Search

Successful identity integration processes are fundamental for the well-being of working parents during stressful circumstances. In two studies we analyzed the associations between Parent–Work Identity Integration (PWII), workload, care-load, and parents’ work problems in a sample of individual working parents in Italy (N = 326 individuals; Study 1), and those between work–life conflict, task-sharing between partners, PWII, and parents’ intention to leave their job and mental health in a sample of mixed-sex working couples with school-aged children (N = 97 couples, Study 2). Finally, we examined gender differences in all the above associations. Study 1 results showed that parents dissatisfied with care-load distribution within the couple and those with higher workload also reported more problems at work, and these effects were fully mediated by PWII. Moreover, Study 2 showed that care-load distribution is only associated with women’s PWII and, indirectly, their well-being and their intention to leave their job. Moreover, parents’ lower work-life conflict was associated with higher PWII and, in turn, to better mental health and lower intention to leave their job. The effects of work-life conflict were also found to cross-over onto the partner’s well-being. Promoting working parents’ ability to harmoniously blend their work and parental identities, in addition to balance conflicting demands between work and life, appears crucial for intervention.

The focus of this study is bystanders’ behavior and their willingness to intervene in cases of intimate partner violence (IPV) in three different countries (China, Italy, and Ethiopia), considering individual and social factors (i.e., right-wing Authoritarianism, masculinity ideology, and gender). The Italian sample was made up of 192 participants (56% male). The Chinese sample was made up of 274 participants (66% female). The Ethiopian sample was made up of 161 participants (53.3% female). Participants completed the Male Role Norms Inventory–Short Form, the Right-wing Authoritarianism Scale, and the Willingness to intervene in cases of IPVAW. The Chinese model suggested how masculinity ideology is negatively associated with “reporting the incident to the authorities” factor, and positively with “not my business” factor. Right-wing authoritarianism is positively associated with “reporting the incident to the authorities” factor. The Italian model suggested how masculinity ideology was positively related to the “reporting the incident to the authorities” factor, and gender was negatively related to “not my business” factor, and positively related to “personal involvement” factor. The Ethiopian model suggested how masculinity ideology is positively associated with “personal involvement in the case” factor and gender is positively associated with the “reporting the incident to the authorities” factor. Masculine ideologies, authoritarian personality characteristics, and gender are predisposing factors toward bystander attitudes when confronted with cases of intimate partner violence. Our findings highlight key areas of focus to help raise awareness related to IPV cases, and policy aimed at promoting prosocial society.

Self-objectification at the workplace is the employees’ perception of being less human and more instrument-like. We explored whether perceived ethical climate – the shared perceptions of how the organization deals with ethical issues – represents an antecedent of self-objectification, in the light of the social identity approach. In a correlational study (N =239), we found that an ethical climate of collectivism and interdependence (i.e., friendship) reduced self-objectification, via higher levels of organizational identification; the opposite emerged with regards to an ethical climate of individualism and independence (i.e., self-interest). Results are discussed in terms of workers’ wellbeing and organizational policies.

Although the role of morality in social life has been at the center of the psychological investigation from the discipline origins, the importance of moral character in shaping group perception has received less attention. This chapter reviews recent research showing the dominant role of moral contents in group evaluation. Thus, moral traits are more relevant than non- moral traits (i.e., sociability and competence) when people gather information and form global impressions of ingroup and outgroup targets. Such a primacy relates to the link between morality and the perception of threat. Indeed, moral information is key to establishing whether the group members have beneficial or harmful intentions and whether they pose a threat to the individual and the group's life. The chapter also reviews work showing that morality is key in shaping the group self- concept and self- enchantment. We conclude by outlining a trajectory for future research. • Morality drives the impressions that we form and the evaluations that we make of group members. • Morality is the most important quality for feeling good about one's ingroup. • Given that morality is a central part of the self- concept and ingroup image, people are very sensitive to moral threats and reproach. • Morality is key in group perception because it establishes whether ingroup and outgroup members are beneficial or harmful.

Whistleblowing is the action by which members of an organization report misconduct that occurs within their group to other persons inside or outside the organization. In the present research, we examined perception of whistleblowers in terms of global impressions, emotions, and behavioural intentions. Study 1 reveals negative reactions to whistleblowers, while Study 2 shows positive reactions to whistleblowers. To reconcile these findings, Study 3 varies the self-relevance of the context and reveals that whistleblowers are derogated when the context is highly self-relevant (as in Study 1) and positively evaluated when it is not (as in Study 2). Across the studies, we also show that emotions and the subjective importance of loyalty and fairness influence the evaluation of whistleblowers. Our findings help unveiling the conditions in which whistleblowers are alternatively regarded as heroes or traitors, depending on the perceivers’ point of view.

The current work scenario is pervaded by widespread perceptions of job insecurity, which is one of the main stress factors for workers and their well-being. This article aims to investigate the link between these perceptions and a most inner dimension, that is, people's tendency to self-objectify (i.e., self-viewing as objects rather than fully human beings). Furthermore, we aim to verify the role of this self-objectifying process in explaining the well-established relation between perceived job insecurity and well-being. Across four studies and a single-article meta-analysis (total N = 684), we show that perceived job insecurity is consistently linked with self-objectification. Furthermore, this objectifying self-perception is associated with decreased well-being and plays a mediational role in the link between perceived job insecurity and this latter variable.

This article examines the influence of moral evaluations and attribution of responsibility on individuals’ willingness to provide help if witnessing an intimate partner violence (IPV) episode. A total of 121 undergraduates read a fictitious article from a newspaper, allegedly describing an IPV episode. According to the experimental condition, participants read that the victim had either admitted infidelity or denied it. After reading the newspaper article, participants evaluated the victim on several dimensions (i.e., morality, competence, and sociability), rated the extent to which they deemed her responsible for the violence (i.e., the internal attribution of what happened), and expressed their willingness to provide help and support to the victim herself. In the admission condition, the victim was evaluated as less moral and more responsible for the episode of IPV. These evaluations, in turn, lowered the willingness to provide help to the victim. This study confirmed the role of moral evaluations and internal attribution on bystanders’ reaction, and we present practical implications for intervention in a field, IPV, in constant need of updated validated evidence for efficient prevention strategies.

A growing body of work has highlighted the importance of political beliefs and attitudes in predicting endorsement and engagement in prosocial behavior. Individuals with right-wing political orientation are less likely to behave prosocially than their left-wing counterparts due to high levels of Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). Here, we aimed to extend prior work by studying how these political values relate to COVID-19 discretionary behaviors (i.e., prosocial and non-mandatory behaviors related to the control of the pandemic spread). Furthermore, we tested whether identification with the national group would influence the relationship between Right-wing authoritarianism and prosocial behavior. A cross-sectional study conducted on 350 Italian participants showed that right-wing political orientation had a negative effect on COVID-19 discretionary behaviors via Right-wing authoritarianism. Furthermore, a moderated mediation model revealed that this effect was only significant for participants who are lowly identified with the national group. The results suggest that highlighting group belongingness might effectively motivate more conservative individuals to engage in prosocial behavior.

The worldwide spread of a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) since December 2019 has posed a severe threat to individuals well-being. While the world at large is waiting that the released vaccines immunize most citizens, public health experts suggest that, in the meantime, it is only through behavior change that the spread of COVID-19 can be controlled. Importantly, the required behaviors are aimed not only at safeguarding one s own health. Instead, individuals are asked to adapt their behaviors to protect the community at large. This raises the question of which social concerns and moral principles make people willing to do so. We considered in 23 countries (N = 6948) individuals willingness to engage in prescribed and discretionary behaviors, as well as country-level and individual-level factors that might drive such behavioral intentions. Results from multilevel multiple regressions, with country as the nesting variable, showed that publicized number of infections were not significantly related to individual intentions to comply with the prescribed measures and intentions to engage in discretionary prosocial behaviors. Instead, psychological differences in terms of trust in government, citizens, and in particular toward science predicted individuals behavioral intentions across countries. The more people endorsed moral principles of fairness and care (vs. loyalty and authority), the more they were inclined to report trust in science, which, in turn, statistically predicted prescribed and discretionary behavioral intentions. Results have implications for the type of intervention and public communication strategies that should be most effective to induce the behavioral changes that are needed to control the COVID-19 outbreak.

This article examines the influence of moral evaluations and attribution of responsibility on individuals’ willingness to provide help if witnessing an intimate partner violence (IPV) episode. A total of 121 undergraduates read a fictitious article from a newspaper, allegedly describing an IPV episode. According to the experimental condition, participants read that the victim had either admitted infidelity or denied it. After reading the newspaper article, participants evaluated the victim on several dimensions (i.e., morality, competence, and sociability), rated the extent to which they deemed her responsible for the violence (i.e., the internal attribution of what happened), and expressed their willingness to provide help and support to the victim herself. In the admission condition, the victim was evaluated as less moral and more responsible for the episode of IPV. These evaluations, in turn, lowered the willingness to provide help to the victim. This study confirmed the role of moral evaluations and internal attribution on bystanders’ reaction, and we present practical implications for intervention in a field, IPV, in constant need of updated validated evidence for efficient prevention strategies.

A robust stream of research has shown the detrimental influence of slurs and derogatory epithets on attitudes toward minority groups. Extending prior work, we explored the influence of positive labels ascribed to the majority group on the evaluation of the minority group. Specifically, three studies tested the possibility that the label “straight,” generally linked with the concept of morality, would promote a negative evaluation of gay men. Study 1 exposed English speakers to an individual person described as straight (vs. heterosexual) while Study 2 exposed English speakers to a target person described as straight (vs. heterosexual vs. no label). Study 3 considered a non-English sample (i.e., Italian adults) and experimentally induced the association between the straight label and the concept of heterosexuality. In each study, participants were asked to express their attitudes toward a gay target after the manipulation. Results showed that heterosexual participants exposed to the label “straight” reported more negative attitudes toward gay men than heterosexual participants exposed to the label “heterosexual” (or when they were not exposed to any label). Critically, such an effect emerged only among highly religious participants. Implications for policies and prejudice reduction are discussed.

Il presente lavoro analizza il fenomeno del whistleblowing fornendo dapprima una ricognizione delle principali ricerche condotte in ambito organizzativo e proponendo infine una lettura del fenomeno da una prospettiva psicosociale. Nella prima parte sono analizzate le questioni metodologiche relative alla complessità della ricerca sul fenomeno del whistleblowing. Segue una trattazione degli studi che hanno indagato le variabili – individuali, organizzative e culturali – che facilitano o ostacolano la scelta di denunciare. Nell’ultima parte del lavoro, si discute la rilevanza strategica della prospettiva psicosociale nella comprensione del fenomeno del whistleblowing., The present work aims at examining the phenomenon of whistleblowing by providing a review of the research conducted in the organizational field as well as by proposing an analysis of the phenomenon from a psychosocial perspective. In the first part, we analyze the methodological issues pertaining the complexity of the research on whistleblowing. Then, we review the works investigating the variables - individual, organizational, and cultural - promoting or hindering the choice to report. In the final section of the review, we discuss the strategic relevance of the psychosocial perspective in understanding the whistleblowing phenomenon. © 2020 Societa Editrice il Mulino. All rights reserved.

This paper examines the influence of female sexualization on people's willingness to provide help in cases of intimate partner violence (IPV). We examined how sexualization may make women seem lacking moral patiency and moral virtue both of which may lead to a reduced willingness to help. In the first study, participants read a fictitious newspaper article describing an IPV incident. They were then presented with a picture of the ostensible victim depicting the woman with either a sexualized or non-sexualized appearance. Participants judged both the victim's moral patiency and morality, and then expressed their willingness to provide help to that victim. Although the sexualized victim was viewed as a lesser moral patient (Studies 1 and 2) and as less moral (Study 2), it was seeing the victim as unworthy of moral patiency rather than lacking moral virtue (immoral) that linked sexualization to reduced help. Controlling for participants’ sexism and women's admission of infidelity, Study 2 replicated that sexualization reduced helping intentions through a lack of moral patiency. Practical implications are discussed.

We investigated whether and how endorsement of essentialist beliefs about gender affects heterosexuals' attitudes towards same-sex parenting. In Study 1, we showed that framing a (scientific) communication in terms of essentialist (vs. non-essentialist) views about gender fostered perception of same-sex parenting as unnatural, and this effect was mediated by a stronger support in favor of the traditional gender-role beliefs. In Study 2, the endorsement of a biological explanation of gender differences affected the perception of same-sex parenting as unnatural and this, in turn, impacted upon the perceived competence of same-sex parents and upon a more distal consequence, such as the perceived negative consequences on children raised by same-sex parents. We discuss results in terms of the role of communication in perpetrating prejudice against same-sex parenting.

The spread and publicity given to questionable practices in the corporate world during the last two decades have fostered an increasing interest about the importance of ethical work for organizations, practitioners, scholars and, last but not least, the wider public. Relying on the Social Identity Approach, we suggest that the effects of different ethical climates on employee behaviors are driven by affective identification with the organization and, in parallel, by cognitive moral (dis)engagement. We compared the effects of two particular ethical climates derived from the literature: An ethical organizational climate of self-interest, and an ethical organizational climate of friendship. Three hundred seventy-six workers completed measures of Ethical Climate, Organizational Identification, Moral Disengagement, Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs), and Counterproductive Work Behaviors (CWBs). Structural equation modeling confirmed that the two ethical climates considered were independently related to organizational identification and moral disengagement. These, in turn, mediated the effects of ethical climates on OCBs and CWBs. We discuss results in light of the social identity approach, and present some practical implications of our findings.

Abundant literature in cognitive sciences has shown that morality is grounded in bodily experience. Four studies tested the perceptual association between the spatial dimension of straightness and the abstract concept of morality. Study 1 (n = 61) employed an IAT and revealed an association between straight figures and moral related words. Study 2 (n = 83) employed a similar paradigm and further revealed that the effect we found in Study 1 cannot be attributable to the general association between straight figures and positivity. Study 3 (n = 64) revealed that participants showed a stronger preference for straight figures after recalling moral (vs. immoral) deeds. Study 4 (n = 183) showed the specific role of morality, in this sense, as recalling sociable (vs. unsociable) deeds had no significant influence on figure preferences. A small‐scale meta‐analysis confirmed the robustness of our findings. Results are discussed in light of the embodiment theory