European Journal of Social Psychology

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2605pmid: N/A

Rizzoli, Valentina; Castro, Paula; Tuzzi, Arjuna; Contarello, Alberta

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2528pmid: N/A

The European Journal of Social Psychology (EJSP), as the voice of the European Association of Social Psychology, aims to promote diversity and a distinctively ‘European’, more ‘social’, social psychology (SP). However, whether and how these objectives have been accomplished over time remains controversial. This article enters this debate, tracing the history of SP as depicted by EJSP publications, via two types of lexicometric analyses of all abstracts of the Journal (1971–2016). Themes, processes, methods, and their organisation in cycles and clusters over time, were identified and analysed. Regarding diversity, findings indicate that the publications reflect several of the new theoretical proposals that emerged over the years, but do not fully reflect the variety of perspectives and methods of the discipline. It further indicates that lately the ‘social’ is predominantly present in attention to pressing social issues, albeit the processes involved in them are mostly theorised at an individualistic level. This pattern suggests the importance of keeping open the quest for epistemological and methodological diversity, and of re‐problematising what the ‘social’ in SP means. By contributing to mapping the history of SP, offering a more comprehensive and reflexive view for it, the present analyses also help in forging a stronger discipline.

Orazani, S. Nima; Leidner, Bernhard

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2526pmid: N/A

Drawing on literatures on social movements and collective action, mentalization, and morality, four studies investigated whether a social movement's use of nonviolence can increase people's willingness to support and join the movement. In a correlational study with a nested design, across 23 movements perceived use of nonviolence predicted participants' willingness to support and join the movement (Study 1, n = 203). This effect was also found experimentally, with Americans supporting nonviolent movements more than violent ones, in hypothetical and real foreign countries (Study 2 and 3, ns = 606 and 373). Study 4 (n = 247) replicated the effects in participants' own country. The effects were transmitted by attribution of mental states to nonviolent movements and subsequent greater perceived morality (Study 2–4). This research demonstrates that nonviolence can benefit social movements in terms of support and mobilization potential, and that these benefits are rooted in perceptions of mental capacity, humanness, and morality.

Manzi, Claudia; Paderi, Fabio; Benet‐Martínez, Verónica; Coen, Sharon

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2533pmid: N/A

Previous studies have shown that the presence of age‐based stereotypes in the workplace is often associated with lower levels of work engagement and adjustment among older employees. This study examines possible mediators and moderators of this relationship using data from a sample of 2,348 older (age > 50) employees at the Italian national rail company. We test a model in which the effects of age‐based stereotype threat on organizational involvement, future time perspective, and psychological well‐being are mediated by work–age identity integration (how much individuals see their age and organizational identities as compatible and blended). Secondly, we explored whether these effects are moderated by gender and job status. Results indicate that age‐based stereotypes are associated with negative outcomes for employees’ work and personal adjustment, and that these relationships are partially mediated by variations in work–age identity integration.

Pennington, Charlotte R.; Litchfield, Damien; McLatchie, Neil; Heim, Derek

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2540pmid: N/A

Underpinned by the findings of Jamieson and Harkins (2007; Experiment 3), the current study pits the mere effort motivational account of stereotype threat against a working memory interference account. In Experiment 1, females were primed with a negative self‐ or group stereotype pertaining to their visuospatial ability and completed an anti‐saccade eye‐tracking task. In Experiment 2 they were primed with a negative or positive group stereotype and completed an anti‐saccade and mental arithmetic task. Findings indicate that stereotype threat did not significantly impair women's inhibitory control (Experiments 1 and 2) or mathematical performance (Experiment 2), with Bayesian analyses providing support for the null hypothesis. These findings are discussed in relation to potential moderating factors of stereotype threat, such as task difficulty and stereotype endorsement, as well as the possibility that effect sizes reported in the stereotype threat literature are inflated due to publication bias.

Ji, Li‐Jun; Hong, Emily K.; Guo, Tieyuan; Zhang, Zhiyong; Su, Yanjie; Li, Ye

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2544pmid: N/A

The present research explores how culture influences individuals’ psychological proximity to the past and future, which may predict differences in perceived self‐continuity across time. In Studies 1 and 2, we hypothesized and found that Chinese participants saw the past and future as more connected and subjectively closer to the present compared to Euro‐Canadians. Following this, we expected and found in Studies 3 and 4 that Chinese participants perceived greater self‐continuity over time than Euro‐Canadians. Additionally, perceived closeness to the past mediated the effect of culture on past–present self‐continuity, which subsequently predicted present–future self‐continuity. Study 5 further documented a causal effect of perceived distance to the past on self‐continuity. These results suggest that cultural differences in temporal attention to the past and future play a pivotal role in people's sense of self‐continuity across time. This has important implications for temporal focalism, intertemporal discounting, and social interactions between Chinese and Euro‐Canadians.

Logel, Christine; Hall, William; Page‐Gould, Elizabeth; Cohen, Geoffrey L.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2536pmid: N/A

People are frequently dissatisfied with their body weight. Messages alleging that lower weight is esthetically preferable, healthier, and achievable likely trigger chronic self‐integrity threat, the sense that one's personal adequacy is in doubt. We examined whether self‐integrity threat, which creates stress and pressure to restore self‐integrity, contributes to the challenges of weight and behavior change. Weight‐dissatisfied women completed in‐lab tasks including a values affirmation manipulation and two‐month follow‐up. Affirmed women lost weight relative to controls, replicating previous research. Effects were primarily among those with higher initial body masses. Affirmed higher‐weighted women also ate more healthful foods compared to unhealthful foods in self‐reports and observation. Affirmed participants reported increased exercise, and an exploratory measure showed that their cortisol awakening responses synchronized with their coping needs, suggesting more adaptive physiological function. Results suggest that self‐integrity threat is an under‐recognized barrier to change, and reducing it can support healthy changes.

Earle, Megan; Hodson, Gordon

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2538pmid: N/A

Racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual minority populations are growing rapidly in the West. We investigate predictors and consequences of threat responses to perceived minority group size, and perceptions of minority group size itself. Study 1 (N = 274) finds that right‐wing adherence predicts greater size threat, whereas lower numerical ability predicts larger perceived group size (confirmed in Studies 2–3). Study 2 (Sample 1, N = 124; Sample 2, N = 263) finds that the relation between right‐wing adherence and prejudice toward minorities exhibits an indirect effect via group size threat (but not perceived size), explaining 35–66% of this relation. Study 3 (N = 310) finds a comparable indirect effect explaining 27–40% of this relation, even after statistically controlling for indirect effects of realistic, symbolic, and terroristic threat. These findings provide novel insights into psychological processes surrounding perceived minority group size, identifying size threat as especially crucial in understanding intergroup relations.

Brandstätter, Veronika; Koletzko, Svenja H.; Bettschart, Martin

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2541pmid: N/A

This research extends previous work on the self‐regulation of goal striving as well as effects of temporal and psychological distance on motivation. Borrowing from classic work on goal gradients and approach‐avoidance conflicts, we predicted that the experience of ambivalence toward a personal goal moderates the extent to which feeling or being close to goal attainment affects motivation, such that greater proximity to the goal has a negative effect on motivation at higher levels of experienced goal ambivalence. We find evidence for the hypothesized effect across three studies examining different goals (pursuing a degree, running a half‐marathon) with varying operationalizations of goal proximity (self‐reported, manipulated, temporal) and motivation (goal commitment, intention strength). These results validate that classic concepts of motivation science such as goal gradients and approach‐avoidance conflict are both relevant and applicable to the everyday pursuit of self‐set personal goals.

Sels, Laura; Ceulemans, Eva; Kuppens, Peter

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2547pmid: N/A

Despite its importance for well‐being, surprisingly little is known about what determines how couples feel after a conflict. Using the peak‐end rule, we examined whether partners’ post‐conflict affect was mainly predicted by their most aversive or pleasant emotional experience (peaks) during the conflict, or by the emotional tone at the end of the interaction. One hundred and one couples engaged in a conflict interaction and afterwards evaluated their momentary affect during the interaction. Post‐conflict affect (in terms of positive and negative feelings, and perceived partner responsiveness) was assessed immediately after the conflict, after a subsequent positive discussion, and upon returning to daily life (here, rumination about the relationship was assessed as well). Our results showed that the negative and positive peaks, but not the end emotion, predicted immediate and partly extended post‐conflict affect in individuals. This finding has clinical implications for the mediation of couple conflict.