Motivaciones, compromiso y experiencia voluntaria en estudiantes universitarios españoles

La población universitaria es una de las que mayoritariamente participa en el fenómeno del voluntariado. Mediante el diseño de la presente investigación se pretende explorar las variables que explican por qué una persona decide hacerse voluntaria. En este estudio, en el que participaron 168 personas, se analizó la influencia de diferentes motivaciones en la intención de llevar a cabo labores de voluntariado, el compromiso que los participantes estarían dispuestos a afrontar y la experiencia anterior de voluntariado. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto la relevancia de diferentes motivaciones como el interés humanitario de ayudar a otros para ejercer una adecuada labor de voluntariado. A su vez, los participantes otorgan menos importancia a las motivaciones basadas en el incremento de la autoestima que les proporciona el ser voluntarios. Por otra parte, los resultados enfatizan la importancia de la experiencia anterior en actividades de voluntariado para garantizar un mayor compromiso con una entidad sin ánimo de lucro.La población universitaria es una de las que mayoritariamente participa en el fenómeno del voluntariado. Mediante el diseño de la presente investigación se pretende explorar las variables que explican por qué una persona decide hacerse voluntaria. En este estudio, en el que participaron 168 personas, se analizó la influencia de diferentes motivaciones en la intención de llevar a cabo labores de voluntariado, el compromiso que los participantes estarían dispuestos a afrontar y la experiencia anterior de voluntariado. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto la relevancia de diferentes motivaciones como el interés humanitario de ayudar a otros para ejercer una adecuada labor de voluntariado. A su vez, los participantes otorgan menos importancia a las motivaciones basadas en el incremento de la autoestima que les proporciona el ser voluntarios. Por otra parte, los resultados enfatizan la importancia de la experiencia anterior en actividades de voluntariado para garantizar un mayor compromiso con una entidad sin ánimo de lucro

Enfrentándose a la desigualdad social: El papel de la legitimidad y la identificación grupal

Social inequality has been widespread throughout human history. Nevertheless, some members of disadvantaged groups have challenged the prevailing social order with the aim of improving their group position in the social hierarchy. However, not every individual is willing to take part in this struggle. The question is, what factors lead to the fight against social inequality? In this study, we focus on the role of the perception of legitimacy and group identification in this process, as well as on collective action as one of the most direct strategies to fight inequality.La desigualdad social ha estado presente a lo largo de la historia de la humanidad, pero en ocasiones algunos miembros de los grupos desaventajados han desafiado el orden social establecido con el objetivo de obtener una posición mejor para el grupo en la jerarquía social. Sin embargo, no todos los individuos están dispuestos a luchar contra la desigualdad en la misma medida. En este trabajo se analiza la influencia de distintos factores en este proceso, centrán-dose en la percepción de legitimidad y la identificación grupal. Se revisa también una de las formas más directas de luchar contra la desigualdad social: las acciones colectivas

High Economic Inequality Makes Us Feel Less Wealthy

Given that people evaluate their own income and that of their group by comparing it with that of others, economic inequality (i.e., the gap between the poor and the wealthy) may affect how people perceive their ingroup wealth. Additional analyses of data of six previously conducted studies (n = 747) provided initial evidence that individuals with average levels of affluence felt that their income group was less wealthy when inequality was high than when it was low. The seventh study consisted of a preregistered experiment to independently test our hypothesis (n = 222). As predicted, compared to participants in the low inequality condition, those in the high inequality condition perceived their own group as less wealthy. The discussion focuses on the importance of considering self-perceived wealth in research on economic inequality

Humanos, animales y máquinas: entendiendo el proceso de deshumanización

The study of dehumanization began just over a decade. Since then many studies have shown how people perceive outgroup members as less human than ingroup members. In the present work, we firstly analyze how people define humanity is and how we consequently understand what dehumanization is. Secondly, we will present the two main forms of dehumanization: Animalistic (perceiving others as if they were animals) and mechanistic (perceiving others as robots and machines). Thirdly, the main measures of dehumanization as well as the main approaches in the area are presented: the attribute- and the metaphor-based dehumanization. Finally, we examine the main consequences of dehumanization and its impact on intergroup and interpersonal relationships.El estudio de la deshumanización comenzó hace poco más de una década. Desde entonces, numerosos estudios han puesto de manifiesto cómo las personas perciben a los miembros del exogrupo de forma menos humana que a los miembros del endogrupo. En este trabajo, se analiza en primer lugar cómo las personas definen la humanidad y cómo podemos, por tanto, entender qué es la deshumanización. En segundo lugar, se exponen las dos formas principales de deshumanizar: la animalización (percibir a los demás como si fuesen animales) y la mecanización (percibir a los demás como si fuesen robots y máquinas). En tercer lugar, se presentan las principales medidas de deshumanización así como los principales enfoques en el área: el enfoque de los rasgos y el enfoque de la metáfora. Por último, se examinan las principales consecuencias de la deshumanización y su impacto en las relaciones intergrupales e interpersonales

Efectos de la actividad económica sobre el individualismo-colectivismo

Economic reality is an essential element in the life of individuals. Thus, it is relevant to understand the psychological and cultural effects of economic activity. We developed an integrated theory based on an ecocultural perspective, rooted in historical materialism and symbolic interactionism, that shows how certain psychological and cultural dynamics are impacted by economic activity. Specifically, we individually analysed the different stages of economic activity (i.e. production, distribution, and consumption) and how each one promotes individualist-collectivist dynamics. This integrated theory highlights the relevance of analysing macrosocial factors to obtain a more integral understanding of human reality.La realidad económica es un elemento esencial de la vida de las personas por lo que entender cómo nos afecta psicológica y culturalmente es fundamental. Basándonos en la perspectiva ecocultural, enraizada en el materialismo histórico y el interaccionismo simbólico, en este trabajo llevamos a cabo una integración teórica en la que exponemos cómo la activad económica afecta a la realidad cultural y psicológica de las personas. En concreto, nos hemos centrado en analizar separadamente cómo las distintas fases de la actividad económica —producción, distribución y consumo— fomentan diversas dinámicas individualistas-colectivistas. Esta integración teórica pretende subrayar la importancia de analizar los factores macrosociales con el objetivo de conseguir una compresión más integral de la realidad humana

Category-based learning about deviant outgroup members hinders performance in trust decision making

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, with pre-doctoral FPU fellowship FPU14/07106 to MT, and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, with research projects PSI2014-52764-P and PSI2017-84926-P to JL, PSI2016-78839 to RR-B and PSI2016-79971-P to SdL.The present research examines whether individuation and categorization processes influence trust decisions about strangers at first and across repeated interactions. In a partial replication of the study reported by Cañadas et al. (2015), participants played an adaptation of the multi-round trust game paradigm and had to decide whether or not to cooperate with unknown partners. Gender (Study 1a) and ethnicity (Studies 1b, 2, and 3) served to create distinct social categories among the game partners, whose reciprocation rates were manipulated at group and individual levels. At the group level, two social groups (i.e., ingroup vs. outgroup) were associated with opposite reciprocation rates (i.e., high vs. low reciprocation rate). At the individual level, consistency was manipulated by altering the reciprocation rate of one out of four members of each social group. That is, there was one inconsistent individual in each group showing a pattern of reciprocation opposite to the group reciprocation rate. Our data, contrary to Cañadas et al.'s (2015) findings, suggested that ingroup partners were individuated given that participants made their decisions to cooperate with the trustees according to their individual reciprocation rate and independently of the group reciprocation rate. In contrast, decisions about outgroup partners (i.e., men in Study 1a and Blacks in Studies 1b, 2, and 3) were affected by category-based thinking. At the same time, in comparison with ingroup, greater cooperation was observed with ethnic outgroups but not with gender outgroups. The consistency of our results with the previous literature on social categorization and across the three experiments seems to indicate they are reliable, supporting the hypothesis that categorization and individuation processes guide trust decision-making, promoting individuation mainly for ingroup and categorization among outgroup members.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Adolescents views of an unequal world: understanding economic inequality and factors for its reduction

Economic inequality has a huge impact on well-being, also affecting adolescents, who are the future agents of our societies. Nevertheless, research often overlooks their perspectives on economic inequality, poverty, and their attitudes towards its reduction. The present research evaluates adolescents’ perceived and ideal economic inequality, causal attributions of poverty, support for collective action against economic inequality and meritocratic beliefs (in school or in general). Findings from this cross-sectional study involving Spanish adolescents (N = 942) reveal age-related differences being older teenagers who had higher ideal economic inequality, more general meritocratic beliefs and made more external causal attributions of poverty. Younger teenagers show greater endorsement of belief in school meritocracy. Beliefs in school meritocracy moderate perceived economic inequality, with stronger endorsement correlating with increased economic inequality tolerance and lesser support for collective action as perceived economic inequality rises. External causal attributions of poverty and ideal economic inequality partially mediate the relationship between perceived economic inequality and support for collective action, shaping attitudes towards economic inequality and its reduction. Our research contributes to understanding adolescents’ comprehension of inequality and their motivation to reduce it. By shedding light on the mechanisms underlying adolescent perceptions of economic inequality and their implications for collective action, our findings pave the way for interventions and policies aimed at promoting social justice and well-being among adolescents and the rest of society

The perception of economic inequality in everyday life: My friends with the most and the least money

The study of perceived economic differences in everyday life is relevant to deepen the knowledge of how inequality shapes psychological processes. In the current research, Spanish undergraduates (N=547) were asked what their friends with the most and least money could do with their resources. Using a qualitative and quantitative approach, we performed a content analysis of the 1,085 open-ended responses given, ran latent class analyses with the coded material to identify groups of participants, and explored whether class membership was associated with their awareness of inequality and support for redistribution. Participants perceived inequality among their friends through daily indicators such as consumption, opportunities, leisure, and mental health; some participants used compensatory strategies to mitigate perceived inequality. Latent class analyses suggested that participants differed mostly in the attention paid to consumption and in the use of compensatory strategies. Exploratory analyses suggested that perceiving inequality in everyday life in terms of consumption, negative attributes towards the wealthy, or positive attributes towards low socioeconomic groups was related to acknowledging economic differences among individuals and support for redistribution. The study of perceived economic inequality in everyday life continues a new line of research with the potential to obtain results more consistent with people's experiences.OAICE-006-2017UCR::Sedes Regionales::Sede de Occident

Coping with power asymmetries : the dynamics of emotional reactions in (il)legitimate powerless groups

Two studies investigated the process of emotion regulation in powerless groups. We predicted that members of powerless groups would reduce negative emotions when they perceived status differences as illegitimate and ascribed stereotypes to the outgroup. In Study 1 the opportunity to attribute outgroup stereotypes after reading about an illegitimate power distribution reduced negative emotions. By contrast, in socially legitimized powerless conditions participants maintained negative emotions over time, and supported more negative action tendencies towards the outgroup after expressing outgroup stereotypes. In Study 2 we increased the threat imposed by a powerful outgroup and found fear reduction in the illegitimate and maintenance of fear in the legitimate conditions. Additionally, the effect of legitimacy on group efficacy was mediated by threat appraisals. The impact of perceived legitimacy of asymmetric power relations and the salience of outgroup stereotypes on emotional and behavioral reactions to powerlessness is discusse

Changing attitudes toward redistribution: The role of perceived economic inequality in everyday life and intolerance of inequality

Modern societies are characterized by economic inequality. Redistributive policies are one of the means to reduce it. We argue that perceived economic inequality in everyday life and intolerance of it are central factors to enhance positive attitudes toward redistribution. To test it, we conducted a four-wave longitudinal panel study in Chile with a sample of 1221 college students (at T1 – baseline, 960 at T2, 926 at T3, and 787 at T4; Mage = 18.89). As expected, a cross-lagged longitudinal analysis controlled by household income confirmed a positive relationship between perceived economic inequality in everyday life and intolerance of inequality, which in turn was positively associated with support for redistributive policies. These results were stable and consistent over time, supporting the idea that perceived economic inequality in everyday life enhances positive attitudes toward redistribution by increasing intolerance of it. Results highlight the important role played by perceived inequality in everyday life.Chilean National Foundation for Scientific and Technological Development/[#1161371]/FONDECYT/ChileCenter for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies/[ANID/FONDAP #15130009]/COES/ChileCenter for Intercultural and Indigenous Research/[ANID/FONDAP #15110006]/CIIR/ChileMinistry of Economy and Competitiveness/[PSI2016-78839-P]/MINECO/EspañaUniversidad de Costa Rica/[OAICE-006-2017]/UCR/Costa RicaUCR::Sedes Regionales::Sede de Occident