Suchergebnisse

Wenn Menschen nicht mehr als Individuen betrachtet werden, sondern als Mitglieder einer bestimmten Gruppe, kann dies zur Entstehung von Konflikten zwischen Gruppen beitragen. Dafür verantwortlich sind psychologische Mechanismen wie die soziale Kategorisierung, Stereotypisierung und die Anwendung von Vorurteilen über andere soziale Gruppen. Dieses Kapitel beschäftigt sich mit den Funktionen, der Entstehung und den möglichen negativen Konsequenzen dieser Mechanismen. Zwar stellen soziale Kategorisierung, Stereotypisierung und Vorurteile über andere Gruppen nützliche Hilfsmittel für Menschen dar. Soziale Kategorisierung und Stereotypisierung erfüllen beispielsweise basale kognitive Funktionen wie die Reduzierung von Komplexität im Umgang mit der sozialen Welt. Vorurteile können wiederum die Aufrechterhaltung eines positiven Bildes von sich selbst und der eigenen Gruppe fördern und erfüllen somit eine motivationale Funktion. Aber diese Mechanismen haben auch ihre Schattenseiten. Werden Stereotype durch soziale Kategorisierung aktiviert, dann können sie das Verhalten gegenüber der betreffenden Gruppe negativ beeinflussen. Auch wenn die Aktivierung von Stereotypen automatisch abläuft und schwer zu kontrollieren ist, bestehen doch Möglichkeiten, deren Auswirkungen und sogar die Aktivierung selbst zu unterbinden – beispielsweise durch eine hohe internale Motivation zu vorurteilsfreiem Verhalten. Ebenso kann die Aufwertung der eigenen Gruppe in soziale Diskriminierung und eine Abwertung von Fremdgruppen münden, wenn dies durch situative Faktoren wie Bedrohungserleben oder Persönlichkeitsvariablen wie Autoritarismus begünstigt wird. Neben den Funktionen und Folgen werden in diesem Kapitel auch die Faktoren beleuchtet, die zur Entstehung und Aufrechterhaltung von Stereotypen beitragen. Dazu zählen die subjektive Wahrnehmung tatsächlicher Zusammenhänge zwischen Gruppenmitgliedschaften und Eigenschaften oder Verhaltensweisen, die Verwendung bestimmter sprachlicher Muster und die in einer Gesellschaft vorherrschenden Rollenbilder. Weiterhin gibt es globale Eigenschaftsdimensionen, anhand derer Menschen andere als Teil einer Gruppe beurteilen.

AbstractUnderstanding the negative impacts of land use/land cover (LULC) on water quality is key to developing effective integrated catchment management strategies. However, in line with the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) philosophy, this necessitates the generation and application of useful scientific knowledge, which stakeholders and policymakers can use to inform coordinated decision‐making processes. To facilitate this, a recently published study reported methods for estimating minimum thresholds of natural vegetation necessary for the maintenance and protection of water quality in South African catchments. The present article discusses the application and implications of these findings, focusing on the vulnerability of South Africa's Strategic Water Source Areas (SWSAs) to land‐use‐related water quality impacts. It emphasizes that, due to the significant land use transformations that have already occurred in these areas, and the consequent likelihood of water quality impairment, there is a need to restore and preserve sufficient areas of natural land cover to protect these strategic water resources from unacceptable levels of contamination.

Public discourse on immigration has seemed to polarize over recent years—with some people strongly trusting, but others strongly distrusting immigrants. We examined whether a cognitive strategy could mitigate these biased outgroup judgments. Given that subtractive counterfactual thoughts ("If only I had not done X. . .") facilitate cognitive flexibility and especially a relational processing style, we hypothesized that these thoughts (vs. additive counterfactuals "If only I had done X. . ." and no counterfactuals) would weaken the relationship between people's political orientation and the perceived trustworthiness of immigrants. In five experiments (two preregistered; total N = 1,189), we found that inducing subtractive (but not additive) counterfactuals—either via rhetorical questions in a political speech or via mindset priming—had the predicted debiasing effect. Taken together, subtle means such as using subtractive counterfactual questions in political communication seem to be a promising way to reduce biased outgroup judgments in heated public debates.

We performed a scientometric analysis of water research publications extracted from four decades of South African related papers to identify paradigms and paradigm shifts within water research in South Africa. Between 1977 and 1991, research publications are dominated by research into technical and engineering solutions, as well as designs and plans to secure water supply. From 1992 to 2001, publications on water pollution, water quality, water resource management and planning are prominent. The second major paradigm is observed from 2001 to 2011 in which the emphasis is on planning, modelling, catchment-scale studies and a multidisciplinary approach to research. Another transition period, towards the end of 2011, is characterised by uncertainty, although it also shows the prominence of key concepts such as participation, governance and politics in water management. The second aim of this study was to identify and prioritise current and future water research questions through the participation of a wide range of researchers from across the country, and to relate these questions to research paradigms, issues and concerns in water in South Africa. Over 1600 questions were collected, reduced in number and then prioritised by specialists in the water sector. The majority (78%) of questions offered by respondents in the South African case study dealt with relatively short- to medium-term research requirements with 47% of questions focused on medium-term issues such as supplying water, service delivery and technical solutions.

Solutions to waste management in informal settlements in South Africa
South Africa has retained some of the unjust laws following the Apartheid system, but rapid urbanisation has resulted in burgeoning informal settlements, often situated on the periphery of major cities and towns, where clean water is often inaccessible and waste management is limited. Clean water is the main catalyst for the projects conducted by the Waste FEW ULL team, Kevin Winter, Adina Paytan, Sue Charlesworth, and Jana Fried. The motivation for developing the ULL arose out of concern about the contaminated water and its impact on human health and the environment. Rising demand for land and houses has made people struggle to overcome existing income and wealth disparities, with high levels of unemployment and poverty remaining, leaving many only able to live in so-called informal settlements. The concept of Urban Living Labs (ULLs) has advanced from centres that were largely seen as test beds of innovation to become sites of learning and places where stakeholders can co-create solutions to address critical issues and challenges.

During COVID-19, conspiracy theories were intensely discussed in the media. Generally, both believing in conspiracy theories (i.e., explanations for events based on powerholders' secret arrangements) and being confronted with a conspiracy theory have been found to predict cognition and behavior with negative societal effects, such as low institutional trust. Accordingly, believing in conspiracy theories around COVID-19 should reduce institutional trust, support of governmental regulations and their adoption, and social engagement (e.g., helping members of risk groups). We tested these predictions in a national random sample survey, an experiment, and a longitudinal study (N total = 1,213; all studies were preregistered). Indeed, believing in and being confronted with a COVID-19 conspiracy theory decreased institutional trust, support of governmental regulations, adoption of physical distancing, and—to some extent—social engagement. Findings underscore the severe societal effects of conspiracy theories in the context of COVID-19.

The purpose of this article is to present approaches that can help reducing the gaps between research and practice in the field of refugee integration. We provide examples of research-practice transfer activities that we hope will be taken up by researchers in different fields and implemented for refugee integration in various countries. We describe examples of bi-directional transfer between social psychological researchers and practitioners working with refugees organized by the "Fachnetzwerk Sozialpsychologie zu Flucht und Integration" (German Social Psychology Network on Forced Migration and Integration), and report on evaluations of these transfer activities. The activities so far include two transfer days for researchers and practitioners organized by the network, as well as articles provided by researchers and practitioners for mutual exchange on the platform www.fachnetzflucht.de Based on these experiences, we present lessons learned and derive recommendations for transfer activities in general as well as in the specific field of refugee integration.