Group history provides the experiential building blocks that shape social identity. When contemporary events are perceived as having created (or creating) a discontinuity with that history, collective nostalgia is likely to be elicited. Importantly, collective nostalgia is functional-it consolidates social identity, motivating group members to support a return to the group's "true" state of existence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF: In the current rapid evidence assessment, we summarize the existing research on lower-risk cannabis consumption as understood by those who consume cannabis. : We identified 7111 unique articles published between 1900 and 2021 using search terms related to a) cannabis consumption, b) beliefs and behaviors, and c) positive outcomes. : Twelve articles met our inclusion criteria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAt the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe racial demographic shift occurring in many Western countries provides a unique context to study the reactions of a high-power group (White people) to the potential loss of their privileged position in society. Three experiments ( = 77, = 302, = 555) conducted in Canada, the US, and the UK showed that White people who are reminded about the ongoing demographic changes and who see race relations as a zero-sum game whereby any gains by minorities must come at the expense of the majority, experience stronger collective angst and, to a lesser extent, fear (but not anger). In turn, collective angst, but not the other negative group-based emotions, fuels their motivation to protect the existing intergroup hierarchy by withdrawing support for progressive social movements and increases anti-immigration sentiments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn increasing number of epidemiologic studies have identified trust as a social determinant of COVID-19 mortality. Trust influences public compliance with policies aimed at containing the pandemic through physical distancing, wearing masks, and vaccine uptake. However, whilst some forms of trust are public assets (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChanging collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKurds have a long history of victimization and struggle for even the most basic rights. This is reflected in a widely shared belief, according to which they have "no friends but the mountains." Such difficult history may have ongoing negative impact on mental health of present-day Kurds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is substantial cross-national variation in the damage caused by COVID-19 and scant evidence on social and cultural factors that contribute to this variation. Our ecologic study of country differences in COVID-19 mortality found that deaths have increased faster in societies that had less confidence in state institutions and less civic engagement, more social trust and group affiliations, and higher income inequality (Elgar et al., 2020).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCan social contextual factors explain international differences in the spread of COVID-19? It is widely assumed that social cohesion, public confidence in government sources of health information and general concern for the welfare of others support health advisories during a pandemic and save lives. We tested this assumption through a time-series analysis of cross-national differences in COVID-19 mortality during an early phase of the pandemic. Country data on income inequality and four dimensions of social capital (trust, group affiliations, civic responsibility and confidence in public institutions) were linked to data on COVID-19 deaths in 84 countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThree experiments investigated the influence of penile erection on ascriptions of mental capabilities to men. Drawing on sexual objectification literature and the distinction between agency and experience in mind perception, three competing predictions were formulated. The mind redistribution hypothesis assumed that penile erection would lower agency and heighten experience attributions, the animalistic dehumanization hypothesis predicted the decrease in agency, but not experience, and the literal objectification hypothesis implied the simultaneous decrease in both agency and experience.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn addition to chronic anovulation and clinical signs of hyperandrogenism women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are insulin resistant and therefore, develop central obesity with its long term consequences such as dyslipidaemia, hypertension, atherosclerosis and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which all lead to the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Due to the polysymptomatic nature of this syndrome and lack of consensus on its diagnostic criteria there is a strong need of finding a reliable biochemical or molecular marker, which would facilitate making the accurate diagnosis of PCOS. Therefore, the aim of our study was to perform a metabolomics analysis with the use of two complementary techniques: gas chromatography and liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, of the serum samples from women with PCOS (n = 30) and to compare them with healthy age and BMI matched controls (n = 30).
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