Resources that Help Sustain Environmental Volunteer Activist Leaders.

Environmental activism organizations depend on recruiting and retaining individuals willing to engage in leadership tasks on a voluntary basis. This study examined the resources which help or hinder sustained environmental volunteer activist leadership behaviors. Interviews with 21 environmental volunteer activist leaders were analyzed within a Resource Mobilization Theory framework. While six resources supporting sustained engagement in volunteer activist leadership behaviors were identified, only three were sought by all participants: time, community support, and social relationships. Money, volunteers and network connections were considered valuable resources, however their acquisition generated significant additional administrative burdens. Social relationships sustained volunteer activist leaders through fostering feelings of positive emotions connected with the group. We conclude with suggestions for organizations seeking to increase retention of activist volunteer leaders: namely larger organizations sharing their resources to reduce administrative demands on volunteer activist leaders in smaller organizations; developing movement infrastructure groups to build and sustain networks; and the prioritization of positive relationships within volunteer teams.

Using Latent Profile Analysis to Understand Health Practitioners' Attitudes Toward Voluntary Assisted Dying.

Prior work has documented considerable diversity among health practitioners regarding their support for voluntary assisted dying (VAD). We examined whether their attitudes are characterised by different combinations of personal support, normative support by other health practitioners, and whether they are predisposed to vicariously experience others' emotions (i.e., empathy). We also examined whether these profiles experienced different mental health outcomes (i.e., burnout and posttraumatic stress) in relation to VAD. To test this, 104 Australian health practitioners were surveyed after VAD was legalised in Victoria, Australia in 2019. Results indicated that practitioners' attitudes were characterised by three profiles: 1) strong personal and normative support (strong VAD supporters), 2) moderate personal and normative support (moderate VAD supporters), and 3) lower personal and normative support (apprehensive practitioners). However, each profile reported similar mental health outcomes. Findings suggest that the normative environments in which health practitioners operate may explain their diverse attitudes on VAD.

How Collective-Action Failure Shapes Group Heterogeneity and Engagement in Conventional and Radical Action Over Time.

Extensive research has identified factors influencing collective-action participation. However, less is known about how collective-action outcomes (i.e., success and failure) shape engagement in social movements over time. Using data collected before and after the 2017 marriage-equality debate in Australia, we conducted a latent profile analysis that indicated that success unified supporters of change (n = 420), whereas failure created subgroups among opponents (n = 419), reflecting four divergent responses: disengagement (resigned acceptors), moderate disengagement and continued investment (moderates), and renewed commitment to the cause using similar strategies (stay-the-course opponents) or new strategies (innovators). Resigned acceptors were least inclined to act following failure, whereas innovators were generally more likely to engage in conventional action and justify using radical action relative to the other profiles. These divergent reactions were predicted by differing baseline levels of social identification, group efficacy, and anger. Collective-action outcomes dynamically shape participation in social movements; this is an important direction for future research.

The power of norms to sway fused group members.

Whitehouse adapts insights from evolutionary anthropology to interpret extreme self-sacrifice through the concept of identity fusion. The model neglects the role of normative systems in shaping behaviors, especially in relation to violent extremism. In peaceful groups, increasing fusion will actually decrease extremism. Groups collectively appraise threats and opportunities, actively debate action options, and rarely choose violence toward self or others.

Increased Moral Sensitivity for Outgroup Perpetrators Harming Ingroup Members.

From an evolutionary perspective, one should be more sensitive when outgroup members attack the ingroup but less so when ingroup or outgroup members fight among themselves. Indeed, previous behavioral and neuroimaging research demonstrated that people show greater sensitivity for the suffering of ingroup compared with outgroup members. However, the question still remains whether this is always the case regardless of who is the agent causing the harm. To examine the role of agency and group membership in perception of harm, 48 participants were scanned while viewing ingroup or outgroup perpetrators intentionally harming ingroup or outgroup members. Behavioral results showed greater moral sensitivity for ingroup versus outgroup victims, but only when the perpetrator was from the outgroup. In support of this finding, fMRI data showed greater activity in left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) for ingroup victims when they were harmed by outgroup individuals. In addition, effective connectivity analyses documented an increased coupling between left OFC and left amygdala and insula for ingroup harm, when the perpetrator was from the outgroup. Together these results indicate that we are highly sensitive to harm perpetrated by outgroup members and that increased sensitivity for ingroup victims is dependent on who is the agent of the action.

Culture meets collective action: Exciting synergies and some lessons to learn for the future.

In this introduction to the special issue of Group Processes & Intergroup Relations on "Culture and Collective Action" we emphasize the importance of the special issue topic for the development of the field. Specifically, we highlight the globalization of collective action and the internationalization of the social-psychological study of collective action, both of which point to culture as a missing link for this field. We thus propose that the next step is to move toward a proper cultural psychology of collective action-a social psychology in which culture is an integral part. This special issue provides a first step toward such a broad and integrative psychological understanding of collective action, but comes with promises as well as problems. We discuss both the exciting synergies and some lessons to learn for the future, and conclude that a focus on culture will facilitate the development of the rich and fascinating field of the social psychology of collective action.

Individual differences in local gray matter density are associated with differences in affective and cognitive empathy.

The understanding of empathy from a neuroscientific perspective has recently developed quickly, with numerous functional MRI studies associating different brain regions with different components of empathy. A recent meta-analysis across 40 fMRI studies revealed that affective empathy is most often associated with increased activity in the insula, whereas cognitive empathy is most often associated with activity in the midcingulate cortex and adjacent dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (MCC/dmPFC). To date, however, it remains unclear whether individual differences in brain morphometry in these regions underlie different dispositions in affective and cognitive empathy. In order to test this hypothesis, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to examine the extent to which gray matter density predicts scores from an established empathy measure (Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy; QCAE). One hundred and seventy-six participants completed the QCAE and underwent MRI in order to acquire a high-resolution, three-dimensional T1-weighted structural scans. A factor analysis of the questionnaire scores revealed two distinct factors of empathy, affective and cognitive, which confirmed the validity of the QCAE. VBM results revealed gray matter density differences associated with the distinct components of empathy. Higher scores on affective empathy were associated with greater gray matter density in the insula cortex and higher scores of cognitive empathy were associated with greater gray matter density in the MCC/dmPFC. Taken together, these results provide validation for empathy being a multi-component construct, suggesting that affective and cognitive empathy are differentially represented in brain morphometry as well as providing convergent evidence for empathy being represented by different neural and structural correlates.

The influence of group membership and individual differences in psychopathy and perspective taking on neural responses when punishing and rewarding others.

Understanding how neural processes involved in punishing and rewarding others are altered by group membership and personality traits is critical in order to gain a better understanding of how socially important phenomena such as racial and group biases develop. Participants in an fMRI study (n = 48) gave rewards (money) or punishments (electroshocks) to in-group or out-group members. The results show that when participants rewarded others, greater activation was found in regions typically associated with receiving rewards such as the striatum and medial orbitofrontal cortex, bilaterally. Activation in those regions increased when participants rewarded in-group compared to out-group members. Punishment led to increased activation in regions typically associated with Theory of Mind including the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior superior temporal sulcus, as well as regions typically associated with perceiving others in pain such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula and lateral orbitofrontal cortex. Interestingly, in contrast to the findings regarding reward, activity in these regions was not moderated by whether the target of the punishment was an in- or out-group member. Additional regression analysis revealed that participants who have low perspective taking skills and higher levels of psychopathy showed less activation in the brain regions identified when punishing others, especially when they were out-group members. In sum, when an individual is personally responsible for delivering rewards and punishments to others, in-group bias is stronger for reward allocation than punishments, marking the first neuroscientific evidence of this dissociation.

Social trust, risk perceptions and public acceptance of recycled water: testing a social-psychological model.

Faced with a severe drought, the residents of the regional city of Toowoomba, in South East Queensland, Australia were asked to consider a potable wastewater reuse scheme to supplement drinking water supplies. As public risk perceptions and trust have been shown to be key factors in acceptance of potable reuse projects, this research developed and tested a social-psychological model of trust, risk perceptions and acceptance. Participants (N = 380) were surveyed a few weeks before a referendum was held in which residents voted against the controversial scheme. Analysis using structural equation modelling showed that the more community members perceived that the water authority used fair procedures (e.g., consulting with the community and providing accurate information), the greater their sense of shared identity with the water authority. Shared social identity in turn influenced trust via increased source credibility, that is, perceptions that the water authority is competent and has the community's interest at heart. The findings also support past research showing that higher levels of trust in the water authority were associated with lower perceptions of risk, which in turn were associated with higher levels of acceptance, and vice versa. The findings have a practical application for improving public acceptance of potable recycled water schemes.

Predicting Facebook users' online privacy protection: risk, trust, norm focus theory, and the theory of planned behavior.

The present research adopts an extended theory of the planned behavior model that included descriptive norms, risk, and trust to investigate online privacy protection in Facebook users. Facebook users (N = 119) completed a questionnaire assessing their attitude, subjective injunctive norm, subjective descriptive norm, perceived behavioral control, implicit perceived risk, trust of other Facebook users, and intentions toward protecting their privacy online. Behavior was measured indirectly 2 weeks after the study. The data show partial support for the theory of planned behavior and strong support for the independence of subjective injunctive and descriptive norms. Risk also uniquely predicted intentions over and above the theory of planned behavior, but there were no unique effects of trust on intentions, nor of risk or trust on behavior. Implications are discussed.

Predicting online privacy protection for Facebook users with an extended theory of planned behavior.

The current research uses an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model to predict Facebook users' (N = 376) intentions to protect their privacy online. It aims to replicate and extend Saeri et al. (2014) who found partial support for an extended TPB model that included descriptive norms, perceived risk, and trust. Facebook users completed an online questionnaire assessing attitudes, norms (subjective and group), perceived behavioral control (PBC), perceived risk, trust, privacy concerns, and intentions to protect their privacy online. Results revealed that attitudes, subjective norms, and PBC (i.e. the TPB) predicted online privacy intentions, as well as descriptive group norms and privacy concerns. However, perceived risk, trust, and injunctive group norms were not significant unique predictors of online privacy intentions. The implications for understanding influences on individuals' willingness to protect their privacy online are discussed.

Autonomous Motives Foster Sustained Commitment to Action: Integrating Self-Determination Theory and the Social Identity Approach.

Social change movements may take years or decades to achieve their goals and thus require ongoing efforts from their supporters. We apply the insights of self-determination theory to examine sustained collective action over time. We expected that autonomous motivation, but not controlled motivation, would predict sustained action. We also examine whether autonomous motivation shapes and is shaped by social identification as a supporter of the cause. Longitudinal data were collected from supporters of global poverty reduction (N = 263) at two timepoints 1 year apart. Using latent change score modeling, we found that increases in autonomous motivation positively predicted increases in opinion-based group identification, which in turn predicted increases in self-reported collective action. Controlled motivation (Time 1) negatively predicted changes in action. We concluded that autonomous motivation predicts sustained action over time, while promoting controlled motives for action may backfire because it may undermine identification with the cause.

Identifying Nonphysical Intimate Partner Violence in Relationships: The Role of Beliefs and Schemas.

While substantial research has been conducted on intimate partner violence (IPV), comparatively little research has examined peoples' perceptions of which behaviors comprise this form of abuse. Early identification of IPV is critical to ending abuse, however, forms of IPV that typically occur earlier in a relationship (e.g., nonphysical abuse) may not be core components of peoples' mental frameworks (schemas) of IPV and may therefore be less commonly identified as abusive. To explore this, in Study 1 participants from an Australian University (N = 86) separately described the relationships with IPV and nonphysical IPV. Analyses identified control, power imbalance, stereotypical gender dynamics (male perpetrator, female victim), physical abuse, and having a low socioeconomic status abuser as common components of participants' IPV schema when not prompted with type of abuse. However, participants largely failed to describe nonphysical IPV behaviors, suggesting limited awareness of the specific behaviors that constitute abuse. To explore this in Study 2, participants from an Australian University (N = 305) were asked to categorize a range of specific behaviors (including physically abusive, nonphysically abusive, and nonabusive behaviors) as definitely, maybe, or never abusive. Drawing on the known positive association between gender and romantic beliefs with the experience of abuse, we also assessed the relationship of identification of IPV behaviors to these beliefs. Moderated multilevel modeling showed that nonphysical IPV behaviors were generally perceived as less abusive than physical IPV behaviors. In addition, stronger endorsement of romantic jealousy was associated with evaluating nonphysical IPV as less abusive. However, romantic jealousy beliefs were not significantly associated with the perceived abusiveness of physical IPV behaviors. Findings support the conclusion that individuals' IPV schemas contribute to a failure to identify nonphysical IPV behaviors as abusive, and this is particularly true for people who more strongly endorse romantic jealousy.

Rage donations and mobilization: Understanding the effects of advocacy on collective giving responses.

Advocacy is intended to change people's attitudes and behavior. Yet the psychological and behavioral consequences of advocacy have rarely been considered. Across 3 experiments (combined N = 934) in the contexts of debates around racial discrimination and abortion, we investigated if and how exposure to advocacy can influence collective giving responses: self-reported willingness to make donations congruent with one's beliefs on the issue and actual giving behavior. Reading tweets from one's own side of a contentious debate sometimes indirectly mobilized collective giving responses by enhancing perceptions of efficacy and ensuring people empathized and identified with highlighted victim groups. Simultaneously, however, supporting advocacy sometimes inadvertently suppressed action by reducing anger and perceived injustice. Results therefore show that advocacy can simultaneously mobilize and demobilize support. However, effects were not found consistently across contexts and donation measures. Overall, mobilization pathways were stronger, especially on donation behavior and in the context of the abortion debate. Results suggest advocacy can work broadly as intended: by influencing the attitudes and behaviors of audience members. Online advocacy exposure in social media echo chambers may therefore be contributing to political polarization. Finally, results also demonstrate that charitable giving can be a form of collective action.

It's About Time! Identifying and Explaining Unique Trajectories of Solidarity-Based Collective Action to Support People in Developing Countries.

Social change occurs over years and decades, yet we know little about how people sustain, increase or diminish their actions over time, and why they do so. This article examines diverging trajectories of solidarity-based collective action to support people in developing nations more than 5 years. We suggest that sustained, diminished, and/or increased action over time will be predicted by identification as a supporter, group efficacy beliefs, and discrete emotions about disadvantage. Latent Growth Mixture Models (N = 483) revealed two trajectories with unique signatures: an activist supporter trajectory with a higher intercept and weakly declining action; and a benevolent supporter trajectory with a lower intercept but weakly increasing action. The activist trajectory was predicted by social identification, outrage, and hope, whereas the benevolent supporter trajectory was predicted by sympathy. The results highlight the role of combinations of emotions and the need for person-centered longitudinal methods in collective action research.

Social norms, social identities and the COVID-19 pandemic: Theory and recommendations.

Sustained mass behaviour change is needed to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, but many of the required changes run contrary to existing social norms (e.g., physical closeness with in-group members). This paper explains how social norms and social identities are critical to explaining and changing public behaviour. Recommendations are presented for how to harness these social processes to maximise adherence to COVID-19 public health guidance. Specifically, we recommend that public health messages clearly define who the target group is, are framed as identity-affirming rather than identity-contradictory, include complementary injunctive and descriptive social norm information, are delivered by in-group members and that support is provided to enable the public to perform the requested behaviours.

Bias against foreign-born or foreign-trained doctors: experimental evidence.

OBJECTIVES: Bias against foreign-born or -trained medical students and doctors is not well understood, despite its documented impact on recruitment, integration and retention. This research experimentally examines the interaction of location of medical education and nationality in evaluations of doctors' competence and trustworthiness. METHODS: A convenience sample of prospective patients evaluated fictitious candidates for a position as a doctor in community practice at a new local health clinic. All applicants were described as having the same personality profile, legal qualifications to practise, a multi-degree education and relevant work experience. The location of medical education (the candidate's home country or the UK) and national background (Australia or Pakistan) of the applicants were independently experimentally manipulated. RESULTS: Consistent with previous research on skills discounting and bias, foreign-born candidates were evaluated less favourably than native-born candidates, despite their comparable education level, work experience and personality. However, overseas medical education obtained in the First World both boosted evaluations (of competence and trustworthiness) and attenuated bias based on nationality. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings demonstrate the selective discounting of foreign-born doctors' credentials. The data show an interaction of location of medical education and birth nationality in bias against foreign doctors. On an applied level, the data document that the benefits of medical education obtained in the First World can extend beyond its direct outcomes (high-quality training and institutional recognition) to the indirect benefit of the attenuation of patient bias based on nationality.

Only human: hostile human norms can reduce legitimization of intergroup discrimination by perpetrators of historical atrocities.

We investigated the effects of salient shared humanity with a benevolent or hostile human norm on perpetrators of historical atrocities. Our findings suggest that a focus on benevolent superordinate humanity enables perpetrators to legitimize intergroup discrimination and preserve existing negative attitudes towards victims. In Expt 1 (N=135), salient shared humanity with a human norm of benevolence and kindness preserved the perceived legitimacy of intergroup inequality, while exposure to a hostile norm of human nature reduced perceived legitimacy. Expt 2 (N=51) replicated the association between exposure to a hostile human norm and reduced legitimization when perpetrator intentions were unambiguously negative. In contrast, when perpetrator intentions were ambiguous, a hostile human norm had no effect on perceived legitimacy. Our findings qualify previous research, and demonstrate that the effects of emphasizing shared humanity are not equivalent or universally positive for perpetrators and victims.

Emotional anguish at work: the mediating role of perceived rejection on workgroup mistreatment and affective outcomes.

In this study, the authors pay particular attention to mistreatment directed toward an organizational member from fellow workgroup members. The study contributes to the growing body of literature that examines the mistreatment of employees in the workplace. The authors propose that mistreatment by the workgroup would contribute to feelings of rejection, over and above mistreatment by the supervisor. In addition, the authors tested the mediating role of perceived rejection between workgroup mistreatment and affective outcomes such as depression and organization-based self-esteem. Part-time working participants (N = 142) took part in the study, which required them to complete a questionnaire on workplace behaviors. Results indicated that workgroup mistreatment contributed additional variance to perceived rejection over and above supervisory mistreatment when predicting depression and organization-based self-esteem. The results also indicated that perceived rejection mediates the relationship between mistreatment and affective outcomes. Results are discussed and implications for research and practice are considered.