On Mimicry and the Psychology of the Belief in a Just World:Imitating the Behaviors of Others Reduces the Blaming of Innocent Victims

Innocent victims of crime are often blamed for what happened to them. In this article, we examine the hypothesis that victim blaming can be significantly reduced when people mimic the behavior of the victim or even a person unrelated to the crime. Participants watched a person on a video after which we assessed the extent of their spontaneous mimicry reactions (Study 1) or participants were instructed to mimic or not to mimic the movements of this person (Study 2). Then, they were informed about a rape and criminal assault and judged the degree to which they thought the victims were responsible for the crime. One of the crimes happened to the same person as the person they previously did or did not mimic. The other crime happened to a person unrelated to the mimicry situation. Results of both studies revealed that previously mimicking the victim or an unrelated person reduced the degree to which victims were being blamed

Mapping the Antecedents, Conditions, and Consequences of Family Pressure that Drives Chinese Queer People into Heterosexual Marriage: A Systematic Review

Family pressure pushes a considerable proportion of Chinese queer individuals into heterosexual marriage. Few investigations have been solely devoted to examining family pressure. For a comprehensive picture of the issue, this study presents the results of a systematic review that identified 32 relevant papers to answer three research questions: (1) What are the antecedents (i.e., the drivers and sources) of family pressure to enter into heterosexual marriage? (2) What conditions shape the different manifestations of this pressure? (3) What are the consequences of being exposed to family pressure? Analysis revealed 10 drivers (reproduction, performing heteronormativity, maintaining face, experiencing stigmatized homosexuality, fulfilling familism, later-life care expectations, financial leverage, satisfying parental expectations of marriage, protecting parental emotions, and inquiries about marriage) and four sources (queer people themselves, parents, important others, and society); four conditions (gender, age, living arrangements, and family structure); and five consequences (resignation to heterosexual relationships, negativity toward queer identity, familial distancing, adjusted negotiation strategies for sexual autonomy, and emotional distress). Findings were used to formulate an extended definition of family pressure and to tentatively propose a conceptual model of family pressure for antecedents. The strengths and limitations of the study are also presented

The FLY-project: study protocol for mixed methods research to explore the complex social dynamics of sustainable food-related lifestyles in youth in practical education

Background: The present-day food system is a key driver of climate change and biodiversity loss, making it imperative for populations to shift towards more sustainable diets. The involvement of youth in this transition is vital because they are in a formative period where their identities, values, and norms, including their food behaviours, are being shaped. Special attention should be paid to youth in practical education because they are often overlooked in existing studies, yet evidence suggests they may lack the necessary resources to support dietary changes, resulting in lower levels of pro-environmental food-related behaviours. The aim of the FLY (Food-related Lifestyles in Youth) project is to study how sustainable food-related lifestyles and underlying factors develop in early adolescence, particularly in Dutch youth in practical education, how these spread in social networks, and to develop community-level intervention strategies to support youths’ transition to sustainable food-related behaviours. Methods/design: The FLY-project adopts a mixed-method approach. First, two literature reviews are conducted. A systematic review assesses how capabilities, opportunities and motivation are associated with sustainable food behaviours in youth, and how these elements interrelate in determining sustainable food-related lifestyles. A scoping review studies community-level interventions that target sustainable and healthy food-related behaviours. Second, focus groups are conducted to explore the barriers and facilitating factors concerning capabilities, opportunities, and motivations that Dutch youth in practical-level education experience to transition to more sustainable food-related lifestyles. Third, a cohort survey study is conducted to track the dynamic interplay between capabilities, opportunities, motivation, and changes in specific sustainable food behaviours over time, and to assess the diffusion of sustainable food-related lifestyles via social (media) networks. Fourth, an experimental research programme tests promising intervention approaches, some of which are co-created with youth, targeting relevant underlying factors. Discussion: This paper describes the rationale, conceptual framework, design and methods of the FLY-project. The FLY-project contributes to an understanding of underlying factors of sustainable food-related behaviours in adolescence and results in a multi-component intervention toolkit, with a particular focus on youth in practical education programmes

Putting the “I” and “Us” in Justice: Derogatory and Benevolent Reactions Toward Innocent Victims in Self-Focused and Other-Focused Individuals

Reactions toward innocent victims can range from harsh derogatory reactions to great effort to alleviate the victims’ ill fates. Using insights from research on just-world theory and perspective taking, the current paper investigates both negative and positive reactions toward innocent victims. Specifically, we propose that self-focused versus other-focused motives can evoke derogatory versus more benevolent reactions, respectively, toward innocent victims. By manipulating self-focus versus other-focus, we indeed show in two studies that a self-focus enhanced indirect victim blaming and derogation and decreased helping of innocent victims. Furthermore, when participants were focused on another person these effects attenuated. Taken together, these findings extend previous studies on just-world theory and show that both blaming and helping can be viable strategies to deal with unjust situations

Understanding Solidarity in Society: Triggers and Barriers for In- and Outgroup Solidarity

In this chapter we take a closer look at solidarity, focusing on solidarity (to whom do we owe) in relation to social justice (what do we owe). We will do so on both the social and the individual level guided by two main questions: 1) Why do people express solidarity with 'the other' (inclusionary (outgroup solidarity) in addition to or instead of with ‘the same’ (exclusionary ingroup solidarity)? 2) What does solidarity imply at the macro-meso level of society and what are social-psychological triggers of solidarity? In reviewing psychological and sociological literature, the chapter will highlight (a) the way solidarity can be inclusive as well as exclusive, and (b) triggers and barriers of solidarity between different identities, groups and communities. The chapter will conclude that new forms of inclusive outgroup solidarity are a reaction to the absence of collective/civic solidarity (within and between groups) by including marginalized people. These new forms of solidarity challenge existing boundaries between 'us' and 'them', requiring new modes of identification and classification. The ambiguity inherent to solidarity practices of including and excluding others also asks for a revision of solidarity theory

Who should get what and why?: Insights from welfare deservingness theory

This chapter discusses the welfare deservingness model, one of the most influential theoretical frameworks in the welfare attitude literature. This theoretical framework is used to understand the ‘who should get what and why’question that underlies debates about solidarity and social justice in the welfare state. The welfare deservingness model formulates different deservingness criteria (control, attitude, reciprocity, identity and need) on which people ‘score’target groups of welfare provisions (eg, the elderly, the unemployed), resulting in groups being perceived as more or less deserving of support (‘deservingness perceptions’). Moreover, the model acknowledges that people prioritize and weigh these criteria differently (‘deservingness valuations’). We show how contextual and individual circumstances influence deservingness perceptions and valuations in a social policy context

(Un) deserving of work-life balance? A cross country investigation of people’s attitudes towards work-life balance arrangements for parents and childfree employees

Work-life balance (WLB) represents a fundamental part of people’s well-being and is a key policy priority at national and organizational levels in many industrialized countries. Yet a significant gap exists in our understanding of employees’ ability to use WLB arrangements, particularly employees without children. We address this gap by exploring the perceived deservingness of childfree employees to use WLB arrangements in Italy and the Netherlands. Using a 2 × 2 experimental design, we study the perceived deservingness of childfree people to use organisational work-life balance arrangements compared to parents, with a particular focus on gender and country differences. We further investigate the attribution of priority to make use of work-life balance arrangements across these same groups. While we find no significant differences in perceptions of deservingness, the results do show significant differences in who is considered to need priority in using WLB arrangements in the workplace. Respondents attribute greater priority to female employees with children than female employees without children. The attribution of priority for male employees does not differ between parents and childfree employees. This interaction effect was only found in the Italian sample. We discuss the implications of our results for our understanding of work-life balance policy supports

Sustaining Heteronormativity in Marriage: How Chinese Newspapers Frame Heterosexual Marriage Undertaken by Chinese Queer People

Family members often cite broader societal discourses and norms when forcing Chinese queer people to engage in heterosexual marriage (referred to as HMQ; heterosexual marriage undertaken by Chinese queer people). It is unclear what these social norms entail and how the norms are maintained. This paper examines 89 Chinese newspaper articles to uncover the societal discourses driving families to pressure queer people into heterosexual marriage. We identified three framings: (1) Highlighting problems of formality marriage (the marriage between two queer people) and gay’s wife marriage (the marriage between a queer man and a heterosexual woman); (2) portraying people involved in formality marriage and gay’s wife marriage as suffering from heteronormative pressure to engage in marriage; and (3) presenting formality marriage in a collaboration frame and gay’s wife marriage in a deception frame. These framings suggest heteronormativity in marriage is upheld in societal discourses about HMQ and sustained by two hierarchies created in Chinese newspaper articles: one degrading queer marriage practices, which made heterosexual marriage undertaken by queer people inferior to ideal heterosexual marriage; another stratifying queer marriage practices, which made the marriage between a queer man and a heterosexual woman less acceptable than the marriage between two queer people