Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Role playing is a distinctive feature of most of the video games. In a 2 by 2 mixed design experiment, we investigated the effect of role-playing a violent game on judgments of real-life similar roles and attitudes towards violence and crimes. Our findings show that role playing a character in the game leads to biased judgments towards similar roles. People who role-played a police officer who committed unjustifiable crimes on duty tend to give less punitive judgments to police officers committed similar crimes in real life. The paper concludes with theoretical implications for video game research and practical implications for jury selections and health education. Limitations and plans for future research are also discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: EU?s first mission in Africa was in 2003, when Artemis intervened in the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to help the UN MONUC mission restore order in Bunia. EU states have agreed to send EU troops to Kinshasa to support MONUC during the June 2006 elections. NATO officials have been discussing security issues with the Mauritanian government since 2004. Both Western organisations are logistically helping the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). These missions seem to overlap, and they can be considered as ?low-scale? missions as they are limited in time, number of troops and mandate.The research question this paper will answer is the following: how and under which conditions do EU and NATO member states agree to launch missions to Africa? The paper will be divided into two sections: first, it will look at the capabilities of each international actor, and examine how and to what extent these actors can intervene. Second, it will study the interaction between the officials in both organisations, and will determine the reasons for either an EU or a NATO intervention.This paper will use a realist framework to explain the motives of international actors. They intervene when they have a strategic interest to do so, namely in order to fight terrorism. It will also be based on the concept of bandwagoning to analyse the interaction between Western actors. The paper will argue that the US is a key variable in understanding the type of mission sent to Africa.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: A national identity can be constructed in contrast to two groups of “others”: those who try to enter the country—immigrants—and those who are already in the country but different from us—ethnic minorities. Using a cross-national survey dataset (ISSP), we examine how public attitudes toward immigrants and ethnic minorities are influenced by different perceptions of citizenship—ethnic vs. civic citizenship—and of national pride—patriotism vs. nationalism. We find that different perceptions of citizenship and national pride influence attitudes toward immigrants and ethnic minorities in sharply distinctive ways: individuals with ethnic citizenship or nationalism tend to have more negative views toward immigrants but, interestingly, more positive views toward ethnic minorities; by contrast, individuals with civic citizenship or patriotism tend to have more positive views toward immigrants but more negative views toward ethnic minorities. Results of hierarchical regression further show that these effects become more salient in countries with more developed economy or higher levels of income inequality, while the size of foreign-born population or the degree of ethnic heterogeneity does not play significant roles.

Publication Type: Extended Abstract
Abstract: The present study analyzes the effect of persuasive communication both on attitudes toward the issue and attitudes toward the source, particularly in political communication context. Based on the cognitive dissonance theory and motivated information processing, it is expected that when responding to incongruent messages, voters with strong party identification show less attitude change toward the candidates but greater attitude change toward the issue than voters with weak party identification (H1); the stronger initial issue position, the less attitude change toward the issue, but the greater attitude change toward the candidates (H2); voters with strong party identification and strong initial issue position will show a greater variation for both attitudes toward the candidates and toward the issue (H4). To test hypotheses, incongruent information about gun control (Study 1) and abortion (Study 2) is presented based on party identification and initial issue position. Attitudes toward the candidates and attitude toward the issue are measured after message exposure. Data collection will be completed by November 6, 2007.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Experimental studies show evidence that presentation of media violence as justified increases the likelihood of resultant aggression (Berkowitz & Geen, 1967; Berkowitz & Powers, 1979; Meyer, 1972), while exposure to unjustified violence may actually reduce aggressive tendencies (Geen, 1981). However, conceptual ambiguity remains concerning the features delineating justified from unjustified violence, the relationship of perceived justification to attributes of the source and target of violence, and the underlying psychological processes responsible for subsequent aggressive behavior.
The current research develops a logic explicating processes through which appraisals of justification are based on equal exchanges, moderated by dispositional and motivational concerns. An experiment based on this logic exposed 225 college students to a violent film clip using a fully crossed 3 X 3 design varying perpetrator disposition (liked, disliked, neutral) and motives for violence (sanctioned, unsanctioned, unknown). The results indicate unjustified acts of violence committed by that liked characters may strongly contribute to attitudes that facilitate aggressive behavior.