Social Psychology Research Articles

Theorizing democratic conflicts beyond agonism

While democratic societies experience intense conflicts about topics such as migration and climate action, there is no sound theory of democratic conflict. Agonistic theories emphasize the importance of conflict for democracy, but disregard conflict dynamics. Conflict sociology has focused on international or violent conflicts and neglects democratic conflicts. This article shows how this lacuna can be overcome. First, it develops an innovative, empirically informed processual approach to democratic conflicts. To this end, it draws on a broad range of scholarship from sociology and social psychology, and integrates relevant insights into a processual framework for analyzing democratic conflicts that explores mechanisms of escalation, de-escalation, and reconciliation. Second, the article illustrates how this approach can ground a more elaborated democratic theory of conflict that concretizes how and when conflicts are beneficial to democracy, and explores the practices and institutions that democracies employ to cope with different conflict dynamics.

Return to Orléans: Racism, Rumor, and Social Scientists in 1960s France

Abstract How did it become possible to think of a racism without racists? This article tackles this question by looking at the contested interpretation of a racist incident in France. In 1969, Jewish shop owners in Orléans were baselessly accused of kidnapping women in fitting rooms and trafficking them into sexual slavery. This antisemitic agitation rapidly attracted the attention of local authorities, national media, and social scientists, led by sociologist Edgar Morin. Morin’s study made these events into a famous case-study in disinformation, the “rumor of Orléans.” But Morin was only one of several actors who attributed different causes to racism in Orléans. All of them agreed that racism was a serious problem, but they could not agree on its causes. Compared to other incidents at the time which grabbed media attention, the uncertainty of events in Orléans allowed people to debate this. Morin’s contribution was to turn to communications and social psychology to deploy the concept of “rumor.” He dissolved the problem of racism into a problem of communication. This suggests that in order to understand the emergence of “racism without racists,” we have to pay close attention to the context in which theories emerged to make it thinkable, and to the relationship between analyses of racism and communication.

Exploring the nexus between influencers and brand evangelism

PurposeThis study investigates the antecedents that nudge followers of social media (SM) influencers into brand evangelism (BE). In doing so, we study how influencer-related attributes such as their homophily, trust, and popularity impact their followers’ BE. Additional interlinkages pertaining to popularity, content, warmth, and prestige are examined, impacting BE.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional survey obtained information about the focal constructs from 206 participants. Quantitative procedures using partial least square-based structural equation modeling were implemented to analyze the collected data and the proposed relationships.FindingsThe findings indicate homophily’s role in influencing trust, content, and prestige. BE is developed through warmth and content, whereas trust and prestige inspire warmth. Further, an influencer’s popularity impacts homophily and content. Lastly, the mediating role of warmth, homophile, trust, exciting content, and prestige advances the understanding of influencers and BE.Research limitations/implicationsWe converge literature from branding, influencer marketing, and social psychology to understand consumers' facets of promoting BE on SM. This work is a primary attempt to interlink and tie these crucial research streams together.Practical implicationsThe study offers managers helpful guidance on strategically assessing influencers' traits to build BE. Additionally, recommendations for tactically assessing and engaging influencers for brands are offered.Originality/valueThis is the first study to identify influencer-related parameters contributing to BE. Secondly, we study unique drivers such as homophily, trust, and warmth, which are important yet remain unexplored as far as BE in influencer marketing is concerned. Furthermore, this study also highlights the mediating role of key constructs that possess a potential to strengthen consumer brand relationships.

Evaluating factors affecting sexual abuse prevention education for primary school students according to the life skills approach

This comprehensive study delves into the intricate factors influencing sexual abuse prevention education for elementary school students, capturing insights from diverse stakeholders, including 423 students, 115 teachers, and 423 parents. Employing a Likert scale, the research evaluates various dimensions, shedding light on the nuanced dynamics that shape prevention programs. The results reveal that student-related factors, encompassing positive behavior, cognitive capacity, personality traits, and knowledge levels, received moderately positive mean scores. This underscores the significant contribution of inherent qualities and cognitive abilities of primary school students to the effectiveness of sexual abuse prevention education. Moving to family-related factors, parents’ extensive knowledge and understanding garnered a positive mean score of 2.91, signifying a favorable impact, while financial considerations received a slightly lower mean score of 2.92. Notably, parental educational methods and the inclination to delegate educational responsibilities to schools scored higher at 2.99 each, underscoring the influential role parents play in shaping their children's perspectives on sexual abuse prevention. Within the school environment, positive interactions between teachers and students stood out with a mean score of 2.97, emphasizing the pivotal role of supportive teacher-student relationships in facilitating effective sexual abuse prevention education. Societal factors exhibited varying influences, with local customs, culture, and social psychology receiving a mean score of 2.91, indicating a moderately positive impact. However, the development of the internet and information channels scored lower at 2.60, revealing potential challenges in adapting prevention education to the evolving landscape of online information dissemination. These nuanced findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the multifaceted factors shaping sexual abuse prevention education for elementary school students, providing a foundation for evidence-based interventions and policy decisions.

The anxious and resilient European Union: experiencing FOMO in the increasingly geopolitical world order

ABSTRACT In this paper, we draw on insights from the literature on social psychology and marketing in order to account for the emotional mechanism through which resilience became a key aspect of the EU’s strategy in world politics. We argue that faced with the deep uncertainty created by multiple and overlapping crises, the EU’s response was shaped by its experience of the ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO). FOMO represents the intersubjective process through which actors compare their own experience with those of their peers, and experience anxiety due to the realisation that they are not benefitting from similar opportunities or managing risks and challenges as effectively as their peers in the context of limited windows of opportunity. The article presents a model for understanding FOMO as a cycle that occurs under conditions of uncertainty and can be used to study other settings.

When houses wear faces: Reverse correlation applied to architectural design

Reverse correlation (RC) is a data-driven method from social psychology that has been effectively shown to visualize the mental representations that humans hold regarding facial attributes. The method helps to understand what features are relevant in terms of the evaluation of faces, such as dominance or submissiveness. To the best of our knowledge, RC has solely been applied to faces within the area of psychology until this point. However, there are many other areas where it is of interest to understand how humans evaluate and visualize content, one of them being the evaluation of house facades. With this work, we extended the application of RC to architectural design, specifically focusing on the evaluation of house facades with respect to the psychological attributes of facelikeness, invitingness, and likeability. Furthermore, we propose a novel approach to create the base image, by utilizing a generative adversarial network. In an online study with a between-subject design, 121 participants completed the RC task, with 40 to 41 participants assigned to each of the three attributes. The resulting classification images (CIs) from the RC task unveil face-related features for the attribute facelikeness, signifying the potential extension of the RC methodology beyond the established domain of facial analysis to other domains, such as architectural design.

‘Social psychology of the emergence of Iranian neo-nationalism discourse in present-day Iran: a case study of the Persian Gulf Facebook channel’

ABSTRACT The discourse of Iranian nationalism exhibits distinct attributes, including Aryanism, anti-Arabism, and a yearning to restore ancient Iran. Originating during the Qajar period and prevailing throughout the Pahlavi era, this discourse faced marginalization following the Islamic Revolution, remaining dormant for three decades. However, in the past decade, it has experienced a gradual resurgence and gained media representation, termed ‘Iranian neo-nationalism’ for reasons elucidated in the introduction. This study aims to investigate the factors underlying this resurgence. Utilizing the qualitative content analysis method and the theory of politicized group identity from a social psychology perspective, the paper contends that this re-emergence is grounded in enduring political, cultural, and global processes, as well as immediate cognitive and psychological processes. These intertwined processes reveal an ‘identity security dilemma’ in Iran.

Introducing machine learning to analyze factors aimed at successful development of the individual social qualities

The paper considers an important problem of the successful development of social qualities in an individual using machine learning methods. Social qualities play an important role in forming personal and professional lives, and their development is becoming relevant in modern society. The paper presents an overview of modern research in social psychology and machine learning; besides, it describes the data analysis method to identify factors influencing success in the development of social qualities. By analyzing large amounts of data collected from various sources, the authors of the paper use machine learning algorithms, such as Kohonen maps, decision tree and neural networks, to identify relationships between different variables, including education, environment, personal characteristics, and the development of social skills. Experiments were conducted to analyze the considered datasets, which included the introduction of methods to find dependencies between the input and output parameters. Machine learning introduction to find factors influencing the development of individual social qualities has varying dependence accuracy. The study results could be useful for both practical purposes and further scientific research in social psychology and machine learning. The paper represents an important contribution to understanding the factors that contribute to the successful development of individual social skills and could be useful in the development of programs and interventions in this area. The main objective of the research was to study the functionalities of the machine learning algorithms and various models to predict the students’s success in learning.

A Scoping Review on Staff Attitudes towards the Use of Coercion in Mental Healthcare.

Attitudes of mental health professionals towards the use of coercion are highly relevant concerning its use coercion in mental healthcare, as mental health professionals have to weigh ethical arguments and decide within a legal frame in which situations to use coercion or not. Therefore, assessment of those attitudes is relevant for research in this field. A vital instrument to measure those attitudes towards the use of coercion is the Staff Attitude to Coercion Scale. This scoping review aims to provide a structured overview of the advantages and limitations in the assessment of attitudes toward coercion. We conducted a scoping review in Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Web of Science, based on the PRISMA-ScR. Inclusion criteria were empirical studies on the attitudes of mental health professionals. We included 80 studies and systematically mapped data about the main results and limitations in assessing attitudes toward coercion. The main results highlighted the relevance and increased interest in staff attitudes towards coercion in mental healthcare. Still, the majority of the included studies relied on a variety of different concepts and definitions concerning attitudes. The data further indicated difficulties in developing new and adapting existing assessment instruments because of the equivocal definitions of underlying concepts. To improve the research and knowledge in this area, future studies should be based on solid theoretical foundations. We identified the need for methodological changes and standardized procedures that take into account existing evidence from attitude research in social psychology, nursing science, and other relevant research fields. This would include an update of the Staff Attitude to Coercion Scale based on the limitations identified in this review.

Conflicting identities: cosmopolitan or anxious? Appreciating concerns of host country population improves attitudes towards immigrants

Abstract This paper connects insights from the literature on cosmopolitan worldviews and the effects of perspective-taking in political science, (intergroup) anxiety in social psychology, and identity economics in a vignette-style experiment. In particular, we asked German respondents about their attitudes towards a Syrian refugee, randomizing components of his description (N = 662). The main treatment describes the refugee as being aware of and empathetic towards potential worries in the German population about cultural change, costs, and violence associated with refugee inflows. This perspective-taking by the refugee increases the reported ability to empathize with the refugee and, especially for risk-averse people, reported sympathy and trust. We argue that acknowledging the potential concerns of the host population relieves the tension between an anxious and a cosmopolitan/open part of people’s identities. Moreover, relieved tension renders people less defensive; i.e. when one aspect of identity is already acknowledged (expressing anxieties), it has less influence on actual behavior (expressing sympathy). In addition, previous contact with foreigners and a higher willingness to take risks are important factors in determining an individual’s willingness to interact with refugees.

Qatar’s Efforts to Change the Image of Muslims after 9/11

Abstract Islam was branded as a religion of terror and bloodshed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Nonetheless, there have been counter-movements to challenge this stereotyping from many Muslim nations within the past ten years. The Arab-Muslim nation of Qatar, which organized and hosted the 2022 World Cup, is one of them. The present study examines Qatar’s progress in organizing and hosting the 2022 World Cup. The study also looks into Qatar’s approach in dealing with Muslims and combating Islamophobia. A social psychology method is used in the current study to explore Qatar’s mission. Investigations by print media and interviews have made it easier to comprehend the context and causes of Islamophobia. Qatar demonstrates how an anti-Islamophobia program can be constructed by first presenting a favorable impression of Muslims and Islam and presenting the reality of Islam. Additionally, an empirical study was carried out to examine media discourse in order to examine the ways that Qatar’s positions and actions contributed to anti-Islamophobia globally.

Mapping the moral foundations of the European Union: Why a lack of moral diversity may undermine perceived EU legitimacy.

The stability and effectiveness of supranational organizations, like the European Union (EU), will improve when citizens perceive them as legitimate. Across three studies, two of which were preregistered, and a preregistered pilot study, we combined EU legal expertise with social psychological theory on morality to understand how perceived EU legitimacy is influenced by a sense of moral alignment with the EU. We propose that, currently, the EU gives more weight to values linked to "individualizing" moral foundations (e.g. compassion, social justice, and equality) than to values linked to "binding" moral foundations (e.g. patriotism, religion, and traditionalism). As this may leave people who endorse binding moral foundations feel unrepresented, we investigated whether the EU could gain legitimacy by appealing to values that resonate with binding moral foundations. In study 1, text analyses revealed that the European Commission President's State of the Union speeches indeed appeal more to individualizing than to binding moral foundations. Study 2 (n = 595) provided correlational evidence that the negative relationship between binding moral foundations and perceived EU legitimacy was mediated by lower moral alignment with EU law. Finally, study 3 (n = 567) showed through an experiment that reframing or rebalancing EU law to better align it with binding moral foundations could increase perceived EU legitimacy among people who endorse these moral foundations. The results illustrate the importance of understanding and attending to moral diversity among EU citizens. More generally, our work shows how a collaboration between social psychology and law contributes to safeguarding the legitimacy of supranational organizations.

Toward Equitable ArtScience Collaborations: Synthesizing Performance Art and Social Psychology for Social Change

Abstract The article proposes a novel model for ArtScience collaborations that is based on more equal roles. With better power balance, artists and scientists can together create projects that truly synthesize their fields. Additionally, it is suggested that these collaborations can significantly contribute to social change through socially engaged research. The article focuses on the transformative potential of the collaboration process itself. The presented case study is the authors’ collaboration in creating hybrids of participatory performance art and social psychology experiments. It contributes new methodological approaches to the expanding field of ArtScience collaborations.

The 4D Model of American Political Conservatism: Disgust, Disorder Aversion, Deontology, and (Social) Dominance

Over the decades, numerous researchers have identified psychological predictors of conservative and liberal political orientation. However, most research teams have focused on a single predictor at a time, occasionally two. Moreover, most researchers have tended to stay within the theoretical and methodological confines of their subdiscipline (e.g., social psychology vs. personality psychology). Here, we review and integrate evidence across different subdisciplines to propose a constellation of four psychological constructs (disgust sensitivity, preference for order, deontological morality, and social dominance orientation) that, working together, form a more nuanced and fine-grained account of why people are attracted to different ends of the political spectrum. In doing so, we demonstrate the usefulness of moving beyond operationalizing political orientation in a single-dimensional (left-to-right) manner. We suggest that the proposed “4D Model” represents an incremental advance that makes more specific predictions about who will be attracted to which strands of political conservatism.

„სამეწარმეო არაფორმალური განათლების ეფექტიანობა და განვითარების შესაძლებლობები“ საქართველოს მაგალითზე

This article focuses on the issue of informal entrepreneurial education. Specifically, it aims to understand the perceptions and opinions of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs about informal education, the impact of the education received on entrepreneurs, and the areas where entrepreneurs need education and skill enhancement. The article is based on research on informal entrepreneurial education involving entrepreneurs from various regions of Georgia. Their activities are related to food, handmade items and accessories, traditional Georgian crafts, textiles, eco-friendly wooden products, beauty, and other industries. This research aims to deepen our understanding of the needs and challenges related to informal entrepreneurial education, such as the alignment of practice and theory in the real-world "here and now" context. The research findings reveal that entrepreneurs place significant importance on entrepreneurial education and emphasize its necessity. However, they also note that the duration of educational programs is often insufficient, and the content could be broader, making it easier to tailor specifically to their entrepreneurial activities. Additionally, terminological barriers are common, hindering content comprehension and assimilation. The research highlights the need for entrepreneurs to gain more practical experience and share the experiences of other entrepreneurs along with methodological knowledge. The research results can be related to the theories discussed in the works of American social psychologist Albert Bandura and can form the basis for renewed teaching approaches. The article emphasizes that entrepreneurship is a multifaceted phenomenon, and consequently, informal entrepreneurial education requires a comprehensive paradigm and appropriate educational methods based on practical teaching. Practicing entrepreneurs should be involved in the teaching process to share their real-world experiences, including both successes and failures.

Talcott Parsons as Psychoanalytically Oriented Social Psychologist

The mid-twentieth-century Harvard sociologist Talcott Parsons is seldom, if ever, depicted as a social psychologist. Yet, toward the end of his career, he declared that he had done a good deal of work in that field, particularly in regard to the study of mass phenomena. In this article I examine Parsons’s social psychology of mass phenomena and demonstrate that it was greatly influenced by Freudian conceptualizations. I first consider Parsons’s comments on what he saw as the place of social psychology in sociological theory. Next, I discuss several terms that were crucial to his social psychology. I then probe two of Parsons’s articles that provide conceptual context to his writings on deviant collective behavior. Following that, I closely examine Parsons’s studies where he analyzed the mass phenomena of Nazism and antisemitism. Finally, I conclude that between 1940 and 1947 Parsons produced a comprehensive psychoanalytic social psychology.

Disrupting Racism and Global Exclusion in Academic Publishing: Recommendations and Resources for Authors, Reviewers, and Editors

Scholars have been working through multiple avenues to address longstanding and entrenched patterns of global and racial exclusion in psychology and academia more generally. As part of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s efforts to enhance inclusive excellence in its journals, the Anti Colorism/Eurocentrism in Methods and Practices (ACEMAP) task force worked to develop recommendations and resources to counteract racism and global exclusion in standard publication practices. In this paper, the task force describes a structure and process we developed for conducting committee work that centers marginalized perspectives while mitigating cultural taxation. We then describe our recommendations and openly accessible resources (e.g., resources for inclusive reviewing practices, writing about constraints on generalizability, drafting a globally inclusive demographic information survey, inclusive citation practices, and improving representation among editorial gatekeeping positions; recommendations and resource links are provided in Table 3). These recommendations and resources are both (a) tailored for a particular set of journals at a particular time and (b) useful as a foundation that can be continually adapted and improved for other journals and going forward. This paper provides concrete plans for readers looking to enhance inclusive excellence in their committee work, authorship, reviewing, and/or editing.

Gossiping for a Reason – Revised Gossip Functions Questionnaire (RGFQ)

Abstract: Introduction: According to one prominent theoretical model of gossip, we gossip for four key reasons: to keep track of our social networks, to strengthen bonds with others, to manage our reputation, and to entertain ourselves ( Foster, 2004 ). Foster (2004) has also provided the Gossip Functions Questionnaire (GFQ) reflecting these four theoretical functions. Yet, this model has not been empirically derived. Method and Results: Using a large nationally representative sample we show that this survey captures the two main functions of gossip: (1) Normative Function, and (2) Relationship Function. Finally, we modified the GFQ to capture the two main functions of gossip: the 11-item Revised GFQ. Current findings open many avenues of research for social, organizational, and developmental psychologists who are interested in how and when gossip comes about, and how it affects individuals, groups, and organizations.

Optimizing child protection systems: A systematic review of the literature on risk assessment practices

Child maltreatment is a global phenomenon that has affected millions of children, with far-reaching consequences for their development. The assessment of risk has emerged as a fundamental and indispensable component within child protection services. Professionals should use safe and effective risk assessment practices, always prioritizing the best interests of the child. This systematic review aims to elucidate the prevailing risk assessment practices employed by professionals within the child protection systems. The systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Thirteen empirical studies were selected, featuring participants from diverse fields such as social services, health, psychology, and law enforcement. The professionals relied on a multifaceted approach, incorporating clinical judgment, professional expertise, actuarial risk assessment tools, individual interviews with children, adolescents, and family members, as well as the observation of familial dynamics. Moreover, intra- and interinstitutional collaboration played a pivotal role in the comprehensive evaluation of risk. Consequently, the discerned efficient practice appears to be a synergistic effort undertaken by a transdisciplinary team. This collaborative action encompasses the utilization of clinical judgment, augmented by the judicious administration of actuarial risk assessment instruments.

Social Media Use and Psychological Distress Among Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Review.

Undergraduate nursing students experience high stress and use social media sites at high rates. Yet, there is a paucity of literature focused on understanding the association between social media use and psychological distress among undergraduate nursing students. Guided by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA), a systematic review was conducted on the association between social media use and psychological distress among undergraduate nursing students. Ten articles met the inclusion criteria. Most of the included studies used cross-sectional designs. The findings indicated that undergraduate nursing students who followed social media sites were more likely to report symptoms of psychological distress, particularly significant depressive and anxiety symptoms. Undergraduate nursing students who use social media are likely to experience psychological distress. Combined interventions focused on minimizing social media use and reducing academic stress may help foster the psychological health of nursing students. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(8):540-545.].