The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a detrimental effect on people's mental health. Drawing on the palliative function of ideologies, we suggest that people rely on system-justifying beliefs to mitigate psychological distress during the pandemic. We conducted three studies with correlational and experimental designs to examine whether and how system-justifying beliefs can buffer against psychological distress during COVID-19, and whether this effect may vary across social classes. The results indicated that (a) system-justifying beliefs alleviated psychological distress during the pandemic, (b) personal control mediated this relationship and (c) this effect was consistent across all social classes. This study provides robust evidence for the palliative function of system-justifying beliefs during a massive global health crisis (i.e. COVID-19).
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12779 | DOI Listing |
J R Soc N Z
December 2023
University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Scientific evidence unequivocally shows that human activities cause climate change, but some people still deny it. Using New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study data from 2018 and 2019 ( = 34,733), we examined segmentation profiles regarding beliefs and concern about climate change ('Climate change is real', 'Climate change is caused by humans', 'I am deeply concerned about climate change'), the probabilities of transitioning to and from profiles over time, and the characteristics of individuals in each profile. Five profiles were identified with varying levels of climate change beliefs and concern.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBr J Soc Psychol
January 2025
Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, VU Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a detrimental effect on people's mental health. Drawing on the palliative function of ideologies, we suggest that people rely on system-justifying beliefs to mitigate psychological distress during the pandemic. We conducted three studies with correlational and experimental designs to examine whether and how system-justifying beliefs can buffer against psychological distress during COVID-19, and whether this effect may vary across social classes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBr J Soc Psychol
October 2024
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
This article seeks to enhance the theoretical understanding of discrimination perception, especially in contexts with relevant statistical information. Previous research has provided important insights into the perception of single, ambiguous instances of discrimination. However, the generalizability of these insights to scenarios involving multiple, repeated instances of discrimination remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Although the legitimacy of an economic system is often dependent on citizen support, psychological research has paid little attention to attitudes toward economic systems. In the present study, we examined the link between two system-justifying ideologies, namely, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO), and attitudes toward the social market economy in Germany. Drawing on system justification theory, we hypothesized that RWA would be positively and SDO negatively associated with support for the social market economy because the social component of the German economic system conflicts with beliefs inherent in SDO favoring a group-based hierarchy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBr J Soc Psychol
January 2024
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
The present research aimed to examine how perceivers' system-justifying beliefs moderate the way they evaluate high- versus low-status targets on assertiveness and competence. In three experimental studies, we manipulated a target's hierarchical position within his company's organization. Participants rated the target on traits reflecting assertiveness and competence.
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