Search

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented government interventions in many people's lives. Opposition to these measures was not only based on policy disagreements but for some founded in an outright denial of basic facts surrounding the pandemic, challenging social cohesion. Conspiracy beliefs have been prolific within various protest groups and require attention, as such attitudes have been shown to be associated with lower rule compliance. Several studies have shown that the characteristics linked to holding COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs are complex and manifold; however, those insights usually rest on cross-sectional studies only. We have less knowledge on whether these cross-sectional correlates also reveal which parts of the population have been newly convinced by conspiracy theories or have dropped their support for them as the pandemic evolved. Using a unique panel data set from Germany, this paper explores a wide range of characteristics and compares the insights gained from cross-sectional associations on the one hand and links to the ways in which people change their views on the other hand. The findings show that cross-sectional analyses miss out on nuanced differences between different groups of temporary and more consistent conspiracy supporters. Specifically, this paper identifies major differences in the profiles of people who have been denying COVID-19 consistently compared to those who changed their minds on the question and those who assessed the reality correctly throughout. In doing so, socio-political and perception-based dimensions are differentiated and distinctions between respondents from East and West Germany explored.

None of the major basic questions social sciences are concerned with can satisfyingly be answered from the perspective of one discipline alone. Each of them proposes theories and perspectives that make unique and important contributions. At the same time theoretical perspectives in general inevitably do have their blind spots. This fundamental insight was the reason for us to choose as the motto for the 19th IACCP congress held in Bremen in 2008 “Crossing borders – (Cross - ) Cultural Psychology as an Interdisciplinary, Multi-Method Endeavor”. In this chapter we first want to illustrate this motto and our reasons for choosing it by reviewing recent research on one exemplary basic question of the social sciences: Can happiness change? We will cover findings across the social science disciplines in order to illustrate the benefits of interdisciplinary, multi - method investigations. This review will also reveal that the recent evidence violates traditional mono- disciplinary views on the respective question. After that, we will briefly introduce the contributions of this volume. None of the major basic questions social sciences are concerned with can satisfyingly be answered from the perspective of one discipline alone. Each of them proposes theories and perspectives that make unique and important contributions. At the same time theoretical perspectives in general inevitably do have their blind spots. This fundamental insight was the reason for us to choose as the motto for the 19th IACCP congress held in Bremen in 2008 “Crossing borders – (Cross-) Cultural Psychology as an Interdisciplinary, Multi-Method Endeavor”. In this chapter we first want to illustrate this motto and our reasons for choosing it by reviewing recent research on one exemplary basic question of the social sciences: Can happiness change? We will cover findings across the social science disciplines in order to illustrate the benefits of interdisciplinary, multi-method investigations. This review will also reveal that the recent evidence violates traditional mono-disciplinary views on the respective question. After that, we will briefly introduce the contributions of this volume

We review the literature on the relation between socio-economic development and political democracy, a field that is commonly known as modernization theory. Guided by the seminal contribution of Lipset (1959), we assess the evolution of this literature along two major dimensions: (1) robustness of the relationship between economic development and democracy and (2) substantiation of the causal mechanism. The evidence to date suggests that Lipset’s original thesis does indeed find empirical support, and that certain structural conditions are conducive to stable democracy.

The paper examines the structure and dimensions of four value concepts included in the most recent German World Values Survey (WVS 2006). These value concepts are Inglehart’s postmaterialism concept, a reduced version of the Schwartz Value Inventory (SVI), the concept of value synthesis by Klages & Gensicke, and Inglehart & Welzel’s two-dimensional concept of secular rational and self-expression values. Relating the concepts to each other, we aim at detecting common patterns in individual-level value orientations. We find major similarities: The concepts by Schwartz and Klages & Gensicke form three common factors – two of them overlap with Inglehart’s one-dimensional materialism/ postmaterialism concept. In addition, our results suggest that Inglehart & Welzel’s self-expression values are an underlying factor of Schwartz’s value dimensions, balancing an increasing orientation towards individualism with an altruist orientation.

Die Europäische Union steht vor der größten Erweiterungswelle ihrer Geschichte. Der symbolische Startschuss zur Osterweiterung wurde im Dezember 2000 auf dem Reformgipfel in Nizza gegeben (Papenfuß 2001: 58). Hier sollten die Weichen für ein handlungsfähiges, auf künftig bis zu 30 Mitglieder vergrößertes Europa gestellt werden (von Kyaw 2001). Allerdings werden die Ergebnisse der Regierungskonferenz im Tenor eher skeptisch, wenn nicht kritisch bewertet (z.B. von Kyaw 2001; Weidenfeld 2001; Wessels 2001; Hartwich 2001; Bardi/Rhodes/Senior Nello 2002). Doch ungeachtet der anhaltenden Kritik an den technokratischen Strukturen der Europäischen Union — die mitunter aber auch als eine ihrer wesentlichen Erfolgsbedingungen betrachtet werden (Jachtenfuchs 2000) — und trotz des Vorwurfs ihrer Bürgerferne, ihrer Entscheidungs- und Handlungsblockaden, übt das europäische Staatenbündnis eine außerordentliche Sogwirkung aus. Die Gruppe seiner sechs Gründungsstaaten hat sich seit dem Jahr 1957 in insgesamt drei Erweiterungswellen auf inzwischen 15 Mitgliedsländer ausgedehnt. Weitere 13 Staaten, davon zehn in Mittel- und Osteuropa, haben ihren Beitrittswunsch erklärt.

Acquiescence bias, defined as the tendency to agree with an item irrespective of the content is an important methodological issue in cross-cultural psychological research. The present study compared two methods to control for acquiescence bias, namely ipsatizing and modeling an acquiescence factor using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Simulated data sets are being used to compare raw data estimation methods, ipsative estimation methods and the acquiescence modeling method on how well they can reproduce the true theoretical correlations between underlying factors of an uncorrelated bidimensional model. Three conditions were manipulated: factor strength, acquiescence strength and factor intercorrelation. Depending on the specific model conditions, correlations and CFA using raw data and ipsative estimation methods show big under- or overestimations. The acquiescence modeling method reproduces the true theoretical correlations very well, irrespective of the specific conditions. Estimating relationships between constructs by means of acquiescence modeling in CFA is much more widely applicable than previously thought and is advised, even when unbalanced item sets are used to measure constructs.