{"title":"Factors influencing the perception of transactions as gifts or bribes in an online vignette experiment.","authors":"Michael Arntz, Štěpán Bahník","doi":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2576768","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2576768","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The study examines the distinction between gifts and bribes, investigating how the relationship between the giver and recipient, the value of the gift, and the form of the gift affect whether people view a transaction as a gift or bribe. In an online experiment, 521 US participants evaluated eight hypothetical scenarios. Results indicate that gifts are more likely to be perceived as bribes if they are of a higher value, monetary, and given in purely professional relationships. These factors may influence perceptions of reciprocity expectations, and hence the classification of a transaction as a bribe or a gift. Lay perception of bribery by gifts should be considered in the design of organizational rules related to giving and receiving gifts.</p>","PeriodicalId":48205,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"751-756"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145349365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ekaterina Nastina, Meena Andiappan, Andrew Miles, Laura Upenieks, Christos Orfanidis
{"title":"Are all kind acts equal? Exploring the role of prosocial act characteristics in actor's positive affect.","authors":"Ekaterina Nastina, Meena Andiappan, Andrew Miles, Laura Upenieks, Christos Orfanidis","doi":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2478016","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2478016","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In this paper, we use data from a longitudinal online study to examine how characteristics of prosocial behaviors influence the level of positive affect they produce. Although much work has found that prosocial behaviors benefit those who enact them, the question remains if and how these effects vary based on characteristics of those acts. Using models that adjust for co-occurrence among act characteristics, we find that positive affect produced by prosocial acts is greater for those acts that: involve giving money or items, are seen as unusually kind, elicit positive feedback, and are varied over time. However, we find that the actor's relationship to the beneficiary, reaping benefits from prosocial acts, and the number of successive acts made no difference in terms of resultant positive affect. We conclude with a discussion of potential mechanisms explaining these differing effects and explore practical implications for kindness interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48205,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"316-329"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143626580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mixed signals of status: luxury consumption shapes competence and warmth impressions through different routes.","authors":"Bingjie Liu, Yan Wang, Jiaying Dai, Lin Liu","doi":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2464741","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2464741","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Individuals engage in luxury consumption to signal status and realize the benefits of higher status. Research on how observers explain luxury consumption is limited. In Study 1 within a social interaction context and Study 2 within a social media context, luxury consumption increases perceived competence and reduces perceived warmth. Perceived status mediates the effect of luxury consumption on increased competence perception. Study 3 compares the effects of mere wealth and wealth plus luxury. Luxury consumption further reduces perceived warmth, with no effect on perceived competence. Study 4 shows that inference of status signaling motive drives the decreased warmth impression of luxury consumers. In sum, luxury consumption increases competence perception through perceived status, whereas it reduces warmth perception through status signaling motive inference.</p>","PeriodicalId":48205,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"295-315"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143400333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"I, Too, Am America: displaying national symbols on clothing increases the perceived ethnic and civic nationalism of Latinx Americans.","authors":"Gabriel Camacho, Achraf Abouras","doi":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2503007","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2503007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Latinx Americans are often stereotyped as perpetual foreigners, perceived as low in both ethnic nationalism (shared heritage and language) and civic nationalism (commitment to national ideals). We examine whether displaying national symbols on clothing affects perceptions of their nationalism. In Study 1 (<i>N</i> = 302), participants rated images of a White or Latinx man wearing a U.S. Army symbol or no symbol. The Latinx man was rated lower in both types of nationalism compared to the White man. However, displaying a national symbol increased perceptions of civic nationalism for both, and ethnic nationalism specifically for the Latinx man. Study 2 (<i>N</i> = 301) replicated these results, showing that a Latinx man wearing an American flag was perceived as higher in ethnic and civic nationalism than without a symbol. These findings demonstrate that trait-related symbols can influence the traits and behaviors attributed to members of groups stereotypically perceived as lacking them.</p>","PeriodicalId":48205,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"380-392"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144053057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chelsea L Monheim, Karen E Wetzel, Mary S Himmelstein
{"title":"The role of shame and spontaneous self-affirmation among people with concealable stigmatized identities.","authors":"Chelsea L Monheim, Karen E Wetzel, Mary S Himmelstein","doi":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2554655","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2554655","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many Americans report having a concealable stigmatized identity (CSI) - when one belongs to a group that is devalued by society, but membership can be hidden - which is linked with poor health outcomes. One factor consistently linked with poor health among people with CSIs is anticipated stigma. The current study uses structural equation modeling to examine how responses to anticipated stigma (shame, spontaneous self-affirmation) explain the relationship between anticipated stigma and poor health. Using students from a large Midwestern University (<i>N</i> = 314), our model demonstrated that anticipated stigma was indirectly associated with poor health (i.e. psychological and physical quality of life, emotional eating) through shame. Spontaneous self-affirmation was associated with positive health outcomes but was not a significant mediator. This model illustrates the importance of shame and spontaneous self-affirmation as mechanisms of stigma to health relationship among individuals with CSIs, and provides potential targets (shame, spontaneous self-affirmation) for future work.</p>","PeriodicalId":48205,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"492-505"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145024497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Women are derogated for expressing group-based anger which undermines collective action for gender equality.","authors":"Helena R M Radke, Amy Hanson","doi":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2529850","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2529850","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We investigate whether exposure to a woman who expresses anger about gender inequality is negatively evaluated and undermines collective action for gender equality. Research suggests that women are derogated when they express anger because this emotion violates feminine social norms and communal gender roles. Across two studies (Study 1 <i>N</i> = 227; Study 2 <i>N</i> = 254), participants were exposed to a speech from a woman political candidate discussing gender inequality. Participants evaluated the candidate more negatively, and were less willing to engage in collective action with her when she expressed anger about gender inequality compared to no anger. We also examined whether this finding could be attenuated when the candidate expressed anger about gender inequality for communal reasons and found partial support. Our findings suggest that we need to tackle the narrow expectations of what it means to be a woman to facilitate collective action for greater gender equality.</p>","PeriodicalId":48205,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"614-631"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144620907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Braden T Hall, William Hart, Joshua T Lambert, Bella C Roberts
{"title":"\"Your desk or mine?\": narcissism predicts student-professor flirting frequency and perceptions of its appropriateness.","authors":"Braden T Hall, William Hart, Joshua T Lambert, Bella C Roberts","doi":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2608306","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2608306","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite apparent scholarly and popular interest, the effects of narcissism levels in academia are understudied. Flirting among college students and professors has garnered great public interest yet received little research attention. The present study examined whether student narcissism levels can predict self-reports of flirting with professors, beliefs that professors and peers are flirting, and beliefs that flirting between students and professors is morally acceptable. Participants provided frequency estimates of flirting behaviors across three within-subjects factors: when referring to behavior of the self or a peer, when a student or a professor was the flirter, and when the flirting occurred in class or a professor's office. Grandiose narcissistic students rated flirty behavior as less atypical regardless of levels of the factors; however, vulnerable narcissistic students rated flirty behavior as less atypical when referring to a peer but not the self. Students higher in both forms of narcissism rated flirty behavior as less morally inappropriate regardless of levels of the factors. The findings offer novel insight into the consequences of narcissism in academic settings.</p>","PeriodicalId":48205,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"695-709"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145851221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lindsey M Rodriguez, Yali Philipson, Clayton Neighbors
{"title":"Drinking to belong: how loneliness fuels alcohol-related consequences.","authors":"Lindsey M Rodriguez, Yali Philipson, Clayton Neighbors","doi":"10.1080/00224545.2026.2636635","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00224545.2026.2636635","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Young adults comprise the group with the highest prevalence of both loneliness and alcohol use, underscoring the importance of developing a deeper insight into this population. Guided by the need to belong and the motivational model of alcohol use, this research evaluates whether students experience alcohol-related problems (e.g. hangovers, missing school or work) in response to a perceived lack of social connection. Specifically, we explore how feelings of loneliness are related to alcohol-related consequences, and whether this is mediated by coping, social, enhancement, and conformity drinking motives over 12 months in a sample of 591 heavy-drinking college students. Results from generalized linear mixed models revealed that, on average and controlling for the amount of alcohol consumed, students who were higher in loneliness reported more alcohol-related consequences (between-person effects) than those who were less lonely. This association was mediated by coping and social drinking motives, suggesting alcohol may have been used both to manage negative affect related to loneliness and to bolster interpersonal connections. Further, alcohol-related consequences were higher when students reported feeling lonelier than their typical levels (within-person effects), an association mediated by coping, social, and conformity motives. These results demonstrate how some students use alcohol as a way to internally cope with or externally manage a potentially thwarted need to belong.</p>","PeriodicalId":48205,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"710-725"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147379187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Danyang Li, Katherine B Carnelley, Matthew T Crawford, Xiuyun Lin, Angela C Rowe
{"title":"How hostile attribution bias affects attachment anxiety/avoidance and relationship satisfaction: a cross-cultural perspective during the COVID pandemic.","authors":"Danyang Li, Katherine B Carnelley, Matthew T Crawford, Xiuyun Lin, Angela C Rowe","doi":"10.1080/00224545.2026.2626036","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00224545.2026.2626036","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This is the first cross-cultural study of the contribution of romantic hostile attribution bias to relationship satisfaction that takes into account the role of attachment orientation. In two studies conducted 1 year apart, data were collected in three countries during COVID (Western culture country-the United Kingdom, Eastern culture country-China, geographically distinct country-New Zealand). Both studies indicated that hostile attribution bias (a) was positively related to attachment anxiety/avoidance cross-culturally, (b) played a mediating role between attachment anxiety/avoidance and relationship satisfaction, (c) with the strength of effects varying by country. The test of alternative models strengthens the robustness of the current model. In Study 2, paranoid thoughts (potential risk factor) and partner responsiveness (potential protective factor) were included in the model as potential moderators but failed to show significant moderating effects. We tested measurement invariance to support valid comparisons of the identified relationships across the three countries. By understanding these relationships, researchers and clinicians can better target long-lasting changes in relational attributions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48205,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"828-845"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146194716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ego depletion increases risk-taking: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic context.","authors":"Keqing Wang, Penggeng Zhao, Cuizhen Liu","doi":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2591070","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00224545.2025.2591070","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>During the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals have endured significant mental strain, leading to ego depletion - a phenomenon characterized by impaired self-regulation after exerting repeated self-control. Our study aimed to examine the effect of ego depletion on risk-taking in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which provided a naturalistic scenario for examining its role in risk-taking. Specifically, data were collected during the later phase of the pandemic in October 2022, a period characterized by recurrent lockdowns and strict campus closures in accordance with China's pandemic control policy. The final sample consisted of 1,609 adults (69% male) who were under lockdown at the time of data collection (mean age = 22.04, SD = 5.28). We first validated the occurrence of ego depletion during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the moderated mediation analysis revealed that self-depletion during lockdown promoted the risk-taking tendency, and this relationship was mediated by the intolerance of uncertainty. Moreover, this mediation effect was reinforced in individuals with high depletion sensitivity. This study provides strong evidence supporting the notion that ego depletion promotes risk-taking behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":48205,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"757-771"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145566001","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}