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This paper investigates the role of political ideology with regard to changes in beliefs on political and non‐political issues. In line with the political asymmetry hypothesis and threat sensitivity accounts in relation to ideology, it was assumed that right‐wing adherents would change their prior beliefs (on political and non‐political issues) to a lesser extent in response to counterevidence than left‐wing adherents. We also expected that the mechanism responsible for this effect would be accounted for by individual differences in threat sensitivity. To test these hypotheses, we conducted two experimental studies (total N = 576) in which participants holding right‐ and left‐wing views were exposed to new information, inconsistent with their prior beliefs, on political and non‐political issues. Contrary to expectations, we found that individuals with right‐ and left‐wing beliefs did not differ in the degree of change to their prior beliefs in response to counterevidence. Nor did we find evidence indicating that threat sensitivity was responsible for the link between ideology and belief change. The paper's findings contribute to the ongoing discussion around ideological (a)symmetry and the controversies concerning threat‐related ideological differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the exponential increase in the number of refugees and displaced people worldwide, it has become critical to examine the experiences of refugees; particularly their identity, since it is an important marker of their adjustment to the new context. Besides other factors impacting their identity and adjustment, the role of the leader is important as it can impact the construction of refugee identities. This paper explores the construction and negotiation of Tibetan refugee identities through the identity entrepreneurship of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and erstwhile political leader of the Tibetans. It is postulated that leaders are entrepreneurs of identity who shape identity construction and negotiation. With an emphasis on the social, political, and historical context, three kinds of sources are analysed using a discourse‐historical approach to understand how leaders function as entrepreneurs of identity across the various contexts and negotiate identity construction across the shifting contexts. First, 12 speeches by the Dalai Lama on 10 critical events in Tibetan history since 1959; second, six speeches by the Dalai Lama for Tibetan Uprising Day (1961–2009); and third, two international interviews (CNN, 2009; BBC, 2012). The analysis demonstrates that the identity entrepreneurship of the Dalai Lama has strong elements of protection towards the ingroup, that is, the Tibetan refugees, through the crafting of a collective sense of identity for Tibetans. The study sheds new light on the nature of refugee leadership, acknowledging the impact of the shifting nature of identity, from a native citizen to refugee; and the leader's identity entrepreneurship in these evolving and often malleable contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the increasing wage disparities and the unfair distribution of resources in many organizations, there have not been enough academic explorations into the role of these contextual variables on dehumanization processes and psychosocial risk factors among employees. This project addresses how perceptions of economic inequality and unfairness in the distribution of resources can influence individuals' perceptions of dehumanization and self‐objectification, and trigger detrimental consequences in the workplace. Using two correlational surveys in different cultural contexts (N = 748), and two experimental studies (N = 662), this research consistently shows that both high inequality and high unfairness perceptions decrease job satisfaction and dignity at work through dehumanization processes. Specifically, both inequality and unfairness increase perceived organizational dehumanization, which in turn increases participants' self‐objectification. Self‐objectification is associated with lower job satisfaction and dignity at work. This paper discusses the consequences of economic disparities on individuals' recognition of their own humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore whether mental representations about birth (birth‐related mindsets) assessed during pregnancy can predict labour and birth in the sense that the perception of birth as a natural (rather than a medical) event increases the probability of a low‐intervention birth. Birth, in turn, might affect short‐term and long‐term psychological well‐being. These assumptions were tested in a longitudinal study (N = 311), spanning the first half of pregnancy and up to 6 months after birth. The results of a single indicator model displayed a sequential process: women who held a more natural mindset prenatally were more likely to have low‐intervention births, which resulted in a more positive evaluation of the birth experience, which in turn predicted well‐being in the first weeks after birth (measured with ecological momentary assessment), and subsequently postpartum depression and post‐traumatic stress symptoms 8 weeks after birth as well as mother‐infant bonding 6 months after birth. The study demonstrates the relevance of psychological factors for childbirth. The construct of a birth‐related mindset could contribute to a better understanding of childbirth and help to make women's birth experiences safer and more satisfying and to improve the transition to motherhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on their process of handling articles for the journal's special section "Registered Reports" (RR), particularly on their focus on the originality of the research and the soundness of the used methods.

This paper examines social‐psychological factors that can facilitate and hinder public support for conservative agendas over time. Using four waves of longitudinal panel data from Chile (N = 2,394), we estimated the between‐person and within‐person associations among individuals' self‐reported conservative ideologies, political disaffection, civic behaviour, political attitudes towards democracy and social change, and their support for conservative (vs progressive) social movements over time. As expected, between‐person increases in social dominance orientation (SDO), right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA), right‐wing self‐categorization, and political disaffection correlated positively with support for conservative social movements. Between‐person increases in people's social change beliefs, support for democracy, and civic participation predicted less support for conservative social movements over time. Within‐person increases in RWA and SDO correlated positively with conservative social movement support, whereas civic participation correlated negatively with it. Results provide novel evidence for the dynamic processes underlying support for conservative/progressive agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the predicted replicability of experimental research on system justification theory (SJT) by conducting a z‐curve analysis. Z‐curve is a meta‐analytic technique similar to p‐curve, but which performs better under conditions of heterogeneity. It estimates the predicted replication rate, average power, false discovery risk, and file drawer ratio (FDR) of a sample of studies. The z‐curve based on 116 papers and 232 unique samples suggests that the experimental SJT literature is likely to show low rates of replicability, as indicated by an overall average statistical power of 16%. Moderator analyses suggest that this may be driven in part by publication pressures, that the replicability of research in this area has improved since 2015, and that studies using system threat manipulations show particularly low estimated replication rates (ERR). Implications for the replicability and validity of the experimental SJT literature are discussed, and recommendations to increase the rigor of research are put forth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the effects of lay beliefs that disaster victims who have been victimised by other events in the past will cope better with a new adverse event than first‐time victims. It is shown that believing that disaster victims can get habituated to suffering reduces helping intentions towards victims of repeated adversity, because repeatedly victimised victims are perceived to be less traumatised by a new adverse event. In other words, those who buy into habituation beliefs will impute less trauma and suffering to repeated victims compared to first‐time victims, and they will therefore feel less inclined to help those repeatedly victimised victims. This was demonstrated in a series of six studies, two of which were preregistered (total N = 1010). Studies 1, 2, and 3 showed that beliefs that disaster victims become habituated to pain do indeed exist among lay people. Such beliefs are factually inaccurate, because repeated exposure to severe adversity makes it harder, not easier, for disaster victims to cope with a new negative event. Therefore, we call this belief the 'habituation fallacy'. Studies 2, 3, and 4 demonstrated an indirect negative effect of a belief in the 'habituation fallacy' on 'helping intentions', via lesser 'trauma' ascribed to victims who had previously been victimised. Studies 5 and 6 demonstrated that a belief in the 'habituation fallacy' causally affects trauma ascribed to, and helping intentions towards, repeatedly victimised victims, but not first‐time victims. The habituation fallacy can potentially explain reluctance to donate to humanitarian causes in those geographical areas that frequently fall prey to disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades, LGBTQ+ issues have been at the centre of politics, social movements, and human rights discussions across the world. Consistent with these developments, there is a growing interest in social psychological research into sexual orientation and gender identities. The emerging research not only taps recent societal developments and the effects of these on LGBTQ+ people; but also focuses on very old research questions of stereotypes and prejudice that are still relevant today. In this special issue, we bring together nine papers addressing several of these issues using qualitative, correlational, and experimental methods with sexual majority and minority samples across different cultural contexts. We discuss the current state of the field and how further research could enhance our understanding of LGBTQ+ issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative mood regulation expectancies (NMRE) are individuals' beliefs about their ability to alleviate a negative mood. The literature on the relations between NMRE and coping often reports ambiguous results. The current review aims to integrate and summarize evidence on the associations between NMRE and coping. We searched the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), PsycInfo, PsycArticles, Scopus and Web of Science databases and found 19 articles for a systematic review and 17 articles for a meta‐analysis. There was a medium significant effect size for active coping (r =.31, 95% confidence interval [CI] [.26;.36]), and a small significant effect for avoidant coping (r = −.14, 95% CI [−.22; −.06]). Moderate to high levels of significant heterogeneity were observed, indicating differences in relationships between NMRE and coping across studies. Method of measuring coping was a significant moderator of its relationship to NMRE. Given the solid evidence of the positive relationship between NMRE and active coping, both variables should be considered in research and in psychological interventions. Further directions for the development of theory and for future research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the Social Identity Approach principles, we explored the relationship between organizational identification (individual, group, and shared), job satisfaction, and collective actual turnover. We hypothesize that (a) shared identification moderates the within‐person relationship between individual organizational identification and job satisfaction, namely, the effect is stronger for groups in which the level of shared organizational identification is higher; (b) group job satisfaction mediates the relationship between group organizational identification and collective actual turnover. This study was conducted in a large Italian firm (N = 1090; sale locations = 91). Data were collected using both surveys (e.g., job satisfaction) and archive data (collective actual turnover). By means of Bayesian Multilevel Structural Equation Models, we supported the moderating role played by shared organizational identification in the relationship between individual organizational identification and job satisfaction, while no evidence was found for the mediational hypothesis. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications for management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five experiments (total number of judging participants = 1309, four different kinds of stimulus materials with a total of 464 messages, total number of judgements = 19,634) investigated the influence of personal uncertainty on the process of lie detection in social relationships. Building on and extending basic assumptions of uncertainty management models, we reasoned that uncertainty about themselves motivates people to evaluate the quality of their relationships. A crucial aspect of the quality of relationships with other people is the truthfulness with which they communicate verbally with you and anyone else. We proposed that if these assumptions are valid, reminding people of their personal uncertainties should lead them to use valid verbal cues in veracity judgements more. This enhanced usage of valid verbal cues should result in better accuracy in deception detection. An internal meta‐analysis of the five experiments reveals only a small, not significant, overall effect of uncertainty salience on detection accuracy with larger effect sizes for experiments conducted in the laboratory than for those conducted online. Hence, if personal uncertainty plays a role in the process of deception detection, it seems to be subject to moderators such as methodological or motivational factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discrepancies in partners' commitment have been emphasized as a key factor involved in relationship instability. We tested the contributions of multiple types of commitment asymmetry (discrepancies between partners at one time point) and asynchrony (discrepancies in the progression of commitment over time) to relationship satisfaction and break‐up. In three studies (N = 6960 couples) spanning months (Study 1), days (Study 2) and years (Study 3), commitment asymmetry and asynchrony consistently did not predict satisfaction or break‐up when controlling for individuals and their partners' commitment. Only one's own commitment and proportion of downturns in commitment (reporting lower commitment than the previous time point) consistently predicted satisfaction. Women's (but not men's) commitment and proportion of downturns were associated (negatively and positively, respectively) with break‐up. Thus, contrary to some significant previous findings, commitment asymmetry and asynchrony are not indicative of future relationship outcomes. Our findings have important implications for theoretical models of commitment and couples' practical issues in relationships over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is witnessing the highest level of displacement of people on record. Public discourse often uses labels to describe people on the move such as 'migrants', 'asylum seekers', or 'refugees' interchangeably. A preregistered study in nine countries (Australia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; N = 2844) tested experimentally the effect of these three labels on attitudes towards immigrants and immigration policies. We found a significant difference between the label 'migrant' and both 'asylum seeker' and 'refugee' on the social distance scale. Participants were happier if migrants, rather than asylum seekers and refugees, were their neighbours, friends, or partners. The effect was mediated by perceived benefits, but not threats, whereby migrants were perceived to bring more benefits to receiving societies than asylum seekers and refugees. To increase the acceptance of immigrants, speakers may consider specifying the given group and emphasize benefits that immigrants bring to receiving societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This project sought to understand when ideology is relevant (or not) to predicting contact avoidance of 'others' during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Right‐leaning ideologies (political conservatism, right‐wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation) were not expected to predict greater contact avoidance per se, but rather exhibit selective avoidance of outgroup (vs. ingroup) members. White British participated in one exploratory (Study 1 N = 364) and two pre‐registered (Study 2 N = 431, Study 3 N = 700) studies. As expected, right‐leaning ideologies were significantly stronger predictors of greater preferred personal distance and contact discomfort regarding foreign outgroups (vs. British ingroup) in Studies 1 and 3 (partially supported in Study 2). Ideology rarely predicted ingroup reactions. This Ideology × Target pattern was itself not moderated by the perceived COVID‐19 threat. Pre‐pandemic theorizing that heightened behavioural immune system responses are associated with heightened right‐leaning ideologies appear insufficient for use in actual pandemic contexts, especially when highly politicized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in moral psychology has found that robots, more than humans, are expected to make utilitarian decisions. This expectation is found specifically when contrasting utilitarian action to deontological inaction. In a series of eight experiments (total N = 3752), we compared judgments about robots' and humans' decisions in a rescue dilemma with no possibility of deontological inaction. A robot's decision to rescue an innocent victim of an accident was judged more positively than the decision to rescue two people culpable for the accident (Studies 1–2b). This pattern repeated in a large‐scale web survey (Study 3, N = ∼19,000) and reversed when all victims were equally culpable/innocent (Study 5). Differences in judgments about humans' and robots' decisions were largest for norm‐violating decisions. In sum, robots are not always expected to make utilitarian decisions, and their decisions are judged differently from those of humans based on other moral standards as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies on norms and COVID‐19 have ignored the group‐based and dynamic nature of normative influence where self‐relevant and salient groups might emerge and change along with their impact on health behaviours. The current research seeks to explore these issues using a three‐wave longitudinal design with a representative sample of Australians (Nwave 1 = 3024) where two group sources of potential normative influence (neighbourhood and national groups) and two COVID‐19 health behaviours (physical distancing and hand hygiene) were investigated in May, June/July and September/October 2020. Results indicated that especially from Wave 1 to Wave 2 neighbourhood descriptive norms (rather than national or injunctive norms) had the most impact on health behaviours while controlling for demographic and individual‐level health variables. This demonstrates that groups and associated norms that influence behaviours vary across time. It is concluded that research on norms needs to study which groups matter and when. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review some processing assumptions that underlie the currently used measures of moral judgement with moral dilemmas, contrasting them with the overlooked possibility that the primary mechanism consists in assessing a net balance of the costs versus benefits of the sacrificial action. Different dilemmas scenarios present different net balances of cost versus benefits, and participants usually change between them from disapproval to approval motivated by what appears to be a larger positive balance of moral benefits. The thresholds for such change are personal and vary. For the instrument to reliably estimate the individual differences in approval thresholds, there can be no disagreement on the facts affecting the balances and the ranking order of the items. We designed an instrument targeting three different balances with five indicators each and ran an exploratory factor analysis to prove that the different balances operate cleanly as separate factors. The expected three‐factor solution and a stable ranking of the balance points were obtained across three samples from three different continents in three languages, suggesting the activation of cross‐culturally stable cognitive processes. The strength ratio of utilitarian (U) to deontological (D) sensitivity was calculated for each participant and corrected using the scores of a balance‐point with no net benefits. This instrument overcomes validation difficulties burdening the existing measures and offers good prospects for further development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectification often has profound negative consequences for its victims, yet we argue that objectification may have positive ancillary implications for the perpetrators. Drawing from system justification theory, we posit that, especially in organizations characterized by higher power distance, objectifying supervisors would be afforded more power by their subordinates because they would deem such behaviour as more typical (i.e., descriptive justification) and more desirable (i.e., prescriptive justification). The results of two experiments (N = 443 and N = 211) showed that high (vs. low) power distance subordinates afforded less power to a non‐objectifying supervisor (but not more power to an objectifying supervisor), and that prescriptive justification (but not descriptive justification) mediated the interaction effect of objectification and power distance on power affordance. In a field survey with dyads of supervisors and subordinates (N = 122), we found that subordinates with relatively high power distance orientations afforded power to their objectifying supervisors through prescriptive justification. Our research contributes to objectification literature by demonstrating when and how supervisor objectification can be rationalized and perpetuated through granting objectifiers power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across cultures, people believe that moral actions have 'karmic' consequences. Do cultures share assumptions about how karma operates? Four studies (N = 1114) assessed cultural differences in perceptions of inevitability associated with karmic justice and whether perceiving karma as inevitable curbs antisocial behaviours, such as revenge. Study 1 found that Indians perceived karmic justice as more inevitable than Americans and reported lower revenge. Studies 2–3 manipulated whether participants saw karmic justice as inevitable (vs. probable), finding that both Indians and Americans in the inevitable justice condition reported lower revenge. Study 3 found that perceived punishment certainty for oneself (for enacting revenge) rather than perceived punishment certainty for the offender (for the offence) better explained condition differences in revenge. Study 4 uncovered that reincarnation belief related to, and explained, cultural differences in inevitable karmic justice, which subsequently curbed revenge. Research on karma can uncover a range of cultural differences in psychological functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article aims to elucidate whether offender unforgiveness predicts organizationally targeted displaced revenge and whether this effect occurs because offender‐directed feelings spill over to shape feelings towards the group. Two studies (Study 1a/1b) showed that unforgiveness predicts organizationally directed displaced revenge in the form of counterproductive workplace behaviours against an organization, mediated by perceived group betrayal. Study 2 investigated whether the relationships between unforgiveness, perceived group betrayal, and displaced revenge are moderated by group embodiment: the extent to which the offender is closely connected to, identified with, and in alignment with the group. With an experimental design that manipulated group embodiment and transgressor status, we found that unforgiveness and perceived group betrayal predict higher levels of displaced revenge under conditions of high rather than low group embodiment. Study 2 further showed that displaced revenge intentions operate in addition to, not in place of, revenge intentions towards the offender. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interpersonal transgressions threaten victims, offenders, and their relationships, often leading the parties to ruminate about the wrongdoing, not only individually but also together, in acts of co‐rumination. We investigate how two forms of co‐rumination—co‐reflection and co‐brooding—influence, or are influenced by, individual rumination and victim forgiveness or offender self‐forgiveness. Our study used a prospective‐longitudinal‐dyadic design (N = 110 dyads), where relationship couples were recruited prior to an incident and, once a partner reported feeling wronged by the other, completed repeated surveys over four time‐points 24–48 h apart. Cross‐lagged panel models indicated that co‐rumination was related to increased subsequent individual rumination; forgiveness and self‐forgiveness were related to reduced subsequent co‐rumination; and self‐punitiveness showed positive feedback cycles with co‐brooding and offender rumination, whereas genuine self‐forgiveness seemed to draw on co‐reflection via individual rumination and, in turn, reduced co‐reflection. Co‐rumination plays an important, yet complex, role within processes of moral repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The embeddedness of criminal groups within communities accrues from their ability to establish legitimacy, particularly among young people. A prototypical example are mafia claims to political authority in Italy. Intracultural Appropriation Theory proposes that embeddedness is partly derived from criminal groups' ability to embody cultural ideologies of masculine honour, and to reinforce these ideologies in society through their actions. We tested these propositions using a three‐wave longitudinal design involving Italian adolescents from the Campania region (N1stwave = 1,173). We also examined an alternative explanation rooted in individuals' generic acceptance of group‐based hierarchies, i.e., social dominance orientation. The longitudinal design enabled us to examine for the first time both between‐ and within‐person processes. Between‐person results indicated that higher levels of the masculine honour ideology and social dominance were associated with stronger legitimizing attitudes towards the Camorra, a mafia‐type group. Within‐person effects revealed a positive reciprocal association between masculine honour and legitimizing attitudes. These findings emphasize the importance of culture‐specific ideologies in sustaining the legitimacy of criminal groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to Higher Education (HE) is based on the idea that all students should have the same opportunities, and that merit and hard work, regardless of students' backgrounds, will lead to success. However, inequalities remain despite efforts to provide equal access to HE, raising questions about the validity of such a meritocratic approach. Using qualitative analysis, we interviewed UK university students to understand students' perceptions of meritocracy in HE, and if and how students associated these perceptions with their gender and subjective socioeconomic status identity experiences. Students' perceptions could be described in two main ideas: (a) the perceived commitment of their universities to meritocracy, and (b) their endorsement and rejection of meritocracy as an identity enhancement strategy. Hence, both support and lack of support for meritocracy are strategies used by disadvantaged groups to navigate and cope with the lack of opportunities and socioeconomic disadvantages in HE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After‐effects on cognition—where a prior activity either benefits or hinders subsequent cognitive performance—are empirically inconsistent. Do people have insight into when their subjective energy and cognition will be helped or hurt by engaging in prior activities? Studies 1a and 1b (combined N = 316) find that people expect more demanding and unenjoyable tasks to hinder their subsequent energy and cognitive performance, regardless of their willpower lay theory. Study 2 (N = 167) examines the accuracy of these forecasts using a within‐subject design. Participants' forecasts of their future subjective states did predict their actual experienced subjective states, but participants were not able to accurately forecast their subsequent maths performance. Additionally, they significantly overestimated the detrimental effects of demanding prior activities on both subjective state and performance. Study 3 (N = 210) found that participants' overestimation of detrimental after‐effects could result in unnecessary financial costs, suggesting these biased forecasts can have consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personal autonomy is central to people's experiences of agency and abilities to actively take part in society. To address the challenges of supporting autonomy, we propose a functional model of autonomy, according to which the experience of agency is a function of the opportunity to determine what to do, when to act and how to act in goal‐pursuit. We tested the model in three experiments where the three goal‐pursuit components could be constrained by another person or an artificial intelligence (AI) agent. Results showed that removing any of the three components from one's own decisions reduced experienced agency (Study 1a and 1b) and lowered motivation to pursue goals in organisational contexts (Study 2). In comparison to the strong and robust main effects, interactions between the components and the effects of the source of restriction (human vs. AI) were negligible. Implications for personal autonomy, algorithmic decision‐making and behaviour change interventions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing awareness about racism, portrayals of communities of colour are shifting away from negative representations. Emphasizing their strengths could counter negative stereotypes about who they are and low expectations for who they can be, but could also backfire. In two experiments centring adolescents (n = 198) and adults of colour (n = 321), the effect of reflecting on a typical strength was moderated by perceived misalignments between racial/ethnic and ideal future selves (i.e., ethnic–ideal self‐discrepancy). For participants perceiving them as aligned, reflecting on a typical in‐group strength reduced actual–ideal self‐discrepancy. However, for participants perceiving them as misaligned, reflecting on a typical in‐group strength increased actual–ideal self‐discrepancy. Reflecting on a typical strength also indirectly influenced engagement, through actual–ideal self‐discrepancy. Reflecting on an atypical in‐group strength did not yield significant effects. Thus, emphasizing typical aspects of stigmatized communities, even when positive, sometimes impede identity and motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In four studies, I found evidence that people living in countries with higher levels of corruption have a greater tendency for conspiracy ideation. In Study 1 (21 countries, N = 20,207), participants living in more corrupt countries reported having higher COVID‐19 and generic conspiracy beliefs. Study 2 (25 countries, N = 4935), Study 3 (25 countries, N = 24,424), and Study 4 (24 countries, N = 5973) replicated the same finding. Internal meta‐analysis suggested that this association remained significant after adjusting for other relevant cross‐country differences. Studies 1 and 2, but not 3 and 4, also showed that corruption moderated the association between individuals' gullibility (i.e., lack of education) and their conspiracy beliefs, and this association was significant only in low‐corruption countries. The findings suggest that country‐level corruption breeds conspiracy beliefs and moderates the effect of individuals' gullibility on conspiracy beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examined the hypothesis that people judge as true those claims aligned with the normative content of their salient social identities. In Experiment 1a, participants' social identities were manipulated by assigning them to 'inductive‐thinker' and 'intuitive‐thinker' groups. Participants subsequently made truth judgements about aphorisms randomly associated with 'science' and 'popular wisdom'. Those with salient inductive‐thinker social identities judged science‐based claims as more truthful than popular wisdom‐based claims to a greater extent than those with salient intuitive‐thinker social identities. Experiment 1b was a preregistered replication, with additional conditions eliminating an alternative semantic‐priming explanation. In Experiment 2, American Conservatives and Liberals judged as more true claims associated with the ideological content of their social identities. This difference was attenuated through a manipulation that framed participants as more moderate than they had originally indicated. Overall, these experiments suggest an identity‐truth malleability, such that making salient specific social identities can lead to related perceptions of truth normatively aligned with those identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In three studies, we examined the role of distrust and perceived threat in intentions to engage in normative and violent non‐normative collective action. A field‐based qualitative study of 35 pro‐democracy protestors during the 2019 Hong Kong Anti‐Extradition protests revealed that perceived threat to Hong Kong values alongside distrust of political institutions spurred collective action engagement and support for defensive violent collection action. In Study 2, a questionnaire (N = 639) testing pro‐democracy action intentions demonstrated direct paths on both normative and violent collective action intentions from distrust and threat. In Study 3 (N = 133), experimental trust and threat manipulations demonstrated a significant association between distrust and threat on violent collective action intentions and acceptance, and a significant interaction on acceptance of violent collective action. Our results reveal the importance of distrust and threat in attitudinal support for, and engagement in, collective action and their role in transitioning from non‐violent to violent collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing body of work suggesting that social class stereotypes are amplified when people perceive higher levels of economic inequality—that is, the wealthy are perceived as more competent and assertive and the poor as more incompetent and unassertive. The present study tested this prediction in 32 societies and also examines the role of wealth‐based categorization in explaining this relationship. We found that people who perceived higher economic inequality were indeed more likely to consider wealth as a meaningful basis for categorization. Unexpectedly, however, higher levels of perceived inequality were associated with perceiving the wealthy as less competent and assertive and the poor as more competent and assertive. Unpacking this further, exploratory analyses showed that the observed tendency to stereotype the wealthy negatively only emerged in societies with lower social mobility and democracy and higher corruption. This points to the importance of understanding how socio‐structural features that co‐occur with economic inequality may shape perceptions of the wealthy and the poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated whether any differences in the psychological conceptualization of hate and dislike were simply a matter of degree of negativity (i.e., hate falls on the end of the continuum of dislike) or also morality (i.e., hate is imbued with distinct moral components that distinguish it from dislike). In three lab studies in Canada and the United States, participants reported disliked and hated attitude objects and rated each on dimensions including valence, attitude strength, morality, and emotional content. Quantitative and qualitative measures revealed that hated attitude objects were more negative than disliked attitude objects and associated with moral beliefs and emotions, even after adjusting for differences in negativity. In Study 4, we analysed the rhetoric on real hate sites and complaint forums and found that the language used on prominent hate websites contained more words related to morality, but not negativity, relative to complaint forums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do poorer and less educated Asians trust their institutions of governance more than their richer and well educated counterparts, despite their disadvantaged position within society? System justification theory (SJT) assumes that this trust is driven by a system‐level motivation that operates independently from social identity needs. In two nationally representative surveys spanning several years (Ntotal = 221,297), we compared SJT's explanation with a newer social identity model of system attitudes (SIMSA): that system justification amongst disadvantaged Asians is driven by a group norm for harmony, especially amongst those who are strongly invested in their national ingroup. The results supported SIMSA more than SJT. Specifically, a strong sense of national identification boosted trust in systems of governance amongst poorer and less‐educated Asians, both when societal norms for harmony (Study 1), and personal endorsement of this norm (Study 2) were strong. Hence, social identity needs help to explain stronger system justification among objectively disadvantaged Asians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Established theories have acknowledged that intergroup threat is one of the key determinants of intergroup attitudes and behaviours, but how intergroup threat can affect consumer behaviour remains unclear. Here, four preregistered studies (total N = 988) examined the effect of intergroup threat (manipulated in terms of realistic and symbolic threats) on consumers' willingness to purchase ingroup and outgroup products. In the context of China–West relations, we measured Chinese consumers' willingness to purchase Chinese (ingroup) and Western (outgroup) products. These studies together revealed that realistic and symbolic threats (versus control) increased willingness to purchase ingroup products and decreased willingness to purchase outgroup products, regardless of the product category. Studies 3a and 3b also measured knowledge of the outgroup as a potential moderator, revealing that realistic threat (versus control) reduced willingness to purchase outgroup products only among individuals who had less knowledge of the outgroup. Furthermore, Study 3b showed that the intergroup threat manipulation indirectly influenced consumers' willingness to purchase ingroup/outgroup products through increased anger and decreased hope. We discussed the contributions to the intergroup relations and consumer behaviour literature and the implications for transnational marketing practices, as well as the limitations of this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pointing to novel links between mental representation and social communication, we examine the association between vividness of imagery and use of metaphors. In a study on individual differences and three experiments, we demonstrate that vivid imagery is linked to greater use of metaphors and that this relationship is bi‐directional. We also show that this relationship is stronger in the context of negative valence. We demonstrate that vivid imagery results in greater generation of metaphors (in particular, for negative concepts). In examining the reverse direction of influence, we show that in the negative (rather than positive) context, use of metaphors results in greater perceptions of vividness. We suggest that vividness can be signified and produced by using metaphors that play an important role in meaning making and communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current literature has revealed mixed evidence on whether loss (vs. gain) context promotes or curtails human prosociality. The current study (N=96) aimed to address this issue by examining whether gain/loss context has distinct effects on different prosocial preferences combining computational modelling with Dictator Game and Message Game. These interactive games allow for dissociating preferences for generosity and honesty, which have been respectively associated with intuitive and deliberative systems. Our behavioural and computational modelling results indicate that loss context enhances concerns for generosity but reduces concerns for honesty. These findings support an account under the framework of dual process model asserting that loss facilitates intuitive responses during social decision‐making, regardless of whether they are prosocial or proself. The current findings reconcile previous debates on the relationship between loss‐gain context and human prosociality and shed light on the design of institutions to promote human prosocial behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current work scenario is pervaded by widespread perceptions of job insecurity, which is one of the main stress factors for workers and their well‐being. This article aims to investigate the link between these perceptions and a most inner dimension, that is, people's tendency to self‐objectify (i.e., self‐viewing as objects rather than fully human beings). Furthermore, we aim to verify the role of this self‐objectifying process in explaining the well‐established relation between perceived job insecurity and well‐being. Across four studies and a single‐article meta‐analysis (total N = 684), we show that perceived job insecurity is consistently linked with self‐objectification. Furthermore, this objectifying self‐perception is associated with decreased well‐being and plays a mediational role in the link between perceived job insecurity and this latter variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decades of research have shown that social dominance orientation (SDO) is one of the most important predictors of anti‐immigrant attitudes. However, the mechanisms through which SDO can explain prejudice have been studied insufficiently. Using rich and diverse samples from France and from the province of Québec in Canada, the present research provides a cross‐national (N = 1,852) and prospective (N = 534) analysis of a theoretical model in which the dimensions of SDO are indirectly predicting anti‐immigrant prejudice via the intergroup ideologies of assimilation, multiculturalism, colour blindness and interculturalism. Results showed that interculturalism, a hierarchy‐attenuating ideology was found to be a robust mechanism to explain the subtle effects of SDO‐E on anti‐immigrant prejudice whereas assimilation, a hierarchy‐enhancing ideology was playing a more important role to explain direct and blatant effects of SDO‐D on prejudice. The two most studied diversity approaches, multiculturalism and colour blindness, were largely redundant once interculturalism was considered. This pattern occurred in both France and Québec hence, favouring the context‐independent pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use self‐determination (SDT) and worldview defence theories (WDT) to explicate the psychological roots of identitarian voting in recent US, UK and EU elections. We test our theory using the 2016 US election as a case study, data from a representative sample of nearly half a million Americans, and a measure of racial animus derived from Google search data. We find that worry has a strong and significant positive association with Trump's vote share, as predicted by WDT. However, this is reversed in counties with high levels of relatedness—one of the three basic psychological needs emphasised by SDT. The positive relationship between racial animus and Trump also loses significance once an interaction between racial animus and relatedness is introduced. These results imply that identitarianism is driven at least in part by a desire for in‐group affiliation emerging out of worldview defence and unmet basic psychological needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While a great deal is known about the individual difference factors associated with conspiracy beliefs, much less is known about the country‐level factors that shape people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories. In the current article we discuss the possibility that willingness to believe conspiracy theories might be shaped by the perception (and reality) of poor economic performance at the national level. To test this notion, we surveyed 6723 participants from 36 countries. In line with predictions, propensity to believe conspiracy theories was negatively associated with perceptions of current and future national economic vitality. Furthermore, countries with higher GDP per capita tended to have lower belief in conspiracy theories. The data suggest that conspiracy beliefs are not just caused by intrapsychic factors but are also shaped by difficult economic circumstances for which distrust might have a rational basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligences (AIs) are widely used in tasks ranging from transportation to healthcare and military, but it is not yet known how people prefer them to act in ethically difficult situations. In five studies (an anthropological field study, n = 30, and four experiments, total n = 2150), we presented people with vignettes where a human or an advanced robot nurse is ordered by a doctor to forcefully medicate an unwilling patient. Participants were more accepting of a human nurse's than a robot nurse's forceful medication of the patient, and more accepting of (human or robot) nurses who respected patient autonomy rather than those that followed the orders to forcefully medicate (Study 2). The findings were robust against the perceived competence of the robot (Study 3), moral luck (whether the patient lived or died afterwards; Study 4), and command chain effects (Study 5; fully automated supervision or not). Thus, people prefer robots capable of disobeying orders in favour of abstract moral principles like valuing personal autonomy. Our studies fit in a new era in research, where moral psychological phenomena no longer reflect only interactions between people, but between people and autonomous AIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income inequality is commonly posited to elevate concerns about social status that undermine psychological health, but the empirical evidence is inconsistent. Here we propose that these inconsistencies conceal opposing processes: Income inequality prompts perceived competitiveness, which can both negatively predict psychological health via avoidance motivation and positively predict psychological health via approach motivation. First, we conducted a two‐year longitudinal study (1,700+ participants from 500+ county identifiers) and provided support for our opposing processes model. Second, we conducted three pre‐preregistered studies using an experimental‐causal‐chain design. We sequentially showed that induced income inequality increased perceived competitiveness (Study 2a; 444 participants), induced perceived competitiveness increased avoidance and approach motivation (Study 2b; 1,018 participants), and induced avoidance/approach motivation decreased/increased psychological health (Study 2c; 562 participants). These findings suggest that scholars should shift from studying the main effects of income inequality on psychological health to studying the psychological processes involved in the inequality‐health relation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous meta‐analyses identified a gap between environmental concern and pro‐environmental behaviours. However, the failure to differentiate these behaviours and the influence of contextual factors may limit understanding of the gap. This pre‐registered meta‐analysis evaluated the magnitudes of the correlations of environmental concern, as measured by the New Environmental Paradigm of thinking, with public and private pro‐environmental behaviours and investigated the moderating roles of sociocultural contexts. Environmental concern was found positively correlated with public pro‐environmental behaviour (k = 10, N = 4636; r = 0.27) and private pro‐environmental behaviour (k = 31, N = 20,907; r = 0.35). These two pooled correlations did not differ significantly. Institutionalization of environmental protection did not moderate these correlations, while cultural factors, including individualism, long‐term orientation, and external control, did. These findings maintain the utility of environmental concern in facilitating different pro‐environmental behaviours and highlight the lack of research attention on public pro‐environmental behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mere ownership effect is the phenomenon that people tend to value what they own more than what they do not own. This classic effect is considered robust, yet effect sizes vary across studies, and the effect is often confused for or confounded with other classic phenomena, such as endowment or mere exposure effects. We conducted a pre‐registered meta‐analysis of 26 samples published before 2019 (N = 3024), which resulted in psychological ownership on valuing effect of g ∼ 0.57 [0.46, 0.69]. Suggestive moderator analyses supported the use of replica as the strongest moderators. Mere ownership effects were different from the null across all moderator categories and in most publication bias adjustments. We consider this as suggestive evidence that psychological owning leads to valuing, yet caution that much more research is needed. All materials, data, and codes are available on https://osf.io/fdyqw/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research examined the perspectives of both White and Black racial justice activists on the roles of White allies in the struggle for justice for Black people in the United States. Study 1 used Q methodology, a mixed‐methods approach, which identified four distinct perspectives about the role of White allies from a sample of activists (33 White and 22 Black Americans): (1) mobilize to support Black leadership, (2) interpersonal activism, (3) avoid dominating Black people's efforts, and (4) lifelong learning. In Study 2, we interviewed activists (22 White and 12 Black Americans) to understand their evaluation of, and preference for, each of perspective identified in Study 1. Thematic analyses showed that each perspective had its pros and cons regarding considerations of how to best use ingroup advantages without dominating the movement. Our findings contribute to our understanding of potential tensions in solidarity‐based social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional definitions of political ideology state that right‐wingers support system stability, whereas left‐wingers support social change. However, during the last decade many right‐wing movements have been on the rise and demanded far‐reaching changes. We argue that both left‐, and right‐wing protestors reject the status quo, and are motivated to change it – albeit in opposing directions: either to increase equality (progressive social change), or inequality (reactionary social change). In two studies (NStudy1 = 453, NStudy2 = 614), both left‐, and right‐wingers scored lower on system justification than moderates. Further, latent profile analyses showed that supporters of progressive social change were characterized by low system justification and left‐wing ideology, whereas supporters of reactionary social change were characterized by low system justification and right‐wing ideology. This indicates that right‐wingers do not necessarily support system stability – instead, they reject the status quo and promote change in the direction of greater inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leadership is central to understanding social continuity and change, though rarely features in the study of collective action. Across three experiments (total N = 687), we examine how followers' support for pro‐change leaders (Experiments 1–3) and pro‐status quo leaders (Experiments 1–2) varies as a function of leader alignment with group normative trajectory, the presence (vs. absence) of competing leaders, and shared group membership with followers. When pro‐change leaders were aligned with the normative trajectory of the group, they elicited higher collective action and voting intentions compared to pro‐status quo leaders (Experiments 1–2). When change leaders were non‐aligned, participants instead supported the pro‐status quo alternative (Experiment 1–2). Finally, the presence of leadership contests with aligned change leaders (Experiment 2) and pro‐status quo leaders (Experiments 2–3) reduced collective action and support for non‐aligned change leaders or those facing a polarised followership. Implications for research at the nexus of leadership and collective action are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last quarter of a century, social psychological research on collective action has grown exponentially and progressed through four distinct phases. While the first phase showed that identity, efficacy, and injustice motivate the aggrieved to protest on behalf of their ingroup, the second phase acknowledged that protests could involve collaborations between the disadvantaged and their advantaged allies. The third phase of research examined reactionary movements by integrating ideology and acknowledging that advantaged groups can protest to protect or expand their privileged status. The research showcased in this special issue highlights a fourth phase of collective action by illustrating its dialectical nature and recognising the opposing agendas advanced by structurally disadvantaged and advantaged groups. We also advance a two‐dimensional taxonomy differentiating between the goals (Inclusive vs. Exclusive) and societal implications (Challenge vs. Defend the Status Quo) of collective action. In doing so, we provide some of the necessary conceptual and definitional foundations for the next generation of research on collective action and social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent protest movements such as #MeToo exposed that institutional change initiatives targeting harassment and discrimination have so far failed to achieve equity. We propose that this is because such policy initiatives fail to account for the motivation of those privileged by inequality regimes to maintain and perpetuate these systems. Addressing gaps in collective action scholarship, we introduce a normative framework conceptualising the inaction of dominant groups as system‐supporting behaviour to preserve the status quo. System‐supporting inaction is a central and highly effective technique used by dominant group members to hinder processes of change and preserve their power, and it often preludes escalation to violent backlash over time. Building on sociological models of inequality and power, we develop a conceptual model that accounts for the group dynamics associated with collective system‐supporting (in)action. We propose an agenda for future research that focuses on resistance to change as a means of maintaining privilege. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research has found that regulatory closure, that is, successful goal striving regulated either under a promotion or prevention focus, has important consequences in terms of motivational activation and mobilisation of cognitive resources in subsequent tasks, but it mostly investigated motivation in the same or similar tasks to the one for which closure was achieved. Drawing from an energisation‐deactivation hypothesis, we investigated the effect of closure on performance and persistence in unrelated subsequent cognitive tasks. Across four studies, we found that promotion closure had an energising effect leading to: quicker decision times in lexical tasks (Studies 1–2), increased persistence and greater originality (Study 3), and greater visuospatial memory performance (Study 4). In contrast, prevention closure had a deactivating effect leading to reduced performance and persistence. No systematic differences arose in situations of non‐closure. We discuss results and implications with respect to both regulatory closure and regulatory fit theoretical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]