Using data from Italy, Spain, and Germany (N= 1,569), this study investigated the role of basic values (universalism and security) and basic traits (openness and agreeableness) in predicting perceptions of the consequences of immigration. In line with Schwartz's (1992) theory, we conceptualized security as having two distinct components, one concerned with safety of the self (personal security) and the other with harmony and stability of larger groups and of society (group security). Structural equation modelling revealed that universalism values underlie perceptions that immigration has positive consequences and group security values underlie perceptions that it has negative consequences. Personal security makes no unique, additional contribution. Multi-group analyses revealed that these associations are invariant across the three countries except for a stronger link between universalism and perceptions of the consequences of immigration in Spain. To examine whether values mediate relations of traits to perceptions of immigration, we used the five-factor model. Findings supported a full mediation model. Individuals' traits of openness and agreeableness explained significant variance in security and universalism values. Basic values, in turn, explained perceptions of the consequences of immigration.

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We studied the influence of explicitating

Relations between voting choice and similarity in traits between voters and political candidates are examined in two studies. The first study was conducted in Spain, where the personalities of Mariano Rajoy and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero were assessed. The second study was conducted in Italy, where the politicians assessed were Walter Veltroni and Silvio Berlusconi. Results show in both cases a similarity between voters' self-reported personality and their appraisals of the leaders of the party for which they voted. Similarity is generally higher with respect to traits that are the most distinctive for each platform and its leader. The findings show a higher similarity between voters and their leaders on the markers of agreeableness, such as "loyal" and "sincere." Findings hold across countries and political figures, demonstrating the role that personal characteristics of both voters and candidates play in orienting political preference.

What follows is a quasi‐experimental study aiming to analyse the influence of the social division of roles (especially the division between public and private spheres of activity) on gender social identities. Subjects were asked to describe themselves as well as their images of the ‘perfect or ideal person’ in the context of their professional activities or their close relationships. The order of presentation (self‐description and the description of the ‘perfect person’) was balanced. We found that women and men perceived themselves according to the traditional gender stereotypes (women perceived themselves as more feminine while men describe themselves as more masculine). However the context in which subjects imagined themselves affected their self‐perceptions as well as their images of the ‘ideal person’: A public context (professional activity) elicited more masculine self‐images in women and men whereas private contexts (close relationships) led to more feminine images of themselves. Furthermore, the images of the ‘perfect person’ varied according to which context was salient: these images were more masculine in the public context and more feminine in the private one. Finally, the asymmetry hypothesis in social comparison was confirmed. Although there was a significant correlation between self‐images and the image of the ‘perfect or ideal person’, this correlation was stronger when subjects described themselves first and described their images of the ‘ideal person’ before. This result was interpreted as reflecting the subjects' tendency to see themselves as prototypes in the social comparison. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.