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.
System justification and democracy: Is liberal democracy part of the status quo?
Research has conceptualized system justification as an overall perception of legitimacy of the status quo. However, there is mixed evidence to determine whether individuals construe political systems and values that uphold them as part of such status quo. We reasoned that if individuals construe the status quo as encompassing the political system and its values in the United States, system justification should predict support for current political institutions and liberal democracy. Relying on a representative survey and an experiment (N = 1994), we found that system justification was related to support for current institutions but not liberal democracy principles, even when making salient different components of the status quo (i.e. economic inequality and liberal democracy). Results suggest that researchers studying legitimacy of intergroup settings or political institutions should measure legitimacy of those institutions rather than general perceptions of fairness, as individuals might not construe the status quo as encompassing those institutions.
Publication date: Wed, 25 Feb 2026 20:26:16 -0800 Access the article >>Manchester stands united: Place‐based identity facilitates resilience in the aftermath of a mass emergency
Understanding community resilience to disasters is fundamentally important in a world characterized by increasing political and environmental instability. The Social Identity Model of Collective Resilience has examined how the shared identity that emerges among neighbourhood residents affected by disasters can facilitate and coordinate effective collective responses, but has yet to examine impacts on community members beyond those directly affected. This is particularly important given the role of social identities in creating shared vulnerability and resilience to collective trauma among those indirectly affected, as well as evidence that neighbourhood identification can provide residents with collective resilience to a range of shared socio-economic and environmental stressors. The present study addresses this gap through an exploration of residents' accounts of the occurrence and aftermath of a terrorist attack on Manchester, England in 2017. The thematic analysis of retrospective interviews with 18 city residents indirectly affected by the bomb revealed that two key aspects of Mancunian identity – diversity and endurance of the city – were used to interpret the event and reported to facilitate coordinated coping and collective recovery. The implications are that identifying and enhancing local norms of cohesion and endurance can play a part in providing communities with resilience to future disasters.
Publication date: Tue, 17 Feb 2026 21:55:39 -0800 Access the article >>National bitterness, powerlessness and greatness: Examining constructions of affect as part of argumentation in populist EU discourse in Finland
Social psychological research exploring the rhetoric of Eurosceptic, right-wing populist actors and laypeople's argumentation in the polarizing context of Brexit has indicated the emotion-laden nature of EU-related issues. However, few studies have explicitly united affective and discursive psychological analyses of these topics. To fill this gap, the present study expands the discursive psychological approach to consider the interplay between affect and discourse in populist argumentation around the EU. The study utilizes qualitative interviews with 31 voters in Finland who supported or did not oppose an EU-critical statement from a radical right populist party's programme. We identified three key affective-discursive practices: (1) bitterness towards the undeserving ‘other’ justifying opposition to the EU; (2) national uncertainty mitigating criticism of the EU; and (3) national glory devaluing the EU. This study contributes to social psychological research on affect by demonstrating how rhetorical and discursive resources—particularly national referents, temporality, history—are employed in constructing affect as intertwined with identities and intergroup relations around EU issues. Instead of approaching it as implicit or marginal, this framework enables a thorough consideration of affect in argumentation around political issues, providing an in-depth understanding of its moral, relational and contextual nuances.
Publication date: Thu, 12 Feb 2026 19:59:21 -0800 Access the article >>How White people manage the weight of the past: The role of advantaged identity strategies in linking colonialism to current racial inequality
Linking European colonialism to current racial inequality may pose identity challenges to White European people. Through mixed methods, we examined how White people in the Netherlands manage their advantaged ethno-racial identity in relation to linking colonialism to current racial inequality. In Study 1, using individual interviews (N = 24), we found that participants exhibited identity strategies described in previous theorising: prideful (strong identification), distancing (weak identification) and power-cognisant (critical identification). In Studies 2a and 2b, using surveys (N = 591), we built on Study 1's results and found using latent profile analysis that participants blended strategies, resulting in four profiles: prideful-distancing (or prideful-ambivalent), distancing, distancing-cognisant and power-cognisant. Identity profiles distinguished whether participants linked colonialism to current racial inequality and their ideological outlook. Those exhibiting prideful-distancing and distancing profiles unlinked colonialism, asserted existing racial equality and downplayed the role of ethno-racial categories in shaping people's lives. Those exhibiting distancing-cognisant and power-cognisant profiles linked colonialism to and acknowledged current racial inequality. Those exhibiting a power-cognisant profile uniquely recognised the importance of ethno-racial categories, displaying thus a markedly pro-egalitarian outlook. We conclude by discussing the implications of how White people's identity management relates to linking colonialism to current racial inequality and its legitimacy.
Publication date: Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0800 Access the article >>The bridging role of belief in a just world in the culture‐psych loop
Beliefs, which are deeply shaped by cultural norms, play a central role in well-being, with belief in a just world (BJW) serving as a vital psychological resource. Yet, it remains unclear how cultural norms shape such beliefs and, in turn, influence emotional and psychosocial well-being. Across four studies (N = 2324), we examined the interplay among cultural tightness, BJW and well-being using surveys, cultural priming and longitudinal designs. Studies 1a–1d showed that BJW mediated the relationship between perceived tightness and well-being across different cultures and time periods. Studies 2a-2c provided causal evidence that tight (vs. loose) priming enhanced well-being through increased BJW. Study 3a revealed a sequential pathway from perceived tightness to personal BJW, to general BJW and finally to well-being. Study 3b, using a longitudinal design, revealed that personal BJW was more flexible and responsive to change, whereas general BJW was more stable and predictive of psychosocial well-being. Together, these findings highlight a dynamic pathway linking culture, belief and well-being, offering new theoretical and empirical insights into the role of BJW in supporting emotional and psychological well-being across ecologically and culturally diverse settings.
Publication date: Sun, 08 Feb 2026 20:59:14 -0800 Access the article >>Don't rock the boat! Do men prefer women leaders who support the status quo?
Women remain underrepresented in leadership, particularly in traditionally masculine work settings. At the same time, the visibility of this imbalance has led to growing calls for diversifying leadership. This research examines how both men and women contribute to the preservation or disruption of gender inequality in masculine organizational contexts. Men remain the gatekeepers of change—deciding who rises to the top and under what conditions—while women face the strategic dilemma of fitting in by downplaying inequality (supporting the status quo, sometimes called ‘queen bee behaviour’) or ‘rocking the boat’ by advocating social change (challenging the status quo). Across five experimental studies (total N = 887), we examined how evaluators assessed male and female leadership candidates who either supported or challenged the status quo. Results revealed that although men favoured female over male candidates, they consistently preferred women who reinforced the status quo over those who advocated equality. By contrast, male candidates who supported the status quo were penalized, and female evaluators showed no such preferences. These findings highlight subtle mechanisms through which gendered power dynamics are maintained, underscoring both the strategic trade-offs women must navigate to advance and the conditional nature of men's support for gender equality.
Publication date: Fri, 06 Feb 2026 03:44:37 -0800 Access the article >>‘They are lovely men’: Compassionate exclusion used to justify a protest outside asylum seeker accommodation
This study employed critical discursive and rhetorical psychology to analyse the discourses drawn upon to justify an arguably violent protest outside a previously disused hotel in rural Ireland, where 34 male asylum seekers had been accommodated. Interviews with protesters and public representatives were retrieved from three mainstream media platforms. The protesters drew on three contradictory and deracialized discursive strategies to inoculate their justification for the protest against accusations of prejudice, which we label compassionate exclusion. The first is a compassionate concern about the suitability of the accommodation for the asylum seekers, whilst engaging in collective action to force the asylum seekers into homelessness and risk of further violence. The second positions the protesters as compassionate towards the asylum seekers whilst demanding that they receive vetting and that the local community receive prior consultation on their suitability for accommodation. The third presents the ‘male’ asylum seekers as a threat to women in this isolated rural community, even though the protesters position themselves as compassionate towards the ‘lovely men’ who are already accommodated. This highlights how compassionate humanitarian concerns can be co-opted to justify an arguably violent demand for the forced removal and exclusion of asylum seekers, whilst avoiding accusations of racism.
Publication date: Fri, 06 Feb 2026 03:37:07 -0800 Access the article >>Small gifts, big shifts? Testing the role of contact through reciprocal gifting as a prejudice reduction strategy
Through two experimental studies (pre-test/post-test/follow-up with control), we tested reciprocal gifting as an indirect contact strategy that could improve Turkish native children's attitudes towards their Syrian refugee peers in the highly prejudicial immigration context of Türkiye. In Study 1 (N = 144), children who were led to believe that they exchanged gifts with their Syrian peers showed more positive outgroup attitudes in the post-test (unlike children in the control group), while there were no significant changes in negative attitudes or social closeness. In Study 2 (N = 207), we implemented an enhanced procedure whereby children created personalized and symbolic gifts, making the reciprocal gifting experience more engaging. Although this revised approach improved positive attitudes and social closeness, negative attitudes remained unchanged, and all outcomes returned to baseline levels at the follow-up stage (approximately 40 days later) in both studies, overall providing evidence for the short-term positive effects of the reciprocal gifting strategy. We discussed the importance of implementing creative strategies in hostile school environments.
Publication date: Sun, 01 Feb 2026 21:38:55 -0800 Access the article >>The social psychology of collective violence: Civilian motivations for involvement in the Indonesian May 1998 riots
This study examines motivations for participating in the understudied Indonesian riots of May 1998 targeting the ethnic Chinese minority, using an integrative framework addressing intergroup, intragroup and individual factors. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 participants (26 male, 5 female), all aged over 35 and involved in violent acts during the riots, in which thousands of homes and businesses were looted or destroyed, and hundreds of people were raped or murdered. Thematic analysis revealed motivations at three levels: intergroup (ethnic prejudice, animosity towards security forces), intragroup (conformity, fear of missing out) and individual (thrill-seeking, need for significance, greed, impulsivity). Narratives illustrate how these factors interact within a context of socio-political and economic upheaval. Most participants cited motivations at the intragroup and individual levels, with fewer referencing intergroup factors or reporting a single level of motivation. Conformity (an intragroup factor) was reported by all participants. This research highlights the complex interplay of psychological and social dynamics driving collective ethnic violence.
Publication date: Thu, 29 Jan 2026 20:49:08 -0800 Access the article >>Agreeing to disagree: When do superordinate identities facilitate competing opinion‐based groups to work through intergroup conflict?
With increasing division and conflict amongst groups with different opinions on social and political issues, there is a growing need to effectively manage intergroup conflict. The current paper examined the role of superordinate identities in facilitating—versus hindering—competing opinion-based groups to work through value-based intergroup conflict and reach value consensus. We examined interactions on Wikipedia as a novel, ‘real-world’ context where people with different opinions and perspectives work through disagreement guided by the rules and norms of a Wikipedian superordinate identity. We thematically analysed 22 discussion topics (comprising 9837 words) involving 21 editors on the Wikipedia talk page corresponding to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament article. Analyses revealed that supporters and opponents of the Voice often shared the same values but disagreed about how those values should be expressed (i.e., the implications of those values). Moreover, we found evidence that working through intergroup conflict involved perceiving value consensus—a process which was facilitated by a Wikipedian superordinate identity. The results highlight the conditions under which superordinate groups can productively structure disagreement and attenuate conflict between opinion-based groups.
Publication date: Thu, 29 Jan 2026 20:40:10 -0800 Access the article >>Issue Information
British Journal of Social Psychology, Volume 65, Issue 2, April 2026.
Publication date: Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:35:22 -0800 Access the article >>From the perspective of the Construal Level Theory: Examining the effect of psychological distance on system justification
The current research examines the relationship between psychological distance and system justification through the lens of the Construal Level Theory. In three experimental studies, we investigated whether and how psychological distance shapes the salience of different levels of social identity relevant to system-justifying tendencies. In Study 1, we investigated the moderating effect of psychological distance on the relationship between membership in different gender-based groups and system justification in the context of gender inequality. In Study 2, we investigated the influence of psychological distance on the extent to which individuals with opposing political ideologies justify the system. Finally, Study 3 deepened Studies 1–2 by comparing the impact of lower- vs. higher-level identity threats as a function of psychological distance. Results suggest that psychological distance reduces system justification among typically high-justifying groups, leading to greater convergence across status and ideological divides. Implications, limitations and future directions are discussed.
Publication date: Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:25:21 -0800 Access the article >>The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
- William James, The Principles of Psychology (1890)
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