Australia's Confrontational Diplomacy toward China: Focusing on Complex Threat Perception and Over-Hedging

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 99-126
Author(s):  
Chaekwang You
Keyword(s):  
Threat Perception

Political identity over personal impact: Early US reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert N Collins ◽  
David R. Mandel ◽  
Sarah S. Schywiola
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Distress ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Organizational Response ◽  
Threat Perception ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Value Differences ◽  
Personal Impact ◽  
Large N ◽  
Weak Influence

Research suggests political identity has strong influence over individuals’ attitudes and beliefs, which in turn can affect their behavior. Likewise, firsthand experience with an issue can also affect attitudes and beliefs. A large (N = 10,362) survey (Pew Research and Ipsos W64) of Americans was analyzed to investigate the effects of both political identity and personal impact on individuals’ reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that political identity (i.e., Democrat or Republican) and personal impact (i.e., personally affected or not) influenced different aspects of the American public’s reaction to COVID-19. Political identity exerted a strong influence on self-reports of emotional distress, threat perception, discomfort with exposure, support for restrictions, and perception of under/overreaction by individuals and institutions. Personal impact exerted a comparatively weaker influence on reported emotional distress and threat perception. Both factors had a weak influence on appraisal of individual and organizational and community responses. The dominating influence of political identity carried over into the bivariate relations among these responses. In particular, the appraisal of organizational response divided along party lines, tied to opposing views of whether there has been over- or under-reaction to the pandemic. The dominance of political identity has important implications for crisis management and reflects the influence of normative value differences between the parties, partisan messaging on the pandemic, and polarization in American politics.

Subjective Fear Dilutes as Group Size Increases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
dean mobbs ◽  
Ellen Tedeschi ◽  
Anastasia Buyalskaya ◽  
Brian Silston
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Real World ◽  
Survival Benefit ◽  
Group Living ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Threat Perception ◽  
Perception Of Threat ◽  
Threat Level ◽  
Internal States ◽  
Risk Dilution

According to Hamilton’s Selfish Herd Theory, a crucial survival benefit of group living is that it provides a ‘risk dilution’ function against predation. Despite a large literature on group living benefits in animals, few studies have been conducted on how group size alters subjective fear or threat perception in humans, and on what factors drive preferences for being in groups when facing threats. We conducted seven experiments (N=3,838) to test (A) if the presence of others decreases perception of threat under a variety of conditions. In studies 1 to 3, we experimentally manipulated group size in hypothetical and real-world situations, to show that fear responses decreased as group size increased. In studies 4 to 7 we again used a combination of hypothetical, virtual and real-world decisions to test (B) how internal states (e.g. anxiety) and external factors (e.g. threat level, availability of help) affected participants’ preference for groups. Participants consistently chose larger groups when threat and anxiety were high. Overall, our findings show that group size provides a salient signal of protection and safety.

scholarly journals Politics, Personality, and Impulsivity Can Color People’s Perceptions of—and Responses to—Hurricane Threats of Varying Severity

2020 ◽  
pp. 014616722096902
Author(s):  
Joy E. Losee ◽  
Colin Tucker Smith ◽  
Gregory D. Webster
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Sensation Seeking ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Threat Perception ◽  
Aggregated Data ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
Threatening Situation ◽  
Social Conservatism ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
People’S Perceptions

Theory and research suggest that objective features of a threatening situation and individual differences influence threat responses. We examine three ways individual traits may relate to a threat response: (a) directly and independent of objective threat features, (b) indirectly through relationships with threat perception, or (c) as moderators of the relationship between objective threat features and responses. Using integrative data analysis (IDA), we aggregated data across three studies examining hurricane preparation intentions. Analysis supported two of the potential pathways. Supporting the first path, both openness and extraversion had direct, positive relationships with preparation likelihood. Supporting the second path, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and social conservatism positively related to preparation likelihood through a positive relationship with threat perception, whereas impulsivity and sensation-seeking negatively related to preparation likelihood through a negative relationship with threat perception. This work shows the pivotal role individual differences play regarding responses to uncertain threats.

scholarly journals Chronic Abdominal Pain in Children and Adolescents: Parental Threat Perception Plays a Major Role in Seeking Medical Consultations

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Calvano ◽  
Petra Warschburger
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Abdominal Pain ◽  
Chronic Abdominal Pain ◽  
Outcome Variable ◽  
Threat Perception ◽  
Care Utilization ◽  
Care Seeking ◽  
Medical Visits ◽  
Perception Of Threat ◽  
Pain Symptoms

Background. Pain symptoms, associated impairment, and parental perception of threat are reported to be predictors of health care utilization (HCU) in childhood chronic abdominal pain (CAP). However, mediating variables and their interrelations have not yet been systematically studied. Objectives. This study aims to identify mediating pathways of influence between child’s abdominal pain and the number of pain-related medical visits. Methods. In a multicenter study, we recruited N = 151 parent-child dyads with children aged 6–17 years suffering from CAP. A composite measure of pain symptoms was defined as predictor and the number of pain-related medical visits as outcome variable. This relation was analyzed by serial mediation, including child- and parent-reported impairment and parental threat perception as mediators. Results. Only parental threat perception significantly linked child’s pain symptoms to the number of medical visits. Measures of impairment did not have a significant effect. Conclusions. Parental pain-related threat perception is strongly related to health care seeking in childhood CAP. Addressing threat perception might be a fruitful parent-centered approach in clinical practice.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document