Understanding lay theories on the causes of economic inequality is the first step to comprehending why people tolerate, justify, or react against it. Accordingly, this paper aims to develop and validate with two cross-sectional studies the Attributions for Cross-Country Inequality Scale (ACIS), which assesses how people explain cross-country economic inequality-namely, the uneven distribution of income and wealth between poor and rich countries. After selecting and adapting items from existing scales of attributions for poverty and wealth, in Study 1, we tested the factorial structure of this initial pool of items in three countries with different levels of economic development and inequality, namely, Italy (n = 246), the UK (n = 248), and South Africa (n = 228).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe main goal of the present research is to develop and validate the Perceived Economic Inequality Scale (PEIS), an instrument measuring individuals' perceptions of economic inequality at the national level. The study was conducted on a representative sample of the Italian population ( = 1,446, 51% women). The factorial structure of the scale was assessed through cross-validated exploratory-confirmatory factor analyses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExperts and laypeople often describe pathogens and diseases by attributing to these nonhuman entities human-related qualities, mind states, intentions, and emotions (i.e., anthropomorphism).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMen's partner-sexual objectification has been linked to increased self-objectification and diminished well-being in women. Some recent findings have also demonstrated that men's partner-sexual objectification is related to increased violence in the relationship. However, mechanisms driving this association remain unexplored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectification is a form of dehumanization that implies the perception of others as mere objects. The present study aimed to expand research on objectification in the work domain by exploring the relationships between objectifying job features, self-objectification, and affective organizational commitment within a real work setting. Building on previous literature, we hypothesized that the execution of objectifying work activities would be positively related to workers' tendency to objectify themselves.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Community Appl Soc Psychol
November 2021
This study explores the psychological effects of the COVID-19 emergency on workers employed in the supermarket sector by analysing their levels of burnout and the relationship between the burnout syndrome and employees' workplace experiences. A sample of 422 Italian workers answered a survey addressing the burnout dimensions (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNowadays, binge-watching (i.e., watching multiple episodes of a TV series in one session) has become a widespread practice of media consumption, raising concerns about its negative outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThrough two studies ( = 602) conducted in Italy between February and March 2020, we examined the impact of the COVID-19 emergency on biologization-a form of dehumanization that involves the perception of others as contagious entities-and outgroup prejudice. Overall, results showed that higher emergency perception was associated with greater biologization toward the groups most affected by the virus, namely the Chinese outgroup and the Italian ingroup. In turn, biologization toward the outgroup increased prejudice against that group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 has forced governments to impose a lockdown, and many people have suddenly found themselves having to reduce their social relations drastically. Given the exceptional nature of similar situations, only a few studies have investigated the negative psychological effects of forced social isolation and how they can be mitigated in a real context. In the present study, we investigated whether the amount of digital communication technology use for virtual meetings (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study aims to investigate the indirect link between sexual objectification and belief in personal free will. We hypothesized that being subjected to objectifying commentary would lead women to self-objectify and, in turn, to perceive themselves as having less personal free will. In this study, 105 women were asked to sign up a website created for this study by providing a personal description and a photo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study aims at expanding research on dehumanization in the work domain by exploring laypeople's dehumanizing perceptions towards stigmatized workers. Starting from Hughes' (1951, Social psychology at the crossroads, Harper & Brothers, New York; Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999, Academy of Management Review, 24, 413) concept of 'dirty work', the present research aims to demonstrate that the different types of occupational taint elicit distinct dehumanizing images of certain occupational groups. Employing a cluster analysis, the results showed that workers in the physical taint cluster were most strongly associated with biological metaphors, workers in the social taint cluster were perceived as most similar to objects, and workers in the moral taint cluster were perceived as most similar to animals.
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