This study contends for a social-psychological lens to understand why some feminist movements resort to violence. Literature from feminist peace studies has argued that women are most likely to be...Show moreThis study contends for a social-psychological lens to understand why some feminist movements resort to violence. Literature from feminist peace studies has argued that women are most likely to be peaceful, and scholarship in criminology suggests women are more likely to choose nonviolent coping behaviors. A large body of social movement literature has argued for rationalist approach to understanding the choice to utilize violence vis-a-vis nonviolence as a method of resistance. However, literature within the field of political science has not entirely explored underlying individual-level behaviors to explain why women within a feminist movement utilize violence as a method of resistance. Thus, introducing the research question: Why do some feminist movements resort to violence? Cases of feminist movements increasingly utilizing violence is puzzling because it contradicts arguments made by rationalist studies and feminist peace studies. I apply Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory and argue that some feminist movements resort to violence because of a highly negative perception of the lack of governmental support to address a grievance in gender inequality, which generates negative emotions of anger and frustration that then leads to the likelihood of utilizing violent methods of resistance. I evaluate the argument using qualitative research in the single-case study of the Ni Una Menos (NUM) Movement in México. This study process traces data from semi-structured online interviews to analyze the causal mechanism of negative emotions through language utilized by activists of NUM to answer the research question.Show less
Background: Despite a strong theoretical background suggesting that physical exercise reduces negative emotions, methodological shortcomings produced inconsistent evidence for this relationship....Show moreBackground: Despite a strong theoretical background suggesting that physical exercise reduces negative emotions, methodological shortcomings produced inconsistent evidence for this relationship. Studies indicate adaptive cognitive emotion regulation (ER) as a mediator in this relationship and suggest that trait emotional intelligence (EI) may moderate the relationship between exercise and adaptive cognitive ER. Aim: While improving methodological shortcomings, this experiment aimed to clarify and extend previous research investigating the exercise-negative emotions relationship. To allow for stronger causal conclusions, this study was the first to explore adaptive cognitive ER as a mechanism. As another theoretical extension, it examined whether trait emotional intelligence strengthens the relationship between exercise and adaptive cognitive ER. Method: 103 participants completed a measure of negative emotions and trait EI before recalling a negative personal event to induce negative emotions. After indicating their negative emotions again, they were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: An experimental condition in which participants exercised by cycling at a moderate intensity, an attentional control condition in which participants completed a puzzle and a no-attention control condition in which participants relaxed. While completing their respective task, participants were instructed to reflect on their negative personal event. After task completion, negative emotions and adaptive cognitive ER were assessed. Results: Contrary to expectations, a one-way ANCOVA showed that negative emotions were not lower after exercising compared to puzzling or relaxation. An exploratory analysis revealed that all participants, regardless of their condition, experienced less negative emotions from before to after exercise, puzzling or relaxing. However, PROCESS showed partial support for an indirect effect: Compared to participants who puzzled, those who exercised engaged in more adaptive cognitive ER and consequently experienced less negative emotions. Finally, trait EI did not strengthen the relationship between exercise and adaptive cognitive ER. Conclusion: Exercise reduces negative emotions as well as puzzling and relaxation. This effect may be due to mechanisms not assessed in this study. However, this study provides preliminary evidence that exercise indirectly lowers negative emotions via adaptive cognitive ER. Future studies are needed to clarify the potential of exercise to reduce negative emotions by employing larger and more diverse samples, such as clinical samples, as well as including other – theoretically sound – underlying mechanisms. Practically, this study suggests that different strategies effectively reduce negative emotions, regardless of how emotionally intelligent individuals are.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Threats to Muslim identification are common (Wellman & Tokuno, 2004). Religious identity threats target the individual or group, but also attack the revered system of beliefs on which the...Show moreThreats to Muslim identification are common (Wellman & Tokuno, 2004). Religious identity threats target the individual or group, but also attack the revered system of beliefs on which the identity is founded (Ysseldyk, Matheson, & Anisman, 2010; 2011). Hence, a fundamental coping resource (i.e., religious beliefs) might be undermined and negative consequences for emotions might ensue. The present study that used a survey design and examined 59 Muslims investigated religious identity or religiosity in understanding how a religious identity threat is dealt with by Muslims forming a religious minority. Intrinsic (religious belief) vs extrinsic-social (social aspects of religious identity) religious orientations underlying religious identity were hypothesized to differentially predict threat appraisal, emotion vs problem oriented coping and negative emotions. Results show an intrinsic orientation to predict emotion-focused coping and intense negative emotions. An extrinsic orientation relates to problem-focused coping and less intense negative emotions. To conclude, especially in the context of intrinsic religiosity, a strong impact of identity threat is linked to a heightened focus on as well as experience of negative emotions. These findings point to importance of considering particularly intrinsic identification in regard to its wider ‘construction’, to improve the understanding of religious identification (in religious minorities) in the context of recurrent negative evaluation.Show less
