Journal of Applied Social Psychology最新文献

Conspiracy beliefs have become a focus of media attention in recent years. Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, it has become evident that conspiracy beliefs are not just a harmless phenomenon but can actually pose a challenge to social cohesion. This paper hypothesizes that tolerance for ambiguity—the ability to deal with ambiguous stimuli and situations—plays an important role in the emergence of Covid-19 conspiracy beliefs. Theoretically, the connection between tolerance for ambiguity and the emergence of conspiracy beliefs can be understood as an epistemic motivation—a desire for understanding, accuracy, and subjective certainty. Empirically, few studies have examined this relationship, and those that have found only small negative associations. However, these assessments were conducted using unreliable scales for measuring tolerance for ambiguity and neglected the concept of right-wing authoritarianism, which is associated with tolerance for ambiguity and can become salient during times of crisis, such as a pandemic. To reexamine this relationship, a survey instrument for tolerance for ambiguity, recently validated for the German-language context, was applied. The data for this study were collected via an online panel surveyed between November 2020 and June 2021. After identifying confounding variables using directed acyclic graphs (DAGs), random-effects panel models are computed using data from two waves (n = 3819 observations, N = 2244 persons). To test the mediation assumption regarding right-wing authoritarianism, structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to data from the second wave. Results show that tolerance for ambiguity has no significant direct impact on Covid-19 conspiracy beliefs, but an indirect effect via right-wing authoritarianism.

This study examines the moderating role of national subjective social status (SSS) perceptions of the general population about individuals over the age of 70 on the relationship between volunteering and subjective well-being (health, happiness, and life satisfaction) of older adults. We hypothesize that in countries where the over-70s are perceived to have higher status, the relationship between volunteering and well-being will be positive. The sample comprises individuals over 70 years of age (N = 8331) in 29 countries from Europe. Empirical estimation uses data from the 2008/09 European Social Survey. Multilevel analysis is used to allow the aggregation of variables from different levels: individual, national, and welfare system. The study revealed that there is a positive relationship between the volunteering of older people and their health, happiness, and life satisfaction. The positive association between volunteering and well-being is stronger in countries where the social status of older people is perceived to be higher. By focusing on national-level assessments of SSS, the research highlights how collective perceptions and broader societal attitudes toward aging interact with individual experiences, offering insights into the institutional and cultural determinants of older adults' lived realities across different countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the consequences of proactive helping behavior based on a dual-path model of reactions to helping. We predicted that proactive helping behavior leads to both positive and negative affect, and in turn, engenders various work-related outcomes, including well-being and extra-role behaviors. Additionally, it was expected that perceived recipients' reactions (i.e., gratitude and spurning) to helping would moderate the relationship between proactive helping behavior and affective states. Using a cross-lagged design, data collected from four time points (N = 180) revealed that proactive helping behavior was associated with positive and negative affect. These ambivalent effects depended on the recipient's reactions. When people received more gratitude for helping, the positive effect of proactive helping on well-being at work and extra-role behaviors via positive affect was strengthened. In contrast, when helping efforts were spurned, the negative effect on the outcomes via negative affect was strengthened. Based on these findings, theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

In the present research we examine how the recognition of outstanding sports performance is shaped by shared social group membership. To this end, we conducted a large-scale analysis over the last 28 years (since the Bosman ruling in 1995) of how the exogenous variable, players' social group membership (domestic vs. foreign players), predicts recognition of “player of the season” awards across all professional European soccer leagues. On the basis of social identity theorizing, we argued shared social identity provides a frame of reference from which to perceive and evaluate performance and so hypothesized that foreign players would need to exhibit superior performance than their domestic counterparts for their performance to be recognized with an award. Supporting this hypothesis, results show that foreign players whose performance was recognized in best player awards scored significantly more goals in a season than domestic award winners. The same pattern is evident for goal-per-game ratio, with foreign award winners outperforming their domestic counterparts. Finally, there is evidence that this pattern is moderated by the status of the league such that this differentiation was more pronounced in high-status leagues, indexed by associations' UEFA coefficient. We discuss the implications for social identity theorizing in relation to sport with a focus on the way in which group dynamics shape the psychology of how performance is perceived and recognized.

Carbon footprint information via labels has raised interest as a tool to encourage pro-environmental behavior. We propose cognitive alternatives to the environmental status quo (Environmental cognitive alternatives; ECAs), the ability to imagine what a sustainable relationship with nature could look like, to improve the effectiveness of carbon labels. Using a discrete choice experiment with intervention and control groups, we investigate the effect of ECAs on low emission labeled, sustainable choices in a grocery shopping context. German participants (N = 150) were randomly assigned to three groups, activating either cognitive alternatives of a positive relationship with nature, or perceived environmental threat (PET), or nothing in a full control group. In the ECAs activation group, participants chose options with lower carbon emissions compared to the other two groups, and had stronger preferences on rating scales for these options. In the PET activation group, participants also had stronger preferences on rating scales than the control group, but this effect was not found for the choice of options. Activating ECAs might be a promising intervention for promoting sustainable choices, and carbon labeling could be helpful when paired with interventions that activate ECAs.

Believing in conspiracy theories is connected to support for non-normative collective action. One explanation might be that this is due to both being non-normative. Alternatively, it might be the case that non-normative action appears justified based on what conspiracy theories alleging harm to a personally relevant group due to powerholders’ secret actions imply about social reality. To test this assumption, we focus on the belief in a norm-consistent (i.e., popular and plausible) climate policy conspiracy theory alleging that powerful groups (i.e., politicians and the business sector) act without public oversight, leading to climate policies that suit their interests but are harmful to the public. Across three studies—one using a quota-based German sample and two preregistered replications (N_total = 1257)—we investigate how the belief in such a theory relates to the endorsement of non-normative collective action, and test whether this relationship also emerges for the belief in a norm-inconsistent (i.e., implausible and unpopular) climate policy conspiracy theory suggesting a similar social reality (Study 3). Our data show that beliefs in both norm-consistent and norm-inconsistent climate policy conspiracy theories correlate positively with support for non-normative collective action, while only the belief in a norm-consistent climate policy conspiracy theory was related to normative collective action. In contrast, a stronger predisposition to believe in conspiracy theories (i.e., conspiracy mentality), albeit positively correlated with belief in a norm-consistent climate policy conspiracy theory, was related to lower support for non-normative collective action serving climate protection.

Despite rising inequality making upward social mobility difficult, faith in the American Dream persists. Americans are often exposed to narratives where hard work leads to upward social mobility but are less likely to hear about the numerous instances where the same efforts don't pay off. Across three pre-registered studies, we examined responses to identical narratives of social mobility effort that either ended in success or failure. Despite equal efforts, a target was viewed as less hardworking and competent and worse at managing their time and money when they failed versus succeeded to be upwardly mobile. Liberals and conservatives made equally strong internal explanations for social mobility successes. However, conservatives explained failures with more internal and less societal attributions than liberals. These attributions were found to have important implications for faith in the American Dream and support for policies to promote equality. Moreover, experimentally inducing a focus on societal barriers to upward mobility (vs. internal factors) increased support for policies to reduce these barriers, and reduced faith in the American Dream, particularly among conservatives.