THE RELATIONSHIP OF VERBAL ABILITY AND OTHER COGNITIVE VARIABLES TO THE OPEN-CLOSED COGNITIVE DIMENSION

The Association of Cognitive Ability with Right–Wing Ideological Attitudes and Prejudice: A Meta–Analytic Review

The cognitive functioning of individuals with stronger endorsement of right–wing and prejudiced attitudes has elicited much scholarly interest. Whereas many studies investigated cognitive styles, less attention has been directed towards cognitive ability. Studies investigating the latter topic generally reveal lower cognitive ability to be associated with stronger endorsement of right–wing ideological attitudes and greater prejudice. However, this relationship has remained widely unrecognized in literature. The present meta–analyses revealed an average effect size of r = −. 20 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) [−0.23, −0.17]; based on 67 studies, N = 84 017] for the relationship between cognitive ability and right–wing ideological attitudes and an average effect size of r = −.19 (95% CI [−0.23, −0.16]; based on 23 studies, N = 27 011) for the relationship between cognitive ability and prejudice. Effect sizes did not vary significantly across different cognitive abilities and sample characteristics. The effect strongly depended on the measure used for ideological attitudes and prejudice, with the strongest effect sizes for authoritarianism and ethnocentrism. We conclude that cognitive ability is an important factor in the genesis of ideological attitudes and prejudice and thus should become more central in theorizing and model building. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

Translational behavioral research in respiratory medicine

Human behavior can prevent or invite disease and is a major determinant of treatment success. Consequently, many efforts have been directed toward developing interventions to promote behaviors essential to managing or preventing respiratory disease. The process of developing, testing, and disseminating health behavior interventions should closely follow the translational research paradigm. However, most behavioral investigators have failed to adequately apply the translational research paradigm to behavioral research. The final stage of translation, consisting of testing the effectiveness of interventions in broad clinical settings after efficacy has been demonstrated in randomized controlled trials, is too often omitted. Additionally, the important task of understanding why any given health behavior intervention succeeds with some people but fails to change behavior in others is inconsistently pursued and seldom used to develop the robust theories of behavior change needed to improve respiratory health. Bringing health behavior research through the full translational process has the potential to significantly enhance respiratory health with specific behavioral targets, including smoking cessation, obesity prevention, TB control, and adherence to a multitude of respiratory treatments.