The purpose of this study is to determine statistical predictors of homophobic attitudes among the residents of Tbilisi, Georgia. We analyze 2013 survey data from a representative sample of the Tbilisi adult population. Residents were asked about their attitudes, beliefs, and political and social values in the context of the May 17, 2013 attack on LGBT activists on the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT). Findings show that homophobia is significantly predicted by male gender, lower levels of education, acceptance of social inequality, nonliberal attitudes, and perceiving homosexuals as a "threat to national security." However, psychological perceptions and personal experiences also indirectly influence homophobic attitudes: the findings suggest that males report homophobic attitudes more often than females do and tend to be even more homophobic when they believe that homosexuality is inborn rather than acquired. The study also found that people without liberal attitudes tend to be more homophobic when they have personal contacts with homosexuals. This article highlights the need for a more comprehensive approach to education and the promotion of liberal values as well as legal equality for LGBTQ individuals to decrease the level of homophobia in Georgian society and, specifically, in Tbilisi.

No abstract

The present study examines three components of moral character: moral competencies, moral judgment and moral identity and seeks to understand how emotion-related competencies are linked these moral categories. The aim of the study is twofold, first to discover integrative linkages between different components of moral character and secondly, to understand the inclusive roles of emotionrelated competencies (e.g., Trait Emotional Intelligence) in different categories of morality. A total of 318 individuals (M age = 21.75 years; SD age = 2.24, 65% female) filled the questionnaires measuring moral judgment, moral competencies, moral identity and Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEI). Moral identity and competencies positively correlated with each other and with TEI; however, moral judgment does not appear in the same path: it related only with one aspect of TEI-emotional well-being. Also, TEI emerged as a mediator of relationship between moral identity and moral competence. By integrating three components of moral character (competence, judgment and identity) and linking them to the emotional competencies, study nuances the dynamics and power of relationship between moral and emotional realms.

The main interest of the study is to determine whether and how an individual’s perceived economic situation is related to emancipative values in Georgia. The analysis employs individual-level survey data from nationwide public opinion surveys conducted by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) in 2010 and 2011 in Georgia. Several dimensions of emancipative values are examined: gender equality, tolerance, participation, autonomy, interpersonal trust, satisfaction with life and religion. Level of education and age are brought in as alternative factors accounting for value change. The results are ambiguous and only partially confirm validity of the emancipative theory of democracy on an individual level in Georgia.

No abstract