Journal of Applied Social Psychology最新文献

Exposure to conflict-related violence is one of the most harmful consequences of living amidst a violent intergroup conflict. While its potential significance is profound, the impact of exposure to conflict-related violence on intergroup empathy remains largely unexplored. The current paper aims to address this gap by proposing political ideology as a potential moderator of the exposure-empathy link. Three studies conducted among Jewish-Israeli participants reveal an interactive effect of exposure to conflict-related violence and political ideology on intergroup empathy. In Study 1, high (vs. low) exposure to conflict-related violence was associated with decreased empathy among rightists—but increased empathy among leftists—towards individual outgroup members. In Study 2, political ideology also moderated the exposure-empathy relationship: Bereaved (vs. non-bereaved) rightists exhibited significantly less intergroup empathy towards both an individual bereaved outgroup member and the outgroup as a whole, an effect not found among leftists. Study 3 revealed a similar, albeit marginally significant, interactive effect of exposure to conflict-related violence and political ideology on empathy towards individuals living in a different violent conflict. Finally, an internal meta-analysis provided further, more robust evidence for these effects. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the findings and suggest future directions for research on this important issue.

Social approaches can contribute to clarifying environmental issues. For instance, social identity theory can help to comprehend people's motivations for getting involved in environmental protection. However, the kind of social identity best suited for predicting environmental protection engagement remains unclear. This study examines different categories of social identity in relation to different types of environmental protection engagement. The predictive power of identification with environmentalists, as well as with politicized and non-politicized environmental groups, are considered separately. Furthermore, environmental protection engagement is divided into pro-environmental behavior and two different demanding forms of pro-environmental collective action—participatory environmental action and leadership environmental action. Data collected online from 985 respondents involved in environmental protection were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results showed that while environmental group identification was not significantly related to any kind of environmental protection engagement, environmentalist identification emerged as a predictor of participatory environmental action, leadership environmental action and pro-environmental behavior. Moreover, these connections were stronger for participants belonging to a politicized environmental group than for those belonging to a non-politicized environmental group and those not belonging to any environmental group. These results support and extend previous findings on the role of social identity in pro-environmental collective action and pro-environmental behavior.

This study investigates the adverse impact of community-level wealth inequality in the aftermath of a natural disaster, and explores the role of community strength (i.e., community identification, cohesion, and identity continuity) in potentially mitigating these negative effects. Using geo-targeted survey data from communities affected by the 2019/2020 Black Summer Bushfires in Australia (N = 363), we found that greater perceived wealth inequality was associated with lower confidence that the community would make necessary changes to meet the threat of future bushfires, lower collective efficacy regarding future bushfires, and lower anticipated quality of life. However, we also found evidence some of these adverse effects were attenuated among those who reported higher levels of community identification and community cohesion. This study illustrates that problems posed by wealth inequality extend to the context of disaster recovery and climate change adaptation, and further underscores the socially mediated nature of this threat by demonstrating the potential for community strength to play a buffering role.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sparked protests around the globe. Most of Europe had – luckily – not seen violent conflict of this scale on their doorstep for more than 30 years. For Germany, the period was even longer. Being confronted with news about the war drove thousands of German citizens to the streets. In passionate protests, they made various demands of their government. Herein, we investigate the links between Germans' emotions and their readiness to engage in such protests. Drawing on collective action research, we predicted that anger and sympathy would correlate positively with Germans' protest readiness. Given the context and public debate, we predicted that fear should also correlate with protest readiness. Two surveys (total N = 905) conducted with residents of Germany – one day after the invasion and at its first anniversary – supported our hypotheses. We consistently found that the more sympathy and anger respondents experienced, the greater their readiness to protest. Fear explained variance beyond sympathy and anger in two cases and in an information-seeking measure of protest readiness: Greater fear correlated with a higher interest in demonstrations advocating peace negotiations and a lower interest in demonstrations calling for solidarity with Ukraine. These findings underscore the links between sympathy, anger, fear, and the readiness to protest in response to the contemporary crisis that is the war in Ukraine.

The climate crisis calls for radical action, but what drives people to engage in climate protest? We recruited respondents during protests of Extinction Rebellion in the Netherlands and examined how intentions to engage in normative action (e.g., protest march), moderate nonnormative action (e.g., roadblock), and openness to more extreme nonnormative action (e.g., property damage) related to perceived injustice and trust in authorities. Study 1 found that perceived injustice was linked to all action intentions, while trust was only negatively associated with nonnormative protest. Study 2 revealed that nonnormative protest was specifically related to lower trust in democracy, judges, and the police. Furthermore, moderate action intentions were related to various injustice perceptions, whereas extreme actions were exclusively linked to social injustice.

The extant empirical evidence indicates that multicultural experiences (MCEs) are linked to numerous positive outcomes, including increased trust, reduced intergroup bias, and the promotion of large-scale cooperation. These beneficial effects partly depend on the fact that increased MCEs enhance cultural sensitivity, which may enable individuals to better empathize with others. Therefore, we explored the beneficial effects of MCEs on empathy, along with the potential mechanisms. A sample of 1480 Chinese young adults (M = 21.40, SD = 1.86) were employed to complete anonymous questionnaires on their MCEs, positive emotions, critical thinking, empathy, and multicultural breadth. By controlling for gender and family socioeconomic status, parallel mediation analysis revealed that MCEs can independently influence individuals' levels of empathy through both positive emotions and critical thinking. Thereafter, multicultural breadth was determined as a moderator influencing this model. The results highlighted the role of MCEs in increasing empathy through their relationship with cognitive and emotional processes. This study is significant in expanding our understanding of the consequences of MCEs and has practical value in promoting more interpersonal harmony and social tolerance through enhanced empathy.

Many people support and stand by political candidates in the same way that a person might support a significant other. In two studies, we preliminarily explored the utility of a triangular theory of love proposed for political figures. In the first study, data from 87 university students were used to obtain results relating to levels of intimacy, passion, commitment, and satisfaction for a participant-chosen political figure. We hypothesized that intimacy, passion, and commitment would predict higher levels of satisfaction with political figures. Correlational analyses revealed significant relationships between all three variables and satisfaction. In stepwise multiple regressions, intimacy and passion retained significant relationships with satisfaction. In the second study, 299 university students reported levels of intimacy, passion, commitment, and satisfaction for three political figures: Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Barack Obama. All three variables were significantly correlated with satisfaction for each candidate. Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that intimacy and commitment, but not passion, predicted satisfaction for Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Intimacy, passion, and commitment significantly predicted satisfaction for Barack Obama. Voters may experience a kind of love for political figures, and understanding this relationship may have implications for helping voters make informed decisions during elections.

Body dissatisfaction reflects a person's negative perceptions, thoughts, and feelings regarding their body. Two factors—(1) self-compassion, a positive attitude of self-acceptance despite flaws, and (2) gratitude, the capability to notice and appreciate the positive aspects of life—may help to reduce body dissatisfaction. The present research aimed to provide further evidence for the relationship between gratitude, self-compassion, and body dissatisfaction and test whether meditation focusing on self-compassion can reduce body dissatisfaction. Two online studies were conducted with samples of adult women recruited in the United Kingdom (N = 342 and 117). Study 1 found that self-compassion, but not gratitude, significantly predicted lower levels of body dissatisfaction. Study 2 found that participating in a 3-week meditation program—whether focused on self-compassion or relaxation—increased self-compassion over time and reduced body dissatisfaction. Taken together, the findings that regular meditation can bring positive outcomes to women with body dissatisfaction, regardless of the specific focus or content of the meditation.

Health research demonstrates that prosocial health behaviors, while typically voluntarily, can be influenced by dispositional empathy. However, the motivating circumstances regarding this link between empathy and prosocial health behavior have not been well understood. Self-determination theory provides a framework for motivating voluntary behavior. Three preregistered studies (n_total = 630) sought to integrate self-determination's autonomous and controlled motivation to protect vulnerable populations from illness as potential mediators associated with dispositional empathy and face mask wearing behavior (Studies 1 and 2), and flu vaccination (Study 3). Results demonstrate that autonomous motivation positively mediates the empathy-prosocial health behavior pathway whereas controlled motivation does not. Findings postulate the importance of identifying motivation in predicting face mask behavior and flu vaccination.