An experimental method for assessing gender biases was used to compare Republicans' and Democrats' ratings of moral violations in the domains of justice vs. respect for authority. Four experimental conditions of a text-based survey instrument manipulated the gender of the protagonist and the location of the first instance of gender information in single-sentence moral violation vignettes. Results were consistent with the theoretical time course of neurolinguistic gender priming and the hypothesized influence of implicit stereotypes on moral judgments. Republicans demonstrated a gender bias in ratings of authority violations by rating violations committed by girls and women as worse when compared to a pronoun only condition. Democrats demonstrated the opposite bias by rating authority violations committed by boys and men as worse when compared to violations committed by girls and women. No significant bias was found for any of the justice violation conditions for either Republicans or Democrats.

The prejudice reduction potential of face-to-face intergroup contact is widely established, but we know much less about computer-mediated intergroup contact (online contact) specifically via social media where interactions are less controlled and mostly asynchronous. Additionally, much of the work on online contact has focused on positive, controlled contact, neglecting the effect of negative contact. We examined the effects of mediated contact via online posts with differing valence (positive, negative, and neutral) in three experimental studies, in an imaginary scenario (Study 1:  = 120) and a real intergroup scenario with South and North Indians (Study 2:  = 296, Study 3:  = 336). Main effects of One way and factorial ANOVA showed that contact valence significantly affected outgroup attitudes in Study 1 & 2 but was not replicated in Study 3, where quality and quantity of past contact and status differences emerged as significant predictors of attitudes. Multiple mediation analysis revealed that intergroup anxiety and quality of contact explained changes in attitudes, which was less affected by valence and more by regional identity and history of contact. Findings are discussed in light of the possibilities and limitations of asynchronous mediated contact on social media.

The present study explored how knowledge (Study 1) and inferences (Study 2) about religiosity influence impressions of morality depending on whether effort is exerted to reach a morally controversial decision. In Study 1, undergraduates judged a [religious/nonreligious] doctor who exerted [little/great] effort into their decision to euthanize a patient. Results indicated that when the doctor was nonreligious or exerted low effort, they were considered less moral compared to when they were religious or exerted high effort. In Study 2, Turk Prime participants evaluated a doctor who decided in favor or against euthanizing a patient, with the same effort manipulation as Study 1. Results indicated that the doctor who favored euthanasia was considered less religious than the doctor who did not. As in Study 1, greater morality was associated with the doctor who exerted greater effort, particularly when they favored euthanasia. When the doctor favored euthanasia, they were rated as more moral when their background was inferred to be more religious; however, the opposite pattern of results emerged when the doctor decided against euthanasia.

This research investigated how identity fusion with environmental issues interacts with social norms to shape pro-environmental behaviors, elucidating the psychological structure underlying environmental ideological engagement. Building upon a measure of identity fusion that captures both relational and doctrinal components of Zmigrod ideology framework, we found that higher identity fusion positively predicted donations to an environmental association in a Dictator Game paradigm. Importantly, results revealed an interaction between identity fusion and norm source on donation amounts. For individuals lower in environmental identity fusion, pro-environmental norms had a greater impact when originating from a source sharing their worldview (low-fused) compared to a distant group (high-fused). However, for individuals with high fusion, norm source proximity did not significantly impact donations. By illuminating this interplay between the relational and doctrinal facets of ideological thinking, this research advances understanding of the social and psychological motivators of environmental actions. These findings highlight the importance of considering identity alignment and social dynamics in fostering ecological engagement.

Conspiracy beliefs (i.e. beliefs in specific conspiracy theories or the more general conspiracy mentality) are associated with a need for uniqueness and lower adherence to social norms. These findings suggest that conspiracy beliefs might be generally associated with less influence by majority opinions - absolutely and compared to minority opinions. In five experiments involving scenarios unrelated to conspiracy theories (overall  = 1669), participants were informed about the majority/minority opinion on a given issue (e.g. the building of a tunnel), afterward indicating their evaluation or voting intentions regarding the issue. We then tested whether the influence of a majority/minority opinion on evaluation or voting intentions is moderated by conspiracy beliefs. Across studies, we find no significant moderation. A meta-analysis confirms no correlation between conspiracy beliefs and susceptibility to majority influence. Taken together, our studies provide no evidence for the assumption that those holding conspiracy beliefs reject majority opinions per se.

We examined the effect of pathogen and mortality salience on moral values and political orientation, testing competing hypotheses derived from three relevant perspectives. While Terror Management Theory (TMT) predicts a delayed shift toward preexisting moral values and political orientation, Pathogen Prevalence Hypothesis (PPH) anticipates a shift toward binding moral foundations, and Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition (PCMSC) posits a shift toward political Principlism. This was an experimental study with salience type (mortality, pathogen, control) and delay (immediate, delayed) as independent variables. The effect of pathogen salience on moral foundations and political orientation was consistent with TMT. Also, there was a delayed PPH-directed effect of pathogen salience on moral foundations, and a PCMSC-consistent effect of pathogen salience on political orientation. Findings are discussed in light of possible differences in the timeline of effects and provided insight to reconcile contradictory predictions of the three perspectives.

Previous research has identified that the relationship between perceived economic inequality and supporting redistribution is mediated by beliefs about what causes poverty. Despite its usefulness, this approach has failed to recognize the role of perceived causes of wealth in explaining the relationship between these two variables. We conducted correlational ( = 523) and experimental ( = 226) studies, demonstrating that in contexts with high inequality, attributing poverty and wealth primarily to external factors resulted in greater support for redistribution. Furthermore, the attributions that served as mediators varied depending on the proposed redistributive measure. We delve into the significance of wealth attributional processes in understanding attitudes toward redistribution.

This study examines the effects of vehicle size on driver impressions and behavioral intentions. Study 1 tested whether vehicle size (large vs. small) affects perceived physical size (height, body shape) through socioeconomic status (SES). We found that large (vs. small) vehicle drivers were perceived as tall (vs. short), and this perception was mediated by the drivers' estimated SES (but not by body shape). Study 2 focused on aggressive behavioral intentions (e.g. honking) toward other drivers, examining whether the relationship between vehicle size and intention was serially mediated by estimated physical size and traits (aggression, power). Here, large (vs. small) vehicle driver were perceived as tall (heavy) and possessing high power (high aggression), which is related to less (more) aggressive behavioral intention toward the driver. Our study suggests that individuals perceive other drivers' physical sizes differently, and this perception is associated with differences in behavioral responses toward other drivers.

Self-interest bias describes an observer's tendency to judge moral transgression leniently when they benefit from it. However, what factors moderate the self-interest bias is an open empirical question. Here, we investigated to what extent hypocrisy moderates the self-interest bias. Preregistered Study 1a ( = 194) and replication in Study 1b ( = 193) demonstrated that observers' interest impacts moral character judgments of hypocritical transgressors. This effect was explained by observers' goal attainment due to transgression (Study 2,  = 713) and agreement to aid observers' or ingroup interests (Study 3,  = 634). Importantly, transgressors' hypocrisy moderated the impact of observers' interests in moral character judgments (Studies 2 & 3). In summary, when judging hypocritical transgressors, peoples' moral character judgments tend to be biased by their or their group's interests. However, in comparison to non-hypocritical transgressors, this impact is less pronounced.

In three preregistered studies, we investigated whether implicit treatment expectations, using a relational implicit measure (the MT-PEP), vary between participants provided opposing information about novel medical treatments (Studies 1 and 2) or who responded based on normative beliefs toward common over-the-counter drugs (Study 3). The studies revealed large Cohen's d effect sizes of both novel and well-known treatment information within the implicit measure. The studies also provide evidence of convergent validity, with MT-PEP scores associated with explicit beliefs about medicine and over-the-counter drug familiarity. Implicit treatment expectations can be assessed and offer a novel tool for the intersection of social psychology and medicine.

Conspiracy theories often feature moral concerns and thrive when societal institutions are perceived as untrustworthy. However, limited research exists exploring whether moral concerns are associated with conspiracy thinking and if this link is strengthened when institutional trust is low. Two studies employing correlational ( = 423) and experimental ( = 381) designs found that liberty moral concerns, and to a lesser extent binding concerns, are associated with increased conspiratorial thinking, particularly when institutional trust is low. Moral concerns about liberty may contribute to increased conspiratorial thinking and low institutional trust may play a key role in exacerbating this link.

A stereotype is a generalization about a class of people which is often used to make probabilistic predictions about individuals within that class. Can stereotypes can be understood as conditional probabilities that distinguish among groups in ways that follow Bayesian posterior prediction? For instance, the stereotype of Germans as industrious can be understood as the conditional probability of someone being industrious given that they are German. Whether such representations follow Bayes' rule was tested in a replication and extension of past work. Across three studies ( = 2,652), we found that people's judgments of different social categories were appropriately Bayesian, in that their direct posterior predictions were aligned with what Bayes' rule suggests they should be. Moreover, across social categories, traits with a high calculated diagnostic ratio generally distinguished stereotypic from non-stereotypic traits. The effects of cognitive ability, political orientation, and motivated stereotyping were also explored.

A pro-environmental behavior (PEB) intervention may increase the adoption of other PEBs that were not targeted by the intervention, leading to a positive spillover effect. Communication that both support autonomy, as defined by self-determination theory, and compliance with descriptive norms may promote the targeted PEBs and positive spillover effect. Such communication may enhance autonomous motivation to adopt PEBs. A pilot study ( = 350) about waste management in a university campus found that autonomous communication supplemented by normative information influenced both targeted and non-targeted behavioral intentions, compared to autonomous-only and controlling communication. Findings were replicated in a main study ( = 629). An intervention combining autonomy support and descriptive norms increased the likelihood of a positive spillover effect in contrast to an intervention combining controlling communication and descriptive norms. In both studies, autonomous motivation mediated the positive spillover effect. Results suggest that communication that promotes autonomous motivation by fulfilling basic self-determination needs may have a broader effect on a wider range of PEBs.

Media are a key social agent shaping society's responses to measures implemented in the fight against terrorism. We argue that emotions elicited by media narratives on terrorist attacks are decisive to understand the link between the news media consumption and citizens' support for military intervention in the Middle East, as well as for security measures in the home country. In two studies conducted after the Brussels attacks ( = 250) and the Barcelona attacks ( = 633), we tested the explanatory role of emotions - specifically fear and hatred - in the association between media narratives and these two outcomes. The results of both studies show that hatred explained the positive relationship between news media consumption and support for military intervention, and to a lesser degree, agreement with security measures. In contrast, the positive relationship between news media consumption and agreement with security measures was explained by fear. This research underscores the need to consider how emotions are utilized in media discourse. We discuss practical implications of our findings for promoting ethical journalism.

Empathy, whether state or trait, is an individual's ability to adopt another's perspective, feel another's feelings, or identify with another's situation (Campbell & Babrow, 2004; Davis, 1983; Nezlek etal., 2007). Research reliably shows relationships between empathy and parasocial interactions (e.g. psychological engagements with fictional characters; Giles, 2002; Tsao, 1996; Zillmann, 1994). The current study sought to identify the relationship between the type of parasocial interactions and subsequent changes in state-level empathy via an experimental design. Results indicate state-level empathy changes are contingent upon valence (i.e. Favorite vs. Least Favorite) and status (i.e. Real vs. Parasocial) of the imagined interaction.

The present study examined the thematic composition and temporal evolution of social psychology through a co-citation network analysis of 80,350 articles published from 1970 through 2022. Six primary thematic clusters were identified: a broad "Classic Social Psychology" cluster most prominent in the 1970s and 1980s; "Traits & Affect" and "Social Cognition" clusters most influential in the 1990s; and "The Self," "Intergroup Relations," and "Big Five" clusters emerging after 2000. A small seventh cluster dedicated to COVID-19 and conspiracy theories emerged around 2021. These trends fit a narrative of generational shifts within distinct social and personality psychology traditions.

Familiar information is more likely to be accepted as true. This illusory truth effect has a tremendous negative impact on misinformation intervention. Previous studies focused on the familiarity from repeated exposure in the laboratory, ignoring preexisting familiarity with real-world misinformation. Over three studies (total  = 337), we investigated the cognitive mechanisms behind the truth biases from these two familiarity sources, and whether fact-checking can curb such biased truth perceptions. Studies 1 and 2 found robust truth effects induced by two sources of familiarity but with different cognitive processes. According to the cognitive process model, repetition-induced familiarity reduced decision prudence. Preexisting familiarity instead enhanced truth-congruent evidence accumulation. Study 3 showed that pre-exposing statements with warning flags eliminated the bias to truth induced by repetition but not that from preexisting familiarity. These repeated statements with warning labels also reduced decision caution. These findings furthered the understanding of how different sources of familiarity affect truth perceptions and undermine the intervention through different cognitive processes.

Risk communication involves conveying potential risks to the audience. It's crucial for shaping behavior and influencing individual well-being. Previous research predominantly focused on verbal and written aspects of risk communication, with less emphasis on nonverbal cues like vocal tone. Addressing this gap, our study explores the impact of competent and warm vocal tones on risk communication across two risky decision-making paradigms, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) in Study 1 and the Gambling Task in Study 2. Results show that competent and warm vocal tones are more persuasive than neutral tones, and their effectiveness varies in different decision-making scenarios. Additionally, participants' perceived competence and warmth of vocal tones mediate this persuasiveness. This study enhances our theoretical understanding of risk communication by incorporating the impact of vocal tones. Also, it carries practical implications for marketers and practitioners, demonstrating the importance of using voice as a medium to persuade in real-world scenarios.

This study explored the impact of customer mistreatment on counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and the moderating role of supervisor responses (self-sacrificial and self-serving leadership) to clarify why customer-directed CWB occurs and how it can be reduced. A sample of 392 customer-facing employees in the USA completed measures assessing the meaningfulness of work and self-sacrificial and self-serving leadership experiences. The meaningfulness of work moderated the relationship between customer mistreatment and employee anger, and a three-way interaction was found between employee anger and self-sacrificial and self-serving leadership on customer-directed CWB. Implications for managing customer mistreatment and fostering meaningful work to promote employee well-being are discussed.

Although there have been studies in the past that have highlighted the important role of leader traits in motivating employee innovation behavior, leader perfectionism has been scarcely investigated in this context. This study attempts to explore whether leader perfectionism directed toward employees can facilitate or hinder employee innovation behavior. Based on the transactional model of stress, we propose and test a moderated mediation model using data from a multi-wave, multi-source survey of 334 leader-employee questionnaires. The results show that, for employees with high self-efficacy, leader perfectionism has a positive effect on their challenge stress, which in turn promotes employee innovation behavior; Meanwhile, for employees with low self-efficacy, leader perfectionism has a positive effect on their hindrance stress, thereby discouraging employee innovation behavior. This study has significant theoretical and practical implications as it highlights the underlying relationship between leader perfectionism and employee innovation behavior.