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We examined the utility of a gaze cueing paradigm to examine sensitivity to differences among negatively valenced expressions. Participants judged target stimuli (dangerous or safe), the location of which was cued by the gaze direction of a central face. Dawel et al. reported that gaze cueing effects (faster response times on valid vs. invalid trials) were larger when the central face displayed fear than when it displayed happiness. Our aim was to determine whether this effect was specific to fear, to all threat-related expressions (fear, anger), or to all negatively valenced expressions (fear, anger, sadness, disgust) with the aim of using this protocol to study the development of implicit discrimination of negatively valenced expressions. Across five experiments in which we varied the number of models (1 vs. 4), the number of expressions (2 vs. 5), and the country of residence of participants (Canada vs. Australia) we found no evidence that the magnitude of gaze cueing effects is modulated by expression. We discuss our failure to replicate in the context of the broader literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on interview data with 56 former prisoners in Canada, we examine how male prisoners understand, experience, and respond to threat while incarcerated. We show that prisoners face a variety of different and often competing threats, resulting from prisoner interactions (e.g. threat of physical violence for being a "snitch") on the one side, and institutional powers and procedures on the other side (e.g. threat of delayed release from prison). These threats are competing insofar as countering a prisoner threat opens the door to threat on the institutional level (i.e. administrative uncertainties) and vice versa. As a consequence, we show how feeling threatened for prisoners becomes paramount and in many cases unavoidable as the different threats in prison are difficult, if not impossible, to handle in unison. However, in an effort to stay physically safe and work toward their release, prisoners must find viable strategies to navigate different prison environments, particularly as they move between prisons of differing security classifications. We draw on Giddens' notion of "ontological insecurity" to draw attention to prisoners' feelings of perpetual vulnerability and insecurity. In addition, we build on Luhmann's conceptualization of risk and danger to explain how male prisoners experience and respond to moments of "danger" when they are faced with competing threats and must decide how to best navigate them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do French-Canadian (FC) minorities in New Brunswick and Ontario remain as committed as majority Francophone Quebecers in developing their vitality within Canada's bilingual belt? FCs constitute host communities for interprovincial migrants of FC and English-Canadian (EC) background who can bolster or weaken the vitality of FCs. How FCs and ECs welcome each other as internal migrants has important consequences for Canadian nation-building, and harmonious relations between Francophones and Anglophones as official language communities. Questionnaires were completed by three groups of FC undergraduates: Francophone Quebecers (n = 204), Acadians (n = 227), and Franco-Ontarians (n = 227). All FC respondents identified positively as Francophones while declaring strong language skills in French and reported using more French than English in their everyday lives. FC respondents were more willing to personally mobilize to improve their French-Canadian vitality than outgroup EC vitality. FC participants felt more threatened by the presence of EC than FC migrants, preferred Francophone more than Anglophone migrants, and perceived that FC migrants contributed more to their ingroup vitality than did EC migrants. Implications are discussed based on the ‘two solitudes’ and 'three solitudes' hypotheses, and on the relationship between intergroup threat, zero-sum beliefs and the rejection by FCs of EC migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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Abstract: In the current research, we examined whether promoting an inclusive national ingroup that includes both immigrants and nonimmigrants would improve attitudes toward immigrants and immigration among members of receiving societies. We also determined whether one''s nation of citizenship and individual differences in social dominance orientation would moderate the effects. Participants were 126 Canadian students and 282 German students, who completed a measure of social dominance orientation and were then asked to respond to a series of questions designed to heighten the salience of national identity (national identity), promote a national ingroup that includes immigrants (common national ingroup), or irrelevant questions (control). The dependent measures included attitudes toward immigrants and immigration, and subtle prejudice toward immigrants. Results revealed that the manipulation of a common national ingroup successfully promoted more positive attitudes toward immigrants and immigration among higher social dominance oriented Canadian participants, but tended to have detrimental effects on the attitudes of higher social dominance oriented German participants. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of considering the context in which groups are situated, as well as implications for developing strategies to promote harmony between immigrants and members of receiving societies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A national survey of terrorism‐related risk perceptions was recently conducted in Canada, with a total of 1,502 adult Canadians interviewed by telephone. This paper provides a descriptive account of the perception of terrorism threats in Canada, specific types and effects of terrorism, as well as information sources on terrorism. Overall, respondents reported that terrorism was a low to moderate threat to the Canadian population and an even lower threat to themselves as individuals. They also indicated that they currently worry little about terrorism in Canada. The Canadian media was cited as the source most often referred to when seeking credible information about terrorism, whereas elected politicians and government officials were referred to the least. Demographic differences in perceptions of terrorism were examined, with gender representing an important determinant. Survey results are discussed in relation to their implications for addressing and managing the risks of terrorism as well as preparedness planning in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: The negative effects of the financial crisis of 2007/2008 are still being felt today as seen in the relatively high levels of youth unemployment in many countries. As a result, many young people experience high stress levels when facing an uncertain and precarious job market., Methods: Participants were 178 undergraduate students (79% female; M age  = 20.00, SD = 4.29) who were randomly assigned to read a news article that documented an uncertain financial future with limited job opportunities (the economic stress group), or an article that documented a tour of the Royal Canadian Mint (the control group). The role of self-compassion was explored in its relation to distress., Results: Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses indicated that, in the economic stress group, self-compassion negatively predicted anxiety above and beyond self-esteem and familial support. In the control group, however, self-compassion did not negatively predict anxiety above and beyond self-esteem and familial support. Additionally, structural equation modeling indicated that self-compassion was directly associated with lower anxiety and indirectly related to anxiety through perceptions of financial threat., Conclusions: These findings suggest that self-compassion may be an important resource that is associated with less distress during times of economic threat.

Despite the rapid growth of research on the crossmodal correspondence between visually presented shapes and basic tastes (e.g., sweet, sour, bitter, and salty), most studies that have been published to date have focused on shape contour (roundness/angularity). Meanwhile, other important features, such as symmetry, as well as the underlying mechanisms of the shape-taste correspondence, have rarely been studied. Over two experiments, we systematically manipulated the symmetry and contours of shapes and measured the influences of these variables on shape-taste correspondences. Furthermore, we investigated a potential underlying mechanism, based on the common affective appraisal of stimuli in different sensory modalities. We replicated the results of previous studies showing that round shapes are associated with sweet taste, whereas angular shapes are associated with sour and bitter tastes. In addition, we demonstrated a novel effect that the symmetry group of a shape influences how it is associated with taste. A significant relationship was observed between the taste and appraisal scores of the shapes, suggesting that the affective factors of pleasantness and threat underlie the shape-taste correspondence. These results were consistent across cultures, when we compared participants from Taiwanese and Western (UK, US, Canada) cultures. Our findings highlight that perceived pleasantness and threat are culturally common factors involved in at least some crossmodal correspondences.

Perceptions of intergroup threat have been related to both experiences of physiological stress responses and derogation of the outgroup. In this study, a neuroscience perspective was used to investigate the relationship between stress and opportunity to derogate the outgroup, in a threatening intergroup context. Research from a social identity perspective suggests that engaging in outgroup derogation alleviates stress when perceiving an intergroup threat. However, in line with the model of intergroup anxiety, opportunity to derogate could exacerbate the negative connotations of a threatening situation, resulting in more stress. Canadian participants (N = 110) were exposed to text describing either discriminatory or favorable comments expressed by Chinese individuals towards Canadians. Half of the participants were given the opportunity to derogate via a bias task. Salivary cortisol was used as a measure of stress and was collected at baseline, post-threat, and post-derogation. As expected, threatening identity led to more stress as evidenced by increased cortisol concentrations. Furthermore, threatened participants who had an opportunity to derogate showed greater cortisol concentrations than those who did not. These results demonstrate a link between stress and the opportunity to derogate, and highlights the value of using biological markers within the intergroup context. Rewrite abstract to remove all the references (they are meaningless because the abstracting services will use the abstract as is but will not provide the references so their presence is useless.