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We argue that the importance of family relationships for individual well-being varies across societies as a function of a society’s degree of cultural heterogeneity. To examine the role of family relationships, we analyzed the responses from 13,009 participants in 50 societies on their life satisfaction across societies varying in their levels of historical and contemporary cultural heterogeneity. Such heterogeneity creates differences in the frequency of interacting with unfamiliar groups, which leads families to become more central to their members’ satisfaction with life. Multi-level analyses showed that historical and contemporary cultural heterogeneity moderated the pattern such that greater historical or contemporary cultural heterogeneity of society promoted a stronger positive relation between family relationship satisfaction and individual life satisfaction. Our results also revealed that the moderating role of historical cultural heterogeneity was more reliable than that of contemporary cultural heterogeneity. These findings demonstrate the importance of societal demography in shaping people’s psychological processes in different historical periods, suggesting a universal, trans-historical cultural process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seminal work on laypeople's perspectives on societal development is the foundation of our renovated interest in good development and its relationship with well-being. The present study aims to analyze the relationship between individual basic psychological needs satisfaction, people's visions of good societal development in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, and well-being in terms of Satisfaction with Life. To reach this aim, we administered an online survey to a general sample (N = 206, F = 69.4% M = 28.6%, mean age of 33.39 years, and sd = 12.33) with different measures: (a) 3 Basic Psychological Needs (i.e., Autonomy, Relatedness, and Competence) Satisfaction Scale; (b) an ad hoc built Attitude towards the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Scale; (c) Satisfaction with Life Scale. We conducted an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) on the scale about attitudes toward the SDGs, correlation analyses between the investigated variables, and a series of mediation analyses with the three basic psychological needs satisfaction as IVs, the factors emerging from the EFA as mediators (i.e., Environment, Equity, Health) and Satisfaction with Life as the DV. The results showed that only the Environment component of the SDGs Scale mediated the relation between Basic Psychological Needs and Satisfaction with Life. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of different theoretical frameworks, like the Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT), the Person-Culture fit theory, and the Affordances Theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People care about their own well-being and about the well-being of their families. It is currently, however, unknown how much people tend to value their own versus their family's well-being. A recent study documented that people value family happiness over personal happiness across four cultures. In this study, we sought to replicate this finding across a larger sample size (N = 12,819) and a greater number of countries (N = 49). We found that the strength of the idealization of family over personal happiness preference was small (average Cohen's d s =.20, range −.02 to.48), but present in 98% of the studied countries, with statistical significance in 73% to 75%, and variance across countries <2%. We also found that the size of this effect did vary somewhat across cultural contexts. In Latin American cultures highest on relational mobility, the idealization of family over personal happiness was very small (average Cohen's d s for Latin America =.15 and.18), while in Confucian Asia cultures lowest on relational mobility, this effect was closer to medium (d s >.40 and.30). Importantly, we did not find strong support for traditional theories in cross-cultural psychology that associate collectivism with greater prioritization of the family versus the individual; country-level individualism–collectivism was not associated with variation in the idealization of family versus individual happiness. Our findings indicate that no matter how much various populists abuse the argument of "protecting family life" to disrupt emancipation, family happiness seems to be a pan-culturally phenomenon. Family well-being is a key ingredient of social fabric across the world, and should be acknowledged by psychology and well-being researchers and by progressive movements too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can one conclude that well-being is higher in country A than country B, when well-being is being measured according to the way people in country A think about well-being? We address this issue by proposing a new culturally sensitive method to comparing societal levels of well-being. We support our reasoning with data on life satisfaction and interdependent happiness focusing on individual and family, collected mostly from students, across forty-nine countries. We demonstrate that the relative idealization of the two types of well-being varies across cultural contexts and are associated with culturally different models of selfhood. Furthermore, we show that rankings of societal well-being based on life satisfaction tend to underestimate the contribution from interdependent happiness. We introduce a new culturally sensitive method for calculating societal well-being, and examine its construct validity by testing for associations with the experience of emotions and with individualism-collectivism. This new culturally sensitive approach represents a slight, yet important improvement in measuring well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, Pathological Affective Dependence (PAD)—as a risk factor for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)—has undergone considerable attention among clinical and social psychologists. However, the psychological nature of PAD has been described in discordant terms throughout the literature. We try to give a clear definition of the construct (1), theorize a first cognitive model of PAD (2), and describe the prototypical characteristics of a pathological affective dependent (in terms of goals, anti-goals, and dysfunctional self-other beliefs) based on goal-oriented theories (3). We finally present (4) the resulting specific TADs (typical affective dependent) profiles (Saver, Unworthy, Traumatic, and Mixed). We believe that our manuscript on the PAD makes a significant contribution to achieve the fifth UN Sustainable Development Goal aimed at eliminating "all forms of violence against all women": in fact, understanding the psychological risk factors of IPV as PAD is an essential protective factor for designing effective prevention social strategies against IPV. Moreover, this work contributes to achieving one of the "outcome targets" of the sixteenth UN Sustainable Development Goal. It is dedicated to the promotion of "peaceful and inclusive societies", through the reduction of all forms of violence and the protection of children from abuse. Indeed, IPV strongly affects (physical and mental) health and social sustainability of well-being. However, empirical studies on this topic are limited and there is a lack of a theoretical model of PAD. This work represents a theoretical starting point for a broader project aimed at building a cognitive-behavioral protocol and social interventions for the reduction of negative consequences on IPV victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly become a global health crisis, leading people to change their interpersonal behaviours to contain the spread of the virus. Italy has rapidly become the country hit second hardest in the world by the COVID-19 pandemic and the first one in Western countries. To reduce the spread of the COVID-19, people are required to change their interpersonal behaviours, reducing their social interactions in close contacts. The lockdown impact on the economy as well as on social and psychological processes is relevant, we conducted an exploratory study to examine which social factors are associated with the psychological reactions of Italians during the COVID-19 lockdown. Participants (n = 690) self-reported their social identification on three levels (i.e., Italians, Europeans and humankind), their trust toward social and political actors, and their level of welbeing, interdependent-happiness, and distress. Results showed that the relation between trust and the level of wellbeing and distress was mediated by identification with Italians and humankind, only the identification with humankind mediated the relationship between trust and the level of interdependent-happiness. The identification with Europeans did not emerge as a mediator in such relationships. The implications for dealing with COVID-19 lockdown in Italy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the impact of a school-based program designed to reduce implicit prejudice towards migrants in fifth-grade school children. The program used empathy and perspective taking and direct and indirect contact as strategies to reduce ethnic prejudice. Multiple activities were used, including drawings by migrant children as instruments to promote inclusive behaviors. One hundred and five students were divided into two groups (control, experimental), and the children in each completed the Child-IAT (Implicit Association Test) before and after the program, to measure their implicit prejudice. Only the experimental group participated in the program. The results showed a significant reduction in the implicit prejudice in the experimental group after the educational program, but not in the control group. The results are discussed considering the practical implications of such a school program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce the concept of 'societal emotional environment': the emotional climate of a society (operationalized as the degree to which positive and negative emotions are expressed in a society). Using data collected from 12,888 participants across 49 countries, we show how societal emotional environments vary across countries and cultural clusters, and we consider the potential importance of these differences for well-being. Multilevel analyses supported a 'double-edged sword' model of negative emotion expression, where expression of negative emotions predicted higher life satisfaction for the expresser but lower life satisfaction for society. In contrast, partial support was found for higher societal life satisfaction in positive societal emotional environments. Our study highlights the potential utility and importance of distinguishing between positive and negative emotion expression, and adopting both individual and societal perspectives in well-being research. Individual pathways to happiness may not necessarily promote the happiness of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Interdependent Happiness Scale (IHS) has been used in different socio-cultural contexts, no study has tested the measurement invariance across countries. Because previous research did not agree on the dimensionality of the scale, we primarily investigated the factorial structure of the IHS, comparing the one-factor model to three-factor, second-order, and bifactor models. We also evaluated the applicability of the IHS to Italian (N = 290) and Polish samples (students: N = 253; community: N = 241) using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We investigated also whether the scale measures an aspect of happiness different from satisfaction with life. The bifactor model fitted the sample data better than alternative models in all samples. The general factor accounted for over 90% of the reliable variance in the total IHS score for all samples. Our study supported the configural and metric invariance of the bifactor model in the Italian and Polish versions of the IHS, ensuring the comparability of correlations involving the IHS scores in the two different cultures and samples. We showed that IHS is not redundant with the SWLS, although the two concepts are deeply intertwined. Our findings provided support for a conceptualization of interdependent happiness as a hierarchically organized construct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well-functioning communities provide a range of material and psychological resources that enhance well-being. The degree to which individuals see themselves as part of the local social group, or local social identity, i.e., the social identification with the community of the place where people are living, may play an important role in enhancing happiness and well-being, as well as relationships of people with their own living environment, i.e., place attachment. We hypothesized that local social identity influences well-being via specific components of place attachment to the residential city/town, i.e., place identity, social relations, and lack of resources (which is the opposite of place dependence). We measured local social identity, individual well-being, interdependent happiness, and place attachment in a sample of N = 375 participants. We tested our hypotheses by conducting a series of mediation analyses with local social identity as an independent variable, individual well-being and interdependent happiness as dependent variables, and place attachment subfactors, i.e., place identity, social relations, and lack of resources, as mediators. Results showed that the relation between local social identity and both individual well-being and interdependent happiness was positively mediated by place identity and social relations, while the lack of resources emerged as a negative mediator only in the relation between local social identity and individual well-being (not for interdependent happiness). Practical implications and future developments are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies document that societal happiness is correlated with individualism, but the nature of this phenomenon remains understudied. In the current paper, we address this gap and test the reasoning that individualism correlates with societal happiness because the most common measure of societal happiness (i.e., country-level aggregates of personal life satisfaction) is individualism-themed. With the data collected from 13,009 participants across fifty countries, we compare associations of four types of happiness (out of which three are more collectivism-themed than personal life satisfaction) with two different measures of individualism. We replicated previous findings by demonstrating that societal happiness measured as country-level aggregate of personal life satisfaction is correlated with individualism. Importantly though, we also found that the country-level aggregates of the collectivism-themed measures of happiness do not tend to be significantly correlated with individualism. Implications for happiness studies and for policy makers are signaled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background The research aimed to assess, through physiological measurements such as blood pressure and heart rate, whether exposure to art museums and to different art styles (figurative vs. modern art) was able to enhance visitors' well-being in terms of relaxing and stress reduction. Method Participants (n = 77) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, on the basis of the typology of the art style they were exposed to in the museum visit: (1) figurative art, (2) modern art and (3) museum office (as a control condition). Blood pressure and heart rate were measured before and after the visits. Results Diastolic values of the participants were quite stable, as expected in people who do not suffer hypertension; we therefore considered only variations in systolic blood pressure. The majority of the participants exposed to figurative art significantly decreased systolic blood pressure compared to those exposed to modern art and museum office. No differences were found in the heart rate before and after the visit for the three groups. Conclusion Findings suggest that museum visits can have health benefits, and figurative art may decrease systolic blood pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an introductory paper to the special section "Multilingual learning and social inclusion of children: The development of educational programmes to connect school and family". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, mindfulness has been considered as a potential source of proenvironmental attitudes and behavior. Present research is aimed at consolidating and expanding previous knowledge by proposing that mindfulness is related to both proenvironmental behavior and belief in global climate change through social dominance orientation (SDO). A first study was conducted on undergraduate students (n = 279) and found, as expected, that trait mindfulness was related to proenvironmental behavior through SDO. A second study using a known groups approach compared practitioners (n = 44) and nonpractitioners (n = 53) of Buddhist meditation, which is known to develop a mindful stance. Moreover, in Study 2, a measure of belief in global climate change was adopted as a further outcome. Again, trait mindfulness was related to both proenvironmental outcomes through SDO. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present experiment examined how the interaction between senders' communicative competence, veracity and the medium through which judgments were made affected observers' accuracy. Stimuli were obtained from a previous study. Observers (N = 220) judged the truthfulness of statements provided by a good truth teller, a good liar, a bad truth teller, and a bad liar presented either via an audio-only, video-only, audio-video, or transcript format. Log-linear analyses showed that the data were best explained via the saturated model, therefore indicating that all the four variables interacted, G 2(0) = 0, p = 1, Q 2 = 1. Follow-up analyses showed that the good liar and bad liar were best evaluated via the transcript (z = 2.5) and the audio-only medium (z = 3.9), respectively. Both the good truth teller and the bad truth teller were best assessed through the audio-video medium (z = 2.1, good truth teller, z = 3.4, bad truth teller). Results indicated that all the factors interacted and played a joint role on observers' accuracy. Difficulties and suggestions for choosing the right medium are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystems are under pressure due to global climate change. Empirical evidence showing how people can reduce their ecological footprint is needed. It has been shown that a consequence of the perception of climate change is an increase in ecologically responsible behavior, but little is known about the antecedents of this relationship. In two field studies, we examined whether an emotion-regulation strategy (i.e., cognitive reappraisal) predicted both climate change perception and pro-environmental behavior. Undergraduate students at two university campuses participated in Study 1 ( n = 299). We found that individuals with a stronger tendency for habitual use of cognitive reappraisal showed both increased global climate change perception and a greater extent of pro-environmental behavior compared with individuals with a lower such tendency. As expected, our results also showed the mediating role of climate change perception in the relationship between people's habitual use of cognitive reappraisal and pro-environmental behavior. These findings were replicated in Study 2 ( n = 81) with a non-student sample. Implications for future studies and environmental risk communication strategies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can a preference for design objects also be achieved automatically? The aim of this study is to examine whether different levels of expertise in industrial design (laypeople versus design experts) can orient the preference towards different styles of design objects (classic chairs versus modern chairs), at both implicit and explicit levels. Implicit and explicit preferences are often mediated by assessor features. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was used to measure the automaticity of the evaluation. The participants (44 laypeople and 40 experts) performed a categorization task with reference to pictures (five classic and five modern chairs) and words (five positive and five negative aesthetic words). Reaction times were registered. The explicit evaluation of the stimuli was assessed using a sevenpoint Likert scale referring to the adjectives beautiful, typical, familiar, understandable, complex and interesting in order to appraise overall preferences for both classic and modern design objects. In both measurements, implicit and explicit preferences for classic and modern objects were moderated by expertise: experts were aesthetically more oriented towards modern objects while laypeople did not show a specific preference for one style. This study is one of the first attempts to demonstrate the differences in aesthetic preferences between experts and non-experts at an implicit level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hand gestures have a close link with speech and with social perception and persuasion processes, however to date no one has experimentally investigated the role of hand gestures alone in persuasive speech. An experiment with undergraduates was conducted using 5 video-messages in which only hand gestures of the speaker were manipulated along five types. ANOVAs reveal effect of gesture type on receivers' evaluation of message persuasiveness, speaker communication style effectiveness, and speaker's composure and competence. A control study (Experiment 2) confirms that these effects are due to visible gestures. Speech accompanying gestures appear to play a causal role in social perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present experiment examined the relationship between different types of discourse linked hand movements and deception. Hand gestures were experimentally studied during truth telling and deception, and in situations with either weak or strong suspicion. Participants (128 Italian psychology students) were interviewed twice about the possession of an object. In one interview they were asked to lie and in the other asked to tell the truth (veracity factor). In both conditions, suspicion was raised after the interview: Participants were accused of lying by the interviewer and asked to repeat their account a second time (suspicion factor). Results indicate that lying was associated with a decrease in deictic gestures, and an increase in metaphoric gestures (main effect of veracity). Also a decrease in self-adaptor gestures was found. Strong suspicion was associated with an increase in metaphoric, rhythmic, and deictic gestures and a decrease in self-adaptor, emblematic, and cohesive gestures (main effect of suspicion). No interaction effect was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental psychological literature suggested that three different value orientations (egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric) are relevant for understanding environmental beliefs and intentions. We surveyed 365 Italian adults of different ages (range 18–87) to examine whether the egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric value orientations can lead to personal and/or family related well-being. Additionally, it is examined whether the perception of presence and accessibility of two types of environmental resources (natural and urbanistic) related to ecosystem services can moderate the relation between value orientations and personal and family well-being. Results of moderation analyses showed that people with high biospheric values felt themselves as more satisfied if they perceived high and medium (but not low) presence or accessibility of natural resources in their environment, while people with high egoistic values perceived their family more satisfied if they perceived the high and medium (but not low) presence of good infrastructures in their environment of living. No significant moderation model emerged considering the participants' altruistic values. The implications for environmental beliefs and well-being are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]