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.