Search

This article examines the influence of the sexualization of victims' appearance on bystanders' helping intentions when witnessing an online harassment episode, considering the mediation of victim blaming. Two hundred and ninety participants read a fictitious Facebook post of the victim describing the online harassment episode. According to the experimental condition, the scenario was accompanied by a picture of the female (vs. male) victim with a sexualized (vs. non-sexualized) appearance. Then, participants rated the seriousness of the episode, the extent to which they blamed the victim for the online harassment, and expressed their willingness to help the victim. Results showed that sexualized victims, regardless of their gender, were blamed more for their victimization, and this evaluation, in turn, lowered participants' willingness to help the victims. In conclusion, linking the literature on the antecedents and the consequences of victim blaming, we extended the knowledge providing evidence that the biased perception of victims' physical appearance produces concrete consequences for mistreated individuals. Practical implications are discussed., Author(s): Federica Spaccatini [sup.1] , Maria Giuseppina Pacilli [sup.2] , Stefano Pagliaro [sup.3] , Ilaria Giovannelli [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.7563.7, 0000 0001 2174 1754, Department of Psychology, University of [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly become a global health crisis, leading people to change their interpersonal behaviours to contain the spread of the virus. Italy has rapidly become the country hit second hardest in the world by the COVID-19 pandemic and the first one in Western countries. To reduce the spread of the COVID-19, people are required to change their interpersonal behaviours, reducing their social interactions in close contacts. The lockdown impact on the economy as well as on social and psychological processes is relevant, we conducted an exploratory study to examine which social factors are associated with the psychological reactions of Italians during the COVID-19 lockdown. Participants (n = 690) self-reported their social identification on three levels (i.e., Italians, Europeans and humankind), their trust toward social and political actors, and their level of welbeing, interdependent-happiness, and distress. Results showed that the relation between trust and the level of wellbeing and distress was mediated by identification with Italians and humankind, only the identification with humankind mediated the relationship between trust and the level of interdependent-happiness. The identification with Europeans did not emerge as a mediator in such relationships. The implications for dealing with COVID-19 lockdown in Italy are discussed., Author(s): Daniele Paolini [sup.1] , Fridanna Maricchiolo [sup.1] , Maria Giuseppina Pacilli [sup.2] , Stefano Pagliaro [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.8509.4, 0000000121622106, University of Roma Tre, , Rome, Italy (2) [...]

Objective: Some scholars suggest that right-leaning Europeans utilize sympathetic reactions toward women gender-based violence victims to justify discrimination against Black men. Thus, in the context of an alleged sexual assault at a university, we examined whether the relationship between White Europeans' support for punishing an accused Black man would be moderated by their racial identity and the extent that they humanized the woman complainant. We further examined the role of pejorative beliefs about the man. Method: White Europeans (n = 302) recruited through Prolific completed a racial identity measure and read about an alleged male-to-female sexual assault by a Black or White male university student and reported the extent they humanized the woman complainant. They then completed measures assessing their perpetrator-directed sexualized threat attributions (i.e., he was hypersexual, threatening) and endorsement of: (a) university (i.e., suspension) and (b) criminal (i.e., incarceration) punitive sanctions. Results: In the Black male target condition, among those who reported strong (but not weak) racial identification, stronger complainant humanization predicted greater endorsement for both forms of punitive reactions. The humanization-punitive reactions association was mediated by greater sexualized threat attributions. In the White male target condition, the interaction between racial identity and complainant humanization was not significant. Conclusions: Among strongly identified White Europeans, elevated humanization of a sexual assault complainant predicted greater punitive reactions toward an accused university Black man. However, this positive humanization-punitive responding relationship was not based on stable moral standards as it did not occur for a similarly accused university White man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Western cultures, the sexualization of children has increased over the past decades. In two studies, we investigated the consequences of children's sexualization for their peers' willingness to provide help in a case of bullying. In both studies, children (total N = 396; ages 7 to 11 years) were randomly assigned to view either a sexualized or non-sexualized target and answered questions about the target's traits and treatment. Our findings provide evidence that early sexualization exposes preadolescent children to the dehumanizing consequences associated with adult women's sexualization. We found that sexualized targets were perceived as less than fully human in terms of both human nature and human uniqueness (Studies 1 and 2) and that, among girls, human nature ratings mediated the association between sexualization and reduced helping intentions toward both male (Study 2) and female targets (Studies 1 and 2).

Morality—broadly defined as the distinction between "right" and "wrong" ways to behave—represents one of the most important and appealing inquiries within the realm of social sciences. Past research has consistently shown that morality dominates social perception and serves regulatory functions that help individuals define their social identities, regulate intragroup dynamics, and shape intergroup and political relations. We introduce a special issue that presents 10 articles that center on the theme of morality as a tool for regulating social life at different levels. These articles can be broadly organized into three interrelated macrothemes: intragroup processes, intergroup processes, and political processes. The research studies described in the special issue highlight the societal and political implications of morality; in particular, these studies allow us to map out particular strategies and policy recommendations aimed at diminishing the negative and enhancing the positive implications of morality, and at avoiding moral conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although abortion in China has been legalized for several decades, it is still controversial and the woman and man involved are at risk of being stigmatized. The current research replicated two studies conducted in Italy by investigating how the abortion decision of the woman and man influence received moral outrage, dehumanization, and perceptions of female professional competence. Study 1, which only included female participants, found higher moral outrage toward a woman having an abortion when the pregnancy was depicted as referring to a "child" (vs. "foetus"), and higher dehumanization of the woman in terms of human nature. Study 2, which included both male and female participants, and clarified responsibility for the abortion decision with respect to the woman and the man, revealed higher moral outrage and a reduction in the attribution of human uniqueness to the man, and of human nature to both the woman and the man. Moral outrage mediated dehumanization when participants had low positive attitudes toward abortion in Study 1 and high positive attitudes in Study 2. Both studies showed a negative impact of the decision to have an abortion on the woman's perceived traditional professional competence. The results generally align with the findings from Italy and yield some practical implications on reducing abortion stigma. Future abortion stigma research should consider more gender‐related factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attitudes towards socially sensitive topics tend to be polarized and moralized. Literature showed that in the political arena people tend to consider their group different from the outgroup in moral terms, and how this perceived distance is capable of producing discrimination against the outgroup. In light of this evidence, the aim of this study (N = 234) was to examine the dynamics between Pro‐vaxers and No‐vaxers in relation to the SARS‐COV‐2 vaccine. Participants evaluated the strength of their attitude towards the COVID‐19 vaccine, and the extent to which this attitude was moralized. They reported the perceived moral distance between the ingroup and the outgroup and completed a scale of outgroup animalistic dehumanization. Results showed a positive association between the strength of the attitude towards the vaccine and its moralization. The tendency to moralize the attitude was positively associated with the perception of moral distance between ingroup and outgroup, and this positively associated with the outgroup dehumanization. A sequential mediation model showed an indirect effect that links attitude strength to dehumanization through attitude moralization and the perception of moral distance between groups. Results are discussed in the light of recent theories on the moralization of attitudes and its importance in institutional communication. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to validate the Multidimensional Territorial Sense of Community Scale (MTSOCS), a new theory-driven sense of community scale referred to the geographical community. Starting from McMillan and Chavis' theoretical dimensions, five subscales (Membership, Shared Influence, Social Climate and Bonds, Help in Case of Need, and Needs Fulfillment) were proposed. The MTSOCS, a sociodemographic questionnaire, and several other instruments were administered to three groups of adults (for a total of 781 participants). Confirmatory factor analysis of all participants' data showed that the five subscales were good from a statistical point of view. Tests of factorial invariance showed that the five-factor model of the MTSOCS is basically the same across different-sized territorial communities: small towns, cities and metropolis neighborhoods. The total score of the scale and the five subscales showed good construct validity. A positive relationship emerged between total MTSOCS score and participation in groups/associations, cohabitation, community identification, life satisfaction, perceived social support, interpersonal trust and trust in local government. More complex relationships emerged between the five subscales and the other variables, confirming the usefulness of also having the single subscale scores. (Contains 5 footnotes and 5 tables.)

A structural equation model was used to examine the role of autonomous mobility and play in public and semipublic places in childhood to predict adolescents' sense of community, fear of crime, and, through the mediation of these two last psychosocial factors, feelings of loneliness. Participants included 789 Italian students (469 females and 320 males; mean age 16.62, SD = 0.69). The instruments used were the Italian Sense of Community Scale, the Neighborhood Relations Scale, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale. A questionnaire was also administered to investigate the adolescents' current fear of crime and their autonomous mobility when they were children by asking them to recall their play habits and independent mobility at 8-10 years of age. The structural equation model proved satisfying: Higher autonomous mobility and higher use of public places for play in childhood predicted less intense fear of crime and a stronger sense of community in adolescence. Furthermore, a better relationship with community predicted less pervasive feelings of loneliness. The simultaneous multigroup analysis showed that the final model was comparable for both girls and boys with only one difference. (Contains 3 tables, 9 footnotes and 2 figures.)

Despite societal changes in Western countries, abortion continues to be morally stigmatized. While research on abortion stigma targeted both at people who seek or voluntarily terminate their pregnancy and abortion providers has been conducted, stigma directed at those who advocate abortion rights has remained under-researched. The purpose of this study was to deepen understandings of abortion stigma in relation to Italian cisgender female pro-choice activists. Accordingly, a qualitative study was conducted to examine how participants experienced, perceived, and internalized stigma, as well as the strategies they employed to manage it. The sample included 34 Italian cisgender female pro-choice activists who were actively engaged in movements at the time of the study, including organizations or unions that publicly defend the right to abort. The findings revealed that participants perceive they are targets of negative stereotyping and behaviors. Nevertheless, they do not internalize the stigma and use different strategies to manage it, such as speaking openly about their activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although intimate partner violence is rampant in Fiji, limited research has investigated the perception of appropriate legal sanctions for the perpetrators. We explored whether victim characteristics and perceived victim suffering would independently or jointly influence perpetrator-directed legal sanctions. Undergraduates read an IPV passage with the victim portrayed as a sexual norm violator, a career-focused mother, or a control victim. At high levels of perceived victim suffering, participants "rewarded" the perpetrator by reporting less punitive reactions and reduced perceived culpability in the norm violating victim condition. No differences emerged at low levels of perceived suffering. Implications for the Metanorm Perspective are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]