No abstract

In Study 1, an experiential factor divided into the following 3 factors when 3 or more factors were extracted: intuition, emotionality, and imagination; whereas a rational factor retained its coherence. In Study 2, an experiential but not a rational thinking style was positively associated with performance measures of creativity, humor, aesthetic judgment, and intuition and with self-report measures of empathy and social popularity. A rational thinking style was associated with several measures of adjustment. Both thinking styles were positively related to personal growth. Support was provided from several sources for the discriminant validity of the experiential facets. In a third study, the independence of the 2 thinking styles and of gender differences in self-reported data were verified by observations by others of participants' thinking styles. The importance of identifying facets of an experiential thinking style and of discovering previously unrecognized favorable attributes of this thinking style was discussed.

First highlights common themes that have emerged in the book: an emphasis that the concept of political support of government is multi‐dimensional; the existence of divergent trends in support for regime principles and institutions; and how to interpret the consequences of the various developments that can be seen. The book aims to steer a course between the crisis theories of democracy and over‐optimistic claims that ‘all's right with the world’. The book argues that there are genuine grounds for concern about public support for the core institutions of democratic government, both in established and newer democracies, but that all too often ‘crisis’ accounts are broad‐brush and exaggerated when the diagnosis needs to be careful, systematic, and precise. Reviews the literature on democratic crisis and stability, and briefly discusses the factors necessary for consistent and systematic comparison of trends, including the conceptual framework; suitable sources of survey data; the selection of time periods; the choice of countries; and the choice of appropriate measures. The major findings about global trends in support for democratic governance are then highlighted, and potential explanations for the dynamics of political support are suggested. The roadmap of the rest of the book is then summarized.

Is there a widespread loss of faith in the core institutions of representative democracy? Based on a comparison of 17 trilateral democracies this study examines institutional confidence from the early 1980s to the early 1990s then considers explanations based on the social psychology of trusting personalities, cultural accounts based on life experiences, and theories of institutional performance. The study concludes that at national level, social trust and confidence in government and its institutions are strongly associated with each other. Social trust can help build effective social and political institutions, which can help governments perform effectively, and this in turn encourages confidence in civic institutions.