Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Donald A. Saucier / Three studies were conducted to further validate the belief in pure evil (BPE) and belief in pure good (BPG) scales (Webster & Saucier, 2012). Study 1 assessed the relationships between BPE, BPG, and sociopolitical ideology, while Study 2 assessed the relationships between BPE, BPG, and various forms of religiosity. Study 1 and Study 2 also tested whether BPE and BPG predicted aggression and helping via support for relevant foreign (Study 1) or domestic (Study 2) policy issues above and beyond sociopolitical attitudes and religiosity, respectively. Study 3 tested whether BPE and BPG predicted evaluations of a prototypically (vs. non-prototypically) evil perpetrator and a prototypically (vs. non-prototypically) good apprehender. Together, these three studies showed that BPE consistently related to greater aggression and less helping, while greater BPG consistently related to less aggression and more helping, while demonstrating convergence but not redundancy with variables known to justify/suppress aggression or helping. In sum, these studies further demonstrate the reliability and validity of the BPE and BPG scales as well as provide solid groundwork for future correlational and experimental research on these constructs.

Varje år omhändertas ungdomar på grund av nutidens ungdomskriminalitet. Flera av dessa ungdomar placeras på HVB (hem för vård eller boende) i syfte att rehabiliteras från antisocialitet vilket kan förstås som en social hållbarhetsåtgärd. HVB har däremot kritiserats för att missgynna en hälsosam utveckling i och med en eventuell negativ socialiseringsprocess. Alla individer påverkas undermedvetet av sin omgivning vilket kan argumenteras vara mer påtagligt under ungdomsåren, därav kan konceptet av att samla flera ungdomar med liknande problematik på ett HVB ifrågasättas. Detta fenomen studeras utifrån teorier om social påverkan, konformitet, social inlärning, social identitet samt självbestämmandeteorin. Med hjälp av teorierna har studien som syfte att utforska behandlingsassistenters subjektiva erfarenheter av HVB-placerade ungdomars kriminella beteenden. Studien undersöker socialpsykologiska processer i form av interpersonella relationer och normkultur för att se hur de påverkar ungdomars upprätthållelse eller utveckling av kriminella beteenden. Med en kvalitativ design tillämpas semistrukturerade intervjuer med ett urval av 10 behandlingsassistenter i svensk kontext. Studiens tematiska analys identifierade tre huvudteman: “yrkesverksammas förhållningssätt”, “skyddsfaktorer” samt “riskfaktorer” med totalt 12 tillhörande subteman. Resultatet visar att en samling av antisociala ungdomar i samma sammanhang oftast bidrar till en negativ påverkan för ungdomarna. Hur ungdomarna påverkas av sin HVB-vistelse beror på vilka skyddsfaktorer samt riskfaktorer de besitter, men även hur behandlingsassistenter förhåller sig och arbetar med ungdomarna. / Every year, young people are taken into custody due to the youth crime prevailing in today's society. Several of these youths are placed in HVB (homes for care or residence) around Sweden to rehabilitate from their destructive lifestyles which can be seen as a concept of action from a social sustainability perspective. However, HVB have been criticized for disadvantaging the healthy development of youths due to a potential negative socialization process. All individuals are subconsciously influenced by their environment which can be argued to be more sensitive for youths, hence the concept of gathering several youths with similar issues in an HVB can be questioned. The social psychological theories underlying this issue include social influence, conformity, social learning, social identity, and self-determination theory. Using these theories, the study aims to explore caregivers' subjective experiences of HVB-placed youths' criminal behaviors. The study examines social psychological processes in the form of interpersonal relationships and norm culture to see how they affect youths' maintenance or development of criminal behaviors. With a qualitative design, the study uses semi-structured interviews with a sample of 10 caregivers in a Swedish context. Through thematic analysis, we have been able to identify three overarching themes:“professionals' approaches”, “protective factors”, and “risk factors” with a total of 12 associated subthemes. The results indicate that gathering a group of antisocial youths in the same setting often contributes to a negative influence for the youths. How the youths are affected by their residential care depends on the protective and risk factors they possess, as well as how caregivers engage with and work with the youths.