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.
The present research aims to explain the mediating role of mindfulness in the relationship between early maladaptive schemas and self-efficacy among the students of Tehran University in Tehran, Iran ...(
n
= 306). The General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE, Sherer et al.
Psychological Reports, 51
(2), 663-671
1982
), the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ, Baer et al.
Assessment, 13
(1), 27-45
2006
) and the Early Maladaptive Schemas Questionnaire-Short Form (EMSQ-SF, Young 1994) were used for collecting the data. The results of the path analysis revealed that mindfulness mediates the relationship between early maladaptive schemas and self-efficacy. Given the role of mindfulness in increasing self-efficacy and reducing early maladaptive schemas, mindfulness training interventions are recommended to be used for reducing the destructive effects of early maladaptive schemas and increasing self-efficacy.
Abstract
COVID‐19 has highlighted worldwide the importance of a strong social and political fabric. Those countries that fared best were ones where there was community connection, belonging, a ...volunteering ethos, and a belief in the legitimacy of official institutions, all deemed critical aspects of social cohesion. It has become clear that understanding and strengthening social cohesion in times of stability is critical to successfully navigate crisis. Despite its importance, evidence from many countries indicates that this important “social glue” is fragile and at risk, requiring consistent investments to maintain and strengthen it. Governments and communities around the world are looking to evidence‐based strategies to strengthen social cohesion. To facilitate this goal, a systematic review is conducted of four major databases identifying 52 studies with high‐quality evidence of what works and why. We also included the results of three systematic reviews that had investigated the impact of social capital and/or social cohesion on health‐related variables specifically to broaden our search and enrich our findings (
n
= 21; total = 73). Using themes identified across governments, it is possible to classify the strengths and limitations of existing research. It becomes clear that the most common effective strategies were (1) awareness raising and coutering existing stereotypes and (2) offering opportunities for positive contact and a more co‐operative assessment of intergroup relations. Missing are leadership processes that can (re)define group‐based values, norms, and behaviors. Specific intervention strategies are outlined as well as directions for future research.
Four experiments examined people's responses to intergroup violence either committed or suffered by their own group. Experiment 1 demonstrated that Serbs who strongly glorified Serbia were more ...supportive of future violence against, and less willing to reconcile with, Bosniaks after reading about Serbian victimization by Bosniaks rather than Serbian transgressions against Bosniaks. Replicating these effects with Americans in the context of American–Iranian tensions, Experiment 2 further showed that demands for retributive justice explained why high glorifiers showed asymmetrical reactions to ingroup victimization vs. perpetration. Again in the Serb and the American context, respectively, Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrated that post‐conflict international criminal tribunals can help satisfy victim group members' desire for retributive justice, and thereby reduce their support for future violence and increase their willingness to reconcile with the perpetrator group. The role of retributive justice and the use of international criminal justice in intergroup conflict (reduction) are discussed.
We extended recent experimental research on the consequences of social movements' use of strategic nonviolence versus violence to a new situational and cultural context. In the context of the Iranian ...Green movement, whose use of nonviolence in 2009 was rather unsuccessful, 122 Iranians (mostly Reformists) imagined the same movement reemerging in the future and using either violent or nonviolent strategies. Consistent with our hypotheses, participants were more willing to support the nonviolent movement and had more positive attitudes toward joining it as compared to the violent movement. The mechanism underlying these effects relies on attributions of greater mental capacity and morality to nonviolent movements. Implications for research on collective action, social movements, and social change are discussed.
Public Significance Statement
Using a sample from a non-Western country, Iran, this study suggests that even in the context in which third-party observers have experienced a failed nonviolent movement, they still see nonviolent strategies as more moral. They also think that the members of a nonviolent (rather than violent) movement are more capable of experiencing pain and suffering. These perceptions lead them to be more willing to support and join the movement.
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CEKLJ, FFLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PEFLJ
The effect of COVID-19 lockdowns on mental health is a major concern worldwide. Measuring the impacts, however, is difficult because of a lack of data that tracks and compares outcomes and potential ...protective social factors before and during lockdowns.
We aim to quantify the impact of a second lockdown in 2020 in the Australian city of Melbourne on levels of depression, anxiety, and loneliness, and analyse whether social relations in the neighbourhood may buffer against the worst effects of lockdown.
We draw on quasi-experimental data from a nationally-representative longitudinal survey conducted in Australia. We use a difference-in-difference approach with a number of control variables to estimate changes in mental health among respondents in Melbourne following the imposition of the lockdown. A measure of perceived neighbourhood social relations is included as an explanatory variable to analyse potential protective effects.
Lockdown is estimated to have increased depressive symptoms by approximately 23% and feelings of loneliness by 4%. No effect on anxiety was detected. Levels of neighbourhood social relations were strongly negatively associated with mental health symptoms. A significant interaction between lockdown and neighbourhood social relations suggests that lockdown increased depressive symptoms by 21% for people with average perceived neighbourhood relations, compared with a 9.7% increase for people whose perceived relations is one standard deviation greater than average.
The results add to evidence of the harsh impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns on mental health. Importantly, neighbourhood social relations and social cohesion more broadly may be an important source of social support in response to lockdowns. These findings provide important insights for researchers and policy-makers in how to understand and respond to the mental health impacts of COVID-19.
•A lockdown in Melbourne, Australia in 2020 increased depressive symptoms.•Neighbourhood social relations are negatively associated with mental health.•Neighbourhoods may have had a protective effect on depression during lockdown.•The findings highlight the potential benefit of social and community investment.
Two studies tested the idea that perceived normalization of radical political ideologies (right and left) reduces support for freedom of speech of the opponents and political tolerance. In Study 1 (N ...= 633), Americans were primed with the normalization of the radical right or left. Primed with the normalization of radical outgroup ideologies, both liberals and conservatives were more willing to restrict their opponents’ freedom of speech and were more politically intolerant – effects that were mediated by collective angst. Study 2 (N = 632) replicated the results of Study 1 and extended them by showing that both conservatives and liberals worried about the image of their party not when they were exposed to the normalization of radical ingroup ideologies, but when they were exposed to the normalization of radical outgroup ideologies. These results suggest that perceived normalization of radical ideologies affects people’s attitudes towards freedom of speech and political (in)tolerance.
Most health models emphasize individual factors in predicting health behavior. However, in the context of COVID‐19 where the immediate response to stopping the spread of the virus requires collective ...efforts and change, other sociopolitical factors need to be considered. Prior research points to health behaviors being impacted by neighborhood and national social relations, social identification, confidence in government and political orientation. This research, though, is generally piecemeal (or specific), tends to be cross‐sectional, and is usually not oriented to pandemics. These issues are addressed in the current research. A two‐wave study with a representative sample of Australians (NWave 1 = 3028) gathered during COVID‐19 examined sociopolitical factors at the local and national level as predictors of health behaviors one month later. Four models were tested. These encapsulated geographic levels (local or national) and two health behaviors (hand hygiene or physical distance). In the three of the four models, social identification was a significant predictor of health behavior, while controlling for sociodemographic and individual‐level measures. There were more mixed results for social relations and confidence in government. There is evidence that to better promote health behaviors sociopolitical factors need to be more prominent in public policy and health behavior models.
Highlights
The goal of this study is to examine how sociopolitical factors impact physical distance and hand hygiene during the Australian COVID‐19 pandemic.
Based on social cohesion literature and the social identity approach, we expected three social cohesion dimensions (social identification, confidence in government and social relations) to predict greater health behaviors one month later. Political orientation was also expected to predict health behaviors.
The results show that social identification consistently predicts health behaviors, with weaker evidence for political orientation and confidence in the government, and mixed evidence for social relations.
This research highlights the importance of considering and strengthening the sociopolitical context in our response to pandemics.
An emerging literature suggests that the success of social movements depends, partly, on their ability to garner support from third‐party groups. One factor that appears to predict support is social ...movements’ use of nonviolent (compared to violent) strategies to achieve their goals. However, this literature is not definitive. Herein, we report the results of a meta‐analysis of research that has assessed the effect of the use of nonviolence on third‐party support (k = 16, N = 4598). A small‐to‐moderate positive effect was observed, d = 0.25. Additionally, research that used a control or baseline comparison group suggested that using nonviolent strategies marginally (p = .090) increased people's willingness to help the movement (d = 0.17) while adopting violent strategies did not increase or decrease people's willingness to help the movement (d = −0.03). Publication bias was evidenced by bigger effect sizes of published (vs. unpublished) studies. Target (i.e., state vs. social issues) and location of the protest (i.e., domestic vs. foreign) were not significant moderators, whereas the context (i.e., real vs. hypothetical scenarios) was, although marginally. Results suggest that it behooves social movements to adopt nonviolent strategies if third‐party support is desired.
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