Journal of Social and Political Psychology

Sustaining Participation in the Ecological Movement During the Global Pandemic: The Case of Fridays for Future (Spain)

Juan C. Revilla — 2024-12-20

This article analyses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on the Spanish wing of Fridays for Future, an emerging, youth-oriented environmental and social movement. Specifically, it examines the effect of reductions in physical social interaction during the pandemic on FfF’s dynamics through analysis of movement’s cognitive frameworks, internal organisation, mobilisations, identity processes, internal relationships, group efficacy, intention to remain involved in the movement, and members’ emotions. The study was carried out in Spain between September 2019 and October 2020 and employed a mixed-methods design, including ethnography (observations of assemblies and mobilisations, analysis of internal documents and social media chats, personal interviews and focus groups, involving in total more than 50 activists) and a survey of the movement’s activists (68 participants). The results show that the use of digital media permitted the movement to adapt its internal organisation to counteract the impact of the pandemic and lockdown. This was evident in the findings in relation to the activists’ identification with the movement, their perception of efficacy, and intention to stay involved, which all remained relatively high. On the other hand, the study participants perceived the impact of lockdown on mobilisations to have been predominantly negative, pointing to adverse long-term effects. The pandemic also had a significant influence on the movements’ interpretive framework as discourses of social commitment and equality became increasingly influential and integrated into its worldview. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses points to the importance of social, affective, technological, and organisational dimensions in the movement’s continued survival.

Predicting Misinformation Beliefs Across Four Countries: The Role of Narcissism, Conspiracy Mentality, Social Trust, and Perceptions of Unsafe Neighborhoods

Aleksander B. Gundersen — 2024-12-11

There are differing perspectives on the roles that social-perceptual and individual-difference factors play in explaining susceptibility to misinformation. With quota-representative samples from the U.S. (n = 492), the U.K. (n = 600), Poland (n = 558), and Germany (n = 490), we ran a comprehensive test of four social-perceptual factors (i.e., social trust, institutional trust, relative deprivation, and perceived area unsafety) and six individual-difference factors (i.e., narcissism, conspiracy mentality, closed-mindedness, need for predictability, need for order, and perceived locus of control). In terms of the social-perceptual factors, social trust and perceptions of area unsafety were consistently related to higher misinformation susceptibility across countries. In terms of individual-difference factors, narcissism and conspiracy mentality were associated with increased susceptibility to misinformation in three of the four countries. Relative deprivation and external locus of control were related to misinformation susceptibility in the pooled sample. We discuss societal implications of these findings and highlight directions for future research.

‘Well, Our Goal Is to Achieve Sustainable Quiet and Security for Our People’: Negotiating Calls for Ceasefires in the Gaza War of 2014 in Mainstream English News Media by Israeli Spokespersons

Rahul Sambaraju — 2024-11-08

In this study, we examined how calls for ceasefires were negotiated by Israeli spokespersons in mainstream English news media during one instance of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the Gaza War of 2014. Recent scholarship in peace studies has begun to examine how ‘peace’ and ‘violence’ are variously constructed to advance vested positions. We extend this focus through a discursive psychological examination of another ostensibly desirable outcome in conflicts, namely ‘ceasefire’. Findings show that the desirability of ceasefires and their negotiation is closely bound to the management of stake and interest by both media persons and Israeli spokespersons. The latter neither explicitly rejected nor accepted calls for ceasefires. Instead, they downgraded ceasefires in favour of other versions of cessation of conflict, framed as ‘sustainable peace’. This allowed for the non-acceptance of ceasefires while, paradoxically, justifying ongoing and further military actions in Gaza. Together, these findings point to the relevance of psychological practices of justifying, managing stake, and avoiding seeming committed to violence in talking about conflict and peace. Findings are discussed in relation to research in peace and political psychology, and implications for the ongoing attacks on Gaza.

Addressing Epistemic Violence and Methodological Nationalism Through a Meta-Analytical Review on Intergroup Contact and Conflict Studies in Turkey

Mete Sefa Uysal — 2024-11-05

This paper provides an examination of intergroup contact research in the context of the Turkish-Kurdish ‘conflict’ through a meta-analytical scoping review. By doing so, we discuss how dominant biases in the literature such as methodological nationalism and epistemic violence influence research practices and knowledge-production systems in conflict and contact studies conducted under colonial rule. Through a thematic investigation, we found four variables that were commonly tested in intergroup contact studies: i) attitudes towards outgroup, ii) support for minority rights or multiculturalism, iii) perception of discrimination against the minority group, and iv) ethnic identity. We conducted four meta-analyses using a pool of 28 studies conducted in Turkey to unpack the associations of intergroup contact with: i) outgroup attitudes (r = .42; n = 5,624), ii) support for minority rights and multiculturalism (r = -.06ns; n = 1,567), iii) perception of discrimination against Kurds (r = .22; n = 2,431), and iv) ethnic identity (r = -.13; n = 4,636). The results demonstrated a moderate to strong relationship between intergroup contact and positive outgroup attitudes, while the findings were less robust for support for minority rights, perception of discrimination against Kurds, and ethnic identity. Furthermore, the group status and sample characteristics of the studies moderate the relationships between variables. Based on the findings and a critical analysis of the current literature, we discuss the limitations of the existing research and critical points for future studies.

Neoliberalism and Pandemics: A Critical Cultural Psychological Perspective

Tyler Jimenez — 2024-10-11

In this theoretical article, we analyze from a critical cultural psychological perspective why neoliberalism is ill-suited to handle crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, we describe a process whereby neoliberalism motivates individualism, which in turn contributes to precarity, inequality, depoliticization, and penality, each of which have exacerbated the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conclude with a critique of how hegemonic practices in the field of psychological science are implicated in this process of neoliberal individualism and consider how the field might resist neoliberalism.

Potential Changes in Ties With People All Over the World During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Quantitative and Qualitative Analyses of Polish Adults

Katarzyna Hamer — 2024-10-10

The COVID-19 pandemic can be seen as a crisis affecting all humanity. It posed a collective threat, potentially strengthening ties with people all over the world through a feeling of interconnectedness and a common human fate. On the other hand, a sense of physical and psychological threat, competition for scarce resources, and closed national borders may have hindered such ties, worsened the perceptions of people all over the world, and focused individuals on their national and local communities. Thus, the present research aimed to explore the potential changes in ties with people all over the world during the first year of the pandemic in a quantitative (Study 1; Polish national sample, N = 762; longitudinal design) and a qualitative way (Study 2; N = 33 of Poles, narrative interviews). A mixed-methods approach (explanatory sequential design) was employed to gain deeper insights into the diverse perspectives of individuals regarding ties with people all over the world. Study 1 showed no changes in identification with all humanity between March, May/June, and December 2020. A sense of COVID-19 threat or any demographic factors did not affect this finding. Study 2 revealed a more nuanced picture with a variety of individual perspectives on the world and its inhabitants during the pandemic. Some interviewees perceived the world as small but unifying all humans, with the pandemic increasing their interest and compassion for people from other countries. On the other hand, other participants perceived this “small world” as threatening and preferred their own close-knit communities.

Multilayered Politicized Constructions of Covid-19 Vaccines: A Global South View of Pfizer and Sinovac

Ed Joseph B. Bulilan — 2024-10-08

Despite their overwhelming public health benefits for pandemic response, Covid-19 vaccines have been subject to political controversy around the world. Multidisciplinary scholarship in the health and social sciences points to a wide range of factors that influence the public’s divided views of vaccines. But these factors have largely been considered in relative isolation from each other as independent influences on vaccine beliefs. In this paper, we propose a multilayered politico-psychological model of collective constructions of the Covid-19 vaccines. Borrowing from Montiel and Christie’s (2007) theoretical framework, we examine how the Covid-19 vaccines are holistically constructed in relation to interdependent social meanings across micro-level, meso-level, and macro-level socio-ecological layers. Harnessing a mixed methods research design, we apply this framework to analyze a large corpus of Filipino tweets (N = 229,236) about the Pfizer and Sinovac vaccines. Micro-level discourses feature competing individual emotions which construct Pfizer as an object of desire and Sinovac as an object of fear. Meso-level constructions invoke collective contexts of information and resource scarcity within which Pfizer is a serendipitous prize while Sinovac is a mandated responsibility. Finally, macro-level constructions embed the Covid-19 vaccines within national and international structures, framing Pfizer as a symbol of political integrity and Sinovac as an instrument of political corruption for government leaders. In conclusion, these multilayered discourses around the Covid-19 vaccines illuminate complex negotiations of agency among a Global South public during the pandemic. We discuss multilevel interventions and politico-psychological implications for public health campaigns more broadly.

Attitudes Toward Refugees Between Group-Focused Enmity and Other-Oriented Responsiveness: Evidence From Nationally Representative German Samples 2015/2016 and 2022

Heinz Streib — 2024-09-06

What are the differences in attitudes toward incoming people who seek refuge from war and toward those who supposedly are coming because of the better living conditions? How could this attitudinal difference be explained? This article presents spotlights on the attitudes toward refugees in Germany based on national representative surveys in two periods, when the German borders were crossed (a) by high numbers of people fleeing the war in Syria in 2015 and early 2016 (n = 1,262), and (b) when in 2022 most refugees came from Ukraine (n = 1,339). Results based on a repeated cross-sectional design indicate that, during both periods of peak war-related refugee immigration, there was high agreement to accepting war refugees into Germany, which even increased between 2016 (81.1%) and 2022 (89.8%), while, in contrast, the majority (2016: 70.0%; 2022: 60.8%) resisted accepting refugees who supposedly seek only better living conditions. Further, using a newly designed model, we demonstrate that the Group-focused Enmity syndrome is negatively associated with the agreement to accept war refugees into Germany (β = -.31), but much more negatively with accepting supposedly ‘economic’ refugees (β = -.49), while the component of Other-oriented Responsiveness is positively associated with accepting war refugees (β = .23). The results document continuously high agreement to accepting war refugees into Germany; further the study opens a perspective on prejudice reduction and suggests understanding the attitudes to refugees in a model that tests the opposition between othering and responsiveness. Both key results invite further investigation.

Slicing the Gordian Knot of Political Extremism: Issues and Potential Solutions Regarding Its Conceptualization and Terminology

Marcos Dono — 2024-09-02

The main goal of the present work is to highlight the problems surrounding the current definition of political extremism and the misuse of this and other related terms like radicalism and radicalization. It is argued that these issues generate confusion and obscure research efforts regarding these phenomena. We identify four major problems regarding the terminology used to describe the phenomenon of political extremism: a polysemy problem, an inadequate equivalence between the terms extremism and radicalism, uncertainty about the role of violence in defining political extremism, and the fact that the term ‘radicalization’ is more closely associated with extremists rather than radicals. We describe how these problems affect both research on extremism and hinder its application and we propose potential solutions for such issues.

Constructive Patriotism Predicts Voting Intentions: Evidence From State Parliamentary, EU Parliamentary, and Presidential Elections Across Different EU Countries

Mirjana Rupar — 2024-07-01

In the present research, we investigated the link between different forms of national identification (i.e., constructive patriotism, glorification, and conventional patriotism) and intentions to vote in state parliamentary elections in Poland and Spain (Study 1, N = 1,270), presidential elections in Croatia (Study 2, N = 640), and elections for the EU Parliament in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Croatia (Study 3, N = 1,238). In Study 3, we additionally measured European identity. Moreover, we asked about actual voting behavior in Poland (Studies 1 and 3) and Croatia (Studies 2 and 3). The results consistently show that constructive patriotism is linked with greater intentions to vote in all types of elections and across all countries, and with a greater likelihood of voting in state parliamentary elections. In contrast, conventional patriotism had no link with intentions to vote or with actual voting behaviour in any type of election in any of the countries studied. Glorification was linked to lower intentions to vote only in state parliamentary elections. European identity was linked with greater intentions to vote in EU elections. Overall, our results suggest that constructive patriotism is a form of national identification that has particular electoral relevance.