beliefs (31 and 32 participants, respectively). Students provided valuation of academic pursuits and aspirations, and were monitored for one week with experience sampling method (ESM). Attention was paid to the association of learning activities with optimal experience, characterized by high perceived environmental challenges matched by high personal skills, involvement, concentration and intrinsic reward. High self-efficacy students reported higher academic aspirations and pursuits than low self-efficacy students. They also spent more time in homework, and primarily associated learning activities with optimal experience. Results have educational implications in fostering motivation and enjoyment in learning. They also provide empirical support for the combination of self-efficacy beliefs and quality of experience in motivational research. Lecturer of Psychology at the Medical School of the University of Milan, Italy. She received her Ph.D. in 1999 from the University of Milan. She has conducted research in human development, focusing on adolescents’ quality of experience and identity building, as well as on methodological aspects of experience sampling procedures. She received her Ph.D. in 2004 from the University of Padua. Her main interests focus on the study of subjective and psychological well-being across the life span, as well as on methodological aspects of longitudinal research Her main research interests are the cross-cultural investigation of the quality of daily experience and its long-term developmental impact. She is supervisor in intervention projects on migration, disability and social maladjustment His major research interests include personality development and personality assessment along the life span. He is supervisor in longitudinal projects on psychosocial adjustment from childhood to young adulthood     

羌族民间道教信仰浅析

羌族民间宗教与道教的关系源远流长。道教在西蜀的初创和传播,吸收了不少羌族民间宗教的成分。羌族巫师传承的历史文化背景,反映出羌族民间宗教与道教古来关系甚密。道教的多神崇拜,正建立在民间由“万物有灵”的原始观念演绎而出的原始多神信仰的基础之上,这自然就与羌族民间多神信仰相融汇或取而代之。而佛、道合一的信仰形式,则表现了羌族民间道教信仰的显著特征。     

After the Fukushima Disaster: Japan's Nuclear Policy Change from 2011 to 2012

This article analyzes why and how the cabinet of Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) decided in September 2012 to phase‐out nuclear power plants by 2039—the decision representing a large policy change from previous energy‐supply policy, in which the dependence on nuclear power would continuously grow. In doing so, this article examines the causal relationship between three factors identified on the basis of theoretical models explaining policy change; change in the governing coalition from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to DPJ in 2009, the Fukushima accident, and the change in public opinion. Based on opinion poll and deliberative polling data, as well as discourse analyses of DPJ leaders’ statements, the article concludes that the change in public opinion on nuclear energy after the Fukushima accident was crucial in inducing the DPJ's decision to phase‐out nuclear power plants by affecting DPJ leaders' interests in vote‐ and office‐seeking. Finally, I discuss the applicability of the theoretical models developed on the basis of U.S. pluralistic cases to Japan and the issues to be explored for the further development of policy process models.     

在神圣与世俗的边缘游走——温州模式与民间信仰之关系初探

温州模式的形成和发展与温州民俗文化密切相关,其中民间信仰扮演了很重要的角色。温州模式所包蕴的敢为人先、吃苦耐劳以及抱成团等温州人精神都与该地域的民间信仰文化有关。本论文主要从三个层面展开论述民间信仰与温州模式的深层关系——民间信仰为温州模式的创造者筑就了一道道精神“防火墙”;温州人通过民间信仰强化了温州人原有的血缘、地缘和业缘等关系;温州人生活在一种门槛的阈限阶段,游走于神圣与世俗之间。同时,本论文还对温州民俗文化进行了初步的省思。