European Journal of Social Psychology最新文献

{"title":"Towards a Conceptual Integration of Collective Victimization Beliefs and Their Variation Within and Across Contexts: A Q Methodology Study in Five Communities","authors":"Johanna Ray Vollhardt,&nbsp;Helin Ünal,&nbsp;Zsolt P. Szabó,&nbsp;Hu Young Jeong,&nbsp;J. Christopher Cohrs,&nbsp;Danielle Black","doi":"10.1002/ejsp.70026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70026","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Although social psychological research on how people understand collective victimization often examines comparisons between groups’ suffering, studies on related concepts (e.g., collective trauma) suggest numerous other relevant beliefs. The present article aimed to integrate diverse collective victimization beliefs and contribute to their conceptual analysis. Utilizing Q methodology, we examined how 60 collective victimization beliefs statements combine into holistic belief patterns. We analysed variation and commonalities in shared beliefs between and within groups, examining five contexts with different historical or ongoing collective victimization experiences and present-day group positions. Our study included purposively sampled Kurdish American immigrants (Study 1, <i>N</i> = 51), Black Americans (Study 2, <i>N</i> = 47), Jewish Americans (Study 3, <i>N</i> = 48), Hungarians (Study 4, <i>N</i> = 68) and Koreans (Study 5, <i>N</i> = 50). The analysis revealed between two and five viewpoints per context, varying across the following theoretical dimensions: temporality (past or present suffering), power (ingroup strength or vulnerability), group focus (implications for intergroup or intragroup dynamics), locus of strategies (symbolic or material) for addressing ingroup victimization, and perceived importance of ingroup victimization (centrality or decentring victimization). A second-order analysis identified commonalities in viewpoints across contexts, suggesting partial generalization. Overall, this research makes theoretical contributions to the literature on collective victimization beliefs, provides insights into their ecological validity, and demonstrates that collective victimization beliefs are nuanced, complex and contextualized.</p>","PeriodicalId":48377,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Psychology","volume":"56 1","pages":"55-100"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ejsp.70026","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146224174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social Cohesion in (Post-)Conflict and Divided Societies: Recent Advances and Future Directions","authors":"Ana Figueiredo,&nbsp;Gülseli Baysu,&nbsp;Özden Melis Uluğ,&nbsp;Charis Psaltis","doi":"10.1002/ejsp.70024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70024","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Although the study of social cohesion in divided and (post-)conflict societies has grown steadily within social psychology over the past decades, researchers also argue that addressing social cohesion is a complex task due to its multidimensional and multilevel nature. With this special thematic section, we aim to advance the understanding of the dynamics of social cohesion across contexts marked by deep social divisions and intergroup tensions where achieving social cohesion can be particularly challenging. We also seek to showcase research examining different dimensions of social cohesion and explore how such analyses can inform efforts to foster cohesion and improve intra- and intergroup relations. This special thematic section brings together nine empirical articles, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative methods, conducted in diverse, divided and (post-)conflict contexts, and incorporating both majority and minority groups’ perspectives. Together, these contributions highlight the factors that can foster or hinder social cohesion within specific societies. By building on the findings from these contributions, we outline avenues for future research to further advance knowledge on social cohesion in divided and (post-)conflict societies.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":48377,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Psychology","volume":"55 6","pages":"967-978"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145297094","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":"Rethinking National Well-Being: Introducing a Measure of Wealth-Adjusted Life Satisfaction in 116 Countries","authors":"Mohsen Joshanloo","doi":"10.1002/ejsp.70023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70023","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>National life satisfaction scores are commonly used to compare well-being across countries. However, they do not adequately account for significant differences in objective living conditions between nations. This study introduces wealth-adjusted life satisfaction (WALS), a novel measure that captures how effectively countries convert economic resources into subjective well-being. Using Gallup World Poll data from 116 countries, WALS was computed by residualizing national life satisfaction on gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Random Forest and cluster analyses revealed key predictors of WALS and identified distinct country clusters, respectively. Notably, some lower-income countries (e.g., Nicaragua and Kyrgyzstan) scored high on WALS, whereas some high-income countries (e.g., Bahrain and Japan) scored low. Key predictors of WALS include perceived job quality, experiences of enjoyment and autonomy, greater involvement in volunteering and greater opportunities for forming friendships. A distinct cluster of low-wealth, high-WALS countries was identified, characterized by collectivist and religious values, relatively high perceived job quality and strong prosocial engagement.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":48377,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Psychology","volume":"56 1","pages":"35-54"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147315428","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":"Vicarious Touch: A Potential Substitute for Social Touch During Touch Deprivation","authors":"Louise P. Kirsch,&nbsp;Mariana von Mohr,&nbsp;Athanasios Koukoutsakis,&nbsp;Aikaterini Fotopoulou","doi":"10.1002/ejsp.70022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70022","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Restricted interpersonal touch experiences, for instance due to COVID-19 social distancing measures, result in detrimental effects on anxiety, loneliness and psychological well-being. Yet, interventions capable of mitigating the impact of social touch deprivation, as experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, remain insufficient. In this study, conducted during a period of enforced physical distancing and touch deprivation, we investigated whether prosocial, vicarious (i.e., visually seen) touch during interactions involving human–human touch and human–pet touch, compared to human–robot touch, could alleviate self-reported feelings of stress. To this end, 1490 participants completed an online video-viewing task in which they self-reported their stress level before and after viewing video clips depicting prosocial tactile interactions. Main findings suggest that vicarious human–pet touch was especially effective in reducing perceived stress, followed by human–human touch, whereas human–robot touch surprisingly increased stress levels. This pattern reveals a novel dissociation between the calming potential of human–animal versus human–human interactions and highlights potential limits of artificial agents in replicating the emotional benefits of real social touch. Moreover, the extent of the calming effect provided by vicarious touch depended on individual differences, including participants’ anxiety states and personal preferences regarding the perceived pleasantness and awkwardness of the video clips. In particular, individuals experiencing higher levels of anxiety prior to watching interactions exhibited a more pronounced calming response to vicarious human–pet touch. Altogether, these findings underscore the significant role of social vicarious touch in a context where actual, somatosensory touch is lacking and warrant the development of further randomised, controlled testing of related interventions for conditions of physical distancing.</p>","PeriodicalId":48377,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Psychology","volume":"56 1","pages":"19-34"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ejsp.70022","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146224032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"When Fear Breeds Division: How Perceived Threats Increase Negative Attitudes Towards People With Opposing Opinions","authors":"Xiao-Na Xie,&nbsp;Zhao-Xie Zeng,&nbsp;Jan-Willem van Prooijen,&nbsp;Yong-Yu Guo","doi":"10.1002/ejsp.70025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70025","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Previous research has examined how people with different ideological positions develop negative attitudes towards each other in threatening situations. However, there remains limited understanding of these dynamics in non-Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) populations, particularly regarding the psychological processes that drive negative attitudes between individuals with opposing views on specific issues rather than broad political identities. Through four empirical studies, we examined the manifestation of negative attitudes among people with opposing opinions when exposed to threat and the mediating role of personal control. All samples were from mainland China. Study 1 found a significant increase in negative attitudes between people with opposing opinions after the COVID-19 outbreak by analysing social media messages. Study 2 replicated the results of Study 1 by manipulating participants’ threat perceptions through reading news reports about COVID-19. Study 3 used a survey to show that threat perception predicted negative attitudes, which was mediated by personal control. Study 4 manipulated threat perceptions in a different way (i.e., nuclear contamination), replicating these results. These results provide new insights into understanding the psychological processes underlying how people with opposing views become polarized during threatening situations.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":48377,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Psychology","volume":"55 7","pages":"1466-1480"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145719706","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":"A Dialogue With the (il)Legitimate Other: An Action-Oriented and Dialogical Account of Social Representations in Urban-Integration Policy","authors":"Thomas Madsen,&nbsp;Thomas Morton,&nbsp;Séamus A. Power","doi":"10.1002/ejsp.70019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70019","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Using semi-structured interviews, we investigate how professionals involved in implementing or communicating a controversial Danish integration policy articulated their perspectives on the policy. This policy—the ‘the parallel society agreement’ (also known as the ‘ghetto-laws’)—aims to draw a ‘Danish’ middle class into marginalized public housing areas to promote assimilation of ethnic minority residents. Adopting a dialogical and action-oriented approach to social representations theory (SRT), we identify two focal dimensions—‘freedom-equality’ and ‘private-public’—around which conflicting perspectives on this policy were articulated. Results suggest that by engaging with different policy-related meanings—foregrounding certain values, assumptions or justifications while rejecting others—professionals also expressed different explicit and implicit reactions to the others who are implicated in the policy. Most central were implicit reactions to politicians, reflected through echoes of political discourse appearing in representations. By positioning themselves in relation to these meanings, professionals actively participated in shaping the social representation of the policy. This analysis contributes to SRT by advancing a dialogical and action-oriented approach that foregrounds how social representations shape—and are shaped by—institutional practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":48377,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Psychology","volume":"55 7","pages":"1453-1465"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ejsp.70019","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145719705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"When Neutrality Conceals Bias: Perceived Discrimination in Algorithmic Decisions","authors":"Yingqi Li,&nbsp;Ruihua Lu","doi":"10.1002/ejsp.70020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70020","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Discrimination is both an objective reality and a subjective perception. While firms increasingly use AI for decisions like hiring, little is known about how AI versus human decision-makers affect perceived discrimination. Across seven studies (<i>N</i> = 1757), AI decisions are consistently seen as less discriminatory than identical human decisions across various contexts of discrimination. Study 2 shows this is mediated by inferred intentions: AI is viewed as neutral, while humans are seen as selfish or malicious. Study 3 rules out perceived predictability as an alternative explanation. Studies 4 and 5 find that high-adaptivity algorithms further reduce perceived discrimination, again mediated by intentions. This paradoxically favourable perception of AI decisions masks underlying biases, complicating efforts to detect and address discrimination. These findings highlight the critical gap between perceived and actual fairness in AI-driven decisions, underscoring the need for transparency, rigorous auditing and effective governance mechanisms to align perceptions with objective equity.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":48377,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Psychology","volume":"55 7","pages":"1436-1452"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145719613","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 Evil Enemy: Belief in Conspiracy Theories Predicts Attitudes to War","authors":"Jan-Willem van Prooijen,&nbsp;Kyriaki Fousiani,&nbsp;Jakub Šrol,&nbsp;Vladimira Čavojová,&nbsp;Ana Clara Kaneko Ebert,&nbsp;Emel Müller,&nbsp;Ece Sağlam","doi":"10.1002/ejsp.70021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70021","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Political leaders often justify war with conspiracy theories. How effective are such conspiracy theories in gathering public support for war? The present research has investigated the effects of conspiracy theories on people's war-related attitudes. Studies 1 and 2 were two-wave panel studies showing that conspiracy theories about Ukraine and its allies (e.g., the United States) predicted increased support for the Russian invasion over time, as well as a range of other war-related attitudes (e.g., increased identification with Russia; less favourable attitudes towards Ukraine; decreased military and humanitarian support for Ukraine; decreased support for sanctions). Study 3 replicated these findings among citizens of four different nations in the context of the war in Gaza (e.g., conspiracy beliefs about the Israeli government predicted increased support for the 7 October Hamas attacks over time). Study 4, then, showed that experimentally exposing participants to a conspiracy theory about Ukraine increased their support for the Russian invasion. Study 5 replicated these experimental findings in a fictitious setting uncontaminated by participants’ prior beliefs. Study 5 also provided evidence for a mediating role of perceived outgroup threat. We conclude that conspiracy theories can shape people's attitudes to war.</p>","PeriodicalId":48377,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Psychology","volume":"55 7","pages":"1420-1435"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ejsp.70021","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145730529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"When Your Co-Worker Is a Robot: Intergroup Performance Status and Its Consequences for Workplace Attitudes","authors":"Xian Zhao,&nbsp;Xiaoxiao Zhang,&nbsp;Geoffrey J. Leonardelli","doi":"10.1002/ejsp.70010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70010","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Perceiving robots as outperforming humans in the workplace can be particularly damaging to employees’ workplace attitudes (e.g., organizational commitment and job satisfaction) because they create intergroup comparisons of performance status. We conducted five experiments with college students and working adults, using both scenario-based designs and simulated work environments to test this idea. Participants’ perception of lower performance status than robots led to greater realistic threat to job security, which further lower workplace attitudes. Robots’ humanlike features did not moderate these effects. Using a benchmark as the comparison target had no significant effect on perceived threat or workplace attitudes, suggesting that the social comparison process—not low performance status itself—drives these effects. Comparisons with robots revealed both parallels and distinctions from comparisons with humans. Team-based incentive policy, as an intervention, reduced the negative effects on workplace attitudes but not on realistic threats, compensating for rather than mitigated robot threat.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":48377,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Psychology","volume":"55 7","pages":"1397-1419"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145719686","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":"What Is, What Was and What Could Be: Simultaneously Comparing How Emotional Reactions to the Past, Present and Future Predict Collective Action","authors":"Morgana Lizzio-Wilson,&nbsp;Michael Wenzel,&nbsp;Emma F. Thomas,&nbsp;Danny Osborne,&nbsp;Linda J. Skitka","doi":"10.1002/ejsp.70014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70014","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Although separate research programs examine how emotional reactions to the past, present and future predict collective action, research has yet to compare them simultaneously. Across three studies (<i>N </i>= 2764) and two social issues (plastic pollution and abortion), we examined whether reflecting on a positive or negative past, present or future elicits distinct emotions which indirectly predict collective action. Results revealed multiple countervailing indirect effects. For supporters of progressive causes, positive futures indirectly predicted higher action via increased hope, whereas negative futures indirectly predicted lower action via decreased hope. Positively valenced events also indirectly predicted lower action by decreasing anger and fear, regardless of time-referent. Conversely, negatively valenced events were more influential for proponents of conservative causes and indirectly predicted action via diverse emotions. We discuss the potential for, and limitations of, temporal comparisons to influence emotions implicated in collective action, and how the salience of these frames varies by context.</p>","PeriodicalId":48377,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Psychology","volume":"55 7","pages":"1369-1396"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ejsp.70014","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145719661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}