Who you know influences where you go: Intergroup contact attenuates bias in trainee teachers' school preferences.

The vicious cycle of educational inequality may be maintained and perpetuated by teachers' lack of desire to work in socioeconomically deprived communities. Across two studies (Ntotal = 606), we experimentally investigated whether teachers' aversions to such settings could be mitigated by contact experiences with (a) people experiencing financial hardship and (b) children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Trainee teachers rated their levels of desire to work in schools that varied in terms of the socioeconomic backgrounds and diversity of their student populations. They also reported their contact experiences. Although, overall, teachers showed an aversion to working in a school that served a diverse and low-income community compared to one with average student demographics, this effect was attenuated when teachers had more prior contact with both close others in financial hardship and children from disadvantaged backgrounds. These findings were replicated across both studies. Further analyses also revealed that the relation between contact and school desirability may, at least in part, be mediated by changes in teaching self-efficacy. These findings demonstrate the potential value of teachers' contact with other groups as a method of reducing bias in education.

Populism, Economic Distress, Cultural Backlash, and Identity Threat: Integrating Patterns and Testing Cross-National Validity.

Populism is on the rise across liberal democracies. The sociopsychological underpinnings of this increasing endorsement of populist ideology should be uncovered. In an online cross-sectional survey study among adult samples from five countries (Chile, France, Italy, Romania, and the United Kingdom; N = 9,105), we aimed to replicate an economic distress pattern in which relative deprivation and identity threat are associated with populism. We further tested a cultural backlash pattern-including perceived anomie, collective narcissism, and identity threat as predictors of populism. Multigroup structural equation models supported both economic distress and cultural backlash paths as predictors of populist thin ideology endorsement. In both paths, identity threat to belonging played a significant role as partial mediator. Furthermore, an integrative model showed that the two patterns were not mutually exclusive. These findings emphasize the implication of identity threat to belonging as an explanatory mediator and demonstrate the cross-national generalizability of these patterns.

Trialling an optimised social groups intervention in services to enhance social connectedness and mental health in vulnerable young people (TOGETHER): Study protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Calls have been made to rethink the mental health support currently available for young people. This study aims to help re-focus and reduce the inaccessibility of mental health services by offering an adapted version of a theoretically-driven, evidence-based, guided psychosocial intervention known as 'Groups 4 Health' (G4H). To date, the G4H intervention has mainly been trialled in Australia, with promising positive effects on social connection, mental health and well-being. The present study examines the feasibility of running a randomised controlled trial when delivering the G4H intervention for young people in the UK. METHODS: The TOGETHER study is a feasibility randomised controlled trial of an adapted version of the G4H intervention. Participants are aged 16-25, currently experiencing mental health difficulties and recruited from mental health services. The target sample size is 30, with 15 in each trial arm. Participants are randomly allocated to either G4H plus treatment as usual, or treatment as usual alone. The primary outcomes of interest are the feasibility of recruitment, randomisation, data collection and retention to the study at 10 and 14 week follow up, as well as the acceptability, and accessibility of the study protocol and G4H intervention. DISCUSSION: The results of this study will indicate if further optimisation is required to improve the feasibility, acceptability and accessibility of the intervention and study protocol procedures as perceived by end users and practitioners. This offers a significant opportunity to support the local and national demand for accessible, innovative, and effective psychosocial youth mental health support. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN registry (ISRCTN12505807). Registration date: 11/04/2022.

Affective Polarization and Political Belief Systems: The Role of Political Identity and the Content and Structure of Political Beliefs.

We investigate the extent that political identity, political belief content (i.e., attitude stances), and political belief system structure (i.e., relations among attitudes) differences are associated with affective polarization (i.e., viewing ingroup partisans positively and outgroup partisans negatively) in two multinational, cross-sectional studies (Study 1 N = 4,152, Study 2 N = 29,994). First, we found a large, positive association between political identity and group liking-participants liked their ingroup substantially more than their outgroup. Second, political belief system content and structure had opposite associations with group liking: Sharing similar belief system content with an outgroup was associated with more outgroup liking, but similarity with the ingroup was associated with less ingroup liking. The opposite pattern was found for political belief system structure. Thus, affective polarization was greatest when belief system content similarity was low and structure similarity was high.

The mediating role of social connectedness and hope in the relationship between group membership continuity and mental health problems in vulnerable young people.

BACKGROUND: There is growing evidence of a beneficial effect of social group processes on well-being and mental health. AIMS: To investigate the role of group membership continuity in reducing mental ill-health among young people who were already vulnerable pre-pandemic, and to understand the social and psychological mechanisms of the benefits of group memberships for vulnerable young people. METHOD: This study takes a cross-sectional design, using survey data from a sample of 105 young people aged 16-35 years, collected approximately 1 year after the global COVID-19 outbreak (January to July 2021). Correlational and path analyses were used to test the associations between group membership continuity and mental health problems (depression, anxiety, psychotic-like experiences) and the mediation of these associations by hope and social connectedness (in-person and online). To correct for multiple testing, the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure was implemented for all analyses. Indirect effects were assessed with coverage of 99% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Multiple prior group memberships were associated with preservation of group memberships during the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person social connectedness, online social connectedness and hope mediated the relationship between group membership continuity and mental health problem symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that clinical and public health practice should support vulnerable young people to foster and maintain their social group memberships, hopefulness and perceived sense of social connectedness as means of helping to prevent exacerbation of symptoms and promote recovery of mental health problems, particularly during significant life events.

Children's developing understanding of economic inequality and their place within it.

Income inequality is growing in many parts of the world and, for the poorest children in a society, is associated with multiple, negative, developmental outcomes. This review of the research literature considers how childrens' and adolescents' understanding of economic inequality changes with age. It highlights shifts in conceptual understanding (from 'having and not having', to social structural and moral explanations), moral reasoning and the impact of the agents of socialization from parents to the media and cultural norms and discourses. It also examines how social processes affect judgements and the importance of an emerging sense of self in relation to questions of economic inequality. Finally, the review covers methodological considerations and suggests pathways for future research.

Need for approval from others and face concerns as predictors of interpersonal conflict outcome in 29 cultural groups.

The extent to which culture moderates the effects of need for approval from others on a person's handling of interpersonal conflict was investigated. Students from 24 nations rated how they handled a recent interpersonal conflict, using measures derived from face-negotiation theory. Samples varied in the extent to which they were perceived as characterised by the cultural logics of dignity, honour, or face. It was hypothesised that the emphasis on harmony within face cultures would reduce the relevance of need for approval from others to face-negotiation concerns. Respondents rated their need for approval from others and how much they sought to preserve their own face and the face of the other party during the conflict. Need for approval was associated with concerns for both self-face and other-face. However, as predicted, the association between need for approval from others and concern for self-face was weaker where face logic was prevalent. Favourable conflict outcome was positively related to other-face and negatively related to self-face and to need for approval from others, but there were no significant interactions related to prevailing cultural logics. The results illustrate how particular face-threatening factors can moderate the distinctive face-concerns earlier found to characterise individualistic and collectivistic cultural groups.

Differentiating Between Belief-Indicative and Status-Indicative Groups Improves Predictions of Intergroup Attitudes.

Ingroup bias is often treated as the default outcome of intergroup comparisons. We argue that the mechanisms of impression formation depend on what information people infer from groups. We differentiate between belief-indicative groups that are more informative of beliefs and affect attitudes through ingroup bias and status-indicative groups that are more informative of status and affect attitudes through a preference for higher status. In a cross-cultural factorial experiment (Ntotal = 1,281), we demonstrate that when information about targets' multiple group memberships is available, belief-indicative groups affect attitudes via ingroup bias, whereas status-indicative groups-via preference for higher status. These effects were moderated by social-structural context. In two follow-up studies (Ntotal = 451), we develop and validate a measure of belief- and status-indicativeness (BISI) of groups. BISI showed expected correlations with related constructs of entitativity and essentialism. Belief-indicativeness of groups was a better predictor of ingroup bias than entitativity and essentialism.

Roles of socioeconomic status, ethnicity and teacher beliefs in academic grading.

BACKGROUND: Educational outcomes in the United Kingdom vary as a function of students' family background, with those of lower socioeconomic status (SES) and certain ethnic minority groups among the worst affected. AIMS: This pre-registered study investigates: (i) whether knowledge about students' socioeconomic and ethnic background influences teachers' judgements about the quality of their work and potential for the future, and (ii) the role of teachers' beliefs-most notably about meritocracy-in their practices. SAMPLE: Our findings are based on the responses of 416 in-service (88%) and trainee (12%) teachers who successfully passed several stringent exclusion criteria. METHODS: As part of a 2 × 2 independent measures design, teachers were randomly assigned to assess an identical piece of work ostensibly written by a student who varied by SES (higher vs. lower) and ethnicity (White British vs. Black Caribbean). Following this, they responded to several measures assessing their beliefs about education. RESULTS: Teachers judged students of lower SES to be inferior to students of higher SES across a range of indicators. By contrast, we found no evidence of racial bias in teachers' judgements, though potential reasons for this are discussed. Teachers who believed that schooling is meritocratic were significantly less likely to support equity-enhancing teaching practices and initiatives. CONCLUSIONS: Unconscious teacher biases and beliefs may be contributing to the relative underperformance of students from poorer backgrounds. These findings provide a mandate for educational institutions to help teachers reflect upon, and develop the skills required to mitigate potentially harmful biases.

'People like me don't do well at school': The roles of identity compatibility and school context in explaining the socioeconomic attainment gap.

BACKGROUND: School students who are eligible for reduced or free school meals (FSM) - an indicator of economic disadvantage - have lower academic attainment than their peers. AIMS: We investigated whether identity compatibility - the perceived compatibility between one's social identities and the stereotype of a high-achieving student - contributes to this socioeconomic attainment gap, and whether the association between socioeconomic status and identity compatibility is moderated by school context. SAMPLE: Our sample was 4,629 students aged 15-16 years old across 29 schools in England. METHOD: We assessed students' perceptions of identity compatibility via self-report questionnaires 8 months prior to them taking national, standardized exams. RESULTS: Multilevel regression analyses revealed a negative indirect effect from eligibility for FSM to exam results via identity compatibility. These effects existed even while accounting for students' gender and language status, other psychological variables known to predict academic attainment, and their previous exam results. Furthermore, school context moderated the relationship between FSM eligibility and identity compatibility. In line with the identities in context model of educational inequalities, there was a significant negative association between FSM and identity compatibility only for students attending schools in which there was previously a relatively large socioeconomic attainment gap. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the importance of social psychological variables in explaining educational inequalities, and of the local educational context in determining the educational experience of students from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds.

Taking advantage of multiple identities to reduce defensiveness to personally threatening health messages.

A host of studies have shown that self-relevant health messages may result in increased defensiveness and rejection of protective recommendations. Drawing on research showing that multiple identities offer psychological resources to deal with identity threats, we sought to examine whether the salience of an alternative identity before people are exposed to a personally relevant health message may buffer the threat and reduce defensive responses. Two studies were conducted on samples of daily smokers asked to read an antismoking message before completing a range of measures of defensiveness. Half of the participants had an alternative identity made salient beforehand (vs. no salience condition). Consistent with our hypotheses, Study 1 (N = 90) showed that this manipulation significantly reduced defensiveness to the message. Study 2 (N = 95) additionally showed that such effects only occurred when the alternative identity overlapped highly with the threatened identity. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Multiple categorization and intergroup bias: Examining the generalizability of three theories of intergroup relations.

Research on intergroup bias usually focuses on a single dimension of social categorization. In real life, however, people are aware of others' multiple group memberships and use this information to form attitudes about them. The present research tests the predictive power of identification, perceived conflict, and perceived symbolic threat in explaining the strength of intergroup bias on various dimensions of social categorization in multiple categorization settings. We conduct a factorial survey experiment, manipulating 9 dimensions of social categorization in diverse samples from 4 countries (n = 12,810 observations, 1,281 participants representing 103 social groups). The dimensions studied are age, gender, ethnicity, religion, place of residence, education, occupation, income, and 1 country-specific dimension. This approach allows exploring the generalizability of established determinants of bias across dimensions of categorization, contexts, and target groups. Identification and symbolic threat showed good generalizability across countries and categorization dimensions, but their effects varied as a function of participant and target groups' status. Identification predicted stronger bias mainly when the participant belonged to a higher status and the target belonged to a lower status group. Symbolic threat predicted stronger bias mainly when the target was a minority group member. Conflict predicted bias only in few cases, and not only the strength but also the direction of the effects varied across countries, dimensions, and target and participant groups. These findings help to clarify the limits of generalizability of established determinants of intergroup bias and highlight the need for new explanations of social-cognitive processes among minority group members. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Subjective status and perceived legitimacy across countries.

The relationships between subjective status and perceived legitimacy are important for understanding the extent to which people with low status are complicit in their oppression. We use novel data from 66 samples and 30 countries (N = 12,788) and find that people with higher status see the social system as more legitimate than those with lower status, but there is variation across people and countries. The association between subjective status and perceived legitimacy was never negative at any levels of eight moderator variables, although the positive association was sometimes reduced. Although not always consistent with hypotheses, group identification, self-esteem, and beliefs in social mobility were all associated with perceived legitimacy among people who have low subjective status. These findings enrich our understanding of the relationship between social status and legitimacy.

Television exposure, consumer culture values, and lower well-being among preadolescent children: The mediating role of consumer-focused coping strategies.

Previous research has linked materialism to lower well-being in children, and recent findings suggest that this link is heightened among those exposed to high levels of advertising. One proposal is that children may be pursuing consumer culture ideals (CCIs) - orienting to material possessions and physical appearance - as a maladaptive coping strategy for dealing with underlying distress. The present work offers the first direct evaluation of this theoretically plausible hypothesis. In Study 1, higher scores on our measure of consumer-focused coping (CFC) not only predicted lower well-being in a sample of 109 9- to 11-year-olds, but also served as mediator in the indirect link between the number of hours spent watching television and lower well-being. Study 2 tested our expanded model of these processes in a sample of 380 9- to 11-year-olds. Specifically, structural equation modelling revealed that frequency of watching commercial (advertising-rich) television in particular predicted greater CFC. This, in turn, predicted greater endorsement of CCIs, which then predicted lower well-being. Implications for theoretical models and educational interventions are discussed.

Socioeconomic status and the structure of the self-concept.

Individuals have a myriad of potential identities that they can use to define who they are, yet little research has investigated which types of identities people tend to prioritize within their self-concepts, and how this may vary across individuals. We analyse data from two large UK social surveys (Ns = 16,966 and 44,903) that assessed the importance respondents attached to various identities within their self-concepts, and find that social class plays a crucial role. Our results show that respondents attached high importance to identities that are indicative of their social class (income, education, and professional), and at least as much importance as they gave to identities more commonly studied by psychologists (such as ethnicity, nationality, or gender). Furthermore, respondents' objective social class was one of the strongest predictors of the importance they attached to different types of identities: Higher class respondents placed greater importance on identities that are indicative of their social class, but less importance on identities based on basic demographics, chosen communities, or their sociocultural orientation. Our results suggest that social class plays an important role in structuring the self-concept, and that researchers should pay more attention to the importance of social class to self and identity processes.

Social Factors Boost Well-Being Behind Bars: The Importance of Individual and Group Ties for Prisoner Well-Being.

BACKGROUND: Prisoners often suffer from social isolation and higher levels of ill-health and ill-being. Research has demonstrated the positive health consequences that stem from social interaction, and especially group ties, amongst non-offender populations. METHODS: This work is based on a secondary analysis of a large-scale dataset that includes data on prisoners residing in all prison establishments in the UK (Study 1: N = 11,880; prisons = 113), and on a questionnaire booklet that was completed by prisoners residing in one prison in the UK (Study 2: N = 157). RESULTS: Study 1 showed that positive prisoner interactions are associated with greater prisoner well-being, due to the feelings of autonomy that these interactions provide. Study 2 showed that prisoners who reported being members of multiple groups had higher well-being, an effect mediated by the satisfaction of particular psychological needs; and an effect moderated by group contact discrepancy. CONCLUSIONS: This work provides evidence that strong prisoner ties and memberships in groups are associated with greater well-being among prisoners, and identifies psychological needs and group contact as explanatory mechanisms; which progresses the field and has important policy and practical implications.

The socioecology of social class.

Despite the increasing attention paid by psychologists to social class, we argue here that insufficient attention has been paid to the ways, in which socio-ecological factors shape both which dimensions of social class are used by individuals to compare themselves with others, and the outcomes of these comparisons. We illustrate our argument by reviewing recent research on the ways in which different facets of socioeconomic status shape social and political attitudes, and on the ways in which inequalities in educational outcomes stem from comparisons made in specific social contexts. We conclude that by studying the psychological impact of social class differences through the lens of a socio-ecological approach, it becomes more evident that this impact varies as a function of both the dimension of social class involved, and local social ecologies.

Structured activity and multiple group memberships as mechanisms of increased depression amongst young people not in employment, education or training.

AIMS: Young people Not in Employment, Education and Training (NEET) are at increased risk of depression, yet mechanisms of this association are poorly understood. We hypothesised that being NEET has both behavioural and social identity consequences and that reductions in structured activity and multiple group memberships underlie increased depression in this group. Our purpose was to assess first whether depression was greater for NEET compared to non-NEET young people from the same geographical locality, and secondly, whether a loss of structured activity leading to a reduction in multiple group memberships explains the NEET-depression association. METHODS: The present study was a cross-sectional between-groups design using convenience sampling. Measures of depression, structured activity and multiple group memberships were obtained from 45 NEET young people and 190 university students (non-NEET). RESULTS: The NEET group reported significantly more depression symptoms compared to the non-NEET student control group. A path model specifying NEET status as a predictor of depression, with this association mediated by a reduction in structured activity and fewer multiple group memberships (standardised indirect = 0.03, unstandardised indirect = 0.62, P = 0.052, 95% bias corrected confidence intervals [0.21,1.44]), provided excellent fit to our data: χ2 (3) = 0.26, P = 0.968, comparative fit index (CFI) = 1.00, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)<0.01, standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that depression is elevated amongst NEET young people compared to non-NEET students from the same locality. The association between NEET status and depression was partially mediated by reduced structured activity and its association with reduced multiple group memberships. Although using cross-sectional data, our findings suggest social interventions may be a key resource in ameliorating depression amongst NEET young people; through preserving engagement in structured activity and the wellbeing benefits derived from arising multiple group memberships.

Team-level identification predicts perceived and actual team performance: Longitudinal multilevel analyses with sports teams.

Social identification and team performance literatures typically focus on the relationship between individual differences in identification and individual-level performance. By using a longitudinal multilevel approach, involving 369 members of 45 sports teams across England and Italy, we compared how team-level and individual-level variance in social identification together predicted team and individual performance outcomes. As hypothesized, team-level variance in identification significantly predicted subsequent levels of both perceived and actual team performance in cross-lagged analyses. Conversely, individual-level variance in identification did not significantly predict subsequent levels of perceived individual performance. These findings support recent calls for social identity to be considered a multilevel construct and highlight the influence of group-level social identification on group-level processes and outcomes, over and above its individual-level effects.

Social Identification in Sports Teams: The Role of Personal, Social, and Collective Identity Motives.

Based on motivated identity construction theory (MICT; Vignoles, 2011), we offer an integrative approach examining the combined roles of six identity motives (self-esteem, distinctiveness, belonging, meaning, continuity, and efficacy) instantiated at three different motivational levels (personal, social, and collective identity) as predictors of group identification. These identity processes were investigated among 369 members of 45 sports teams from England and Italy in a longitudinal study over 6 months with four time points. Multilevel change modeling and cross-lagged analyses showed that satisfaction of four personal identity motives (individuals' personal feelings of self-esteem, distinctiveness, meaning, and efficacy derived from team membership), three social identity motives (individuals' feelings that the team identity carries a sense of belonging, meaning, and continuity), and one collective identity motive (a shared belief in group distinctiveness) significantly predicted group identification. Motivational processes underlying group identification are complex, multilayered, and not reducible to personal needs.