Unveiling gender inequality in the US: Testing validity of a state-level measure of gender inequality and its relationship with feminist online collective action on Twitter.

The Gender Inequality Index is a country-level measure of gender inequality based on women's levels of reproductive health, social and political empowerment, and labor-market representation. In two studies, we tested the validity of the GII-S, a state-level measure of gender inequality in the USA. In Study 1, the GII-S was associated with objective and subjective measures of wellness among women, including life satisfaction, financial well-being, and perceptions of safety. GII-S was not associated with the Gini coefficient, a well-established measure of economic inequality, suggesting that gender and economic disparities represent distinct aspects of social inequality. Study 2 tested the link between GII-S scores and collective action-specifically, participation in the #MeToo movement promoting awareness of sexual harassment and violence against women. Analysis of geo-localized messages on the Twitter social media platform reveals that higher GII-S scores were associated with fewer tweets containing the #MeToo hashtag. Moreover, GII-S was associated with state-level political orientation: the more conservative a state, the higher its level of gender inequality. Results are discussed in terms of possible socio-cognitive processes underpinning the association between gender inequality and sensitivity to violence against women.

Economic inequality increases the number of hours worked and decreases work-life balance perceptions: longitudinal and experimental evidence.

International institutions' attention to work-life balance (WLB) demonstrates the global breadth of this issue. Yet the scientific community has thus far paid little attention to its structural underpinnings and to the interplay between these macro-level underpinnings and individual psychological factors. We examine the contextual role of economic inequality at the national level as a significant factor influencing working time and WLB perceptions using multiple empirical strategies. In the first set of studies (1a and 1b), we compared countries with different levels of inequality (Study 1a with 37 countries, Study 1b with longitudinal data from 34 countries, N = 254) and found increased working time and reduced WLB in highly unequal countries. In a pilot study (N = 81) and in the pre-registered Studies 2 (N = 338) and 3 (N = 499) we corroborated this evidence with an experimentally induced inequality perception, reporting an indirect effect of inequality on WLB (Studies 2 and 3) and working time (Study 3) through status anxiety and competitiveness. In Study 2, we manipulated socio-economic class in addition to economic inequality, showing that the detrimental effect of inequality on WLB is especially marked for participants assigned to a low-class condition. This research contributes to an integrated understanding of the impact of economic inequality and socio-economic class in shaping WLB and provides useful insights for organizations to develop context-specific policies to improve employees' WLB that take both individual and structural factors into account.

A world together: Global citizen identification as a basis for prosociality in the face of COVID-19.

How do global citizens respond to a global health emergency? The present research examined the association between global citizen identification and prosociality using two cross-national datasets-the World Values Survey (Study 1, N = 93,338 from 60 countries and regions) and data collected in 11 countries at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (Study 2, N = 5,427). Results showed that individuals who identified more strongly as global citizens reported greater prosociality both generally (Study 1) and more specifically in the COVID-19 global health emergency (Study 2). Notably, global citizen identification was a stronger predictor of prosociality in response to COVID-19 than national identification (Study 2). Moreover, analyses revealed that shared ingroup identity accounted for the positive association between global citizen identification and prosociality (Study 2). Overall, these findings highlight global citizenship as a unique and promising direction in promoting prosociality and solidarity, especially in the fight against COVID-19.

It Matters to Whom You Compare Yourself: The Case of Unrealistic Optimism and Gender-Specific Comparisons.

Unrealistic Optimism (UO) appears when comparing participants' risk estimates for themselves with an average peer, which typically results in lower risk estimates for the self. This article reports nuanced effects when comparison varies in terms of the gender of the peer. In three studies (total N = 2,468, representative sample), we assessed people's risk estimates for COVID-19 infections for peers with the same or other gender. If a peer's gender is not taken into account, previous studies were replicated: Compared with others, participants perceived themselves as less likely to get infected with COVID-19. Interestingly, this effect was qualified by gender: Respondents perceived women as less threatened than men because women are perceived as more cautious and compliant with medical guidelines.

Tax the élites! The role of economic inequality and conspiracy beliefs on attitudes towards taxes and redistribution intentions.

Taxation is one of the most widely acknowledged strategies to reduce inequality, particularly if based on progressivity. In a high-powered sample study (N = 2119) we investigated economic inequality and conspiracy beliefs as two key predictors of tax attitude and support for progressive taxation. We found that participants in the high economic inequality condition had lower levels of tax compliance and higher levels of conspiracy beliefs and support for progressive taxation. Furthermore, the effect of the experimental condition on tax compliance was mediated by conspiracy beliefs. Finally, conspiracy belief scores were positively associated with support for progressive taxation. Our results provide evidence that attitudes towards taxation are not monolithic but change considering the aims and targets of specific taxes. Indeed, while the perception of economic inequality prompts the desire for equal redistribution, it also fosters conspiracy narratives that undermine compliance with taxes.

An Independent Study to Compare Compliance, Attitudes, Knowledge, and Sources of Knowledge about Pneumococcal Vaccinations among an Italian Sample of Older Adults.

BACKGROUND: Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the leading causes of pneumoniae deaths, especially among elderly individuals, with the vaccine being the primary prevention instrument. However, information on national vaccine coverage among the elderly population is scarce and sparse. METHODS: A survey involved a representative sample of Italians older than 65 years (n = 600), who agreed to participate in the study through a phone interview. Participants' self-reported pneumococcal vaccination status, vaccine literacy, information source, and risk perception related to the infection and to vaccines-adverse reactions were assessed. RESULTS: The reported vaccination status is very low (11.2%), with respondents largely uninformed about vaccination opportunities. The results also show that the predominant (and most effective) source of information is healthcare providers, with vaccine hesitancy being positively linked to risk perception related to disease and negatively linked to risk perception of vaccine adverse reactions. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests the need to collect data to systematically monitor vaccination coverage and calls for information campaigns to improve elderly literacy to increase vaccination uptake.

The Spatial Ingroup Bias: Ingroup Teams Are Positioned Where Writing Starts.

In four studies, we test the hypothesis that people, asked to envisage interactions between an ingroup and an outgroup, tend to spatially represent the ingroup where writing starts (e.g., left in Italian) and as acting along script direction. Using soccer as a highly competitive intergroup setting, in Study 1 (N = 100) Italian soccer fans were found to envisage their team on the left side of a horizontal soccer field, hence playing rightward. Studies 2a and 2b (N = 219 Italian and N = 200 English speakers) replicate this finding, regardless of whether the own team was stronger or weaker than the rival team. Study 3 (N = 67 Italian and N = 67 Arabic speakers) illustrates the cultural underpinnings of the Spatial Intergroup Bias, showing a rightward ingroup bias for Italian speakers and a leftward ingroup bias for Arabic speakers. Findings are discussed in relation to how space is deployed to symbolically express ingroup favoritism (Spatial Ingroup Bias) versus shared stereotypes (Spatial Agency Bias).

To what extent are conspiracy theorists concerned for self versus others? A COVID-19 test case.

We examined whether people who are prone to believe COVID-19 conspiracy theories are characterised by an especially strong concern for others or an especially strong concern for the self, and whether these orientations are associated with willingness to take a COVID-19 vaccine. We surveyed 4,245 participants from eight nations; three months later we re-contacted 1,262 participants from three nations. Belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories was related to greater concerns about one's own safety, and lower concerns about the safety of close others. Furthermore, conspiracist ideation at Wave 1 predicted reluctance to take a COVID-19 vaccine at Wave 2, mediated through relative concern for self versus others. In sum, people who are high in conspiracy beliefs have relatively higher concern for the self relative to others, with troubling implications for public health.

Viral suspicions: Vaccine hesitancy in the Web 2.0.

A huge and diverse amount of information is available online. In 4 studies, we provided complementary evidence about the psychosocial processes involved in online information gathering about vaccinations and the associated relation with trust in their safety. Study 1 investigated the relation between Italian Google inquiries and vaccine coverage for 0- to 2-year-old Italian children from 2000 and 2015, showing a correlation that turned negative over time. In Study 2, participants randomly assigned to a message providing a dual perspective (false balance condition) endorsed more conspiracy beliefs, which, in turn, reduced trust in vaccines compared with provaccine, antivaccine, and control messages. In Study 3, participants actively selected Google outputs that were in line with their opinion, and this confirmatory bias was particularly strong among participants distrusting vaccination. This association was disrupted by the exposure to provaccine messages, but only if antivaccine alternatives were absent. In Study 4, exposure to online comments questioning the human papilloma virus vaccination influenced attitudes toward the vaccination in a sample of not-yet-vaccinated young women. Practical implications for the way that media cover vaccination topics and for interventions addressing vaccine hesitancy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).