British journal of psychology最新文献

Being alone is a basic and prevalent human experience, yet little is known about its effects on social identity. When alone, social identity may weaken because individuals feel their groups are less valuable or less salient. Conversely, it may strengthen because craving for bonding increases in-group perceived value. We tested these ideas with five experiments (N = 1312). Study 1, using existing groups, and Study 2, using minimal groups, showed that aloneness (vs. being with others) reduced in-group identity through its effect on in-group esteem. In Study 3, this effect was equivalent to the effect observed following social exclusion. Study 4 showed that individuals alone were indifferent in allocating money between in-group and out-group members. Last, Study 5 indicated that these effects do not stem from reduced salience of in-group members when alone. In conclusion, an alone mindset affects social identity by decreasing in-group esteem, signalling broad social implications for this basic social condition.

How to raise donations effectively, especially in the E-era, has puzzled fundraisers and scientists across various disciplines. Our research focuses on donation-based crowdfunding projects and investigates how the emotional valence expressed verbally (in textual descriptions) and visually (in facial images) in project descriptions affects project performance. Study 1 uses field data (N = 3817), grabs project information and descriptions from a top donation-based crowdfunding platform, computes visual and verbal emotional valence using a deep-learning-based affective computing method and analyses how multimodal emotional valence influences donation outcomes. Study 2 conducts experiments in GPT-4 (Study 2a, N = 400) and humans (Study 2b, N = 240), manipulates the project's visual and verbal emotional valence through AI-generated stimuli and then assesses donation decisions (both GPT-4 and humans) and corresponding state empathy (humans). The results indicate a multimodal positivity superiority effect: both visual and verbal emotional valence promote initial whether-to-donate decisions, whereas only verbal emotional valence further promotes the how-much-to-donate decisions. Notably, such multimodal emotional effects can be explained through different mediating paths of empathic concern and empathic hopefulness. The current study theoretically facilitates our understanding of the emotional motivations underlying human prosociality and provides insights into crafting impactful advertisements for online donations.

In Serbia, categorized as a hybrid or semi-authoritarian system by Freedom House, exploring activism is crucial. Two cross-sectional studies were conducted to examine predictors of online and offline civic activism in a society favouring punitive measures and limiting open dialogue. The first study involved 1107 participants (65.1% female, 33.2% male and 1.6% in other categories; M_age = 28.15 years), while the second included 2306 individuals (67.5% female, 30.2% male and 2.3% in other categories; M_age = 28.1 years). We modelled the relationship between predictor variables and a dependent variable at different quantiles of the distribution (25th, 50th, 75th and quantile marked with theoretical middle points of online and activism scales) using quantile regression. Results highlighted perceived policy control, social generativity and conscientiousness as key predictors across different levels of both online and offline activism. Personality traits like extroversion, neuroticism and honesty have different effects on online versus offline activism, suggesting different motivations. Additionally, future-oriented people participate more offline. The quantile regression, analysing coefficients at different points in the distribution, offered valuable insights into manifestations of activism. These findings are discussed highlighting the complex dynamic of different factors in shaping civic engagement in Serbia's challenging sociopolitical landscape.

In their responses to our paper 'Conceptualizing transgender experiences in psychology: Do we have a "true" gender?' (The British Journal of Psychology, 2024, 115, 723), Tate (2025) and Morgenroth (2025) provide reflections on the importance of nuance when researching gender and in transgender advocacy. In this reply, I note where this paper is situated in the literature and engage in a discussion of the role of definitions in transgender advocacy. Over-reliance on an individual's true gender when evaluating transgender people's legitimacy may exclude individuals whose gender is not understandable as 'true' to a cisgender majority. I suggest that a broad definition of transgender can allow legitimization to arise from transgender identification and gender self-categorization alongside broader experiences of body and gender.

This systematic review aims to investigate the current prevalence of emotional eating and its associated factors in overweight and obese populations. We included studies that (1) reported prevalence of emotional eating; (2) were in the context of weight gain or overweight and obesity; (3) used a validated psychometric tool to assess emotional eating; (4) were published as an internationally referred journal article and (5) were reported in the English language. Articles were searched on eight electronic databases (CINAHL, EMBASE, PsychINFO, ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus, The Cochrane Library and Web of Science) from the journals' inception to 11 April 2024. A total of 18 studies, representing a total of 21,237 people, were included in the review. Our study suggested that emotional eating is significantly prevalent at 44.9%. High heterogeneity observed (I²: 98.7%) can be attributed to differences in measurement tools for emotional eating, but not differences in geographical regions. By providing insight to the current prevalence of emotional eating and its relevant factors, this study outlines the steps to take in future research and practice to tackle emotional eating and related health issues like obesity. There is a need to develop standardized measurement tools for emotional eating, and further investigate sociodemographic factors.

In their paper, 'Conceptualizing transgender experiences in psychology: Do we have a 'true' gender?' Jackson and Bussey (British Journal of Psychology, 115, 723) critique the idea of having a 'true' gender and propose that the term 'transgender experience' may be more appropriate than 'transgender identity'. In this commentary, I reflect on the usefulness of the terms transgender identity and transgender experience and argue that both hold value and can contribute to a more nuanced discussion of gender/sex. I use the discussion of these two terms as a springboard to make a broader point: As researchers, we should use language about gender/sex flexibly and intentionally. As psychologists, we are trained to use clear operationalizations for the constructs we study, yet it is often unclear whether authors refer to biological sex, gender identity, social perception, or socialization when they speak of 'women' and 'men'. I encourage researchers to be more mindful in their language use and to engage with the nuanced terms that gender scholars (including Jackson and Bussey) have put forward when discussing gender/sex - both in the context of transgender identities and experiences and when discussing cisgender identities and experiences.

Jackson and Bussey (The British Journal of Psychology, 2024, 115, 723) present the provocative argument that the concept of a "true gender" is not a useful conceptual object for psychology. While the article does make 2 valid and worthwhile points, the remainder of that article lacks necessary nuance in developing its general conclusion.

This study reports new evidence that young people in Mainland China are now bicultural. We followed the established method of testing biculturalism by priming participants with images from two different cultures and measuring whether those images activate different thought styles. First, we replicated findings from 25 years ago that college students in Hong Kong are bicultural (Study 1). Next, we found that priming Mainland Chinese college students with Chinese culture increased external attributions (which are more common in China), whereas priming American culture increased internal attributions (which are more common in the US; Study 2). Next, we tested a "negative control" group that we expected should not respond to bicultural primes. Older adults who were born before China's Reform and Opening policy in 1978 showed no evidence of biculturalism (Study 3). This new evidence extends biculturalism to Mainland China, and it provides a crucial negative control test for biculturalism research.

A common guideline for self-disclosure is that therapists should only share recovered personal experiences with clients (i.e., no longer distressing). However, theoretical rationale and empirical support for this claim is limited. Drawing on identity leadership theorizing, we investigated whether recovery disclosures are beneficial to the extent that they signal a therapist's aspirational prototypicality (i.e., embodiment of an aspirational identity for clients). Across two experimental studies (N = 545), we recruited clients, therapists and general population adults. Participants read a group therapy for depression vignette in which the therapist disclosed: nothing, professional experience with depression, current depression, recovered depression or recovered anxiety. Participants rated the prototypicality of the therapist, the extent to which they perceived the therapist positively, the therapist's expertness and the expected prognosis for therapy. Contrary to our hypotheses, the type of disclosure did not significantly affect positive perceptions, expertness or expected prognosis ratings. However, the therapist disclosing a recovered and relevant condition (recovered depression) was rated as significantly more aspirationally prototypical than the other therapists. Given prior evidence that group therapists are more effective when viewed as aspirationally prototypical, our findings suggest that recovery disclosures may represent one way therapists can signal their prototypicality and enhance their effectiveness.

Prior research has established that being a target of offline and online victimization might function as a significant risk factor that increases the likelihood of adolescents' involvement in cyberhate. Yet, relatively little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship. To fill this important gap in knowledge, the present study aims to examine (1) whether excessive Internet use and contact with unknown people online act as sequential mediators in the relationship between overall victimization and youth's involvement in cyberhate; and (2) whether restrictive parental mediation has any role to play in moderating this relationship. The findings suggest that adolescents who experience victimization are more likely to turn to using the Internet excessively, and consequently interact with strangers online, which in turn makes them more prone to becoming victim to cyberhate or spreading hateful content online themselves. Moreover, restrictive parental mediation was shown to exacerbate the link between excessive Internet use and adolescents' contacts with unknown people online, thereby putting them at higher risk of cyberhate involvement. The current study emphasizes the need for a balanced approach to parental mediation - one that fosters open communication, trust and the development of digital literacy skills.