Anti-racist messages educate people about structural racism and argue that indifference and inaction are the foundational building-blocks of race-based inequities. But these messages generate backlash, with several American states banning education about structural racism. We hypothesized that White Americans experience White identity threat and resist anti-racist messages most when they interpret

Why are people surprised at racial bias feedback, such as test results from Implicit Association Tests (IATs), even though they can predict their IAT racial bias scores prospectively? The present research tested three hypotheses: People are surprised at racial bias feedback due to (1) the feedback wording, (2) implicit evaluations often being preconscious and unattended, or because (3) pretending to

Racial discrimination typically expands under resource scarcity, but the psychological mechanisms driving this effect remain poorly understood. We examined the role of stereotypes in this effect, given their theorized function in asserting and maintaining existing group hierarchies, and hypothesized that stereotype expression would be heightened in response to scarcity, a signal of social instability

A large body of research has found mixed evidence that people who are quick to dismiss randomness as a potential cause for an event are also more likely to believe conspiracy theories. To clarify the relationship between randomness dismissal and conspiracist ideation, we conducted a high-powered preregistered replication of an influential study in the United States (n = 521) and Switzerland (n = 293)

Fidelity with self-transcendent values is hailed as a hallmark of mature and magnanimous character by classic psychological and philosophical theories. Dozens of contemporary experiments inspired by self-affirmation theory have also found that when people are under threat, focus on self-transcendent values can confer magnanimity by improving psychological buoyancy (less anxious and more courageous

We examine how actors think others perceive their morally questionable behavior (moral meta-perception) across a diverse set of real-world moral violations. Utilizing a novel methodology, we solicit written instances of actors' morally questionable behavior (Ntotal = 135), measure motives and meta-perceptions, then provide these accounts to separate samples of third-party observers (Ntotal = 933),

Considerable research has examined how people feel when interpersonally rejected. Less attention has been paid to the rejectors, especially on how they reject. Rejection methods can range from direct (i.e., informing the target) to indirect (i.e., ghosting), and the method and motives regarding rejection strategies are important because rejected targets often react negatively to rejection, sometimes

Although people derive substantial benefit from social connection, they often refrain from talking to strangers because they have pessimistic expectations about how such conversations will go (e.g., they believe they will be rejected or not know what to say). Previous research has attempted but failed to get people to realize that their concerns about talking to strangers are overblown. To reduce people's

Robots are transforming organizations, with pundits forecasting that robots will increasingly perform managerial tasks. One such key managerial task is the evaluation and delivery of feedback regarding an employee's performance, including negative feedback. However, within this context of delivering negative feedback, we suggest that anthropomorphism—a factor most practitioners and researchers consider

A large body of research points to differences in the communal orientation of people from a lower and higher socio-economic status (SES) background. However, direct evidence for differences in communal attitudes remains scant. In this pre-registered report, we test the hypothesis that SES impacts the incentive value of cues associated with bonding and social relations, thereby fostering differences

Research has shown that when control is threatened, people are more likely to turn to groups that are perceived as particularly agentic. However, the question of under what conditions control threat can mobilize individuals to join problem-focused, activist groups remains unresolved. In the present research, we propose that strength of involvement in group-based actions depends on the match between

In six vignette-based experiments, we assessed people's moral reactions towards various cognition-enhancing brain implants, including their overall approval and perceived fairness, as well as the dehumanization of brain-implanted agents. Across the domains of memory (Studies 1–4, 6), general intelligence (Study 5A), and emotional stability (Study 5B), people in general approved of alleviating ailments

Abstract not available

Power-seeking women incur social penalties known as backlash, yet research has identified two motive bases for leadership: power and status. Across five studies (N = 1683) using samples of working professionals, MBA students, undergraduates, and online participants, we investigate perceptions of individuals with varying motives for power and status. We uncover the motive for status is more congruent

Employees are increasingly exhorted to “pursue their passion” at work. Inherent in this call is the belief that passion will produce higher performance because it promotes intrapersonal processes that propel employees forward. Here, we suggest that the pervasiveness of this “passion narrative,” coupled with the relative observability of passion, may lead others to treat passionate employees in more

The stimulus sampling design (SSD) is a widely applied research paradigm in which participants evaluate a series of visual or auditory stimuli. Researchers are often interested in phenomena reflected by differences across stimuli, and recent simulation work suggests that more than 100 stimuli may be necessary to detect smaller effects. Unfortunately, administering a large number of stimuli to each

Many fundamental relationships, from the spread of disease to climate change, as well as common scales, such as the Richter, pH, and Decibel scales, are characterized by exponential relationships. Across six pre-registered studies (N = 3522) and three supplemental studies (N = 1079), we introduce and test a measure of exponential numeracy. We demonstrate that individuals with greater exponential numeracy

One dilemma faced by policy makers is the choice between banning a harmful behavior and allowing the behavior to continue but with mitigated harm. This latter approach––a harm reduction strategy––is often efficacious, yet policies of this sort can be unpopular if people morally oppose the target behavior (MacCoun, 2013). This raises interesting questions for understanding how judgments of harmfulness

Phone use is everywhere. Previous work has shown that phone use during social experiences, or “phubbing”, has detrimental effects on cognitive processing, well-being, and relationships. In this work, we first replicate this by showing the negative effects of phone use on relationships during both controlled and naturalistic social experiences. In Study 1, participants that were randomly assigned to

Around the world, protests tied to the Black Lives Matter movement are highlighting myriad forms of unjust treatment that racial and ethnic minorities face, and prompting countries to reckon with these injustices. When considering racial/ethnic minorities' motivation to engage in these collective actions (alongside allies), it is certainly spurred in part by witnessing and experiencing such unjust

Our research centers the underexamined perspective of Black Americans regarding allyship behaviors and investigates their perceptions and experience of a White ally who confronts a White perpetrator of prejudice. In two experimental studies (N = 1176), we found that Black participants reported higher levels of self-esteem after a White ally confronted a White perpetrator of racial prejudice compared

Dominant actors are neither liked nor respected, yet they are reliably deferred to. Extant explanations of why dominant actors are deferred to focus on deferrers' first-order judgments (i.e., the deferrers' own private assessment of the dominant actor). The present research extends these accounts by considering the role of second-order judgments (i.e., an individual's perception of what others think

When witnessing misfortunes, people sometimes react with schadenfreude—malicious pleasure at another's suffering. Previous research suggests that schadenfreude is elicited for competitors and envied targets, or when misfortunes seem deserved. Six experiments (five pre-registered, Ntotal = 3324) support a novel hypothesis that perceivers feel greater schadenfreude for social targets who endorse a strong

The present work examined whether men's and women's gender-identities and experiences of gender threats influenced their self-images. Findings across two studies (N = 567) revealed that masculinity in men appears to be more precarious than femininity is in women, but when similarly threatened in a given situation both men's and women's anger predicted their construction of gender compensatory self-images

We offer experimental evidence for the effect of social sampling on redistributive preferences through a survey experiment using a probabilistic national sample in Germany. We primed respondents to think about different types of social contacts, in particular low- and high-income contacts. We find evidence for an indirect effect in which the priming task shapes preferences for redistribution through

Abstract not available

Many people practiced COVID-19-related safety measures in the first year of the pandemic, but Republicans were less likely to engage in behaviors such as wearing masks or face coverings than Democrats, suggesting radical disparities in health practices split along political fault lines. We developed an “intervention tournament” which aimed to identify the framings that would promote mask wearing among

The discrepancy between ingroup favoritism and outgroup hostility is well established in social psychology. Under which conditions does “ingroup love” turn into “outgroup hate”? Studies with natural groups suggest that when group membership is based on (dis)similarity of moral beliefs, people are willing to not only help the ingroup, but also harm the outgroup. The key limitation of these studies is

People with concealable stigmatized identities often conceal to avoid facing prejudice and discrimination. Yet, this strategy carries risk; concealment may engender social costs. Across five studies in which participants (total n = 1992) were recruited from an online pool (Prolific) and an institutional undergraduate pool, we found that people who conceal, relative to people who disclose, were viewed

People often consider how ready they feel for a committed romantic relationship before initiating one. Although research has only begun to identify the antecedents of commitment readiness, several theoretical perspectives suggest that it should be shaped by the perceived frequency of available partners. We conducted five studies (one correlational, four experimental) that tested this idea among single

Aggressive behaviors occur when one person, a perpetrator, intentionally harms another person, a victim (e.g., Parrott and Giancola, 2007). When reporting their judgments, victims often report aggressive behaviors as being more harmful than perpetrators do—a so-called victim-perpetrator asymmetry. This asymmetry is well-established (Baumeister et al., 1990; Elshout et al., 2017; Ent and Parton, 2019;

The experience of power has been theorized to increase attention to rewards, but is that really the case? Although this is a widespread assumption, no study has directly investigated the effects of power on attention to rewards. Moreover, the studies that investigated the effects of power on behavior related to rewards did not dissociate rewards from possible alternative goals. This paper thus examined

A growing body of evidence demonstrates that perceivers recognize painful expressions less readily on Black (compared to White) faces. However, it is unclear how rapidly this bias emerges and whether it occurs automatically or effortfully—for example, via the deliberate application of consciously-held racialized beliefs regarding pain tolerance. Across five experiments we examined the speed and spontaneity

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become deeply integrated into daily life; thus, it is important to examine how people perceive AI as it functions as a decision-maker, especially in situations involving moral dilemmas. Across four studies (N = 804), we found that people perceive AI as more likely to make utilitarian choices than human beings are (Studies1–4). We then measured people's perceptions (both

Attributions, or lay explanations for inequality, have been linked to inequality-relevant behavior. In adults and children, attributing inequality to an individual rather than contextual or structural causes is linked to greater support for economic inequality and less equitable giving. However, few studies have directly examined the relationship between parent and child attributions for inequality

Scholars debate the extent to which implicit bias is a stable individual attitude versus a feature of social contexts. The primary evidence for the social context view is that group averages are more stable, and more strongly associated with disparate outcomes, than individual scores. Group averages, however, depend on aggregating many observations, raising the question of whether their apparently

Partisans on both sides of the political aisle complain that the mainstream media is hypocritical, but they disagree about whom that hypocrisy benefits. In the present research, we examine how counterfactual thinking contributes to this partisan disagreement about media hypocrisy. In three studies (two pre-registered, N = 1342) of people's reactions to media criticism of politicians, we find that people

Researchers commonly use the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess the automatic attitudes of individuals and groups. Although contended by some, the IAT is used in large part due to its psychometric properties, which are generally superior relative to most other measures of automatic cognition. Much focus has therefore been dedicated to the IAT's psychometric properties (particularly its internal

Recent research on moral dilemmas has delineated preferences for utilitarian vs. deontological judgments along three parameters: sensitivity to consequences, sensitivity to norms, and general preferences for inaction (Gawronski et al., 2017; Körner, et al., 2020). However, research has not yet determined whether motivational differences contribute to these three parameters in moral judgment. Across

Although gossip is a common tactic of women's same-gender competition, it carries social costs. Overtly malicious gossipers are generally disliked, suggesting those who transmit gossip in more palatable forms may be favored as social partners. Four studies (N = 1653) tested the hypothesis that women's heightened sensitivity to transgressions in friendships prompts divulgence of those violations, allowing

Entering and establishing a long-term relationship is typically a gradual process, as dating partners acquire information about each other over weeks or months. In contrast, existing mate selection paradigms (e.g., lab experiments, speed-dating) typically examine single brief encounters with real or potential mates. In the current research, we used a Choose Your Own Adventure design to examine how

We hypothesize that people can use the extremity of their moral intuitions—the extent to which something feels moral versus immoral—to make functional social inferences that signal inner character, benefit individual welfare, bind groups together, and teach normative behavior. We find strong support for this hypotheses across four preregistered studies (N = 1224). Our measure of these social functions

People make moral judgments about others, and new information can cause those judgments to change. Prior work examined moral impression updating after observing additional behaviors, but less is known about moral updating when prior behaviors are reframed, either as more or less moral than on first impression. The present work compared moral updating as scenarios were reframed from moral-to-immoral

Psychological theories posit that we frequently switch social identities, yet little is known about the effectiveness of such switches. Our research aims to address this gap in knowledge by determining whether – and at what level of integration into the self-concept – a social identity switch impairs the activation of the currently active identity (“identity activation cost”). Based on the task-switching

How does legal terminology affect our mental representations of police officers? In two experiments (N = 2001) with jury-eligible Americans, we examined the dual influence of social stratification and legal language on how Americans form judgments of police officers. We manipulated descriptions of officers—using laymen's terms or legal terms—and assessed how those descriptions differentially affected

Acute hunger leads to self-protective behaviour, where people keep resources to themselves. However, little is known about whether acute hunger influences individuals' inclination to engage in unethical behaviour for direct monetary gains. Past research in moral psychology has found that people are less likely to cheat for monetary than non-monetary gains. Integrating research on scarcity into the

Precise asking-prices (e.g., $249,800), compared with round ones (e.g., $250,000), are stronger anchors, leading buyers to counter closer to the asking-price. This ‘precision effect’ is driven by (i) higher evaluation of the seller's competence, and (ii) buyers using a finer-grained numerical scale when the asking-price is precise compared with round. But are buyers more susceptible to precise anchors

Gay migration is a popular culture notion that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people move from places that are not gay-friendly to places that are gay-friendly. Such migration may reflect person-environment fit, and it may be comparable to other types of person-environment fit that may rely on attitudes. The present research examines psychological mechanisms underlying LGB and straight people's migration

Researchers hypothesize that social selection resulting from partner choice may have shaped deontological moral reasoning in humans. People in Western societies judge deontologists to be more trustworthy than utilitarians and prefer them as cooperative partners. We test if the preference for deontologists as social partners generalizes to the Hadza, hunter-gatherers residing in Tanzania. We presented

Self-punishment, the adverse treatment of the self as a response to own wrongdoing, seems dysfunctional on first sight. However, it may have interpersonal benefits, as it may affect how others perceive the offender. We argue that self-punishment communicates the offender’s reaffirmation of the violated values as well as their own status degradation. Consequently, observers may attribute more remorse

In this reply to Bushman et al. (2022), I explain why differences in method and sample demographics are not likely to explain why the obvious effect in Hilgard (2021) is smaller than the indirect effect in Hasan et al. (2013). Additionally, Bushman and colleagues claim that the large effects can be explained by accumulation of effects across days. Comparison with longitudinal experimental studies,

In this reply to Hilgard’s 2021 criticisms of the Hasan et al. (2013) study, we show that his use of the Maximal Positive Controls methodology was inappropriately implemented for four main reasons: (1) he had participants watch a film of video gameplay (we had participants actively play video games), (2) his videos were about 2 minutes and 15 seconds whereas our video games were played 20 minutes per

Across eight studies, we investigated why so many people across different cultures and religious traditions ground morality and God, and why beliefs in God as a supreme moral authority increase in response to perceived injustices in the world. We found consistent correlational evidence that the dispositional need for structure in everyday life is positively related to belief in God as a moral authority

Groups in conflict can act against one another in various ways, such as inflicting physical injury upon out-group members, actively expelling them from the social sphere or denying them basic rights. While intergroup conflict literature is mostly dedicated to identifying the psychological determinants of such overt, or active, forms of intergroup harm, less research has been dedicated to the psychological

Even when people hold little prejudice themselves, expectations about how members of other groups perceive them may negatively influence interracial relations. In four pre-registered experiments, each using a full intergroup design with Black and White participants, we show that people infer negative meta-attitudes from out-group members whose appearance is phenotypically prototypical, which in turn

Perceptions of interpersonal competence are an important predictor of success in the political domain. However, we provide evidence that competence is valued differently by individuals across the social class spectrum. Across two experiments (N1 = 441; N2 = 500), we found that voting-eligible participants of relatively higher social class expressed a greater likelihood than their lower-class counterparts

Seven studies test and find evidence for a relationship between secrecy and power. People who received secret information from another person felt more powerful than people who did not, both in terms of secrets they recalled from life (Studies 1, 2, and 4) as well as secrets from strangers (Studies 3 and 5). The effect of receiving secret information on experiencing increased power is not driven by