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Using data from a cross-national survey conducted on representative samples of populations from 10 European countries ( n = 10,766), the present study is the first one to empirically measure the validity of Christie’s influential ideal victim model. We use a range of scenarios built around common types of anti-LGBT violence to verify the extent to which the public’s empathy for victims is contingent on the victim’s identity and the circumstances of the crime. The results provide strong evidence that, when applied to this group of victims, the rules of the ideal victim work, adequately moderating the public’s emotional reactions. We found that all victims receive relatively high levels of empathy, but the further the victim is from the ideal, the less support they can count on. Thus, even though no victim is “rejected,” a clear hierarchy of victimization emerges. As a group, LGBT people suffer from an empathy deficit, but there also are considerable variations within this group, with a lesbian attacked by extremists receiving the most, and a drunk transgender person receiving the least empathy from the public. The study contributes to the development of theory by embedding the ideal victim model in a broader sociological paradigm of dramaturgical analysis. Since our research shows that the victim’s LGBT status decreases the levels of empathy (being seen as a type of stigma), we call for more attention to be paid to the actor’s identity in Goffman’s framework. Implications for practice and further research are offered., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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L’altération du fonctionnement empathique constitue l’une des caractéristiques cliniques centrales associées au narcissisme pathologique. L’importante littérature existante sur le sujet met toutefois en lumière une importante hétérogénéité découlant notamment des multiples opérationnalisations de ces construits. De plus, le nombre restreint d’études traitant de l’expression contextuelle de l’empathie en association avec le narcissisme pathologique soulève la pertinence de s’intéresser davantage aux variables modératrices susceptibles d’influencer cette association. C’est dans cette double perspective que s’inscrit la présente thèse constituée de deux articles. Le premier article vise à tester l’hypothèse que le déficit d’empathie associé au narcissisme pathologique puisse relever, au-delà de facteurs dispositionnels, de variables contextuelles en explorant le rôle spécifique des menaces à la représentation grandiose de soi comme variable modératrice. Le premier objectif visé par cette étude est de mesurer si l’interaction entre les dimensions du narcissisme (grandiose et vulnérable) et l’expérience d’une menace à la représentation grandiose de soi (rétroaction négative à la performance ou rejet social) prédit négativement la capacité à reconnaître les émotions (empathie cognitive) et le degré de contagion émotionnelle (empathie affective). Le deuxième objectif vise quant à lui à explorer si les interactions observées ont un effet spécifique sur les émotions mesurées en fonction de leur valence et de leur intensité. Les résultats obtenus (N = 115) suggèrent que : (1) l’expérience de menaces aux représentations grandioses de soi est susceptible d’entraîner une altération du fonctionnement empathique; (2) l’hypothèse d’une altération négative du fonctionnement empathique n’est pas généralisable à l’ensemble des interactions; (3) l’interaction préférentielle entre les dimensions du narcissisme et certains types de menaces au sentiment d’importance est partiellement appu

Conspiracy theories are often viewed as the manifestation of a “conspiracy mentality” grounded in power-challenging attitudes. Contrary to this approach, it has been proposed that conspiracy theories targeting relatively powerful groups (i.e. upward conspiracy theories) may be ideologically distinct from conspiracy theories targeting relatively powerless groups (i.e. downward conspiracy theories). We tested this contention in the Romanian context ( n = 723, preregistered) and compared the ideological and socioeconomic correlates of anti-government (i.e. a relatively powerful group) and anti-Roma (i.e. a relatively powerless group) conspiracy beliefs. Using Principal Components Analysis, we showed that both categories of conspiracy beliefs are statistically distinct. Right-wing authoritarianism was significantly more related to anti-Roma conspiracy beliefs than to anti-government conspiracy beliefs. However, against our expectations, both types of conspiracy beliefs did not relate differently to subjective socioeconomic status. Overall, the ideological discrepancies between upward and downward conspiracy beliefs were less marked in the Romanian context. Finally, conspiracy mentality was more related to anti-government conspiracy beliefs than anti-Roma conspiracy beliefs. This corroborates the notion that generic measurements of conspiracist ideation may be mostly a measurement of upward conspiracy beliefs, and emphasizes the relevance of distinguishing conspiracy theories based on the types of groups they target., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

European capital cities are replete with material traces of colonial times, not only institutional reminders but also ephemeral objects, created to glorify colonial domination. Reactions of descendants of former colonisers to these traces suggest that colonial tropes are still present in their contemporary imaginary about the past. A comprehensive effort of decolonisation, therefore, needs to aim not only at including previously despised minorities, but also at raising majorities’ awareness about the aggressive side of leaving the permanence of material traces of colonialism unquestioned. Moreover, this awareness of implications of material traces could help to redesign European physical contexts to become more welcoming places for descendants of former colonised groups. Our research explores reactions of different generations of descendants of Italian colonisers when presented with an ephemeral trace of past violence—a candy still sold with a colonial wrapping. About 175 participants were presented with the image of the candy, either wrapped in its original colonial package or a neutral one. The image was followed either by a brief explanation of its colonial meaning or not. Reactions to such an apparently inconspicuous reminder of the Italian colonial crimes—still self-censored in the social representations of the Italian national past—proved to vary across experimental conditions and different ages of respondents. In particular, when questioning these ephemeral traces of adult participants show more intense group-based negative moral emotions. Relations between the generational renewal of former colonisers’ group and collective elaboration of intergroup violence are discussed., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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Conspiracy theories – which posit that secret groups cooperate to pursue malevolent goals – are a prominent feature in social and political discourse. Psychological research on conspiracy theories has boomed in the past 20 years, generating insights to the correlates and consequences of conspiracy beliefs. However, the literature suffers some limitations; the current editorial identifies five that constrain this relatively young field of research and recommends that future research (1) consider different forms of conspiracy beliefs and their distinct correlates and effects, (2) rely more on experiments to allow for conclusions about causality, (3) conduct more research that is high in external validity, (4) dedicate more attention to the cognitive processes underlying conspiracy beliefs, and (5) study methods for potential interventions. The current Virtual Special Issue highlights cutting-edge research that addresses some of these limitations. In particular, they highlight the importance of experimental methods in advancing this growing research field., SCOPUS: ed.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The number of PhD candidates who experience psychological problems has risen significantly over the past few years. Poor mental health can have numerous negative consequences for PhD candidates and their supervisors, as it may adversely affect their quality of life, attrition, and academic productivity. Despite these well-documented challenges, few studies have looked at how the supervisor–supervisee relationship can influence the emotional well-being of male and female doctoral candidates. The current work examined the role of the supervisor’s support in emotions and intended doctoral persistence among men (n = 411) and women (n = 514), in all disciplines at two large universities in Belgium. Results indicate that emotional well-being was low for all doctoral candidates but women experienced even more negative emotions (anxiety, stress, discouragement, demoralization, sadness and depression) and fewer positive emotions (confidence, optimism, happiness, fulfillment, satisfaction and content) than men. Interestingly, we also found that perceived structure and autonomy, two dimensions of supervisor support, have a positive effect on emotional well-being and intention of pursuing a PhD trajectory for both men and women. This paper makes a contribution to the higher education and research supervision literature by offering new directions for research and by providing guidelines for the training of research supervisors., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Dans le cadre de cette thèse, nous proposons d’analyser les enjeux psychosociaux relatifs à la mobilisation de différents statuts moraux par les membres de minorités actives lors d’une demande de reconnaissance. Pour cela, nous avons étudié la façon dont les membres du groupe majoritaire réagissent aux différents statuts moraux mobilisés par la minorité et la façon dont les membres du groupe minoritaire mobilisent les statuts moraux. En effet, un certain nombre de recherches se sont intéressées aux conséquences positives de la reconnaissance d’un statut de victime, délaissant l’étude d’autres statuts moraux. La thèse a donc pour objectif d’investiguer l’impact de la mobilisation d’autres statuts, avec un accent principalement mis sur les statuts de victime (patient négatif) et de bienfaiteur (agent positif). La thèse est composée de quatre articles. Le premier article vise à investiguer la catégorisation morale de minorités par les membres du groupe majoritaire. Il présente trois études nous permettant d’établir un paysage national relatif aux minorités avec lesquelles les Belges sont amenés à interagir dans la vie de tous les jours mais aussi du passé.Le deuxième article nous amène à nous interroger quant aux conséquences de la reconnaissance du statut passé sur les attitudes intergroupes actuelles. Dans cet article, nous investiguons, au travers de deux études, l’impact de la mémoire collective coloniale sur les relations intergroupes qu’entretiennent les Belges et les Congolais de Belgique.Le troisième article vise à comprendre les différentes réactions du groupe majoritaire lorsqu’il reçoit une demande de reconnaissance sociale de la part d’un groupe minoritaire qui mobilise soit un statut d’agent positif, soit celui de patient négatif. Cet article est composé de trois études mettant en avant un certain nombre de coûts et bénéfices liés à chaque statut moral. Enfin, le quatrième article a pour objectif d’analyser, à travers une analyse thématique d’interviews, l, In this thesis, we propose to investigate the psychosocial issues related to the mobilization of different moral statuses by members of active minorities when seeking recognition. To this end, we have studied how members of the majority group react to the different moral statuses mobilized by the minority and how members of the minority group mobilize moral statuses. Indeed, a number of studies have focused in the past on the positive consequences of victim status recognition, leaving aside the study of other moral statuses. The thesis therefore aims to investigate the impact of the mobilization of other statuses, with a focus on victim (negative patient) and benefactor (positive agent) statuses.The thesis consists of four articles. The first article investigates the moral categorization of minorities by members of the majority group. It presents three studies that allow us to establish a national landscape of minorities with which Belgians interact in everyday life and in the past.The second article investigates the consequences of recognition of past status on current intergroup attitudes. In this article, we investigate, through two studies, the impact of colonial collective memory on intergroup relations between Belgians and Congolese people in Belgium.The third article aims to understand the different reactions of the majority group when it receives a request for social recognition from a minority group that mobilizes either a positive agent or a negative patient status. This article is composed of three studies highlighting a number of costs and benefits associated with each moral status.Finally, the fourth article aims to analyze, through a thematic analysis of interviews, how Afro-descendant activists in Belgium mobilize their own group's moral categorization and how they anticipate the responses of the majority in the context of collective mobilization. This article allows us to observe the multiplicity of moral statuses mobilized by members of this active, Doctorat en Sciences psychologiques et de l'éducation, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In psychological research, conspiracy theories are often defined as explanations of events involving the hidden action of a malevolent group. Such a definition raises a false negative problem, as it does not capture conspiracy theories that are not about events. It also raises a false positive problem because it categorises any conspiracy-based explanation as a conspiracy theory, even though distinguishing conspiracy theories from other conspiracy claims is at the core of many attempts to define this notion. Based on more elaborated definitions and a conceptual re-engineering approach (Brun, 2016), we propose that conspiracy theories can be defined as claims that the public is being pervasively lied to regarding some aspect(s) of reality, to allow some group(s) to enact a harmful, self-serving agenda. Compared to other definitions, ours has the advantage of not taking position regarding the truth value of conspiracy theories, making it highly operative for psychological research., This article is accepted for publication, but not yet published., info:eu-repo/semantics/inPress

Teachers’ beliefs about students’ errors are influenced by structural factors and by other beliefs towards education and students that teachers may hold. The literature on this topic has provided some evidence and some mixed results. Furthermore, some structural aspects related to errors have not been considered in framing teachers’ beliefs about errors, such as the use of grades as a classroom assessment practice, which is strongly related to errors in testing situations. Based on these premises, this study aimed to explore teachers’ beliefs about errors and the practices teachers report using to deal with students’ errors in the classroom and teachers’ beliefs about the interdependence between grades and errors. Italian teachers (N = 33) from primary, middle, and secondary schools had been interviewed and the qualitative data were analysed through reflexive thematic analysis. The results showed that, according to teachers, errors acquire different meanings in the learning process, which are related to the roles they play in fostering or not learning. Furthermore, in describing these roles teachers reported to use specific practices to deal with students’ errors. Finally, teachers acknowledged that classroom assessment based on grades has a negative interdependency with errors that makes it difficult to present errors as a fruitful part of learning both in learning and testing situations. Our results reveal the ambivalence of teachers’ beliefs about errors and shed light on the challenges the grading evaluation system poses to teachers., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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In a pre-registered research, we examined the relationships between conspiracy mentality (i.e. the individual susceptibility to endorse conspiracy theories, Bruder et al. 2013) and trust in three actors of the COVID-19 crisis: 1) Political institutions, 2) scientific and medical institutions, and 3) the medical personnel. While the two former groups have played a direct or indirect role in decisions related to public health measures, the latter has not. We expected all these relationships to be negative, and to be mediated by the belief that the pandemic is instrumentalized by authorities to pursue secret agendas. In a study conducted with Belgian (N = 1136) and French (N = 374) convenience samples, conspiracy mentality negatively predicted trust in political institutions, and trust in scientific and medical institutions. These relations were partly mediated by belief that the pandemic is instrumentalized by authorities. In addition, distrust in political, medical and scientific institutions were highly and positively correlated, suggesting that these groups may be viewed as part of a same supra-ordinate category – the “Elites”. By contrast, we found a small negative relationship between conspiracy mentality and trust in the medical personnel in the Belgian sample, but not in the French sample. Trust in the medical personnel was unrelated to the belief that the pandemic is instrumentalized, and only weakly related to distrust in political institutions. This suggests that individuals with a susceptibility to believe in CTs may not have a propensity to distrust all actors involved in the management of the pandemic, but only those directly or indirectly tied to decisions pertaining to public health measures., info:eu-repo/semantics/inPress

À partir d’une analyse ergonomique et psychosociologique du travail, cet article vise à expliciter le concept pluriel de normativité dans le domaine de la santé au travail. Après avoir dressé une critique de la normativité managérialiste qui domine les approches de prévention, nous définirons les liens qui unissent normativité, santé et travail à partir d’une théorisation de l’activité de travail. Puis, nous proposerons une définition du « travail de santé » relevant d’un processus de construction de la santé aux prises avec les conditions de vie, les exigences du travail, les éléments de contexte, les marges de manœuvre. Cette construction suppose des arbitrages complexes entre les objectifs productifs et les objectifs constructifs et nécessite souvent des régulations se jouant à la fois dans et hors du cadre du travail. Nous illustrerons cette théorisation au travers d’une recherche sur l’activité enseignante dans le contexte de la pandémie COVID-19., Based on an ergonomic and psychosociological analysis of work, this article aims to clarify the plural concept of normativity in the field of occupational health. After having drawn up a critique of the managerialist normativity that dominates prevention approaches, we will define the links that unite normativity, health and work based on a theorization of work activity. Then, we will propose a definition of "health work" arising from a health construction process grappling with living conditions, work requirements, contextual elements, leeway. This construction presupposes complex trade-offs between productive and constructive objectives and often requires regulations being played out both inside and outside the work environment. We will illustrate this theory through research on teaching activity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Conspiracy theories arise during important societal and political events, with negative consequences. Yet, conspiracy theories remain to be investigated in the context of sporting tournaments, in spite of the importance of such events in contemporary societies. During the 2018 FIFA World Cup, conspiracy theories alleging that the newly introduced video Assistant Referee (VAR) was used with malevolent motives gained popularity online. In this paper, we used a Twitter content analysis to explore VAR conspiracy theories during the World Cup (N = 2,768 tweets). Conspiracy tweets peaked after eliminations of some teams and were strongly associated with labels referring to self-categorization at the group-level, supporting the notion that conspiracy beliefs are triggered by contexts threatening one’s social identity. Conspiracy tweets were also correlated with tweets expressing skepticism or defiance against the VAR, suggesting that conspiracy beliefs might be related to sport fans’ other identity management strategies. Finally, we drew an intergroup typology of VAR conspiracy beliefs’ recurrent figures, highlighting that higher ordered categorization helped conspiracy narratives and content to adapt throughout the tournament. We discuss the identity management strategy status of sport fans’ conspiracy beliefs., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Cette thèse avait pour objectif d’examiner comment le degré d’identification au groupe supra-ordonné et à un groupe subordonné influence la mémoire collective et les relations intergroupes après un conflit intergroupe violent. Plus précisément nous avons étudié les représentations de la victimisation des groupes et de leur degré de responsabilité dans le conflit passé. En mobilisant la théorie de l’identité sociale, cette thèse a examiné ces relations auprès de la population libanaise, dans le cadre de la mémoire de la guerre civile libanaise, en comparant les réponses de Libanais Chrétiens et Musulmans. Le premier chapitre investigue le contenu de la mémoire et sa relation avec l’identification au groupe et met en relief les évènements les plus marqués dans la mémoire collective. Cette dernière semble être plus riche chez les Libanais Chrétiens et chez ceux fortement identifiés au Liban. Le deuxième chapitre montre un biais pro-endogroupe dans la manière dont les participants perçoivent la victimisation et la responsabilité des groupes impliqués dans la guerre civile, à savoir une tendance à mettre l'accent sur l'expérience de victimisation de l'endogroupe et à rejeter la responsabilité sur les exogroupes. Cette tendance est plus prononcée avec une forte identification au groupe religieux. Le troisième chapitre montre l’impact des facteurs précédents (identification au groupe et mémoire collective) sur les relations intergroupes au Liban. Une forte identification au groupe religieux (en contraste avec une forte identification au Liban), ainsi que la croyance en la victimisation compétitive (la croyance que son groupe religieux a souffert plus que l’exogroupe), en contraste avec la croyance de la victimisation inclusive, mène à des relations intergroupes négatives. En outre, la perception de menace intergroupe a une influence négative sur les relations intergroupe car elle exacerbe le biais pro-endogroupe., Doctorat en Sciences psychologiques et de l'éducation, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Two experiments examined the polarization of public support for COVID-19 policies due to people’s trust or lack thereof in political leaders and nonpartisan experts. In diverse samples in the United States (Experiment 1; N = 1,802) and the United Kingdom (Experiment 2; N = 1,825), participants evaluated COVID-19 policies that were framed as proposed by ingroup political leaders, outgroup political leaders, nonpartisan experts, or, in the experiment in the US, a bipartisan group of political leaders. [AQ: 2] At the time of the study in April 2020, COVID-19 was an unfamiliar, shared, and nonpoliticized threat. Therefore, there were theoretical reasons explaining why attitudes toward COVID-19 policy may not have been politically polarized. Yet, our results demonstrated that people supported policies from ingroup political leaders more than the same policies from outgroup leaders, extending prior research on how people align their policy stances to political elites from their own parties. People also trusted experts and ingroup political leaders more than outgroup political leaders. Partly because of this polarized trust, policies from experts and bipartisan groups were more widely supported than policies from ingroup political leaders. These results illustrate the potentially detrimental role political leaders may play and the potential for effective leadership by bipartisan groups and nonpartisan experts in shaping public policy attitudes during crises., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The identification-prejudice link describes the defensive stance toward immigrants held by strong national identifiers. Recent research refined this relationship by suggesting that defensive national identification (operationalized through national narcissism), but not secure national identification, was associated with prejudice. While previous research found intergroup threat and conspiracy beliefs to mediate the identification-prejudice link, the need to comprehensively and experimentally test the role of these defensive group beliefs remains in the context of the narcissistic identification-prejudice link. Furthermore, following the group-based control model, we proposed that these defensive group beliefs might be more pronounced among national narcissists compensating for a low personal control. In Study 1 (N = 1104, nationally representative sample), national narcissism, but not secure national identification, was related to prejudice against immigrants, and a serial model composed of perceived intergroup threat and conspiracy beliefs mediated this relationship. These relationships held when controlling for conspiracy mentality, supporting the notion that these conspiracy beliefs were motivated at the intergroup level. In Study 2 (N = 474, pre-registered), we experimentally induced intergroup threat and exposure to conspiracy theories about immigrants. Induced threat increased conspiracy beliefs, and both increased prejudice, corroborating their causal relationship. In Study 3 (N = 350, pre-registered), we induced low personal control and made national narcissism salient to test the group-based control hypothesis. The relationship between measured (but not manipulated) national narcissism and conspiracy beliefs was more pronounced under low personal control. We discuss the role of defensive group beliefs on group-based control and prejudice against immigrants., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

In this 28-country study (N = 6112), we assessed how subjective perceptions and objective indicators of wealth were associated with majority group members’ perceptions of realistic threat related to immigration. Subjective wealth was assessed by individuals’ perceptions of their personal wealth (current/anticipated) and of their country´s wealth, whereas objective country-level wealth was assessed by GDP and HDI. Multilevel analyses showed that living in a country with a lower objective wealth and perceiving the country's relative wealth as low were associated with higher levels of perceived realistic threat. We also found that an anticipated decrease in personal wealth in the future was associated with higher threat perceptions only in low HDI countries. Our results suggest that perceived realistic threat is fostered by a perceived decline in the current wealth of the country, and country-level wealth may play a role in calibrating threat responses to anticipated personal wealth., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Dans cet article, nous aborderons la question des théories du complot et les facteurs menant certaines personnes à adhérer à ces récits. Nous examinerons d’abord les explications individuelles, en termes de déficit cognitif et/ou de psychopathologie. Celles-ci nous amèneront à interroger le lien entre niveau d’éducation et complotisme :le complotisme trouve-t-il sa source dans un déficit de pensée critique, que l’instruction scolaire pourrait combler ?Dans un troisième temps, nous soulignerons les limites d’une approche individuelle du complotisme en mettant en exergue le rôle de dynamiques collectives, qui ne sont pas réductibles à des déficits cognitifs et/ou à des troubles psychopathologiques., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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Objectives: This study investigated the effect of positive preconditioning on the specific modality of verbal and touch interventions, in pain management.Methods: We compared pain ratings in 51 participants who underwent a cold pressor test twice (T1, T2). The results from the first test were used as a reference. For the second test, the participants were divided into 5 groups. Four groups received verbal or touch intervention during the test, with or without preconditioning. The fifth group was a control group. We compared dVAS (pain ratings at T1 minus T2) between groups to assess the effect of the interventions and the preconditioning. We also explored the within-group association between dVAS and pain-related traits.Results: We found a significant effect of preconditioning on dVAS. The post hoc test showed that the preconditioned verbal group reported higher dVAS than the non-preconditioned one. Participants’ emotional awareness scores were negatively correlated with dVAS in the preconditioned touch group.Conclusion: These data suggested that preconditioning enhances pain management, regardless of intervention modalities. However, the preconditioning effect for the touch modality was negatively associated with the participants’ emotional awareness.Practice implications: Communication must be adapted with caution, depending on the treatment and the patients’ emotional status., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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Despite a growing literature on the topic, little is known about how individuals perceive the label “conspiracy theory”. In two studies, we compare lay social representations of conspiracy theories, and how these are influenced by individuals’ own conspiracy beliefs. In addition, we examine how these representations relate to how scholars define and explain CTs. In Study 1, we used lexicometric analysis to explore the vocabulary that French participants (n = 939) spontaneously associated with the notion of ‘conspiracy theory’ and the personal definitions they provided. The representation of participants scoring high on the generic conspiracist beliefs scale was centred on the content of conspiracy theories (e.g. “lies” or “government”). By contrast, the representation of participants scoring low on the conspiracist beliefs scale was centred on the believer (e.g. “paranoia” or “cognitive biases”). They proposed definitions of conspiracy theories centred on the function(s) conspiracy theories supposedly fulfil for the believer (e.g. simplify complex realities). To make sure that these results did not merely express participants’ endorsement or rejection of conspiracy theories, we carried out a second study. In Study 2 (n = 272), we found that the more participants endorsed generic conspiracist beliefs, the less they mobilised intra-individual causes (e.g. reasoning biases) to explain why some people believe in CTs that they did not endorse themselves. This research shows that people’s representations of conspiracy theories differ depending on their conspiracy beliefs., info:eu-repo/semantics/inPress

RationaleVaccination willingness is a critical step in the effort to reach herd immunity and control the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, many people remain reluctant to be vaccinated.ObjectiveIntegrating the literature on Self-Determination Theory, trust in authorities, and conspiracy theories, this research examines (a) the direct and indirect effect of government trust and conspiracism via underlying forms of motivations for (not) getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and (b) whether these associations differ across the two largely politically independent Belgian linguistic groups.MethodsUsing Structural Equation Modeling, we tested our models in two independent samples, in February 2021 (T1) and April 2021 (T2) (Total N = 8264).ResultsAt T1 and T2, Government trust and conspiracism both predict COVID-19 vaccination intention, respectively positively and negatively. These relations are fully mediated by motivational factors, with identified motivations having a larger positive contribution. Looking at linguistic context, differences emerge at T2, with French-speaking Belgians showing lower levels of government trust and higher levels of conspiracism than Dutch speakers.ConclusionsResults highlight the importance of integrating distal (trust in government, conspiracism) and proximal (motivational) variables to understand vaccination intentions., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Narcissists over-estimate their ability to read social cues, misunderstand how others perceive them, and lack perspective-taking abilities. Thus, people high on narcissism might feel more transparent toward others (i.e. felt transparency) than people low on narcissism. But is this the case? We performed a pre-registered mixed-design online study (n = 334) to test whether narcissism is positively or negatively linked to feelings of transparency and to explore whether this link depends on situational factors. Our results show that the more people score high in narcissism, the more they feel transparent toward other(s). Situational factors (referent, dimension, and valence) do not moderate the narcissism-transparency link, except for valence and narcissism rivalry. We discuss potential theoretical contributions to the literature on narcissism, transparency and metaperception., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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We examined how individuals who may be labelled ‘conspiracy theorists’ respond to discrimination against ‘conspiracy theorists’. In line with the Rejection-Identification Model (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 135, 1999), we hypothesized that perceived group-based discrimination against conspiracy theorists would strengthen identification with the ‘conspiracy theorist’ ingroup. We propose that this relationship might be mediated by meta-conspiracy beliefs, that is, the belief that the discrimination of conspiracy theorists is itself a conspiracy. Three studies (Ns = 97, 364, 747) among participants who had been labelled as ‘conspiracy theorist’ in the past (Studies 1 and 2) or who had been labelled as such at the beginning of the experiment (Study 3) revealed robust positive relationships between perceived discrimination of conspiracy theorists, meta conspiracy beliefs, and identification. Furthermore, in Studies 2 and 3, identification was strongly associated with positive intergroup differentiation and pride to be a conspiracy theorist. However, there was no evidence that a manipulation of discrimination with bogus public opinion polls affected ‘conspiracy theorist’ identification or meta-conspiracy beliefs. A Bayesian internal meta-analysis of the studies returned moderate (for group identification) to strong (for meta-conspiracy beliefs) support for the null hypothesis. In contrast, in Study 3, a manipulation of discrimination by powerholders enhanced both identification and meta-conspiracy beliefs. This suggests that the source of discrimination moderates the causal relationship between perceived discrimination of conspiracy theorists and group identification., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis which called for two crucial modes of social regulation: social control and social solidarity. In the present pre-registered study, we examine how the perceived non-compliance with health measures relates to attitudes towards these modes of social regulation, as well as to the role played by the perception of disintegrated and disregulated society (anomie). Using data from an online cross-sectional survey conducted in Belgium in April 2020 (N = 717), results show that the causal attribution of the crisis to insufficient compliance was differentially associated with support for social control and social solidarity behaviours. Specifically, greater attribution to insufficient compliance was associated with a perceived breakdown in the social fabric (disintegration), which explained stronger support for social control and fewer solidarity-based actions. Perceived disregulation, conversely, was associated with less support for social control and more support for social solidarity. Therefore, the perception of the pandemic and associated perceived anomie tend to polarize citizens' attitudes towards these two modes of social regulation. In this way, prosocial behaviours might be inhibited by communications that attribute the pandemic's causes to incivility. Other implications of our findings for the social psychological literature on communities' reactions to the pandemic are discussed. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The socioeconomic status (SES) of individuals is related to their political trust. The higher their status, the more they trust the political system. This well-known relation is generally explained in terms of socialisation. The higher the SES, the more people are exposed to democratic values or interact with trustworthy institutions. This increases political interest, which increases political trust. In this study, we propose a complementary explanation: lower SES enhances the perception that the social fabric is breaking down (anomie), and this reduces political trust. We test this hypothesis by using structural equation modeling (SEM) on a representative survey (n = 1203) conducted in the Wallonia region of Belgium. That region appeared suited to explore our hypothesis because of its long-term economic difficulties. The results reveal that those of low SES have less political trust because they perceive more anomie in society. These results are consistent even when the alternative explanation is taken into account (the socialisation hypothesis). Moreover, the results also showed that a higher level of anomie reduced interpersonal trust which reduced political trust (serial mediation). These results highlight the key role of anomie when considering the relation of SES with political trust., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

People differ in their general tendency to endorse conspiracy theories (that is, conspiracy mentality). Previous research yielded inconsistent findings on the relationship between conspiracy mentality and political orientation, showing a greater conspiracy mentality either among the political right (a linear relation) or amongst both the left and right extremes (a curvilinear relation). We revisited this relationship across two studies spanning 26 countries (combined N = 104,253) and found overall evidence for both linear and quadratic relations, albeit small and heterogeneous across countries. We also observed stronger support for conspiracy mentality among voters of opposition parties (that is, those deprived of political control). Nonetheless, the quadratic effect of political orientation remained significant when adjusting for political control deprivation. We conclude that conspiracy mentality is associated with extreme left- and especially extreme right-wing beliefs, and that this non-linear relation may be strengthened by, but is not reducible to, deprivation of political control., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This article investigates how Belgian participants’ implicit temporal trajectories regarding the history of Belgian colonialism in the Congo vary as a function of their attitudes towards colonialism and thus create different collective memories. We reasoned that, depending on their attitudes towards Belgian colonialism, individuals may draw on different schematic narrative templates to structure their own implicit temporal trajectory of colonial history. Consequently, we predicted that the shape of individual implicit temporal trajectories should vary according to their attitudes. Specifically, we expected that positive attitudes towards colonialism would be associated with implicit temporal trajectories in which the colonial period is seen as more positive than before and after colonialism, creating an inverted U-shaped implicit temporal trajectory, while negative attitudes towards colonialism should be associated with the opposite trend – U-shaped implicit trajectories. We measured the attitudes towards colonialism of Belgian participants (n = 129), then their social representations of three historical periods: before, during and after Belgian colonialism. Overall, results supported these hypotheses., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished