International Journal of Social Psychology: Revista de Psicología Social

Literature has extensively shown that tobacco dependence is negatively associated with motivation to quit smoking. In this research, we aimed to account for this negative relationship by adopting an identity-based framework. More specifically, we hypothesized that tobacco dependence constitutes an identity threat that smokers seek to manage by diminishing their motivation to quit. To assess whether such a mechanism is at work, we used a self-affirmation manipulation across two independent studies that were pooled into one (N = 308). More specifically, we asked daily smokers to report their tobacco dependence prior to manipulating self-affirmation. Then, we assessed their motivation to quit. Results demonstrated that, among high-dependent smokers, those who were self-affirmed reported higher motivation to quit than those who were not. Self-affirmation had no effect among low-dependent smokers. These findings illuminate the idea that an interpretation in terms of identity processes can offer new insights into understanding tobacco dependence and its consequences on smokers’ motivation to quit.

The objective of this study is to analyse the effect of perceived crowding and perceived restorative capacity on tourist satisfaction in different tourist environments. After visiting three tourist spaces, 1,958 tourists were surveyed. Three scales were used: (1) perceived restorative capacity of tourist environments; (2) perceived crowding; and (3) satisfaction, enjoyment and intention to recommend. The results showed that the perception of restorative capacity is intensely related to satisfaction measurements. In all three tourist spaces, satisfaction decreases as perceived restorative capacity drops. Likewise, the perception of crowding shows an inverse relationship with satisfaction; tourists who had a strong sense of being disturbed over the number of people at the site had lower levels of satisfaction, enjoyment and intention to recommend. The results show the important role played by perceived restorative capacity and the perception of crowding on tourist satisfaction and the need to explore the role of psycho-environmental variables on satisfaction by incorporating the unique features of the place visited.

Thought handling may affect the subsequent use of thoughts in evaluative judgements. Thus, a person’s attitudes are more influenced by thoughts about the attitude object when the person has saved (versus deleted) a representation of these thoughts. We examined if thought handling would affect not only focal attitude change but also lateral attitude change. Students (N = 200) listed positive thoughts about a focal object and later either saved or deleted a representation of their thoughts. Then their explicit and implicit attitudes towards the focal object, a lateral (= related) object and an unrelated object were assessed. Results showed that explicit focal attitudes were affected more by thoughts in the save conditions than in the delete conditions. These effects generalized to explicit lateral attitudes but not to explicit unrelated attitudes. Thought (handling) effects on implicit attitudes were generally weak. We discuss the results in terms of a self-validation approach and the lateral attitude change model.

The evolution of societal gender roles over time changes perceptions about the characteristics of men and women and how they behave. Previous studies on the dynamics of gender stereotypes have investigated people’s perceptions about men and women at specific time points (i.e., thinking in the past, present and future). However, studies comparing results of present perceptions of men and women measured at a lapse of time could clarify whether there have been real changes in gender stereotypes or just a desired perception for change. In the current research, we investigate whether perceptions about gender stereotypes evolve over time by comparing 453 Spanish participants’ perceptions of men and women over a 10-year period based on data collected at two time points: 2006 (n = 199) and 2016 (n = 254). In line with the conclusions of previous research, our results indicate that perceptions of gender stereotypes evolved over time from 2006 to 2016. Interestingly, over 10 years, men and women are perceived to be more similar on feminine characteristics but diverge on masculine characteristics. We discuss the dynamic of stereotypes in light of social constraints that may influence gender characteristics adscription.

The present study aimed to test the mediating role of intention to use strengths (IUS) and the moderating role of work pressure in the relationship of followers’ strengths-based leadership (FSBL) with follower strengths use. A total of 295 employees working in diverse enterprises in China completed the measures of FSBL, work pressure, IUS and strengths use at two points in time, separated by a four-week interval. Analytical results showed that FSBL has predictive value for IUS and FSBL could affect follower strengths use through IUS. In addition, the positive effect of FSBL on IUS was stronger for employees low in work pressure rather than for employees high in work pressure, and work pressure could also attenuate the mediational effect of IUS on the FSBL–strengths use relationship. These results contribute to the literature on the FSBL–strengths use linkage by revealing the roles of IUS and work pressure in the FSBL and strengths use relation.

In moral dilemmas, decision-making can be based on more utilitarian or deontological reasoning. In two experimental studies, we manipulated the number of people to be sacrificed (1 to save 5 vs. 3 to save 5) and whether personalizing information about them was presented. Results provide the first evidence of how the effects of kill-save ratios and identifiability of the potential victims are contingent on one another. Specifically, this research shows that when individuating information about the potential victims is present in a trolley dilemma, participants are more reluctant to sacrifice three persons to save five than to sacrifice one person to save five. When such individuating information is not present, the acceptability of sacrificing the victims does not depend on their number.