Regaining in-group continuity in times of anxiety about the group’s future: A study on the role of collective nostalgia across 27 countries.
Collective nostalgia for the good old days of the country thrives across the world. However, little is known about the social psychological dynamics of this collective emotion across cultures. We predicted that collective nostalgia is triggered by collective angst as it helps people to restore a sense of in-group continuity via stronger in-group belonging and out-group rejection (in the form of opposition to immigrants). Based on a sample (N = 5,956) of individuals across 27 countries, the general pattern of results revealed that collective angst predicts collective nostalgia, which subsequently relates to stronger feeling...
Source: Social Psychology - October 29, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
When and why do liberals and conservatives think alike? An investigation into need for cognitive closure, the binding moral foundations, and political perception.
Research on moral foundations theory has found that liberals typically favor the individualizing foundations (i.e., concern for the individual) but typically oppose the binding foundations (i.e., concern for the group). We propose that need for cognitive closure (NFC) can explain when liberals will favor the binding foundations. In two studies, we found that liberals in Italy and the United States were more likely to endorse the binding foundations when they had high NFC. Overall, these results suggest that researchers should strive to understand the interaction between individuals’ epistemic goals and their political or...
Source: Social Psychology - October 25, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The central role of morality in perceived humanness and unselfish behaviors.
There is ample evidence for the central role of morality in social judgments. However, research has not examined whether perceived morality of others also drives perceived humanness, nor has it extensively considered its behavioral consequences. These issues were addressed across two studies. Study 1 revealed that information about a target person’s morality increased his/her perceived humanness, which in turn explained positive behavioral intentions toward him/her. Study 2 pointed out that information about a target person’s morality increased unselfish behaviors toward him/her. This effect was explained by perceived ...
Source: Social Psychology - October 25, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
“Elective abortion predicts the dehumanization of women and men through the mediation of moral outrage”: Correction to Pacilli, Giovannelli, Spaccatini, Vaes, & Barbaranelli, 2018.
Reports an error in "Elective abortion predicts the dehumanization of women and men through the mediation of moral outrage" by Maria Giuseppina Pacilli, Ilaria Giovannelli, Federica Spaccatini, Jeroen Vaes and Claudio Barbaranelli (Social Psychology, Advanced Online Publication, Sep 03, 2018, np). In the article, Figure 4 contained an error. The correct Figure 4 is provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2018-45940-001.) This research addresses the important issue of abortion, still controversial in Western countries. It provides a new perspective by examining attitudes n...
Source: Social Psychology - October 25, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Demand to act and use of mental contrasting.
Mentally contrasting a desired future with present reality fosters selective goal pursuit: People pursue feasible desired futures and let go from unfeasible ones. We investigated whether people spontaneously use mental contrasting when the demand to act toward their desired future is high. Study 1 provided correlational evidence: The participants who planned to act most immediately were also those who used mental contrasting. Studies 2 and 3 added experimental evidence: Imagining an immediate (vs. no immediate) action and being confronted with the opportunity to perform an instrumental (vs. noninstrumental) action, respect...
Source: Social Psychology - October 18, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Elective abortion predicts the dehumanization of women and men through the mediation of moral outrage.
[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 49(5) of Social Psychology (see record 2018-52934-001). In the article, Figure 4 contained an error. The correct Figure 4 is provided in the erratum.] This research addresses the important issue of abortion, still controversial in Western countries. It provides a new perspective by examining attitudes not to abortion itself, but to women and their partners who decide to have an abortion. Through two experimental studies, we expected and found that the decision to abort increased moral outrage toward a woman (Study 1 and Study 2) and her male partner (Study...
Source: Social Psychology - September 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The relationship between immorality and cleansing: A meta-analysis of the Macbeth Effect.
In a widely publicized set of studies, participants who were primed to consider unethical events preferred cleansing products more than did those primed with ethical events (Zhong & Liljenquist, 2006). This tendency to respond to moral threat with physical cleansing is known as the Macbeth Effect. Several subsequent efforts, however, did not replicate this relationship. The present manuscript reports the results of a meta-analysis of 15 studies testing this relationship. The weighted mean effect size was small across all studies (g = 0.17, 95% CI [0.04, 0.31]), and nonsignificant across studies conducted in independent lab...
Source: Social Psychology - September 13, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Development of a within-subject, repeated-measures ego-depletion paradigm: Inconsistent results and future recommendations.
Ego depletion is under scrutiny for low replicability, possibly reflecting the limited statistical power available in between-subject designs. In response, we created a within-subject, repeated-measures ego-depletion paradigm that repeatedly alternated depletion and recovery manipulations. Each manipulation was followed by measuring subjective fatigue, mood, and self-control performance. Across 12 studies (N = 754), participants reliably reported having lower energy and mood after depleting manipulations compared to after recovery manipulations. Depletion manipulations did not consistently affect behavioral self-control, a...
Source: Social Psychology - September 13, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
“We are the ‘human family’: Multicultural experiences predict less prejudice and greater concern for human rights through identification with humanity”: Correction to Sparkman & Eidelman.
Reports an error in "We are the “human family”: Multicultural experiences predict less prejudice and greater concern for human rights through identification with humanity" by David J. Sparkman and Scott Eidelman (Social Psychology, 2018, Vol 49[3], 135-153). The article has been published by error in two different versions. The correct version has the online publication date June 11, 2018. The difference between the two versions lies in the order of Figures 5, 6, and 7. The correct and incorrect orders of the figures are shown below. A new affiliation of the corresponding author is provided in the erratum. (The followi...
Source: Social Psychology - August 20, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Should I stay or should I go? Women’s implicit stereotypic associations predict their commitment and fit in STEM.
Gender stereotypes that associate science and technology to men more than women create subtle barriers to women’s advancement in these fields. But how do stereotypic associations, when internalized by women, relate to their own sense of fit and organizational commitment? Our research is the first to demonstrate that, among working engineers, women’s own gender stereotypic implicit associations predict lower organizational commitment. In a sample of 263 engineers (145 women), women (but not men) who implicitly associated engineering with men more than women were less committed to their organization. This relationship wa...
Source: Social Psychology - August 20, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
You just don’t get us! Positive, but non-verifying, evaluations foster prejudice and discrimination.
Researchers have assumed that self-enhancement strivings motivate compensatory prejudice against minorities. We ask if self-verification strivings might explain compensatory prejudice more parsimoniously. Three studies tested whether receiving overly positive evaluations from outgroup members (immigrants) amplifies prejudice and discrimination against them. In Experiment 1 participants who received excessively positive evaluations from immigrants expressed less liking for them and donated less to them than those who received negative verifying feedback. Experiment 2 replicated these findings only when participants had suff...
Source: Social Psychology - August 20, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Mind-body dualism and health revisited: How belief in dualism shapes health behavior.
Does a sound mind require a sound body? Whether or not lay people subscribe to this notion depends on their belief in mind-body dualism and critically shapes their health-related behaviors. Six studies (N = 1,710) revisit the relation between dualism and health. We replicate the negative correlation between belief in dualism and health behavior (Study 1) and extend it to behavior in the field (Study 2). Studies 3a and 3b investigate how belief in dualism shapes intuitions about the material origin of psychological well-being, while Studies 4a and 4b examine how these intuitions determine health-related outcomes. In sum, co...
Source: Social Psychology - August 20, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Donors’ social class and their prosocial reputation: Perceived authentic motivation as an underlying mechanism.
Donors’ social class may provide cues for others to judge their underlying motives and prosociality. We test whether donors’ social class affects their prosocial reputation through perceived authentic motivation. Across four studies, we find that low-class donors are perceived as more authentically motivated to care about others’ welfare, and thus gain more prosocial reputation as a benevolent person, compared to high-class donors. Moreover, prosocial impact salience moderates this effect: When donation is equal in the percentage of donors’ annual income, making the prosocial impact of donors’ contribution salien...
Source: Social Psychology - August 20, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Heart rate variability moderates challenge and threat reactivity to sexism among women in STEM.
Using a biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat, we tested resting heart rate variability (HRV) as a moderator of physiological reactivity after experiencing sexism. Women science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors participated in a mock interview in which the male interviewer made a sexist or neutral comment. Resting HRV moderated physiological stress reactivity among women in the sexism condition, but not control, indicating lower resting HRV predicted greater physiological threat than challenge and higher resting HRV predicted greater physiological challenge than threat during the interview. T...
Source: Social Psychology - August 20, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Powerful pharma and its marginalized alternatives? Effects of individual differences in conspiracy mentality on attitudes toward medical approaches.
Only little is known about the underpinning psychological processes that determine medical choices. Across four studies, we establish that conspiracy mentality predicts a preference for alternative over biomedical therapies. Study 1a (N = 392) and 1b (N = 204) provide correlational support, Study 2 (N = 185) experimentally tested the role of power: People who endorsed a conspiracy mentality perceived a drug more positively if its approval was supported by a powerless (vs. powerful) agent. Study 3 (N = 239) again showed a moderating effect of power and conspiracy mentality on drug evaluation by comparing analytic versus hol...
Source: Social Psychology - August 9, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
