{"title":"The longitudinal relationship between family socioeconomic status and students' academic achievement: The mediating roles of learning anxiety-learning engagement profiles and the moderating role of negative parenting styles.","authors":"Tianci Zhang, Wei Shao, Jingyi Zhang, Qinglin Zhang, Yuan Tao, Xiao Yu","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined the longitudinal relationship between family socioeconomic status (family SES) and students' academic achievement through learning anxiety-learning engagement profiles and the moderating role of negative parenting styles. Using longitudinal data from 425 Chinese primary students (200 boys, M<sub>age</sub> = 9.73 ± 0.86 years old) across three seasons (winter, spring and summer) with three-month intervals, latent profile analysis identified three learning anxiety-learning engagement profiles: \"High Anxiety-Low Engagement\", \"High Anxiety-Moderate Engagement\" and \"Low Anxiety-High Engagement\". Mediation analysis revealed that, compared to the \"Low Anxiety-High Engagement\" group, the \"High Anxiety-Moderate Engagement\" group significantly mediated the relationship between family SES and academic achievement. Additionally, negative parenting styles moderated the association between family SES and learning anxiety-learning engagement profiles. These findings support both the family stress and investment models, suggesting that interventions should be tailored to families with differing SES levels.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144943768","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}
Mario Dalmaso, Michele Vicovaro, Toshiki Saito, Katsumi Watanabe
{"title":"We are what we eat: Cross-cultural self-prioritization effects for food stimuli.","authors":"Mario Dalmaso, Michele Vicovaro, Toshiki Saito, Katsumi Watanabe","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70018","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Previous research has shown that the concept of self is malleable and can be associated with various arbitrary stimuli. This study explored whether the self could be linked to images of food representative of one's own or a different culture. We compared two groups, Italian and Japanese individuals, whose cultures are both characterized by rich and distinctive food traditions. Participants performed a perceptual matching task, associating themselves with either Italian or Japanese food, depending on the block. They also reported their food habits and preferences. The findings revealed that, in both groups, the self could extend to include food stimuli from both cultural categories. However, the self was more strongly associated with food typical of the participant's own culture. Additionally, this association was unrelated to reluctance to try unfamiliar foods, as measured by the Food Neophobia Scale. These results underscore the central role of food in shaping personal identity, supporting the hypothesis of a modulatory effect of valence on the strength of self-association with arbitrary items and suggesting that self-related food associations may influence food preferences.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144844508","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":"It's my fault, I should try harder! The narratives of self-made upward mobility sustain belief in meritocracy in low social mobility context.","authors":"Yinglun Deng, Fang Wang","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70015","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rags-to-riches narratives are inspiring; however, they may inadvertently perpetuate the meritocratic myth, particularly in contexts of low social mobility. Across five studies, we demonstrate that self-made upward mobility narratives increase people's meritocratic beliefs and motivate them to exert greater effort, especially in low mobility contexts. Watching such narratives is positively associated with meritocratic beliefs in low social mobility conditions (Pilot Study). Recalling such a narrative (Study 1), being exposed to these narratives in a fictitious society (Study 2) or encountering them in specific scenarios from a first-person (Study 3a) or third-person perspective (Study 3b), leads participants to engage in system justification, blame failure and accept or legitimize exploitation through meritocratic beliefs in low mobility contexts. Interpreting such narratives in a non-meritocratic way can mitigate these effects (Study 4). In summary, we uncover a rather small but robust effect: Even and especially in low mobility contexts, exposure to self-made upward mobility narratives strengthens individuals' belief in the power of personal effort. This, in turn, prompts them to justify the system and push themselves harder.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144815765","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":"Measuring the felt sense of dehumanization: A COSMIN systematic review of the psychometric properties of self- and meta-dehumanization measures.","authors":"Tom A Jenkins, Hannah Pendlebury, Spencer L Smith","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70017","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>There is increasing awareness of the clinical relevance of self- and meta-dehumanization. With various measures available for use, evidence of robust reliability and validity is essential before implementation. This review aimed to evaluate the psychometric strength and methodological quality of self- and meta-dehumanization measures and make recommendations for practice using Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) guidance. A systematic search of Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO and Scopus was conducted to identify studies reporting on the development or validation of a measure of self- or meta-dehumanization. Of 5190 records, 26 studies containing 29 distinct outcome measures were identified (14 self-dehumanization and 15 meta-dehumanization). In general, there was a lack of involvement from people with lived experience in measure development, leading to very low quality of evidence for content validity. Strength and quality of other psychometric properties varied, with only some measures demonstrating sufficient high-quality ratings. Based on COSMIN guidance, only one measure, the Experience of Dehumanization Measure (Golossenko et al., Br. J. Soc. Psychol., 62, 2023, 1285), can be currently recommended for use. It is recommended that future research looks to: (1) improve efforts to validate existing measures and (2) develop gold standard measures in collaboration with people with lived experience.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144803664","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}
Jia-Yan Mao, Zhao-Xie Zeng, Shen-Long Yang, Yong-Yu Guo, Bo Wang, Jan-Willem van Prooijen
{"title":"Why existential threats increase conspiracy beliefs: Evidence for the mediating roles of agency detection and pattern perception.","authors":"Jia-Yan Mao, Zhao-Xie Zeng, Shen-Long Yang, Yong-Yu Guo, Bo Wang, Jan-Willem van Prooijen","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70016","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This research investigates the cognitive mechanisms linking health-related existential threats to conspiracy beliefs within a Chinese context. Study 1 (N = 199) demonstrated that the relationship between perceived existential threats and outgroup conspiracy beliefs is mediated by hypersensitive agency detection through an experimental manipulation involving a monkeypox virus threat. Studies 2a (N = 198) and 2b (N = 200) revealed that illusory pattern perception also mediates this relationship. In Study 3 (N = 278, using a manipulation of threatening information about genetically modified foods) and in Study 4 (N = 296, using information about Japan's discharge of nuclear sewage), both hypersensitive agency detection and illusory pattern perception mediated this relationship. Additional mini-meta-analyses further corroborated these findings. We conclude that the effects of existential threats on outgroup conspiracy beliefs are mediated by hypersensitive agency detection and illusory pattern perception.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144783531","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}
Katie Maras, Sohee Park, Patrick Grafton, Jasmin Peat, Navyaa Toshniwal, Alice Haigherty, Kevin Guo, Monty Franks, Hannah Goodwin, Victoria Grau Sainz, Amaira Sharma, Alisa Fridman, Luke Gordon-Ellis, Kirsten Howells
{"title":"Eyewitness testimony by individuals who stammer: Evidence, experience and perceived credibility.","authors":"Katie Maras, Sohee Park, Patrick Grafton, Jasmin Peat, Navyaa Toshniwal, Alice Haigherty, Kevin Guo, Monty Franks, Hannah Goodwin, Victoria Grau Sainz, Amaira Sharma, Alisa Fridman, Luke Gordon-Ellis, Kirsten Howells","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70014","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Stammering may impede an individual's eyewitness testimony and reduce jurors' perceptions of their credibility through a complex interplay of bio-psycho-social factors. However, no research to date has explored this. Three co-produced, mixed-methods studies are reported, investigating the evidential quality, lived experiences and perceived credibility of people who stammer (PWS) as witnesses. In pre-registered Study 1, PWS recalled as much correct information as non-stammering witnesses overall. However, during the free - but not cued - recall interview phase, PWS provided fewer correct details. A reflexive thematic analysis of participants' post-testimony reflections captured how PWS experienced a cyclical relationship between communicative pressure, anxiety over listener misperceptions and stammer severity, which they navigated either by employing avoidance strategies at the expense of testimony or by speaking through their stammer. In pre-registered Study 2, mock jurors rated PWS as less confident yet more likeable and trustworthy than non-stammering witnesses. In Study 3, providing jurors with information about stammering further improved their likeability and trustworthiness but had no impact on perceived confidence. Findings provide new insight into communication disorders in legal contexts - and the unique challenges faced by PWS in particular - demonstrating the need for systemic accommodations and targeted training for legal professionals.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144741268","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":"Calling in crisis: How intolerance of uncertainty shaped occupational calling before and during the pandemic.","authors":"Qing Yang, Yicheng Wang","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected physical and mental health, while also posing potential challenges to future career prospects. College students are a special group facing the dual dilemma of potential disruptions to both their academic pursuits and career planning. As yet, little is known about how major stressful events or uncertain situations have influenced the occupational calling of students engaged in job preparation. We explored changes in occupational calling among Chinese college students before and after the COVID-19 outbreak (late 2019 and late 2020, N = 684; Study 1), and during the pandemic (May 2022 to March 2023, N = 460; Study 2). Given the pandemic's inherent uncertainty, individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) may shape how people perceive and respond to such events. Our findings indicated a significant decline in occupational calling from pre- to post-outbreak (Study 1), but no decline in the third year following the outbreak (Study 2). Interestingly, individuals with lower IU exhibited a steeper decline in occupational calling post-outbreak. These results not only deepen theoretical understanding of how major public crises influence the development of occupational calling, but also provide practical insights for supporting youth career development in an era marked by persistent uncertainty.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144682063","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}
Tobia Spampatti, Tobias Brosch, Christian Mumenthaler, Ulf J J Hahnel
{"title":"Blueprint of a smokescreen: Introducing the validated climate disinformation corpus for behavioural research on combating climate disinformation.","authors":"Tobia Spampatti, Tobias Brosch, Christian Mumenthaler, Ulf J J Hahnel","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Behavioural science research has the potential to develop evidence-based strategies to fight disinformation about climate science and climate mitigation action; however, this research has yet to be conducted systematically with validated sets of climate disinformation stimuli. Here, we present the Climate Disinformation Corpus, a collection of climate disinformation statements designed to systematize experimental research testing future disinformation interventions. Using computational social science techniques, we gathered climate disinformation stimuli from the social media platform Twitter/X. We identified 78 statements containing disinformation about the existence, the causes, the consequences of climate change, the reliability and objectivity of climate scientists, and arguing for the delay of climate policies. The Climate Disinformation Corpus showed good heterogeneity across 15 validation measures (e.g., perceived persuasiveness, perceived trustworthiness, and sharing intentions) in a validation study involving a representative sample of N = 503 British participants. Furthermore, the climate disinformation statements were correlated with four individual differences measures related to belief in climate science and support for climate actions, congruently with theoretical expectations. We conclude with practical suggestions on implementing the Climate Disinformation Corpus in disinformation research according to different research questions.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144667126","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":"Choosing to know: Children's decision to actively request social-norm information and their sharing behaviour.","authors":"Hagit Sabato, Ilana Ritov","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We examined the sharing behaviour of children (aged 6-12) when presented with a generous vs. a selfish norm of sharing, or after having a choice of whether or not to request the (same) social-norm information. We found that with age children shared more overall and were more influenced by the generous norm in their recommendations to others. Moreover, the results show a significant effect of information-seeking on children's behaviour: children who were presented with the choice to request social-norm information and actively chose to request it were significantly more influenced by the information in their own sharing decisions and in their recommendation to others, compared with children who were presented with the same social-norm information without asking for it. The findings highlight the importance of an active search for information, rather than the information content per se, as a key factor in understanding the effect of social-norm information on children's sharing behaviour.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144648640","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":"Lonely individuals reveal proximal social avoidance and distal general approach motivation: Evidence from time perception in social and non-social contexts.","authors":"Chunlin Wu, Rui Guo, Youguo Chen, Changquan Long","doi":"10.1111/bjop.70010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70010","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Loneliness is a major public health issue, leading to serious physical and mental health problems. Research has shown that trait-like, chronically lonely individuals exhibit either avoidance or approach behaviour towards social connections. However, how social avoidance and approach motivation co-occur in trait-like, chronically lonely individuals remains unclear. We hypothesized that loneliness would first induce social avoidance and then approach motivation, given the inherent negative bias of loneliness and the general process model of threat and defence, which asserts that threat first activates avoidance motivation followed by approach motivation. To test this hypothesis, we used sub- and supra-second time bisection tasks in social and non-social contexts based on the motivational dimensional model of time perception. The results showed that high-loneliness (HL) and low-loneliness (LL) individuals had similar sub-second time estimates in non-social contexts. However, HL individuals lengthened time in the sub-second range in social contexts and shortened time in the supra-second range compared to LL individuals, regardless of social or non-social context. These findings suggest that HL individuals exhibit proximal social avoidance and distal general approach as a defence mechanism, which is consistent with the general process model of threat and defence and extends the evolutionary theory of loneliness.</p>","PeriodicalId":9300,"journal":{"name":"British journal of psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144648641","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}