International media coverage promotes donations to a climate disaster.

The Australian bushfires in 2019-20 triggered massive amounts of charitable giving from the community. This study applied agenda-setting theory to examine if and how disaster news coverage influenced public donations in response to the crisis. A survey of 949 Australians found that people perceived news coverage of the event to be a strong influence on the amount they donated to bushfire appeals, over and above past giving levels.

Rage donations and mobilization: Understanding the effects of advocacy on collective giving responses.

Advocacy is intended to change people's attitudes and behavior. Yet the psychological and behavioral consequences of advocacy have rarely been considered. Across 3 experiments (combined N = 934) in the contexts of debates around racial discrimination and abortion, we investigated if and how exposure to advocacy can influence collective giving responses: self-reported willingness to make donations congruent with one's beliefs on the issue and actual giving behavior.

Predictors of mental health in aid workers: meaning, resilience, and psychological flexibility as personal resources for increased well-being and reduced distress.

Aid workers operate in stressful environments and tend to experience high psychological distress, yet not enough is known about their well-being and how to improve their mental health. This research project surveyed 243 aid workers in 77 countries undertaking humanitarian and development work who reported lower well-being and higher psychological distress than the general population. Well-being and distress emerged as two related but distinct mental health outcomes, encouraging further research on well-being in the sector.

To what extent are conspiracy theorists concerned for self versus others? A COVID-19 test case.

We examined whether people who are prone to believe COVID-19 conspiracy theories are characterised by an especially strong concern for others or an especially strong concern for the self, and whether these orientations are associated with willingness to take a COVID-19 vaccine. We surveyed 4,245 participants from eight nations; three months later we re-contacted 1,262 participants from three nations. Belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories was related to greater concerns about one's own safety, and lower concerns about the safety of close others.

Engagement and Mentor Support as Drivers of Social Development in the Project K Youth Development Program.

Youth development programs can achieve positive social outcomes, however studies comparing the influence of different program components are rare. Structural equation modeling of longitudinal, multilevel data (N = 327) from Project K, a multi-component youth development program, assessed how experiences of engagement or support in each component affected social outcomes. Participants reported significant gains in social self-efficacy and sense of community after the program.