Suchergebnisse

This research is trying to explore the perceptions and beliefs of young ethnic Macedoniansregarding the EU, European and ethnic/national identity situated in an ambivalent societal context– an exposure to pro-European educational goals, together with the recently emerging reluctancetowards joining the Union.72 students with different study backgrounds at the age between 19 and 22 participated inthe study. In 10 focus groups, formed on the basis of homogeneity of the field of study, they werediscussing their views on the EU concept and their reflections on the congruities and incongruitiesbetween their national identity and the EU identity.Results show that respondents tend to idealize the concept of EU and are willing to acceptEuropean citizenship. On the other hand, some are skeptical and question the possibilityof developing European identity and citizenship because they perceive a serious gap betweenthe European values and the values that are dominant in the current public and political discourse.

This paper investigated relations of personality values and subjective well-being. We examined how values influence life satisfaction of 234 Macedonian and 230 Ukrainian young adults who provided data on personality values (PVQ, Schwartz, 1994) and life satisfaction (Diener et al., 1985). Hypothesized direct relations of types of values to well-being based on "healthy" (self-direction, stimulation, achievement, benevolence, universalism) and "unhealthy" (power, security, conformity, tradition) values were tested in each sample. Results showed that a) Ukrainians compared to their Macedonian peers reported higher scores on all values except for power; b) conformity and security values correlated with well-being, as predicted, but only in the Macedonian sample. Results partly supported our hypotheses regarding the values conducive to well-being among students in both countries. Findings are discussed in terms of values' influence for well-being of youth in Macedonian and Ukrainian contexts.

Abstract. This study investigated the relationship between the anxiety provoked by threatening events in society like the Covid-19 pandemic, and illusory pattern perception, with conspiracy beliefs. Using an experimental design, in Study 1 high vs. low anxiety was manipulated, while in Study 2 we manipulated intuitive pattern search, with the findings supporting the assumption that greater anxiety and higher intuitive pattern search lead to an increase in conspiracy beliefs. In order to prevent the detrimental effects of beliefs in conspiracy theories on the individual and societal levels, we recommend transparent information and pre-warning, as well as a focus on critical thinking in education. Keywords: societal events, anxiety, intuitive pattern search, illusory pattern perception, conspiracy beliefs, Covid-19 pandemic