About Some Personality Misfortunes of Opportunists: The Negative Correlation of Economic Defection With Autonomy, Agreeableness, and Well-Being1

Dehumanization of Hospitalized Patients and Self-Dehumanization by Health Professionals and the General Population in Greece

Introduction

Dehumanization is defined as the denial to people of their humanness. It is distinguished into animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization. The aim of this study is to examine whether professionals in a public hospital dehumanize the patient and self-dehumanize.

Methods

We used the Dehumanization Questionnaire, the Mechanistic Self-Dehumanization Scale, the Human Nature and Human Uniqueness Characteristics Questionnaire, the General Causality Orientation Scale and the Adult Attachment Questionnaire. The sample consisted of 135 mental health professionals (20 from a general hospital and 115 from a psychiatric hospital), 134 other health professionals from the general hospital and 84 people from the general population.

Results 

Health professionals dehumanize the hospitalized patient more than the general population. The secure attachment acts protectively on self-dehumanization and negatively on the dehumanization of the hospitalized patient. Finally, autonomous people are not self-dehumanized.

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that measures should be taken for health professionals so that they do not dehumanize the patient.

Controlled Motivational Orientation and Prejudice

Abstract. This research investigates the effect of controlled versus autonomous motivation on intergroup relations. Two studies were conducted: Study 1 (N = 152 Greek Cypriot undergraduate students) showed that controlled motivational orientation, measured as a personality variable, was related to more prejudicial beliefs toward outgroups, lower intrinsic motives for contact, less desire for contact, and less actual contact with outgroups. Study 2 (N = 93 Greek Cypriot undergraduate students) experimentally replicated the findings of Study 1, revealing that controlled motivation, manipulated as a social/situational variable, was related to a higher level of prejudice toward outgroups, less intrinsic motives for contact with outgroups, and less desire for contact with outgroups. Most importantly, these relationships were mediated by dehumanization (i.e., denial of uniquely human traits) of the outgroup. The findings highlight the role of interpersonal control as an important factor determining the quality of intergroup relations.

Preference for non-cooperative economic strategies is associated with lower perceived self-efficacy, fewer positive emotions, and less optimism

The goal was to investigate the association of economic opportunism with self-efficacy, optimism, and positive emotion. It was hypothesized that economic opportunists should experience lower self-efficacy, less positive thinking, and less optimism. Study 1 (N = 206) showed that economic opportunism was negatively correlated with self-efficacy, optimism, and positive affect, and positively correlated with negative affect. Study 2 (N = 128) indicated that individuals reporting higher self-efficacy were less likely to defect on their counterparts in a game situation. These findings show the negative association of opportunistic propensity with self-efficacy and positive emotions. Implications for experimental research on economic opportunism and positive emotions are discussed.

Social embeddedness and economic opportunism: a game situation

According to Evolutionary Game Theory, multiple exchanges with partners are necessary to foster cooperation. Multiple exchanges with partners tend to enhance the good experience of the partners and the predictability of their behaviour and should therefore increase cooperativeness. This study explored whether social embeddedness, or the preference for close and stable social relationships, a variable which tends to increase multiple exchanges, is associated with more cooperative attitudes; and whether social embeddedness increases cooperative behavior towards unknown partners in a game situation. The first study, with 169 undergraduates, indicated that social embeddedness (preference for close and durable social relations) was negatively associated with opportunistic attitudes. The second study had a sample of 60 undergraduates playing a Trust Game with unknown partners and showed that self-reported social embeddedness was positively correlated with scores for cooperative economic behavior towards the partners. These results highlight the relationships of social embeddedness with cooperative attitudes and behaviour.