The Relationship Between Political Participation and Life Satisfaction Depends on Preference for Non-Democratic Solutions
About: This article is published in Applied Research in Quality of Life.The article was published on 2021-10-26. It has received 3 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Preference & Life satisfaction.
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TL;DR: In this article , the authors investigated the association between regime type, political trust, and subjective well-being in 78 countries, and found that the relationship between political trust is as important as the role of democracy.
Abstract: Abstract This study investigates the association between regime type, political trust, and subjective well-being (SWB) in 78 countries. Differently from previous works, democracy was conceptualized in terms of a multidimensional model (i.e., regime type), rather than a bipolar continuum ranging from authoritarian regimes to full democracies. The first question was raised as to whether regime characteristics would be nonlinearly related to SWB. A second question was examined as to whether political trust could moderate the relationship between regime type and well-being, such that under conditions of high or low trust in the government the differences in well-being across the type of regimes would be reduced. Data from the European Values Study as well as from the World Value Survey were used. Moreover, regime types were defined according to the Varieties of Democracy as well as the Economist Intelligence Unit. Multilevel analyses revealed that life satisfaction scores were lower for electoral autocracy compared to closed autocracy and liberal democracy. Moreover, happiness scores were significantly higher for full democracies compared to authoritarian regimes and flawed democracies. Finally, political trust moderated the association between regime type and SWB. Specifically, at higher or lower levels of political trust, the relationship between regime type and well-being tended to decrease. Overall, the findings support the conclusion that the relationship between democracy and subjective well‐being is nonlinear, and that the role of political trust is as important as the role of democracy.
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TL;DR: In this article , the authors used the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to validate the 2019 Tolerance Index (56 items) and found that 35 items of the index were loaded on six main factors: social and cultural factors, economic factors, political factors, and 11 items were loaded onto one religious factor.
Abstract: Objective: Tolerance is considered one of the most important values in any society. The present study aimed to validate the Tolerance Index on the Saudi society. Method: A 2019 Tolerance Index (56 items) by the King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue was used. A total of 1071 participants completed the survey. The sample was randomly selected using geographical sampling. The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to validate the Tolerance Index. Result: The principal components analysis, along with the orthogonal rotation matrix (Varimax rotation) revealed that 35 items of the Tolerance Index were loaded on six main factors: twelve items were loaded onto two social and cultural factors; eight items were loaded onto two economic factors; four items were loaded onto one political factor; and 11 items were loaded onto one religious factor. Conclusion: The Tolerance Index is valid and is a reliable index that can be used in the Saudi society.
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49,129 citations
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01 Jan 1997TL;DR: SelfSelf-Efficacy (SE) as discussed by the authors is a well-known concept in human behavior, which is defined as "belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments".
Abstract: Albert Bandura and the Exercise of Self-Efficacy Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control Albert Bandura. New York: W. H. Freeman (www.whfreeman.com). 1997, 604 pp., $46.00 (hardcover). Enter the term "self-efficacy" in the on-line PSYCLIT database and you will find over 2500 articles, all of which stem from the seminal contributions of Albert Bandura. It is difficult to do justice to the immense importance of this research for our theories, our practice, and indeed for human welfare. Self-efficacy (SE) has proven to be a fruitful construct in spheres ranging from phobias (Bandura, Jeffery, & Gajdos, 1975) and depression (Holahan & Holahan, 1987) to career choice behavior (Betz & Hackett, 1986) and managerial functioning (Jenkins, 1994). Bandura's Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control is the best attempt so far at organizing, summarizing, and distilling meaning from this vast and diverse literature. Self-Efficacy may prove to be Bandura's magnum opus. Dr. Bandura has done an impressive job of summarizing over 1800 studies and papers, integrating these results into a coherent framework, and detailing implications for theory and practice. While incorporating prior works such as Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977) and "Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency" (Bandura, 1982), Self-Efficacy extends these works by describing results of diverse new research, clarifying and extending social cognitive theory, and fleshing out implications of the theory for groups, organizations, political bodies, and societies. Along the way, Dr. Bandura masterfully contrasts social cognitive theory with many other theories of human behavior and helps chart a course for future research. Throughout, B andura' s clear, firm, and self-confident writing serves as the perfect vehicle for the theory he espouses. Self-Efficacy begins with the most detailed and clear explication of social cognitive theory that I have yet seen, and proceeds to delineate the nature and sources of SE, the well-known processes via which SE mediates human behavior, and the development of SE over the life span. After laying this theoretical groundwork, subsequent chapters delineate the relevance of SE to human endeavor in a variety of specific content areas including cognitive and intellectual functioning; health; clinical problems including anxiety, phobias, depression, eating disorders, alcohol problems, and drug abuse; athletics and exercise activity; organizations; politics; and societal change. In Bandura's words, "Perceived self-efficacy refers to beliefs in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments" (p. 3). People's SE beliefs have a greater effect on their motivation, emotions, and actions than what is objectively true (e.g., actual skill level). Therefore, SE beliefs are immensely important in choice of behaviors (including occupations, social relationships, and a host of day-to-day behaviors), effort expenditure, perseverance in pursuit of goals, resilience to setbacks and problems, stress level and affect, and indeed in our ways of thinking about ourselves and others. Bandura affirms many times that humans are proactive and free as well as determined: They are "at least partial architects of their own destinies" (p. 8). Because SE beliefs powerfully affect human behaviors, they are a key factor in human purposive activity or agency; that is, in human freedom. Because humans shape their environment even as they are shaped by it, SE beliefs are also pivotal in the construction of our social and physical environments. Bandura details over two decades of research confirming that SE is modifiable via mastery experiences, vicarious learning, verbal persuasion, and interpretation of physiological states, and that modified SE strongly and consistently predicts outcomes. SE beliefs, then, are central to human self-determination. STRENGTHS One major strength of Self-Efficacy is Bandura's ability to deftly dance from forest to trees and back again to forest, using specific, human examples and concrete situations to highlight his major theoretical premises, to which he then returns. …
46,839 citations
TL;DR: Research guided by self-determination theory has focused on the social-contextual conditions that facilitate versus forestall the natural processes of self-motivation and healthy psychological development, leading to the postulate of three innate psychological needs--competence, autonomy, and relatedness.
Abstract: Human beings can be proactive and engaged or, alternatively, passive and alienated, largely as a function of the social conditions in which they develop and function. Accordingly, research guided by self-determination theo~ has focused on the social-contextual conditions that facilitate versus forestall the natural processes of self-motivation and healthy psychological development. Specifically, factors have been examined that enhance versus undermine intrinsic motivation, self-regulation, and well-being. The findings have led to the postulate of three innate psychological needs--competence, autonomy, and relatednesswhich when satisfied yield enhanced self-motivation and mental health and when thwarted lead to diminished motivation and well-being. Also considered is the significance of these psychological needs and processes within domains such as health care, education, work, sport, religion, and psychotherapy. T he fullest representations of humanity show people to be curious, vital, and self-motivated. At their best, they are agentic and inspired, striving to learn; extend themselves; master new skills; and apply their talents responsibly. That most people show considerable effort, agency, and commitment in their lives appears, in fact, to be more normative than exceptional, suggesting some very positive and persistent features of human nature. Yet, it is also clear that the human spirit can be diminished or crushed and that individuals sometimes reject growth and responsibility. Regardless of social strata or cultural origin, examples of both children and adults who are apathetic, alienated, and irresponsible are abundant. Such non-optimal human functioning can be observed not only in our psychological clinics but also among the millions who, for hours a day, sit passively before their televisions, stare blankly from the back of their classrooms, or wait listlessly for the weekend as they go about their jobs. The persistent, proactive, and positive tendencies of human nature are clearly not invariantly apparent. The fact that human nature, phenotypically expressed, can be either active or passive, constructive or indolent, suggests more than mere dispositional differences and is a function of more than just biological endowments. It also bespeaks a wide range of reactions to social environments that is worthy of our most intense scientific investigation. Specifically, social contexts catalyze both within- and between-person differences in motivation and personal growth, resulting in people being more self-motivated, energized, and integrated in some situations, domains, and cultures than in others. Research on the conditions that foster versus undermine positive human potentials has both theoretical import and practical significance because it can contribute not only to formal knowledge of the causes of human behavior but also to the design of social environments that optimize people's development, performance, and well-being. Research guided by self-determination theory (SDT) has had an ongoing concern with precisely these
29,115 citations
Book•
06 May 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a discussion of whether, if, how, and when a moderate mediator can be used to moderate another variable's effect in a conditional process analysis.
Abstract: I. FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS 1. Introduction 1.1. A Scientist in Training 1.2. Questions of Whether, If, How, and When 1.3. Conditional Process Analysis 1.4. Correlation, Causality, and Statistical Modeling 1.5. Statistical Software 1.6. Overview of this Book 1.7. Chapter Summary 2. Simple Linear Regression 2.1. Correlation and Prediction 2.2. The Simple Linear Regression Equation 2.3. Statistical Inference 2.4. Assumptions for Interpretation and Statistical Inference 2.5. Chapter Summary 3. Multiple Linear Regression 3.1. The Multiple Linear Regression Equation 3.2. Partial Association and Statistical Control 3.3. Statistical Inference in Multiple Regression 3.4. Statistical and Conceptual Diagrams 3.5. Chapter Summary II. MEDIATION ANALYSIS 4. The Simple Mediation Model 4.1. The Simple Mediation Model 4.2. Estimation of the Direct, Indirect, and Total Effects of X 4.3. Example with Dichotomous X: The Influence of Presumed Media Influence 4.4. Statistical Inference 4.5. An Example with Continuous X: Economic Stress among Small Business Owners 4.6. Chapter Summary 5. Multiple Mediator Models 5.1. The Parallel Multiple Mediator Model 5.2. Example Using the Presumed Media Influence Study 5.3. Statistical Inference 5.4. The Serial Multiple Mediator Model 5.5. Complementarity and Competition among Mediators 5.6. OLS Regression versus Structural Equation Modeling 5.7. Chapter Summary III. MODERATION ANALYSIS 6. Miscellaneous Topics in Mediation Analysis 6.1. What About Baron and Kenny? 6.2. Confounding and Causal Order 6.3. Effect Size 6.4. Multiple Xs or Ys: Analyze Separately or Simultaneously? 6.5. Reporting a Mediation Analysis 6.6. Chapter Summary 7. Fundamentals of Moderation Analysis 7.1. Conditional and Unconditional Effects 7.2. An Example: Sex Discrimination in the Workplace 7.3. Visualizing Moderation 7.4. Probing an Interaction 7.5. Chapter Summary 8. Extending Moderation Analysis Principles 8.1. Moderation Involving a Dichotomous Moderator 8.2. Interaction between Two Quantitative Variables 8.3. Hierarchical versus Simultaneous Variable Entry 8.4. The Equivalence between Moderated Regression Analysis and a 2 x 2 Factorial Analysis of Variance 8.5. Chapter Summary 9. Miscellaneous Topics in Moderation Analysis 9.1. Truths and Myths about Mean Centering 9.2. The Estimation and Interpretation of Standardized Regression Coefficients in a Moderation Analysis 9.3. Artificial Categorization and Subgroups Analysis 9.4. More Than One Moderator 9.5. Reporting a Moderation Analysis 9.6. Chapter Summary IV. CONDITIONAL PROCESS ANALYSIS 10. Conditional Process Analysis 10.1. Examples of Conditional Process Models in the Literature 10.2. Conditional Direct and Indirect Effects 10.3. Example: Hiding Your Feelings from Your Work Team 10.4. Statistical Inference 10.5. Conditional Process Analysis in PROCESS 10.6. Chapter Summary 11. Further Examples of Conditional Process Analysis 11.1. Revisiting the Sexual Discrimination Study 11.2. Moderation of the Direct and Indirect Effects in a Conditional Process Model 11.3. Visualizing the Direct and Indirect Effects 11.4. Mediated Moderation 11.5. Chapter Summary 12. Miscellaneous Topics in Conditional Process Analysis 12.1. A Strategy for Approaching Your Analysis 12.2. Can a Variable Simultaneously Mediate and Moderate Another Variable's Effect? 12.3. Comparing Conditional Indirect Effects and a Formal Test of Moderated Mediation 12.4. The Pitfalls of Subgroups Analysis 12.5. Writing about Conditional Process Modeling 12.6. Chapter Summary Appendix A. Using PROCESS Appendix B. Monte Carlo Confidence Intervals in SPSS and SAS
26,144 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1957TL;DR: Cognitive dissonance theory links actions and attitudes as discussed by the authors, which holds that dissonance is experienced whenever one cognition that a person holds follows from the opposite of at least one other cognition that the person holds.
Abstract: Cognitive dissonance theory links actions and attitudes It holds that dissonance is experienced whenever one cognition that a person holds follows from the opposite of at least one other cognition that the person holds The magnitude of dissonance is directly proportional to the number of discrepant cognitions and inversely proportional to the number of consonant cognitions that a person has The relative weight of any discrepant or consonant element is a function of its Importance
22,553 citations