Papers by Joseph A Vitriol
Journal of experimental psychology. General, May 23, 2024
Proceedings - Academy of Management, Aug 1, 2023
Proceedings - Academy of Management, Aug 1, 2023
Personality and Individual Differences, Mar 1, 2018
Commonly used measures of authoritarian predispositions have received mixed support as a predicto... more Commonly used measures of authoritarian predispositions have received mixed support as a predictor of political preferences in American elections. Using new survey data (N = 1,444), we demonstrated how imprecise conceptualization and measurement of authoritarianism can obscure its relationship to candidate preferences. First, authoritarians have largely sorted into the Republican Party and self-identified as conservative, thereby attenuating the predictive power of authoritarianism when such features are used as controls or selection criteria. Second, the authoritarianism measure typically used in election studies covers a limited range of the construct, specifically focusing on the facet of authoritarianism we observed to be least associated with support for Republicans candidates in the 2016 American electoral context. We find predictive gains both from more comprehensive measurement of authoritarianism and from analyzing facet-level authoritarianism.
APS observer, Mar 1, 2008
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
BackgroundGout is an inflammatory condition caused by chronic hyperuricemia, often causing physic... more BackgroundGout is an inflammatory condition caused by chronic hyperuricemia, often causing physical and emotional distress and a lower quality of life (QOL).1-3 Gout stigma is common and impactful,4 with physicians often perceiving gout as a “lifestyle” disease caused by personal dietary and exercise choices. Further, patients can internalize and anticipate this stigma, influencing how they seek healthcare and adhere to medical therapies.5ObjectivesThis study investigated whether or not a gout stigma exists among rheumatologists and, if so, how it influences physicians’ perceptions of patients and treatment decisions. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was used as a comparator disease.Methods106 practicing rheumatologists completed an online survey regarding perceptions of, experiences with, and recommendations for patients with controlled gout, uncontrolled gout, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Disease states were presented in random order. Each set of measures examined rheumatologists’ perc...
Academy of Management Proceedings, 2018
In the present article, we introduce emotional ambivalence - the simultaneous experience of posit... more In the present article, we introduce emotional ambivalence - the simultaneous experience of positive and negative emotions – as a buffer against defensive responding to implicit bias feedback (IAT)...
Applied Cognitive Psychology
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Mar 9, 2023
Recent work suggests that collective narcissism—an exaggerated, unrealistic belief in an in-group... more Recent work suggests that collective narcissism—an exaggerated, unrealistic belief in an in-group’s greatness that demands constant external validation—is a reliable predictor of authoritarian-populist hostility toward democratic norms, processes, and outcomes. In the present study, we use a recent survey of American adults to examine the relationship between collective narcissism and perceptions that the 2020 election in the US was illegitimate. We find evidence that those high in national collective narcissism are more likely to endorse a number of beliefs about the illegitimacy of the 2020 US election, including greater perception of fraud, procedural unfairness, and inaccurate vote counting. Importantly, we find that this relationship is strongest among those whose identities were most threatened by a loss of power due to the 2020 presidential outcome, i.e., Republicans and conservative identifiers.
PLOS ONE, 2022
Becoming aware of bias is essential for prejudice-regulation. However, attempts to make people aw... more Becoming aware of bias is essential for prejudice-regulation. However, attempts to make people aware of bias through feedback often elicits defensive reactions that undermine mitigation efforts. In the present article, we introduce state emotional ambivalence—the simultaneous experience of positive and negative emotions “in the present moment”–as a buffer against defensive responding to implicit bias feedback. Two studies (N = 507) demonstrate that implicit bias feedback (vs. no feedback) increases defensiveness (rating the test as less valid, credible, and objective). However, high (vs. low) state emotional ambivalence, which was independent of bias feedback, attenuates this relationship between bias feedback and defensiveness, accounting for a larger share of the variance than negative emotions alone. In turn, this reduced defensiveness among individuals high (vs. low) in emotional ambivalence was associated with increased awareness of bias in the self and others. Results suggest ...
Supplemental Material, SPPS784889_suppl_mat for Racial Bias Increases False Identification of Bla... more Supplemental Material, SPPS784889_suppl_mat for Racial Bias Increases False Identification of Black Suspects in Simultaneous Lineups by Joseph A. Vitriol, Jacob Appleby, and Eugene Borgida in Social Psychological and Personality Science
Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science, 2022
Background: Substance use in childhood and adolescence continues to be a current health concern. ... more Background: Substance use in childhood and adolescence continues to be a current health concern. The aims of the present study were to identify trends in the use of alcohol, cigarettes, and cannabis in children and adolescents in the last 10 years and to assess associations between substance use and quality of life and behavioral strengths and difficulties. Methods: Substance use was examined in 1829 9-to 18-year-old German children and adolescents participating in the LIFE Child cohort study between 2011 and 2020. Quality of life was investigated using the KIDSCREEN-27 questionnaire. The Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire was used to assess behavioral strengths and difficulties. Associations were assessed using linear regression analyses. All effects were adjusted for age, gender, and family socioeconomic status. Results: 38.44% of participants reported drinking alcohol at least sometimes. Smoking (6.23%) and the use of cannabis (3.94%) were less frequent. While we observed no significant changes in smoking between 2011 and 2021, the consumption of cannabis and the frequent consumption of alcohol has increased in this time period. Cigarette and cannabis use were associated with additional symptoms of hyperactivity/inattention and reduced prosocial behavior. For all three substances, usage was associated with more conduct problems. We also found significant associations between substance use and a lower quality of life in the areas of physical wellbeing, psychological wellbeing, parent relation and autonomy, and school environment. One noteworthy finding was that cigarette consumption and frequent alcohol use were associated with higher quality of life in terms of social support/peer group relations. Some significant interactions between substance use and child age indicated that associations between substance use and quality of life or behavioral difficulties were stronger in younger than in older children. Conclusions: The results show that quality of life and behavioral difficulties are associated with substance use and should be considered when developing or implementing preventive measures to counter substance use. Furthermore, the findings indicate that substance use can be accompanied by improved peer relations. Therefore, the influence of peers, especially of peers who use these substances, should not be underestimated.
Frontiers in Political Science, 2021
Sustained and coordinated social action is needed to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus d... more Sustained and coordinated social action is needed to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Health practitioners and governments around the world have issued recommendations and mandates designed to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 by influencing the social behaviors of the general public. Why and when are some people unwilling to take action to protect themselves and others from the effects of this public health crisis? We find that belief in COVID-19 consensus information (by the self or perceptions of scientists’ beliefs), are consequential predictors of COVID-19 mitigation behaviors. Importantly, support for COVID-19 conspiracy theories predicted decreased, whereas perceived understanding of COVID-19 predicted increased, belief in COVID-19 consensus information. We also implemented an Illusion of Explanatory depth paradigm, an approach to examining knowledge overestimation shown to reduce confidence in one’s understanding of complex phenomena. By ...
Political Psychology, 2021
The objective prevalence of and subjective vulnerability to infectious diseases are associated wi... more The objective prevalence of and subjective vulnerability to infectious diseases are associated with greater ingroup preference, conformity, and traditionalism. However, evidence directly testing the link between infectious diseases and political ideology and partisanship is lacking. Across four studies, including a large sample representative of the U.S. population (N > 12,000), we demonstrate that higher environmental levels of human transmissible diseases and avoidance of germs from human carriers predict conservative ideological and partisan preferences. During the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 848), we replicated this germ aversion finding and determined that these conservative preferences were primarily driven by avoidance of germs from outgroups (foreigners) rather than ingroups (locals). Moreover, socially conservative individuals expressed lower concerns of being susceptible to contracting infectious diseases during the pandemic and worried less about COVID-19. These effects were robust to individual-level and state-level controls. We discuss these findings in light of theory on parasite stress and the behavioral immune system and with regard to the political implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While explanations provide the power to understand the world around us, people are often overconf... more While explanations provide the power to understand the world around us, people are often overconfident about their own understanding. We explored how people’s perceptions of their understanding of phenomena is related to endorsement of conspiracy theories. We first tested people’s perceptions of their understanding of the 2016 Presidential electoral process and then measured their beliefs that the election itself was illegitimate, a form of conspiratorial belief. We found that participants who still endorsed high levels of understanding after generating an explanation for the 2016 election were also more likely to endorse the election was illegitimate. However, this finding only obtained for participants who voted for the losing candidate. These results suggest interesting avenues for exploring individual differences that may be related to the illusion of explanatory depth.
Journal of Research in Personality, 2020
A large body of literature has examined how personality traits relate to political attitudes and ... more A large body of literature has examined how personality traits relate to political attitudes and behavior. However, like many studies in personality psychology, these investigations rely on Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic (WEIRD) samples. Whether these findings generalize to minority populations remains underexplored. We address this oversight by studying if the observed correlations between personality traits and political variables using WEIRD respondents are consistent with that observed using immigrant minorities. We use the Immigrant panel (LISS-I panel) in the Netherlands with data on firstand second-generation immigrants from Western and non-Western countries. The results indicate that the association between personality and political outcomes are, with few exceptions, highly similar for immigrant minorities compared to the general population.
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Papers by Joseph A Vitriol