{"title":"Reluctant altruism: Underlying mechanisms and global variations","authors":"Linh Vu , Catherine Molho","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102107","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102107","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Altruistic decisions are central to civic engagement and humanitarian efforts. However, altruistic behavior is often context-dependent rather than consistent—the same individuals who act generously in one situation may behave selfishly in another. Here, we review research on this phenomenon, which we label <em>reluctant altruism</em>. We outline its various forms, from willful ignorance to the strategic avoidance of morally challenging decisions. We examine three key psychological drivers of reluctant altruism: (i) cognitive inattentiveness, (ii) guilt and self-image concerns, and (iii) shame and social-image concerns. We also review cross-cultural findings, highlighting robust evidence for willful ignorance across nations. Taken together, this literature offers a cautiously optimistic outlook: by thoughtfully designing decision-making environments, we can encourage reluctant individuals to act altruistically.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 102107"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Partial ignorance: strategies for coping with inconvenient information","authors":"Dianna R. Amasino, Margarita Leib","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102106","url":null,"abstract":"Willful ignorance – intentionally avoiding inconvenient information – allows individuals to act selfishly without spoiling their positive image. Yet, full avoidance is not always possible, especially in today’s information-rich environments. We propose that when ignorance is not possible, individuals use more subtle information-processing strategies to achieve the same result. These partial ignorance strategies include limiting exposure to inconvenient information, seeking contradictory information, and interpreting information in self-serving ways to maintain a positive image while behaving selfishly. Therefore, to effectively promote prosociality, interventions should go beyond confronting individuals with inconvenient information. Instead, interventions should focus on mitigating the more subtle strategies individuals use. We present potentially promising interventions and raise open research questions that merit further exploration. Understanding these subtle information-processing strategies and developing interventions to tackle them is important to promote prosociality.","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jean-Louis van Gelder , Ranran Li , Sera Wiechert , Willem E. Frankenhuis
{"title":"Short-term mindsets: Beyond traits and self-regulation","authors":"Jean-Louis van Gelder , Ranran Li , Sera Wiechert , Willem E. Frankenhuis","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102112","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102112","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The study of intertemporal choice has been a topic of perennial interest to psychologists, behavioral economists, and cognitive scientists alike. Yet, dominant approaches often conflate time perspective with self-regulation and struggle to explain within-person shifts toward short-term choices. We introduce the concept of ‘short-term mindsets’—which reflects the tendency to prioritize immediate (versus future) outcomes. While partly dispositional, short-term mindsets are also responsive to situational states (e.g., intoxication, arousal), acute events (e.g., threat), and broader environments (e.g., neighborhood violence). Crucially, it decouples time perspective from self-regulatory ability. We propose Short-Term Mindsets Theory as useful set of principles for understanding intertemporal choice and outline key directions for measurement and empirical validation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 102112"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Relevance of Relevance: A Conceptual Framework for Identifying Willful Ignorance","authors":"Mengchen Hu, Jacob L. Orquin","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102108","url":null,"abstract":"Willful ignorance refers to any behavior intended to prevent or delay the acquisition of available, relevant, and free information. Current research assumes that willful ignorance and information seeking are the opposite ends of a single continuum. However, this assumption fails to account for information relevance and we show how this may lead to an overestimation of the prevalence of willful ignorance as well as a misinterpretation of its behavioral effects. To address this, we propose a conceptual framework consisting of two dimensions: information acquisition and information relevance. The framework distinguishes willful ignorance from related constructs, such as rational inattention and omission. Based on this framework, we propose remedies for more accurate measurement of willful ignorance.","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Collective memory, moral judgements, and history education","authors":"Alicia Barreiro, Everardo Perez-Manjarrez","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102113","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102113","url":null,"abstract":"This literature review explores the intersection of collective memory and moral judgments, drawing on insights from social psychology and history education. Social psychology research highlights how collective memory narratives categorize historical actors into moral roles, influencing intergroup relations and identity development. History education studies investigate the moral dimensions of national narratives, with ongoing debates about pedagogical focus—whether to emphasize direct ethical reflections or foster moral consciousness in historical learning. The conclusions emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary research, conceptual clarity, and enhancing students' engagement with the past, as well as the need for more empirical studies that address evolving social changes and current challenges.","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pauline D. Janse, Maartje van Sonsbeek, Bram Bovendeerd, Kim de Jong
{"title":"Progress Feedback in Psychotherapy: Advantages, Challenges, and Future Directions","authors":"Pauline D. Janse, Maartje van Sonsbeek, Bram Bovendeerd, Kim de Jong","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102110","url":null,"abstract":"Progress feedback, also known as routine outcome monitoring (ROM), is an evidence-based practice in psychotherapy that involves the systematic assessment of patient progress to inform clinical decisions. While research supports its effectiveness in improving treatment outcomes, both patients, therapists, and organisations encounter difficulties implementing it. This review examines theories on progress feedback, its effectiveness in clinical practice, the challenges it presents, and future directions.","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Morten Moshagen , Benjamin E. Hilbig , Ingo Zettler
{"title":"Reconceptualizing ethically and socially aversive (“dark”) personality traits","authors":"Morten Moshagen , Benjamin E. Hilbig , Ingo Zettler","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102111","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102111","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Many ethically and socially aversive (“dark”) traits have been proposed to account for corresponding behaviors. Despite their popularity and success in predicting relevant outcomes, research on aversive traits is beset both by conceptual overlap between traits assigned different labels and by heterogenous conceptualizations of traits assigned the same label. This not only implies a lack of distinctiveness, but also a lack of consistency and specificity concerning relations to outcomes. As a remedy, any aversive trait can be conceived as the conjuncture of (a) the aversive essence shared across all aversive traits and (b) an essentially non-aversive unique part. Beyond tackling the identified issues, this approach avails several additional benefits, including increased parsimony while maintaining or increasing predictive power.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 102111"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Giorgia Gon, Robert Aunger, Paul Bukuluki, Ben Cilasghi, Pavan Mamidi
{"title":"Social norms research in low resource settings: opportunities ahead","authors":"Giorgia Gon, Robert Aunger, Paul Bukuluki, Ben Cilasghi, Pavan Mamidi","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102109","url":null,"abstract":"Including social norms in multi-component sustainable global development interventions can help people break harmful feedback cycles and achieve sustainable intentional social change. To this purpose, we offer here a series of reflections for those embarking on social norms change in low-resource settings. We also highlight several opportunities for future research and programmatic efforts to be deployed in these settings, which can also enhance the field of norm change more generally and support the design of cost-effective programs targeting global development initiatives.","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Personality and vocational interests: Connections between two fundamental individual-differences construct domains","authors":"Bart Wille, Sofie Dupré, Filip De Fruyt","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102103","url":null,"abstract":"Personality traits and vocational interests are prominent constructs in the broader personality system and they have proven central to understanding how people navigate a successful career. This review investigates where these two construct domains connect by integrating previous work on their bivariate relationships with contemporary research that has reconceptualized vocational interests in light of recent economic changes. Our review considers both Five-Factor Model (FFM) and HEXACO traits in relation to three interest models which describe 22 vocational interests in total. Various patterns of trait-interest associations are identified, shedding light on where personality intersects with an expanded and partly renewed set of vocational interests. Future directions aimed at clarifying the complex link between personality traits and vocational interests are discussed.","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664789","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Collective memory and psychosocial trauma: New conceptualizations, new tensions from Latin America","authors":"Marcela Cornejo, Manuela Badilla","doi":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102101","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102101","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research on collective memory has revealed its importance to the identity persons and groups. In the Southern Cone of Latin America, this field of research has focused on the relation between traumatic experiences stemming from wars, dictatorships, or armed internal conflicts, and the activation of collective memory processes. This article presents a critical review of several fields of inquiry that have explored the tensions involving collective memory and trauma associated with political violence, and which provide evidence for the impact of traumatic events on memory processes. The article addresses new lines of research that illustrate the growing complexity of the scene of the traumatic and the challenges that this densification entails for labors of memory in contexts of rapid social and political changes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48279,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Psychology","volume":"65 ","pages":"Article 102101"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144664970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}