43 research outputs found
Social mindfulness and prosociality vary across the globe
Humans are social animals, but not everyone will be mindful of others to the same extent. Individual differences have been found, but would social mindfulness also be shaped by oneâs location in the world? Expecting cross-national differences to exist, we examined if and how social mindfulness differs across countries. At little to no material cost, social mindfulness typically entails small acts of attention or kindness. Even though fairly common, such low-cost cooperation has received little empirical attention. Measuring social mindfulness across 31 samples from industrialized countries and regions (n = 8,354), we found considerable variation. Among selected country-level variables, greater social mindfulness was most strongly associated with countriesâ better general performance on environmental protection. Together, our findings contribute to the literature on prosociality by targeting the kind of everyday cooperation that is more focused on communicating benevolence than on providing material benefits
Reply to Komatsu et al.: From local social mindfulness to global sustainability efforts?
Komatsu et al. (1) argue that Van Doesum et al. (2)
may have overlooked the role of GDP in reporting a
positive association between social mindfulness
(SoMi) and the Environmental Performance Index
(EPI) at country level. Although the relationship
between EPI and SoMi is relatively weaker for countries with higher GDP, that does not imply that the
overall observed relationship is a statistical artifact.
Rather, it implies that GDP may be a moderator of
the relationship between EPI and SoMi. The
observed correlation is a valid result on average
across countries, and the actual effect size would, at
least to some degree, depend on GDP
Reply to Nielsen et al.: Social mindfulness is associated with countries' environmental performance and individual environmental concern.
Nielsen et al. (1) argue that Van Doesum et al. (2)
need to consider three points for their interpretation
of a positive association between individual-level
social mindfulness (SoMi) and environmental performance (EPI) at the country level (3). The association
is weaker when 1) it is controlled for GDP and 2)
when the data of three countries are removed; also,
3) the data do not address the association between
SoMi and individual-level environmental concern.
We discuss these points in turn
Perceptions of the appropriate response to norm violation in 57 societies
Norm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries (using convenience samples of 22,863 students and non-students), we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors. Our findings highlight both cultural universals and cultural variation. We find a universal negative relation between appropriateness ratings of norm violations and appropriateness ratings of responses in the form of confrontation, social ostracism and gossip. Moreover, we find the country variation in the appropriateness of sanctions to be consistent across different norm violations but not across different sanctions. Specifically, in those countries where use of physical confrontation and social ostracism is rated as less appropriate, gossip is rated as more appropriate.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Reply to Komatsu et al.: from local social mindfulness to global sustainability efforts?
Komatsu et al. (1) argue that Van Doesum et al. (2) may have overlooked the role of GDP in reporting a positive association between social mindfulness (SoMi) and the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) at country level. Although the relationship between EPI and SoMi is relatively weaker for countries with higher GDP, that does not imply that the overall observed relationship is a statistical artifact. Rather, it implies that GDP may be a moderator of the relationship between EPI and SoMi. The observed correlation is a valid result on average across countries, and the actual effect size would, at least to some degree, depend on GDP.Social decision makin
Reply to Nielsen et al.: social mindfulness is associated with countriesâ environmental performance and individual environmental concern
Nielsen et al. (1) argue that Van Doesum et al. (2) need to consider three points for their interpretation of a positive association between individual-level social mindfulness (SoMi) and environmental performance (EPI) at the country level (3). The association is weaker when 1) it is controlled for GDP and 2) when the data of three countries are removed; also, 3) the data do not address the association between SoMi and individual-level environmental concern. We discuss these points in turn.Social decision makin
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Anger and disgust shape judgments of social sanctions across cultures, especially in high individual autonomy societies
Data availability;
The datasets analyzed during the current study are available in the Center for Open Science repository, https://osf.io/djnfg/.Supplementary Information is available online at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1038/s41598-024-55815-x#Sec17 .When someone violates a social norm, others may think that some sanction would be appropriate. We examine how the experience of emotions like anger and disgust relate to the judged appropriateness of sanctions, in a pre-registered analysis of data from a large-scale study in 56 societies. Across the world, we find that individuals who experience anger and disgust over a norm violation are more likely to endorse confrontation, ostracism and, to a smaller extent, gossip. Moreover, we find that the experience of anger is consistently the strongest predictor of judgments of confrontation, compared to other emotions. Although the link between state-based emotions and judgments may seem universal, its strength varies across countries. Aligned with theoretical predictions, this link is stronger in societies, and among individuals, that place higher value on individual autonomy. Thus, autonomy values may increase the role that emotions play in guiding judgments of social sanctions.This research was funded by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond) [P17-0030:1]. The contribution of J.W was supported by CAS Youth Innovation Promotion Association and fundings from the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y5CX052003 and E2CX3315CX). The contributions of M.H and S.G. for the Czech part of research was supported by a Grant 23-061770S of the Czech Science Foundation and by RVO: 68081740 of the Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences. Open access funding provided by Linköping University
The 2014 Local Elections in Greece: Looking for Patterns in a Changing Political System
In May 2014, municipal and regional elections were held in Greece, concurrently with European elections. This was the first electoral test after the 2012 twin earthquake elections, which marked the beginning of a radical restructuring of the Greek political system. The fragmentation and inconsistency of voting behaviour across different polls in 2014 indicate that Greek politics remains in a transitional phase whose final outcome is still contested. Other characteristics of the elections, including the high proportion of independent candidates, the radical renewal of political personnel and the emergence of Berlusconism in two major municipalities, underline the continuing lack of legitimacy of the political system. © 2015 Taylor & Francis