Social Psychological Bulletin

(Don’t) Mind the Gap? The Role of Current Versus Desired State of Goal Attainment in Predicting Sustainable Behavior

Anna O. Kuzminska — 2026-10-23

Understanding what motivates individuals to engage in sustainable behavior is essential for advancing sustainable development goals (SDGs). Drawing on the cybernetic model of behavior regulation, this research investigates how the perceived gap between one’s desired level of societal progress towards sustainability and the current societal reality stimulates individuals’ action toward sustainability. Across two studies, we found that individuals’ desired state—not the current state—was the strongest predictor of both their willingness (Study 1) and actual engagement (Study 2) in sustainable behavior. Interestingly, individuals remained highly motivated to act sustainably even when SDGs were perceived as largely achieved. These effects extended beyond environmental concern to two other SDGs: health promotion and public safety. This suggests that, within the context of our studies, sustainable behavior seems to be meaningfully driven by personal goal alignment rather than current goal achievement in a society alone. Our findings offer a novel application of the cybernetic model to sustainable behavior and highlight the importance of interventions that connect sustainable actions with individuals’ personal values, aspirations, and identity. For policymakers and practitioners, this implies that fostering a sense of personal ownership and relevance of SDGs may be more effective than emphasizing societal progress alone.

The Importance Given to Personal Values Depends on Whether you Focus on Social Desirability or Utility

Laurent Cambon — 2026-10-21

The goal of this paper is to answer the following question: What personal values are most important to people? Building on Dubois and Beauvois’ model of social value, I try to show that the prioritization of personal values depends on the evaluative focus (social desirability versus social utility) one adopts. In two studies (Ntotal = 2019) asking participants to judge Schwartz’s personal values when adopting the two different evaluative foci, the results showed that self-transcendence (self-enhancement) values were systematically judged as more socially desirable (socially useful) than self-enhancement (self-transcendence) ones, with openness-to-change and conservation falling in between. These results may help resolve inconsistencies observed in the literature between works showing a general preference for self-transcendence values and others pointing to the centrality of self-enhancement values in the functioning of capitalist societies.

Attentional Biases in Dispositional Mindfulness and Gratitude

Joline Guitard — 2026-10-21

Dispositional mindfulness and gratitude are two individual differences suggested to be linked to attentional processes. The present study aimed to assess the presence of attentional biases associated with these two traits. Sixty-one participants completed an emotional dot-probe task while eye movements were recorded. Each of the 96 trials presented one emotional facial expression (fear, surprise, anger, sadness, disgust, or happiness) paired with a neutral face from the same encoder. Attentional biases were measured using dwell time and initial orienting, in addition to traditional probe response times. Results suggested that individuals high in mindfulness responded faster to probes than those low in mindfulness across all conditions, supporting the view that mindfulness enhances attentional control and cognitive flexibility. Moreover, the interaction between dispositional mindfulness and gratitude significantly predicted initial orienting toward sad stimuli, suggesting a moderation effect. Johnson–Neyman analyses suggested that the time taken to first fixate on sadness stimuli significantly increased as one’s level of mindfulness increased, but only f or individuals with high levels of gratitude. In light of these results, we propose the hypothesis that highly grateful individuals may avoid sad stimuli as a self-preservation strategy and that this tendency becomes more efficient as attentional control improves with mindfulness.

Intergroup Aggressors: When and Why Do They Acquire a Positive Reputation in the In-Group?

Kai Otsubo — 2026-09-02

It is necessary to understand the causal mechanism of aggressive behavior toward out-group members (out-group aggression) to prevent tragic intergroup conflicts. Recent research suggests that individuals sometimes engage in out-group aggression to maintain their reputation. However, it remains unclear how people actually evaluate those who engage in out-group aggression (intergroup aggressors). Across three experiments—a vignette-based study (Study 1) and two economic game studies (Studies 2, 3)—we examined how situational factors influence the reputation of intergroup aggressors. The results demonstrated that intergroup aggressors’ reputation improved under conflicting interests between groups. This effect was caused by the fact that intergroup aggressors in such situations benefit their in-group, rather than simply by harming the out-group. In addition, the perceived prosocial motivation of intergroup aggressors was shown to be an important determinant of their reputation. Our findings are consistent with the idea that reputation plays an important role in the emergence and escalation of intergroup conflict and provide important implications for intergroup conflict prevention.

When Prophecy Failed in July 2025, Japan: Who Believed and How Did They React to Disconfirmation?

Ryota Sakakibara — 2026-09-02

A widely publicized prophecy proclaiming that a major disaster would strike Japan on July 5, 2025 was disconfirmed, providing a rare opportunity to examine public reactions to a failed prophecy. Two surveys were administered before (July 3) and after (July 10) the predicted date; Japanese adults who completed both waves (N = 318) provided matched pre–post data. We first tested prophecy belief by relating pre-survey belief to individual differences in reflective thinking, scientific reasoning, and conspiracy mentality. We subsequently assessed hindsight and retrospective biases by comparing pre- and post-July 5 belief ratings, anxiety, and precautionary actions (stockpiling, schedule changes, information sharing). Finally, we evaluated “moving the goal-post” using linear mixed-effects models predicting three prophecy-fulfillment criteria (casualties, location, temporal window) using survey time, pre-survey belief, and their interactions. Pre-survey belief was negatively related to reflective thinking and scientific reasoning and positively related to conspiracy mentality. Paired-samples t-tests yielded a pattern consistent with memory reconstruction: after learning that the prophecy failed, participants recalled lower pre-prophecy belief, anxiety, and precautionary actions than initially reported. In the mixed-effects models, evidence of goal-post moving emerged only for the temporal window criterion: the effect of time was significantly positive at high (+1 SD) prior belief but non-significant at low (-1 SD); no interactions appeared for casualties or location. Overall, susceptibility to unfounded claims varied with cognitive style and conspiracy mentality, and learning that the prophecy failed led to post-hoc changes in both recollection and evaluative criteria.

Intergenerational Contact and Ageism: A Scoping Literature Review of the Association Between Grandchild-Grandparent Relationships and Attitudes Toward Older Adults

Sara Filoni — 2026-07-20

Ageism has negative effects on older adults’ mental and physical health and on intergenerational relationships. Beside interventions that reduce this process, it appears important to consider the grandparent-grandchild relationship’s potential role in countering ageism, because of its features. Thus, this scoping literature review aims to collect current knowledge on the grandparent-grandchild relationship and ageism, with a particular focus on their association. A total of 18 articles were included, employing the following approaches: quantitative (n = 13)—including 11 cross-sectional and 2 experimental studies—qualitative (n = 3), mixed methods (n = 1), and one narrative literature review. It was found that: 1) both contact quality and frequency are associated with ageism reduction and an increase in positive attitudes toward older adults, even if there is a stronger agreement regarding contact quality; 2) self-disclosure (i.e., the sharing of personal information in the grandparent-grandchild relationship) is related to positive attitudes and stereotypes toward older people; 3) closeness, 4) interaction anxiety and 5) accommodation can mediate the relation between explicit attitudes towards older adults and other variables (e.g., self-disclosure and contact quality). Overall, the grandparent-grandchild relationship holds promising potential in the prevention of ageism.

Democrats’ and Republicans’ Support for Women’s and Men’s Bodily Autonomy

Thekla Morgenroth — 2026-07-08

Bodily autonomy, bodily integrity, and their violations are much-discussed topics in philosophy, law, medicine, and feminist writing, yet social psychology has not paid this issue much attention. Focusing on opposing political parties in a polarized society, our study (N = 407) examined the extent to which Democrats and Republicans value liberty and freedom and their support for a specific type of freedom, namely bodily autonomy of women and men. Liberty and freedom were highly (and equally) valued by Democrats and Republicans in our sample. However, the two groups differed starkly in their support for bodily autonomy. Democrats, compared to Republicans, were much more supportive of women’s bodily autonomy across a wide range of behaviors such as getting drunk, getting a tattoo, and declining sex from one’s spouse. Interestingly, this difference also held for men’s bodily autonomy, although the difference between political groups was larger for women’s bodily autonomy. This difference was driven by behaviors related to women’s reproductive functions, which were not included for men, suggesting that Republicans are particularly opposed to giving women full control over these types of decisions about their bodies. We conclude that even though Republicans often emphasize the importance of freedom and liberty, they show a lack of support for one fundamental freedom: the right to bodily autonomy. By revealing how abstract commitments to liberty diverge from support for bodily autonomy, our findings highlight the importance of psychological insights for understanding ongoing political and moral debates in a highly polarized society.

Foreign Country Conspiracy Beliefs in Separatist Conflicts: Their Role in Fueling Blame Attribution, Delegitimization of Separatist Group, and Symbolic Racism

Ali Mashuri — 2026-05-18

Across 4 correlational studies, using currently unresolved separatist conflicts in West Papua, Indonesia as a contextual background, our work aimed to examine the role of beliefs in foreign country conspiracies in igniting negative reactions of members of a non-separatist society when responding to a political issue. Study 1 (N = 88) constitutes a preliminary investigation revealing that beliefs in foreign country conspiracies, referring to the extent to which non-separatist members believe that foreign countries have clandestinely backed up the separatist group, positively corresponded to the legitimization of the separatist group as a terrorist organization. In Study 2 (N = 325), results showed that more beliefs in foreign country conspiracies, in line with Study 1, corresponded to more endorsement of the Indonesian government’s decision to judge the West Papuan separatist group as a terrorist organization. Study 2 also demonstrated that beliefs in foreign country conspiracies translated into generalized negative attitudes towards West Papuan society, manifested in symbolic racism. Study 3 (N = 497) extended Study 2, showing how blaming the separatist group mediated the role of beliefs in foreign conspiracies as positive antecedents of support for the terrorist label and symbolic racism. Study 4 (N = 550) replicated Study 3 and additionally found that the positive relationship between beliefs in foreign country conspiracies and symbolic racism was more prominent among high national glorifiers. These findings suggest that negative attitudes toward the separatist movement can be rooted in people’s attribution of the independence movement to a distal, international factor.

Threat and Worry (Often) Go Together; Salience Stands Apart – Patterns Across Descriptives, Correlations, and Ideological Associations

Linda C. Bomm — 2026-05-18

Societal threat perception, worry, and issue salience are central to research in psychology and political science, and previous research suggests considerable overlap between the three measures. Nevertheless, they have not yet been empirically distinguished. This study addresses whether the empirical patterns of these three measures are consistent and whether they yield congruent conclusions about political ideology across twelve societal issues. Using data from a diverse Dutch sample (N = 1863), we first show that threat and worry, but not salience, produce similar empirical patterns in terms of means and correlations, as citizens find issues more important than threatening or worrying. Next, we find that, overall, threat and worry correlate similarly with ideology—but also highlight exceptions—whereas issue salience often overestimates this relationship (Type M error) but rarely reverses its direction (Type S error). These findings clarify the unique roles of threat, worry, and issue salience in (political) psychology, offering a framework for future research on the threat-politics link.

The Structure and Correlates of Societal Threat Perceptions: A Network Approach

Linda C. Bomm — 2026-05-18

Societal threats such as climate change, economic crises, and wars shape citizens’ political attitudes and behaviors. Yet, the structure of threat perceptions and their socio-demographic and ideological correlates remain underexplored. Using a six-wave Dutch survey (N = 685) and a network approach, we uncover the complexity of societal threat perceptions. First, we show that societal threat perceptions vary in their interconnectedness, with security threats, such as crime, threats related to asylum seekers, and the war in Ukraine emerging as central nodes. Second, ideology, age, and education are the most relevant variables linked to societal threat perceptions. Third, we replicate the levels and structure of societal threat perceptions over time, highlighting the robustness of our conclusions. Our study’s results indicate that societal threat perceptions form a complex network that replicates over one year. We outline an agenda for the next generation of theorizing on the structure, correlates and stability of societal threat perceptions.