Asian Journal of Social Psychology最新文献

Numerous Islamophobic conspiracy theories have emerged since 9/11; however, there is limited knowledge about the factors influencing young people's belief in Islamophobic conspiracy theories (ICTs) and their consequences. Study 1 aimed to bridge this gap by examining the motivational factors leading to beliefs in ICTs of young individuals in India, following motivational framework of conspiracy belief. The sample comprised 866 Indian youth in the age bracket of 18 to 29 years (M = 22.5, SD = 3.75). The findings revealed that intergroup distrust is the most important predictor of beliefs in ICTs, followed by collective narcissism and religiosity. Guided by Intergroup Threat Theory, Study 2 aimed to experimentally test whether intergroup distrust predicted beliefs in ICTs among young individuals (N = 401, aged 18 to 29, M = 22.37, SD = 3.43). Study 2 further aimed to test the relationship between intergroup distrust and support for exclusionary policies via beliefs in ICTs as a mediator. Participants under the intergroup distrust condition (compared to intergroup trust or control condition) reported significantly higher belief in ICTs, which in turn increased support for exclusionary policies. Together, these studies underscore the critical role of intergroup distrust in increasing beliefs in ICTs, offering valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying intergroup relations and support for exclusionary policies against Muslims.

Effective environmental communication is essential for building capacity for sustainable decision-making and fostering climate action, particularly in diverse community settings. Our study, conducted in Palawan, Philippines, implements a co-created communication strategy developed in collaboration with local fisherfolk, students and environmental practitioners. Using cluster analysis, we examined how 29 action prompts (APs) combining behavioural guidance with emotional engagement influenced learning, content sharing and behavioural change. APs evoking hope were the most effective in strengthening capacity building in terms of behavioural intention, motivation for learning and empowerment, while fear-based messages heightened awareness but required clear solutions to drive action. Notably, audience-specific responses varied: students responded more positively to emotionally engaging APs, whereas fisherfolk were more motivated by solution-oriented messages relevant to their livelihoods. The participatory approach served as a model for sustainable partnerships, reinforcing bottom-up engagement and strengthening community agency and knowledge-sharing networks. These findings highlight the importance of integrating emotional engagement, especially hope-based content with explicit behavioural recommendations tailored to audience knowledge and lived experiences. By bridging research and practice, this study offers a scalable method for developing culturally relevant communication strategies in Global South contexts. It underscores the significance of co-creation, ongoing evaluation and tailored messaging in promoting sustainable behaviours.

Human behaviour in cybersecurity is often assessed through self-reported measures, which may obscure the gap between individuals' intentions and actual actions. This study takes an interdisciplinary approach by combining psychological measurement and machine learning to investigate the role of individual differences and other factors in this intention-behaviour gap within cybersecurity contexts. Using a decision tree classifier, we analysed the impact of demographic and sociodemographic factors, personality traits, individual differences, internet usage patterns, exposure to offences, risk-taking tendencies and risk perceptions on cybersecurity behaviours. In the first phase, 619 participants completed validated psychological assessments to evaluate their characteristics, personality traits and cybersecurity intentions. In the second phase, 301 participants interacted with a purpose-built website designed to assess whether their reported intentions aligned with their observable behaviours. The results revealed a significant divergence between intentions and actions, with individual differences, personality traits and conservative behavioural tendencies emerging as key predictors of this gap. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating psychological frameworks to understand complex human behaviours in cybersecurity better. This research offers valuable insights into the psychological mechanisms and individual differences driving digital behaviour, emphasising the need for tailored strategies to bridge the intention-action gap and improve cybersecurity practices.

Unjust events cause humiliation and can elicit revenge fantasies. The present study explored cultural differences between Indians and Thais expressing revenge fantasies through drawings and narratives. A matched convenience sample of 100 adults, that is, 50 participants each (35 females and 15 males) from India and Thailand were recruited. The qualitative measures administrated include drawings with two prompts: ‘Draw an unjust event you experienced’ and ‘Draw what you would prefer to happen to the person who unjustly treated you’, followed by narratives about the drawings. The participants also filled in demographics, The Traumatic Events Checklist (TEC), and The Injustice Experiences Questionnaire (IEQ). Analysis revealed that Thais were more likely to report known individuals as perpetrators than Indians. In contrast, Indians were more likely to report strangers and family members than Thais. Indians preferred avoidance as revenge fantasy more than Thais. Thais in contrast preferred revenge by proxy more in comparison to Indians. Indians had higher scores for sexual abuse, loss of family members, and other unspecified events, than Thais. The drawings and IEQ scores also showed associations for full sample and for Thais alone (p < 0.05). The cultural differences shed light on how revenge fantasy is expressed between Indians and Thais.

Imagined contact is a promising method for reducing intergroup prejudice with potential merits in terms of ease of application, among other features. However, little is known about whether its mitigating effects go beyond the laboratory and how long such effects might endure. This study investigated the use of imagined contact and its durability in the Japanese context, a setting in which this method has not been widely explored. Eighty participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups, one imagining a favourable interaction scenario with an outgroup member (Korean) and the other imagining a control contact scenario with an ingroup member (fellow Japanese). The effects and durability of imagined contact on intergroup attitudes and prejudice were tracked over time. Results showed that participants who imagined a favourable interaction with an outgroup member exhibited more positive attitudes towards the outgroup. While these effects were especially evident right after engaging in imagined contact, some indices of prejudice also showed positive effects lasting for 1 month after. A mediation analysis revealed that social distance partially mediated the relationship between imagined contact and willingness to engage in future intergroup interactions. This suggests that imagined contact reduces psychological distance, thereby increasing openness to contact. Overall, imagined contact demonstrated potential for application outside the Western context and may serve as a viable tool for fostering positive intercultural attitudes in Japan.

Materialism can have numerous negative effects on college students’ psychology and behaviour. Previous research has theoretically predicted that face consciousness leads to materialism. Therefore, this study examined the strong predictive association between face consciousness and materialism using experimental evidence. Moreover, this study explored the effect of face message framing on materialism to determine the relative importance of fear of losing face and desire to gain face. Experiment 1 examined the impact of trait and state face consciousness on materialism among undergraduate students in the mainland of China using a questionnaire survey and a behavioural experiment. The results indicated that face consciousness predicted materialism. Building on this, Experiment 2 from the perspectives of trait and state face consciousness explored the effect of face message framing on materialism among undergraduate students in the mainland of China using a questionnaire survey and a behavioural experiment. The results revealed that fear of losing face had a stronger influence on materialistic values than desire to gain face. Our study enriches the psychological mechanisms from the motivational perspective of college students’ materialism and provide experimental evidence for developing targeted interventions to reduce materialism among college students by addressing face consciousness.

This study, based on a sample of 606 adolescents, analyses the relationship between being cyberbullied, anger rumination and perpetrating school bullying using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The study also employs the PROCESS macro model to verify the moderating effect of sports behaviour. The results indicate that being cyberbullied has a significant positive impact on anger rumination, anger rumination has a significant positive impact on perpetrating school bullying and being cyberbullied has a significant positive impact on perpetrating school bullying. Furthermore, anger rumination serves as a significant mediator between being cyberbullied and perpetrating school bullying, while sports behaviour plays a positive moderating role in the pathways from being cyberbullied to anger rumination and subsequently to perpetrating school bullying. Based on these findings, targeted recommendations are proposed to provide insights and suggestions for future research on adolescent school bullying.

Obligations embody a sense of responsibility toward others. Middle-aged adults may particularly feel obligated to many close others, from their parents to children, for instance. Previous studies suggest mixed findings on whether obligations benefit well-being and relationships. Accounting for the cultural context and different types of obligations can help explain the mixed findings. We examined obligations in 371 middle-aged adults living in Japan, using two waves of data from the Midlife in Japan (MIDJA) study. Factor analyses suggest three factors underlying obligation: light and substantive obligations to close others and public obligations to the broader community. Controlling for baseline outcomes, we examined whether obligation predicted changes in psychological and relational well-being over 3 years. Most associations between obligation and outcomes were non-significant. However, light obligation predicted less strain from friends over time (β = −0.21, p = 0.03), and substantive obligation predicted greater life satisfaction (β = 0.20, p = 0.035). Public obligation did not significantly predict any well-being or relational outcomes. Implications for research are discussed.

Previous studies have revealed that meaningful endings cause people to experience mixed emotions. Endings are ubiquitous in various facets of our lives and can be categorised into personally meaningful (e.g., a graduation ceremony) and less personally meaningful experiences (e.g., falling flowers). However, it is unclear whether less personally meaningful endings evoke mixed emotions similar to meaningful endings. We hypothesised that awareness of endings is necessary to evoke mixed emotions irrespective of whether the endings are personally meaningful. As a less personally meaningful ending, we focused on momentary phenomena that occur in an instant. Such momentary phenomena are assumed to heighten the awareness of the ending because of their short duration, thereby intensifying mixed emotions. Three experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis. The results of the studies indicated that momentary phenomena evoked mixed emotions, and momentary phenomena with high fragility heightened the awareness of the ending and elicited stronger mixed emotions than those with low levels of fragility. These findings suggest that both personally meaningful and less personally meaningful endings, such as ephemeral phenomena, evoke mixed emotions. This background is related to the possibility that the fragility inherent in momentary phenomena enhances the awareness of an ending.

Tatarko, A. N., Lepshokova, Z. K., Berry, J. W. An examination of the relationship between cultural distance and acculturation preferences in six post-Soviet societies. Asian Journal of Social Psychology. 2025;28:e70013.

The Acknowledgements section is missing from the published paper.

The ‘Acknowledgements’ section as described below has now been added at the end of the paper after ‘Author contributions’.