Moral expansiveness around the world:The role of societal factors across 36 countries

International audienceWhat are the things that we think matter morally, and how do societal factors influence this? To date, research has explored several individual-level and historical factors that influence the size of our ‘moral circles.' There has, however, been less attention focused on which societal factors play a role. We present the first multi-national exploration of moral expansiveness—that is, the size of people’s moral circles across countries. We found low generalized trust, greater perceptions of a breakdown in the social fabric of society, and greater perceived economic inequality were associated with smaller moral circles. Generalized trust also helped explain the effects of perceived inequality on lower levels of moral inclusiveness. Other inequality indicators (i.e., Gini coefficients) were, however, unrelated to moral expansiveness. These findings suggest that societal factors, especially those associated with generalized trust, may influence the size of our moral circles

Psychological well-being in Europe after the outbreak of war in Ukraine

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has had devastating effects on the Ukrainian population and the global economy, environment, and political order. However, little is known about the psychological states surrounding the outbreak of war, particularly the mental well-being of individuals outside Ukraine. Here, we present a longitudinal experience-sampling study of a convenience sample from 17 European countries (total participants = 1,341, total assessments = 44,894, countries with >100 participants = 5) that allows us to track well-being levels across countries during the weeks surrounding the outbreak of war. Our data show a significant decline in well-being on the day of the Russian invasion. Recovery over the following weeks was associated with an individual’s personality but was not statistically significantly associated with their age, gender, subjective social status, and political orientation. In general, well-being was lower on days when the war was more salient on social media. Our results demonstrate the need to consider the psychological implications of the Russo-Ukrainian war next to its humanitarian, economic, and ecological consequences

A global experience-sampling method study of well-being during times of crisis : The CoCo project

We present a global experience-sampling method (ESM) study aimed at describing, predicting, and understanding individual differences in well-being during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This international ESM study is a collaborative effort of over 60 interdisciplinary researchers from around the world in the “Coping with Corona” (CoCo) project. The study comprises trait-, state-, and daily-level data of 7490 participants from over 20 countries (total ESM measurements = 207,263; total daily measurements = 73,295) collected between October 2021 and August 2022. We provide a brief overview of the theoretical background and aims of the study, present the applied methods (including a description of the study design, data collection procedures, data cleaning, and final sample), and discuss exemplary research questions to which these data can be applied. We end by inviting collaborations on the CoCo dataset

Identity as a bridge and barrier to mutual understanding

Identity organizes our perceptions of the world and guides our behavior. In three chapters contributing to three subdisciplines within psychology, I illustrate how identity can be used to understand key phenomena: interpersonal perception in Social Psychology (Chapter 2), college retention in Educational Psychology (Chapter 3), and moral values in Political Psychology (Chapter 4). Each of these chapters is comprised of an article that has been published or is in press at peer-reviewed journals (Talaifar, Buhrmester, Ayduk, & Swann, in press; Talaifar, Ashokkumar, Pennebaker, Medrano, Yeager, & Swann, 2020; Talaifar & Swann, 2019, respectively). The unifying theme of these chapters is that strongly held identities can serve as a bridge and barrier to mutual understanding. Chapter 2 examines how the negative valence of one’s identity (i.e. low self-esteem) can act as a bridge to understanding people different from oneself (i.e. people with high self-esteem). Chapter 3 examines how a strongly held university identity can predict college retention, which presumably can deepen one’s understanding of others. Chapter 4 examines how a strongly held nationalistic identity is associated with shared moral values across partisan lines in the United States. Given the latent potential for certain identities to promote mutual understanding, the dissertation concludes with a discussion of what is needed before psychologists can develop viable interventions to change identities in enduring, prosocial ways.Psycholog