ABSTRACT On the basis of two social‐affective frameworks, we posited that national football team performance (winning vs. losing) would impact spectators’ identities, affect and sociopolitical attitudes—including their intergroup attitudes (i.e., in‐group favouritism and multiculturalism) and societal perceptions (i.e., national optimism, perceived crisis severity, political trust and perceived racism). During the UEFA EURO 2024 tournament in Germany, we assessed residents ( N = 1012) from five participating countries before the tournament (baseline) and after each game. Confirming our preregistered hypotheses, national team wins led to stronger national identification, which, in turn, predicted more in‐group favouritism and less support for multiculturalism. Wins also predicted more positive affect, which then coincided with stronger national optimism. Contrary to our hypotheses, however, no direct effects emerged for spectators’ political trust, nor their perceptions of crisis severity and racism. These findings highlight ways in which national sports experiences can predict spectators’ collective identities, emotions and selected sociopolitical attitudes.

This dataset was collected during the UEFA EURO football championship in 2024. It provides match-contingent experience sampling data, including (a) individual-level variables such as life satisfaction, (b) interpersonal variables such as prosocial intent, and (c) broader societal variables such as political trust. The data points are nested in a sample of N = 1,012 individuals from five countries (England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland). Using an event-sampling method with four to eight measurement waves (depending on how far the national team progressed in the tournament), we captured time-sensitive fluctuations in a total of m = 30 variables in response to the national team’s objective (i.e., win, draw, loss) and perceived success. In addition, the dataset contains moderating variables including Big-5 personality traits, conspiracy and free-will beliefs, or alcohol consumption and betting behaviors, and detailed match-specific data (e.g., shots on target, yellow cards, attendance). Our data descriptor portrays the methodological approach, data collection procedures, and available variables, and outlines how the data may be used for future research.

People automatically imitate each other, which is known to elicit feelings of affiliation. Previous research on mimicry has mainly studied dyadic interactions and thereby neglected that many social interactions are often observed by others. This raises the question of how observers perceive individuals who mimic or are mimicked. Based on previous research, we formulated two competing hypotheses about how third-party observers perceive people who initiate actions and people who mimic the actions along the Big Two dimensions (i.e., agency vs. communion). We tested these hypotheses against each other in eight experiments. The results strongly support the "Agency Hypothesis" according to which people who initiate actions are perceived as more agentic than people who mimic the actions. Our experiments also find some support for the "Communion Hypothesis" indicating that people who mimic actions are perceived as more communal than people who initiate the actions. Interestingly, support for the Agency Hypothesis was very robust, whereas the effect on perceived communion was more variable and dependent on the stimuli used. When investigating downstream consequences of the link between observed mimicry and ascriptions along the Big Two dimensions, we find that both ascribed agency and communion predict donation behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

International sporting events like the UEFA EURO 2024 provide a powerful natural context to study how social identity dynamics and social processes link to well-being and motivation beyond the sporting domain. In this pre-registered longitudinal experience-sampling study (N = 842; k = 2,414 post-game responses) across five European countries, we examined how social context (watching alone vs. with others) and game result (win vs. loss) link to spectators' life satisfaction and work motivation. Drawing on social identity and self-categorisation theory, we explored mediating processes including team, football, and national identity, as well as social processes-social connectedness and game-related socialising. Multilevel analyses revealed that watching games with others was unexpectedly associated with lower work motivation, an effect explained by alcohol consumption. The social context was unrelated to life satisfaction. Game result (i.e., a win) was positively related to life satisfaction and work motivation, mediated by social identities and social processes. These findings demonstrate that collective success-rather than shared spectating-coincides with positive psychological spill-overs from leisure to work. By situating these effects within a social identity framework, the study highlights how collective experiences relate to both evaluative well-being (i.e., life satisfaction) and motivational outcomes (i.e., work motivation) in everyday and organisational life.

Experiments that manipulate the presence of mimicry generally find that mimicry benefits the mimicker. These results led to the "mimicry-as-a-social-glue" hypothesis, which considers mimicry as a mechanism responsible for starting and maintaining social relations. There are two novel aspects in the present pre-registered experiment. First, the experiment examines temporal aspects by including four conditions: no mimicry, mimicry during the first five minutes, the last five minutes, or mimicry present throughout the interaction. By doing so, we contribute to ongoing efforts to standardise mimicry methodology. Second, this explores the underexplored issue of potential costs associated with mimicry and challenges the "mimicry-as-a-social-glue" hypothesis. The results demonstrate a relationship between temporal factors and the effects of mimicry. Participants who were mimicked during the final five minutes of the interaction reported significantly lower self-esteem compared to those mimicked during the initial five minutes. However, no significant differences in self-esteem were found between the no mimicry condition and mimicry during the first five minutes, nor between the final five minutes condition and mimicry sustained throughout the entire interaction. Similarly, no significant differences were observed between the no mimicry condition and the condition in which mimicry was sustained for the entire interaction. These findings suggest that the costs and benefits associated with mimicry depend on its temporal dynamics.

Major sporting events exert manifold influences on people’s intra- and interpersonal experiences. Preliminary findings suggest that they affect sexuality, but the evidence has been limited to population-level outcomes such as birth rates. Direct, individual-level evidence and research on underlying processes are missing. In this preregistered study, we investigated the relationship between the success of national men’s soccer teams during the UEFA EURO 2024 tournament and the frequency of sexual events in daily life, with match results serving as natural within-person, quasi-experimental manipulations. Participants from five European countries ( N = 952, k = 3,627 reports) reported more cognitive, affective, and behavioral sexual events following their national teams’ wins (vs. losses). These effects were particularly pronounced among participants who identified more strongly as fans and were partly explained by higher well-being after wins. We discuss the far-reaching impact of sporting events on sexuality in daily life and future research directions.

Tobacco addiction, a major cause of preventable death, requires an understanding of how it develops and is maintained. This paper examines mimicry as a 'social glue' in smokers' social interactions and its influence on the development and maintenance of smoking behaviour. A first laboratory experiment showed that nonverbal mimicry (physical actions, hand and arm movements and body posture) increases cigarette consumption due to increased liking for the mimicker, proving that mimicry not only binds (smokers) but first and foremost reduces chances for quitting smoking. The second experiment, conducted in a natural setting, showed that mimicry of smoking behaviour reduced the desire to quit smoking. This suggests that whilst mimicry acts as a strong 'social glue' amongst smokers, it also impedes efforts to quit. Thus, it seems that mimicry maintains smoking addiction and overcoming tobacco addiction might require severing the social bonds created by mimicry (e.g., smoking in solitary).

Previous studies on combating disinformation have focused on methods based on rational argumentation like correcting misinformation or on news and media and literacy. However, these methods have proved to be less effective when strong emotions are involved. The presented research tested the effectiveness of a new technique for combating anti-vaccine disinformation: making people aware that most anti-vaccine disinformation comes from a source that evokes strongly negative emotions. Such a technique, appealing to emotions rather than rationality, has never been tested before. A Pilot Study, two Experiments, and a Control Study, with N = 1436 participants (486 males, 432 females) aged 18–64, mostly of Polish nationality, were run after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The participants read articles about Russian anti-vaccine propaganda or neutral ones. Then, their readiness to vaccinate was tested. The results of the first experiment indicated that people who read articles about Russian anti-vaccine propaganda had more positive attitudes towards vaccinations than those who read neutral articles. However, the effect was not replicated in the second experiment. The possible reasons for this lack of replication are discussed, one of which was excluded in a Control Study. Nevertheless, the results encourage further studies in this direction.

People have the automatic tendency to mimic their interaction partners. Mimicry theories propose that such mimicking behavior is beneficial for the mimicker as mimicked persons tend to like, trust and help the mimicker more. Yet an open question remains as to whether prosocial effects translate to parties other than the mimicker. To test for the presence of such a spillover effect, we ran two field experiments (total N = 460). In all experiments, participants interacted with an experimenter. The experimenter either verbally mimicked the participants or behaved naturally. Afterwards, either the experimenter or another person asked participants to donate to a charity. Across all experiments, our results indicate that irrespective of whether a donation request is made by the mimicker or another person, mimicry increases the likelihood to donate to a charity, but not the amount that participants are willing to donate. Bayesian analyses suggest that this effect is less strongly pronounced than assumed by previous research and theories.

Purpose The purpose of the two online experimental studies was to examine how information about threats related to sexual crimes influences personal beliefs regarding social threats (in line with the finite pool of worry concept) and belief in a just world, as proposed by Melvin Lerner. Design/methodology/approach In the first experiment (n = 256), female participants were presented with press information about a sexual crime that occurred at a student concert. Different groups were informed whether the perpetrator was apprehended (or not) and asked to indicate the punishment they thought should be imposed. In the second experiment (n = 251), participants in the experimental group were asked to read texts about various threats that may concern them. Findings In both experiments, the authors measured the perceived risk of being a victim of a sexual crime (and, in Study 1, other threats) as well as belief in just world (at both personal and general levels). Analysis of results has shown that participants’ focus on one threat did not reduce their concerns about other threats. However, belief in just world appears to be negatively associated with the fear of being a victim of a sexual crime. Originality/value The findings concern the relationship between the sense of threat and belief in a just world. In this regard, both of the studies consistently showed that the threats the authors induced did not affect the level of belief in a just world. However, the second experiment revealed that belief in a just world is related to the fear of being raped. Belief in a just world serves as a foundation for good adaptation and functioning. It provides cognitive control, motivates hard work and long-term goal-setting and gives life meaning (e.g. Dalbert, 1999; Dalbert and Sallay, 2004; Sutton and Winnard, 2007). Therefore, a woman’s fear of being a victim of rape has implications that extend beyond this narrowly defined issue.

Guilt, on the one hand, can be unpleasant and exhausting. On the other hand, it can also motivate individuals to, for example, make amends and repair broken social relationships. To understand this dual nature of guilt, this research turns to the concept of mimicry. Mimicry is defined as the unconscious imitation of behaviors and is widely recognized as a 'social glue' that plays a crucial role in forming and maintaining social relationships. A key question is whether mimicry could serve as an appliance for the sake of guilt release. A series of six studies (N = 414) reveals the opposite pattern: participants who were mimicked (compared to non-mimicked) felt more guilty. This outcome suggests that while mimicry generally fosters social connections, its interplay with emotions like guilt can be complex.

Unrealistic comparative optimism (UO) bias, which is a specific and biased form of optimism, poses major risks for the individual, particularly for one’s health. From this perspective, there is a pressing need for methods reducing this bias and the present paper joins this effort. In two on-line mixed-design experiments ( N = 1,330), the second of which was preregistered, we tested whether UO – regarding the probability of COVID-19 infection—can be eradicated or at least reduced via generation of optimistic/pessimistic scenarios in comparison to others. Generating pessimistic scenarios consistently fully eradicated the UO bias. Generating optimistic scenarios did not change UO.

Forty years of research on Unrealistic Optimism -a delusion that negative events are less likely and positive events are more likely to happen to oneself (in comparison to others) -has proved to be robust.Importantly, as a result, people holding this bias reduce their engagement in health prevention and following medical recommendations, etc., leading to the conclusion that this bias is dangerous.However, there is hardly any research on how to reduce this bias.To address this issue, an experiment in the real-life context of the COVID-19 pandemic was run.It was found that participants' Unrealistic Optimism was reduced when they were exposed to the behavior of others who did not follow medical recommendations.

Numerous experiments have proven that mimicry is highly beneficial (mainly to the mimicker but also to the mimickee). Some studies have shown initial data suggesting the potential of applying this knowledge to business settings. In the present paper we unpack this issue in two ways. First, by presenting potential benefits stemming from mimicry for the mimicking dyad, and second for the business environment represented by the mimicker. Two consecutive studies: a Pretest and a Main Experiment run in natural settings showed great potential in improving the assessments of quality of service provided by verbally mimicking (or not). The results of both studies showed that mimicry offers benefits for the mimicker (increased employee kindness and employee evaluation), and also spillover to the organization/company represented by the mimicking employee (increased opinion of and willingness to return to the shop/hotel). Future research directions and limitations are discussed.

Guilt in experimental researchBefore answering this question, it is worth reviewing the procedures used so far, which will help us understand the nature of guilt phenomenon.In their seminal paper John Wallace and Edward Sadalla (1996) described the experimental guilt-inducing procedure.Their idea was based on leaving the participant in the laboratory together with the experimenter.In order for the procedure to be successful, the experimenter had to persuade the participant to use this equipment.The fulfilment of the experimenter's prompting Guilt is never to be doubted?A novel experimental procedure

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.

Improving vaccination eagerness is crucial, especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and establishing new procedures to achieve that goal is highly important. Previous research (Roozenbeek & van der Linden, 2019a, 2019b) has indicated that playing the "Bad News" game, in which a player spreads fake news to gain followers, reduces people's belief in fake news. The goal of the present paper was to test an analogous new game called "COVID-19 Bad News (CBN)" to improve one's eagerness to vaccinate against coronavirus. CBN was constructed to examine whether creating and disseminating fake news focused on vaccinations and the COVID-19 pandemic has a similar effect and improves people's attitudes toward vaccination. Two experiments were conducted where participants played CBN or Tetris and afterwards evaluated the credibility of statements about vaccines against COVID-19 and finally filled out a questionnaire concerning their attitudes toward vaccination. The results show that playing CBN does not reduce evaluations of the credibility of all statements that are unfavorable to vaccines (false as well as true). Additionally, it does not enhance readiness to vaccinate. Future research and limitations are discussed.

Within different populations and at various stages of the pandemic, it has been demonstrated that individuals believe they are less likely to become infected than their average peer. This is known as comparative optimism and it has been one of the reproducible effects in social psychology. However, in previous and even the most recent studies, researchers often neglected to consider unbiased individuals and inspect the differences between biased and unbiased individuals. In a mini meta-analysis of six studies (Study 1), we discovered that unbiased individuals have lower vaccine intention than biased ones. In two pre-registered, follow-up studies, we aimed at testing the reproducibility of this phenomenon and its explanations. In Study 2 we replicated the main effect and found no evidence for differences in psychological control between biased and unbiased groups. In Study 3 we also replicated the effect and found that realists hold more centric views on the trade-offs between threats from getting vaccinated and getting ill. We discuss the interpretation and implication of our results in the context of the academic and lay-persons' views on rationality. We also put forward empirical and theoretical arguments for considering unbiased individuals as a separate phenomenon in the domain of self–others comparisons.

This paper joins an effort to build a relational approach to law practice by testing mimicry as a vehicle for building trust in a legal context. Mimicry research indicates that this phenomenon leads to benefits, like greater trust, willingness to help, and satisfaction from interactions, which shows a potential for practical applications in, for example, a legal context. In two experiments conducted in the natural setting of a legal company, the tendency to trust the mimicker on a yet unresearched and deep level, namely putting one's legal future and security in the hands of an attorney, was measured. Both experiments consistently showed a greater tendency to give legal representation to an attorney when she verbally (Experiment #1) as well as both verbally and nonverbally (Experiment #2) mimicked the client. This paper explores the potential of applying mimicry in a legal service environment, focusing on fostering cooperation in professional conversations. Furthermore, the study contributes to the existing literature on mimicry by examining its effect on trust. Possible dangers, future studies and limitations are also discussed.