Europe's Journal of Psychology

Building on the attachment theory and extending prior research that has hinted strongly at the important influence of social relationships on self-esteem, this study examined the simultaneous effect of adolescents' attachment to parents and peers on self-esteem. To test our hypotheses, we collected data from a sample of 267 adolescents. We used polynomial regression coupled with response surface analysis to assess the (in)congruence effect of adolescents' attachment to parents and peers on self-esteem. The results of polynomial regression analysis show that the congruence effect of attachment to parents and peers did not relate to adolescent self-esteem...

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected individuals' psychological well-being worldwide, thus representing a challenge for flourishing among emerging adults. To understand psychological processes involved in the positive adaptation to this challenge, the present study examined the role of meaning in life and religious identity as crucial resources for flourishing in a sample of 255 Italian emerging adults. Specifically, as in the midst of a stressful event individuals may experience the potential for flourishing through the process of search for meaning, the study examined the mediated role of existential, spiritual/religious and prosocial orientations as the three primary trajectories for building meaning...

Social media users can actively choose how they portray themselves and review the information they share to form and manage positive impressions on their audience. A high Body Mass Index (BMI) can lead to a bias of attention towards self-reported unattractive personal body areas. This dysfunctional body-related attention can lead to increased body dissatisfaction. Concerning social networks, people who usually post more photos on Instagram more frequently show higher body satisfaction. The main objective of this work was to analyze the relationship between BMI in young people, their own exposition on Instagram, positive body image and certain psychological variables: self-esteem, coping and well-being...

A number of studies have demonstrated the role played by political skills on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Other research has also shown how the work environment can affect OCBs. However, no research has yet addressed the role that workplace attachment style plays in influencing employee OCBs. The present study aims to investigate the moderating role of workplace attachment style on the relationship between political skills and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs) using a cross-sectional design...

One of the important developmental tasks in adolescence and emerging adulthood is the questioning of identity issues, with body image being a prominent concern. In the age of modern technology, many processes of social comparison take place on social media, which serve as an ideal platform for comparison with others. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of identity dimensions, social media use, and social media social comparison, on different domains of body image satisfaction (i.e., appearance, weight, and attribution)...

Research suggests that people's experiences of COVID-19 lockdowns have been detrimental to their lives and wellbeing. The current research compared the experiences and perceptions on health, wellbeing and social interaction of 300 UK adults and 450 adults in California. Individuals reported whether aspects of their life had changed for the better, worse, or not at all during lockdown in April 2020, and what the "best" and "worst" things about lockdown were. There were more similarities than differences in the regional comparison of perceptions of changes in specific aspects of 'health and wellbeing' and 'social interaction'...

The anticipation of regret is known to be a primary motivator of receiving a vaccination. Aim of this study is to evaluate whether the use of messages that leverage the anticipated emotion of regret can increase the intention to get the flu vaccination. The participants (N = 110) randomly received a leaflet containing a standard prevention message (control condition) or message modified to induce the anticipation of regret over not being vaccinated (experimental condition), along with a questionnaire. The experimental condition's participants reported significantly higher levels of regret and higher intention to vaccinate than the participants in the control condition...

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Despite the common belief among practitioners that a happy worker is a productive worker, researchers have been struggling to understand the causality between satisfaction and performance for decades. This study attempts to bring clarity to current understanding through an experiment with repeated measures of satisfaction and performance. A total of 143 participants repeatedly performed a task based on the Stroop test, with their objective performance and task satisfaction measured each time. Two different types of feedback (high/low performance) were randomly assigned to participants in order to manipulate perceived performance...

Traditionally, the study of well-being has been approached from the hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives. However, the last findings suggest that both aspects are complementary, giving place to an integrated conceptualization of well-being called flourishing. In spite of the constant increase of research around this construct, there is still little information regarding flourishing in adolescents. The objective of this study is to review the available literature on flourishing in adolescence in relation to its tie with other constructs, its study in different contexts and the way it has been operationalized...

Believing has recently been recognized as a fundamental brain function linking a person's experience with his or her attitude, actions and predictions. In general, believing results from the integration of ambient information with emotions and can be reinforced or modulated in a probabilistic fashion by new experiences. Although these processes occur in the subliminal realm, humans can become aware of what they believe and express it verbally. We explain how believing is interwoven with memory functions in a multifaceted fashion...

Beginning in the late 18th century and continuing through to the mid-20th century, a movement was undertaken by psychology's pioneers to establish a mathematical basis for research modeled after the physical sciences. It is argued that this movement arose through sociopolitical pressures to legitimize psychology as an independent discipline; demarcate its disciplinary boundaries within academia; and distinguish psychology from philosophy and spiritualism. It is argued that an ahistorical view of how the quantitative paradigm gained ascendancy leaves it largely unquestioned and unchallenged within mainstream psychology...

Sociosexuality, conceptualized as individual differences in attitudes, behaviors, and desires for casual sex, is reflected in "hookup culture" where risky sexual behaviors should not be overlooked. The main objectives of this study were (a) to provide a first French adaptation of the SOI-R and to evaluate its psychometric properties, and (b) to examine the relationship between sociosexuality and condom use among young college students (N = 1037, mean age = 18.7 years, SD = 1 year). A path model hypothesizing links between dispositional optimism, boredom proneness, sexual orientation, age, gender (as correlated exogenous/independent variables), sociosexuality (as mediation variable), and condom use (as output variable), was specified and tested...

Although scholars started investigating self-objectification more than twenty years ago, only a few studies focused on men and even fewer have taken into account the cross-cultural dimension. Our study focused on the antecedents of self-objectification paying attention to the role of biological and sociodemographic variables (gender, BMI), psychological characteristics (self-esteem, perfectionism) together with social and cultural factors (internalization of media standards, influence of family and friends)...

Exercise dependence is described as exercise which is harmful if engaged compulsively and excessively. The present study aims to investigate differences in categories of exercise behaviours and areas of body esteem in gym-goers in India across genders. The study used a cross-sectional design, and the sample consisted of 291 gym-goers (females = 146; males = 145) The Exercise Dependence Scale- 21 (EDS-21) and Body Esteem Scale-Revised (BES-R) was administered to the gym-goers in India after seeking informed consent...

Objectification is a form of dehumanization that implies the perception of others as mere objects. The present study aimed to expand research on objectification in the work domain by exploring the relationships between objectifying job features, self-objectification, and affective organizational commitment within a real work setting. Building on previous literature, we hypothesized that the execution of objectifying work activities would be positively related to workers' tendency to objectify themselves. Further, we expected a decrease in affective organizational commitment as the outcome of these perceptions...

Many patients that were infected with SARS-CoV-2 experience cognitive and affective symptoms weeks and months after their acute COVID-19 disease, even when acute symptoms were mild to moderate. For these patients, purely neurological explanations are struggling to explain the development and maintenance of the great variety of neuropsychiatric and cognitive symptoms occurring after COVID-19. We provide a psychological perspective based on the network theory of mental disorders as an added explanation that does not displace neurological mechanism but rather complements them...

The creation of a social climate where all ethnic groups can harmoniously coexist is a central challenge for many countries today. Should we emphasize similarities and common ground or, conversely, recognize that there are important differences between groups? The current study examined relations between diversity ideologies (assimilation, colorblindness, multiculturalism, polyculturalism) and generalized and specific intergroup bias (against Chechens, Belarusians, Uzbeks, Chinese, and Jews and Muslims) among ethnic Russians (N = 701)...

Elements of perceived control are associated with recidivism in offender populations. We investigated the application of locus of control to the frequency of personal involvement with the law and to beliefs surrounding the likelihood of future contact with the legal system. We hypothesized that, as the number of sentencings or legal experiences increased, locus of control would externalize. We also predicted that increased legal involvement would lead to greater belief in the likelihood of future involvement...

Research found that those who believe sexual orientation is inborn have generally positive attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women. However, other studies have also found that these beliefs could include negative eugenic ideas. This study aims to investigate the role of people's beliefs about the aetiology of sexual orientation in attitudes toward adoption for both gay and lesbian couples in Italy. We hypothesized that this relationship would be mediated by sexual prejudice. To test the predictions, 256 Italian heterosexual participants were asked to answer questions on a scale about their beliefs regarding the aetiology of sexual orientation, sexual prejudice, and attitudes toward adoption by same-sex couples...