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While emotional transmission is a well‐documented phenomenon, the contagion of happiness, specifically as a positive emotion, has received limited research attention. This study utilizes data from the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS2015) to analyse the effects of happiness contagion among different individual groups in urban communities. Findings indicate that individuals with positive personalities and social attitudes are more susceptible to happiness contagion. Regarding personal and job attributes, the elderly, the highly educated, the married, or people who are religious, have high incomes, work in non‐state‐owned enterprises, or work flexibly tend to receive more happiness from their neighbours. Moreover, residents living in economically developed areas exhibit a greater receptivity to happiness contagion. The paper discusses policy implications of the results. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses theoretical issues linked to the study of identities and intergroup relations within multicultural societies. The issues discussed concern how identities acquire meaning in contemporary societies where events in the social context challenge identities and redefine the boundaries of the social groups. More specifically the processes involved in the formation of new identity categorisations and the structure of identity are discussed. Two arguments are developed. Firstly that within multicultural societies one should study the systems of categorisation and the new psychological boundaries within the wider theories about the world people elaborate and share. Secondly, it is argued that since people's identities reflect social relationships, elements of the structure of common identities might be shared. Finally, the contributions of the papers of this special issue to the above theoretical debate are presented. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in migrants' backgrounds and societies sending and receiving migrants might increase adaptation issues and reduce retention. To enhance migrants' well-being/health and their likelihood of staying it is necessary to gain an understanding of psychological and social factors that contribute to resilience and adaptation. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study that investigated the experiences, interpretations and actions of German migrant couples to New Zealand throughout the whole migration process to identify these factors. In depth, episodic interviews were conducted with four couples who decided to stay in New Zealand and four couples who decided to return to Germany. Interview data were complemented with participant observation. This paper provides insights into how the pre-migration experiences, interpretations and actions of German migrants to New Zealand influenced their establishment, their interpretations and actions and consequently adaptation, well-being/health and the decision whether to stay in New Zealand or to return to Germany. The findings illuminate the influence of psychological and social factors on migration experiences, interpretations and actions throughout the migration process. The paper offers some solutions for addressing the identified barriers to successful migration and integration into host societies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the rise of social networking technology as instances of mediated communities. A dialectic between collectivity and place, resulting in the grounding of a shared sense of the past in a particular place, is at the base of all communities. In this sense, community is, by its very definition, inherently ‘mediated’. We reformulate the notion of a ‘virtual community’ to examine the particular modalities of mediation across interactions occurring on Myspace. Data from two separate conversational exchanges are taken from open access Myspace profiles. Drawing on an approach broadly informed by the principles of Discursive Psychology (DP), we examine how identity is constituted within interaction by drawing on symbolic resources. The significance of place and of establishing a delicate relationship between the on-line and off-line accomplishments is underlined. The paper develops the arguments of Benwell & Stokoe (2006) and Dixon & Durrheim (2000) to arrive at an account of ‘place identity’ as the central dynamic in mediated community. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health promotion researchers and practitioners have increasingly turned to community-based approaches. Although there has been much work around the diverse understandings of the term in areas such as community psychology and sociology, I am concerned with how such understandings relate directly to community health research and practice. From a discursive perspective ‘community’ is seen as a socially constructed representation that is used variously and pragmatically. However, from a wider view, community can be seen as a matter of embodied practice. This paper draws on social representations theory to examine the shifting constructions of ‘community’, the functional use of those understandings in social life, and the practices that suggest that it is important to attend to their use in particular contexts. Accordingly, the paper argues that meanings of community in the health promotion or public health context must be seen as representations used for specific purposes in particular situations. Furthermore, the broader notion of embodied practice in social life has implications for community participation in health promotion. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation in community groups is argued to be an important way to create health-promoting social capital. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the ways in which gender affects the health promotion potential of participation. This paper reports on a qualitative study of women's experiences of participation in a diverse range of community groups, and considers how such involvement can potentially have a negative impact upon mental well-being. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 women in Adelaide, South Australia. Women's accounts of their group involvement reflected that their identities as mothers were particularly important in shaping their participation. Some women reported difficulties in combining group involvement with their family responsibilities. Stress attached to negotiating social interaction within groups was also raised as an issue. It was found that participation can reinforce gender inequality and potentially have severe negative consequences for mental health, issues that need to be considered alongside the potential health benefits. The findings are considered in light of Bourdieu's critical conceptualization of social capital. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile phone use is a prevalent behaviour amongst youth; however, there is little research to determine psychological influences on mobile phone use. This paper reports the results of a qualitative exploration into social psychological factors relating to young people's mobile phone use. Focus groups were conducted with 32 participants, aged between 16 and 24 years. Three major themes, connectedness, belonging and social identity, were explored in relation to young people's mobile phone use. Easy contact with others when using a mobile phone facilitated connectedness between people. A need to remain connected emerged in participants' descriptions of their mobile phone use. Consequently, data were analysed for factors underpinning people's desire to be connected. It emerged that mobile phones were used to enhance feelings of belonging amongst youth. Additionally, group norms influenced mobile phone behaviour indicating that social identity processes are related to mobile phone use. Results in the study provide a foundation upon which to investigate further the relationship between mobile phone use and psychological factors impacting young people's social development. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting cross‐cultural adaptation and social interactions among diverse cultural groups in multicultural societies has long been a focus of social and cross‐cultural psychologists. However, such research is scant in an East Asian context where acculturation and intercultural encounters are now taking place. This study examines how acculturation expectations and strategies of assimilation and integration of the host majority (Hongkongers; N = 476) and immigrant groups (Africans; N = 215) shape adaptation and social interaction in the sociocultural context of Hong Kong. The mediation roles of perceived discrimination and multicultural ideologies were tested in these relationships. The results revealed that integration strategies are linked with psychological adaptation, whereas assimilation is linked with sociocultural adaptation difficulties for the immigrant group. For the host majority group, assimilation expectations were related to increased sociocultural adaptation difficulty, while a negative relationship emerged between integration expectations and sociocultural adaptation difficulty. Additional mediation analyses demonstrated that perceived discrimination and multicultural ideologies explain a significant proportion of variance in acculturation orientations and the intention to avoid interactions with the respective cultural groups. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings for Africans and Hongkongers relationship are discussed. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contexts in which minority size is positively related to intergroup conflict are challenging for the contact hypothesis. In such situations, if opportunities for contact increase prejudice, the contact hypothesis may seem less credible, but if they reduce prejudice, the contact hypothesis may seem less useful for improving intergroup relations. Based on path analyses run on a Romanian national probability sample (N = 733), the current research shows that the contact hypothesis can nevertheless be relevant. Because the Hungarian minority is concentrated in Transylvania, a region with a long history of conflict between Romanians and Hungarians, Transylvanians have more opportunities for out-group contact than other Romanians. However, the analyses also detected significant differences within Transylvania: Urban Transylvanians have more opportunities for contact with Hungarians than rural Transylvanians and, consequently, are less negative towards them. The results, which closely match recent historical events, suggest that a proper application of the contact hypothesis at a societal level has to take into account that minority size is not necessarily equivalent to opportunities for contact and that inter-regional comparisons in opportunities for contact can hide significant intra-regional differences. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent can social psychology study individuals within social contexts without strengthening theories and methods appropriate for the analysis of individual development within changing societies? Theoretical and epistemological arguments stressing the centrality of a temporal dimension are reviewed. In order to generate an objective picture of the current research practices, a standardized content analysis was carried out on 699 empirical studies published around 2000 in the European Journal of Social Psychology (EJSP), the British Journal of Social Psychology (BJSP), the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JPSP), the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology (JCASP) and Social Psychology Quarterly (SPQ). This corpus was completed by a four-point longitudinal analysis—1972/1986/1993/2000—of BJSP, EJSP and JPSP publications. Findings reveal that most empirical studies are carried out on student samples and do not include time- or age-related explanatory variables, particularly in European mainstream publications. Structural analyses taking into account research methods, research topics, journals, and countries of the first authors suggest two oppositions that organize the field of research: a laboratory versus contextualized approach and a developmental versus monographic approach of social psychology. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of domestic abuse against women has been estimated as high as one in four. The risk is particularly high for women who are younger, economically dependent, unemployed and with children. Research about the factors that maintain situations of abuse has generally focused separately on the coping strategies of women, barriers to leaving the relationship and the perpetrators' means of abuse. In this study we used a community psychology perspective to seek a broader understanding of what maintains situations of abuse, in order to suggest interventions in a rural County in the North of England. Twelve women who had experienced domestic abuse and had used voluntary sector services agreed to be interviewed about their experiences and the resources and strategies available to them. Using grounded theory we generated four themes: (1) Commonalities and contradictions in the experience of abuse; (2) living with abuse; (3) the response of systems reinforced or challenged the abuse and (4) dealing with abuse beyond the relationship. These findings illustrate how situations of domestic abuse can be prolonged by limited options available to victims for support and protection, and a lack of active public acknowledgement that domestic abuse is unacceptable. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of Hindu–Muslim relations in India, the present study (N = 87) utilized Integrated Threat Theory (Stephan & Stephan, 2000) to examine the mediating roles of intergroup anxiety, realistic and symbolic threats and the moderating role of group membership (Hindu vs. Muslim) in the relationships between cross-community contact, relative in-group status and prejudice. Overall, intergroup anxiety and realistic, but not symbolic, threat emerged as proximal predictors of prejudice and partial mediators between the predictor and criterion variables. But these findings were qualified by majority (Hindu) versus minority (Muslim) group membership. As predicted, while symbolic threat was a predictor of prejudice for Hindus, realistic threat was a paramount predictor for Muslims. In-group status was as a significant predictor for low-status minority group only. The results are discussed with reference to their potential implications for future research and interventions aimed at improving intergroup relations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two quasi-experiments with intervention and control classes investigated effects of the Jigsaw classroom on intergroup relations, with 11 years old in grade 6 (Study 1) and 13–15 years old in grades 8–10 (Study 2). Both studies investigated developments in majority members' outgroup attitudes, intergroup friendship and empathy. They also investigated attitudes towards school among all the students. Study 2 added assessments of common ingroup identity in the majority sample and considered outgroup attitudes in the minorities' sample. Particularly in Study 2, an effort was made to ensure an accurate implementation of Jigsaw. The studies could not confirm that Jigsaw had effects on intergroup relations. Study 2, using adolescents as participants and 11 Jigsaw classes, found no effects of Jigsaw. In Study 1, one of the two Jigsaw classes had a statistically significant, minor favourable development along outgroup attitudes. However, this development may have been an effect of having two teachers (and few students in the class); no similar development was uncovered in the second Jigsaw class (with one teacher). The data question the frequent optimism on behalf of the Jigsaw classroom as an effective means to counter prejudice. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports a qualitative study, which investigated social processes in workplace bullying, based on in-depth interviews with ten British women professionals who were targets of workplace bullying. Data were analysed using grounded theory methods. The resulting analysis showed links between disclosures of bullying, reactions of others, and some impacts on targets' psychological health. Key themes which emerged from the data included ‘being heard’ which describes how others reacted to disclosures of bullying behaviours, and the ‘ripple effect’ which describes how bullying impacted upon targets' significant others; these predominantly describe relationships with others outside the workplace. The theme of ‘withdrawal’ describes how targets and others managed relationships within the workplace, and ‘denial’ and ‘personalizing problems’ describe how others within the workplace responded to knowledge of bullying behaviours. The theme ‘maintaining self’ describes how participants responded to changed relationships and struggled to maintain a coherent sense of self during and subsequent to bullying. This research emphasizes the role of social processes and social environments, rather than individual or personality characteristics, in explaining the development of workplace bullying and its impacts on targets. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on segregation has tended to focus on relations located at a macro-spatial level of analysis and unfolding in contexts where boundaries to interaction are formally established. This research, by contrast, investigated segregation as a micro-ecological process by observing patterns of seating in a multi-ethnic cafeteria. A total of 3114 seating positions were coded over a 2-week period and the resulting data were analysed using both adapted segregation indices (P and D) and loglinear and logistic regression techniques. The results suggested that ethnic segregation existed both at the level of interactional groups and in the form of broader patterns of racial clustering and dispersal in the cafeteria. Moreover, the magnitude of segregation was predicted by the gender composition of seating groups and by variations in the density of the cafeteria's population over time. Some implications of these results for social psychological research on contact and desegregation are considered. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is first, to introduce social constructionism, and to locate it in certain philosophical traditions; secondly to explore further what is distinctively social about social constructionism; and finally to show how the articles in this issue of the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology fit into this general framework. Social constructionism refers to a loose concatenation of theoretical frameworks that emphasize both the constructive powers of human minds and their origins in conversations, conventions, and cultural traditions. Such frameworks have developed from long-standing philosophical traditions, and they provide a background to at least two contemporary debates: one that contrasts psychology as a natural science with psychology as a moral science, and one that contrasts individual psychology with collective psychology. To some extent, much of social constructionism should be regarded as explorations of the ways in which political activity is bound up with intellectual activity. One major shift of thinking in social psychology, at least in the latter part of the twentieth century, has been that from seeing social interaction as concerned with strategy and tactics to seeing social interaction as concerned with messages and meanings. This shift has done much to help move away from individualism towards an emphasis on "local" dialogues involving many people, and an emphasis on processes of collective construction, as people compare and contrast and work through multiple interpretations just as they might compare and contrast multiple interpretations of a text.

This article presents information on the "Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology." The author likes to draw readers' attention to the recent changes in the composition of the editorial team of the journal, and to thank all those who have retired for their contribution to the development of the journal, in particular Richard Velleman and associate editors, Jim Mansell and Steve Reicher. Richard, Jim and Steve continue as members of the Editorial Board, whilst Janet Bostock and David Smail have agreed to act as assistant editors, and David Fryer takes on responsibility for the section "Book Reviews."

The interaction and engagement patterns of 13 supported employees and 38 regular Adult Training Centre (ATC) attenders were compared. Data were obtained through direct observation within 13 employment sites and a representative sample of ATC organised activities. Results indicated that individual involvement was significantly higher in employment, compared to ATCs, but that the ATC group experienced significantly more social interaction, mainly due to higher levels of task specific dialogue between individuals and the service staff within ATCs. A breakdown of with whom interactions occurred revealed that individuals in ATCs tended to interact more often with care staff than anyone else. Individuals tended to interact more often during work with their non-disabled co-workers and a substantial proportion of time was spent interacting with the public. These findings suggest that the supported employment option yields advantages for individuals in some key aspects of community integration, compared to ATCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Playing computer games has become an increasingly popular leisure time activity amongst adolescents, but concerns have been expressed over possible associated consequences. One research area has investigated reasons for playing, and two prior explanations related it to the functional concepts of 'electronic friendship' and 'self-esteem'. A questionnaire study was conducted among 120 adolescents to obtain information on a number of measures including gratification of needs and self-esteem. Results showed that playing computer games is equally popular with males and females, but males spend more time on it. Positive correlations between playing and items on the needs scales were obtained. In particular males who were heavy players scored highly on the 'preference to friends' need, but interestingly they were also likely to see their friends more often outside school, thus providing no support for the theory that computer games are taking the place of normal social interaction. For females there was evidence of negative relationship between self-esteem and need gratification through playing computer games. However more adolescents spend much more time watching television than playing computer games. Those results are discussed in the context of previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A symbolic interactionist analysis of the relationship between unemployment and self-conception was tested using a cross=sectional questionnaire design (n = 88). Job loss had significant negative associations with reflected appraisals (perceived evaluations) from friends, family, employers, unemployed people and people in general. Significant relationships between reflected appraisals and the evaluative, consistency and involvement dimensions of self-concept were also observed. Consistent with symbolic interactionist theory, path analysis showed that reflected appraisals mediated the relationship between employment status and self-conception. Unemployment duration and gender both moderated the effects of reflected appraisal upon self=conception such that reflected appraisals were associated with different self-concept dimensions for unemployed men versus unemployed women and ‘shorter’ versus ‘longer-term’ unemployed people. Results are discussed in the context of recent developments in the social psychology of the self-concept. Suggestion for future research are outlined.