A 30-nation investigation of lay heritability beliefs.

Lay beliefs about human trait heritability are consequential for cooperation and social cohesion, yet there has been no global characterisation of these beliefs. Participants from 30 countries (N = 6128) reported heritability beliefs for intelligence, personality, body weight and criminality, and transnational factors that could influence these beliefs were explored using public nation-level data. Globally, mean lay beliefs differ from published heritability (h2) estimated by twin studies, with a worldwide majority overestimating the heritability of personality and intelligence, and underestimating body weight and criminality. Criminality was seen as substantially less attributable to genes than other traits. People from countries with high infant mortality tended to ascribe greater heritability for most traits, relative to people from low infant mortality countries. This study provides the first systematic foray into worldwide lay heritability beliefs. Future research must incorporate diverse global perspectives to further contextualise and extend upon these findings.

The reciprocal relationship between social identity and adherence to group norms.

Previous research has focused on how social identification influences people's adherence to group norms, but has rarely considered how norm adherence might in turn influence how strongly people identify with the group. We proposed a reciprocal relationship between social identification and norm adherence that is shaped by the salience of the social identity in question. Drawing on data from a longitudinal field study of young people attending a mass gathering (N = 661, 1239 unique observations), we used cross-lagged panel modelling across five timepoints to test the reciprocal relationship between social identification with friends and anticipated adherence to perceived drinking norms among friends before (T0), during (T1-T3), and after (T4) the event. Greater social identification at T1 significantly predicted greater norm adherence at T2 which, in turn, predicted greater social identification at T3. These bidirectional effects were only significant during the mass gathering event, when the referent social identity was salient and thus relevant and meaningful in the social context. Findings indicate a complex interplay between social identity and norm adherence that is context dependent and evolves over time. Not only does social identity promote norm adherence but also adherence to those same norms can reinforce a sense of connection to the group.

COVID-safe behaviour before, during and after a youth mass gathering event: a longitudinal cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: As mass gathering events resume in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a pressing need to understand (a) engagement in COVID-safe behaviour at these events and (b) how attending a mass gathering impacts subsequent behaviours. This study examined anticipated COVID-safe behaviour before, during, and after a youth mass gathering event. DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: Self-report data were collected online at five timepoints from secondary-school graduates participating in celebrations linked to an annual week-long youth mass gathering event in Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Australian secondary-school graduates completed surveys before the event (N=397), on days 1 (N=183), 3 (N=158) and 5 (N=163) of the event, and 3 weeks after the event (N=140). Of those who completed the first survey, 72 indicated they would attend a primary mass gathering site where the largest mass gathering of graduates in Australia occurs in a typical (non-pandemic) year; 325 indicated they would be celebrating at other locations (ie, secondary sites). PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Anticipated COVID-safe behaviour: physical distancing from friends and strangers and additional protective behaviours (hand hygiene and mask wearing). RESULTS: At all timepoints, participants anticipated maintaining appropriate (>1.5 m) physical distance from strangers, but not from friends (<0.5 m). Attendees at the primary site reported less physical distancing from friends over time throughout the mass gathering, χ2(4)=16.89, p=0.002. Physical distancing from strangers, χ2(4)=26.93, p<0.001, and additional protective behaviours, χ2(4)=221.23, p<0.001, also declined across the mass gathering among both groups. These reductions in COVID-safe behaviour were significant and enduring, with all declines persisting at follow-up. CONCLUSION: It is critical that public health messaging and interventions emphasise the risks of disease transmission arising from other attendees who are known to us during mass gathering events, and that such messaging is sustained during and following the event to combat reductions in COVID-safe behaviour.

A Narrative Review of Peer-Led Positive Psychology Interventions: Current Evidence, Potential, and Future Directions.

Positive psychology interventions are an effective means for cultivating flourishing, addressing low levels of wellbeing, and preventing languishing. Peer-led interventions can be a particularly advantageous delivery method of positive psychology interventions, as participants tend to respond more favourably to people that they can identify with personally. Such interventions have been applied in a variety of settings and populations, but the literature on peer-led positive psychology interventions has not yet been summarised. This paper provides a narrative overview of peer-led positive psychology interventions. We reviewed relevant peer-led interventions, assessed the available evidence on their effectiveness, and highlighted promising opportunities for peer-led positive psychology interventions. We found that the majority of the studies were observational in design but showed a high level of acceptability for participants across the reviewed domains. In particular, schools, workplaces, the aged care sector, and community settings are noted as promising target domains for these interventions. However, more studies-particularly high-quality research-will be needed to comprehensively test the effectiveness of peer-led positive psychology interventions. We discuss opportunities for future research in this field.

When trust goes wrong: A social identity model of risk taking.

Risk taking is typically viewed through a lens of individual deficits (e.g., impulsivity) or normative influence (e.g., peer pressure). An unexplored possibility is that shared group membership, and the trust that flows from it, may play a role in reducing risk perceptions and promoting risky behavior. We propose and test a Social Identity Model of Risk Taking in eight studies (total N = 4,708) that use multiple methods including minimal group paradigms, correlational, longitudinal, and experimental designs to investigate the effect of shared social identity across diverse risk contexts. Studies 1 and 2 provided evidence for the basic premise of the model, showing that ingroup members were perceived as posing lower risk and inspired greater risk taking behavior than outgroup members. Study 3 found that social identification was a moderator, such that effect of shared group membership was strongest among high identifiers. Studies 4 and 5 among festival attendees showed correlational and longitudinal evidence for the model and further that risk-taking was mediated by trust, not disgust. Study 6 manipulated the mediator and found that untrustworthy faces were trusted more and perceived as less risky when they were ingroup compared with outgroup members. Studies 7 and 8 identified integrity as the subcomponent of trust that consistently promotes greater risk taking in the presence of ingroup members. The findings reveal that a potent source of risk discounting is the group memberships we share with others. Ironically, this means the people we trust the most may sometimes pose the greatest risk. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Risk and protective factors for mental health at a youth mass gathering.

BACKGROUND: Mass gatherings are well-documented for their public health risks; however, little research has examined their impact on mental health or focused on young people specifically. This study explores risk and protective factors for mental health at mass gatherings, with a particular focus on characterising attendees with high levels of psychological distress and risk taking. METHOD: Data collection was conducted in situ at "Schoolies", an annual informal week-long mass gathering of approximately 30,000 Australian school leavers. Participants were 812 attendees of Schoolies on the Gold Coast in 2015 or 2016 (74% aged 17 years old). RESULTS: In both years, attendee mental health was found to be significantly better than population norms for their age peers. Identification with the mass gathering predicted better mental health, and this relationship became stronger across the course of the mass gathering. Attendees with high levels of psychological distress were more likely to be male, socially isolated, impulsive, and in a friendship group where risk taking was normative. CONCLUSIONS: Mass gatherings may have a net benefit for attendee mental health, especially for those attendees who are subjectively committed to the event. However, a vulnerable subgroup of attendees requires targeted mental health support.

Increased Pain Communication following Multiple Group Memberships Salience Leads to a Relative Reduction in Pain-Related Brain Activity.

Pain is a fundamental human experience that triggers a range of social and psychological responses. In this study, we present behavioral and fMRI data to examine the effect of multiple group memberships salience on reported and neural indices of pain. We found that participants expressed higher levels of pain when more social group memberships were salient. This is consistent with the notion that pain itself motivates people to communicate their pain, and more so when multiple psychological resources are salient. In addition, fMRI results reveal an interesting twist: when participants increased their pain reporting as group memberships increased (from one group to four), there was a corresponding relative reduction in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula activation. These results provide evidence for an adaptive response to pain: the more people make use of the social resources at their disposal when experiencing pain, the less pain areas are activated.

The Florence Nightingale Effect: Organizational Identification Explains the Peculiar Link Between Others' Suffering and Workplace Functioning in the Homelessness Sector.

Frontline employees in the helping professions often perform their duties against a difficult backdrop, including a complex client base and ongoing themes of crisis, suffering, and distress. These factors combine to create an environment in which workers are vulnerable to workplace stress and burnout. The present study tested two models to understand how frontline workers in the homelessness sector deal with the suffering of their clients. First, we examined whether relationships between suffering and workplace functioning (job satisfaction and burnout) would be mediated by organizational identification. Second, we examined whether emotional distance from clients (i.e., infrahumanization, measured as reduced attribution of secondary emotions) would predict improved workplace functioning (less burnout and greater job satisfaction), particularly when client contact is high. The study involved a mixed-methods design comprising interview (N = 26) and cross-sectional survey data (N = 60) with a sample of frontline staff working in the homelessness sector. Participants were asked to rate the level of client suffering and attribute emotions in a hypothetical client task, and to complete questionnaire measures of burnout, job satisfaction, and organizational identification. We found no relationships between secondary emotion attribution and burnout or satisfaction. Instead, we found that perceiving higher client suffering was linked with higher job satisfaction and lower burnout. Mediation analyses revealed a mediating role for identification, such that recognizing suffering predicted greater identification with the organization, which fully mediated the relationship between suffering and job satisfaction, and also between suffering and burnout. Qualitative analysis of interview data also resonated with this conceptualization. We introduce this novel finding as the 'Florence Nightingale effect'. With this sample drawn from the homelessness sector, we provide preliminary evidence for the proposition that recognizing others' suffering may serve to increase job satisfaction and reduce burnout - by galvanizing organizational identification.

Pain as social glue: shared pain increases cooperation.

Even though painful experiences are employed within social rituals across the world, little is known about the social effects of pain. We examined the possibility that painful experiences can promote cooperation within social groups. In Experiments 1 and 2, we induced pain by asking some participants to insert their hands in ice water and to perform leg squats. In Experiment 3, we induced pain by asking some participants to eat a hot chili pepper. Participants performed these tasks in small groups. We found evidence for a causal link: Sharing painful experiences with other people, compared with a no-pain control treatment, promoted trusting interpersonal relationships by increasing perceived bonding among strangers (Experiment 1) and increased cooperation in an economic game (Experiments 2 and 3). Our findings shed light on the social effects of pain, demonstrating that shared pain may be an important trigger for group formation.