Associations between schizotypy and belief in conspiracist ideation

Previous studies have reported associations between conspiracist ideation and domain-level facets of schizotypy, but less is known about associations with lower-order facets. In the present study, 447 adults completed measures of conspiracist ideation and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), consisting of nine subscales grouped into four domains. Results of a multiple regression showed that two domains of the SPQ significantly predicted conspiracist ideation, but multicollinearity was a limiting factor. In a second regression, we found that the subscales of Odd Beliefs or Magical Thinking and Ideas of Reference significantly predicted conspiracist ideation, without any multicollinearity constraints. We interpret these results as implicating two specific lower-order facets of schizotypy in belief in conspiracy theories. We further contrast the present results with previous studies indicating associations between conspiracist ideation and paranormal beliefs.

Lobbying by Trade Associations on EU Climate Policy

Climate change has been recognised as one of the greatest challenges of the 21st Century. Its impacts, and they way that we choose to deal with them will profoundly affect how business and society operates. This report focuses on European Union (EU) climate policy – the governance structures, rules and regulations that have been put in place at the EU level to attempt to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Specifically, it focuses on how trade associations representing industrial sectors or broader business interest have lobbied on EU climate policy, and the impact that they have had on the policymaking process. The report then goes on to discuss whether the impacts of this lobbying align with the stated policies of the companies that are members of these trade associations.

Associations between Belief in Conspiracy Theories and the Maladaptive Personality Traits of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5

Conspiracy theories can be treated as both rational narratives of the world as well as outcomes of underlying maladaptive traits. Here, we examined associations between belief in conspiracy theories and individual differences in personality disorders. An Internet-based sample (N=259) completed measures of belief in conspiracy theories and the 25 facets of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5). Preliminary analyses showed no significant differences in belief in conspiracy theories across participant sex, ethnicity, and education. Regression analyses showed that the PID-5 facets of Unusual Beliefs and Experiences and, to a lesser extent, Suspiciousness, significantly predicted belief in conspiracy theories. These findings highlight a role for maladaptive personality traits in understanding belief in conspiracy theories, but require further investigation.

Looking Beyond ‘White Slavery’: Trafficking, the Jewish Association’s representation of ‘the potential victim’, and the dangerous politics of migration control in England, 1890-1910

This article seeks to revise Jo Doezema’s suggestion that ‘the white slave’ was the only dominant representation of ‘the trafficked woman’ used by early anti-trafficking advocates in Europe and the United States, and that discourses based on this figure of injured innocence are the only historical discourses that are able to shine light on contemporary anti-trafficking rhetoric. ‘The trafficked woman’ was a figure painted using many shades of grey in the past, with a number of injurious consequences, not only for trafficked persons but also for female labour migrants and migrant populations at large. In England, dominant organizational portrayals of ‘the trafficked woman’ had first acquired these shades by the 1890s, when trafficking started to proliferate amid mass migration from Continental Europe, and when controversy began to mount over the migration to the country of various groups of working-class foreigner. The article demonstrates these points by exploring the way in which the Jewish Association for the Protection of Girls and Women (JAPGW), one of the pillars of England’s early anti-trafficking movement, represented the female Jewish migrants it deemed at risk from being trafficked into sex work between 1890 and 1910. It argues that the JAPGW stigmatised these women, placing most of the onus for trafficking upon them and positioning them to a greater or a lesser extent as ‘undesirable and undeserving working-class foreigners’ who could never become respectable English women. It also contends that the JAPGW, in outlining what was wrong with certain female migrants, drew a line between ‘the migrant’ and respectable English society at large, and paradoxically endorsed the extension of the very ‘anti-alienist’ and Antisemitic prejudices that it strove to dispel.

Bodies in Nature: Associations between Exposure to Nature, Connectedness to Nature, and Body Image

Here, we sought to replicate previous work showing a relationship between connectedness to nature and body appreciation, and extend it by examining associations between exposure to natural environments and other body image-related variables. An online sample of 399 U.S. women and men (Mage = 34.55 years) completed measures of body appreciation, connectedness to nature, nature exposure, appearance investment, sociocultural attitudes toward appearance, and self-esteem. Path analysis showed that nature exposure and connectedness to nature, respectively, were associated with body appreciation in women and men, both directly and indirectly via self-esteem. Connectedness to nature also mediated the link between nature exposure and body appreciation. In men, but not women, the link between connectedness to nature and body appreciation was also mediated by appearance investment and internalisation of a muscular ideal. These results may point to novel methods for promoting more positive body image in adults through engagement with nature.