Psychology Research Digest
British Journal of Social Psychology
The British Journal of Social Psychology is an international journal that publishes impactful basic and applied social psychological research from all parts of the world. Our aim is to showcase research at the forefront of theoretical and methodological innovation that contributes to informing psychological perspectives of social-contextual challenges and audiences beyond academia. We value diverse perspectives and are committed to robust and transparent research practices.
Context matters for the relationship between national identity and perceived democratic quality: National pride as a blind spot
A growing body of evidence shows that national identity is positively related to attitudes toward societal and political systems. Yet much less is known about contextual factors that may modify this relationship. Distinguishing two facets of national identity—attachment and pride—and focusing on perceived democratic quality as a core system attitude, we test whether the links between these identity dimensions and system attitudes vary with the actual quality of democracy. Using data from 92 countries in the combined World Values Survey/European Values Study (N = 156,658), augmented with country-level indicators, multilevel structural equation models show that the association between national pride and perceived democratic quality is stronger in less democratic countries, whereas the effect of attachment is context-invariant. These findings suggest that national pride is associated with a positively biased perception of democratic quality that diverges from reality in illiberal or weak democracies, thereby complicating the predominantly positive framing of national pride in the social psychological literature on national identity.
Publication date: Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:20:14 -0700 Access the article >>Sharing conspiracy theories and staying in power: How leaders' false theories influence leadership perception
Research shows that spreading conspiracy theories impacts leaders' reputations; yet, it remains unclear how leaders are viewed when their theories are debunked. Across four studies (N = 1437), we explored whether conveying a conspiracy theory, regardless of its accuracy, influences followers' impressions of leader dominance, competence and warmth. Participants evaluated leaders who either incorrectly perceived (false-positive) or incorrectly misperceived (false-negative) a conspiracy about the cause of a simulated crisis. During intergroup conflict, false-positive leaders were seen as less warm, similarly competent, yet more dominant than false-negative leaders. The dominance gap grew when the consequences of overlooking a conspiracy were more severe. Conversely, in the absence of conflict, false-positive leaders were perceived as less warm and competent than false-negative leaders. These findings support an error management approach to conspiracy theories: Leaders who spread conspiracy theories, even if later debunked, are still perceived as strong leaders, particularly in conflict settings.
Publication date: Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:54:38 -0700 Access the article >>On being better than average in values
Do people feel that their personal values are better than others, even though they are happier if their values are similar to those around them? We examined the Better Than Average (BTA) effect in values in four cultures (Study 1: USA, China and Malaysia; Study 2: USA, using diverse online panel samples) and relative to either a more abstract (university) or a more concrete (department) reference group (Study 3, conducted with students in Israel). Across all samples and cultures, we found that people perceived their personally desired values as more important to the self than to others, and they perceived their less personally desired values as more important to others than to the self. Self-other comparisons favouring the self were even stronger for values that are normatively desired in society, and self-other comparisons favouring others were even stronger for values that are less normatively desired in society. We also found a relatively greater BTA effect towards a more abstract group and its positive consequences to self-esteem. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of value perception as prone to biases, generalizability and robustness of the BTA effect, and cross-cultural psychology. We discuss important societal implications of this effect.
Publication date: Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:51:26 -0700 Access the article >>gender.neutral@work.de: An experimental approach to the discrimination of nonbinary individuals during job applications
For many nonbinary individuals, disclosing their pronouns and preferred forms of address when applying for a job is necessary to avoid being misgendered. The request to be referred to in a gender-neutral way may trigger stereotypes and result in discrimination. Simulating recruitment scenarios, we test the effects of an applicant's request for gender-neutral address and avoidance of pronouns compared to binary-gendered alternatives. We hypothesize that applicants with a gender-neutral request would be discriminated against compared to applicants requesting binary-gendered pronouns. In a pre-registered pre-experiment with a convenience sample (N = 248), we found that applicants with a gender-neutral request were misgendered more often than applicants requesting binary-gendered pronouns and forms of address. No other indicators of discrimination were found, possibly due to the convenience sample. The reviewed experiment tested the hypotheses in a more diverse sample (N = 1275), adding openness towards nonbinary gender (ONBG) as a moderator variable and investigating spontaneous stereotype content. The findings demonstrated that applicants with a gender-neutral request were discriminated against compared to masculine-request applicants during the initial written application stage, with bias being moderated by ONBG. We discuss implications for understanding and reducing discrimination against nonbinary applicants in the work context.
Publication date: Tue, 28 Apr 2026 05:22:35 -0700 Access the article >>Sexual prejudice declined across generational cohorts and genders: A cohort sequential latent growth curve model from 2014 to 2024
Despite attitudes towards the LGBTQIA+ community improving in recent years, older (vs younger) cohorts still report higher rates of sexual prejudice. To date, it is unclear if this generational difference emerges due to normative ageing or the distinct social norms in which each generation was born and raised (cohort effects). This pre-registered study clarifies the issue by utilizing cohort sequential latent growth curve modelling to examine the developmental trajectory of sexual prejudice for men and women across 11 annual waves of longitudinal panel data (N = 63,558). Our results reveal a period effect in which older (vs younger) cohorts and men (vs women) display higher initial mean levels of sexual prejudice. But due to shared social conditions, most cohorts experience comparable curvilinear declines in sexual prejudice across time. Collectively, our results highlight the malleability of sexual prejudice across the lifespan and demonstrate the need to examine the socio-political environment when taking a lifespan development perspective on anti-LGBTQIA+ attitudes.
Publication date: Tue, 28 Apr 2026 04:34:51 -0700 Access the article >>Issue Information
British Journal of Social Psychology, Volume 65, Issue 3, July 2026.
Publication date: Tue, 28 Apr 2026 04:21:17 -0700 Access the article >>